43 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Amos 5 In this chapter the prophet exhorts Israel to hear his lamentation over them for their impending ruin, Amos 5:1; nevertheless to seek the Lord, and all that is good; to forsake their idols, and repent of their sins, in hopes of finding mercy, and living comfortably; or otherwise they must expect the wrath of God for their...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Hear ye the word which I take up against you,.... And which was not his own word, but the word of the Lord; and which he took up, by his direction as a heavy burden as some prophecies are called, and this was; and which, though against them, a reproof for their sins, and denunciation of punishment for them, yet was to be heard; for every word of...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The scope of this chapter is to prosecute the exhortation given to Israel in the close of the foregoing chapter to prepare to meet their God; the prophet here tells them, I. What preparation they must make; they must "seek the Lord," and not seek any more to idols (ver. 4-8); they must seek good, and love it, ver. 14, 15. II. Why they must make...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
The virgin of Israel is fallen,.... The kingdom of Israel, so called, because it had never been subdued, or become subject to a foreign power, since it was a kingdom; or because, considered in its ecclesiastic state, it had been espoused to the Lord as a chaste virgin; and perhaps this may be ironically spoken, and refers to its present adulterate...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For thus saith the Lord God,.... This is a reason why there were none to raise her up: since the city that went out [by] a thousand shall leave an hundred; that is, the city in which there were a thousand constantly going in and out; or which sent, caused to go out, or furnished, a thousand men upon occasion for war, had only a hundred persons...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel,.... Or "yet" (a), notwithstanding all this, though such judgments were threatened and denounced, and such desolations should certainly come, in case of impenitence, and an obstinate continuance in a course of sin; yet hopes are given of finding mercy and kindness upon repentance and reformation, at...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: And that it just the message of God to professing Christians now: “Seek ye me.” Get away from your mere ceremonies, from trusting in your outward performances, and get to God himself. Get beyond your fellow-worshippers and your ministers, beyond your sanctuaries and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But seek not Bethel,.... Do not go to Bethel, the place where one of Jeroboam's calves was set up and worshipped, to consult the oracle, idols, and priests there; or to perform religious worship, which will be your ruin, if not prevented by another course of living: nor enter into Gilgal; another place of idolatry, where idols were set up and...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
But seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal and pass not to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought. These were the places where the calves and other idols were set up for the worship of God by means of visible symbols. That was the Romanism of that day. Pure spiritual worship was ordained by God, but...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Seek the Lord, and ye shall live,.... This is, repeated to stir up unto it, because of their backwardness and slothfulness, and to show the importance and necessity of it. By the "Lord" may be meant the Messiah, Israel's God that was to come, and they were to prepare to meet, Amos 4:12; and the rather, since life spiritual and eternal is only to...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, Here you have another great truth, — that, in order to seek God aright, we must turn away from sin. All the ritualism in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Ye who turn judgment to wormwood,.... This seems to be spoken to kings and judges, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe; in whose hands is the administration of justice, and who often pervert it, as these did here addressed and complained of; that which was the most useful and salubrious, and so the most desirable to the commonwealth, namely, just...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[Seek him] that maketh the seven stars,.... Which some connect with the preceding words, without a supplement, "they leave righteousness on the ground, who maketh the seven stars"; understanding it of Christ, the Lord our righteousness, who is made unto us righteousness, whom the Jews rejected and despised, though the Maker of the heavens and the...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, — The Creator of the spring-bringing Pleiades, and of the winter-bringing Orion, —
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name: that strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. The God of the weak, the Defender of the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong,.... Such as have been taken by an enemy, who have been stripped of their armour, and spoiled of all their goods and substance, and have no friends nor allies, nor anything to help themselves with; the Lord can supply them with strength, furnish them with weapons, and send them helpers, so that...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They hate him that rebuketh in the gate,.... Openly and publicly in the courts of judicature: wicked judges hated the prophets of the Lord, such as Amos, who faithfully reproved them for the perversion of justice, even when they were upon the bench: or the people were so corrupt and degenerate, that they hated those faithful judges who reproved...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. There is still a generation that cannot bear to be told of its faults, and that shows its venom against everything that is right.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Forasmuch therefore as your treading [is] upon the poor,.... This seems to be spoken to the princes, judges, and civil magistrates, as Kimchi observes; who oppressed the poor and needy, and crushed them to the ground, trampled upon them, stripped them of the little substance they had, and left them destitute; exercising a cruel and tyrannical...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. God has often shown how he can overthrow those who oppress the poor.