Exposition of Amos 4-9, Part 2 · Section 19
VERSE 19.
As if a man did flye from a Lion, and a Bear met him, or went into the house, and leaned his hand upon the wall, and a Serpent hit him.
THis people still dreamed of impunity, and because the Lord bare long with them, therefore they concluded he would never come; or if he did, they would shift for themselves, and if troubles were in one place they would flye to another; but the Prophet tells them, that these shifts would not avail them in the day of Gods wrath, for all places should be full of snares and dangers, so that there should be no safety at home or abroad; for God would multiply evils upon them. So that if they escaped one, yet another should apprehend them; as if a man being in the Field or Wood should flye from a Lion, and a furious Bear should meet him, or flying from a Bear, a Serpent should bite him. It is a kinde of Gradation, where the speech riseth, and the Prophet shews that if they escaped one evil, yet they should fall into a worse. To have a Lion pursue a man is very dangerous, but to fall into the mouth of an hungry Bear that is worse, but to escape both, and flying into an house for shelter and succour, and laying his hand upon the wall to ease and uphold himself, to have a Serpent sting him there where he looked for most security, this is worst of all. The Lion is a more noble, generous creature,Corpora mag…animo satis est prostrasse leoni. At lupus & turpes instant mo…ientibus ursi, Ovid. Trist. l. 3 Eleg. 5. Ursus leone truculent…or, etsi non fortior; leo enim pa…cit prostratis, u… sus etiam in cadavera saevit. Rivet. it spares a yeelding prey, and seizeth not on dead carkasses; but the Bear spares none, no not the dead. The two and forty children which mocked Elisha were torn in peeces, not by Lions, but by two Shee-bears, 2 King. 2.24. which are more savage and cruel. Hence comes the Proverb, Leonem fugiens incidit in Ursum, he fled from a Lion, and fell into the mouth of a Bear, that is, he fled from one danger, and fell into a worse. There is no creature more fierce and fell than a Bear, especially when she is robbed of her Whelps, and therefore when the Lord threatens to come against Ephraim in a dreadful manner, he tells them he will come against them as a strong Lion, as a subtil Leopard, yea as a raging Bear that is robbed of her whelps, Hos. 13.7, 8. The like expressions are frequent in Scripture, 2 Sam. 17.8. Prov. 17.12. Lam. 3.10.Ne putetis quicquam fo…e levation…s etiamsi centies volvatur mundus, & mutetur temporis conditio. Calvin. These hypocrites conceited that changes would ease them, if the Lion were but dead, oh then they should be quiet. No (saith the Prophet) a Bear shall meet you. Oh but if the Bear were but dead, then we should have rest, no (saith the Prophet) a Serpent shall bite you. These are a proverbial kinde of speech, by which is set forth the great danger which should encompass Israel, no place should be free,Incidit in Scyllam cup…ens vitare Charybdim. P…ov. but they should be set round, so that when they thought to flye from one trouble, they should fall into a worse; and whilst they shunned the Scylla of one calamity, they should fall into the Charybais of another. If they went abroad, there were Lions and Bears to devour them; if they staid at home, there were Serpents and Snakes that lay lurking in holes and walls that should bite them, and sting them to death. Thus when the day of the Lord should come, they should not be able to escape, but flying from one cruel enemy, they should fall into the hands of a worse, one misery should follow in the neck of another until they were quite consumed.
By a Lion here some understand Tiglathpileser King of Assyria, who formerly oppressed Israel, and by a Bear, Salmaneser a latter King of Assyria, which dealt more sharply and severely with Israel, and who at last proved a stinging Serpent to them, when he besieged and ransacked Samaria, and took all Israel captive. To this some conceive the Prophet Hosea alludes, Hos. 13.7, 8. The Lord had been as a tender Nurse unto this people, he brought them out of Egypt into Canaan, chose them for his own peculiar above all the people of the world, and gave them the dews of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, as you may see, Deut. 32.10. to 15. but they abusing those mercies to the dishonour of that God that gave them, he now resolves to meet them no more like a Father to imbrace them, but like a Lion to tear them, like a Bear to devour them, and like a Serpent to sting them to death.
OBSERVATIONS.
1 There is no escaping when God pursues.
Neither fields nor houses can shelter us if he be against us. Let men flye up to heaven, or dig into hell, or hide themselves in the bottome of the sea, yet there Gods eye doth see them, and his hand will finde them out; as I have shewed at large on Amos 9.2, 3, 4. Let Ionah flye to sea, and God will meet him there with a tempest, Ionah 1.3, 4. If men escape the paw of the Lion, yet the Bear and the Serpent shall meet them. God wants not rods to chastise a disobedient people. He hath variety in store, and if one will not do, another shall. He will send evil upon evil, loss upon loss, and enemy upon enemy, until he hath quite destroyed us. Neither swiftness, strength, nor courage can save us in a day of wrath, Amos 2. 14, 15, 16. Let men flye from an iron bow, yet a bow of steel shall smite them thorow, Iob 20.24. and if they get out of a pit, they shall fall into a snare that shall hold them fast, Isa. 24.17, 18. Ier. 48.44. and if they flye seven wayes, yea seven hundred wayes before their enemies, yet they shall not escape, for God will send a sword as many wayes after them, and if they escape one danger, yet another shall arrest them, Deut. 28.25. Wicked men think to escape by shifting, e. g. when they be in trouble of conscience then they desire to dye, thinking thereby to free themselves from misery, by running into eternal misery. So when Gods Ministers by the preaching of the word do startle people, they think that God would deal more gently with them, and therefore they appeal to him; now what is this but to flye out of the smoak into the fire, and to avoid a lesser, to run into a greater mischief?