Amos 4:12 Komentář

In this chapter, I. The oppressors in Israel are threatened for their oppression of the poor (Amo 4:1-3). II. The idolaters in Israel, being joined to idols, are given up to their own heart's lusts (Amo 4:4, Amo 4:5). III. All the sins of Israel are aggravated from their incorrigibleness in them, and their refusal to return and reform, notwithstanding the various rebukes of Providence which they had been under (Amo 4:6-11). IV. They are invited yet at length to humble themselves before God, since it is impossible for them to make their part good against him (Amo 4:12, Amo 4:13).

INTRODUCTION TO AMOS 4 In this chapter, the great ones, or the people of Israel, are threatened with calamities for their oppression of the poor, Amo 4:1; and in an ironic manner are reproved for their idolatry, Amo 4:4; then follows an enumeration of several judgments that had been upon them, yet had had no effect on them, to bring them to repentance, nor even mercies, Amo 4:6; and notwithstanding all this, in a wonderful gracious manner, they are called upon to prepare to meet their God, who is described by his power, greatness, and goodness, Amo 4:12.

Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel,.... What he would do is not expressly and particularly said; it is commonly understood to be something in a way of judgment, and worse than what he had done, since they had no effect upon them; or these things should be done over again, until an utter end was made of them; or the reference is to Amo 3:11; and the following words are usually interpreted, either, ironically, since the Lord was coming forth as an enemy to issue the controversy with them; they are called upon to meet, him in a hostile way, and muster up all their forces, exert all their power and strength, and make use of their best weapons and military skill, and see what would be the consequence of all this; feeble worms set in opposition to the mighty God; thorns and briers he can easily go through, and burn up quickly: or else they are seriously addressed, and exhorted to meet the Lord in the way of his judgments, by humiliation, repentance, and reformation; not knowing but that after all he may be gracious and merciful to them, and turn away the fierceness of his anger from them; see Amo 5:15; but I rather think the words are a promise or intimation of doing something to Israel in a way of special grace and kindness, notwithstanding their conduct and behaviour, and the ineffectualness both of judgments and providential mercies; for the words may be rendered, as the same particle should be in Hos 2:14; "notwithstanding", or "nevertheless, thus will I do unto thee" (w); what I have from all eternity purposed and resolved to do, and what I have promised again and again, by the mouth of all the holy prophets, from the beginning of the world, I would do; namely, send my Son to be thy Saviour and Redeemer: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel; the Messiah that was then to come was God, and so equal to the work of redemption and salvation he was to do; and the God of spiritual and mystical Israel, even all the elect, Jews and Gentiles, to be redeemed by him; was to be their Immanuel, God in their nature, and therefore to be met with the utmost joy and pleasure; see Zac 9:9; for this meeting him is not to be understood in a hostile way, and as spoken ironically to the enemies of Christ to oppose him, encounter with him, and mark the issue of it, who in time would cause them to be brought before him and slain, as some interpret the words; but in a friendly manner, as he was met by those that were waiting for his coming, such as Simeon and others; and by those John the Baptist called upon to prepare the way of the Lord; and as he was by his own disciples, who embraced him by faith, received him with joy, and left all and followed him; and as all such are prepared to meet him who are made truly sensible of sin, and of their own righteousness as insufficient to justify from it, and have seen the glory, fulness, and suitableness of his salvation. Christ is to be met with in his house and ordinances; and men are prepared for it when the desires of their hearts are towards him, and their graces are exercised on him; which preparation is from himself: he will be met at his second coming by his spiritual Israel; and they will be prepared for it who believe it, love it, and long for it; have their loins girt, and their lights burning, and they waiting for their Lord's coming; see Mat 25:1; and so at the hour of death, which is the day of the Lord; a preparation and readiness for which lies not in external humiliation, outward reformation, a moral righteousness, or a bare profession of religion, and submission to ordinances; but in regeneration, in faith in Christ, and spiritual knowledge of him; in a being washed in his blood, and clothed with his righteousness; for which readiness all truly sensible sinners will be concerned, and which is all from the grace of God; see Mat 24:43. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, read it, "prepare to call upon thy God"; and the Targum paraphrases it, "to receive the doctrine of the law of thy God;'' rather the doctrine of the Gospel; but the former sense is best; for the confirmation of which it may be observed, that when God is said to do a thing to any, it is usually in a way of grace; and that when preparation is made to meet a divine Person, it is always meant of the Son of God; and that it is a common thing in prophecy, that when the Lord is threatening men with his judgments, to throw in a promise or prophecy of the Messiah, for the comfort of his people. (w) "nihilominus tamen". Vid. Noldium, p. 507.

(Verse 12, 13.) Therefore, I will do these things to you, Israel: but after I have done these things to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel. For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth - the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name. LXX: Therefore, I will do these things to you, Israel: but because I will do these things to you, prepare to call upon your God, O Israel. For behold, He who strengthens the thunder, and creates the spirit, and proclaims His Christ among men, making morning, and mist, and ascending above the heights of the earth: The Lord God Almighty is His name. Because we have interpreted, after it is written in Hebrew 'Eceb', and Aquila interpreted it as 'afterwards', and Theodotion as 'finally', and the Septuagint yet 'in Hebrew it can be read as: Therefore I will do these things to you, Israel, afterwards, that is, much later, and in the last times, so that it may begin again from another beginning: And when I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel.' And again, in that place where the Septuagint translated, prepare to invoke your God, and we have set it according to Theodotion, prepare to encounter your God, Symmachus and the Fifth Edition have translated, prepare to oppose your God: which is said in Hebrew, Hechin Lacerath Eloica (). Also, for the mountains which are called Arim in Hebrew, the Seventy alone translated it as thunder. But the reason why they said 'spirit' and we said 'wind', which is called Rua in Hebrew, is clear, because both wind and spirit are referred to by this word. And what follows, proclaiming his message to humanity, which we translate as interpreters, only the Seventy translated it, proclaiming his Christ to humanity: deceived by the similarity and ambiguity of words. For if we read his Christ, which in Hebrew is called Messiah (מָשִׁיחַ), it is written with the letters Mem, Sin, Yod, Het, and Vav, which the Seventy presumed. But if, as in Hebrew, it is according to Aquila 'his speech', according to Symmachus 'his voice', according to Theodotion 'his word', according to the fifth edition 'his eloquence', all of which can be interpreted as 'his speech', it will be written with these letters: Mem, He, which is called Ma (מָה), which means 'what' or 'something'. Then Sin, Iod, Heth, which we read as Sia (Σία), that is, eloquence. But O, which is written with the single letter Vau, αὐτοῦ, that is, his, signifies, and at the same time is read mixed with Masio (Μασίω), having the second letter from the word He with more. We have talked about the variety of interpretation, which will be troublesome for the negligent and pleasing for the studious: now let's move on to the meaning of what has been written. I gave astonishment to your teeth, and you did not return to me, says the Lord. I withheld rain from you, and it rained on one city and not on another; one field had rain, but another had none and withered. So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, but were not satisfied; yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me, declares the Lord. I will overthrow you as the Lord overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you have become like a brand plucked from the fire, and yet you have not returned to me, says the Lord. Therefore, I will do this to you, O Israel; because you have despised the past, at least be corrected for what I am about to bring upon you. And when he says, 'I will do this to you,' he remains silent about what he will do, so that while Israel hangs in uncertainty about each specific type of punishment (which is all the more terrifying because they suspect everything), they may repent and so God does not inflict what he threatens. But after I have done what I promise you I will do, prepare to invoke the Lord your God. For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Joel 2). Whether you prepare to meet your God, and eagerly receive the Lord coming to you with all your heart. It is he who strengthens the thunder, or confirms the mountains, at whose voice the pillars of heaven and the foundations of the earth tremble (Eccl 16). It is he who creates the spirit, not the Holy Spirit in this place, as heretics suspect; but we understand it as the wind, or the spirit of man: for no one knows what is in man except the spirit that is within him; and the same spirit intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings (Rom 8). Certainly, we must receive the spirit, the soul, according to what is written: 'You will take away their spirit, and they will perish and return to their dust' (Ps. 104:29). And: 'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,' and saying this, he breathed his last (Luke 23:46). And when he creates the spirit, he proclaims his word to mankind, or he proclaims the word of him who knows the secrets of thoughts, and understands what the hidden mind ponders in silent speech, according to what we read in Jeremiah according to the Hebrew: 'The heart of man (or of all and of every man) is small and unfathomable, who can know it?' I am the Lord, searching the heart and testing the reins (Jer. XVII, 9, 10). This is also testified in the one hundred and thirty-eighth psalm: Your eyes have seen my imperfect form. The meaning is: Before I was formed, before I was deformed in limbs, while I was still contained in the seed, your eyes saw me. And Jeremiah hears from the Lord: Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you, and I appointed you as a prophet to the nations (Jerem. I, 5). And the evangelist, seeing, said, 'The Lord knows their thoughts' (Luke 11:17). But if we read further, proclaiming man's speech according to what was said above, in which he says, 'The Lord God will not speak unless he has revealed his secret to his servants the prophets' (Isaiah 3:7). But the one who proclaims man's thoughts and speech, whether his own or another's, he is the one who makes the dawn and the sunrise, and covers everything with clouds, and walks above the heights of the earth; his name is the Lord God Almighty. For in the Septuagint it is read: Announcing in men his Christ: under which occasion heretics, want to create the Holy Spirit in order: creating the spirit, and announcing in men his Christ: so that he may be created, he may be announced in the peoples. To these things we will respond according to their meaning, and to the Vulgate edition: Who is the creator of all, and establishes the thunder, or forms the mountains, consequently brings forth the winds from his treasures, and as the founder of the universe, promises his Son Christ to men. But when Christ has been proclaimed, then the light of truth is opened to us, not perfectly; for now we see in part, and we know in part, and through a mirror and an image we contemplate those things that are to come (I Cor. XIII). Hence it follows: making morning and mist, and rising above the heights of the earth. For the Lord is high above the high things, and does not dwell in the lowly, He who is high; but the creator of mountains ascends to the mountains, in those who have a share in heavenly things, and walking in the flesh they do not live according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. But if we read according to Symmachus and Aquila: these things I will do to you, O Israel, afterwards, and when I have done these things to you, prepare yourself to oppose your God, it is to be understood thus: I have done this to correct you, as the past speech described, and because you did not want to return to me, I will do to you what is contained in my secret. You have killed the servants whom I sent to you: finally I will send my Son: but you, according to your usual custom, by which you always oppose the will of the Lord, prepare yourself to contradict and oppose your God: according to what is written: Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many, and for a sign that will be contradicted (Luke 2:34). And he says this, not because he commands what should be done; but rather he foretells what he will do willingly, as if reproaching and accusing, so that at least when corrected he does not do what was foretold.

Since initial measures did not suffice, He proceeded to an overthrow similar to the Sodomites; this was the kind of thing, as he said, that was inflicted on them by divine wrath. Therefore prepare to call upon your God, O Israel: Since he did not benefit from being chastised, let him prepare himself for an encounter with God, accepting repentance and adopting a lifestyle calculated to appease Him.

And thus even the good movement of the free-will, whereby anyone is prepared for receiving the gift of grace is an act of the free-will moved by God. And thus man is said to prepare himself, according to Proverbs 16:1: "It is the part of man to prepare the soul"; yet it is principally from God, Who moves the free-will. Hence it is said that man's will is prepared by God, and that man's steps are guided by God.

Israel reproved for their oppression, Amo 4:1-3; idolatry, Amo 4:4, Amo 4:5; and for their impenitence under the chastising hand of God, Amo 4:6-11. The omniscience and uncontrollable power of God, Amo 4:12, Amo 4:13.

Therefore thus will I do unto thee - I will continue my judgments, I will fight against you; and, because I am thus determined: - Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel - This is a military phrase, and is to be understood as a challenge to come out to battle. As if the Lord had said, I will attack you immediately. Throw yourselves into a posture of defense, summon your idols to your help: and try how far your strength, and that of your gods, will avail you against the unconquerable arm of the Lord of hosts! This verse has been often painfully misapplied by public teachers; it has no particular relation to the day of judgment, nor to the hour of death. These constructions are impositions on the text.

DENUNCIATION OF ISRAEL'S NOBLES FOR OPPRESSION; AND OF THE WHOLE NATION FOR IDOLATRY; AND FOR THEIR BEING UNREFORMED EVEN BY GOD'S JUDGMENTS: THEREFORE THEY MUST PREPARE FOR THE LAST AND WORST JUDGMENT OF ALL. (Amo 4:1-13) kine of Bashan--fat and wanton cattle such as the rich pasture of Bashan (east of Jordan, between Hermon and Gilead) was famed for (Deu 32:14; Psa 22:12; Eze 39:18). Figurative for those luxurious nobles mentioned, Amo 3:9-10, Amo 3:12, Amo 3:15. The feminine, kine, or cows, not bulls, expresses their effeminacy. This accounts for masculine forms in the Hebrew being intermixed with feminine; the latter being figurative, the former the real persons meant. say to their masters--that is to their king, with whom the princes indulged in potations (Hos 7:5), and whom here they importune for more wine. "Bring" is singular, in the Hebrew implying that one "master" alone is meant.

Therefore--as all chastisements have failed to make thee "return unto Me." thus will I do unto thee--as I have threatened (Amo 4:2-3). prepare to meet thy God--God is about to inflict the last and worst judgment on thee, the extinction of thy nationality; consider then what preparation thou canst make for encountering Him as thy foe (Jer 46:14; Luk 14:31-32). But as that would be madness to think of (Isa 27:4; Eze 22:14; Heb 10:31), see what can be done towards mitigating the severity of the coming judgment, by penitence (Isa 27:5; Co1 11:31). This latter exhortation is followed up in Amo 5:4, Amo 5:6, Amo 5:8, Amo 5:14-15.

The Impenitence of Israel - Amo 4:1-13 The voluptuous and wanton women of Samaria will be overtaken by a shameful captivity (Amo 4:1-3). Let the Israelites only continue their idolatry with zeal (Amo 4:4, Amo 4:5), the Lord has already visited them with many punishments without their having turned to Him (Amo 4:6-11); and therefore He must inflict still further chastisements, to see whether they will not at length learn to fear Him as their God (Amo 4:12, Amo 4:13).

"Therefore thus will I do to thee, O Israel; because I will do this to thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. Amo 4:13. For, behold, He that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and maketh known to man what is his thought; who maketh dawn, darkness, and goeth over the high places of the earth, Jehovah God of hosts is His name." The punishment which God is now about to inflict is introduced with lâkhēn (therefore). כּה אעשׁה cannot point back to the punishment threatened in Amo 4:2, Amo 4:3, and still less to the chastisements mentioned in Amo 4:6-11; for lâkhēn kōh is always used by Amos to introduce what is about to ensue, and any retrospective allusion to Amo 4:6-11 is precluded by the future אעשׂה. What Jehovah is now about to do is not expressed here more iratorum, but may clearly be discerned from what follows. "When He has said, 'This will I do to thee,' He is silent as to what He will do, in order that, whilst Israel is left in uncertainty as to the particular kind of punishment (which is all the more terrible because all kinds of things are imagined), it may repent of its sins, and so avert the things which God threatens here" (Jerome). Instead of an announcement of the punishment, there follows in the words, "Because I will do this to thee (זאת pointing back to כּה), prepare to meet thy God," a summons to hold themselves in readiness liqra'th 'ĕlōhı̄m (in occursum Dei), i.e., to stand before God thy judge. The meaning of this summons has been correctly explained by Calvin thus: "When thou seest that thou hast resorted in vain to all kinds of subterfuges, since thou never wilt be able to escape from the hand of thy judge; see now at length that thou dost avert this last destruction which is hanging over thee." But this can only be effected "by true renewal of heart, in which men are dissatisfied with themselves, and submit with changed heart to God, and come as suppliants, praying for forgiveness." For if we judge ourselves, we shall not be judged by the Lord (Co1 11:31). This view is shown to be the correct one, by the repeated admonitions to seek the Lord and live (Amo 5:4, Amo 5:6; cf. Amo 5:14). To give all the greater emphasis to this command, Amos depicts God in Amo 4:13 as the Almighty and Omniscient, who creates prosperity and adversity. The predicates applied to God are to be regarded as explanations of אלהיך, prepare to meet thy God; for it is He who formeth mountains, etc., i.e., the Almighty, and also He who maketh known to man מה־שּׂחו, what man thinketh, not what God thinketh, since שׂח = שׂיח is not applicable to God, and is only used ironically of Baal in Kg1 18:27. The thought is this: God is the searcher of the heart (Jer 17:10; Psa 139:2), and reveals to men by prophets the state of their heart, since He judges not only the outward actions, but the inmost emotions of the heart (cf. Heb 4:12). עשׂה שׁחר עיפה might mean, He turns morning dawn into darkness, since עשׂה may be construed with the accusative of that into which anything is made (compare Exo 30:25, and the similar thought in Amo 5:8, that God darkens the day into night). But both of these arguments simply prove the possibility of this explanation, not that it is either necessary or correct. As a rule, where עשׂה occurs, the thing into which anything is made is introduced with ל (cf. Gen 12:2; Exo 32:10). Here, therefore, ל may be omitted, simply to avoid ambiguity. For these reasons we agree with Calvin and others, who take the words as asyndeton. God makes morning-dawn and darkness, which is more suitable to a description of the creative omnipotence of God; and the omission of the Vav may be explained very simply from the oratorical character of the prophecy. To this there is appended the last statement: He passes along over the high places of the earth, i.e., He rules the earth with unlimited omnipotence (see at Deu 32:13), and manifests Himself thereby as the God of the universe, or God of hosts.