The prophet enforces the threat by denouncing woe on those that trust to their covenant relation to God, expecting the day when he would punish the heathen for their sakes, and thinking that external, heartless worship was acceptable to him. read more
Amos explains the dangers of this judgment day by illustrations drawn from pastoral life, equivalent to the rushing from Charybdis into Scylla. Every place is full of danger—the open country, the shelter of the house. Jerome applies the passage to the fate of the kingdom in general: "Fugientibus vobis a facie Nabuchodonosor leonis occurrent Medi, Persae, demum Antiochus Epiphanes, qui moretur in templo et vos instar colubri mordeat, nequaquam foris in Babylone, sed intra terminos terrae... read more
Selfishness in terror. "As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him." The Israelites rested their hope of deliverance from every kind of foreign danger upon their outward connection with the covenant made with their forefathers; hence many put their trust in the days spoken of in the context, when Jehovah would judge all the heathen, expecting that he would then in all probability raise Israel to might... read more
The character of the day of the Lord is enforced with reiterated earnestness ( Amos 5:18 ) by an appeal to the conscience of e hearers. Do you not feel in your inmost hearts that in the case of such guilt as yours the Lord can visit but to punish? read more
Woe unto you that desire - for yourselves.The Day of the Lord - There were “mockers in those days” 2 Peter 3:3-4; Jude 1:18, as there are now, and as there shall be in the last. And as the “scoffers in the last days” 2 Peter 3:3-4; Jude 1:18 shall say, “Where is the promise of His coming?” so these said, “let Him make speed and hasten His work, that we way see it, and let the council of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it” Isaiah 5:19. Jeremiah complained; “they say... read more
As if a man, did flee from a lion - The Day of the Lord is a day of terror on every side. Before and behind, without and within, abroad under the roof of heaven, or under the shelter of his own, everywhere is terror and death. The Syrian bear is said to have been more fierce and savage than the lion. For its fierceness and voracity Daniel 7:5, God made it, in Daniel’s vision, a symbol of the empire of the Medes. From both lion and bear there might be escape by flight. When the man had “leaned... read more
Shall not the Day of the Lord be darkness? - He had described that Day as a day of inevitable destruction, such its man’s own conscience and guilty fears anticipate, and then appeals to their own consciences, “is it not so, as I have said?” People’s consciences are truer than their intellect. However, they may employ the subtlety of their intellect to dull their conscience, they feel, in their heart of hearts, that there is a Judge, that guilt is punished, that they are guilty. The soul is a... read more
Amos 5:18-20. Wo unto you that desire the day of the Lord Scoffingly, not believing any such day will come: for this seems to be spoken of some among them, who, in mockery, expressed a desire of seeing those things which the prophet predicted brought to pass. Or, it may respect those who, notwithstanding all the prophet had said, still expected God would appear in their favour, not to their destruction: see Isaiah 5:19. To what end is it for you? To what purpose should you desire to see... read more
The day of the Lord (5:16-27)God’s terrible judgment will result in grief and mourning throughout the nation, in city and country areas alike (16-17). This intervention of God in judgment is commonly called the day of the Lord. Israelites thought that this day would be one of victory and rejoicing for them because their enemies would be destroyed. Amos tells them that when God acts in judgment, he will act against all the wicked, and Israel will be the first to suffer. There will be no way of... read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 5:18-20
The day of the Lord the night of the impenitent. Divine judgments will be as sharp as they are sure. Sent in wrath, proportioned to guilt, falling on the vulnerable points, they are the least desirable of all imaginable things. The very thought of them should be sobering, and the sure prospect of them overwhelming. Now, the scoffer is the worst type of sinner, and will, in the nature of the case, be the greatest sufferer when judgment comes. He is at the same time the most utterly blinded... read more