"I beset all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me," declares the LORD. Sermons
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 experiences of the nations. Some of these ills appear to be beyond human control; others of them are more or less attributable to human ignorance, to human neglect, to unbridled lust and passion. The peculiarity of their treatment in the books of Scripture is not in their description, but in the connection shown to exist between them and the moral life and probation of man, and the righteous government of God. II. FOR WHAT INTENT THESE CALAMITIES WERE INFLICTED. They are not here regarded simply as events; even the philosophical historian does not regard them thus. 1. They convince the observant and pious mind of the concern of God in human affairs, and of God's indignation with human sin. Certain philosophers imagined the great rulers of the universe to be indifferent to all the affairs of men. The Scriptures teach us that nothing escapes Divine observation, that nothing eludes Divine justice, God's censure, or approval. 2. They induce, in the case of the right minded, repentance and reformation. When God's judgments are abroad, the inhabitants of the earth will learn righteousness. If events teach men that "the way of transgressors is hard," they may also teach them that "whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every child whom he receiveth." "Before I was afflicted," said the psalmist, "I went astray; but now have I kept thy Word." III. IN WHAT SPIRIT THESE CALAMITIES ARE RECEIVED. 1. There can be no question that, in many instances, they are the occasion of hardening of the heart. As in the case of Pharaoh King of Egypt, afflictions may increase insensibility and rebelliousness. 2. There are cases in which chastisements of the kind here described produce national humiliation and repentance. Such was the case with Nineveh, even when Jonah preached and foretold the city's doom; the people repented even before the calamity came, and so averted it. And there were instances in the history of stiff-necked Israel where chastisement led to general abasement and repentance. 3. There are cases in which calamity fails to produce a general reformation, but is nevertheless the means of effecting in individuals a genuine repentance and a sincere conversion unto God. - T. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. There is a material difference between what may be called permissive and active providences; and between such as are disciplinary, and such as are strictly punitive. The afflictions enumerated here were sent by the direct visitation of God for disciplinary purposes. Hence the people were responsible to God for the moral effect of His providential visitations upon them. Just so with every man under God's government. A thousand evils may come on me, and I may be personally innocent in relation to them; but God will judge me as to the uses I make of these visitations — the moral effects they produce upon me in the way of chastening and reformation. 1. Consider, then, that God's hand or purpose is in every providential visitation. 2. That God has a specific moral end in every visitation that He lays upon us. 3. That these providences are sure to accomplish their mission upon us, namely, to chasten, soften, reclaim, or else to harden, render obdurate, and ripen for final destruction, as in the case of Pharaoh, ancient Israel, and a multitude of others. 4. Afflictions of every kind should humble us, awaken us to serious reflection and earnest inquiry as to their meaning. They are never sent in vain. A gracious purpose is behind them, or a fatherly rebuke is in them, or the dark cloud is ominous of coming wrath if we haste not to repent. () Homilist. 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. I. THE CHASTISEMENTS ARE OFTEN OVERWHELMINGLY TERRIFIC. 1. He sometimes employs blind nature, famine, drought, blight, pestilence, sword. 2. He sometimes employs human wickedness. II. THEY ARE DESIGNED FOR MORAL RESTORATION. 1. Men are alienated from God. 2. Their alienation is the cause of all their misery. See the benevolence of all these chastisements. They are to restore souls. III. THE CHASTISEMENTS OFTEN FAIL IN THEIR GRAND DESIGN. "Yet have ye not returned unto Me." This shows — 1. The force of human depravity. 2. The force of human freedom. Almighty goodness does not force us into goodness. He treats us as free agents and responsible beings. () 1. It touched them in their temporal comfort, Nothing else would reach such obstinate sinners. To a good man the Divine love and favour is the highest of all blessings: Israel could only be reached by loss of temporal comfort. 2. The chastisement took various forms in order to reach them all. 3. Stroke after stroke fell upon them, that if their hearts were at all softened by the troubles they had just known, the new trouble might lead them to true repentance; and so that every class of the community might be reached and won for God. A glance at the five forms which the visitation took will show how it reached every circle. II. THE PURPOSE OF THEIR SORROWS. God wanted to bring them home to Himself. III. THE FAILURE OF THIS CHASTISEMENT. God had done all that even He could do to make it impressive. Chastisement may fail. "Many meet the gods, but few salute them." Sorrows which might purify are lost upon us because they do not make us acknowledge Him. God can do nothing more, He must leave men to their sin till the blow fall and the ruin irretrievable has come. () Expository Outlines. I. THE DESIGN OF GOD, IN ALL HIS DISPENSATIONS, IS TO BRING MEN FROM THEIR WANDERINGS BACK AGAIN TO HIMSELF. No truth can be clearer than that we have departed from Him. Being anxious for our restoration, God is pleased to chastise us. He does not afflict willingly, as is evident from —1. His nature. He is a Being of boundless compassion. 2. The patience He exercises. 3. The warnings He gives. II. THAT THESE DISPENSATIONS FREQUENTLY FAIL TO ANSWER THE END FOR WHICH THEY WERE INTENDED. Happily it is not so in all cases. It is in very many. They are chastised in vain, and the complaint from heaven is heard. "Yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord." In the visitations here referred to, three things appear. 1. They are fearful in their character. Some light stroke might be unheeded. 2. Frequent in their infliction. If a single trial is unavailing, surely one coming after another would bring them to consider their ways, and turn to Him that smote them. 3. Marked by certain features which showed the hand of God in the clearest manner. "Rained on one city, and not on another." III. WHEN SUCH DISPENSATIONS ARE DISREGARDED THE MOST DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES ARE LIKELY TO ENSUE. "Therefore, thus will I do unto thee." () One day, seeing some men in a field, I went up to them, and found they were cutting up the trunk of an old tree. I said, "That is slow work, why not spilt it asunder with the beetle and wedges?" "Ah, this wood is so cross-grained and stubborn that it requires something sharper than wedges to get it to pieces." "Yes," I replied, "and that is the way God is obliged to deal with obstinate, cross-grained sinners; if they will not yield to one of His instruments, you may depend on it He will make use of another."()
People Amos, Israelites, MalachiPlaces Bashan, Bethel, Egypt, Gilgal, Gomorrah, Harmon, Samaria, SodomTopics Affirmation, Bread, Cities, Cleanness, Declares, Haven't, Kept, Lack, Places, Return, Returned, Says, Stomachs, Teeth, Town, Towns, YetOutline 1. He reproves Israel for oppression,
4. for idolatry,
6. and for their incorrigibleness.
Dictionary of Bible Themes Amos 4:6 5185 stomach
5447 poverty, causes
6194 impenitence, warnings Amos 4:2-13 8807 profanity Amos 4:4-11 7233 Israel, northern kingdom Amos 4:6-11 4843 plague
6628 conversion, God's demand Library Preparation for Advent
Westminster Abbey. November 15, 1874. Amos iv. 12. "Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel." We read to-day, for the first lesson, parts of the prophecy of Amos. They are somewhat difficult, here and there, to understand; but nevertheless Amos is perhaps the grandest of the Hebrew prophets, next to Isaiah. Rough and homely as his words are, there is a strength, a majesty, and a terrible earnestness in them, which it is good to listen to; and specially good now that Advent draws near, and we have …
Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other SermonsApril 3 Evening
Ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning.--AMOS 4:11. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?--We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us.--The wages of sin is death; but the gift …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path Smitten in Vain
'Come to Beth-el, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years: 5. And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings; for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord God. 6. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord. 7. And also I have withholden the rain …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture God's Controversy with Man. Rev. Charles Prest.
"Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel; and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel."--AMOS iv. 12. This chapter refers to the condition of Israel at the time of this prophecy, and to the expostulation and threatened procedure of God concerning the nation. God's people had revolted from Him; they had sunk into idolatry; they had been often reproved, but had hardened their necks, and therefore the Lord, after recapitulating the calamities which had befallen them, …
Knowles King—The Wesleyan Methodist Pulpit in Malvern The Helpless State of the Sinner under Condemnation.
1, 2. The sinner urged to consider how he can be saved from this impending ruin.--3. Not by any thing he can offer.--4. Nor by any thing he can endure.--5. Nor by any thing hr can do in the course of future duty.--6-8. Nor by any alliance with fellow-sinners on earth or in hell.--9. Nor by any interposition or intercession of angels or saints in his favor. Hint of the only method to be afterwards more largely explained. The lamentation of a sinner in this miserable condition. 1. SINNER, thou hast …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul Whether a Preparation or Disposition for Grace is Required on the Part of Man
Whether a Preparation or Disposition for Grace is required on the part of man We proceed to the second article thus: 1. It seems that no preparation or disposition for grace is required on the part of man. For the apostle says (Rom. 4:4): "Now to him that worketh [40] is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt." But a man could not of his own free will prepare himself for grace, unless by an operation. The meaning of grace would then be taken away. 2. Again, a man who walks in sin does not …
Aquinas—Nature and Grace Whether the Notional Acts Proceed from Something?
Objection 1: It would seem that the notional acts do not proceed from anything. For if the Father begets the Son from something, this will be either from Himself or from something else. If from something else, since that whence a thing is generated exists in what is generated, it follows that something different from the Father exists in the Son, and this contradicts what is laid down by Hilary (De Trin. vii) that, "In them nothing diverse or different exists." If the Father begets the Son from Himself, …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether by Penance one Sin Can be Pardoned Without Another?
Objection 1: It would seem that by Penance one sin can be pardoned without another. For it is written (Amos 4:7): "I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city; one piece was rained upon: and the piece whereupon I rained not, withered." These words are expounded by Gregory, who says (Hom. x super Ezech.): "When a man who hates his neighbor, breaks himself of other vices, rain falls on one part of the city, leaving the other part withered, for there are some men who, …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Whether any Preparation and Disposition for Grace is Required on Man's Part?
Objection 1: It would seem that no preparation or disposition for grace is required on man's part, since, as the Apostle says (Rom. 4:4), "To him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned according to grace, but according to debt." Now a man's preparation by free-will can only be through some operation. Hence it would do away with the notion of grace. Objection 2: Further, whoever is going on sinning, is not preparing himself to have grace. But to some who are going on sinning grace is given, as is …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica Sovereignty of God in Administration
"The LORD hath prepared His Throne In the heavens; and His Kingdom ruleth over all" (Psa. 103:19). First, a word concerning the need for God to govern the material world. Suppose the opposite for a moment. For the sake of argument, let us say that God created the world, designed and fixed certain laws (which men term "the laws of Nature"), and that He then withdrew, leaving the world to its fortune and the out-working of these laws. In such a case, we should have a world over which there was no intelligent, …
Arthur W. Pink—The Sovereignty of God The River of Egypt, Rhinocorura. The Lake of Sirbon.
Pliny writes, "From Pelusium are the intrenchments of Chabrias: mount Casius: the temple of Jupiter Casius: the tomb of Pompey the Great: Ostracine: Arabia is bounded sixty-five miles from Pelusium: soon after begins Idumea and Palestine from the rising up of the Sirbon lake." Either my eyes deceive me, while I read these things,--or mount Casius lies nearer Pelusium, than the lake of Sirbon. The maps have ill placed the Sirbon between mount Casius and Pelusium. Sirbon implies burning; the name of …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica The World, Created by God, Still Cherished and Protected by Him. Each and all of Its Parts Governed by his Providence.
1. Even the wicked, under the guidance of carnal sense, acknowledge that God is the Creator. The godly acknowledge not this only, but that he is a most wise and powerful governor and preserver of all created objects. In so doing, they lean on the Word of God, some passages from which are produced. 2. Refutation of the Epicureans, who oppose fortune and fortuitous causes to Divine Providence, as taught in Scripture. The sun, a bright manifestation of Divine Providence. 3. Figment of the Sophists as …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion Standing with the People
We have found two simple and axiomatic social principles in the fundamental convictions of Jesus: The sacredness of life and personality, and the spiritual solidarity of men. Now confront a mind mastered by these convictions with the actual conditions of society, with the contempt for life and the denial of social obligation existing, and how will he react? How will he see the duty of the strong, and his own duty? DAILY READINGS First Day: The Social Platform of Jesus And he came to Nazareth, where …
Walter Rauschenbusch—The Social Principles of Jesus The Wisdom of God
The next attribute is God's wisdom, which is one of the brightest beams of the Godhead. He is wise in heart.' Job 9:9. The heart is the seat of wisdom. Cor in Hebraeo sumitur pro judicio. Pineda. Among the Hebrews, the heart is put for wisdom.' Let men of understanding tell me:' Job 34:44: in the Hebrew, Let men of heart tell me.' God is wise in heart, that is, he is most wise. God only is wise; he solely and wholly possesses all wisdom; therefore he is called, the only wise God.' I Tim 1:17. All …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity False Profession.
As there are trees and herbs that are wholly right and noble, fit indeed for the vineyard, so there are also their semblance, but wild; not right, but ignoble. There is the grape, and the wild grape; the vine, and the wild vine; the rose, and the canker-rose; flowers, and wild flowers; the apple, and the wild apple, which we call the crab. Now, fruit from these wild things, however they may please the children to play with, yet the prudent and grave count them of little or no value. There are also …
John Bunyan—The Riches of Bunyan The Sinner Sentenced.
1, 2.The sinner called upon to hear his sentence.--3. God's law does now in general pronounce a curse.--4. It pronounces death.--5. And being turned into hell.--6. The judgement day shall come.--7, 8. The solemnity of that grand process described according to scriptural representations of it.--9. With a particular illustration of the sentence, "Depart, accursed," &c.--10. The execution wilt certainly and immediately follow.--11. The sinner warned to prepare for enduring it. The reflection of a sinner …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul The Careless Sinner Awakened.
1, 2. It is too supposable a case that this Treatise may come into such hands.--3, 4. Since many, not grossly vicious, fail under that character.--5, 6. A more particular illustration of this case, with an appeal to the reader, whether it be not his own.--7 to 9. Expostulation with such.--10 to 12. More particularly--From acknowledged principles relating to the Nature of Got, his universal presence, agency, and perfection.--13. From a view of personal obligations to him.--14. From the danger Of this …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul The Prophet Hosea.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. That the kingdom of Israel was the object of the prophet's ministry is so evident, that upon this point all are, and cannot but be, agreed. But there is a difference of opinion as to whether the prophet was a fellow-countryman of those to whom he preached, or was called by God out of the kingdom of Judah. The latter has been asserted with great confidence by Maurer, among others, in his Observ. in Hos., in the Commentat. Theol. ii. i. p. 293. But the arguments …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament This Doctrine Confirmed by Proofs from Scripture.
1. Some imagine that God elects or reprobates according to a foreknowledge of merit. Others make it a charge against God that he elects some and passes by others. Both refuted, 1. By invincible arguments; 2. By the testimony of Augustine. 2. Who are elected, when, in whom, to what, for what reason. 3. The reason is the good pleasure of God, which so reigns in election that no works, either past or future, are taken into consideration. This proved by notable declarations of one Savior and passages …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion A Holy Life the Beauty of Christianity: Or, an Exhortation to Christians to be Holy. By John Bunyan.
Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever.'--[Psalm 93:5] London, by B. W., for Benj. Alsop, at the Angel and Bible, in the Poultrey. 1684. THE EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. This is the most searching treatise that has ever fallen under our notice. It is an invaluable guide to those sincere Christians, who, under a sense of the infinite importance of the salvation of an immortal soul, and of the deceitfulness of their hearts, sigh and cry, "O Lord of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3 Salvation Published from the Mountains
O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid: say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! I t would be improper to propose an alteration, though a slight one, in the reading of a text, without bearing my testimony to the great value of our English version, which I believe, in point of simplicity, strength, and fidelity, is not likely to be excelled by a new translation …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 1 Links Amos 4:6 NIV
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