Amos 5:2 Kommentar

The scope of this chapter is to prosecute the exhortation given to Israel in the close of the foregoing chapter to prepare to meet their God; the prophet here tells them, I. What preparation they must make; they must "seek the Lord," and not seek any more to idols (Amo 5:4-8); they must seek good, and love it (Amo 5:14, Amo 5:15). II. Why they must make this preparation to meet their God, 1. Because of the present deplorable condition they were in (Amo 5:1-3). 2. Because it was by sin that they were brought into such a condition (Amo 5:7, Amo 5:10-12). 3. Because it would be their happiness to seek God, and he was ready to be found of them (Amo 5:8, Amo 5:9, Amo 5:14). 4. Because he would proceed, in his wrath, to their utter ruin, if they did not seek him (Amo 5:5, Amo 5:6, Amo 5:13, Amo 5:16, Amo 5:17). 5. Because all their confidences would fail them if they did not seek unto God, and make him their friend. (1.) Their profane contempt of God's judgments, and setting them at defiance, would not secure them (Amo 5:18-20). (2.) Their external services in religion, and the shows of devotion, would not avail to turn away the wrath of God (Amo 5:21-24). (3.) Their having been long in possession of church-privileges, and in a course of holy duties, would not be their protection, while all along they had kept up their idolatrous customs (Amo 5:25-27). They have therefore no way left them to save themselves, but by repentance and reformation.

INTRODUCTION TO AMOS 5 In this chapter the prophet exhorts Israel to hear his lamentation over them for their impending ruin, Amo 5:1; nevertheless to seek the Lord, and all that is good; to forsake their idols, and repent of their sins, in hopes of finding mercy, and living comfortably; or otherwise they must expect the wrath of God for their iniquities, especially their oppression of the poor, Amo 5:4; otherwise it would be a time of weeping and wailing, of darkness and distress, however they might harden or flatter themselves, or make a jest of it, Amo 5:16; for all their sacrifices and ceremonial worship would signify nothing, so long as they continued their idolatry with them Amo 5:21; and therefore should surely go into captivity, Amo 5:27.

The virgin of Israel is fallen,.... The kingdom of Israel, so called, because it had never been subdued, or become subject to a foreign power, since it was a kingdom; or because, considered in its ecclesiastic state, it had been espoused to the Lord as a chaste virgin; and perhaps this may be ironically spoken, and refers to its present adulterate and degenerated state worshipping the calves at Dan and Bethel; or else because of its wealth and riches and the splendour and gaiety in which it appeared; but now, as it had fallen into sin and iniquity, it should quickly fall by it, and on account of it, into ruin and misery; and because of the certainty of it it is represented as if it was already fallen: she shall no more rise; and become a kingdom again, as it never has as yet, since the ten tribes were carried away captive by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, to which calamity this prophecy refers, The Targum is, "shall not rise again this year;'' very impertinently; better Kimchi and Ben Melech, for a long time; since as they think, and many others, that the ten tribes shall return again, as may seem when all Israel shall be converted and saved, and repossess their own land; see Hos 1:10. Abendana produces a passage out of Zohar, in which these words are interpreted, that the virgin of Israel should not rise again of herself, she not having power to prevail over her enemies; but God will raise her up out of the dust, when he shall raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, who shall reign in future time over all the tribes together, as it is said in Amo 9:11; she is forsaken upon her land; by her people, her princes, and her God; or prostrate on the ground, as the Targum; she was cast upon the ground, and dashed to pieces by the enemy as an earthen vessel, and there left, her ruin being irrecoverable; so whatever is cast and scattered, or dashed to pieces on the ground, and left, is expressed by the word here used, as Jarchi observes: there is none to raise her up: her princes and people are either slain by the sword, famine, and pestilence, or carried captive, and so can yield her no assistance; her idols whom she worshipped cannot, and her God she forsook will not.

(Chapter 5, Verses 1-2) Hear this word, which I bring against you as a lamentation. The house of Israel has fallen, and it shall not rise again. The virgin of Israel is cast down upon her own land; there is no one to raise her up. LXX: Hear this word, which I will take up against you as a lamentation. The house of Israel has fallen, it shall not rise again. The virgin of Israel is cast down upon her own land, there is no one to raise her up. As for the order of the letters and the true beginning of the story, the ten tribes that are called Israel were led into captivity and have never returned to their own land. But the people of Israel are called the Virgin, not because they remained in the purity of virginity, but because they were once united with the Lord like a virgin. Therefore, the prophet is commanded to take up lamentation over them, so that they may not be restored to their former state. But as for spiritual understanding, the prophet takes up lamentation over all of Israel who once beheld God with their minds and then ceased to serve Him, according to what is commanded in Ezekiel (Ezek. 2), to devour the book in which lamentation, song, and woe were written both inside and outside. Understand within the following song of Solomon, which says: The king has brought me into his chamber (Song of Songs 1:4). And the forty-fourth psalm, in which it is written: All the glory of the daughter of the king is within. But whatever is read in the letter, and appears in the bark, and is not held in the marrow of the spirit, is outside. Therefore, both literally and figuratively, in all the books of the prophets, there is lamentation written over those who repent after sin: A song is worthy for those who are not stained by the filth of sins: Woe to those who do not repent; but according to the hardness of their heart, they store up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath. But if, as we have said, there is lamentation over those who repent; and repentance restores the health of the wounds: how is it said according to the Septuagint, The house of Israel has fallen, it will not rise again. The virgin of Israel has strayed in her own land, there is no one to raise her up? This can be explained as follows: After the house of Israel has fallen of its own will, it will by no means regain its former dignity; after the virgin of Israel has strayed in her own land, she will no longer be able to find anyone to raise her up. And consider the properties of words. He who is a house, and is counted among the crowd, is said to fall. But he who errs about the number of virgins, even for a light offense, cannot be raised up: not that he will not be raised up, but that the virgin of Israel will not be raised up, and the Lord of Israel will not rise. For the glory of the one who has always followed the Lord is not the same as the glory of the one who has strayed from the flock and then was carried back on the shoulders of the good shepherd (Luke 15). And through another prophet the Lord says: I desire the repentance of the sinner rather than death (Ezek. XVIII, 32). Repentance is better compared to death and hell, not to the most pure sanctity of the Church of Christ (which has no wrinkle or blemish). We say this, not to do away with the hope of repentance according to Novatus, but to make those who are more timid and solicitous, who, while hoping for the future, lose the present through the open door of repentance, and who could have remained without injury, but receive a wound unawares, and afterwards suffer with pain. There are many mansions in my Father's house (John XIV), and star differs from star in brightness; so also is the resurrection of the dead (1 Corinthians XV): shining like the sun and moon, evening and morning star. But those who repent after sinning will be equal to other stars according to the diversity of their merits.

If, then, the apostle, who was a chosen vessel separated unto the gospel of Christ, by reason of the pricks of the flesh and the allurements of vice keeps his body and brings it into subjection, lest when he has preached to others he may himself be a cast away; and yet, for all that, sees another law in his members warring against the law of his mind, and bringing him into captivity to the law of sin; if after nakedness, fasting, hunger, imprisonment, scourging and other torments, he turns back to himself and cries, “Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” do you fancy that you ought to lay aside apprehension? See to it that God say not some day of you, “The virgin of Israel is fallen, and there is none to raise her up.” I will say it boldly: God can do all things, but the virgin who has fallen will not be raised up. He may indeed relieve one who is defiled from the penalty of her sin, but he will not give her a crown. Let us fear lest in us also prophecy be fulfilled, “Good virgins shall faint.” Notice that it is good virgins who are spoken of, for there are bad ones as well. “Whoever looks on a woman,” the Lord says, “to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.” So that virginity may be lost even by a thought. Such are evil virgins in the flesh, not in the spirit; foolish virgins, who, having no oil, are shut out by the bridegroom.

This chapter opens with a tender and pathetic lamentation, in the style of a funeral song, over the house of Israel, Amo 5:1, Amo 5:2. The prophet then glances at the awful threatening denounced against them, Amo 5:3; earnestly exhorting them to renounce their idols, and seek Jehovah, of whom he gives a very magnificent description, Amo 5:4-9. He then reproves their injustice and oppression with great warmth and indignation; exhorts them again to repentance; and enforces his exhortation with the most awful threatenings, delivered with great majesty and authority, and in images full of beauty and grandeur, Amo 5:10-24. The chapter concludes with observing that their idolatry was of long standing, that they increased the national guilt, by adding to the sins of their fathers; and that their punishment, therefore, should be great in proportion, Amo 5:25-27. Formerly numbers of them were brought captive to Damascus, Kg2 10:32, Kg2 10:33; but now they must go beyond it to Assyria, Kg2 15:29; Kg2 17:6.

The virgin of Israel - The kingdom of Israel, or the ten tribes, which were carried into captivity; and are now totally lost in the nations of the earth.

ELEGY OVER THE PROSTRATE KINGDOM: RENEWED EXHORTATIONS TO REPENTANCE: GOD DECLARES THAT THE COMING DAY OF JUDGMENT SHALL BE TERRIBLE TO THE SCORNERS WHO DESPISE IT: CEREMONIAL SERVICES ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE TO HIM WHERE TRUE PIETY EXISTS NOT: ISRAEL SHALL THEREFORE BE REMOVED FAR EASTWARD. (Amos 5:1-27) lamentation--an elegy for the destruction coming on you. Compare Eze 32:2, "take up," namely, as a mournful burden (Eze 19:1; Eze 27:2).

virgin of Israel--the Israelite state heretofore unsubdued by foreigners. Compare Isa 23:12; Jer 18:13; Jer 31:4, Jer 31:21; Lam 2:13; may be interpreted, Thou who wast once the "virgin daughter of Zion." Rather, "virgin" as applied to a state implies its beauty, and the delights on which it prides itself, its luxuries, power, and wealth [CALVIN]. no more rise--in the existing order of things: in the Messianic dispensation it is to rise again, according to many prophecies. Compare Kg2 6:23; Kg2 24:7, for the restricted sense of "no more." forsaken upon her land--or, "prostrated upon," &c. (compare Eze 29:5; Eze 32:4) [MAURER].

The Overthrow of the Kingdom of the Ten Tribes - Amos 5 and Amo 6:1-14 The elegy, which the prophet commences in Amo 5:2, upon the fall of the daughter of Israel, forms the theme of the admonitory addresses in these two chapters. These addresses, which are divided into four parts by the admonitions, "Seek Jehovah, and live," in Amo 5:4 and Amo 5:6, "Seek good" in Amo 5:14, and the two woes (hōi) in Amo 5:18 and Amo 6:1, have no other purpose than this, to impress upon the people of God the impossibility of averting the threatened destruction, and to take away from the self-secure sinners the false foundations of their trust, by setting the demands of God before them once more. In every one of these sections, therefore, the proclamation of the judgment returns again, and that in a form of greater and greater intensity, till it reaches to the banishment of the whole nation, and the overthrow of Samaria and the kingdom (Amo 5:27; Amo 6:8.).