The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 152

Vere. 7-9.-The plwmb-line of judgment. The pictorial style of Amos here set~ before us in an impressive and memorable wa.y a. great truth. Whether in a dream ,,r in a prophetic ecstasy, the prophet beheld one with a. plumb-line standing by a. wall, He recognized in the wa.ll the palaces, the temples, the city ramparts of Samaria.; in the figure, a representation of the eternal Ruler of the nations; in the r,lumb-line, the emblem of just and orderly procedure. And a voice explained the vision as predictive of the destruction and ruin of the capital of Israel, in execution of the decree of Divine justice against the unfaithful, sinful, rebellious, and impenitent people. I. THE BIN OF MAN MAY EXHAUST THE PATIEN(,'E OF Goo. It must not, indeed, be suppoaed that the Divine nature is susceptible of capricious changes, such as men are liable to experience. But we have to consider God as the moral Governor of the nations of mankind. And we are taught that he is, as we say, in earnest in the laws which he promulgates, and in the promises and threats by which he accompanies them. He will not continue to threaten, and then falsify his own words, by withhold- ing punishment from those who withhold repentance. With no weariness, with no irritability, but with o. righteous judgment and a compassionate heart, be will execute his threats. Il. THE JUST RETRIBUTION OF GOD 18 ACCOllDING TO UNCHANGING AND INFLEXIBLE BULES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. In human punishment there is often an element of ea.price and an element of vindictiveness. From the Divine mind both a.re for ever absent. No sinner can complain, or ever will be a.hie to complain, that he bas been punished beyond his deserts. On the contrary, he will ever recognize that wisdom and right- eousness have characterized all the appointments of the eternal King. The plumb-line is employed not only in construction but in destruction. And God who has made men's moral nature, and who rules over it and in it, will not violate his principles of righteousness in the administration of his government or in the execution of his sentences. Ill. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IS A POWERFUL ENCOURAGEMENT TO REPENTANCE AND OBEDIENCE. It is a dissuasive from sin and impenitence, inasmuch as it is a guarantee that rebellion shall not go unpunished. It is an inducement to repentance, for it is part of God's unchanging purpose that the penitent and submissive shall receive pardon and acceptance. And it is not to be forgotten that God's purposes of mercy a.re as much distinguished by law as a.re his purposes of punishment. Mercy is in accordance with the "plumb-line" of Divine righteousness, and in his gospel God appears, as he is, just and" the Justifier of him who believeth in Jesus."-T. Vers. 14, 15.-'IVie herdsman becomes a; prophet. The simple dignity of A.mos's reply to Ama.ziah muet strike every reader with admiration. The priest of Bethel treated him as a professional prophet, who bad a calling which he was constrained to fulfil in some place or other. But A.mos did not prophesy because he had been trained to the prophetic vocation; he prophesied because the Lord constrained him to do so. The Lord bad mnde him very senHitive to the prevailing sins of his countrymen, bad sent him with a message of warning to the conrt of Sa.maria, and had imparted to him supernatural qualifications for the fulfilment of this sacred ministry. I. Goo IS NOT DEPENDENT UPON EDUCATION OR LEARNING FOB THE QUALIFICATION OF THE AGENTS HE SELECTS. Amos was not the first or the last unlettered, intellectu- ally uncultivated man employed by Infinite Wisdom upon a high and sacred ministry of usefulness. There were in Palestine "schools of the prophets," but in these Amos was not trained. The spiritual power, which is the true" note" of a prophetic calling, is not confined to those who a.re reared in seats of learning, who have acquired the scholarship which is imparted by the intellectual discipline of school and university. Il. GoD 0AN, HOWEVER, GIVE AN EDUCATION ANl> TRAINING OF HIS OWN, EFFECTIVE FOB THE PURPOSES OF A BPillITUAL MINISTRY. It is a common mistake to suppose that those who have not been educated in the way which is familiar to us have not been educated at all. The Lord taught Amos in the solitude of the fields, the valleys, the hills of Judrea, as he tended the cattle, as he gathered the fruit of the sycomore. His education was, in a sense, very thorough. It gave him insight into th~ mighty works of the Creator, into his wonderful ways in dealing with the children of men, into the oecrets of the human heart. His writings are a sufficient proof of his familiarity with 152 THE BOOK OF AMOS. Ccn. vn. 1-17.