The woe against Judah. In the form of this woe, as compared with those before, is nothing to indicate the difference of underlying principles which it involves. A woe on a Hebrew and a heathen have little in common but the inevitable connection between punishment and sin. I. THE SINS FOR WHICH GOD VISITS RESPECTIVELY THOSE WHO KNOW HIM AND THOSE WHO KNOW HIM NOT ARE VERY DIFFERENT . The six woes against the heathen are fathered exclusively on... read more
The destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans is here briefly foretold ( Jeremiah 17:27 ; Hosea 8:14 ; 2 Kings 25:9 , 2 Kings 25:10 ). read more
For three transgressions of Judah etc. - Rup.: “Here too there is no difference of Jew and Gentile. The word of God, a just judge, spareth no man’s person. whom sin joins in one, the sentence of the Judge disjoins not in punishment” Romans 2:12. “As many as have sinned without law, shall also perish without law, and as many as have signed in the law, shall be judged by the law.” Jerome: “Those other nations, Damascus and the rest, he upbraids not for having cast away the law of God, and... read more
I will send a fire upon Judah - All know now, how Jerusalem, its temple, and its palaces perished by fire, first by Nebuchadnezzar, then by the Romans. Yet some two centuries passed, before that first destruction came. The ungodly Jews flattered themselves that it would never come. So we know that a “fiery stream” Daniel 7:10 will issue and come forth from Him; “a fire” that “consumeth to destruction” Job 31:12, all who, whether or no they are in the body of the Church, are not of the heavenly... read more
Amos 2:4-5. For three transgressions of Judah, &c. Having denounced judgments against the heathen nations, he now proceeds to denounce them against God’s professing people, who were more guilty and inexcusable, as sinning against greater light, and abusing greater advantages than those with which the heathen were favoured. Because they have despised the law of the Lord The law which was holy, just, and good, and which raised them in dignity above every other nation. In despising this... read more
1:1-2:16 JUDGMENTS ON VARIOUS NATIONSIt seems that Amos announced most, if not all, of his message in Bethel, an important religious and commercial centre near Israel’s southern border (see 7:10). He gained the attention of his audience by first announcing God’s judgment on Israel’s neighbours. This news no doubt pleased his hearers, but for Amos it was part of his build-up to the climax, which announced God’s judgment on Israel.The first three nations that Amos condemned were foreign nations... read more
because. despised, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Leviticus 26:14-15 ; Leviticus 26:43 ). App-92 . commandments = statutes. their lies = their idols. Compare 2 Kings 17:15 .Psalms 40:4 .Isaiah 28:15 .Jeremiah 16:17-20 read more
"Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have rejected the law of Jehovah, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have cause them to err, after which their fathers did walk. But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.This is that famous "oracle" against the southern kingdom. (See additional comments on this in the Introduction and under Amos 2.)The frantic efforts... read more
Amos 2:5. I will send a fire upon Judah— The war commenced in Judah, at the end of the reign of Jotham son of Uzziah, when the Lord sent against him Rezin king of Assyria, and Pekah king of Israel. See, for the history here alluded to, 2 Kings 15:37; 2Ki 16:7; 2Ki 18:7 and 2 Chronicles 28:0. read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 2:4-5
§ 2. Judah is summoned to judgment, the prophet thus passing from alien nations, through the most favoured people, to Israel, the subject of his prophecy. read more