Exposition of Amos 4-9, Part 6 · Section 9
VER. 9.
For loe I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all Nations, like as Corn is sifted in a sieve; yet shall not the least grain fall upon the Earth.
THe Prophet having mentioned a mitigation of the punishmen in the cloze of the precedent verse, he comes in this verse to confirm and illustrate this mitigation and moderation, by a Metaphor or Allusion taken from Husbandmen, who sift and winnow away the Chaff, but carefully preserve the Wheat.
For loe I will command the Ass…rians and Babylonians, and they shall seize on Israel and Iudah, and shall sift them; and if I command, who shall hinder it? how Israel was sifted, we have seen, how Iudah was sifted up and down, you may see, Lam. 1.3. & 5.5, 6.
And I will sift them as corn is sifted in a sieve; which similitude implies three things. 1. That the men of Israel and Iudah should be tossed and scattered among all Nations, as Corn is tossed to and fro in a sieve.
2. As the Corn and Wheat is preserved in the sieve, when the Chaff flies away, and falls to the ground; so in the midst of all these tossings and troubles, God would preserve his people that they should not perish eternally, though they might perish temporally, as Iosiah did, and the righteous do, Isa. 57.1. Daniel and other good men went here into captivity, as well as others, onelyonly they had Gods eye upon them for good, which the others wanted.
The word Corn or Wheat is not in the Original, but is necessarily understood, and therefore all translations render it, like as Corn or Wheat is sifted in a sieve.
3. This tossing to and fro in the sieve, separates the Wheat from the Chaff.In cribratione duo sunt, 1. concussio, quâ omnia sursum deorsum vertuntur. 2. Segregatio & separatio. Camer. Praelect. de Eccles. mihi p. 230. The Chaff falls thorow and is blown away, but the Wheat and little stones which are weighty abide in the sieve, and fall not to the ground. So these trials should blow wicked men out of their habitations, and out of the world to their own places. The corrupt body of the Jewish Nation should be scattered up and down, yet a remnant should be saved, The least grain of Gods corn shall not fall to the ground. Some render it the least stone shall not fall to the ground, and so give an Allegorical sense, thus, Gods Elect which are like stones for solidity and stability,Viri boni quanquam communis mali sunt participes, ab exitio servabuntur. Grotius. and are called lively stones for their zeal and activity, 1 Pet. 2.5. shall not perish, but abide for ever. But our Translation is most genuine and agreeable to the sifting of corn in a sieve, and though the word Iseror have divers significations, sometimes it is rendred a bundle, Gen. 42.35. or a bag, Prov. 7.20. and by a Metonymy that which is bound in the bag,Lapillus pro grano pro…er pondus, re…p…ctu paleae. Catachresis. or bound in Bundles as corn is used to be; so it signifies a grain or little stone, as in the Text.
q. d. Though the wicked shall perish from the Earth, yet not anything of any weight or worth, not one grain or corn which is solid and heavy like a stone, shall fall, nothing but the light, paltry chaff shall be blown away. I will so order all your dispersions by my providence, that none of mine Elect shall perish eternally, nor yet the remainder of the faithful be utterly extinguished. Though the Corn may be beaten in the same floor with the chaff, yet it shall not perish with the chaff.
OBSERVATIONS.
1. The Church of God in this life is subject to many siftings.
They must be sifted by Assyrians, sifted by Babylonians, …ifted by false Brethren, sifted in Body, in Soul, in Name, Estate, every way. God hath many sieves and serses to sift us withall, that so we may become pure mancher for our Lord and Masters use.
God hath many purgatory fires to bring his people thorow. 1. The fire of his Word, Ier. 5.14. & 23.29. 2. The fire of afflictions and persecutions, Zach. 13. ult. 1 Pet. 4.12. and thus every man must be tried by fire, 1 Cor. 3.13. 3. If none of these fires will mend men, then comes the fire of the last Judgement, and consumes them, Isa. 30.33.
All that look for salvation, must look for sifting; thorow many tribulations, we must come into Gods Kingdome, Act. 14.22. The better any man is, the more trials he must look for. The more grace, the more sifting; as we see in Abraham, Isaac, Iob, David, Paul, Peter, Luke, 22.32. The Devil shoots his Arrows at the whitest marks. This spiritual Pyrate sets upon the laden Merchant. The Devil knows that the fall of one of these will more advantage his Kingdome, than the fall of a thousand others; and therefore he saies to his Agents, as the King of Syria said to his Captains, Fight neither with small nor great, but against these spiritual Kings. Men of eminent gifts and graces, especially when called to eminent places, as Magistrates, Ministers, Governours, &c. must look for eminent trials. These batter Satans Kingdome, and break his head; and therefore let them be sure he will bruise their heels.
2. As we must look for all manner of siftings, so from all manner of parties.
From
God,
Satan, and the
World.
1. God will try us before he will trust us; so he dealt by Abraham, Gen. 22.1. & Job 6.4. & 16.9. and the Israelites, Deut. 8.2. Christ tried the Ruler, Luke 18.22. and the woman of Canaan. God tempts us to try us, but Satan to destroy us. God betters us by tentations, he never draws us into sin by them, as Satan doth.
Non semper saeviunt Nerones, sed nunquam cessat Diabolus.2. The Devil will sift you. He that tempted thy Saviour, will not spare thee. He that was so bold with the head, will not spare the heel. This is the Devils great battery, by which he labours to destroy Gods graces in us; though the Lord so orders it, that they improve them, Iob 23.10. Sometimes he keeps us from temptations, but he is alwaies with us in them, Rev. 3.10. Yea when Satan is most busie in tempting, then is Christ most busie in praying for us, Luk. 22.32.
Now Satan sets upon men many waies; sometimes by evil suggestions, perswasions, instigations, 1 Chron. 21.1. 1 Thes. 3.5. by blowing up the fire of corruption which lyes in our bosomes. The Devil is a great studier of men, he is a great Naturalist, he hath been trying conclusions on men almost six thousand years. He suits his Temptations according to mens tempers:V. Dyke on Mat. 4.1. p. 254 if he have an Esau to deal with, he hath a mess of pottage for him; if a covetous Achan, he hath a wedge of gold for him, &c. The Devil cannot force the will, he may perswade, but he cannot compel. There is a threefold liberty of the will, 1 From sin; 2 From misery; 3 From Necessity. The two first we have lost, but from necessity and coaction the will is free; so free, that if it could be constrained, it were no will: and therefore in conversion the Lord doth not force the will, but sweetly inclines it. We should therefore blame our selves for our folly, Iames 1.14. So did David, Psal. 51.4. and when by Satans instigation he had numbred the people, yet he layes not the fault upon Satan, but upon himself, I have done exceeding foolishly. Pray with that good man, Lord deliver me from that evil man my self.
3▪ The World abounds with Temptations, we go upon snares, in our beds, at our boards, at all times, in all places, among all persons temptations are laid for us, in publick and private, above us, beneath us, round about wee are beset: Prosperity and pleasures on the one hand destroy thousands, and persecution and losses on the other hand. Had we not need then to be sober and watch? 1 Pet. 5.8. and to watch and pray, Matth. 26.41. shunning all occasions of sin: Not parling with temptations, diligent in our places, not trusting to our own strength. Sit down and cast what it will co…t us if we be Christs Disciples. These things should not discourage, but quicken us to duty. We say of some weeds they are ill things, but they are signes of rich ground. So these siftings and tentations are irksome,Cribration… Dei non perditur, sed …u…gatur frumen…um Dei, Zanchy. but wholesome; the Torch burns the brighter for beating. The Vine is the better for bleeding; The Orchard for pruning; The Garden for weeding, and the Soul for sifting. It is a good sign of some great good doing, when we have many adversaries, and much opposition, 1 Cor. 16.9. Standing pools gather mud. There are many dregs in those Moabs that are at ease, and are not emptied from vessel to vessel, Ier. 48.11. I never knew any man kept long from corruption and putrefaction that was not (especially at his first setting out) salted and seasoned with many temptations and afflictions. Be not therefore offended at them; such Humiliations are the way to Exaltation, and such trials (if we sincerely, patiently and perseveringly improve them) our great glory. Iob was more famous for his sufferings, than Alexander or Caesar were for their Victories. His tentations brought more honour to him than all his riches. If Iob had been onelyonly the richest man in the East, in all probability we had never heard of him, but that which honoured him so much as to have a whole book written in his praise, was his Tentations and Victories, his Conflicts and his Conquests.
These are via ad Regnum, the very path way to piety and glory,Nisi tentatio, nec corona; nisi certamina, nec praemia, nisi hyems, nec aestas, Chrysost. 2 Cor. 4.17. 1 Pet. 1.7. Did the stone but know when it is hewn and squared that it is to fit it for a Kings house and service; or did the timber but know when its knots are hewn off, and it seasoned with wind and weather, that it might become a Throne for some high and mighty Prince, would it not rejoyce and glory? And shall not we rejoyce in those Tentations and Afflictions which fit us for the service of the King of Kings?Quod ignis est auro, lima feiro, scalp…um …apidi, runcina ligno, lixivium panno, ventilabrum tritico, sal carni, sornax pani, malleus saxo, hoc justo tentatio.
[See more about Tentation in that excellent Treatise of Mr. Bridge upon Temptations, and upon Luke 22.32. Dr. Holdsworth on Iames 1.12. Mr. Bolton Comfort of affl…cted Conscience, p. 564.591. B. Halls Balm of Gilead, p. 101. D. Taylor on Contentment. Dyke on Matth. 4.1. &c. Sibelius Tom. 1. p. 1. and p. 139. Weemse 1 Vol. 1 Part. p. 297. &c. Mr. Capel on Tentat. per totum. Mr. Meads Ser. on Eph. 5.15. Ward on Matth. 4.1, &c.]
2 The captivity and banishment of a people comes from God.
As all other evils of punishment, so this amongst the rest comes from him. It is he that commands Assyrians and Babylonians to lead us into Captivity. Israel and Iudah had been long in Captivity to sin and Satan, and therefore the Lord sent them seven times into Captivity.See Mr. Greenhil on Ezek. 11.17. p. 389. This may befall Gods dear Elijahs and Daniels, and such of whom the world is not worthy, these may be driven from all, and be forced to wander in Desarts and Mountains, in Dens and Caves of the earth, Heb. 11.37, 38. This must make us dumb and silent, since it is the Lord (who is a God of judgement, and knows what is better for us than we do for our selves, Isa. 30.18.) that doth it. Wicked men cannot lead us into Captivity till God give the word of Command, I will command the house of Israel to be sifted amongst all Nations. This was in part fulfilled then; but since their crucifying of Christ, and rejecting the Lord of glory, all the twelve Tribes have been tossed and scattered over all the world, being hated and contemned of all Nations.
3. The godly are Gods grain.
They are called his Wheat, Matth. 3.12.13.30. The wicked are Chaff, Cockle, Wilde-oats, Dross, Psal. 119.119. Dregs, Scum, Filth, vain, light persons, that have no weight, nor worth, no savouriness, nor solidity in them, and therefore they are called Chaff, Psal. 1.4. which is blown away with every wind as good for nothing. But the godly are Gods Wheat, which is a substantial, precious grain, bringing great gain to the owner, strengthning and delighting the hearts of those that feed on it. Though it hang down the head, and make no great shew outwardly, yet within it is full of fine meal and flower, Psal. 81. ult. So the godly, though they make no great shew outwardly, yet they are all glorious within, their beauty is an internal beauty, which cannot be seen with bodily eyes, Psal. 45.13. and though they be contemned by the prophane world, yet are their persons, Prayers, and performances very precious in Gods eyes.See my Com. on 2 Tim. 3.3. p. 113.
2 Wheat is solid, weighty, stable, and abides in the floor, it is not tossed up and down with every wind as the Chaff is; so the godly are rooted, grounded, and stablisht in the faith, Col. 2.7. they are not tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, as those Paleares homines of our times are, but they are an everlasting foundation, like stones that abide in the building, and cannot be removed by any storms.
3 VVheat must be thresht, winnowed, and ground to meal, that it may be fit for food. The godly are Gods Wheat in this sense also, they must be thresht, sifted, and fanned with many tentations and afflictions, yea they must be ground even to dust by the teeth of the wild beasts of the world,Dei frumentum sum, & bestiarum dentibus molor, ut panis purus sincerus que reperia. Ignatius. that they may become pure Manchet (as the Martyr said) for their Masters service.
4 VVheat when it is ripe is cut down, and laid up safe in the barn and garner. The chaff and refuse wee cast out of doors, but our choyce grain we house; so when Gods people are fit for Heaven, God sends his Angels to gather his Wheat into his garner, into heaven and happiness, Mat. 13.30.
4 Not one grain of Gods pure precious corn shall perish.
Chaff and Darnel; Tares and Hypocrites shall fall and perish, but not one corn of right grain shall perish eternally; though they may goe into captivity, and be afflicted outwardly as well as others, as Ieremy, Ezekiel, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Mordecai, Hester, Zerubbabel, &c. and others went all into captivity: but the Lord was with them there, so that they kept their garments pure, and did shine like lights in the midst of an Idolatrous and perverse generation. They dye in peace, though (Iosiah-like) they fall in battel, the Lord is a sanctuary to them in their captivity, Ezek. 11.16, 17. and makes them to be pitied of those that lead them captive, Psa. 106.46. and gives them favour as he did Ioseph in the Prison, Gen. 39.21. and Ieremy in Babylon, Jer. 39.11, 12. so that sifted and tempted they may and must be, but totally and finally destroyed they can never be; for they have Gods Almighty power to keep them, Ioh. 10.28. they have Christ to pray for them, his Spirit to seal them, the seed of God abiding in them, so that nothing can separate them from Christ, as I have proved at large elsewhere.In my Thesis de perseverantia Sancto…um.