The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 41

ticulllrly the ooming judgment, Amos, by a oalamity, malum pama,. As states have no series of little parables or comparisons, fnture, all temporal oslamlties in their oase establishes hie right to prophesy, and inti- may rightly be regarded as the punishment ' of sin. Thus the ruin impending on Isre.el mRtes theneoeseity le.id upon him to deliver was sent by tho Lord, whose ngont was the his messRge. Re illustrntes the truths that enemy now approaching. All phenomena all effects !,ave causes, and that from the are ascribed in the Bible to Divine opera- cause you ca.n infer the effect. tion, no second causes being allowed to interfere with this appropriation (see Job i.: Ver. 3.-Ce.n two walk together exoept l Sam. xviii. 10; l Kings nii. 19, eto.; lea. they be agreed 1 or, euept they ha'De agreed f xiv. 7). The verb "do" is often used abso- The "two" are God's judgment and the lutely, the context defining the result (see prophet's word. These do. not coincide by note on Hag. ii. i). mere chanoe, no more than two persons Ver. 7.-This and the following verse purene in company the same cn<l without apply the foregoing parables. All the evils pre'l"ioue agreement. The prophet announces announced come from the Lord; but he God's jndgrnent because God has commis- brings none of them on the people with- sioned him; the prophet is of one mind out first warning by his prophets (comp. with God, therefore the Lord is with him, John xiii. 19; xiv. 29). His secret (sod): and confirms his words. The e.pplioe.tion of unrevealed till then. Septuagint, ,r,z16da.v, the p1trables is seen in vers. 7, 8. The " instruction ; " so the Arabio. Septuagint, reading differently, has, "ex- Ver. 8.-As the lion's roar foroes every cept they 1.-now one another." one to fear, so the Divine oe.11 of the prophet Ver. 4.-Will e. lion roar, etc.? The lion forces him to speak (Jer. xx. 9; Ezek. ii. roars when he has his prey in sight, and is 8; l Cor. ix. 16, etc.). St. Gregory, moral- about to spring upon it. So God makes the izing, takes tho lion in a spiritual sense: prophet utter his voioe bece.nse he is ready "After the power of bis Creator has been to execute vengeanoe. The second clause made known to him, the strength of his expresses the same fact in different terms. adversary ought not to be concealed from The young lion (Trephir) is not a whelp, but him, in order that he might submit himself one able to provide for it.self. He growls the more humbly to his defender, the-more over the prey which he has in his lair. So nccurately he had learned the wickedness Israel lies helpless as the words of God's of his enemy, and might more ardently seek threatenings strike upon him. his Creator, the more terrible he found the ,er. 5.-The thought here is th&t the enemy to be whom be had to avoid. For it punishment is deserved e.s well as certain. is certain that he who less understands the A bird is not caught unless e. trap is set for danger he has escaped, loves his deliverer it. The trap which the siuner sets for him- less: and that he who considers the strength eelf is sin. Can a bird fe.ll in e. snare (pach) of his adversary to be feeble, regards the upon the earth, where no gin (moqesh) is for 10lace of his defender as worthless" ('Moral.,' him 1 i.e. is set for him ? The "' gin " is a xxxii. 14). Of course, this exposition does net with a stick for a spring, which flew up not regard the context. when touched, carrying part of the net with it, and thus the bird was enclosed and Vere. 9-15.-Having vindicated his own caught (see Kitto, 'Uyclop.,' B.'D. "Fowling,'' commission, Amos proclaims what God pur- ii. 36). The LXX. probably read yoqesh, poses to do unto Israel. He is bidden to as they translate, lfvev l(evrou, "without e. summon the heathen Ashdod and Egypt to fowler." Bo the Vulgate, cwsque aucupe. bear witness to the iniquities of Samaria, The second clause should be, Shall a mare (pach) spri11g up from the ground witli:<>ut which should bring about the overthrow of taking a11ything f The snare, or trap-stick, the kingdom, the destruction of the city would not rise if it had not caught some- with its altars and palaces, ancl the exile of thing. The sin is there, and the sinners the people. shall surely not escape. When God appoiuts retriliutive punishments for the guilty, and Ver. 9.-Ashdod ( oh. i. 8). Goel bids the announces the same by his prophets, they prophets (publish ye) summou the inhabi- may be expected with absolute certainty. tants of the palaces of Philistia (of which Ver. 6.-The prophet must needs speak: Ashdod i~ the representative) and Egypt, shall not his denunciation arouse alarm because they had been the chief enemies of among tlte people, as the trumpet suddenly his people, and in their sight had mighty heard in a city excites the terror of works been wrought for Israel; thus they the inl,abite.nts (comp. Ezek. xniii. 2-5)? could appreciate her iniquity ancl ingrati- Bha.ll there be evil in a oity, and the Lord tude. Somo, translating al "upon,'' say hath not done it? The "evil" is affliction, that the prophets are bidden publish their  dli, nt. 1-15.] THE BOOK OF AMOS.