The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 11

14). The ple.ce out of which go forth salvation e.nd destruction. The place out of which the things that come a.re perfect after their kind. If they be blessings, there are no ot.here eo sweet; if curses, no others eo stem. Zion ie the bee.ting heart of the spiritual world, which eende forth pure or poisoned blood to each greatest and least extremity. 3. From the temple. Thie is not mentioned, but it is necessarily implied. The glory of Jerusalem was Zion, and the glory of Zion (using the word in its broad sense) was God's house. 'l'his was his ee.nctuary. There he dwelt in symbolic presence. There he revealed himself in symbolic portraiture. There he operated iu unparalleled energy. Thence accordingly we might expect his activity to issue (Ps. xx. 2). 'l'here, too, was his mercy-seat, from which judgment never co.me till every merciful expedient had been tried, but would come then with the fury of outraged goodness. Now Jerusalem and Ziou and God's house are each a type, and their common anti- type 'is the C~?rcb of Christ_. And this is God'~ ~ase of sp~~itual operat!ons through all time (Isa. 1~. 3; Luke xx1v. 47). H~ dwells 1~ 1t (Acts vu. 38; Ep~. 1_. 23), spea~_s by it (Eph. iii. 10), operates through 1t (Dan. 11. 44), and conquers ID 1t (Dan. vu. 18, 22). III. .AFTER THE o.A.MPAIGN. God makes no fruitless expedition. The armies of his ,.idgments leave desolation in their track. 1. The pastures wither. God's voice, as e. figure for meteorological phenomena, is often spoken of as changing the surface of the earth (Pa. xxix. 3-9). Here it stands for many agencies, including these, and especially l!l.rought. Nature is one, and if any part suffers the other parts suffer with it (Jer. xxv. 36). Amos, as a herdsman, thinks naturally first of the calamity as it would affect the pastures by which he made his living. God's judgments strike each man in his special interest. It is as menacing this interest chiefly that they are feared. 2. The head of Carmel is dried up. Carmel was in the north, and the pastures in the prophet's mind were in the south. The enumeration, therefore, points to the withering as prevailing over the entire land. Carmel was one of the richest and best-watered spots in Palestine. When it was withered, all other places must have been scorched. God's judgments come seldom, and with tardy foot; but they are thorough, and make an end of their work (1 Sam. iii. 12: Isa. Ix. 12). Nor was this a passing visitation. It remains in its leading characteristics till the present day. Carmel, as its name implies, was rich in vineyards. Now there is only scrub, and the debris of ruined we.lls. The" head" is dried up, that might once have been so.id to "drop down new wine." Ver. 3-ch. ii. 3.-A hexade of woes. The heathen in judgment: general features. In these verses is denounced a series of six. woes, on six: or the oppressing nations, round about the land of Israel. Ee.eh woe has characteristics peculiar to itself, but there are points common to them all to which it will be well to make preliminary reference. I. IN EVERY OABE JUDGMENT IS THE .A.OT OF Goo. "I will send;" "I will kindle n (vers. 4, 7, 10, 12). It is not fate, whose" winged shaft" is but a phante.sy. It is not chance, which is but another name for inscrutable direction. It is not idols, the guess- work likenesses of imaginary things. It is not natural le.we, which are simply forces put into things by their Maker. It is God-God in intelligence of device and energy of execution, who" creates evil" (Isa. xiv. 7)-the evil of calamitous events, II. IN EVERY OASE Goo's JUDGMENT IS TIIE COMPLEMENT OF MAN'S BIN. "Because they have threshed;" "Because they carried away." The connection between human sin and human sutfnrir:!g is original, constant, and necessary. 'l'hey came together, dwell together, and will_ die together. A':1d just e.~ our common.suffering is the abiding result o_f our comm~n smfulnes_s, so special suffenn~ connects itself somewhere w!th special srn. Its relation to the em, whether as a pumshment, a deterrent, or a chastisement, is often obscure. The particular sin, or even the particular sinuer, can seldom be pointed to with certainty. There is a warning against judging harshly of the specially afflicted (Luke xiii. 4, 6). Yet the plain teaching of Scripture and experience and reason is that sin has "brought death into the world, and all our woo" (Rom. v. 12; Job iv. 7, 8). IJI. JN EVERY O.A.SE THE BIN SELECTED FOB PUNIBIIMENT IS TII.A.T COMMITTED AGAINST Goo's PEOPLE. In five cases out of the six the sin was committed directly against Israel, aud in tho sixth case it was committed against their ally. God loves the world as a Whole, but he loves his people best (John iii. 16; xiv. 23). He gives to the wicked 10 THE BOOK OF AMOS. [OH, I, 1-15,