Exposition of Amos 4-9, Part 3 · Section 12
VER. 12.
Shall Horses run upon the Rock? Will one plow there with Oxen? for yee have turned judgement into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock.
IN the precedent Verse the Lord threatned a general Judgment against these general Sinners, but they trusting to their owne strength and glory, feared no Judgements, but conceited that the Lord who had taken them into Covenant with himself, and adopted them for his owne peculiar people, and adorned them with many Priviledges above the rest of the Nations round about them, would not deal so sharply with them as the Prophet threatned; but would take some gentler course, plowing them still by his Prophets, and labouring to reclaime them by their Ministery.
To this the Lord answers in this Verse, by a Prolepsis, he prevents this evasion and vain conceit, telling them, that it was to no purpose to take any more pains with them, or to correct them with gentler rods, for they remained still obstinate and perverse, falling away more and more, growing worse and worse; so that he did but plow the rocks, and so break his Plows without any increase; and sow the sands, losing his labour on them; and therefore he is now resolved, that his Spirit should no longer contend with such rockey rebellious Sinners nor his patience wait any more upon them. The Interrogation is a strong Negation▪ Shall Horses run upon the rock, or Oxen plow there? No, they will not, they are not fit places for such purposes; and doe you think that I will alwaies sing to deaf men, and bestow my cost and care upon such rockey and hardned Sinners, that will bring forth no fruit?
It is a Proverbial speech,Sicut frustra laboraret, siquis vellet incitare equos ad cursum in Petra, au… siquis bobus cam vellet arare; sie ego frustra laboro, dum vos hortor ad faciendum recta, quia pla…è perversi effis. Piscator. and signifies lost labour, and therefore we use to say of such as labour in vaine, They goe about to plow the rocks, and sow the sands.
Interpreters vary much in their Exposition of this first branch of the verse. See five various senses in a Lapid…, and six in our large Annotations; that which I have given (with submission to better judgements) I conceive to be most genuine and best agreeing with the context; which is the surest and foundest way of expounding Scripture, and is of more weight than an hundred sic dixits of this and that man.
So that in this Verse we have, 1 The Lords resolution to plow these rocks no longer.
2 Here is the Reason and ground of this Resolution, viz. for their Injustice, Oppression, Tyranny, and all kind of cruelty towards the poor. There was no righteousness to be found amongst them, they had turned Judgement into Gall, or Poyson, (as the word also signifies) because poyson is the bitterest part of poysonous beasts,Rosh, significat toxicum & tale venenum quod serpentes in capite gestant. Lagnanab, absyathium, in gratissimi saporis herba; Metaphoricè res ingrata, molesta, noxia. to wit, the gall. The word also signifies the Head, and is put for Poyson, because the Poyson of Dragons lies in their head, Deut. 32.33.
And righteousness into hemlock, o… wormwood, so the word properly signifies, and it is so rendred in other places, as Ier. 9.15. Lam. 3.15. Amos 5.7. They absolved the nocent, and condemned the innocent; they acquitted the wicked, and condemned the just; they favoured the rich, who could bribe well, and opprest the poor who had nothing to give, Amos 4.1. so that their Courts of Justice were as sweet as Honey to the wicked, but as baneful and bitter as gall to the godly.
Fructum justitiae vocat pacem publicam, quae sub iniquis Magistratibus in absynthium degenerat. Gual.Justice in it self is a most sweet and pleasant thing, it is the very asylum and sanctuary of the poor, and the oppressed; but these luxurious ones had turned this soveraign Medicine into a deadly Poyson, and made that which is in it self sweet as h…ney, to become bitter as gall unto the oppressed, and as hemlock to the poor, which is a dangerous venemous weed, killing him that tasts of it.
OBSERVATIONS.
1 The patience of the Lord will not alwayes, wait upon impe…itent sinners.
See my Com. on Hos. 13.12. p. 4, 5.He will not alwayes plow the rocks, and sow the sands, not take pains with such ground as brings forth nothing but Bryars and Thorns, such barren ground is nigh to cursing, Heb. 6.8. Isa. 5.1. to 8. The Lord had planted his Vineyard in an Horn of Oyl, i. e. in a very fruitful soyl, from whence he might justly expect the generous fruit of sincere obedience; he fenced it about with his gracious Protection and good Laws; he removed all impediments of growth and fruitfulness; but when he came to look for grapes of obedience, behold the wilde grapes of cruelty, injustice, and disobedience; he therefore resolves to take away the hedge, break down the wall, lay it wast, and expose it to the fury of every wild beast.See M. Nathan. Rogers on that Parable. Barren trees are good for nothing but fewel, Matth. 3.10. Mark 11.12. Luke 13. 6. to 10. When the Lord by his Word and Spirit hath long striven with men, labouring to bring them to Repentance, but they will not be wrought upon, but are like the Cypress tree, the more it is watered, the more it withers; the Lord at last resolves to make a final end with them,See Mr. Love on Gen. 6.3. & Mr. Fenner, p. 377. folio. V. B. Babington on Numb. 21.26. p. 91, folio. and utterly to destroy. them, Gen. 6.3. Isa. 1.5.
2 Proverbial speeches are commendable.
The Lord himself useth them in Scripture. All Proverbs are commendable, especially sacred ones. They are short, witty, pithy, concise speeches, like jewels that containe much worth in a little room.☜ They prove themselves, and will have no nay, they save many words, and help the memory, a man cannot tell how well to forget them, or gain-say them. Hence Solomon abounded with them, and Christ a greater than Solomon occasionally used them;Inter bonos authores ut quis que fuit eruditissimus, ita quamplurimum adagiorum suis libris aspersit. Quid divino illo Platone foreign Aristoteles suis disputationibus Paroemias crebras sero gemmulas intertexuit, foreign. as, No man can serve two Masters. A tree is known by his fruits. He that humbles himself shall be exalted. It is better to give than to receive, &c. And it is observed, that the more learned any men are, the more pithy, sententious, and Proverbial they are; as we see in Plato, Plutarch, Seneca, Aristotle, &c.
3 Obs. Perverting of Iustice is a Land destroying sin.
There is not a more infallible fore-runner of a Nation ruine, than when Courts of Justice are turned into Courts of injustice; and Courts of Equity become Courts of iniquity. This turning of Justice into Gall, brings gall and sorrow with it to a Land, Ier. 8.14. & 9.15. Hos. 10.4, 5. it caused Ierusalems day to draw neer, Ezek. 22.6, 7. A corrupt Judge is a cold Fire, a dark Sun, a dry Sea. A false Teacher that poysons Souls, an unskilful Physician that destroyes Bodies and a corrupt Judge that perverts Justice, are three great Evils; the one destroyes the fountain of Piety, the other destroyes the fountaine of Sanity, and the third destroyes the fountaine of Civil Policy. If a man bee opprest, hee flyes to Courts of Justice for refuge, and if they shall give him a draught of poyson, or hemlock to kill him, this cryes aloud for justice against such, Isa. 5.7. Ier. 5.28, 29. Execution of Justice is a most sweet and pleasant thing to God, no Hony so delightful to us,Corruptio optimi est corruptissima. See my Com▪ on Psal. 8….2. as this is to him. How great then is their sin, who turn righteousness into wrong, sweet into sower, and make poysons of medicines? See what God faith to such, Amos 4.1.