The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 147

evil may not be averted until it has actually fallen? Besieged cities ho.ve been so.ved even after the garrison had thrown open the gates, and battles won o.fter the ranks of the victors had begnn to break. With God all things are possible, and by prayer he is always moved. 'l'ill the moment of death we may pmy for life, for salvation till the moment of destruction. 4. Having received, we may ask again and again. "Men ought always to pray." Prayer has reference to returning ,vants, and is normally a habit of soul. A.s often as we hunger we eat, and, on the same principle, as often 1\8 ~e need we pray. Continued prayer is matter of necessity, a command of God, and an instinct of tbe soul. "In everything by prayer and supplication," etc. Half a century later the mercy of God's dealings appeared. After ravaging the greater portion of the land, the A.ssyrians unaccountably withdrew, and left the capital untouched. The connection between A.mos's prayer and the unwonted slackness of Tiglath-P6.leser belongs to that region into which sense cannot penetrate, but which is all patent to the eye of faith. V. 'l'nE MERCIFUL ASPECT OF Gon's THREATS. (Ver. 6.) The perseverance of the prophet's prayer is justified by the event. God's threat is not executed. Judgmeut is arrested on the way. Does God, then, change? No; but circumstances do, and with them his adjusted mode of action. The unexecuted threat is not unmeaning nor unnecessary. I. It forewarns of the coming evil. When the black clouds rise we know the storm is brewing. So when God speaks we know he is going to act and bow. A threat is a conditional prophecy. It tells us exactly what, in given circum- stances, we may expect. Knowledge of the evil coming is a prerequisite to any measure of precaution. 2. It thereby often turns from the path in which the evil lies. .All actions have their proper issues, and whatever changes the one changes the other. God's judgments are directed against us as transgressors in a certain way. If we cease so to transgress the reason for them is gor..e, and they will not be sent. The knowledge of these two facts operates as a powerful incentive to reformation, and so a means to the arrest of impending judgment. We face a different way when we adequately realize that we thereby face a different end. 3. It displays Gu<£s character in a most attractive aspect. He warns before he strikes. H,:i warns that he may not need to strike at all. His threats are the merciful heralds of his judgments, offering terms of peace before the stern hour of intervention arrives. "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." A threat like that is only a promise in disguise. It speaks of a gra.cioUB heart which " wills not that any should perish, but tha, all should come to repentance." V ers. 7-9. -Eighteousne,ss to the plumb-line. There has been reprieve after reprieve. The enemy of God's wrath has been met in the breach by intercessory prayer, and, for the time, turned back. Once and again the bounds of vengeance have been cried off. But respite is not escape. There is a certain limit beyond which the system of Divine reprieves cannot go. And that limit has now been reached.. The locust has been dis- appointed of his meal. The fire has been beaten back from the tinder. But the criminal is obdurate, and now the plumb-line is applied to the bowing wall, and the word goes forth to overturn and destroy utterly. In this graphic delineation we notice- I. THE WALL. This figure for Israel (ver. 8) suggests: 1. Something built. Other nations grow up as it may happen, shaped by the circumstances in which they arise, Tbe nation of Israel was not a natural growth, but a Divine creation. "This people have I formed for myself." So with the Church. It is not a voluntary association. It is not a human institution. It is a vineyard of God's husbandry, a house of God'a building (Matt. xvi. 18). Every stone in it is quarried and chiselled and le.id by the Divine hand. 2. Something strong. A wall has substance, stability, resisting power, and is in Scripture emblematic of these things (Ezek. iv. 3; Isa. xxv. 4; Zech. ii, 6). In regard to these qualities Israel is a wall. God is" known within her palaces for a Refuge." Salvation is to her for walls and bulwarks. In these things is her strength; and fortified thus, she" shall not be moved" (Ps. :xlvi. 6). 3. Something upright. "Made by a plumb-line." God" made man upright." A.nd he made Israel upright. What- ever comes out of his hands comes out of them free of any moral twist. It is made according to righteousness. Formed into a nation by God, Israel had a constitution, laws, and administration theoretically faultless. The uprightness of this God-built OH. vu.1-17.J THE BOOK OF AMOS. 147