Exposition of Amos 4-9, Part 3 · Section 9
VERSE 9.
And it shall come to pass, if there remaine ten men in one house, that they shall dye.
WEE have heard of Israels Captivity before, but since that could doe no good, now comes the Pestilence, and that no ordinary one, which usually leaves some untoucht; But such a terrible, destructive Pestilence, that should sweep away all before it; insomuch that if ten men remaine alive, they shall all dye, and they shall be buried not in an ordinary way, but they shall be burnt, and that by the nearest relations, which was used by the people of Israel, only in cases of extream necessity, 1 Sam. 31.12.
In this Verse we have, 1 A Iudgement threatned, viz. death, Yee shall dye, i. e. by the Pestilence. Those that escaped the Sword, and were not killed, or carried away by the enemy, the Pestilence, or some other Judgement shall slay them, as appears by the next verse.
2 Here is the fierceness of this Pestilence, it shall sweep all before it, this is more than the Pestilence usually doth; God had corrected them before with lighter rods, yet he left some alive; but now if ten men remaine in some very numerous Family, they shall all dye together. This sets forth the dreadfulness of Gods wrath against this people, for when the Plague rageth very fiercely, yet it usually spares some, if there bee four or five in an house, usually one is spared, or if eight in a Family, it may be two are spared; but when there are ten in a Family, and they must all dye, this is dreadful indeed. By Ten the Prophet signifies many, because ten is the utmost of single number;See Caryl on Job 19.3. It is a certain and distinct number put for an uncertain, the like we find, Numb. 14.22. Levit. 26.26. 1 Sam. 1.8. Iob 19.3. Psal. 91.7. Eccles. 7.19. Isa. 5.10. Zach. 8.23. Mat. 25.1.
3 Here is the certainty of this dreadful destruction,Hajah, erit, fiet. Ehjeh, the name of God, which denotes his immutability, comes from hence. It shall come to pass; that is, it shall certainly come to pass, for God hath so decreed it, and there is no resisting.
OBSERVATIONS.
1 Iudgements seldome goe alone.
See more on Amos 4.8. Obs. 2.When God begins to correct a people he takes them up for all together, and spends one rod upon them after another, till he hath either mended or ended them. God wants not variety of wayes to cut off rebellious sinners, if they escape one Judgement, yet he hath another to arrest them, Amos 5.19. & 9.1, 2, 3. Mat. 24.7. he hath moths, thieves, rust, and cankers to rob us of our comforts, Iam. 5.2, 3.
2 Desperate Diseases must have desperate Cures.
See my Com. on Hos. 13.16. p. 68.When gentler corrections will not work on a people, then come direful plagues and end them. Those sinners were become desperate and incurable, and now the Lord sets upon them with direful judgements and consumes them that so all the Nations round about might hear and fear, and doe no more so wickedly.
3 Incorrigible sinners are cut off by the Pestilence.
God had used all means to reclaime this People, but all in vaine, therefore now they must dye for it. So true is that of the Apostle, The wages of sin is death, Rom. 1.31. & 6.23. Sin and Death came into the world together, Gen. 2.17. Dan. 9.11. Rom. 5.12. How blind then are the Socinians, that can finde no place in Scripture where it is said, that death is the punishment of sin.
4 What God hath decreed shall certainly be effected.
Though we cannot bring it to pass, yet he can and will, whether it be for the overthrow of the wicked, as here; or for the comfort of the godly. The counsel of the Lord shall stand, and the thoughts of his heart unto all generations. Men may plot, and contrive wayes to overthrow the Doctrine and Discipline of Christ, but these devices and counsels of men shall not stand, it is the counsels of the Lord only that shall abide, Psal. 33.10, 11.