The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 92

A man impresses himself on his work, virtually puts himself into it. It reflects his, geniUB and his moral character. '!'he idol a man makes is thus substantially a repeti- tion of himself, and therefore congenial to him all round. Made by his hand, it is after his heart, which the God of heaven is very far from being. 3. The fall ,"nto idol- worship is broken by the retention m it of a flavouring of the worship of God. Bethel and Beersheba, its shrines, were spots where the Divine presence had of old been richly manifested. Its rites mimicked, to some extent, the national worship of God. It was. added on at first to Divine worship, not substituted for it. Satan lets men down into idolatry by easy stages. It begins in the sanctuary. It appears at first in the likeness of a better thing. Then, when men have become sufficiently familiar with it and degraded by it to bear the sight, it puts on its natural shape, and is idol-worship pure and simple. IV. IN THE SEEKING OF THE NATURAL HEART SUCCESS MUST MEA..111" DISASTER. By a play upon words, Gilgal, "the Great Rolling,'' is to be rolled away; and Bethel, styled elsewhere" Bethaven," shall become "aven," or vanity. 1. An idol is a figment, and the worsl,ip of it can only result in deception and loss. It is not a thing, but only the image of a thing. It is the image, moreover, not of a real, but of an imaginary thing. lt is, therefore," nothing," and "a thing of nought" (1 Cor. viii. 4), and out of nothing nothing can come. To worship it is delusion, to trust it inevitable disappointment. 2. God's infinite power and his wrath are against them that forsake him. The idolater.pits idol impotence against Divine omnipotence, with the inevitable result of discomfiture and destruction. There are idols of the heart the service of which is no less ruinous. They group themselves under the heading "world," and the love of them is incompatible with the love of God, and so "Anathema" (1 John ii. 15; 1 Cor. xvi. 22). Vere. 7-13.-71ie contrast presaging the conflict. Judgment is coming. Warning has been given. Duty, and the prevailing derelictions of it, have been pointed out. Here God's perrections and Israel's iniquities are set in juxtaposition, and the colloca- tion is suggestive. Such incompatibility must lead to collision. It is by God's. character and ours that our mutual relations and attitudes are shaped. We see here- I. GoD REVEALING filMSELF. (Vers. 8, 9.) God's work is an important revelation of himself. He has written all over it the glorious lineaments of his character. Each part of it reflects some feature, and in the whole we see his face. Here he shows himself: 1. In the sphere of creation. "He maketh the seven stars and Orion." This is a pregnant thought.. Alcyone, one of the seven stars, or Pleiades, is the central orb of the heavens, round which the others move. It is as it were the heart of the material universe; and the Creator of it is by implication the Creator of all. In this fact speak the power and wisdom of the Great Uncaused, who is the Cause not only of all effects, but of all causes as well. 2. In the sphere of prov1:dencs. "And turneth the shadow," etc. (vers. 8, 9). We have here three classes of operations. 'l'he first was illustrated in the miraculous light that shone around Paul at his conversion, is seen daily in the rise of the morning sun, and appears in the turning of the night of adversity into the day of prosperity. The second was seen in the three hours' miraculous darkness at the Crucifixion, is seen in the gathering shades of every night, nnd in the darkening down into adverse circumstances of many a life-day. The third was seen in the Deluge, is seen in every shower of rain, and will be seen in future widespread judgments on the wicked. Ver. 9, "Who causeth desolations to flash on the strong," etc. God's judgments are bold, as singling out the strong and the fortress; swift, as coming on them like the lightning'd flash; sweeping, as involving them in utter destruction. 3. In t.\e sphere of redemp- tion. God scatters spiritual night. He illuminates the darkness of the soul. He makes men light in the Lord. He givee them the inheritance of the saints in light. He also judicially blinds, by leaving impenitent souls to the natural effects of wrong- doing ; and he casts into outer darkness at last. In all these things wo behold power- llower here as goouness, power there as severity; but power everywhere as resistless and Divine. II. ISRAEL REVEALING HERSELF. (Ver. 12.) This is a sad apocalypse. In many transgressions and great ~ins lsr~el's. ma_ny-sided and deep corrupti_on co~es . out. Particulars _are: 1. As unJust. lnJuetlce is a natural form for the sm, which lll a~ 92 THE BOOK OF AMO& [ea. v. 1-27.