Exposition of Amos 4-9, Part 2 · Section 25
VERSE 25.
Have yee offered unto mee sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
THe Prophet comes now to conclude the Chapter with an Amplification of the Superstition and Idolatry which from first to last did abide in Israel. Their Fore-fathers of old were Idolaters in the wilderness, there they worshipped the golden Calf, and Baal-Peor, Numb. 25.1, 2, 3. No sooner were they come to Canaan, but they were on their knees to Baal and Ashtaroth, Judg. 2.13.
Yea and then their Posterity (saith the Prophet) have justified them in their Idolatries, and shewed that the evil is hereditary, and so the more to be abhorred; in that you have added Calves to Calves, and Idols to Idols, lest they should boast of their Ancestors, the Lord upbraids them with their Fore-fathers, and tells them that they were Idolaters before them, and were punisht for their Idolatry, and so should they; as they had been like them in sin, so they should be like them in suffering.
In the words we have, 1. Israels sin, They sacrificed not to God, but to Idols, as in the next verse.
2 Here is a double aggravation of their sin, both in respect of Time and Place.
1 Here is the Time how long they grieved the Spirit of God, not forty daies, but forty years, even the whole time of their abode in the wilderness.
2 The Place, it was in the Wilderness, where they lay under the Rod, and were kept under severe Discipline, and where the Lord lead them miraculously, and fed them miraculously, with Mannah from Heaven, giving them waters from the Rock, and with a mighty hand protecting them, and carrying them upon Eagles wings, above the reach of many dangers and distresses, Amos 3.1, 2.
This is locus difficillimus (saith Mercer) this verse, and especially the next are two of the hardest verses in the whole Prophecy. Many doubts do here arise.
Quest. 1. Why doth the Prophet charge this people with not offering sacrifice in the wilderness, when they never lived in the wilderness, but lived many ages after their Fore-fathers came out of the wilderness? as appears by the series of those Iudges and Kings which governed them since the time that they came from Egypt.
Answ. Though the same numerical men were not in the wilderness, yet the house of Israel was there, and what their Fore-fathers did, is imputed to the posterity who made up one body with them, and were bound up in the same bundle with them.
These walking in the Idolatrous steps of their Fore-fathers, justified their Idolatry, and as they worshipped the golden Calf in Egypt, so these worshipped the golden Calves at Dan and Bethel. Thus they being heirs of their Fathers guilt, and imitators of them in their Idolatry, the Lord chargeth them here with their sin also, saying, Have yee offered to mee sacrifices in the wilderness? Hee doth not say, Have your Fore-fathers offered sacrifice to mee? but he chargeth them with the sin; and this is usual in Scripture, when the children walk in the Ancestors sins, to charge the children with the sins also, as Mat. 23.35. Our Saviour chargeth the Jews with the blood of Abel and Zacharias, whom they slew. How could they slay those that were slain long before they were born?
Answ. By imitating their cruelty, they approved of the like cruelty in their progenitors, and so became partakers with them in their sin, and should partake with them in their plagues; not onelyonly for the murdering of Iohn the Baptist, and those of latter times; but even for the blood of all the Saints that ever was shed to that day, even from the blood of righteous Abel, the first that ever was slain, to the blood of good Zacharias, who was so barbarously slain between the Temple and the Altar, q. d. God will visit the sins of the Fathers upon you their children, that have walked in their wicked steps, with the greatest severity, because ye have sinned against the greatest light; and if the blood of one innocent Abel lay so heavy upon Cain, that he cried, his punishment was greater than he could bear; how sad is your condition that are charged with the blood of so many thousands of innocent, holy men! so that as all Beleevers are the children of Abraham, and have Interest in all the Promises that were made to him: So all persecutors are the seed of Cain, and have interest in all the curses which fell upon him.
Quest. 2. How are all condemned here as Idolaters, when wee read of some good men amongst them that sacrificed to God, and not to Idols? as Moses, Eleazer, Joshua, Caleb, Phineas, and Aaron, the Saint of the Lord, as the Psalmist calls him, Psal. 106.16.
Answ. The Prophet condemns the body of this people indefinitely, Quod major multitudo abrepta fuerat, ideò totus populus meritò damnatur. Calvin.and not all and every individual person, singly. He speaks against the wicked Ancestors of wicked children, and against those wicked children which walked in the steps of those wicked Ancestors; God had his remnant amongst them, and some grains of wheat in this heap of rubbish and chaff.
Quest. 3. Have yee sacrificed to mee? The Interrogation is a strong Negation. So Ioel 1.2. q. d. You have not sacrificed to mee all that time, but you have discovered your averseness from mee, and your proneness to Idolatry on all occasions. But how can this be true, when we read that the Israelites did sacrifice to God in the wilderness? when the Covenant was ratified, they offered Eucharistical sacrifices to Iehovah, Exod. 24.4, 5. And after the dedication of the Tabernacle, and the consecration of Aarons sons, and at the celebration of the feast of the Passeover, Levit. 8.21, 28. & 9.2. Numb. 7.3. & 9.
Answ. Though they did offer some sacrifices the first and second year that they were in the wilderness, yet after they did not so ordinarily and so frequently, as when they came to Canaan, for in the wilderness they lived in want, and had not that plenty of Sheep and Oxen, as they had when they came into Canaan. They had scarce any flesh to eat, much less to sacrifice, therefore the Lord fed them with Mannah and Quails. Besides, they were in a fleeting condition, and so unfit for sacrificing, or for circumcision and therefore 'twas omitted in the wilderness for a time. They were not settled nor fixed, but as the Tabernacle removed, so they removed, and till they came to fix and settle, they could not so wel sacrifice.
2 The Answer lyes most genuinely in that little Emphatical word Mee, Have yee offered sacrifice to mee? q. d. 'Tis true, I grant, you have offered sacrifice (saith the Lord) but 'twas to your Idols, and to Devils, Deut. 32.16, 17. and not to mee, both you and your Fathers worshipped Calves and Creatures, and the host of Heaven (as in the next verse) and not mee, and therefore I will punish you as I did them. Ezek. 20.15, 16, 18, 21. Isa. 43.22, 23, 24.
'Tis true, they thought they worshipped God, and did him good service, but since they kept not to the Rule, but worshipped the Lord according to their own inventions, with rotten hearts, and unhallowed lives, therefore the Lord disowns all that they did, and tells us, that they did not sacrifice to him at all.
Quest. 4. How is it said that for forty years space in the wilderness they did not sacrifice, whereas 'tis apparent that the two first years at least they did offer sacrifice?
Scriptura plenum ac integrum numerum usurpat Synecdochic… pro part…, cum paululum quiddam a…t desit, aut excedat. Aug. de Civit. De…. l. 15. c. 24.The Answer is easie; 'Tis usual in Scripture for roundness of number (though some few years may be under or over) to name a full and compleat number, as here forty years for thirty eight, that is, not forty precisely, but well nigh forty. So Abimelech is said to kill his seventy Brethren, when he killed but sixty nine, for Iotham escaped, Iudg. 9.5. So the seventy two Disciples are called the seventy. So Gen. 42.13. it is said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, yet in the same verse it is said, one is not. By the like Synecdoche they are called twelve Apostles, when one was wanting, 1 Cor. 15.5. So the Lord threatned to punish Israel forty years in the wilderness,V. Plenius D. Reynolds de lib. Apochry. Praelect. 219. p. 1288, &c. See the large Annotat. on 2 Sam. 5.5. whereas they were not punisht forty years compleat, for the punishment began to be inflicted on them about the second year of their departure out of Egypt, as appears by comparing, Numb. 1.1. with 14.33. and 32.13. See more Deut. 29.5. Iudg. 20.46. 2 Sam. 5.5.
OBSERVATIONS.
1. Teaching by Questions and Interrogations is very Emphatical and lively.
Have yee offered sacrifice to mee? did yee serve mee? or rather, did yee not serve your selves in the wilderness? The Scripture abounds with such Questions, Adam where art thou? Gen. 3.9. So said Christ, How readest thou? what think you? Mat. 18.12. and 21.28. Luke 7.42. James 4.5. This quickens and awakens men, it makes them heed things better, and consider what to answer. Be not then offended when Gods Ministers ransack thy soul, and question and quicken thee out of thy Lethargy, and deep security.
2. God bears long with sinners.
Forty years he was grieved with Israel, in the wilderness. He bore with those ten Tribes well nigh three hundred years before he destroyed them; He bore with the old world a hundred and twenty years; He bore with the Amorites four hundred years. 'Tis one of his Royal Attributes, that he is a God of infinite Patience,See more in my Com. on Hos. 13.12. p. 4. to 11. and Long-suffering▪ Exod. 34.6. Psal. 103.8. Ionah 4.2. We have all daily experience of this his goodness to us.
3. To sin against mercy aggravates sin.
For this people to sin against God in the wilderness where he led them,See more in my Comment▪ on 2 Tim. 4.10. p. 427, 428. and fed them miraculously, and upheld them in the midst of so many dangers, doth greatly heighten their sin.
4. Long continuance in sin is very displeasing unto God.
Hence the Lord so often mentions this forty years obstinacy of Israel, See more in my Com. on 2 Tim▪ 4.10. p. 429.as that which exceedingly offended and grieved him, Numb. 32.13. Psal. 95.11. Act. 7.42. & 13.18. This made the Lord to complain of Ierusalem, Jer. 13. ult. Oh Ierusalem, wilt thou not bee made clean? when shall it once bee? He denounceth a woe against them for their hypocritical dallying and delaying; Woe unto thee, wilt thou not be made clean?Frustrà expecto quia obduruisti in scelere, desperata est tua correctio, funditus ergò te evertam. Hieron. 'tis not, canst thou not? but wilt thou not? They were wilfully impenitent; 'tis this rebellious will of men that destroyes them, Psal. 78.10. Isa. 30.9, 15. & 42.24. Ier. 5.3. & 6.16. & 8.5. & 44.17. Zach. 7.11. Rom. 8.7.
Obj. Wee will turn.
Answ. You do but dissemble (saith God) with mee, When shall it once bee? what? not after so many wooings and warnings? what? not after so many years purifying Sermons? nor so many melting mercies? nor so many awakening judgements? nor after so many Sabbaths and Sacraments, fasts and feasts? will nothing cleanse thee from thy old abominations? Oh when shall it once be? This obstinate persevering and continuing in sin, makes the Lord so oft to upbraid men with it, as that which will be their bane, Exod. 16.28. Neh. 9.30. Psal. 78.40. Luk. 13.44.
5. Children that imitate their Fore-fathers in sin, shall bee like them in punishment.
See my Com. on Hos. 13.16. p. 82. & 146.God will visit the sins of the Fathers upon those children that tread in their steps, Exod. 20.5. Hence the Lord so oft forbids us to follow sinful Fore-fathers, Psal. 78.5, 6, 8. Ezek. 20.18. Zech. 1.4. And Stephen aggravates the sins of the Israelites, saying, That as your Fathers did, so do yee, Act. 7.51.
6. Idolatrous, Hypocritical service, is no service.
Have ye offered Sacrifice to mee? (saith the Lord to those Hypocrites) no, you have not served mee at all.
1. Since you do not worship mee according to Rule, but accord…ng to your own inventions, I abhor it, and account it as null.
See my Schools Guard. Rule 22.2. Your hearts are rotten; what the heart doth not, God accounts as not done, Isa. 43.22, 23, 24. Though they abounded with sacrifices, yet God saith there, They brought him none, viz. in sincerity. As knowledge without practice is no knowledge, 1 Sam. 2.12. so duties not practised are no duties in Gods esteem.Quia non soli Deo offerebant, perinde erat ac si no… offerebant. Mariana.
3. They served not God alone, but served him and their Idols too, and therefore God disowns all they did, as not done to him, for he will be served truly and totally, without halting or halving, 1 King. 18.21. 2 King. 17.33. Ezek. 20.30. Zeph. 1.5.