The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 161

ing to character end capacity they must be treated, What is bad for the table may be good for tbe dunghill. The life of many had become a curse, and it only remained to stop !hat, and make their death a warning. That is one crop which even the sluggard's garden cannot refuse to bear (Prov. xxiv. 30-32). IV. THE OCCASION OF BUCH A HABVEBT HOME TOO DEPLORABLE FOB WORDS. (Ver. 3, "Hush I") When judgment is overwhelming, silence is fittio[{, 1. Aa opposed to songs. These had resounded from the palace. 'fhey spoke of mirth and revelry. But they would be turned into yells ere Jong. In awestruck anticipation of the utterance of pain and horror, the prophet bids the revellers be silent. 2. As opposed to lamen- tations. You cannot always" give sorrow words." 'l'here is a grief that" speaks not"- the grief of the overwrought heart. "I was dumb,openin11: not the mouth, because this stroke was thine." Such grief would befit a time like this. Words, however strong, must be beneath the occasion. Let them then remain unspoken, and let the eloquence of silence meet the overwhelming severity of the visitation. 3. As oppo-~ed to reproaches. Israel had outlived the period of probation, and therefore of expostulation. lt;s "great transgression" was committed, its course unchangeably chosen, its doom sealed. The condemned and sentenced murderer is removed to his cell in silence. In sterner measures than abuse of words must his crime be expiate1l. His very life is to be exacted, and windy denunciation may well be spared. " Let him alone" is of all measures the most sternly significant. It is the preternatural hush of the elemental world, presaging the thunder-crash that shall make the very earth to reel. Vers. 4--6.-The covetous man's way. Punishment, however stem; is proportioned rigidly to sin. They answer to each other as face to face. From the contemplation of Israel's deplorable fate we turn to the horrors of her crime. And they are dark beyond exaggerating. To idolatry, deth!oning God and robbing him of his glory, is added covetousness defrauding and destroying men. Indeed, the one is but a department of the other. The worst type of mammon-worshipper, the covetous, is an idolater in a. very real sense. And Israel's covetousness, detached as it was from all religious restraints, and operating in a purely heathen connection, was of the most aggravated and repulsive kind. Acting in character, observe that- L IT SELECTS AN EASY PREY. (Ver. 4, "the poor; n "the meek.") 1. The poor cannot defend themselves. Their poverty makes them helpless, and the weakness which ought to commend them to protection commends them to plunder. Covetousness, the meanest of the vices in any circumstances, goes down to the nadir of paltriness when it wrings its gold "from the hard hands" of the poor. 2. The meek will not resist. Their position and disposition are both against it. 'l'hey would "rather suffer wrong." And they get enough of it to suffer. Weak on one hand, and unresisting on the other, they are a doubly tempting prey to the pitiless vulture's beak. IL IT HAS lllUBDEB IN ITS HE.ABT. "Gape to destroy,» as the beast of prey its victim at hand. There is a covetousness that puts its own paltriest gain above another's life. It will have men's money although their life should pay the forfeit. 'l'his is the very spirit of murder. To make money, at the necessary cost of human life, is to break the sixth commandment as well as the eighth. III. IT BANKERS AFTER SUNDAY TRADING. (Ver. 5, "When is the new moon over," etc.?) These people retained the form of sabbath observance, but the reality had been altogether abandoned. They occupied its sacred hours with wishes that they were over. "Sabbath days and sabbath work are a burden to carnal hearts" (Henry). The hours drag heavily. Time-killing devices are exhausted. "Behold, what a. wea.ri- ness it is!" is the verdict on God's day, given weekly through all their years. "When sha.ll I come and appear beforo Goel?" a question that the spiritually minded ask, is one which the carnally minded cannot even understand. They are making markets mentally in the very house of God, and, with the words of worship on their lips, "their heart goes after covetousness." From Sunday devising to Sunday transacting of business the step is but a small one-too small not to be taken when opportunity and tifmptation meet. IV. IT PRAOTIBEB UNFAIR DEALING. (Vers. 5, 6.) As they fear not God, neither do they r,gard wan. When religion is abandoned, morality is undermined. Given greed present, and religious restraint absent, and dishonest dealing is inevitable. l. AMOS, Jll 162 THE BOOK OF AMOS. [err. vm. 1-14.