Amos 5:10 Ulasan

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.

They hate him that rebuketh in the gate,.... Openly and publicly in the courts of judicature: wicked judges hated the prophets of the Lord, such as Amos, who faithfully reproved them for the perversion of justice, even when they were upon the bench: or the people were so corrupt and degenerate, that they hated those faithful judges who reproved them for their vices in the open courts of justice, when they came before them, The former sense seems best, and more agreeable to the context: and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly; not only hate him, but abhor him, cannot bear the sight of him, or to hear his name mentioned that speaks out his mind freely and honestly, and tells them of their sins, and advises them to repent of them, and leave them.

They take the two sons as types of two peoples, the elder Jewish, the younger Christian.… But if I show that the Jew does not fit the type represented by the elder son, it will be admitted, in consequence, that the Christian is not typified by the younger. Admittedly, the Jew is called a “son” and an “elder son” since he is first by adoption, and although he resents the Christian’s reconciliation with God his Father (this is a point which our opponents seize upon most eagerly), yet the statement “Behold, how many years I serve you and I have never transgressed your commandment” cannot be one which the Jew makes to the Father. For when was Judah not a transgressor of the law? “Hearing with the ear and not hearing, holding in hate him who reproves at the gates and scorning holy speech.”

(Verse 10) They hated the one who reproves at the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks truthfully. LXX: They hated the one who reproves at the gates, and they abhorred the holy word. These are the ones whom God derides with devastation and brings upon them destruction. They hate the one who reproves at the gate, that is, in judgment: either me, or other prophets who were sent to them, speaking truthfully or the flawless word, as Symmachus interpreted, or the holy speech, as Theodotion and the LXX translated. But at the gate, according to the ancient Jewish custom, there were judgments of the people, as we often read and frequently interpret, so that neither a farmer coming to court would be terrified by the crowded city and the new appearance, nor a dweller of the city would hurry far from the city and seek transportation for his livestock. This we have said according to the literal meaning. However, it is a great sin to hate someone who corrects, especially if they correct out of love and not out of hatred, if it is done in private to private, if with the inclusion of another brother, if afterwards in the presence of the Church, so that it may not seem like the accusation is made to detract from you but to bring forth the accusation for your improvement (Matthew 18). We often read in the Scriptures about the two gates, of death and of life, of vices and virtues, as in the Psalms: 'You have lifted me up from the gates of death, that I may declare all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion' (Isaiah 9:16). There is no doubt that it signifies the Church, the lofty mountain of Zion, and the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and the multitude of angels, and the early Church, who are enrolled in heaven. He who has been exalted in the gates of Zion will not be able to fear the gates of death, of which the Lord spoke to Peter: Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt. XVI, 18). Clearly in another psalm we learn about the gates of virtue: Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them and give thanks unto the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter into it (Ps. XVII, 19). And finally, Wisdom, confident in the gates of the city, said: As long as the innocent possess justice, they shall not be confounded (Sap. VI, 11). I consider the gates of the city, that is, the souls of believers in Christ, to be virtues, through which Christ enters into believers. And because it is not written in which gates they hate the one who rebukes, whether in the wicked or in the good, we refer to both. The prophet accuses sinners standing at the gates of vices, and for this reason he is held in detestation by them. Or certainly the prophet himself stands at the gates and beginnings of virtues, and he is hated by those whom he rebukes, and it is not enough for sinners to hate the one who rebukes at the gates, unless they also abhor the holy word that is spoken from his mouth. For whoever does not receive the prophet does not receive the one who sent him (Matt. X). But if the holy word, or he who spoke perfectly, they abominated (moreover, the holy word is the Lord Jesus, of whom it is said: You will not allow your holy one to see corruption (Ps. XV, 10)), all the Jews saying anathema to Jesus, they abhor the word of God, which is both perfect and holy and immaculate. For the abomination of the sinner is piety. Whatever we have said about the Jews can be applied equally to the Gentiles and to heretics, all of whom abhor the holy Scriptures, in which the word of God is found. Some of them, while perversely interpreting what they read, place abomination in the House of God.

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.

They hate him that rebuketh in the gate - They cannot bear an upright magistrate, and will not have righteous laws executed.

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).

him that rebuketh in the gate--the judge who condemns their iniquity in the place of judgment (Isa 29:21). abhor him that speaketh uprightly--the prophet telling them the unwelcome truth: answering in the parallelism to the judge, "that rebuketh in the gate" (compare Kg1 22:8; Pro 9:8; Pro 12:1; Jer 36:23).

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.).

"They hate the monitor in the gate, and abhor him that speaketh uprightly. Amo 5:11. Therefore, because ye tread upon the poor, and take the distribution of corn from him, ye have built houses of square stones, and will not dwell therein; planted pleasant vineyards, and will not drink their wine. Amo 5:12. For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great your sins; oppressing the righteous, taking atonement money; and ye bow down the poor in the gate." However natural it may seem to take מוכיח and דּבר תּמים in Amo 5:10 as referring to prophets, who charge the ungodly with their acts of unrighteousness, as Jerome does, this explanation is precluded not only by bassha‛ar (in the gate), since the gate was not the meeting-place of the people where the prophets were accustomed to stand, but the place where courts of judgment were held, and all the public affairs of the community discussed (see at Deu 21:19); but also by the first half of Amo 5:11, which presupposes judicial proceedings. Mōkhı̄ăch is not merely the judge who puts down unjust accusers, but any one who lifts up his voice in a court of justice against acts of injustice (as in Isa 29:21). דּבר תּמים, he who says what is blameless, i.e., what is right and true: this is to be taken generally, and not to be restricted to the accused who seeks to defend his innocence. תּעב is a stronger expression than שׂנא. The punishment for this unjust oppression of the poor will be the withdrawal of their possessions. The ἁπ. λεγ. bōshēs is a dialectically different form for בוסס, from בוּס, to trample down (Rashi, Kimchi), analogous to the interchange of שׁריון and סריון, a coat of mail, although as a rule שׁ passes into ס, and not ס into שׁ. For the derivation from בושׁ, according to which בושׁס would stand for בושׁשׁ (Hitzig and Tuch on Genesis p. 85), is opposed both to the construction with על, and also to the circumstance that בּושׁשׁ means to delay (Exo 32:1; Jdg 5:28); and the derivation suggested by Hitzig from an Arabic verb, signifying to carry one's self haughtily towards others, is a mere loophole. Taking a gift of corn from the poor refers to unjust extortion on the part of the judge, who will only do justice to a poor man when he is paid for it. The main clause, which was introduced with lâkhēn, is continued with בּתּי גזית: "thus have ye built houses of square stones, and shall not dwell therein;" for "ye shall not dwell in the houses of square stones which ye have built." The threat is taken from Deu 28:30, Deu 28:39, and sets before them the plundering of the land and the banishment of the people. Houses built of square stones are splendid buildings (see Isa 9:9). The reason for this threat is given in Amo 5:12, where reference is made to the multitude and magnitude of the sins, of which injustice in the administration of justice is again held up as the chief sin. The participles צררי and לקחי are attached to the suffixes of פּשׁעיכם and חטּאתיכם: your sins, who oppress the righteous, attack him, and take atonement money, contrary to the express command of the law in Num 35:31, to take no kōpher for the soul of a murderer. The judges allowed the rich murderer to purchase exemption from capital punishment by the payment of atonement money, whilst they bowed down the right of the poor. Observe the transition from the participle to the third person fem., by which the prophet turns away with disgust from these ungodly judges. Bowing down the poor is a concise expression for bowing down the right of the poor: compare Amo 2:7 and the warnings against this sin (Exo 23:6; Deu 16:19).