Amos 4:11

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Amos 4:6-13

Here, I. God complains of his people's incorrigibleness under the judgments which he had brought upon them in order to their humiliation and reformation. He had by several tokens intimated to them his displeasure, with this design, that they might by repentance make their peace with him; but it had not that effect. 1. It is five times repeated in these verses, as the burden of the charge, ?Yet have you not returned unto me, saith the Lord; you have been several times corrected, but in vain;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Amos 4:11

I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah ,.... Either their houses were burnt, or their bodies consumed by fire from heaven, with lightning; not whole cities, but the habitations of some particular persons, or they themselves: and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning ; some escaped such an awful calamity, their houses were not consumed, while others were; and their persons were safe, while others, just by them, were struck dead at once: yet... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Amos 4:11

I have overthrown some of you - In the destruction of your cities I have shown my judgments as signally as I did in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah; and those of you that did escape were as "brands plucked out of the fire;" if not consumed, yet much scorched. And as the judgment was evidently from my hand, so was the deliverance; "and yet ye have not returned unto me, saith the Lord." read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Amos 4:11

Verse 11 Amos proceeds further, and says, that God had used a severity towards his chosen people similar to that which formerly he showed towards Sodom and Gomorrah. That, we know, was a memorable evidence of God’s wrath, which ought to have filled all ages with dread, as it ought also at this day: and Scripture, whenever it graphically paints the wrath of God, sets Sodom and Gomorrah before our eyes. It was indeed a dreadful judgment, when God destroyed those cities with fire from heaven, when... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 4:1-13

§ 2. Second address. The prophet reproves the voluptuous women of Samaria, and fortells their captivity ( Amos 4:1-3 ); with bitter irony he describes the people's devotion to idolatry ( Amos 4:4 , Amos 4:5 ): he shows how incorrigible they have proved themselves under God's chastisements ( Amos 4:6-11 ); therefore they must expect further punishment, if so be that they will learn to fear the Lord ( Amos 4:12 , Amos 4:13 ). read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 4:6-11

National calamities are Divine chastisements. Graphic and morally impressive is the catalogue of Divine judgments which the inspired prophet here draws up and puts upon record for the admonition of future ages. I. OF WHAT THESE CALAMITIES CONSIST . They are thus enumerated in the several verses. 1 . Famine. 2 . Drought. 3 . Blight. 4 . Pestilence. 5 . War. 6 . Destruction. Alas! from the beginnings of human history such have been the sad and weary... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 4:6-11

God's government of the world a chastising government. "And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places" etc. In these verses the Almighty describes the various corrective measures which he had employed for effecting a moral reformation in the character of the Israelites. At the end of each chastising measure which he describes, he marks their obstinate impenitence with the expression, "Yet have ye not returned unto me." As if he had... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 4:6-13

Judgment the Divine retort to human sin. This is the sad history of God's vain contendings with an incorrigible nation. In Amos 3:1-15 . is an account of the mercies by which he at first had tried to draw them. All that had failed utterly. They met privilege with inappreciation, friendship with rebuff, and favour with incredible disregard. Then he had changed his tactics. They would not be drawn, perhaps they might be driven. The experiment was worth the making, and the record of it is... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 4:11

The fifth visitation is the earthquake ( Deuteronomy 29:23 ). I have overthrown. This is the word used to describe the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah ( Genesis 19:25 ; Jeremiah 20:16 ), and it seems better to refer the occurrence mentioned to some such convulsions of nature which caused widespread destruction, than, as Keil and others, "to the utter confusion of the state by which Israel was brought to the verge of ruin." We do not know anything about the particular earthquake to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 4:11

Burning, yet not turning. From Moses to Amos was about seven hundred years. It is a long time with men and the works of men. But it is little in the two eternities through which the purposes of God extend. There were prophecies which it had taken all this period to mature; courses of treatment for the cure of sin pursued through all the interval, and whose last measure had not yet been taken. One of these finds record here. A new event looks out at us in the guise of an ancient prophecy ( ... read more

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