Amos 4:13 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.

For, lo, he that formeth the mountains,.... These words are a description of the glorious Person, "thy God" and Saviour, to be met; he is the Creator of all things, that formed the mountains, and so was before them, as in Pro 8:25; and able to surmount and remove all mountains of difficulties that lay in his way of working out salvation for his people: and createth the wind; or "spirit"; not the Holy Spirit, which is uncreated; but either angels, whom he makes spirits; or the spirit and soul of man he is the Creator of; or rather the natural wind is meant, which is his creature, he holds in his fists, restrains and commands, at his pleasure, Mat 8:26; and declareth unto man what is his thought; not what is man's thought, though he knows what is in man without any information, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, and can reveal them to men, and convince them that he knows them, Mat 9:4; but rather the thought of God, the meditation of his heart, concerning the salvation of men; his thoughts of peace, which are the deep things of God, and which Christ, lying in the bosom of his Father, was privy to, and has declared, Joh 1:18. The Septuagint and Arabic versions, reading the words wrong, render them, "declaring to men his Christ"; which, though true of God, is not the sense of this clause. The Targum is, "what are his works (x)?'' his works of creation, providence, redemption, and grace: that maketh the morning darkness; or "darkness morning", or "the morning out of darkness" (y); being the dayspring from on high, the morning star, the sun of righteousness, that, rising, made the Gospel day, after a long night of Jewish and Gentile darkness; and who made the same dispensation a morning to one, and darkness to another, Joh 9:39. The Septuagint version is, "making the morning and the cloud"; the Vulgate Latin version, "making the morning cloud"; his coming was as the morning, Hos 6:3; and treadeth upon the high places of the earth; the land of Israel, which is Immanuel's land, is said by the Jews to be higher than other lands; Jerusalem higher than any part of Judea, and the mountain the temple was built on higher than Jerusalem: here Christ trod in the days of his flesh, and from the mount of Olives ascended to heaven, after he had trampled upon and spoiled principalities and powers, spiritual wickednesses in high places, and when he led captivity captive. Jarchi interprets it of humbling the mighty and proud, who are compared to the high places of the earth. The Targum is, "to declared to men what are his works, to prepare light for the righteous as the morning light, who goes and prepares darkness for earth;'' the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name; he is the Jehovah, the Lord our righteousness, the God and Governor of the armies of heaven the hosts of angels, and to whom all creatures on earth are subject; all power in heaven and earth belongs unto him; this is Israel's God, his Redeemer and Saviour he is called upon to prepare to meet. (x) So Kimchi and R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 4. 5. (y) "faciens obscuritatem auroram", Drusius. Next: Amos Chapter 5

Nor does it escape my notice that heretics have been prone to object that the Holy Spirit appears to be a creature, because many of them use as an argument for establishing their impiety that passage of Amos, where he spoke of the blowing of the wind, as the words of the prophet made clear. For you read thus: “Behold, I am he that establishes the thunder and creates the wind and declare unto man his Christ, that make light and mist, and ascend upon high places, the Lord God Almighty is his name.”

But if any one thinks that the word of the prophet is to be explained with reference to the Holy Spirit, because it is said, “declaring unto men his Christ,” he will explain it more easily of the Lord’s Sun of justice. For if it troubles you that he said Spirit, and therefore you think that this cannot well be explained of the mystery of the taking of human nature, read on in the Scriptures, and you will find that all agrees most excellently with Christ. Of [Christ] it is thoroughly fitting to think that he established the thunders by his coming, that is, the force and sound of the heavenly Scriptures, by the thunder, as it were, of which our minds are struck with astonishment, so that we learn to be afraid and pay respect to the heavenly oracles.

(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.

When Christ came, the people of the old covenant denied him, but the devils confessed him. His forefather David was not ignorant of him when he said, “I will place a lamp for my anointed.” Some have interpreted “lamp” as the splendor of prophecy; others have understood by the lamp the flesh he assumed of the Virgin, according to the words of the apostle: “But we carry this treasure in vessels of clay.” The prophet was not ignorant of him when he said, “And declaring his Christ to men.” Moses also knew him, and Isaiah and Jeremiah as well. None of the prophets was ignorant of him. Even the devils acknowledged him, for he rebuked them, and Scripture adds, “Because they knew that he was the Christ.”

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.

He that formeth the mountains - Here is a powerful description of the majesty of God. He formed the earth; he created the wind; he knows the inmost thoughts of the heart; he is the Creator of darkness and light; he steps from mountain to mountain, and has all things under his feet! Who is he who hath done and can do all these things? Jehovah Elohim Tsebaoth, that is his name. 1. The self-existing, eternal, and independent Being. 2. The God who is in covenant with mankind. 3. The universal Commander of all the hosts of earth and heaven. This name is farther illustrated in the following chapter. These words are full of instruction, and may be a subject of profitable meditation to every serious mind.

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.

The God whom Israel is to "prepare to meet" (Amo 4:12) is here described in sublime terms. wind--not as the Margin, "spirit." The God with whom thou hast to do is the Omnipotent Maker of things seen, such as the stupendous mountains, and of things too subtle to be seen, though of powerful agency, as the "wind." declareth unto man . . . his thought-- (Psa 139:2). Ye think that your secret thoughts escape My cognizance, but I am the searcher of hearts. maketh . . . morning darkness-- (Amo 5:8; Amo 8:9). Both literally turning the sunshine into darkness, and figuratively turning the prosperity of the ungodly into sudden adversity (Psa 73:12, Psa 73:18-19; compare Jer 13:16). treadeth upon . . . high places--God treadeth down the proud of the earth. He subjects to Him all things however high they be (Mic 1:3). Compare Deu 32:13; Deu 33:29, where the same phrase is used of God's people, elevated by God above every other human height. Next: Amos Chapter 5

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).