Amos 4:6-11

REASON CALLS FOR REPENTANCECHASTENING IN THE PAST SHOULD MAKE THEM THINK

TEXT: Amos 4:6-11

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 Jehovah.

7

And I also have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and 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 it rained not withered.

8

So two or three cities wandered into one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.

9

I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees hath the palmerworm devoured: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.

10

I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt; your young men have I slain with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I have made the stench of your camp to come up even into your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.

11

I have overthrone cities among you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a brand plucked out of the burning yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah.

QUERIES

a.

What is cleanness of teeth?

b.

Is God still responsible for famine, drought, war, as in Amos-' day?

c.

What does Amos mean that Israel was a brand plucked out of the burning?

PARAPHRASE

I have tried all means of turning you to me, yet you love to persist in your wickedness. I have brought famine and starvation upon this nation and yet you have not returned unto me, says the Lord. I have caused drought; I have withheld the latter rain (three months before the harvest) which is sorely needed for the proper maturing of the crops. On the other hand, in order to show you even more clearly that the sending and withholding of rain belongs to Me, I have caused it to rain here and there, upon one town and one field, and not upon others. This caused such drought that the people of the areas where it had not rained were forced fainting of thirst to stagger great distances for their supplies of water, and then couldn-'t get enough to supply their needs; yet you did not return unto me, says the Lord. I smote your grain crops with blight and dry-rot; I sent locusts to strip and devour your orchards; yet you have not returned unto Me, says the Lord. I have sent among you all the diseases of Egypt; I have caused your young men to be slain in wars; I have caused your war horses to be slain; I have caused the stench of the slain to come into your nostrils as a reminder of your sins; yet you have not returned unto me, says the Lord. I have brought you to the verge of complete destruction as when I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and you were left destitute of everything like brands plucked out of the fire; yet you did not return unto me, says the Lord.

SUMMARY

The prophet calls Israel's attention to past judgments of God in an attempt to get them to repent. These judgments took place at different times all during Israel's history. Amos has arranged them in climactic form.

COMMENT

Amos 4:6. I. HAVE GIVEN YOU CLEANNESS OF TEETH. AND WANT OF BREAD. The phrase cleanness of teeth, means lack of food as is evident from the parallel want of bread. This is what God told the people through Moses in Deuteronomy 28:47-57. This is fulfilled in 2 Kings 6:24-31. A mother eating the flesh of her own child is recorded also by Josephus in his account of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the Romans. God's judgments are sure! Not one word of His will fall to the ground unfulfilled! Yet Israel did not repent!

Amos 4:7-8. I. HAVE WITHHOLDEN RAIN FROM YOU. AND CAUSED IT TO RAIN UPON ONE CITY. AND. NOT UPON ANOTHER. TWO OR THREE CITIES WANDERED UNTO ONE CITY TO DRINK. AND WERE NOT SATISFIED. At times God withheld rain as a call for the people of Israel to repent (cf. Leviticus 26:19-20; Deuteronomy 28:23). The rains which were withheld in this particular case were the so-called latter rains (three months before harvest). These rains fall in the latter half of February and the first half of March and are of the greatest importance to the development of the grain crops. Thus when the drought came, the crops failed. This is a matter of record in 1 Kings 8:35-36; 1 Kings 2 Kings 17-18; Isaiah 5-6; Jeremiah 14, etc. But in order to show man even more clearly that He uses natural forces and that their sending and withholding belong to Him, God caused it to rain on one village and another village, while at the same time other villages received no rain at all. Rivers and wells dried up in these latter areas and the people had to travel long distances for their water supply and even then could not get enough to satisfy their needs. The word wander comes from an original word which means literally to stagger, to totter, and pictures the people staggering, almost fainting with thirst, as they go from village to village in search of water! Yet Israel did not see the hand of God in these tribulationsthey felt no chasteningthey heard no call to repentance!

Amos 4:9. SMITTEN YOU WITH BLASTING AND MILDEW. YOUR. VINEYARDS. HATH THE PALMERWORM DEVOURED. Their grain fields were either burned up by the blasting hot and dry winds or they were rotted by mildew (cf. Genesis 41:6; Genesis 41:27; Deuteronomy 28:22). Their gardens and orchards were gnawed and stripped bare by the locusts (cf. Joel 1:4; Joel 2:25; Deuteronomy 28:39).

Amos 4:10. SENT AMONG YOU THE PESTILENCE AFTER THE MANNER OF EGYPT. I HAVE MADE THE STENCH OF YOUR CAMP TO COME UP. INTO YOUR NOSTRILS. God sent among the people of Israel many diseases in epidemic form after the manner that He had done in the days of Moses to Egypt (cf. Leviticus 26:25; Deuteronomy 28:60; Isaiah 10:24; Ezekiel 20:30). The Roman historian Pliny has called Egypt, the mother of contagious diseases, because of the many epidemics arising there even in his day. God sent wars upon Israel. Often times, in crowded, unsanitary military camps epidemics took their toll along with the slain of the battlefields so that sword and sickness decimated the ranks of Israel's young, virile men who were the hope of the nation. The slain warriors and the slain battle-horses sometimes filled the air with that sickening stench of rotting flesh which is at times unbearable. But even this horrible stench did not remind them of their sins! For a record of Israel's decimation in war see 2 Kings 8:12; 2 Kings 13:3; 2 Kings 13:7.

Amos 4:11 I HAVE OVERTHROWN CITIES AMONG YOU, AS. SODOM AND GOMORRAH. YE WERE AS A BRAND PLUCKED OUT OF THE BURNING. Amos mentions this last judgment of God, not because it is last chronologically, but because it furnishes the prophet with a literary vehicle called climax, Amos-' list of five judgments of the Lord are given in an emotional ascension whereby a climax is reached at the last, The Lord has also called Israel to repentance by sending destructions upon her cities similar to that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Israel was brought to the verge of utter ruin and overthrow more than once and was only saved like a firebrand snatched at the last moment from the consuming flames of the fire (cf. Zechariah 3:2). See 2 Kings 13:4; 2 Kings 13:7 for the devastation of the land (cf. Isaiah 1:9 also).

Predicting the future was not, as many suppose it to have been, the primary function of the prophet. The supreme task of the prophet was to interpret the events of history in the light of the will and purpose of God. The prophets saw the hand of God in the events of daily life and this they saw by the divine leading of the Holy Spirit within them (1 Peter 1:10-12; 2 Peter 1:16-21). They sought to answer the pressing questions confronted in man's struggle with the totality of life. How was God related to the turbulent events of the world in the time of Amos? What was the relationship between the calamities, the crises, and the disappointments in life to the will of God? These same questions are asked today and may be answered by the same principles proclaimed by these Spirit-filled prophets! A correlation of history and the divine will is a crying, personal problem in every age. How does one relate the divine will and the wars, epidemics, tragedies, famines and other like calamities in the twentieth century? The prophets of Israel would give little support to the modern protest that the church ought to preach the gospel and leave everything else alone. For the prophets, the message of God was so interwoven into the fabric of daily life that the two could not be separated.

The underlying principle of all prophetic literature is the fact that judgment in history has a redemptive purpose. It is intended to cause man to see his desperate need for God, and subsequently to turn to His fellowship and communion. In the use of these disasters as a form of judgment, one is confronted with the most important aspect of the entire problem of God's will and natural calamity. The most significant point to consider is not the ultimate or secondary source, a full explanation of the justice of such deeds, or even an attempt to exonerate God. The most important consideration is that of man's response to such catastrophe. Do acts of this kind lead to a new awareness of God's sovereignty? Do they result in a new committal on the part of man to God. This is the significant element! Such calamities serve to cause man to recognize his finitude in the face of an overwhelming disaster, thereby opening the way for repentance and communion with God. Let all men know that the point of emphasis should be placed ultimately, not upon reason, but upon response. As Amos did, so must modern man consider as of primary significance the nature of his response to catastrophe. The moral reason behind such events, while important, must remain inexplicable. We cannot explain them perfectly but we can act in the light of them.
In view of this, history should serve to make man aware of his own dependence. Catastrophe should draw man near to the heart of God in an ever deepening communion. May it never be said that the catastrophes of history failed to draw this generation nearer to God. May it never be said, Yet you did not return to me.

For further study on this subject we refer you to our Special Study, The Prophetic Philosophy of History, and comments on similar passages from the five prophetic books treated in this commentary. See also our notes on Joel 2:1-11 in this commentary.

Naturally, the question will be asked, what of the righteous who must suffer at the same time God's catastrophic natural disasters are occurring? There are at least three biblical principles by which we may understand the so-called suffering of the righteous. In the first place, all the righteousness of the righteous is purely relative. That is, all our righteousness is as filthy rags relative to God's perfect righteousness, therefore we deserve more suffering than we endure here on earth no matter how good we are. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and we are only accounted as righteous by the grace of God which we appreciate by faith. If God were only justif He paid us in kind for our behaviorwe would suffer worse than we do! Secondly, for the true saint of God, in both O.T. and New Testament times, suffering, trial, tribulation all serve to strengthen and purify. The Hebrew epistle has a great deal to say about this second principle. One of the most significant passages is: For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised Hebrews 10:36. Then, there is the passage in Hebrews 12:3-11, of course. (Consider also these passages: 2 Corinthians 1:3-11; 2 Corinthians 12:7; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 4:12-19, etc). Thirdly, if the innocent be caused to suffer and die with the guilty remember these words, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth. Blessed indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them Revelation 14:13; and, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints Psalms 116:15. Compare also 2 Corinthians 4:16-18; 2 Corinthians 5:1-10; Philippians 1:21-24. We cannot understand, perhaps, but God has revealed enough of His governing principles that we should be able by faith to accept His sovereign will and look forward in hope to the consummation of all things. Why should the innocent baby of David and Bathsheba die because of their sin? Why should the man be born blind in order that the glory of God might be shown through him (John 9)? Why should the faithful Jews be taken into captivity with the unfaithful ones? God has not told us all the whys but He has told us some of themenough for us to make a response, a commitment in faith.

QUIZ

1.

When did Israel suffer from famine and to what extent did they suffer?

2.

When did Israel suffer from drought?

3.

Why did God, even in drought times, cause it to rain in some places?

4.

Why send pestilences after the manner of Egypt?

5.

How was Israel plucked out of the burning. ?

6.

How did Amos interpret or relate these disasters to the will of God?

7.

What three principles explain, in part, the suffering of the righteous along with the wicked?