The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 101

natural heRrt. Give a sinful man his way, and the last matter he will face will be hill' own sinfulness. Allow II formalist discretion in worship, and the ordinance that most articulately speaks of sin will be the one least observed. Singing will be preferred to praying, a form of prayer will be preferred to the directness of spontaneous utterance, and preaching, which most distinctly brings face to face with personal responsibility and duty, will be almost crowded out. Worship, in fact, in proportion as it becomes formal, becomes impersonal and indirect. III. SuoH HOLLOW WORSHIP IS UTTERLY OFFENSIVE TO Gon. The degrees of Divint1 disapprobation run up a graduated scale. "I will not accept;" "I will not take- pleasure in;" "I will not regard;" "I hate;" "I despise." In all such worship the- moral element, the first element of acceptability, is altogether wanting. The thin" is- not meant for worship, and cannot be treated as such. It is not observed according to God's will, nor as God's appointment at all, but as our own invention or choice. It is not aimed at the God-glorifying, soul-saving objects prescribed in Scripture. Gone through without interest or heart, done for fashion, or freak, or gain, it honours neither God nor his commaild, whilst it calls into play no grace of the religious life whatever. It is a mere performance, not only destitute of moral value, but distasteful to God, and in gratuitous violation of his Law. Hence the vocabulary of condemnation is exhaustea on it (~sa. i. 11-15) as the meanest and most hateful thing in the whole spiritual connection. Ver. 24.-Beal calamity waiting upon unreal service, "The meaning of this verse is not,• Let justice and righteousness take the place of your sacrifices.' . . . The verse threatens the flooding of the land with judgment and the punitive righteousness of God" (Keil). Adopting this interpretation, we observe- L THAT WHICH IS REJECTED "IS NIGH UNTO CURSING." Hollow service has been sitting for its portrait, and the picture is striking. Now we have the Divine appraise- ment revealed in the action to be taken forthwith. Instead of approval there is con- demnation. Instead of reward there is punishment. Instead of profit resulting there is loss on every issue. 1. It deaerves this. Want of conformity to law is a sufficient ground of condemnation. Positive transgression of law is ground more decided still. Wilful mockery of the Lawgiver is most deeply criminal of all. All these elements pertained to Israel's sham observances, and, together, they constitute an indictment on which the criminal's conviction is inevitable. 2. It req_uirea it. God's moral govern- ment must show itself strong and just, and in order to this, sin, and all sin, must be visited with his avenging stroke. Especially must this be done in the sphere of •• things whereby God maketh himself known." The thing whose function it is to- make him known must do so in the glorious character he bears. II. TsE .JUDGMENTs THAT ENGULF ABE RIGHTEOUSNESS. This could be argued, and is here affirmed.. 1. They express righteousness. They are deserved. '!'hey are all deserved. They are deserved in the proportions in which they come. H they did not come, the moral balance of things would be disturbed. If they came in less decided form, this balance would be only half adjusted. They are "righteous judgments" in the fullest and highest sense. 2. They a=mplish righteousness. They are sent in the interests of it. They fall on the unrighteous. They are designed and fitted to ler.d to their reformation (Isa. :u:vi. 9). Sometimes the righteous suffer from them also. In that case their tendency is on the one hand to promote the righteousness of the sufferer, and on the other to emphasize the evil of unrighteousness in any section of a com- munity, and so prevent it. As a matter of fact, Divine judgments have often wrought, righteousness both in individuals (2 Chron. xxxiii. 11-16) and communities (Isa. xliii. 21). Even in eternity they bulk largely, in tbe thought of the redeemed, among the· helpful experiences of earth (Rev. vii. 14). ill. WREN JUDGMENT IN RIGHTEOUl3NESB COMES, IT COMES LIKE A FLOOD. There are two ideas here. The first is: 1. Let judgment roll on like water. In this: (1) It will be deep (Ps. :u:xvL 6), swallowing up all its victims. (2) It will be sudden, taking the evil-doers by surprise (Luke xvii. 20-31). (3) It will be irresistible, sweeping before it every opposing object (Ps. xc. 5). (4) It will be destroying, leaving no living thing in its track. (5) It will be ultimately fertilizing, leaving behind it the rich ooze of an abiding lesson. 2 . .d.nd righteouene,s like an inexhaustible stream. J udgment, 'OH, V, 1-27.] 'l'HE BOOK OF AMOS. 101