The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 109

<mr Lord." 2. The natiire of this life. It is Di vine, and constitutes us IC partakers of the Divine nature." lts germ is faith, its inspiration is love, its breath is prayer, its manifestation the likeness of Christ. 3. The vigou1· of this life. It will live amid the influences of an evil atmosphere, as a hale man walks unhurt through a tainted hospital. It will assert itself in streams of benediction to the world around, and it will finally prove itself victo1ious over death; for the Lord has said, IC He that liveth and believeth in me shall never die; " text.-A. R. Ver. 8.-The message of the stars. "Seek him that maketh the Beven stars and Orion, and turnetb the shadow of death into the mornina, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and po,'.;'.reth them out upon the face -of the earth: The Lord is bis Name." This recognition of God amidst the phenomena of nature is characteristic of Amos. He looked on the Pleiadcs and Orion, as they shone radiantly in the heavens, changekss in their relations, calm amidst human vicissitudes, and constant in diffusing their light upon a troubled world, and bade men seek him who created them. He speaks of night, that IC shadow of death," and i-eminds his hearers that, though it be long and fearsome, the light of dawn comes at last, and God turns it into morning; and again, after the work of the day is done, and tired men want rest, God draws the curtains, and "makes the day dark with night." The la.st clause is more obscure. Sometimes the waters have been "poured out upon the earth" in destructive deluge, and this has occurred at the command of God; but we 1•refer the application of the prophet's words to that familiar and constant <lisplay of tbe Divine power by means of which the waters are secretly gathered up into the sky, that they may be poured out in showers of blessing upon the earth. Our text is true of nature; but it is also true of that of which nature is the symbol and shadow, as we shall endeavour to show. It reminds us-- 1 THAT Gon OVERRULES THE OUTWARD CONDITIONS OF HUMAN LIFE. "Seek him that ma.k:eth the seven sta.rs and Orion." The words are literally true. Philosophy teaches us to find an adequate cause for all effects, and science acknowledges that the .First Cause eludes its search, and is beyond its sphere. Revelation declares, "God made the sun to rule by day, and the moon to rule by night: he made the stars also.n More than this primal fact is, however, asserted here. Amos was speaking to those who saw in the stars more than material lights. His hearers believed in astrology, which has been prevalent in all ages, from the very dawn of history. This superstition, which has left its mark on the earliest records of our race, in the literature of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Hindus, and Chinese, was not without effect on the people or Israel, as many passages in Scripture show. Indeed, it only received its deathblow when the Copernican system was finally established; for even Kepler would not deny that there was a connection between the movements of the stars and the fortunes of men. Now, two constellations so peculiar and brilliant as Pleiades and Orion naturally .had special powers ascribed to them. Thus Rabbi Isaac Israel, in his remarks on Job mviii. 31, says, "Some of the stars have operations in the ripening of fruits, and £uch is the opening of the Pleiades; and some of the stars retard and delay the fruita from ripening, and this is the opening of Orion." In other words, the Pleiades were .associated with the spring, when Nature was bursting into new life, when she was emitting the sweetest influences from every blade and flower, when ships which had been shut up through stress of weather could put out once more to sea. Hence the .question, "Canst thou bind the sweet influence of Pleiades? "-Canst thou prevent .the outpouring of vernal life? Whether you will or not, the change comes; for it is or God. Similarly, Orion was associated with autumn, when the earth was throwing off her beauty, and the voyages of the ancient times came to an end, and frost bound the cStreams as in fetters of iron. "Canst thou loose the bands of Orion? "-Canst thou .check the storms, and break up the reign of frost? Now, says Amos, look beyond these constellations to him who made them; and when you rejoice in the spring, or dread the approaching winter, when you are glad over the pleasantness of life, or faint under its adversity ;-think of him who is above and beyond all material forces and all ~sible influences. There is a spring and autumn known in human experience which have their sources beyond ourselves and beyond all visible ai:ency; and our hearts Jmd rest in the assurance of this. Compare the lot of two children in dissimilar <'.ir- OB. V0 1-27.] THE BOOK OF AMOS. 109-