Exposition of Amos 4-9, Part 3 · Section 11
VERSE 11.
For behold the Lord commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts.
IN this Verse we have an Amplification, and Confirmation of the precedent commination, vers. 8. The Prophet tells them, that the destruction shall be general, high and low, rich and poor, great and small, none should escape, but as all had sinned, so all should suffer; a forreign enemy like a violent floud should over-run the Land, so that there should be no escaping.
These Sinners were secure, and carnally-confident, trusting in their two victorious and successful Kings, Ieroboam the second King of Israel, and Uzziah King of Iudah; they sleighted the words of the Prophet, and therefore the Lord resolves to preach to them in another manner viz. by the Sword of the Assyrian, and Chaldean, who should make them feel, what they would not beleeve.
In the words we have,
1 The causal Particle, For, which hath relation to the eighth and ninth Verses, where the Lord threatneth to destroy the City with its fulness,Metzavveh, mandavit, ordinavit, decrevit, & sicut decrevit, sic & exequetur. and to adde the Pestilence to the Sword, and gives you the reason of it in this verse, Mandavit Dominus, the Lord hath commanded and decreed it, and none shall be able to reverse it.
2 Here is an ecce, behold, to incite both our Attention and Intention, it calls for our ears and eyes.
3 Here is the matter to be marked, and that is the command and charge of God to destroy his people for their provocations, The Lord commandeth, and he will smite the City, q. d. you have not to doe with an impotent man, but with an Omnipotent God, who as he hath made all things, so he hath them all at his beck, to help or hurt us as pleaseth him. Hee needs not Armies, he needs not Instruments to confound his adversaries, it is but speaking and it is done, Psal. 44.4. & 148.5.
Q. How doth the Lord smite the City, when hee only commands that it should be done?
A. It is a Rule, Quod quis per alium facit, per sel facere videtur. In that the Lord commands the Assyrians and Chaldeans to destroy, vers. 14. he is said to doe it himself, because they were but his rods, and the instruments in his hand to chastise his people; whoever be the Actor, yet God is the Author.
4 Here is the Universality of this destruction, he will bring down great and small, he will cause the Assyrians and Babylonians to smite the great house with breaches, and the little house with clefts. Resisim, rupturis, confractionibus, vel distillationibus, cant. 5.2. Hic veró idem valet quod Ratsim, i. e. fragmina.The word which we render Breaches, signifies also droppings, which by little and little rot the house, and so make breaches and ruptures in it; but in this place it properly signifies ruptures, and breaches.
They were all incorrigible, and incurable, both great and small, and therefore now they shall be punisht, and perish together, both houses and inhabitants. Their Palaces and great Houses in Sion, and Samaria, should have a great down-fall; and the lesser houses should chop, and chink, and moulder away. By these expressions the Prophet intimates, that both noble and ignoble should perish together; as they had overthrown the Law, and all equity, vers. 12. so now God overthrows them.
Some conceive, that the Prophet here alludes to some Earth-quake, which should make breaches and clefts in their houses, but the Prophet confutes these, and tells us▪ that it shall be done by the hand of an enemy, vers. 14. Others Allegorize, and apply this to the two Kingdoms of Israel and Iudah, which are called two houses, Isa. 8.14. By the great house (say they) is meant the Ten Tribes, which did excell in wealth and dignity. By the lesser house is meant the Kingdome of Iudah, Peroutiet regnum percussione forti, regnum vero minus plaga remissio…e. Chald. Para.which was little, compared with Israel; the Kingdom of Israel should be so ruined by the Assyrians, that it should never be repaired; but the Kingdom of Iudah should only have some clefts and chawns made by the Babylonians, which were in part made up again, after the seventy years Captivity in Babylon, by Ezra and Nehemiah.
OBSERVATIONS.
1 Matters of moment must especially be marked.
Great Judgements were coming upon this People, and the Lord by an Ecce, Behold, labours to awaken them to the consideration of them. The birth of Christ is a matter of great moment, and therefore the Angels come with a Behold, Luk. 2.10. the seasons of grace are matters of great moment, and therefore a double Behold is set upon them, 2 Cor. 6.2. Our Original Sin is a matter deeply to be thought on, and therefore it hath an Ecce setupon it,See move in Robinson on Ephes. 6.13. Lect. 1. p. 3. Psa. 51.5. and so on the Day of Judgement, Iude 7. Revel. 22.7.
2 Warre and Pestilence are Gods Servants, which come and goe at his beck and commandment.
As all Creatures are his Servants, Winds, and Seas, and Sun obey him, Iob 9.7. so all Armies are his, he is Lord of Hosts, and if he but stamp or hiss for an Enemy, or call for a Pestilence on the Land, they readily obey, Isa. 7.18, 19. Levit. 26.25. Ier. 47.6, 7. he can destroy the most potent enemy by the most impotent and contemptible means, as Froggs, Flies, Lice, Psal. 105.31.
If he say to such and such Diseases, Go, seize on such a man, or such a woman, they go; if he bid them cease, they cease. We should not therefore bribe the Sergeant, but compound with the Creditor. Run not in your sickness and distress to Physick or Friends, but make peace with God in the first place, and then all shall be at peace with you.
We should also be patient under all Dispensations, looking at Gods hand in all, seeing him ordering and disposing all for the good of his. This will make you dumbe and silent, when you see it is the Lord that doth it, 2 Sam. 16.10. Psal. 39.9. Ioh. 18.11.
See my Com. on Hos. 13.16. p. 209.3 Obs. Universality in sin brings universality in suffering.
The generality of this people were corrupt, and now they are generally ruined. As rich and poor were Idolaters, Apostates, and Prophane; so now they should be ransackt and ruined together.
4 Obs. Sin brings a curse on our dwellings, and layes famous fabricks in the dust, as I have shewed before on verse eight.