Exposition of Amos 4-9, Part 1 · Section 5
VERSE 6.
And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your Cities, and want of bread in all your places; yet have yee not returned unto me, saith the Lord.
WHen God would convert a People, he useth Blessings and Curses, Mercies and Judgements, one or both of which usually work upon all ingenuous natures, Levit. 26. Deut. 28. & 30.1, 2. God had tried all conclusions upon this people, he had tried to reclaime them by Mercies, (Amos 2.9, 10, 11. & 3.2.) but these being ineffectual, he now tries what Judgements will doe; and therefore sends his three Arrowes of Famine, Pestilence, and Sword amongst them to convert them (if it might be) and not to destroy them, as appears by that Emphatical Epistrophe annext to every punishment; yet have yee not returned unto me, saith the Lord. Not only his Mercies, but his Menaces; not only his favours, but his frownes and rods were all ineffectual upon the hearts of this impenitent people. As a tender father will use all means to reclaime his rebellious Son, so God had used all means to reclaim this People from their Idolatry, and Apostacy, but all in vain, for they were so wedded to their lusts, that they had rather lose their Land and Lives than part with them; so that this is the third Sin which the Lord by his Prophet chargeth them withall, viz. Obstinacy and incorrigibleness; no cords of love could draw them, nor judgements drive them. The Lord had wasted all his rods on them in vain, five or six he mentions here, viz.
1 Famine.
2 Drought.
3 Blasting.
4 Mildew.
5 Plague.
6 Sword.
But they were so farre from returning, that they grew worse and worse, and therefore the Lord resolves to make a final end with them. In this Verse we have,
1 A Judgement executed, and that is Famine, which is Paraphrastically set forth by cleanness of teeth, E…st Periphrasis famis & inopiae. The Vulgar following the Septuagint render it Stuporem dentium, but corruptly, for the word is Nikion, & significat munditiem & vacuitatem dentium, c…m dentes vacui sint à cibo.and is exegetically explained in the next Clause, by want of Bread, and provision, I have given you cleanness of teeth, what is that? why want of bread in all places; when men have nothing to eat, their teeth are clean, nothing adheres to them to foul them. In the precedent Verse the Lord tells us what pleased Israel, viz. Sin, and now hee tells us what pleased him, viz. to punish them for their sin; as they had abused their food like fat Beasts, to luxury and riot, so now they should fast for it; and I also have given you, or therefore have I given you cleanness of teeth; it is a suitable Judgement that unclean hearts and lives should be punisht with, cleanness of teeth. This Judgement was in part fulfilled in Elijahs and Elishaes dayes, when in Ahabs reign there was a three years famine, 1 King. 17. & 18. & 2 King. 6.25. & 8.1. and in the dayes of King Ioram, for the Idolatry that then reinged, 2 King. 4.38. yet some conceive that the Prophet here speaks of some latter famine which was then fresh in their memories.
2 Here is the Extent, or Universality of this Judgement, the famine was not in one or two, but in all their Cities, and in all places.
3 Here is the effect which this Judgement had upon them, viz. It was ineffectual; yet have yee not returned to me, saith Lord. Their hearts were so hardned, and they so indurate in sin, that they were become incorrigible, and incurable; they were Judgement-proof, no chastning could work upon them. Yet have yee not, &c. This yet shewes that there was great reason why God should expect their return, and that hee had done that which in all probability might have caused them to return, when he sent these Judgements on them; therefore God inculcates, and oft repeats this sentence, Yet have yee not returned unto me, saith the Lord; as being greatly troubled that his corrections had no better operations on them; when even Phrygians and Barbarians are bettered by blows, yea the dull Asse is quickned by the Rod, and the heavie Oxe by the Goad.
OBSERVATIONS.
1 Famine is one Iudgement which God sends upon impenitent Sinners, VVhen God is greatly incensed against a People, then he sends the Famine, which he calls one of his four sore Judgements, Ezek. 14.21. it is an Arrow which he shoots against a People of his wrath, Ezek. 5.16. The Lord can no sooner call for a Famine, but like a faithful Servant it presently obeys, 2 King. 8.1. hee called for a Famine, and it came upon the Land seven years, Psal. 105.16. when it comes in extremity it is very sad; hence it is called the terrible Famine, Lam. 5.10. This will appear in seven particulars.
1 It makes men unnatural, and cruel, even to their neerest Relations, as Wife and Children. Nature bindes a man to tender and pitty these, yet in time of Famine, we read of Mothers eating their own Children, 2 King. 6.28, 29. Ier. 14.9. Lam. 4.10. this Curse the Lord threatens against disobedient ones, Deut. 28.53.56.57.
2 It is a lingring, languishing death, other Judgements cut men off suddenly, but this consumes a man as it were peecemeal, Lam. 4.9. They that are slain with the Sword are better than they that are slain with hunger; Why so? for these pine away for lack of sustenance.
3 It makes men faint and feeble, and so unfits men for the Service of God in their calling, Gen. 47.13. they faint by reason of the famine. Hence Bread is called the staffe, stay, and strength of our natures (Levit. 26.26. Psal. 105.16. Isa. 3.1. Ezek. 4.16.) take a Staffe from a weak man and he falls to the ground.
4 It makes men howl and lament (Hos. 7.14. Ioel 2.11) yea rage and be mad, Isa. 8.21.
5 Hunger burns like a fire, which is a most terrible element, it wasts the radical moysture, Deut. 32.24. Ieremy describing the Famine in Ierusalem, tells us, that their face was black like a Coal, and their skin was black like an Oven, because of the terrible Famine (Lam. 4.8. & 5.10.) when the Calor nativus hath nothing to feed upon, it consumes the Humidum radicale, and so the man dyes.
6 It brings Poverty with it, now extream Poverty is a sore Judgement, and puts men upon desperate attempts, as robbing, killing, &c. Prov. 6.30. & 30.8, 9. it makes rich men poor, and forceth them to sell their Land, Catrel Goods, Cloath, &c. Skin for skin, and all that a man hath will he give for his life. The Aegyptians sold all that they had to Ioseph for bread, and when all was gone they sold themselves, Gen. 47.18.
7 It is usually attended with other Judgements, as Sword and Plague, such great Judgements seldome goe alone, Ier. 14.15, 16. & 24.10. Ezek. 7.15. & 14.21.
Let us then fly from sin, which turns that God; who is mercy and pitty it self, into fire and fury, and provokes him to send such terrible Judgements on his people. Especially take heed of four sins.
1 Intemperance, Drunkenness and Gluttony bring the famine on a Land, Abuse of plenty loseth plenty, when men rise early to follow strong drink, then their honourable men are famished, Isa. 5.11, 12, 13. Ioel 1.
2 Covenant-breaking; when there was a three years Famine in the dayes of David, hee inquired of the Lord what was the ground of it; the answer was, that it was for Saul, and for his bloudy house, because he slew the Gibeonites, contrary to Covenant confirmed by an oath, Iosh. 9.7.15.18. 2 Sam. 21.1. Ier. 34.17, 18.
3 When men spend the strength which they receive from the Creature, in the service of the Devil, consuming them upon their lusts, or in sacrificing to Idols, as the Israelites did here, they served Baal with the Corn and Wine which God had given them, therefore God took it from them.
4 Contempt of the Word, the wayes and Worship of God. God oft punisheth our abuse of Spiritual food with the want of Corporal,See more Sins in Mellif. Theolog, Binchius, Loc. 12. P. 2. p. 14… & D. Gouge his Arrows, p. 2. p 139, &c. Topsel on Ioel, p. 119. & 213. Clerks Mirrour, chap. 51. They that hate his Messengers shall dye by the Famine, Ier. 11.21, 22. so when men preferre their own interests before Gods, and can dwell themselves in seiled houses, but the House of the Lord must lye wast, this brings a Curse upon their Crops and Labours, Hag. 1.6.9.10. & 2.17.18, 19.
2 Since it is the Lord that sends cleanness and want of bread amongst us, let us be patient under it, let us be dumbe and silent because the Lord hath done it. There is no evil in the City of this kind especially, but the Lord is the Author and orderer of it, it comes not by Accident, but by Divine appointment, it is the Lord that sends Famines to Cities and Kingdoms; and the rather we should bee patient, when we consider that our Famines are nothing to what our sins deserve. 2 Nothing comparatively, when we consider the seven years Famine in Aegypt, when for five years together there was neither Earing nor Harvest, Gen. 41.40. & 45.6. In the three years Siege of Samaria, the people within did eat their own Children, and fed upon Dung, (2 King. 6.25.28.29.) an Asses head was sold for eighty peeces of Silver, which is ten pound in our coyn, and the fourth part of a Kab of Doves dung for five peeces of Silver, now a Kab contained four pound and five ounces, and the fourth part was thirteen ounces, and for this they gave ten shillings and upward. But no famine was like Ierusalems famine,In the Siege of Rochel, 1628. there died of the Famine sixteen thousand persons, an Egge was sold for 8 s. a pint of Milk 30 s. a Bushel of Wheat 20 l. a pound of Butter 30 s, &c. See Book of Martyrs 3 Vol. in fine, p. 73, 74, Edit. ult. as wee may see in the Lamentations of Ieremy, when the Children cried for bread and there was none to give them, those that were cloathed in Scarlet embraced the Dung-hill, their beautiful Nazarites were blacker than Coals, and the pittiful Mothers became Butchers of their own Children. As the Lord said to his people, Goe to Shiloe, so say I, Go to Germany, and to Rochel, and consider what God hath done to them for their Sins, there you shall see Doggs, Cats, and Rats sold in the Markets, and men and women fighting for them. There you shall see Women eating their own Children, the living feeding upon the dead, and digging up dead Corps out of their Graves that they might feed upon them. Beggers coming to doors have been killed and eaten, yea the skins of Horses, Sheep, and Oxen, have been their food; let us take heed lest Germanies Heresies, Blasphemies, Apostacies, Drunkenness, &c. be found in England, lest Germanies Plagues come hither also. O let us be an obedient people, let us not fight against God with his own blessings, nor abuse his plenty to his dishonour, but serve him with gladness of heart in the abundance of all things, for it is Piety that breeds plenty, Psa. 81.12, 13. Isa. 1.19. if there bee but a sincere will and desire to obey, we shall eate the good of the Land, and in time of famine wee shall be fed, Psal. 33.19. & 34.10. & 37.19. Iob 5.20. Prov. 10.3. Isa. 33.15, 16.
Fides fam…m non formidat, Hieron.2 Live by faith, and then in an holy security at destruction and famine you may laugh, Iob 5.22. Faith answereth all distrustful cares and feares, as Abraham did in another case, God will provide.
Obj. But thou mayest dye by the Famine?
A True saith faith, and that is best of all for me, for that will free me from sin, and from all the miseries that attend it. He cannot dye ill that lives well, let him dye by Famine, Sword, Pestilence, or whatever Disease, yet if he dye in the Lord, in his fear and favour, he is blessed, Revel. 14.13. Though the Fig-tree should not blossom, yet a beleever can rejoyce in the Lord in the want of all (Hab. 3.17.) hee knowes that the Lord can bless a little, and make the Widdows meal to increase by spending, 1 King. 17.17. he knows that God can put vertue and nourishment into the Creature, and make us walke in the strength of one meal for many dayes together; as he did Elijah, who went forty dayes together in the strength of one dinner; or if he take away our meat (as the Martyr said) he will take away our appetite also;See Mr. Trapp on Mat. 4.4. Man lives not by bread only, but by every word of God, Mat. 4.4.
2 Obs. God payes Sinners many times in their own coyn. As men deal with others, so God deals with them. These Idolatrous Israelites kept Gods faithful Ministers hungry, and spent all on Idols, and false Prophets, and now God keeps them hungry; they like fat Beasts were luxurious, and abused their food, and now they shall be kept short, and want food; they abused their Wine; and now they shall want Water; and though Great men many times escape in times of famine, yet God can smite them with such Diseases, that they shall neither eate nor drink, In quo quis pescat, in eo punitur. Absolon that was proud of his hair, at last it became an Halter that helpt to hang him; David that abused anothers bed, hath his own bed defiled by Absolon, who lay with his Concubines; when he proudly numbred the people, hee lost them by the Pestilence; so Hezekiah that was lifted up with his Treasures, lost them, Isa. 39.5. Such is our corruption that we seldome know the worth of Mercies till we want them, Carendo potius quam fruendo, when wee want food, health, wealth, peace, and the Gospel of Peace, then wee begin to know the price of these mercies.
3 Obs. The principal end that God aimes at in our corrections, is our conversion. He corrects us for our profit, that wee might be partakers of his Holiness,See Mr. Dyke on Afflictions, p. 342. &c. at the end of his Com. on Philemon. Heb. 12.10. he sent the Famine on this People, that so they might return unto him. This is his special end, Iob 33.19. to 28. & 36.8, 9. Psal. 94.12. & 119.71. Luke 15.14. to 30. wee should not therefore lose the benefit of our Afflictions, nor frustrate Gods end in correcting us, but say with the Martyr, Lord doe thou beat, and I will bend. As the Apostle saies of Patience (Iam. 1.4.) Let patience have its perfect work; that is, let it be sincere, and endure to the end; so say I of Repentance, let it not be a half turn, or make you howl as the Famine did those Israelites (Hos. 7.14.) but let his rods bring us home fully to himself, that we may return to him with all our hearts, and then we shall be happy.
4 Obs. Such as turn truly, must turn to God. This is implied here in that the Lord complains, Yet have yee not returned unto mee, saith the Lord. Many turn from sin to sin, they turn from Drunkenness to Covetousness, from Idolatry to Libertinism, &c. This is a changing of one sin for another, but true conversion is a turning from all sin to God, it is a turning from sin which is the greatest evil, unto God who is the chiefest good, Deut. 4.30. Ier. 3.1. 22. Lam. 3.40. Hos. 14.1. Ioel 2.12.
5 Obs. Hardned Sinners are incorrigible and incurable. When men have got a custom of sinning and have long rejected the Word of God, then it is not all that Mount Sinai, or Mount Sion can afford, not all the dreadful Curses of the one, nor all the gracious Promises of the other, that can work upon them; as wee see in Cain, Pharaoh, Saul, and others; Let the Lord spend all his Arrows upon them, yet they return not unto him that smites them,See Mr Proffets Fast Ser. on Isa. 9 13. and Mr. Yongs Drunkards Charact. p. 243 and my Com. on Hos. 13.16. p. 132. D. Reynolds on Psal. 110, 1. p. 336, 337. folio. Isa. 9.13. but the more they are smitten, the worse they are, Isa. 1.5. like the Smiths stithy, the more it is stricken the harder it is; let God smite them yet they refuse to receive correction. (Ier. 2.30.) The Bellows are burnt (the Prophets Lungs are consumed) and the Founder melts in vain, for the wicked are not turned from their wickedness, therefore reprobate silver shall men call them (Ier. 6.29, 30.) because their scum still abides in them, Ezek. 24.6.12.13. How impregnable are the consciences of wicked men, who are no more moved with the threatnings of Gods Ministers than the people which live under the fall of Nilus are at the sound thereof; their continual familiarity with that noyse, either quite deafs them, or else makes them dis-regard it. They are as senseless of what is spoken as the Pillars which they leane to, or the Seats which they sit upon; so that many men come short of the very faith of Devils; for they beleeve there is a God, and that all which he hath spoken in his Word is true; they beleeve the Power, Justice, and Wrath of God so far as to tremble at it, and herein they goe beyond most wicked men, who never goe so farre as to quake and tremble at Gods threatnings, yea the Devil hath taught them a lesson which he cannot learn himself, viz. to mock at Gods threatnings, saying in their hearts they shall never come upon us.See this Point very well enlarged, by Mr. C…ler, on Jam. 2.19. p. 98. Corripimur sed non corrigimur, plectimur sed non flectimur. Salvian. See more in my Com. on Hos. 13.13. p. 22 The Devil quakes and fears, whilst these are sensless and incorrigible. How many are corrected, but not amended; beaten, but not bettered; this doubles mens sins and makes them out of measure sinful, when neither the Word nor the Sword, neither Mercies nor Menaces, neither Promises nor Threatnings can work upon men; when sin is grown too strong for that means which God hath ordained to suppress it, they are nigh to utter destruction. This plainly appears by this people of Israel, after their defection and Apostacy from the Worship of God, they never Prospered but had one Judgement after another till they were quite destroyed. We are apt to wonder at Israels induration, and yet this is Englands Sin. God hath done as much to reclaim us as ever he did for Israel, and yet we have not returned to him.
1 The Lord hath punisht our neighbour Nations to make us fear, we have seen what he hath done to Germany, Ireland, Savoy, &c. he expected that their desolation should have been our Instruction (Zeph. 3.6, 7.) but yet we have not returned to the Lord.
2 He hath sent amongst us many Elijah… and Elisha's, to wooe us, and to warn us, and yet we have not returned to the Lord.
3 He hath drawn us with the cords of love, and given us Mercy upon Mercy, Deliverance upon Deliverance, Victory upon Victory, and yet yee have not returned to me saith the Lord.
4 VVe have had Sword, Plague, and Famine amongst us, and yet yee have not returned unto me saith the Lord.
5 And now the Lord seems to threaten greater Judgements, and to deal more severely with us for our obstinacy, and impenitency, and yet we are as stupid and stubborn as ever, and never once think of returning to him that smites us. O that the Lord would awaken every soul of us out of this deep and deadly sleep! oh that every one would now goe into his Closet, and there seriously ask his soul, What have I done? Against what light and love, against what wooings and warnings, against what Mercies and Judgements have I rebelled! None so beloved of his God as I, and none that hath so abused his love as I have done. Oh that we could now take shame to our selves for our stubborn standing out so long against so good and gracious a God! oh that we could judge our selves for our rebellion, and loathe our selves for our great provocations, then would the Lord repent of the evil he intended against us, and we might hope to see better days than yet we have seen.
6 Obs. Hipocritical turning is no turning in Gods esteem. This People did sometimes howl in their misery, and fast and pray (Hos. 7.14.) but it was but counterfeit, and therefore the Lord chargeth them still with this, Yet have yee not returned to me, saith the Lord. False things in Scripture are counted as no things. A wicked man is accounted as no man, Ier. 5.1. the streets of Ierusalem were full of men, but because they were not good men, God calls them no men. Thus the wicked are said to have no heart, i. e. no good heart, and so as good have none at all, Hos. 7.11.