CompleteConcise
The scope of this chapter is to prosecute the exhortation givento 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 (v. 4-8); they mustseek good, and love it (v. 14, 15). II. Why they must make this preparation tomeet their God, 1. Because of the present deplorable condition they were in (v.1-3). 2. Because it was by sin that they were brought into such a condition (v.7, 10-12). 3. Because it would be their happiness to seek God, and he wasready to be found of them (v. 8, 9, 14). 4. Because he would proceed, in hiswrath, to their utter ruin, if they did not seek him (v. 5, 6, 13, 16, 17). 5.Because all their confidences would fail them if they did not seek unto God, andmake him their friend. (1.) Their profane contempt of God's judgments, andsetting them at defiance, would not secure them (v. 18-20). (2.) Theirexternal services in religion, and the shows of devotion, would not avail toturn away the wrath of God (v. 21-24). (3.) Their having been long inpossession of church-privileges, and in a course of holy duties, would not betheir protection, while all along they had kept up their idolatrous customs (v.25-27). They have therefore no way left them to save themselves, but byrepentance and reformation.
This chapter begins, as those two next foregoing began, with, Hearthis word. Where God has a mouth to speak we must have an ear to hear; it isour duty, it is our interest, yet so stupid are most men that they need to beagain and again called upon to hear the word of the Lord, to giveaudience, to give attention. Hear this word. this convincing awakeningword must be heard and heeded, as well as words of comfort and peace; the wordthat is taken up against us, as well as that which makes for us; for, whether wehear or forbear, the word of God shall take effect, and not a tittle of it shallfall to the ground. It is the word which I take upnot the prophetonly, but the God that sent him. It is the word that the Lord has spoken,ch. 3:1. The word to be heard is a lamentation, a lamentable account ofthe present calamitous state of the kingdom of Israel, and a lamentableprediction of its utter destruction. Their condition is sad: The virgin ofIsrael has fallen (v. 2), has come down from what she was; that state,though not pure and chaste as a virgin, yet was beautiful and gay, and had itscharms; she looked high herself, and was courted by many as a virgin; but shehas fallen into contempt and poverty, and is universally slighted. Nay, andtheir condition is helpless: She shall no more rise, shall never recoverher former dignity again. God had lately begun to cut Israel short (2 Ki.10:32), and, because they repented not, it was not long before he cut Israeldown. 1. Their princes, that should have helped them up, were disabled: Sheis forsaken upon her land. Not only those she was in alliance with abroadfailed her, but her friends at home deserted her; she would not have beencarried captive into a strange land if she had not first been forsaken uponher own land and thrown to the ground there, and all her trueinterests abandoned by those that should have had them at heart. There isnone to raise her up, none that can do it, not that cares to lend her ahand. 2. Their people, that should have helped them up, were diminished, v. 3."The city that had a militia, 1000 strong, and, in the beginning of thewar, had furnished out 1000 effective men, able-bodied and well-armed, when theycome to review their troops after the battle, shall find but 100 left;and, in proportion, the city that sent out 100 shall have but ten comeback, so great a slaughter shall be made, and so few left to the house of Israelfor the public service and safety." Scarcely one in ten shall escape of thehands that should relieve this abject, this dejected, nation. Note, Thelessening of the numbers of God's spiritual Israel, by death or desertion, isjust a matter for lamentation; for by whom shall Jacob arise, by whomshall the decays of piety be repaired, when he is thus made small?
This is a message from God to the house of Israel, in which,
I. They are told of their faults, that they might see whatoccasion there was for them to repent and reform, and that, when they werecalled to return, they might not need to ask, Wherein shall we return?
1. God tells them, in general (v. 12), "I know yourmanifold transgressions, and your mighty sins; and you shall be made to knowthem too." In our penitent reflections upon our sins we must consider, asGod does in his judicial remarks upon them, and will do in the great day, (1.)That they are very numerous; they are our manifold transgressions, sinsof various kinds and often repeated. Oh what a multitude of vain and vilethoughts lodge within us! What a multitude of idle, foolish, wicked words havebeen spoken by us! In what a multitude of instances have we gratified andindulged our corrupt appetites and passions! And how many our own omissions ofduty and in duty! Who can understand his errors? Who can tell how often heoffends? God knows how many, just how many, our transgressions are; none of thempass him unobserved; we know that they are to us innumerable; more than thehairs of our head; and we have reason to see what danger we have broughtourselves into, and what abundance of work we have made for repentance, by our manifoldtransgressions, by the numberless number of our sins of daily incursion.(2.) That some of them are very heinous; they are our mighty sins; sinsthat are more exceedingly sinful in their own nature and by being committedpresumptuously and with a high hand, sins against the light of nature, flagrantcrimes, that are mighty to overpower your convictions and to pull down judgmentsupon you.
2. He specifies some of these mighty sins. (1.) They corruptedthe worship of God, and turned to idols; this is implied v. 5. They had soughtto Bethel, where one of the golden calves was; they had frequented Gilgal, aplace which they chose to set up idols in, because it had been made famous inthe days of Joshua by God's wonderful appearances to and for his people. Beer-shebalikewise, a place that had been famous in the days of the patriarchs, was nowanother rendezvous of idols; as we find also, ch. 8:14. And thither theypassed, though it lay at a distance, in the land of Judah. Now, having thusshamefully gone a whoring from God, no doubt they should have felt themselvesconcerned to return to him. (2.) They perverted justice among themselves (v. 7):"You turn judgment to wormwood, that is, you make youradministrations of justice bitter and nauseous, and highly displeasing both toGod and man." That fruit has become a weed, a weed in the garden; asnothing is more venerable, nothing more valuable, than justice dulyadministered, so nothing is more hurtful, nothing more abominable, thandesignedly doing wrong under colour and pretence of doing right. Corruptiooptimi est pessimaThe best, when corrupted, becomes the worst."You leave off righteousness in the earth, as if those that do wrongwere accountable to the God of heaven only, and not to the princes and judgesof the earth." Thus it was as before the flood, when the earth wasfilled with violence. (3.) They were very oppressive to the poor, and madethem poorer; they trod upon the poor (v. 11), trampled upon them, hectored overthem, made them their footstool, and were most imperious and barbarous to thosethat were most obsequious and submissive; they care not what shame and slaverythey put those to who were poor and such as they could get nothing by. Thejudges aimed at nothing but to enrich themselves; and therefore they tookfrom the poor burdens of wheat, took it by extortion, either by wayof bribe or by usury. The poor had no other way to save themselves from beingtrodden upon, and trodden to dirt, by them, than by presenting to themhorse-loads of that corn which they and their families should have had tosubsist upon, and they forced them to do it. They took from the poor debts ofwheat, so some read it. It was legally due either for rent or for corn lent,but they exacted it with rigour from those who were disabled by the providenceof God to pay it, as Neh. 5:2, 5. In demanding and recovering even a just debtwe must take heed left we act either unjustly or uncharitably. This sin ofoppression by are again charged with (v. 12): They afflict the just, byturning the edge of the law and of the sword of justice against those that arethe innocent and quiet in the land; they hated men because they were morerighteous than themselves, and he that departed from evil thereby madehimself a prey to them. They take a bribe from the rich to patronize andprotect them in oppressing the poor, so that he who has money in his hand issure to have the judgment on his side, be his cause ever so bad. Thus they turnaside the poor in the gate, in the courts of justice, from their right.If the poor sue for their right, who cannot bribe them, or are so honest thatthey will not, though they have it ever so clear in view and ever so near,yet they are turned away from it by their unrighteous sentence and cannot comeat it. And therefore the prudent will keep silence, v. 13. Men willreckon it their prudence, when they are wronged and injured, to be silent, andmake no complaints to the magistrates, for it will be to no purpose; they shallnot have justice done them. (4.) They were malicious persecutors of God'sfaithful ministers and people, v. 10. Their hearts were so fully set in them todo evil that they could not bear to be reproved, [1.] By the ministry of theword, by the reading and expounding of the law, and the messages which prophetsdelivered to them in the name of the Lord. They hate him that rebukes in thegate, in the gate of the Lord's house, or in their courts of justice, orin the places of concourse, where Wisdom is lifting up her voice, Prov. 1:21.Reprovers in the gate are reprovers by office; these they hated, counting themtheir enemies because they told them the truth, as Ahab hated Micaiah.They not only despised them, but had an enmity to them, and sought to do themmischief. Those that hate reproof love ruin. [2.] By the conversation of theirhonest neighbours. Though things were generally very bad, yet there were someamong them that spoke uprightly that made conscience of what they said,and, as it was their praise, so it was the shame of those that spokedeceitfully, and condemned them, as Noah's faith condemned the unbelief of theold world, and for that reason they abhorred them; they were suchinveterate enemies to the thing called honesty that they could not endure thesight of an honest man. All that have any sense of the common interest ofmankind will love and value such as speak uprightly, for veracity is the bond ofhuman society; to what a pitch of folly and madness then have those arrived who,having banished all notions of justice out of their own hearts, would have thembanished out of the world too, and so put mankind into a state of war, for the abhorhim that speaks uprightly! And for this reason the prudent shall keepsilence in that time, v. 13. Prophets cannot, dare not, keep silence; theimpulse they are under will not allow them to act on prudential considerations;they must cry aloud, and not spare. But as for other wise and good menthey shall keep silence, and shall reckon it is their prudence to do so, becauseit is an evil time. First, They shall think it dangerous to complain, andtherefore shall keep silence; this was one way in which they afflicted the just,that by false suggestions and strained innuendos they made men offenders fora word (Isa. 19:21); and therefore the prudent, who were wise asserpents, because they knew not how what they said might be misinterpretedand misrepresented, were so cautious as to say nothing, lest they should runthemselves into a premunire, because it was an evil time. Note, Through theiniquity of the times, as good men are hidden, so good men are silent, and it istheir wisdom to be so; little said soon amended. But it is their comfortthat they may speak freely to God when they know not to whom else they can speakfreely. Secondly, They shall think if fruitless to reprove. They see whatwickedness is committed, and their spirits are stirred up, as Paul's atAthens; but they shall think it prudent not to bear an open testimony againstit, because it is to no purpose. They are joined to their idols; let themalone. Let no man strive or rebuke another; for it is but casting pearlsbefore swine. The cautious men will say to a bold reprover, as Erasmus toLuther, "Abi in cellam, et dic, Miserere mei, DomineAway tothey cell, and cry, Have mercy on me, O Lord!" Let grave lessons andcounsels be kept for better men and better times. And there is a time to keepsilence as well as a time to speak, Eccl. 3:7. Evil times willnot bear plain dealing, that is evil men will not; and the men theprophet here speaks of had reason to think themselves evil men indeed, when wiseand good them thought it in vain to speak to them and were afraid of having anything to do with them.
II. They are told of their danger and what judgments they layexposed to for their sins. 1. The places of their idolatry are in danger ofbeing ruined in the first place, v. 5. Gilgal, the head-quarters ofidolatry, shall go into captivity, not only its inhabitants, but itsimages, and Bethel, with its golden calf shall come to nought. Thevictorious enemy shall make nothing of it, so easily shall it be spoiled, andshall bring it to nothing, so effectually shall it be spoiled. Idols were alwaysvanity, and things of nought, and so they shall prove when God appears toabolish them. 2. The body of the kingdom is in danger of being ruined with them,v. 6. There is danger lest, if you seek him not in time, he break out like afire in the house of Joseph and devour it; for our God is a righteous Judge,is a consuming fire, and the men of Israel, as criminals, are stubblebefore him; woe to those that make themselves fuel to the fire of God's wrath.It follows, And there shall be none to quench it in Bethel. There theiridols were, and their idolatrous priests; thither they brought their sacrifices,and there they offered up their prayers. But God tells them that when the fireof his judgments should kindle upon them all the gods they served at Bethelshould not be able to quench it, should not turn away the judgment, nor be anyrelief to them under it. Thus those that make an idol of the world will find itinsufficient to protect them when God comes to reckon with them for theirspiritual idolatry. 3. What they have got by oppression and extortion shall betaken from them (v. 11): "You have built houses of hewn stone, whichyou thought would be lasting; but you shall not dwell in them, for yourenemies shall burn them down, or possess them for themselves, or take you intocaptivity. You have planted pleasant vineyards, have contrived how tomake them every way agreeable, and have promised yourselves many a pleasant walkin them; but you shall be forced to walk off, and shall never drink wine ofthem." The law had tenderly provided that if a man had built ahouse, or planted a vineyard, he should be at his liberty to returnfrom the wars, Deu. 20:5, 6. But now the necessity would be so urgent that itwould not be allowed; all must go to the battle, and many of those who hadlately been building and planting should fall in battle, and never enjoy whatthey had been labouring for. What is not honestly got is not likely to be longenjoyed.
III. They are told their duty, and have great encouragement toset about it in good earnest, and good reason. The duties here prescribed tothem are godliness and honesty, seriousness in their applications to God andjustice in their dealings with men; and each of these is here pressed upon themwith proper arguments to enforce the exhortation.
1. They are here exhorted to be sincere and devout in theiraddresses to God, v. 4. God says to the house of Israel, Seek you me, andwith good reason, for should not a people seek unto their God? Isa. 8:19.Whither else should they go but to their protector? Israel was a prince withGod; let his descendants seek the Lord, as he did, and they shall beso too. Now, in order to their doing this, they must abandon their idolatries.God is not sought truly if he be not sought exclusively, for he will endure norivals: "Seek you the Lord, and seek not Bethel (v. 5), consult notyour idol-oracles, nor ask at the mouth of the priests of Bethel; seek not tothe golden calf there for protection, nor bring your prayers and sacrifices anylonger thither, or to Gilgal, for you forsake your own mercies if youobserve those lying vanities. But seek the Lord (v. 6, 8); enquireafter him; enquire of him; seek to know his mind as your rule, to secure hisfavour as your felicity." To press this exhortation we are told toconsider, (1.) What we shall get by seeking God; it will be our life; weshall find him, and shall be happy in him. So he tells them himself (v. 4): Seekyou me, and you shall live. Those that seek perishing gods shall perish withthem (v. 5), but those that seek the living God shall live with him: "Youshall be delivered from the killing judgments which you are threatened with;your nation shall live, shall recover from its present languishings; your soulsshall live; you shall be sanctified and comforted, and made for ever blessed. Youshall live." (2.) What a God he is whom we are to seek, v. 8, 9.[1.] He is a God of almighty power himself. The idols were impotent things,could do neither good nor evil, and therefore it was folly either to fear ortrust them; but the God of Israel does every thing, and can do any thing, andtherefore we ought to seek him; he challenges our homage who has all power inhis hand, and it is our interest to have him on our side. Divers proofs andinstances are here given of God's power, as Creator, in the kingdom of nature,as both founding and governing that kingdom. Compare ch. 4:13. First, Thestars are the work of his hands; those stars which the heathens worshipped (v.26), the stars of your god, those stars are God's creatures andservants. He makes the seven stars and Orion, two very remarkableconstellations, which Amos, a herdsman, while he kept his cattle by night, hadparticularly observed the motions of. He made them at the first, he still makesthem to be what they are to this earth and either binds or loosesthe sweet influences of Peliades and Orion, the two constellationshere mentioned. See Job 38:31; 9:9, to which passages Amos seems here to refer,putting them in mind of those ancient discoveries of the glory of God before hewas called the God of Israel. Secondly, The constant succession of dayand night is under his direction, and is kept up by his power and providence. Itis he that turns the night (which is dark as the shadow of death) intothe morning by the rising of the sun, and by the setting of the sun makesthe day dark with night; and the same power can, for humble penitents,easily turn affliction and sorrow into prosperity and joy, but can as easilyturn the prosperity of presumptuous sinners into darkness, into utter darkness. Thirdly,The rain rises and falls as he appoints. He calls for the waters of the sea;out of them vapours are drawn up by the heat of the sun, which gather intoclouds, and are poured out upon the face of the earth, to water it andmake it fruitful. This was the mercy that had been withholden from themof late (ch. 4:7); and therefore to whom should they apply but to him who hadpower to give it? For all the vanities of the heathen could not giverain, nor could the heavens themselves give showers Jer.14:22. It is God that has made these things; Jehovah is his name, thename by which the God of nature, the God of the whole earth, has made himselfknown to his people Israel and covenanted with them. [2.] As he is God ofalmighty power himself, so he gives strength and power unto his peoplethat seek him, and renews strength to those that had lost it, if they waitupon him for it; for (v. 9) he strengthens the spoiled against the strongto such a degree that the spoiled come against the fortress and make boldand brave attacks upon those that had spoiled them. This is an encouragement tothe people to seek the Lord, that, if they do so, they shall find himabove to retrieve their affairs, when they are brought to the lowest ebb; thoughthey are the spoiled, and their enemies are the strong, if they can but engageGod for them, they shall soon recruit so as the next time to be not only theaggressors, but the conquerors; they come against the fortress, to makereprisals and become masters of it.
2. They are here exhorted to be honest and just in theirdealings with men, v. 14, 15, where observe, (1.) The duty required: Seekgood, and not evil. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment inthe gate; re-establish it there, whence it has been banished, v. 7. Note,Things are not so bad but that they may be amended if the right course be taken;we must not despair but that grievances may be redressed and abuses rectified;justice may yet triumph where injustice tyrannizes. In order to this, good mustbe loved and sought, evil must be hated and no longer sought. We must love goodprinciples and adhere to them, love to do good and abound in doing it, love goodpeople, and good converse, and good duties; and, whatever good we do, we must doit from a principle of love, do it of choice and with delight. Those who thus lovegood will seek it, will contrive to do all the good they can, enquirefor opportunities of doing it, and endeavor to do it to the utmost of theirpower. They will also hate evil, will abhor the thought of doing anunjust thing, and abstain from all appearance of it. In vain do we pretend toseek God in our devotions if we do not seek good in our whole conversations.(2.) The reasons annexed. [1.] This is the sure way to be happy ourselves and tohave the continual presence of God with us: "Seek good, and not evil,that you may live, may escape the punishment of the evil you have sought andloved (righteousness delivereth from death), that you may have the favourof God, which is your life, which is better than life itself, that you may havecomfort in yourselves and may live to some good purpose. You shall live, for sothe Lord God of hosts shall be with you and be your life." Note, Thosethat keep in the way of duty have the presence of God with them, as the Godof hosts, a God of almighty power. "He will be with you as you havespoken, that is, as you have gloried; you shall have that reallywhich, while you went on in unrighteous ways, you only seemed to have andboasted of as if you had." Those that truly repent and reform enter intothe enjoyment of that comfort which before they had only flattered themselveswith the imagination of. Or, "As you have prayed when you sought theLord. Live up to your prayers, and you shall have what you pray for."[2.] This is the likeliest way to make the nation happy: "If you seek andlove that which is good, you may contribute to the saving of the land from ruin."It may be, the Lord God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph;though there is but a remnant left, yet, if God be gracious to that remnant, itwill rise to a great nation again; and if some among them turn from sin,especially if judgment be established in the gate, though wecannot be certain, yet there is a great probability that public affairs willtake a new and happy turn, and every thing will mend if men mend their lives.Temporary promises are made with an It may be; and our prayers must bemade accordingly.
Here is, I. A very terrible threatening of destructionapproaching, v. 16, 17. Since they would not take the right course to obtain thefavour of God, God would take an effectual course to make them feel the weightof his displeasure. The threatening is introduced with more than ordinarysolemnity, to strike an awe upon them; it is not the word of the prophet only(if so, it might be made light of) but it is the Lord Jehovah, who has aninfinite eternal being; it is the God of hosts, who has a boundlessirresistible power, and it is Adonaithe Lord, who has an absoluteincontestable sovereignty, and a universal dominion; it is he who says it, whocan and will make his words good, and he has said, 1. That the land of Israelshall be put in mourning, true mourning, that all places shall be filled withlamentation for the calamities coming upon them. Look into the cities, and wailingshall be in all streets, in the great streets, in the by-streets. Look intothe country, and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! we areall undone! The lamentation shall be so great as not to be confined withindoors, nor kept within the bounds of decency, but it shall be proclaimed in thestreets and highways, and shall run wild. The husbandman shall be called fromthe plough by the calamities of his country to the natural expressions ofmourning; and, because those who will come short of the merits of the cause,such as are skilful of lamentation shall be called to artificial mourning, toput accents upon the lamentations of the real mourners with their Ahone,ahone. Even in all vineyards, where there used to be nothing but mirth andpleasure, there shall be general wailing, when a foreign force invades thecountry, lays all waste, and there is no making any head against it, no weaponsleft but prayers and tears. 2. That the land of Israel shall be brought to ruin,and the advances of that ruin are the occasion of all this wailing: I willpass through thee, as the destroying angel passed through the land of Egyptto destroy the first-born, but then passed over the houses of the Israelites.God's judgments had often passed by them, but now they shall pass throughthem, shall run them through.
II. A just and severe reproof to those who made light of thesethreatenings, and impudently bade defiance to the justice of God and hisjudgments, v. 18. Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord, thatreally wish for times of war and confusion, as some do who have restlessspirits, and long for changes, or who choose to fish in troubled waters,hoping to raise their families, as some had done, upon the ruins of theircountry; but the prophet tells them that this should be so great a desolationthat nobody could get by it. Or it is spoken to those who, in their wailings andlamentations for the calamities they were in, wished they might die, and bedelivered out of their misery, as Job did, with passion. The prophet shows themthe folly of this. Do they know what death is to those who are unprepared forit, and how much more terrible it will be than any thing that can befal them inthis life? Or, rather, it is spoken to those who speak jestingly of that day ofthe Lord which the prophet spoke so seriously of; they desired it, that is, theychallenged it; they said, Let him do his worst; let him make speed, and hastenhis work, Isa. 5:19. Where is the promise of his coming? 2 Pt. 3:4.It intimates, 1. That they do not believe it. They say that they wish it wouldcome because they do not believe it will ever come; nor will they believe itunless they see it. 2. That they do not fear it; though they may have somebelief of it, yet they had so little consideration of it, and their mind is sointent upon other things, that they are under no apprehension at all of perilfrom it; instead of having the conscience to dread it, they have the curiosityto desire it. In answer to this, (1.) He shows the folly of those who impudentlywished for any of God's judgments, and made a jest of any of the terrors ofthe Lord: "To what end is it for you that the day of the Lord shouldcome? You will find it both certain and sad; not a thing to be bantered, for itis neither a thing to be questioned whether it will come or no nor a thing to beturned off with a slight when it does come. The day of the Lord is darkness,and not light, v. 18. Shall it not be so? v. 20. Do not your ownconsciences tell you that it will be so, that it will be very dark, and nobrightness in it?" Note, The day of the Lord will be a dark,dismal, gloomy day to all impenitent sinners; the day of judgment will beso; and sometimes the day of their present trouble. And, when God makes a daydark, all the world cannot make it light. (2.) He shows the folly of those whoimpatiently wished for a change of God's judgment, in hopes that the nextwould be better and more tolerable. They desire the day of the Lord, inhopes to better themselves (though their hearts and lives be not amended), or,at least, to know the worst. But the prophet tells them that they know not whatthey ask, v. 19. It is as if a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him,a beast of prey more cruel and ravenous than a lion, or as if a man, to escapeall dangers abroad, went into the house for security, and leaned hishand on the wall to rest himself, and there a serpent bit him. Note,Those who are not reformed by the judgments of God will be pursued by them; and,if they escape one, another stands ready to seize them; fear and the pit andsnare surround them, Isa. 24:17, 18. It is madness therefore to defy theday of the Lord.
The scope of these verses is to show how little God valued theirshows of devotion, nay, how much he detested them, while they went on in theirsins. Observe,
I. How unpleasing, nay, how displeasing, their hypocriticalservices were to God. They had their feast-days at Bethel, in imitationof those at Jerusalem, in which they pretended to rejoice before God. They hadtheir solemn assemblies for religious worship, in which they put on thegravity of those who come before God as his people come, and sit before himas his people sit. They offered to God burnt-offerings, to the honourof God, together with the meat-offerings which by the law were to beoffered with them; they offered the peace-offerings, to implore thefavour of God, and they offered them of the fat beasts that they had, v.21, 22. In imitation likewise of the temple-music, they had the noise oftheir songs and the melody of their viols (v. 23), vocal andinstrumental music, with which they praised God. With these services they hopedto make God amends for the sins they had committed, and to obtain leave to go onin sin; and therefore they were so far from being acceptable to God that theywere abominable. He hated, he despised, their feast-days,not only despised them as no valuable services done to him, but hated them as anaffront and provocation to him, as we hate to see men dissemble with us, pretenda respect for us when really they have none. Nothing more hateful, moredespicable, than hypocrisy. He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, itshall be counted a curse, when it appears that his heart is not with him.God will not smell in their solemn assemblies, for there isnothing in them that is grateful to him, but a great deal that is offensive.Their sacrifices are not to him of a sweet smelling savour, as Noah'swas, Gen. 8:21. He will not accept them; he will not regard them, will not takeany notice of them; he will not hear the melody of their viols; for, when sin isa jar in the harmony, it grates in his ears: "Take it away,"says God, "I cannot bear it." Now this intimates, 1. That sacrificeitself is of small account with God in comparison with moral duties; to love Godand our neighbour is better than all burnt offering and sacrifice. 2.That the sacrifice of the wicked is really an abomination to him, Prov. 15:8.Dissembled piety is double iniquity, and so it will be found when, if any placein hell be hotter than another, that will be the hypocrite's portion.
II. What it was that he required in order to the acceptablenessof their sacrifices and without which no sacrifice would be acceptable (v. 24): Letjudgment run down as waters, among you, and righteousness as a mightystream, that is 1. "Let there be a general reformation of manners amongyou; let religion (God's judgment) and righteousness have theirdue influence upon you; let your land be watered with it, and let it bear downall the opposition of vice and profaneness; let it run wide as overflowingwaters, and yet run strong as might stream." (2.) "In particular, letjustice be duly administered by magistrates and rulers; let not the current ofit be stopped by partiality and bribery, but let it come freely as waters do, inthe natural course; let it be pure as running waters, not muddied withcorruption or whatever may pervert justice; let it run like a might stream,and not suffer itself to be obstructed, or its course retarded, by the fear ofman; let all have free access to it as a common stream, and have benefit by itas trees planted by the rivers of waters." The great thing laid toIsrael's charge was turning judgment into wormwood (v. 7); in thatmatter therefore they must reform, Zec. 7:9. This was what God desired morethan sacrifices, Hos. 6:6; 1 Sa. 15:22.
III. What little stress God had laid upon the law of sacrifices,though it was his own law, in comparison with the moral precepts (v. 25): "Didyou offer unto me sacrifices in the wilderness forty years? No, you did not."For the greatest part of that time sacrifice was very much neglected, because ofthe unsettledness of their state; after the second year, the passover was notkept till they came into Canaan, and other institutions were in like mannerintermitted; and yet, because God will have mercy and not sacrifice, he neverimputed the omission to them as their fault, but continued his care of them andkindness to them: it was not that, but their murmuring and unbelief, for whichGod was displeased with them. He that so owned his people, though they did notsacrifice, when in other things they kept close to him, will certainly disownthem, though they do sacrifice, if in other things they depart from him. But,though ritual sacrifices may thus be dispensed with, spiritual sacrifices willnot; even justice and honesty will not excuse for the want of prayer and praise,a broken heart and the love of God. Stephen quotes this passage (Acts 7:42), toshow the Jews that they ought not to think it strange that ceremonial law wasrepealed when from the beginning it was comparatively made light of. CompareJer. 7:22, 23.
II. What little reason they had to expect that their sacrificesshould be acceptable to God, when they and their fathers had been all alongaddicted to the worship of other gods. So some take v. 25, "Did youoffer to me sacrifices, that is, to me only? No, and therefore not at all tome acceptably;" for the law of worshipping the Lord our God is, Him onlywe must serve. "But you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch(v. 26), little shrines that you made to carry about with you, pocket-idols foryour private superstition, when you durst not be seen to do it publicly. Youhave had the images of your Molochyour king" (probablyrepresenting the sun, that sits king among the heavenly bodies),"and Chiun, or Remphan" (as Stephen calls it, Acts 7:43,after the Septuagint), which it is supposed, represented Saturn, the highest ofthe seven planets. The worship of the sun, moon, and stars, was the mostancient, most general, and most plausible idolatry. They made to themselvesthe star of their God, some particular star which they took to be theirgod, or the name of which they gave to their god. This idolatry Israel was fromthe beginning prone to (Deu. 4:19); and those that retain an affection for falsegods cannot expect the favour of the true God.
V. What punishment God would inflict upon them for theirpersisting in idolatry (v. 27): I will cause you to go into captivity beyondDamascus. They were led captive by Satan into idolatry, and therefore Godcaused them to go into captivity among idolaters, and hurried them into astrange land, since they were so fond of strange gods. They were carried beyondDamascus. Their captivity by the Assyrians was far beyond that by theSyrians; for, if less judgments do not work that for which they were sent, Godwill send greater. Or the captivity of Israel under Shalmaneser was far beyondthat of Damascus under Tiglath-pileser, and much more grievous and destructive,which was foretold ch. 1:5. For, as the sins of God's professing people aregreater than the sins of others, so it may be expected that their punishmentswill be proportionable. We find the spoil of Damascus and that of Samariacarried off together by the king of Assyria, Isa. 8:4. Stephen reads it, Iwill carry you away beyond Babylon (Acts 7:43), further than Judah shall becarried, so far further as not to return. And, to make this sentence appear boththe more certain and the more dreadful, he that passes it calls himself theLord, whose name is, The God of hosts, and who is therefore able to executethe sentence, having hosts at command.
