Amos 2:13-16

PUNISHMENT PROMISED, THE COVENANT NATIONSISRAEL

TEXT: Amos 2:13-16

13

Behold, I will press you in your place, as a cart presseth that is full of sheaves.

14

And flight shall perish from the swift; and the strong shall not strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself;

15

neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself; neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself;

16

and he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith Jehovah.

QUERIES

a.

How will God press them in their place, like a cart. full of sheaves?

b.

What is the prophet telling the nation in Amos 2:14-16?

PARAPHRASE

Look, I am going to stop you in your tracks like a cart that is loaded too full of grain sheaves to move. The fastest runners will not have time to escape; the strength of the strong men will not avail; the great and influential will not escape; the long line of bowmen will give way; even the warriors mounted on horses shall be overcome! The bravest of the brave will only be able to make an ignominious escape by shedding his clothing by which the enemy might seize him!

SUMMARY

Israel will be paralyzed! None shall escape the judgment that is about to come.

COMMENT

Amos 2:13. PRESS YOU IN YOUR PLACE, AS A CART PRESSETH. FULL OF SHEAVES. Conjecture as to how this verse is to be interpreted is varied. Pusey says, God bore His people, as the wain (cart) bears the sheaves. His longsuffering was, as it were, worn out by them. He was straitened under them, as the wain groans under the sheaves with which it is over-full. Laetsch says, The threshing cart consisted of three or more rollers set in a heavy wooden frame surmounted by the driver's seat. These rollers were attached to wheels on the outside of the framework, and if either the wheels or the rollers were clogged by the sheaves of grain over which the sledge was drawn by oxen, the sledge was stopped from further progress until the obstructing sheaves had been removed. Lange says, A more appropriate comparison is found in the pressure by which a threshing cart threshes the sheaves. K & D, say, The comparison instituted here to the pressure of a cart filled with sheaves. the object of press is wanting, but may easily be supplied from the thought, namely, the ground over which the cart is driven. We have chosen our own interpretation which we feel is warranted from the context. It would seem as if Amos is using the figure of a cart stopped in its tracks by being too full to pictorialize how God is going to stop Israel in its tracks. Israel's military machinery, running smoothly under Jeroboam II (permitted by God), rolling on to victory, would suddenly be stopped by the Lord. Her facade of prosperity would be ripped from her. Disorder, confusion, panic, defeat, ruin, disaster was coming ever closer! Now she is flying highsoon she will be plunged into destruction!

Amos 2:14-16 AND FLIGHT SHALL PERISH FROM THE SWIFT;. AND HE THAT IS COURAGEOUS AMONG THE MIGHTY SHALL FLEE AWAY NAKED IN THAT DAY. Now the prophet individualizes this national paralysis. The swiftest, strongest, bravest, ablest warriors will not be able to stand against God's judgment. The most courageous among the mighty will throw off his armor and his clothing and run for his life like a coward.

Tiglath-pileser III (745-727 B.C.), one of the greatest monarchs of antiquity, after capturing Samaria (capital of Israel), put on the throne as his vassal Hoshea, who had slain Pekah, king of Israel. With the death of Tiglath-pileser III, Hoshea decided to strike a blow for independence. Help was promised by the king of Egypt, but it did not come. Hoshea was made a prisoner, and the capital doomed to destruction, as the prophets foretold (Hosea 10:7-8; Isaiah 28:1; Micah 1:5-6). It was, however, only after a three years-' siege that the city was captured. Before it fell, Shalmaneser had abdicated or died, and Sargon, who succeeded him, completed the conquest of the city and deported the inhabitants to Assyria (cf. 2 Kings 17-18). Not all of the inhabitants of the Northern Kingdom were taken into captivity. The very poor, who would cause no trouble in the future, were left (2 Kings 25:12). Intermarriage with the imported peoples resulted in the hybrid stock later known as the Samaritans. The Ten Tribes taken into captivity, sometimes called the Lost Tribes of Israel, must not be thought of as being absorbed by the peoples among whom they settled. Some undoubtedly were, but many others retained their Israelitish religion and traditions. Some became part of the Jewish dispersion, and others very likely returned with the exiles of Judah in 536 B.C. who were previously carried off into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar in 606-586 B.C.

Israel, as a distinct nation, ceased to be, just as Amos and his prophet-successors warned. Any nation, no matter how blessed and privileged in the past, who contemptuously defies the laws of God and shakes its fist at the throne of heaven must suffer the same annihilation! Let all the nations of the earth take heed!

QUIZ

1.

What does Amos intend Israel to see in the cart pressed down?

2.

Would there not be some who would escape?

3.

When did Israel's captivity come? Whom did God use to accomplish it? (cf. Isaiah 10:5-19)

4.

Is there a lesson to be learned by nations today from Israel?