Amos 5:6 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.

Seek the Lord, and ye shall live,.... This is, repeated to stir up unto it, because of their backwardness and slothfulness, and to show the importance and necessity of it. By the "Lord" may be meant the Messiah, Israel's God that was to come, and they were to prepare to meet, Amo 4:12; and the rather, since life spiritual and eternal is only to be had from him, and he is to be sought unto for it, and all the blessings of it, peace, pardon, righteousness, rest, and salvation as well as temporal deliverance, and all outward mercies: lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it; that is, lest his wrath and fury break out like fire as the Targum, by sending an enemy to invade the land, destroy it, and carry the inhabitants of it captive; even all the ten tribes, who frequently go by the name of Ephraim the son of Joseph, that being the principal tribe, and the first king of them being of it: and there be none to quench it in Bethel; the calf worshipped there, and the priests that officiated, would not be able to avert the stroke of divine vengeance, or turn back the enemy, and save the land from ruin. The Targum is, "and there be none to quench it, because of your sins, who have been serving idols in Bethel.''

Therefore, while there is time, look to the true and eternal salvation, and, since the end of the world is now at hand, out of fear of God turn your minds to God. Let not your powerless and vain dominion in the world over the just and the meek delight you. Remember that in the fields the tares and the darnel have dominion over the cultivated and fruitful corn, and you should not say that evils happen because your gods are not worshiped by us. But you should realize that this is God’s anger, this is God’s censure, so that he who is not recognized for his blessings may at least be recognized for his judgments. “Seek God, and your soul shall live.” Acknowledge God even though it is late. For Christ advises and teaches this, saying, “Now this is everlasting life, that they may know you the only true God and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ.” Believe him who by no means deceives. Believe him who has foretold that all these things would come to pass. Believe him who will give the reward of eternal life to those who believe. Believe him who by the fires of Gehenna will inflict eternal punishments on the disbelieving.

(Verse 6.) Seek the Lord, and live: lest the house of Joseph be burned with fire, and it devour, and there be none to quench it. LXX: Seek the Lord, and live: lest the house of Joseph be kindled with fire, and it consume it, and there be none to quench the house of Israel. Just as it is said from the person of God, 'Seek me, and you will live,' so the prophet speaks of the Lord, that they should seek him and live. For in seeking the Lord, they begin to live; but if they do not seek him, and therefore do not live, the house of Joseph will immediately be kindled like fire, which we must understand as referring to the ten tribes called Israel, who held the original name for the greater part of the people, because of Jeroboam, who was from the tribe of Ephraim and the house of Joseph. But there were two tribes which were ruled by the lineage of David, who was from the tribe of Judah, called Judah, and they possessed Jerusalem, in which the temple of God was. And when the house of Joseph is set on fire, it will devour and consume Bethel, of which I spoke earlier: Do not seek Bethel, and there will be no one to extinguish it, when it is set on fire by its kings. For in the Septuagint, instead of Bethel, the house of Israel is read, with those interpreting the meaning more than the word, so that, with the reign of Jeroboam and all the subsequent kings who succeeded him in power, the ten tribes, which are called Israel, may burn. This is the fire that is kindled, or shines and inflames the house of Joseph, so that Bethel is consumed, of which it is said elsewhere: Walk in the light of your fire, and in the flame that you have kindled (Isaiah 50:11). And because we have frequently referred the house of Joseph (because of Jeroboam, who separated the people of God from the lineage of David and made golden calves in Dan and Bethel, and said, there is no part for us in David, neither inheritance in the son of Jesse (1 Samuel 22:36)), to the person of heretics, who, with composed speech, have fashioned beautiful and attractive, and, so to speak, golden images, and worship the works of their own hands, and promise themselves an image under the form of cows for agriculture, it is said to them: Seek the Lord and live, the one who says: I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:16): so that after they have walked in him and found the truth, then those who were previously dead may begin to live. And if they do not do this, they will be burned by the fires of the devil, and no one will be able to be found from their leaders who have themselves been consumed by the heretical fire, who can extinguish the devouring flame of all, especially Bethel, which assumes for itself the false name of 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.

Seek the Lord, and ye shall live - Repeated from Amo 5:4. In the house of Joseph - The Israelites of the ten tribes, of whom Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph, were the chief.

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).

break out like fire--bursting through everything in His way. God is "a consuming fire" (Deu 4:24; Isa 10:17; Lam 2:3). the house of Joseph--the kingdom of Israel, of which the tribe of Ephraim, Joseph's son, was the chief tribe (compare Eze 37:16). none to quench it in Beth-el--that is, none in Beth-el to quench it; none of the Beth-el idols on which Israel so depended, able to remove the divine judgments.

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.).