The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 96

only when our sin is put 11way. The king will not consort with rehels as such. He will meet them only as subjects and friends. 'fhe condition of access to his presence ia the equitable recovery of hie forfeited favour. In the promise to dwell with l!ll'ael w11s the implied promise to restore them to hie favour. 2. lt ia the restm-aUon of God-lilceness. "What communion bath light with darknese?" None. The two things are essentially antagonistic, and fellowship between them is impossible. Accordingly, Adam left God's presence and hid even before he was driven out of the garden. In losing the Divine likeness he had lost a.II relMih or fitness for the Divine presence. The one could be recovCJreu only with the other. Born from above, and made partakers of the Divine nature, we are in affinity with God, and come with relish to his presence. 3. It is the restoration of happiness. "In thy presence is fulness of joy!' Sin means loss on the one side and infliction on the other. Its guilt separates from God, with the result that our being is incomplete. Its corruption introdnces disorder among our own powers, and disease in each, and so unrest and misery become inevitable (Isa. xlviii. 22; !vii. 20). In reunion with God these two occasions of unhappiness are removed. By regeneration the old nature is crucified, and the new one is set by faith in union with God, where it has spiritual completeneBB, and so its ideal of a happy state. Hence the Christian's aspiration is su=ed up in one idea-to "be with Christ, which is far better." II. ISRAEL BAD A THEORETICAL DIVINE PRESENCE WITH THEM WHICH WAS NOT NOW IN FA.OT ENJOYED. (Exod. xxix. 46, 46.) It is implied in God's offer to be with them under certain circu.mstnnces, that he was not with them then. l. He was not with them in worship. God's presence at the Jewish national worship was pledged (Exod. xx. 24). But the worship must be his worship, conducted according to his appointment. This it now was not. Where not positively idolatrous or profane, the worship of Israel was utterly formal and hollow. In such worship the Divine presence is not desired and is not enjoyed (Isa. i. 13-15). The worship must be real, the heart contiite, in which God promises to be present. Israel failed of God's promised presence by failing to claim it on the appointed terms. 2. He wa, not with them in. war. For centuries he had been (Judg. vi. 16), and victory attended their arms (Josh. xx.iv. 12, 18; 1 Chron. xvii. 21). Nothing could withstand them. The no.lions of Canaan, in whose sight they had felt as grasshoppers, were subdued before them. And God had explicitly connected their victories with his presence and help (Exod. xvii. 11, 14; Ps. xliv. 1-3). But there came & time of which the psalmist had to say, "Thon hast cast oft' and put us to shame, and goest not forth with our armies" (Ps. xliv. 9). The conditions on which the Divine promise of help in the field was sus- pended were violated or ignored, and God left them to fight with the arm they pre- ferred to his. 3. He was not with them in their daily wallc. They did not seek him nor want him, nor were they fit to be near him. The graces to which his presence is congruous, the means by which his presence is secured, were all absent, and so they were a nation given up of God and forsaken (Isa. ii. 6; Jer. vii. 29). He no longer dweH with them, nor met them, nor directed tbem, nor spoke to them. He became, as he does to all under like conditions, "a God afar off, and not a God nee.r at hand; " and the journey of their nationn.l existence, begun in such goodly company, was le[t to be finished alone. III. To MAKE THE THEORY OF Gon's PRESENCE FA.OT, THE THEORY 01!' ISRAEL'S SEPARATION MUST ALSO BE FA0T. God's withdrawal was the natural reply to Israel's forsaking. His resumption of relations would synchronize with their return to righteousness. 1. Evil must be rejected. This duty is laid down in three degrees. It is not to be sought, nor done, nor loved. It had been all three. It could cease to be the one only by ceasing to be the others also. The seeking implies that the love and the doing have gone before. The love guarantees that the doing end seeking shall follow in due course. The way to break off from evil is to be utterly separate. The least link of connection will develop into a mighty chain. 2. Good must be chosen. This is dutiful. Duty has a positive side-still rnoTe important than its negative one. Mere avoidance of what is wrong would be a colourless thing. God's Law is not merely a system of restrictions, but II system_o~ co_mmmds. There ~1:15t _be actual doin~ ?f what is right, with a knowledge that 1t 1~ right, I\Ild because 1t 1s righ_t. And_ th~s IS iao more dutiful than natural. The quahtte~ that turn away from evil turn 1nstrnc-  96 THE BOOK OF AMOS. [oa. v. 1-27.