# commentaries

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<p>The threshing floors will be full of wheat, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil- The tenses change here to the future, perhaps to emphasize the previous usage of the prophetic perfect tense. The Kingdom of the future was as good as already there- even when Joel and the faithful remnant were at the low point of human experience. Their appeal for repentance had been unheeded for the most part, and God had chosen not to accept their personal repentance as enough to avert the destruction of His people and temple. But still, the Kingdom shall come. We see this same hope and approach in Habakkuk particularly.</p>


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<p>I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, My great army, which I sent among you- See on <a href='B:110 22:22'>1Ki 22:22</a>. Finally Israel will realize that the armies of invaders were sent by God. "The years" may need to be read as ’what your lost in the years:::’, as GNB. This fits with the whole prophetic theme of restoration. The Kingdom of God on earth will be the restoration of the Kingdom of God as it was in Israel (<a href='B:330 21:25-27'>Eze 21:25-27</a>).</p>


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<h4>You will have plenty to eat and will be satisfied, and will praise the name of Yahweh your God who has dealt wondrously with you- This clearly didn’t happen at the Babylonian invasion; it potentially could have done, but Judah didn’t repent and so it didn’t. But finally they shall, after the latter day Babylonian invasion. "Dealt wondrously" is the same term used of God’s actions in delivering Israel from Egypt (<a href='B:20 3:20'>Exo 3:20</a>; <a href='B:160 9:17'>Neh 9:17</a>), and in making His first covenant with Israel (<a href='B:20 34:10'>Exo 34:10</a>). If God had delivered Judah from the Babylonian invasion, He would have "dealt wondrously" for His people (<a href='B:300 21:2'>Jer 21:2</a>). In the last days, the deliverance from latter day Babylon will issue in a new covenant between God and His people.</h4><h4>And My people will never again be ashamed- This therefore refers to the final restoration of Israel, in the last days, at the Lord’s return and the establishment of the Kingdom. Any previous fulfilment was at best an initial, primary fulfilment.</h4>


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<h4>You will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am Yahweh your God, and there is no one else- If the restoration had happened as God potentially enabled, then the temple of Ezekiel 40-48 would have been built, and God’s presence found there; it would have been called "Yahweh is there" (<a href='B:330 48:35'>Eze 48:35</a>). This didn’t happen, and most of the Jews preferred to remain in exile. But it shall ultimately come true. As noted on :26, Judah are to enter a new covenant with God, and this will involve their recognition of His exclusive relationship with them and they with Him.</h4><h4>And My people will never again be ashamed- This therefore refers to the final restoration of Israel, in the last days, at the Lord’s return and the establishment of the Kingdom. Any previous fulfilment was at best an initial, primary fulfilment.</h4>


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<h4>It will happen in the last days, that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions- Judah’s entry into a new covenant (:26) will result in the gift of the Spirit to them. <a href='B:300 31:33'>Jer 31:33</a> says that the new covenant will mean God operating directly upon their hearts, giving them a heart to know Him and be obedient to Him. The spirit refers ultimately to the heart and mind, and the gift of the Holy Spirit is the gift of a new mind, a new pair of eyes, a new psychology. That this gift of the Spirit is part and parcel of the new covenant which even then was potentially possible for Judah is made explicit in <a href='B:330 36:27'>Eze 36:27</a>; <a href='B:330 37:14'>Eze 37:14</a>; <a href='B:330 39:29'>Eze 39:29</a>. As Acts 2 makes clear, the receipt of the gift of the Spirit is the very reason to be baptized and enter the new covenant. We are thereby washed not only in water but with the regeneration of the Spirit (<a href='B:630 3:5-8'>Tit 3:5-8</a>); born of water and the Spirit (<a href='B:500 3:3-5'>Joh 3:3-5</a>). The essential gift of the Spirit is of moral and spiritual cleansing, but in the first century it was manifested through the visible miracles. These were specific things for specific times, a visible manifestation of the internal gift which is such a major part of the Christian Gospel- which is the new covenant which Judah could have entered (<a href='B:650 8:8-13'>Heb 8:8-13</a>). They could have entered it if they had repented and averted the Babylonian victory over Jerusalem; but they didn’t. When a minority did repent in the first century, they entered the new covenant and received the Spirit. But the main fulfilment will be when the remnants of the Jewish people in Israel repent, whilst under the latter day tribulation. Then the Spirit will be poured out for their usage against their abusers, as we see hinted at in several passages in Revelation.</h4><p>Many attempts to understand prophecy, not least the book of Revelation, have fallen into problems because of an insistent desire to see everything fulfilling in a linear chronological progression, whereas God’s prophecies (Isaiah is the classic example) ’jump around’ all over the place as far as chronological fulfillment is concerned. And this principle is not only seen in Bible prophecy. The historical records in the Old Testament tend to be thematically presented rather than chronologically (Joshua is a good example of this); and the Gospel records likewise. It especially needs to be recognized that in line with so much OT prophecy, neither the Olivet prophecy nor its extension in the Apocalypse can be read as strictly chronological. Thus <a href='B:490 21:8-11'>Luk 21:8-11</a> gives a catalogue of signs, and then v. 12 jumps back to the situation before them: "but before all these things::." (21:27,28; <a href='B:480 13:10'>Mar 13:10</a> are other examples). These principles are all brought together in the way Peter interprets Joel 2. The comments in brackets reflect the interpretation which Peter offers later in his address. He gives each part of it a fulfillment not in chronological sequence with what has gone before: "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel [i:e. you are seeing a fulfillmentof this prophecy before your eyes]: I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy [fulfilled by the apostles after Christ’s ascension]::. and I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath [the miracles of the Lord Jesus during His ministry]::. the sun shall be turned into darkness [the crucifixion], and the moon into blood [also referring to an unrecorded event at the crucifixion?], before that great and notable day of the Lord come [the second coming; or the resurrection?]: and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved [fulfilled by the crowd accepting baptism on the day of Pentecost]" (<a href='B:510 2:16-21'>Act 2:16-21</a>). Typical of the NT writers, Peter doesn’t quote from the Masoretic [Hebrew] text, but from the Septuagint, and in 2 there are significant differences. And yet Peter adds and changes things even from the LXX. The inspired writers don’t quote exactly, and often mix interpretation with quotation.</p><p>"The last days" is a phrase doesn’t have to necessarily refer to the last days before the Lord’s second coming. It could equally refer to the last days of some other period- in the case of Peter’s quotation of it in Acts 2, the Mosaic system. But the phrase is of course ambiguous- exactly because the Lord’s second coming could have occurred then in the first century, but the various required preconditions were not met. The LXX also has as the Masoretic Text: "Afterward". "The last days" would appear to be Peter’s inspired interpretation, choosing a minority reading of the Hebrew text [which the NEV follows].</p><h4>&nbsp;"All flesh" shows that a prophecy apparently about "all" here has a specific fulfilment in a limited group. Other Biblical references to "all" must likewise be understood; from God’s perspective, the believers are "all things" to Him.</h4>


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<p>And also on the servants and on the handmaids I will pour out My Spirit in those days- The servants / slaves and handmaids are emphasized. In order to see a fulfilment of this at that time of Pentecost, surely there were female believers who also began speaking in foreign languages- although that is not recorded. Often the NT quotes the OT selectively, omitting words and phrases which were not relevant to the fulfilment. The fact the "handmaids" and "daughters" (<a href='B:510 2:17'>Act 2:17</a>) are mentioned would surely mean that there were women also given the gifts at this time. The fact this is not specifically recorded is yet another example of how the records are so abbreviated. That women aren’t recorded as publically preaching at this time is no reason to think they did not. Likewise the fulfilment of the Joel prophecy meant that there were both old and young men preaching (<a href='B:510 2:17'>Act 2:17</a>). The "all" who were "together in one place" (<a href='B:510 2:1'>Act 2:1</a>) were those who received the gifts, all within the house; not just the apostles. However, <a href='B:510 2:7'>Act 2:7</a> records the impression that "all" who were speaking in foreign languages were from Galilee. The women / sisters in view were therefore presumably also from Galilee. Peter "and the eleven" stated that "these are not drunk" (<a href='B:510 2:15'>Act 2:15</a>)- rather than ’We are not drunk’. The use of "these" suggests that there were others apart from ’the twelve’ who were preaching with the Spirit gifts. It was a shameful thing for a Jewish man to talk publically to a woman, let alone for her to read the Torah, and for a woman to publically preach God’s word would have been nothing short of scandalous. In this we have a challenge to our own sense of inadequacy in witness; women, Galileans, the illiterate and poorly educated::. were those used by God to make history’s greatest and most effective public witness to Christ.</p>


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<h4>I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: blood, fire, and pillars of smoke- Blood, fire and smoke columns suggest Mosaic sacrifices, in which the blood had to be poured out and then the carcass burnt. God’s judgments are described as Him having a sacrifice (<a href='B:300 46:10'>Jer 46:10</a>), and in the Acts 2 quotation, the AD70 judgment of Jerusalem is surely in view. This is the language of <a href='B:470 24:5-7'>Mat 24:5-7</a> about the same event. But AD70 was but a preview of the last days, which is the burden of Joel l’s prophecy.</h4><h4>Thomson (Land and the Book, vol. 2, p. 311) suggests the allusion in this passage is to the whirlwind sandstorms, which are appropriate figures of Divine judgment: “We have two kinds of sirocco, one accompanied with vehement wind, which fills the air with dust and fine sand. I have often seen the whole heavens veiled in gloom with this sort of sandcloud, through which the sun, shorn of his beams, looked like a globe of dull smouldering fire. It may have been this phenomenon which suggested that strong prophetic figure of Joell, quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost. Wonders in the heaven and in the earth; blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke; the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood. The pillars of smoke are probably those columns of sand and dust raised high in the air by local whirlwinds, which often accompany the sirocco. On the great desert of the Hauran I have seen a score of them marching with great rapidity over the plain, and they closely resemble ‹pillars of smoke”.</h4>


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<p>The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes- This would confirm the allusion to sandstorms noted on :30. Sun and moon represent the leaders of Israel (<a href='B:10 37:9'>Gen 37:9</a>). In the primary application, Joel was speaking of the destruction of the royal family under Zedekiah. This had to be removed before God’s kingship in Messiah could be enthroned. But Judah’s lack of repentance precluded the outcomes which were then possible, and so we can understand this to refer to the bloody destruction of the Israeli leadership in the last days.</p>


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<h4>It will happen that whoever- This clearly implies Gentiles. But that wasn’t how the early Christians understood it when this was quoted in Acts 2. They chose to understand the Lord’s universal preaching commission as meaning going out to preach to Jews of all nations, and they saw the response of Acts 2 as proof of this. And yet “all nations” is used about the Gentiles in all its other occurrences in Matthew (<a href='B:470 4:15'>Mat 4:15</a>; <a href='B:470 6:32'>Mat 6:32</a>; <a href='B:470 10:5'>Mat 10:5</a>; <a href='B:470 10:18'>Mat 10:18</a>; <a href='B:470 12:18'>Mat 12:18</a>; <a href='B:470 12:21'>Mat 12:21</a>; <a href='B:470 20:19'>Mat 20:19</a>; <a href='B:470 20:25'>Mat 20:25</a>). Such intellectual failure had a moral basis- they subconsciously couldn’t hack the idea of converting Gentiles into the Hope of Israel. They allowed themselves to assume they understood what the Lord meant, to assume they had their interpretation confirmed by the events of Acts 2… instead of baring themselves to the immense and personal import of the Lord’s commission to take Him to literally all. We too can read Scripture and assume we understand it, and thereby skip over massive implications for us.</h4><h4>Will call on the name of Yahweh- &nbsp;This seems to prophesy of multitudes calling upon the name of the Lord in the ‘last days’. The preliminary fulfillment of this in <a href='B:510 2:21'>Act 2:21</a> must surely be repeated in the ultimate ‘last days’; and there, the name was called upon by calling upon themselves the name of the Lord Jesus in baptism and faith. And it may be that it is multitudes of Diaspora Jews who respond in the last days, as it was in Acts 2… The description of "the remnant" being saved out of Jerusalem and mount Zion, the temple mount, may mean that they go into the temple area in the last days to seek safety as the Jews did in AD70 and at the time of Hezekiah, and this is where they are at the moment of the Lord’s intervention:&nbsp;2:32 could have had its primary fulfilment in the redemption of this remnant, and it therefore has an application to the salvation of the latter-day Jewish remnant out of Arab-occupied Jerusalem:&nbsp; "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord (i:e. truly pray for deliverance in faith, perhaps through calling upon themselves the Lord’s name through baptism into Christ) shall be delivered:&nbsp; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem (cp. <a href='B:120 19:30-31'>2Ki 19:30-31</a> for the&nbsp; mention of those two terms) shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said (through Isaiah and his prophets), and in the remnant::.":&nbsp;This passage is quoted in different contexts in <a href='B:510 2:21'>Act 2:21</a> and <a href='B:520 10:13'>Rom 10:13</a>, but this does not preclude its application to the faithful remnant in Jerusalem in the last days:&nbsp;This New Testament usage is regarding how a convert should eagerly call upon himself the Lord’s salvation / deliverance from sin in Christ. This should therefore be done with the same sense of urgency and desperate intensity as the persecuted remnant of the last days will do, like their counterparts within Jerusalem in Joel l’s time could have done.</h4><p>The urgency we have in our witness isn’t only joyful; there’s an element of dead seriousness to it because of the very urgency of our task. <a href='B:360 2:32'>Joe 2:32</a> predicted that when Jerusalem was surrounded by her enemies at Joel l’s time , with all in Judah who could do so having fled into the city for safety, "It shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered [saved]: for in Mount Zion [the temple mount] and in Jerusalem &nbsp;there shall be deliverance [RV"those that escape"]". These words are alluded to by Peter when he stood near the temple mount and urged people to be baptized into Christ, to call upon themselves the Lord’s Name; and they are applied to all our witness by Paul (<a href='B:520 10:13'>Rom 10:13</a>). Those refugees fleeing before the Babylonian war machine are the people of this world whom we urge to accept deliverance and salvation through baptism into Christ.</p><p>Shall be saved- Initially, saved from the Babylonian invasion. But Peter guides us to understand these words as referring to eternal salvation in Christ.</p><p>For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape- Literally, "a remnant", although a different word to that at the end of this verse. The idea is that most of the Jews would be destroyed, but a remnant would escape and be saved by the appearance of salvation on Mount Zion. That could have happened if Judah had repented; the Babylonian army would have been destroyed, the remnant of Judah saved eternally, and the Messianic Kingdom established. But they didn’t repent, and so these promises were reapplied to all who would accept God’s salvation in Jesus. The same word was used in <a href='B:360 2:3'>Joe 2:3</a>, where we learn that there would be none that escaped Babylon’s invasion. But potentially, some could have been; and the word is used in <a href='B:330 14:22'>Eze 14:22</a> of how a remnant would survive the invasion. But that potential wasn’t realized, at Joel l’s time.</p><h4>As Yahweh has said, and among the remnant, those whom Yahweh calls- This called remnant are different to those just mentioned, who were a remnant of natural Jews. The idea may be that if Judah had repented, the Babylonian invader would have been destroyed and a Messianic Kingdom established in Zion, and Yahweh would have called out a remnant from the Gentiles, perhaps a remnant from the invading armies, who could also have found salvation in the hope of Israel. This potential scenario didn’t happen, but it shall do in the last days.</h4>


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<p>For behold, in those days, and in that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem- Joel so far has spoken of the possibility of repentance to avert the destruction of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. Had that happened, he foresaw that a Messianic Kingdom could then have been established, with blessings for even the repentant remnant of the invaders (<a href='B:360 2:32'>Joe 2:32</a>). He speaks in the prophetic perfect or present tense in Joel 2, of the Kingdom promises being so certain of fulfilment that they can be spoken of as present reality. He realized that this might not happen in the short term, but the Kingdom promises were certain of fulfilment in the long term. As noted on <a href='B:360 2:2'>Joe 2:2</a>, the scenario he predicted was the one final invasion of Judah and the establishment of the Kingdom. This didn’t happen in his time, and it seems in Joel 3 that he recognizes that, and instead now focuses on the fact that the Kingdom promises will come true and the invasion scenario will be reapplied to the last days. And he adds some more details concerning that latter day scenario, which otherwise would be impossible to snugly fit with what happened during the Babylonian invasion (especially <a href='B:360 3:3-10'>Joe 3:3-10</a>; <a href='B:360 3:19'>Joe 3:19</a>).</p>


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<h4>. "The kings of the earth" can be interpreted as in <a href='B:450 12:3'>Zec 12:3</a>; ”of the whole world"may refer to the world in relation to Israel (as in Daniel 2), or possibly to the fact that all nations literally will be incited to attack Israel, kidded by the beast that some"final solution"to the Middle Eastern problem is necessary. ’Armageddon’ meaning ’the valley of Megiddo’, takes us back to <a href='B:450 12:9'>Zec 12:9</a>; <a href='B:450 12:11'>Zec 12:11</a>:"I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem::. in that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as::. in the valley of Megiddon". The conclusion from this is that although a minority within Israel have repented before their victory in the valley of Jehoshaphat, according to the typology of Jehoshaphat’s victory in 2 Chronicles 20 and other passages, their full realization of the enormity of their sin of crucifying Jesus only comes home to them on seeing His complete rout of their enemies:&nbsp;Thus their returning to Jerusalem with joy (<a href='B:140 20:27'>2Ch 20:27</a>) will be preceded by, or mixed with, tears of pent-up emotional release. The similarity of the ’gather together’ language has led us to associate the following:-</h4><p>-&nbsp; The gathering together of Israel’s neighbouring enemies against her at various times</p><p>-&nbsp; The gathering of the Arab nations into a valley near Jerusalem (<a href='B:140 20:16'>2Ch 20:16</a>, A:V. mg:) for destruction in Hezekiah’s time</p><p>-&nbsp; Joel l’s prophecy of all nations being gathered into the"valley of Jehoshaphat"(<a href='B:360 3:2'>Joe 3:2</a>)</p><p>-&nbsp; The gathering together of the Arab nations into the ’valley of Megiddo’ (<a href='B:730 16:16'>Rev 16:16</a>) to fight Israel in the last days.</p><p>It could be objected that the valley of Megiddo is in the North of Israel whilst that of Jehoshaphat is in the South, near Jerusalem:&nbsp;However, the other similarities of language and context are so great as to suggest that they must refer to the same place. It may be that Megiddo having been the scene of many previous Arab battles in Israel’s history, it is being used symbolically in <a href='B:730 16:16'>Rev 16:16</a> rather than as a literal geographical reference. Back in Revelation 16, the sixth vial has described how the nations will be gathered to their place of judgment in Armageddon:&nbsp;The seventh vial then records the destruction of Babylon, who receives"the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath"in the form of huge hailstones (<a href='B:730 16:19'>Rev 16:19</a>; <a href='B:730 16:21'>Rev 16:21</a>):&nbsp;This equates the nations who are gathered to Armageddon with Babylon, which heads up the coalition elsewhere known as the beast:&nbsp;The cup of the wrath of God alludes to <a href='B:450 12:2-3'>Zec 12:2-3</a>, where the peoples from the jihadist nations also are"gathered together"and have burdened themselves with Jerusalem are made to drink"a cup of trembling"by reason of doing so:&nbsp;The punishment with giant hailstones recalls how Israel’s enemies were destroyed in the time of Joshua / Jesus (<a href='B:60 10:11'>Jos 10:11</a>). This confirms our interpretation of ’Babylon’ as having a Middle Eastern context.</p><p>But there is another possibility. The unclean spirits or teachings released from the beast and his publicity agents gather the nations together to Armageddon. “Armageddon” (<a href='B:730 16:16'>Rev 16:16</a>) is from the Hebrew har-magedon. Har means‘mountain’. The assumption has been made that magedon´is the same as ‘Megiddo’; but the problem is, Megiddo is a plain and there is no mountain there. Also, the word magedon would be spelt slightly differently if it were simply the place name Megiddo. The suggestion has been made and well argued that magedon is a form of the Hebrew mo’ed, and would literally mean “the mount of assembly / gathering”- the title of Jerusalem in <a href='B:290 14:13'>Isa 14:13</a> [see Meredith Kline, ‘Har Magedon’, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 39/2 (June 1996) pp. 207-222, available online. He explains the presence of the ‘g’ on the basis that the Hebrew consonant ayin is often represented by the Greek gamma]. Revelation 16 says that all nations are gathered to Armageddon, but elsewhere we read of all nations being gathered to Jerusalem. The two localities are surely identical, quite apart from the linguistic arguments. We can expect, therefore, far more focus specifically upon Jerusalem. For this is to be the centre to which all are gathered. This makes perfect sense if we see magedon as a Greek rendering of the Hebrew mo’ed- the nations are gathered to the mount of gathering. The king of Babylon / Assyria so wished to come to the “mount of assembly / gathering” (<a href='B:290 14:13'>Isa 14:13</a>), and it was that desire, and executing it, which was effectively his gathering to judgment. And so it will be with the Islamist obsession with Jerusalem- their gathering there will effectively be their gathering to judgment. Associating Armageddon with Jerusalem would more naturally fit with the upcoming description of"the great city", Jerusalem, being judged by an earthquake (:19).</p><h4>And I will execute judgment on them there for My people and for My heritage Israel- AV"Plead with them". God’s pleading against Gog is the language of <a href='B:360 3:2'>Joe 3:2</a>, again about the destruction of Israel’s latter day Arab enemies. Although indeed God is entering into a court case with Israel’s abusers, His judgments are always an appeal or pleading for reformation, often on the part of those who observe the judgments rather than those who perish in them. In wrath He remembers mercy, and ultimately only seeks to save. This is His passion, and is to this day.</h4><p>Whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided My land- The scattering among the nations was primarily done by the Babylonians (<a href='B:190 3:8'>Est 3:8</a>; <a href='B:300 50:17'>Jer 50:17</a> s:w:) and Assyrians. It is hard to see how this will actually be done in the last days. But the latter day beast is the summary and composite of all the other, historical beasts; just as the image of Daniel 2 stands complete in the last days, for the various metals are all broke to pieces together. The previous behaviours of Israel’s abusers will as it were be placed upon the latter day invaders, and they will be punished for them. Likewise, punishment for the persecution of all the prophets was visited upon the generation of first century Jewry (<a href='B:490 11:50-51'>Luk 11:50-51</a>).</p><h4>&nbsp;’Dividing the land’ can be read as a metaphor for ’considering it is ours to inherit’ (as <a href='B:40 26:53'>Num 26:53</a>; <a href='B:330 47:21'>Eze 47:21</a> and often). Perhaps the idea is that they got rid of the Jewish inhabitants and then considered it was theirs to inherit- a position which exactly fits the theology of Israel’s surrounding Islamist enemies.</h4>


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<p>And have cast lots for My people, and have given a boy for aprostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink- This sounds very much like the selling of Jewish captives in the time of the Maccabees and after AD70 by the Romans. I suggested on :2 that this doesn’t have to be literally repeated in the latter day invasion, but rather the entity of the last days known as"the beast"is seen as a composite of all Israel’s previous abusers and embodies all the previous abuses of God’s people.</p>


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<h4>Yes, and what are you to Me, Tyre, Sidon and all the regions of Philistia?- These areas were confederate with Babylon. But they geographically refer to Lebanon and the Gaza strip- the very areas of hatred for Israel in the last days. They will have their judgment in the last day.</h4><h4>Will you repay Me? And if you repay Me, I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head- This could allude to the radical Islamist usage of the Koran to justify their conquest and abuse of Israel and Jewish people on the basis that they are ’repaying’ Israel for their sins, on God’s behalf. Islamic theology has a lot to say in justification of Muslims giving a recompense to the Jews- e:g. Quran 5:60:"Say (O Muhammad to the people of the Scripture): "Shall I inform you of something worse than that, regarding the recompense from Allah: those (Jews) who incurred the Curse of Allah and His Wrath, those of whom (some) He transformed into monkeys and swines, those who worshipped Taghut (false deities); such are worse in rank (on the Day of Resurrection in the Hellfire), and far more astray from the Right Path". Or 2:191-193: “And slay them wherever you come upon them, and expel them from where they expelled you [Palestine]; persecution is more grievous than slaying::. such is the recompense of unbelievers::. Fight them, till there is no persecution and the religion is Allah’s”.</h4>


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<p>Because you have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried My finest treasures into your temples- This exactly fits what the Babylonians did to the temple vessels. The motivation for the latter day invasion will be "to take a spoil" (<a href='B:330 38:12'>Eze 38:12</a>).</p>


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<p>And have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their border- This happened after the AD70 destruction of Jerusalem and to a limited extent during the invasions by "the king of the north" during the time of the Maccabees. But this will be the policy of the radical Islamists who will form the latter day Babylonian invader, following the teaching of the Quran that the Jews must be expelled from Palestine unless they accept Islam: “And slay them wherever you come upon them, and expel them from where they expelled you [Palestine]"(2:191-193).</p>


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<p>Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head- As noted on :4, the"repayment"or recompense is defined as expelling the Jews from Palestine. And this is exactly the belief of latter day radical Islamists; see on :4,6.</p>


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<p>And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a distant nation; for Yahweh has spoken it-"Sheba"may simply be used here to denote the furthest part of the known world to Joel l’s hearers (<a href='B:470 12:42'>Mat 12:42</a>; <a href='B:300 6:20'>Jer 6:20</a>). It’s hard to imagine that this will literally be done in the latter day application. The idea may simply be that what Israel’s abusers did to them, shall be done back to them. This is a major theme of Revelation, where the seals speak of the latter day abuse of the land and people of Israel, and then the vials speak in similar terms of what is then done back to the abusers at the Lord’s return.</p>


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<h4>Proclaim this among the nations: Sanctify war!- Literally,"sanctify". The proclamation of holy war against Israel by her neighbours is exactly the situation we see today, with the Islamic Jihadists using the Koran as justification for a holy war against Israel, justifying thereby any amount of deception and cruelty."The nations"in view are those around Israel; a fair case can be made for the view that Bible prophecy concerns the nations in the eretz promised to Abraham. These nations are specifically defined as the"surrounding nations"in :11.</h4><p>Stir up the mighty men-"Stir up"is used of how God stirs up the spirits or minds of men to act according to His plan (<a href='B:140 21:16'>2Ch 21:16</a>; <a href='B:140 36:22'>2Ch 36:22</a>; Isa 1317; <a href='B:330 23:22'>Eze 23:22</a>). God can act directly on the hearts of men; and this, more positively, is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The word is used of how the latter day invader will be stirred up by God from the borders of the eretz promised to Abraham (<a href='B:300 25:32'>Jer 25:32</a>). His hand in history is leading Israel’s enemies into a psychological position whereby they will fanatically desire to attack her. And clearly radical Islam is being used by Him in this ’stirring up’. See on :12. It could be that in this section we have some words addressed to Israel’s invaders, and some to the weak remnant of Israel whom God will use against the invaders. They are to be stirred up and made strong, fighting a holy war ["sanctify war"] as they did against the inhabitants of the eretz under Joshua-Jesus.</p><h4>Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up- Coming near and coming up are terms associated with sacrifice; coming near to the altar to offer a sacrifice which comes up to God. These nations are bringing themselves in sacrifice. And they are propelled forwards in this by God’s psychological action upon them through His Spirit.</h4>


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<h4>Beat your ploughshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears- This will be specifically reversed after the Lord is established as king in Zion (<a href='B:400 4:3'>Mic 4:3</a>); as if there is a repentant remnant amongst the invaders who realize their error and wish to reverse it.</h4><h4>Let the weak say, ‘I am strong!’-&nbsp; As Israel’s enemies make themselves strong, so the weak shall become “strong”- gibbor. As suggested on :9, I take this as a reference to the repentant and feeble remnant of Israel becoming strong, rather than [as we could read it] of weak Gentile nations becoming strong in the last days. Thus there will be a standoff between the ‘mighty men’ of the Gentiles (<a href='B:360 3:9'>Joe 3:9</a>) and the ‘mighty ones’ of God, the Angelic hosts working through the feeble remnant on earth whom they will make into ‘mighty ones’. Hence the many references in the prophets to the ‘mighty men’, the gibborim of the Gentiles, being slain in the last day. It will be the final showdown, screened world-wide, between the hosts of God and those of men- although we live it all out, we see it all, in our daily experience now.</h4>


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<h4>Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together- Again as noted on :9 we see the Divine encouragement of men in the path they wish to go; that is consistently His way with us. The gathering together will be because of a common theological and psychological obsession with Jerusalem. And this is where jihadist theology is increasingly focused.</h4><h4>Cause Your mighty ones to come down there, Yahweh- This may speak of God manifestation through Angels to destroy the latter day invader, the latter-day Sennacherib. The connection is with the"mighty ones"of :9, which could refer to the mighty ones of the surrounding nations, as if this is the ultimate clash between Zion and Babylon, human might and Divine. Or it could be that the"mighty ones"of :9 are the revived remnant of Israel, now repentant. And they are the vehicle of God’s manifestation or coming down.</h4>


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<h4>Let the nations arouse themselves- This is the same word translated"stir up"in :9. God stirs them up psychologically against Israel, but they do this to themselves. This is how the Spirit works, positively and negatively; we are confirmed in the mental path we ourselves wish to take. Anything else would be manipulation; anything less would leave human beings too weak minded to propel themselves to their chosen ends.</h4><p>And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat- See on :2. The invaders in the Jehoshaphat context were the surround nations of the eretz.</p><h4>For there will I sit to judge all the surrounding nations- This may mean that God is as it were already enthroned in Zion when the nations come to Him. They come to destroy and capture Zion, but they are speeding to the judgment seat of Christ. Perhaps there is here the scenario of Psalms 2, where the Lord Jesus is enthroned in Zion when the invaders come; or even the Kingdom scenario of Ezekiel 38, with Israel dwelling without bars and gates when the invader comes, because the Lord is already enthroned in Zion.</h4>


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<h4>Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread- This is God bidding the surrounding nations to put in the sickle; but in reaping Israel in judgment they are reaping themselves. They will destroy and judge themselves in their attempt to judge Israel. Those bidden"come"are the surrounding nations who themselves wish to"come"and destroy Israel, and who are confirmed in this desire to"come"(see on :9,12). But they are coming to tread the winepress of their own judgment. They will judge themselves, just as God’s preferred method of destroying Israel’s historical invaders was by setting them against each other. And this is not unimaginable in the context of Islamic jihadism.</h4><h4>For the winepress is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great- The idea would be that their sin has come to the point where judgment must come. This concept is first enunciated in the context of the Amorites, the local inhabitants of the land, being judged once their iniquity was full (<a href='B:10 15:16'>Gen 15:16</a>).</h4>


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<h4>Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!-"Multitudes"is Heb. hamon. Clearly there is a connection with"the destruction of Gog and all his multitude in the valley of Hamongog"(<a href='B:330 39:11'>Eze 39:11</a>; <a href='B:330 39:15'>Eze 39:15</a>). I suggested on :12 that the aspect of things described here could be as in Ezekiel 38, when the Lord is enthroned in Zion and is attacked unsuccessfully, as in Psalms 2. What are we to do with all the prophecies of the latter day invasion when the details appear to clash with each other? Some have worked out detailed schemas and timelines whereby there are several invasions. But all those schemas seem to me to run into difficulties of harmonization somewhere. And they smack of literalism. My approach is to accept that prophecy is conditional, and may have various possible outcomes. Just as Joel could have had a fulfilment in his time, had Judah repented. This would mean that there are various possible outworkings; but they may not all come precisely true. The quicker Israel repent, the less of the judgment prophecies will need to be fulfilled. And God’s grace and love may cut short the days, for the sake of His love for the chosen (<a href='B:470 24:22'>Mat 24:22</a>).</h4><h4>For the day of Yahweh is near, in the valley of decision-"The day of Yahweh is near"is the very phrase used about the Babylonian invasion (<a href='B:330 30:3'>Eze 30:3</a>; <a href='B:430 1:7'>Zep 1:7</a>; <a href='B:430 1:14'>Zep 1:14</a>). It is also used in <a href='B:360 2:1'>Joe 2:1</a>; the day of Yahweh is the same day envisaged throughout Joel l. The outcome of that day is the judgment of the nations opposing God’s people in a valley, and then the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom in the land of Israel. This didn’t happen after Babylon took Jerusalem; so we can conclude that the scenario Joel had in mind for Babylon and Judah didn’t work out. But the prophecy will be fulfilled in the last days. This is perhaps why"Babylon"is not named; another nexus of powers will fulfil the terms of the prophecy as a perfect fit, and will come to their end at the valley mentioned in other prophecies, at the return of the Lord Jesus.</h4>


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<p>The sun and the moon will be darkened, and the stars will withdraw their shining- From <a href='B:10 37:15'>Gen 37:15</a> onwards, the heavenly bodies represent the leaders of Israel. This may be inserted at this point to remind us that although multitudes of Gentiles are to be judged (:14), the Israeli leadership also will as they are no better. <a href='B:360 2:10'>Joe 2:10</a> has used the figure to describe the eclipse of Israel’s leaders in the face of the invasion. But there may well be a literal element to all this, some kind of eclipse of the heavenly bodies. But that kind of literalism is not in accordance with the generally symbolic language being used in this section."Darkened"is the same word as in the description of the darkened skies in <a href='B:110 18:45'>1Ki 18:45</a> at the time of Israel’s repentance due to Elijah’s ministry. Another such repentance due to a latter day Elijah’s work may therefore also be in view. For repentance is a major theme in Joel.</p>


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<h4>Yahweh will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem- <a href='B:370 1:2'>Amo 1:2</a> says this will happen when Yahweh emerges to judge both Judah, Israel and her surrounding neighbours. And we have that idea here too- for in :14 we read of the judgment of the nations, and in :15 of the judgment of Israel. The idea of a thunderous roar likens Yahweh to a lion&nbsp; (as in <a href='B:730 5:5'>Rev 5:5</a>, in the person of the Lord Jesus); but the invader is likened to a lion in <a href='B:360 1:6'>Joe 1:6</a>. This is a standoff between two lions; just as Yahweh’s mighty ones face off against the mighty ones of the Gentiles (:9,11). This thunderous roar can be associated with the Lord’s return being with a great shout (<a href='B:590 4:16'>1Th 4:16</a>; <a href='B:500 5:28-29'>Joh 5:28-29</a>), the ’calling’ for the sword of judgment to fall upon the invaders (<a href='B:330 38:21'>Eze 38:21</a>; <a href='B:290 11:4'>Isa 11:4</a>). This is the"roar"of <a href='B:300 25:30'>Jer 25:30</a>, which Yahweh will utter as He treads the winepress, which is the context here too (:13). I suggested on <a href='B:360 1:1'>Joe 1:1</a> that was contemporary with Jeremiah and was giving Judah the same message as Jeremiah, so the many points of overlap with Jeremiah are to be expected.</h4><p>The heavens and the earth will shake- As noted on :15, this would appear to refer specifically to Israel and particularly her leadership. Yahweh was to roar against them just as He would against their Gentile enemies; see <a href='B:370 1:2'>Amo 1:2</a> and context. The apostate Jewish leadership in Jerusalem had ’roared’ (s:w:) against the souls of ordinary people; and so this judgment was appropriate for them (<a href='B:330 22:25'>Eze 22:25</a>; <a href='B:430 3:3'>Zep 3:3</a>). Hence the next clause goes on to say that God’s true people, as opposed to the ’heavens’ of the rulership, would be saved.</p><h4>But Yahweh will be a refuge for His people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel- I suggested above and on :15 that the leadership of Israel stand condemned, especially for how they ’roared’ against the ordinary people in their society and destroyed their spirituality. But a remnant amongst those ordinary people would find Yahweh as a refuge. The allusion is to how the faithful remnant had fled into Jerusalem in Hezekiah’s time, and there been saved by Yahweh from the Assyrian invasion. And perhaps something similar may happen in the last days (<a href='B:290 4:6'>Isa 4:6</a> s:w:), when Yahweh will be a stronghold [s:w:] to"the poor::. the needy"within Israel (<a href='B:290 25:4'>Isa 25:4</a>). Then, His people will literally find deliverance on His holy mountain (<a href='B:380 1:17'>Oba 1:17</a>).</h4>


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<h4>So you will know that I am Yahweh your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain- The"you"addressed is the faithful, poor remnant within Israel of the last days; see on :16. They may literally flee into Jerusalem for safety and there come to"know"by experience and in terms of relationship, that Yahweh is really there.</h4><h4>Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more- The implication is that Jerusalem in God’s eyes was not"holy"at Joel l’s time, and yet He still refers to Zion as"My holy mountain", here and in <a href='B:360 2:1'>Joe 2:1</a>. We have here an example of how God calls His people by status what they are not yet in reality; but His purpose is to make us in reality what we are by status. Romans 1-8 is all about this; He counts us righteous, and so His Spirit works to make us righteous in practice.</h4>


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<h4>It will happen in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters- These are the blessings for obedience to the covenant. There will be a super abundance of such blessings. The brooks of Judah only flowed with water intermittently, according&nbsp; to the season. But the picture is of permanence; no longer will spirituality be occasional, with occasional blessing. Rather will obedience and deep covenant bonding with God be continual and permanent, with the associated blessings.</h4><h4>And a fountain will come forth from the house of Yahweh and will water the valley of Shittim- As with the darkening of the heavenly bodies, we can understand this literally as well as figuratively. Clearly these words are alluded to in <a href='B:730 22:1'>Rev 22:1</a>, where a figurative river of water of life proceeds from the Lamb’s throne, the restored throne of David in Jerusalem, and meets the chronic thirst of a dry world."Shittim"is literally ’the acacias’, trees known to grow in dry areas. Various attempts to literally locate the"valley of Shittim"would all require a major series of topographic changes if a literal stream of water were to flow there from the temple. But Zechariah 14 suggests major earthquakes and topographical changes to the area around Jerusalem.</h4>


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<h4>Egypt will be a desolation, and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, because of the violence done to the children of Judah; because they have shed innocent blood in their land- We wonder why Egypt and Edom are particularly selected for mention; the historical invader in view was Babylon, who was only assisted by mercenaries from Egypt and Edom in the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem. Why are not the main culprits, Babylon and Assyria, mentioned by name? Perhaps because God was particularly angry that people on the sidelines watching a fight jump in with all the bloodlust imaginable, and start even further kicking down the losing party. And that loser, historically, was God’s people. The minor prophets are often billed, and rightly so, as"minor prophets with major messages". And that was never clearer than at this point.</h4><h4>We note likewise that the Jews murdered by them are called"innocent blood". But Joel and all the prophets emphasize that the entire society was guilty and the invasions were from God as deserved judgment. We need to connect this idea of"innocent blood"therefore with the final verse of the prophecy, where we learn that God has finally cleansed His people of their guilt (:21); and therefore, their murder was seen in retrospect as the murder of innocent blood, such was and is the extent to which God totally justifies and cleanses His people.</h4>


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<p>But Judah will be inhabited for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation- The contrast seems to be with Egypt and Edom being a perpetual desolation (:19) whereas Judah would be eternally inhabited. Yet we know from other prophecies that Egypt will have a definite part in God’s eternal kingdom on earth (<a href='B:290 19:25'>Isa 19:25</a>). We may again be exposed here to the Divine grace which changes His stated judgment purpose against people. Egypt indeed was to be an eternal desolation, just as God at times had promised to eternally destroy and disinherit Israel; but their repentance and His grace means that this will not be the final outcome, just as Nineveh was to be destroyed in 40 days, but it wasn’t.</p>


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<p>I will cleanse their blood that I have not so far cleansed: for Yahweh dwells in Zion- See on :19. The prophecy concludes not simply with the promise of eternal physical blessing for Israel, but with the most essential and important reality- all their guilt will be cleansed. That forgiveness and cleansing will be required, because Yahweh Himself will dwell in Zion; the kingdom of Heaven comes down to earth, as Revelation concludes. And Ezekiel concludes likewise with the promise that Zion shall be the place where"Yahweh is there"(<a href='B:330 48:35'>Eze 48:35</a>). God’s final dwelling with man involves our total and eternal cleansing."Cleansed"translates a Hebrew word which is equally translated"unpunished"(<a href='B:300 46:28'>Jer 46:28</a>; <a href='B:300 49:12'>Jer 49:12</a>). Israel were to indeed suffer for their sins, but that judgment and suffering was to bring about their cleansing. As ever, God’s judgments have spiritual intent, and are not simple statements in anger of an offended Deity. Rather they are part of His path towards the salvation of His people which is at the core of His very being.</p>


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<h4>The words of Amos- The prophets typically begin with something like"The word of the Lord::.". But here we have"the words of Amos", which were God’s words. This is a useful insight into the Divine-human cooperation which we now call"inspiration". They were the Lord’s words, but through the words of Amos; just like Paul’s letters to his friends were just that, and yet more than that, because they were inspired by God.</h4><p>Who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa- A wilderness (<a href='B:140 20:20'>2Ch 20:20</a>). We have the impression that Amos was a very isolated individual who likely knew little about the national let alone international scene. And yet exactly such a person is chosen to be an international witness; for the threats of judgment upon the Gentile nations were presumably in order to give them the chance of repentance. This was a fact realized by Amos himself in <a href='B:370 7:14'>Amo 7:14</a>. We likewise are often chosen for service on the basis of our inadequacy rather than our secular, apparent qualifications.</p><p>Which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel- It seems Amos spoke mostly against the northern kingdom of Israel, perhaps stationing himself near the sanctuary at Bethel and condemning them. He was then expelled from Israel and took his message to Judah. Israel were prosperous in the days ofJeroboam II, hence the repeated criticisms of wealth. Amos, a poor herdmen, was the appropriate one to do this.</p><h4>Two years before the earthquake- This earthquake is alluded to in <a href='B:370 8:8'>Amo 8:8</a> and is stated as actually happening in <a href='B:370 9:5'>Amo 9:5</a>. The prophetic word is so certain of fulfilment that it can be spoken of in the present or even past tenses, even though the fulfilment is yet future. And yet as happened with Nineveh, in the gap between pronouncement and fulfilment, there is the possibility of repentance and a change to God’s stated purpose (<a href='B:300 18:7-9'>Jer 18:7-9</a>, and the example of Nineveh and Moses changing God’s purpose of judgment about Israel).</h4>


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<h4>He said: Yahweh will roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem- As the subsequent context makes clear, this will happen when Yahweh emerges to judge both Judah, Israel and her surrounding neighbours. And we have that idea in <a href='B:360 3:16'>Joe 3:16</a> too- for in <a href='B:360 3:14'>Joe 3:14</a> we read of the judgment of the nations, and in <a href='B:360 3:15'>Joe 3:15</a> of the judgment of Israel. The idea of a thunderous roar likens Yahweh to a lion&nbsp; (as in <a href='B:730 5:5'>Rev 5:5</a>, in the person of the Lord Jesus); but the invader is likened to a lion in <a href='B:360 1:6'>Joe 1:6</a> and often elsewhere. This is a standoff between two lions; just as Yahweh’s mighty ones face off against the mighty ones of the Gentiles (<a href='B:360 3:9'>Joe 3:9</a>; <a href='B:360 3:11'>Joe 3:11</a>). This thunderous roar in its latter day aspect can be associated with the Lord’s return being with a great shout (<a href='B:590 4:16'>1Th 4:16</a>; <a href='B:500 5:28-29'>Joh 5:28-29</a>), the ’calling’ for the sword of judgment to fall upon the invaders (<a href='B:330 38:21'>Eze 38:21</a>; <a href='B:290 11:4'>Isa 11:4</a>). This is the"roar"of <a href='B:300 25:30'>Jer 25:30</a>, which Yahweh will utter as He treads the winepress, which is also the context in <a href='B:360 3:13'>Joe 3:13</a>. Joel may have been contemporary with Amos and was giving Judah the same message as him, so the many points of overlap with Amos are to be expected.</h4><h4>And the pastures of the shepherds will mourn, and the top of Carmel will wither- <a href='B:370 3:12'>Amo 3:12</a> implies that Yahweh is the good shepherd to Israel, whereas they had many bad shepherds, as Ezekiel 34 also laments. The idea may be that the suffering of the people in their"pastures"was due to their bad shepherds, the spiritual leadership.</h4>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Damascus, yes, for four- There are six surrounding nations mentioned, and then Israel and Judah, who could be counted as one. Seven judgments connect with similar series of seven judgments in Revelation, which I would interpret as likewise referring to judgments on the nations around Israel and also including Israel. It could be argued that the gravity of the offending increases, coming to a climax in the sins of Israel and Judah. They would have heard Amos’ prophecies and agree heartily that the Gentiles deserved punishment- but then the point is made that they have sinned even worse and will be punished along with the surrounding nations by the cataclysm of judgment which was and is to descend upon the eretz promised to Abraham. The seven nations to be judged connect with their sins of"three, yes for four", making seven- as if God notices and is sensitive to every sin, and all these nations had now filled up their sin to completeness, seven times. And so judgment would fall (<a href='B:10 15:16'>Gen 15:16</a>).</h4><p>I will not turn away its punishment- As explained on <a href='B:370 1:1'>Amo 1:1</a>, there is the possibility of repentance and the averting of Divine judgment. But that turning away of judgment is now not going to be possible because of the complete filling up of transgression to seven times, three plus four. The same Hebrew is used of how God’s people and the Gentiles refused to"turn away"from sin (<a href='B:300 44:5'>Jer 44:5</a>); and so He did not turn away from their punishment (<a href='B:300 30:24'>Jer 30:24</a> s:w:).</p><h4>Because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron- LXX"Because they sawed with iron saws the women with child of the Galaadites". The actions of one Gentile nation against another were noted by God. They had cruelly abused those they conquered; and God noticed that extreme abuse of power, the weak over the strong and condemns them for it. God’s sensitivity to sin is huge; and how much more does He watch us, His people, with our far greater responsibility.</h4>


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<p>But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, and it will eat up the palaces of Ben Hadad- God is sensitive to the opulence of Gentiles and their misuse of resources. Hazael means ’whom God looks on’, perhaps the develop this point. How much more then is He to His people. Assyrian obelisks describe their destruction of Hazael’s glory with fire.</p>


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<p>I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, and him who holds the sceptre from the house of Eden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir, says Yahweh- The way Gentiles trusted in their human strength and defensive military technology is noted by God. And these Gentiles were judged by other Gentiles, under God’s hand. He took away their kingdom / rulership because of this. His sensitivity to His people trusting in their human defences is therefore so much the greater.</p>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Gaza, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they carried away captive the whole community, to deliver them up to Edom- LXX"Because they took prisoners the captivity of Solomon". Being too cruel, even between Gentiles, registers with God and He counts over-reaction and seeking of revenge to be sinful. Did Israel ever go into captivity in Edom because of Gaza? Perhaps not. In this case, the thought of doing so was judged by God so severely. We are judged according to our thoughts and plans, rather than all we actually are in physical terms."The whole community"may mean that Gaza intended to get all the Jews into captivity when they supported the Babylonian invasion, when God intended only a third of the community to go into captivity (<a href='B:330 5:12'>Eze 5:12</a>). Punishing sinners more harshly than God intends is therefore presented as a serious sin. And this sort of thing often happens in church life; some sins are seen as deserving disproportionate punishment simply because they have offended deeply held human tradition.</h4><h4>Tyre is condemned for not honouring her covenant with Edom (<a href='B:370 1:9'>Amo 1:9</a>); Moab for being too harsh in judging Edom (<a href='B:370 2:1'>Amo 2:1</a>); Gaza likewise for being too cruel (<a href='B:370 1:6'>Amo 1:6</a>). Even amongst the Gentiles, God sees some as sinning more than others (<a href='B:330 7:24'>Eze 7:24</a>). And even amongst God’s people, some sins are “greater abomination” than others (<a href='B:330 8:13'>Eze 8:13</a>). This doesn’t mean that the ‘smaller’ ones don’t count. But it reflects God’s great sensitivity to human sin. The varying scale of sacrifices for various sins reflects this too. And of course our Lord Himself spoke of the man with “greater sin”, and of other men who owed varying amounts to the Father. The penal structure of the law of Moses itself reflects differing degrees of sin.</h4>


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<p>But I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it will devour its palaces- Destruction of the wall and palaces by Divinely sent fire was exactly the judgment to come upon Samaria and Jerusalem. The judgments upon the surrounding Gentile nations were intended as a warning to Israel; and we too encounter others in life suffering judgments for sins which we too commit in essence. And we are intended to learn from those encounters.</p>


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<p>I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him who holds the sceptre from Ashkelon; and I will turn My hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines will perish, says the Lord Yahweh- All Bible prophecy comes to its ultimate moment in the situation of the last days, just prior to the Lord’s return. Here in Amos 1, 2 we read of judgments upon Israel’s neighbours and upon them too. This is to happen in the last days, possibly in the same sequence. And so we note the focus upon Lebanon (:9), the Gaza strip (:7) and now upon the Philistines / Palestinians. That these very areas are today the centre of strong anti-Jewish sentiment and jihadist extremism must surely be highly significant. At no other time in history has the stage been set like this. But as noted on :7, Israel were and are intended to learn from the judgments on their neighbours, described as they are in identical terms to those used about judgments to come upon Israel- the sceptre removed, Yahweh’s hand turned against, their remnant perishing.</p>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Tyre, yes, for four, I will not relent on its punishment; because they delivered up the whole community toEdom-"The whole community"may mean that Tyre like Gaza intended to get all the Jews into captivity when they supported the Babylonian invasion, when God intended only a third of the community to go into captivity (<a href='B:330 5:12'>Eze 5:12</a>). Punishing sinners more harshly than God intends is therefore presented as a serious sin. And this sort of thing often happens in church life; some sins are seen as deserving disproportionate punishment simply because they have offended deeply held human tradition.</h4><h4>And didn’t remember the brotherly covenant- This could refer to the effective covenant between Tyre and Israel first made in the times of David and Solomon (<a href='B:100 5:11'>2Sa 5:11</a>; <a href='B:110 5:2-6'>1Ki 5:2-6</a>; <a href='B:110 9:11-14'>1Ki 9:11-14</a>). Typically such covenants included a clause to the effect that it was binding upon their descendants. But it is typically human to shrug off the binding nature of an ancient covenant. But God takes covenant relationship seriously. And we learn from this that God’s wrath is upon those who despise their brotherly covenant with their brethren.</h4>


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<p>But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre, and it will destroy its palaces- As noted on :7, destruction of the wall and palaces by Divinely sent fire was exactly the judgment to come upon Samaria and Jerusalem. The judgments upon the surrounding Gentile nations were intended as a warning to Israel; and we too encounter others in life suffering judgments for sins which we too commit in essence. And we are intended to learn from those encounters. The wall of Tyre was perceived as an invincible human defence. But all such human strength will be progressively be revealed as useless before God’s judgments.</p>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Edom, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he pursued his brother with the sword- Perhaps the focus is upon the word"pursued". Esau was indeed to live by the sword (<a href='B:10 27:40'>Gen 27:40</a>), and to break the yoke of Jacob from off his neck. But to pursue Jacob with the sword over the generations was going beyond. Again we see God’s particular wrath against those who punish sinners over severely; this is so against His own principles and way.</h4><p>And cast off all pity- God understood that Esau / Edom’s anger with Jacob was understandable and legitimate. But what was wrong was to cast off all sense of compassion when Jacob was now under judgment. To be heartless is for God an awful sin.</p><h4>And his anger raged continually, and he kept his anger forever- God was willing to understand the gut reaction of anger [in Esau / Edom’s case, over Jacob’s deception]; but He does expect us to work through the stages of it, not to be caught up on the ’anger’ stage of our reactions to loss and grief. This perhaps explains God’s ready overlooking of Job’s fist shaking against God. Again we see God condemning men not for being human and having human reactions, but for going too far in them. This is why Moab in turn is condemned not for attacking Edom, but for being sadistic against him (<a href='B:370 2:1'>Amo 2:1</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>But I will send a fire on Teman, and it will devour the palaces of Bozrah- As noted on :10, this was to give Israel and Judah an example of the kinds of judgment to come upon them at the hands of the Babylonians and Assyrians.</p>


text:
<p>Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead, that they may enlarge their border- Ammon would only have achieved a very small territorial advantage by attacking Gilead. They used disproportionate behaviour; abusing pregnant women was not proportionate even to a campaign motivated simply by greed. A noted on :11, God shows here that although He recognizes human weakness, He does see a gradation in sin, and there are things which are bound to call forth His definite judgment even in this life.</p>


text:
<h4>But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour its palaces- As noted on :10, this was to give Israel and Judah an example of the kinds of judgment to come upon them at the hands of the Babylonians and Assyrians.</h4><h4>With shouting in the day of battle, with a storm in the day of the whirlwind-"The whirlwind"was a common figure for the Babylonian and Assyrian judgment to come upon God’s people. For sowing the wind, living in a vapid, empty way::. they would reap the whirlwind (see on <a href='B:350 8:7'>Hos 8:7</a>). But that same whirlwind of theBabylonian invasion was to shatter the Gentile nations too, and God’s people were intended to learn from this (<a href='B:290 17:13'>Isa 17:13</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>And their king will go into captivity, he and his princes together, says Yahweh- This is precisely what happened to Judah; king and princes together went into captivity at the hands of Babylon. They were intended to have learnt the lesson from seeing the nations judged by Babylon; just as we are supposed to learn from the historical judgment of the nations, and the judgments of people who are brought into our lives for our observation and learning.</p>


text:
<h4>Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four- We may well ask why God bothered warning Gentiles of their judgment. Surely the point was that they could repent- as Nineveh did- and the proposed judgment would then not come. This is how open God is. For"three::. yes, for four", see on <a href='B:370 1:3'>Amo 1:3</a>.</h4><p>I will not turn away its punishment- The implication is that God states coming purpose or judgment, but is willing to change it in some cases. Nineveh would be the classic example. This is what gives intensity to prayer and repentance- outcomes which God has previously predicted can be changed, such is His sensitivity to human words and behaviour.</p><h4>Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime- We gasp at the intense knowledge of God, noting the details of how Gentiles treat each other. Edom has been the subject of God’s own judgment in Amos 1; but He is saying that others do not have the right to abuse others, even if those others are the subjects of His wrath. When we see misfortune or judgment come upon our enemies or those who abused our own dear ones, we are tempted to shrug. But God isn’t like that. His sensitivity to the human condition is too great. He had condemned Edom for abusing His people (<a href='B:370 1:11'>Amo 1:11</a>), but He condemns Moab for punishing Edom too cruelly. See on <a href='B:370 1:11'>Amo 1:11</a>. Moab had made a covenant with Edom, and to break it with such impunity provoked God’s anger. Amos was obviously making the point that breaking covenant with God was therefore going to provoke His even greater wrath. Another reading for"the king of Edom"is"his son", in which case the reference would be to the king of Moab burning his son to Moloch (<a href='B:120 3:27'>2Ki 3:27</a>).</h4>


text:
<p>But I will send a fire on Moab, and it will destroy the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab will die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet- This is similar language to that used about the judgments upon Israel and Judah [death with tumult = <a href='B:350 10:14'>Hos 10:14</a>]. Destruction of the wall and palaces by Divinely sent fire was exactly the judgment to come upon Samaria and Jerusalem. The judgments upon the surrounding Gentile nations were intended as a warning to Israel; and we too encounter others in life suffering judgments for sins which we too commit in essence. And we are intended to learn from those encounters. The king of Moab had used fire to judge others (:1), and yet his anger and judgment of others with fire was now to be used against him and his people. We have here a classic example of a man being judged as he judged (<a href='B:470 7:1'>Mat 7:1</a>).</p>


text:
<p>And I will cut off the judge from their midst, and will kill all their princes with him, says Yahweh- Again, as noted above, this is similar language to that used about the judgments upon Israel and Judah. Their king is also called a judge, whom they would lose (<a href='B:400 5:1'>Mic 5:1</a>); and as Ezekiel and Jeremiah state so often, the princes of Judah went into captivity. <a href='B:300 52:10'>Jer 52:10</a> uses this language to describe the killing of the princes of Judah. Truly, the judgments upon Israel’s neighbours were intended as their warning.</p>


text:
<h4>Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four- For"three::. yes, for four", see on <a href='B:370 1:3'>Amo 1:3</a>. Amos prophesied at the time of Uzziah (<a href='B:370 1:1'>Amo 1:1</a>) who was apparently a good king and held meetings where the Law was taught and obedience was encouraged. But the message is that beneath that religious veneer, Judah was seriously sinful. The same rubric ["For three::. four"] is used about the Gentiles and also Israel and Judah. The point is that they were not radically different from the Gentiles.</h4><p>I will not turn away its punishment- The great paradox is that God did turn away from the ultimate punishment of Judah (<a href='B:350 11:9'>Hos 11:9</a>) despite their impenitence. Yet their sins were three plus four, seven- complete sin. This highlights God’s extreme grace. As often seen in Hosea, God does change His mind about condemnation, even when He says He will not. This is the extent of His grace and passion for human salvation.</p><p>Because they have rejected Yahweh’s law, and have not kept His statutes- The word translated"rejected"is also translated"despised"and ’cast away’. The allusion is to where these words are used in <a href='B:30 26:43-44'>Lev 26:43-44</a>:"They have despised My judgments::. yet for all that::. I will not cast them away". They rejected / despised / cast away God, but He did not treat them as they treated Him. Despite this grace, judgment still had to come, as Amos explains. But that judgment is not the same as being ’cast away’.</p><h4>And their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked- The reference is to idols. Any lie becomes an idol- that’s a penetrating psychological observation being made here. Yet Uzziah supposedly cleansed Judah from idols. That was therefore the kind of surface level repentance which we are all so prone to. We might consider that following the understandings of our fathers, and be led astray by untruths received by tradition::. is wrong, but not that terribly wrong. But this is chosen as a reason for Yahweh’s wrath. He held them responsible for these things because He expects people to turn away from inherited untruths, not go with the flow, individuate from their fathers, and stand independently before Him. But that might just seem petty stuff to secular man; yet to God it is of critical importance.</h4>


text:
<p>But I will send a fire on Judah, and it will eat up the palaces of Jerusalem- The fortifications of Jerusalem built by Uzziah (<a href='B:370 1:1'>Amo 1:1</a>). As noted on <a href='B:370 1:10'>Amo 1:10</a>; <a href='B:370 1:14'>Amo 1:14</a>; <a href='B:370 2:2'>Amo 2:2</a>, the judgment of the palaces of the surrounding nations by the Babylonians was recorded so that Judah might reflect and repent. The"palaces of Jerusalem"could refer to the fortifications which they had trusted in rather than in God (<a href='B:300 17:27'>Jer 17:27</a>; <a href='B:350 8:14'>Hos 8:14</a>); or they could refer to the large houses of the wealthy, which the Babylonians burned with fire (<a href='B:120 25:9'>2Ki 25:9</a>). This would better fit the theme of social justice and condemnation of opulence which we find in Amos.</p>


text:
<h4>Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment- Significantly, seven (3+4) specific sins are now mentioned here for Israel; but the number of individual sins listed for the other nations doesn’t come to seven. I would suggest that seven is the number of completion, and the idea is that the sins of these nations had built up to a point where judgment had to come. The sins listed here seem nothing compared to the sins of the Gentile nations which have been enumerated previously. But the point is that sin is serious, and that things like opportunistic abuse of individuals is as huge in God’s sight as the most extreme murder and perversions of idol worship.</h4><p>Because they have sold the righteous for silver- Justice was perverted for the sake of bribes. Or the reference could be to selling debtors into slavery, forbidden by the law and also criticized in <a href='B:370 8:6'>Amo 8:6</a>. We note that"the righteous"can still get into debt to the point that all they have to give is their bodies. Poverty, whether from unwise decisions or acts of God, still befalls"the righteous". This is another major problem for the prosperity Gospel’s claim that the righteous will always get wealthy.</p><h4>And the needy for a pair of shoes- As noted above, this could refer to bribery, or to selling into slavery. But the point is, that is was done for very small gain, a pair of shoes (LXX"sandals"). And we see this principle today; for very small gain, in whatever way, those in power will cause long term hardship for the weak.</h4>


text:
<h4>They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and deny justice to the oppressed- The denial of justice would lead us to read :6 as referring to judging or accepting bribes in order to gain just a very small personal gain- a"pair of shoes"(:6). Not giving people justice is trampling on their heads. Only mourners have dust on their heads, so the idea may be that denying justice resulted in real pain, loss and mourning for the poor; but the feelings of others were despised as ’the strong’ pursued their agenda, with no thought for the collateral damage of their actions or how others would feel emotionally. These principles are not merely relevant to judges or those in authority. We are all called upon to make decisions, to show justice- especially in our family and church communities. In some contexts we are all ’the strong’ who must consider how we act toward ’the weak’. We are placed in these communities really for our testing. So often the denial of justice to another is for the ake of personal gain to us, in some way. And the gain is often petty. So often, believers judge one person one way and another differently, fellowshipping this brother but not that sister, even if they are morally and theologically identical; simply because they fear they might lose some kudos in the eyes of others. See on :13 and <a href='B:370 4:1'>Amo 4:1</a>.</h4><h4>And a man and his father use the same girl, to profane My holy name- The connection may be with their laying down on clothes beside the Baal altars (:8); for this was where men slept with the cult prostitutes. This is indeed in view here, but the context is about the abuse of the poor and injustice. As noted earlier on this verse, the strong were abusing the weak in that they cared nothing about the emotional or collateral damage down, just for the sake of very small gain- be it materially, or as in this case, the temporary ’pleasure’ of such illicit sex. They didn’t care for the girl’s feelings or humiliation- that was the point. This point is being made along with the obvious criticism of Israel’s idolatry. The abuse of the weak, the lack of justice which was part of using cult prostitutes, was every bit as bad as the idolatry itself.</h4>


text:
<h4>And they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge- As noted on :7, the condemnation of idolatry and sleeping with cult prostitutes has incorporated within it the injustice which was just as wrong. The clothes upon which they slept with the prostitutes were actually not theirs; they had taken them in pledge for debts overnight, which was specifically condemned in the law (<a href='B:20 22:26'>Exo 22:26</a>; <a href='B:50 24:12'>Deu 24:12</a>). It was lack of basic sensitivity to the needs of a poor person to keep their pledge overnight; for the person would have nothing warm to sleep in. And this was just as bad as sleeping with cult prostitutes.</h4><h4>And in the house of their God they drink the wine of the condemned- Paul alludes to this in 1 Corinthians 11. The Christians of Corinth were drinking condemnation to themselves; and the cup we take is likewise either of blessing or condemnation. This is part of the condemnation of Israel, the ten tribe kingdom. They didn’t worship at the temple, but rather at shrines. Their worship of Yahweh was performed as worship of the idols. Their sin was the worse, because they were justifying their idol worship as Yahweh worship. By so doing they were condemning themselves. But"the condemned"is literally ’the punished / fined’. The idea may be that they had demanded fines from the poor for insignificant violations, and were drinking the wine they had bought with this money. But they were drinking it as a drink offering to Yahweh, albeit performed as idol worship. As noted in earlier verses, the grossness of their sin was because their idolatry incorporated the abuse of the poor and injustice.</h4>


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<p>Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath- They had worshipped the cults of the Amorites, and were to share their judgment. The Baal cult has been in view in :6-8. So far in this chapter I have alluded to the idea of the weak and the strong, and God’s condemnation of those who were ’strong’ for abusing the weak. This thought is made explicit here, where the pride, strength and human advantage of the Amorites is mentioned. The height and strength of the Amorites was what had caused a faithless Israel to want to return to Egypt (<a href='B:40 13:22'>Num 13:22</a>; <a href='B:40 13:32-33'>Num 13:32-33</a>). But now, Israel were acting like the Amorites, when they should have overthrown them in faith.</p>


text:
<p>Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite- All in :9-11 was specifically done by an Angel (cp. <a href='B:450 1:1-8'>Zec 1:1-8</a>). Angels would then have been the mechanism through which God gave motivation to some young people to become prophets and Nazirites. God makes His Angels spirits, and it is the Spirit which does the same today. This is all cited as a reason for Israel’s condemnation. They had been led out of the world, baptized in the Red Sea, led of the Spirit- and yet they rebelled against it.</p>


text:
<p>I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Isn’t this true, you children of Israel? says Yahweh- Apparently freewill decisions such as being a Nazirite are still influenced by God. For the Nazirites were"raised up"by God. Our freewill decisions for Him are confirmed by Him; such is the work of the holy Spirit on human hearts. This could refer to a specific raising up of Nazirites and prophets during the wilderness wanderings. God’s willingness to work upon human hearts must not be despised. The fact He so worked with Israel but they refused is being cited as the ground of their condemnation. We note that it was"young men","your sons", who were moved by God to offer themselves from the freewill devotions of being Nazirites or prophets. Youth is the time when temptation to use human strength and indulge pleasure is perhaps the most acute; and it is to youth that there is a special appeal by God, to give their best years to His service.</p>


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<p>But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘Don’t prophesy!’- Their sin was in that they disabled others from achieving the spiritual future for them which God had enabled. Out of all the things God could have condemned His people for, causing others to stumble was paramount to Him. We need to give this due weight in all our decisions and attitudes and responses to others. Amos was one of those forbidden to prophesy (<a href='B:370 7:12-14'>Amo 7:12-14</a>), so we can assume that he was a young man when he began his ministry (:11). He gave his best years to the Lord’s service, in a thankless ministry of condemning the cult worship, materialism and injustice of his elders.</p>


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<h4>See, I will crush you in your place, as a cart crushes that is full of grain- As they had crushed beneath their feet the poor and the feelings of those they dealt with unjustly; see on :7 and <a href='B:370 4:1'>Amo 4:1</a>. Grain must be stamped upon; the idea is of a cart on the way to the threshing floor, full of judgment imagery. By stamping on the poor (:7), they were condemning themselves; they too would be crushed at the threshing floor, as the chaff and not the grain. The grain perhaps speaks of the poor whom they had stamped upon; through condemning them, and the poor correctly responding to the abuse, they had been the vehicle which brought about the salvation of the poor in spiritual terms. And so it has been so often; the experience of abuse and condemnation by the strong leads to the weak’s salvation, through their correct response to it.</h4><h4>But another reading is as AV:"I am pressed [crushed] under you"; as if God identified with the oppressed poor of :7. What we do to others we do to God. And so again, we find minor prophets with major messages: God can be crushed in that He identifies with the crushed. This is the extreme sin of all abusive, crushing behaviour towards others. We note that Amos as a young (:12) country man is full of rural allusions.</h4>


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<p>Flight will flee from the swift; and the strong won’t strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself- Again the analogy of the weak and the strong continues; the strong would be unable to flee from their condemnation at the hands of the invaders. They would have no place to run, although they would seek to do so;"flight"may stand for ’place of flight / to flee’. This is the awful picture of condemnation. Human might will then be revealed as weakness, and the weak saved. Only God’s deliverance through His Son will save; human might will not enable self deliverance.</p>


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<p>Neither shall he stand who handles the bow; and he who is swift of foot won’t escape; neither shall he who rides the horse deliver himself- As noted on :14, self deliverance is impossible when faced with Divine judgment; the strong in this life who used that strength to abuse others shall not be saved. The fulfilment initially was in Israel fleeing before their enemies as predicted for disobedience, and it will be the same for all who meet God’s wrath at the last day.</p>


text:
<p>And he who is courageous among the mighty will flee away naked in that day, says Yahweh- Again and again, the theme continues- the human strong and mighty will not be saved by their strength. Nakedness is associated with condemnation; they will flee, but have nowhere to run to (:14). The primary fulfilment was clearly in the flight of Zedekiah and his mighty men, and being overtaken by the Babylonians on the Jericho road.</p>


text:
<h4>Hear this word that Yahweh has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family-"The whole family"refers to Israel and Judah. There is one body- this is a very common theme in the New Testament. But it has strong Old Testament antecedents. There was one chosen nation, one land, one tabernacle, one altar, one covenant, one temple- unity was God’s evident intention for His people even in Old Testament times. Israel were redeemed from Egypt as one family (<a href='B:370 3:1'>Amo 3:1</a>). The earliest anticipation&nbsp; of the one body was the fact that man and woman become one flesh / body in the marriage process (<a href='B:10 2:17'>Gen 2:17</a>). If we are all members of the one body, this fact requires us to strive for unity with each other. We can’t just sit back and think ’OK, so there’s one body’; rather like a married couple can’t just say they are ne because they are" one flesh". They must work on it if they want to be truly one. And likewise with the one body of Christ.</h4><h4>Which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying- Amos spoke against the background of the calf cult, built and presented by Jeroboam with clear allusion back to the golden calf, whom an apostate Israel had liked to believe had brought them out of Egypt (<a href='B:20 32:8'>Exo 32:8</a> s:w:). The point is that Yahweh and not the calves brought Israel out of Egypt. To reconstrue Israel’s national history wasn’t possible; and yet that is what is done by all who turn away from faith. They reinterpret God’s previous, clear involvement in their lives, shrugging it off as coincidence or tricks of the mind. Just as Israel reinterpreted God’s ’bringing them forth’ from Egypt as the work of the calves.</h4>


text:
<p>You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins- This is the theme of Hosea. God was in exclusive relationship with Israel, having entered a marriage covenant with them at Sinai (see on <a href='B:350 8:1'>Hos 8:1</a>). As He was exclusively theirs, so they were to be for Him."Chosen"is yada, ’to know’, in the sense of relationship. And the sexual sense of a man knowing a woman is not completely out of view here. God’s exclusive commitment to us His people of itself has to elicit our similar response. He is not one enthusiasm out of many, one god in a pantheon; He is to our only God. And this is the huge force of the first commandment, that for us, in our hearts, there is to be only one God.</p>


text:
<p>Do two walk together, unless they have agreed where to meet?- The AV rendering"Can two walk together unless they be agreed?"has been misused by exclusivists to demand total agreement between fellow believers. But this is not the context here; neither is it required that there be total agreement before two can walk together. Both Old and New Testaments are full of examples of where believers had differing interpretations, and yet walked together toward the same Kingdom. And unity is not the same as uniformity. What is important here is that there must be an agreed meeting point before the journey can begin. And God and Israel had indeed met together at Sinai and there entered covenant relationship (<a href='B:370 3:1'>Amo 3:1</a>). They were being reminded therefore of their ongoing commitment to the covenant, and the need to continue to walk together with God. The idea is picked up in <a href='B:370 4:12'>Amo 4:12</a>, where Israel are told to"prepare to meet your God". This was no mere grim pronouncement of doom to come, but a desperately urgent appeal for repentance, for preparation and willingness to meet their God in renewed covenant relationship, as they had done at Sinai.</p>


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<p>Will a lion roar in the thicket, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?- The lion represents Israel’s Babylonian and Assyrian enemies. They were roaring (see on :7). Israel were already caught; but there was a desperately brief window of repentance. Amos was appealing with urgency and intensity; Israel were already in the mouth of the lion (:12). But they refused to perceive their true position before God and the urgency of the need for repentance.</p>


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<p>Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth, where no snare is set for him? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when there is nothing to catch?- The original is difficult; the idea may be that a snare definitely works, and an animal or bird cannot trigger it without being caught in the jaws of the trap. Amos is addressing the deep psychological mentality that assumes that in fact we can sin and get away with it; somehow, we reason, in my case it will be different.</p>


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<h4>Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city without the people being afraid?- The trumpet was being sounded by Amos; the invaders were at the gates, indeed in :12 we read that Israel were already being consumed. Amos struggled to express the intensity and urgency of their position, just as we do in our appeals to men and women.</h4><h4>Does evil happen to a city and Yahweh hasn’t done it?- This could be translated to the effect that if evil happens God will judge it. God will &nbsp;judge sin. This will be the terror of His latter day judgments. I would paraphrase <a href='B:370 3:6-7'>Amo 3:6-7</a> like this: ‘If there’s evil in a city, God will do something, i:e. He will punish it. But He now does nothing, but He reveals His future judgments to His servants the prophets’. In the context, Amos has been forth-telling judgments to come on various cities (<a href='B:370 3:9'>Amo 3:9</a>; <a href='B:370 3:12'>Amo 3:12</a>; <a href='B:370 3:14-15'>Amo 3:14-15</a>). The text however may be read as it stands; as <a href='B:290 45:5-7'>Isa 45:5-7</a> makes clear, evil in the sense of calamity comes from God. All is of Him, and there is no room therefore for the classical idea of a cosmic Satan figure responsible for all our calamities and negative experiences.</h4>


text:
<p>Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless He first reveals His secret to His servants the prophets- This is not simply stating the obvious; the implied idea is that God reveals His intended behaviour to the prophets, who are intimate with God and know His ’secrets’; and they then reveal them to men. But the implication is that in the gap between the statement and the fulfilment, there can be repentance. And this was what Amos was appealing for.</p>


text:
<h4>The lion has roared- who will not fear? The Lord Yahweh has spoken- who can but speak it forth?-&nbsp; Amos sees himself as the prophet (:7) who is the roaring lion. But the lion is a clear symbol of Israel’s enemies, Babylon and Assyria (:4). Through the prophetic word of judgment, Israel had the opportunity to repent. The word of judgment was therefore the roar of the approaching lion. The Hebrew for"Speak it forth"can mean to pray or appeal; the idea is that although God’s word of judgment is certain, in the gap between the statement and the fulfilment, there can be repentance; and God may then change His stated purpose, as He did with Nineveh.</h4><h4>Hebrew poetry rhymes according to the ideas presented rather than the assonance of the words. However, this doesn’t mean that in a couplet, the first part is directly equal to the second part. Subtle differences are set up in order to make a point. <a href='B:370 3:8'>Amo 3:8</a> is an example of this."The lion has roared: who shall not fear? God has spoken: who can but speak forth [AV ‘prophesy’, but not only in the sense of predicting future events]?". If a lion roars, so a man naturally fears as a result of it. God speaks, and just as naturally we can do nothing but speak it forth. Hence <a href='B:370 3:9'>Amo 3:9</a> goes on to exhort the hearers to publish God’s purpose to the Gentile nations around them. The lion roars, and man fears; and we are set up to expect: God speaks, and man should fear. But there is an intended dashing of this expectation. God has spoken, just as the lion may roar; but we are not to fear but rather to speak it forth to others. We come down, therefore, to something very basic, something in the foundation of our faith: that the Bible is the inspired word of God. But if we believe that, if we hear that voice of Yahweh, we will inevitably, axiomatically, speak it forth to others.</h4>


text:
<p>Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see what unrest is in her, and what oppression is among them- Samaria was built on a hill, but that hill was surrounded by higher hills. God is judging Israel (see on :13), and He invites the Egyptians and Philistines to come and take their place seated on the vantage points around the city of Samaria, to view His just judgment of the Israel whom their influence had corrupted. They aren’t listed in the list of nations condemned in chapters 1 and 2; we can assume that the invitation was in order that they might learn from God’s judgment of Israel and repent. This is consistently the purpose of His judgments. Just as He had expected Israel and Judah to learn from the judgments upon the"palaces"of their neighbours in Amos 1, 2, so here God desires those who lived in the palaces of Ashdod and Egypt to learn from the judgment of the"palaces"of Samaria. God’s desire to save comes through so strongly, even during His judgment of sinners.</p>


text:
<p>Indeed they don’t know how to do right, says Yahweh, who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces- We noted on Amos 1, 2 that the"palaces"of the surrounding nations were destroyed by Divine judgment. Israel were intended to learn from this. The wealth they had gotten from abusing their brethren is described as"plunder and loot"because as they had plundered their brethren, so their wealth was to become"plunder and loot"for their invaders (:11). When sin is persisted in, sinners lose any taste for righteousness; they become incapable of knowing how to do right. Only the direct working of God’s Spirit on the human heart can change this. A new psychology is required.</p>


text:
<p>Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: An adversary will overrun the land; and he will pull down your strongholds, and your fortresses will be plundered- Just as they had obtained their wealth and expensive gadgets by plundering their brethren (:11). The overrunning of the land clearly refers to the coming up of the Assyrians throughout the land. All human defences would be destroyed and shown to be just that- the pathetic hopes of the flesh, which before God were nothing at all. And again, the essence of this filters down to us in our age, with our tendency to trust technology, healthscience, bank balances, hoped for inheritances::. rather than in the God who promises to supply our daily bread. See on :14.</p>


text:
<h4>Thus says Yahweh: As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria- As explained on :4 and :8, Israel was already consumed, but they could avert this by intense repentance. Amos was a herdman (<a href='B:370 1:1'>Amo 1:1</a>), and he may be alluding to the way the sheep were branded on their legs and ear. The brave shepherd wished to extricate these parts from the lion’s mouth to demonstrate simply that"this was mine". In this we see God’s hope for the tiny remnant; that they would be His, saved out of the mouth of the invaders, proven to be His. And yet the remnant didn’t repent and were not spiritually strong nor obedience at the time of the restoration. God is here presented as the shepherd, and yet Amos was a shepherd (<a href='B:370 1:1'>Amo 1:1</a>). We observe again the closeness between God and His prophets.</h4><h4>On the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed- The idea was that the couch in the corner was the most desirable place. They who now lived in luxury at the expense of the poor were in fact in the mouth of the lion. Part of the prophetic mission was to persuade Israel of the seriousness of their position. And God’s word does likewise with us. Why spend our time and passions for that which shall fade away? If we are to spend eternity being spiritually minded and doing God’s work, then should we not be seeking to do this now? If we get even a glimpse of the extent of eternity, are we not to use this brief life to the maximum for the things of the Kingdom?</h4>


text:
<p>Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob, says the Lord Yahweh, the God of Armies- This continues the sense that God has entered into judgment with Israel, and the Philistines and Egyptians were seated in the gallery as observers; see on :9. The invitation may be to Amos personally, or to the gathered Philistines and Egyptians.</p>


text:
<h4>For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel on him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel- This repeats the prediction of the man of God against that altar in <a href='B:110 13:1-4'>1Ki 13:1-4</a>. Amos was making the same prophesy; perhaps he literally stood near Bethel or the altar and repeated the message.</h4><h4>And the horns of the altar will be cut off, and fall to the ground- The horns were considered the place of certain refuge (<a href='B:110 2:28'>1Ki 2:28</a>). The repeated point is that what we consider to be our human strength and defence will surely be revealed as nothing before God’s judgment; see on :11.</h4>


text:
<p>I will strike the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory will perish, and the great houses will have an end, says Yahweh- We noted on Amos 1, 2 that the judgments of the"palaces"or grand houses of the surrounding nations were intended as warnings to the wealthy Israelites; for their similar houses would be destroyed unless they repented. But they didn’t learn the lesson from others’ judgments, and so the record of the invasions records that the great houses of Jerusalem and Samaria were indeed pulled down."Houses of ivory"refer to houses in which ivory was stored or where the decorations were of ivory. Ahab had such a house (<a href='B:110 22:39'>1Ki 22:39</a>). Instead of repudiating his apostate lifestyle, the Israelites had eagerly followed it.</p>


text:
<h4>Listen to this word you cows of Bashan who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, Bring us drinks!- Having made clear that judgment was about to burst in Amos 3, Amos now desperately appeals for repentance. I noted on <a href='B:370 2:7'>Amo 2:7</a>; <a href='B:370 2:13'>Amo 2:13</a> that economic abuse of the poor and the weak by the ’strong’ is described as crushing them. But here we read that it was the obese women of Bashan who did this. The idea is that they demanded of their husbands a lifestyle that meant their husbands abused the poor. God sees all things, and every human motivation. And so they were all condemned for their part in the abuse. These obese women were"on the mountain of Samaria"; perhaps referring to the cult shrine there, just as the mountain of Zion referred to the temple. The drinks they demanded would have been wine offerings, drunk supposedly to Yahweh through their worship of the calves. Their sin was the worse because it was tied up with religious and pseudo spiritual justification.</h4><h4>Oppressing and crushing the poor and needy uses the same Hebrew words as found in <a href='B:50 24:14'>Deu 24:14</a> about not oppressing poor and needy people, including Gentiles living amongst them. And this was what Israel and Judah had done (<a href='B:330 22:29'>Eze 22:29</a>). It was appropriate therefore that it was Gentiles who would"oppress","crush"and spoil Israel(<a href='B:50 28:29'>Deu 28:29</a>; <a href='B:50 28:33'>Deu 28:33</a> s:w:). The motivation for not oppressing the poor was to be a continual awareness and reflection upon the fact that they had been the poor, needy and oppressed in Egypt, but had been saved from that by God’s grace, just as Messiah would save the poor and needy and destroy the oppressor (<a href='B:50 24:18'>Deu 24:18</a>; <a href='B:230 72:4'>Psa 72:4</a>). This is why Amos seeks to remind Israel of their spiritual beginnings and often alludes to the great salvation from Egypt (<a href='B:370 3:1'>Amo 3:1</a>). We too need to ever be aware of our salvation by grace alone, from our spiritual poverty. To oppress another will not come at all naturally if we are ever aware of our personal experience of grace. God is particularly sensitive to how we treat the poor or the weak in whatever sense. What we do to them, we do to Him; for he who oppresses the poor reproaches his maker (<a href='B:240 14:31'>Pro 14:31</a>). The"oppression"of Israel by the Assyrians was therefore just and appropriate (<a href='B:300 50:33'>Jer 50:33</a>); and yet <a href='B:290 52:4'>Isa 52:4</a> says that the Assyrians"oppressed them without cause". I take this therefore as the in-loveness of God, imputing righteousness and innocence to His disobedient people.</h4>


text:
<h4>The Lord Yahweh-"Lord"is adon, the same word used for"husband"in :1. Instead of being partners in abuse with their husbands, they ought to have had Yahweh as their lord.</h4><h4>Has sworn by His holiness that, behold, the days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks- Clearly a reference to the captivities at the hands of Babylon and Assyria, where hooks were placed in the bodies of the captives. This was the judgment upon Egypt, to be captured by hooks (<a href='B:330 29:4'>Eze 29:4</a>). They had acted as Egypt had towards them (see on :7) and so were to be punished as Egypt- all because they had oppressed the poor. Abuse of the weak by the strong, in whatever sense, makes us as the world, as Egypt; and such abuse is not limited simply to financial abuse. For we are all the strong in some contexts. But the original is difficult and the LXX offers:"And fiery destroyers shall cast those with you into boiling caldrons", which would explain why the same Hebrew word for"hooks"is used of the pot or cauldron which Jerusalem would become (<a href='B:330 11:3'>Eze 11:3</a>; <a href='B:330 24:3'>Eze 24:3</a>; <a href='B:330 24:6'>Eze 24:6</a>).</h4>


text:
<h4>You will go out at the breaks in the wall, each one straight before her; and you will cast yourselves into Harmon, says Yahweh- The"her"reminds us that the subject of these words are the obese women of :1, who had grown fat as a result of abusing the poor. This attempted escape through the breaches in the wall is exactly what happened when Zedekiah and the royal family sought to escape the Babylonian siege, and we can assume that something similar happened when the Assyrians surrounded Samaria. They were to go out"straight before", as if they were fattened calves being led out of their pens to slaughter. As explained on :1, they had fattened themselves for the slaughter by abusing others. The allusion to calves is appropriate because they had worshipped the calves of Jeroboam rather than Yahweh; they became like that they worshipped, and were judged appropriately. We become like what we worship, and the desire to worship something is coded within our natures. It’s a case of choosing to exclusively worship the Lord and being totally devoted to Him rather than anything else.</h4><h4>The LXX has:"And ye shall be brought forth naked in the presence of each other; and ye shall be cast forth on the mountain Romman". This could refer to a mountain in Assyria; where in scenes reminiscent of the holocaust, the Israelite women would be cast down naked. But (NEV)"you will cast yourselves"- they had done this to themselves.</h4>


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<h4>Go to Bethel, and sin; to Gilgal, and sin more- This could equally be read as meaning that this is what they had done. But we can also read it, as NEV, as God encouraging them in their sin. This is how He works; a holy spirit from Him encouraging us in righteousness, and an"evil spirit from the Lord"encouraging sinners in the downward spiral they delight in. This is why we can never take a break from our spiritual path; we are being propelled in constant motion, in the direction we choose.</h4><h4>Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days- We see here how the Israelites were mixing Yahweh worship with their paganism at the calf shrines of Bethel and Gilgal. For it was to Yahweh that morning and evening sacrifices were to be made; and the three yearly tithe is that referred to as due to Yahweh in <a href='B:50 14:28'>Deu 14:28</a>; <a href='B:50 26:12'>Deu 26:12</a>. This is the biting challenge of Amos and the situation he describes; we can mix Yahweh worship with our idolatry and consider that because we have a semblance of devotion to Him, then all shall be well with us. This is the danger of organized religion. The organized side of it is perhaps a necessary evil; but it can so easily take away from the true spirituality which is so essential to acceptable worship and relationship with God.</h4>


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<p>Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings and brag about them: for this pleases you, you children of Israel, says the Lord Yahweh- As noted on :4, Israel were using elements of Yahweh worship in their devotions to the idols at Bethel and Gilgal. Yet they offered thank offerings with leaven, representing their malice and wickedness (<a href='B:530 5:8'>1Co 5:8</a>). They even liked to claim that they offered voluntary offerings to Yahweh, over and above those required. And it ’pleased’ Israel to do this, they liked doing it. It is no bad exercise to set ourselves the task of working out how we might do so today. Buying and boasting about luxury goods and homes, which we claim are part of our care for the needy when they are really for our own indulgence; proclaiming strict adherence to Divine principles as a means of shunning those we have a gut dislike of::. and so we could continue the list.</p>


text:
<p>I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in every town; yet you haven’t returned to Me, says Yahweh- God had already tried to bring Israel to repentance. The threatened invasion was but the last of a series of attempts to bring them back to God. He had given them famine to try to make them"return", implying they had already as it were gone away from Him into Gentile lands from which they would have to"return"(s:w:) to God. Their exile and captivity was therefore but a reflection of their own distancing of themselves from God. We noted on :1 that the wealthy women were obese; and yet this was achieved during a time of want and famine in the land. Their abuse of the poor for their own luxury at such a time was therefore the more obnoxious.</p>


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<p>I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One place was rained on, and the piece where it didn’t rain withered- This selective rain was to recall how the Egyptians suffered some of the plagues but the Israelites didn’t. As noted on :1, God was seeking to remind Israel of their salvation from Egypt (see on <a href='B:370 3:1'>Amo 3:1</a>). They had been saved by grace, but by oppressing their brethren as the Egyptians had oppressed them, they were no better than the Egyptians. They had therefore reversed the exodus; they were now the Egyptians, because in their hearts they had returned there. The allusions to the Egyptian plagues continue in :9,10.</p>


text:
<p>So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet you haven’t returned to Me, says Yahweh- The drought was intended to make the people go to God; but instead they went to try to get water from elsewhere. We wonder which city had water whereas the others didn’t; possibly it was a Gentile city, or a city where there were members of the righteous remnant."Staggered"or ’wander’ is the word used about Israel’s wandering away from God (<a href='B:300 14:10'>Jer 14:10</a>) and into captivity (<a href='B:370 9:9'>Amo 9:9</a>; <a href='B:310 4:15'>Lam 4:15</a>). The drought therefore gave them a foretaste of what condemnation and judgment would be like; but they stubbornly refused to perceive it. We also see such foretastes of judgment; in Scripture, in our lives and those of others. And it is for us to respond.</p>


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<h4>I struck you with blight and mildew- Literally,"blasting"(as AV). Again the allusion is to Egypt, whose corn was likewise blasted (<a href='B:10 41:6'>Gen 41:6</a>).</h4><p>Many times in your gardens and your vineyards-"Many times"reflects the multiple efforts of God with Israel. He so many times nudged them to perceive the similarities with Egypt.</p><h4>And your fig trees and your olive trees have the swarming locust devoured: yet you haven’t returned to Me, says Yahweh- See on :7. Locusts were one of the plagues on Egypt; but the fig and the olive, the very symbols of Israel, were now being treated like the Egyptians. They were supposed to perceive these multiple prods and nudges, to join the dots and see the picture. But like so many today, they refused.</h4>


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<p>I sent plagues among you like I did upon Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps, yet you haven’t returned to Me, says Yahweh- See on :7. The"camps"were again to recall Egypt;"horses"typically came from Egypt, and were the symbol of human strength, which the law of Moses forbad the kings of Israel to use; see on:11. Already there had been incursions into the land, and young men and horses killed or carried away. By all means God had tried to prod and nudge Israel to repentance without an all out invasion and devastation of the land. The various seals of judgment upon the land and people of Israel in the last days, as detailed in Revelation, are intended to have the same effect; and will be augmented by our witness to Israel and Jewish people. For all these multiple nudges and opportunities to repent, Israel refused.</p>


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<p>I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven’t returned to Me, says Yahweh- As noted on :10, there were incursions of the land before the main invasion in order to try to bring them to repentance. Hence"some of you". They were as Sodom, as Isaiah 1 makes clear; but were treated like Lot who was saved out of the burning by grace alone. This was undeserved grace. And yet still they didn’t learn; they were saved from rightful judgment but still they wouldn’t perceive God’s grace and repent. The historical situation is that of 2 Kings 13, where in the time of Amos,"The anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and He delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Syria, and into the hand of Ben Hadad the son of Hazael, continually. Jehoahaz begged Yahweh, and Yahweh listened to him; for He saw the oppression of Israel, how that the king of Syria oppressed them. Yahweh gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hand of the Syrians; and the children of Israel lived in their tents as before. Nevertheless they didn’t depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel to sin, but walked therein. There remained the Asherah also in Samaria. For the king of Syria didn’t leave to Jehoahaz of the people any more than fifty horsemen, ten chariots and ten thousand footmen; for the king of Syria destroyed them, and made them like the dust in threshing"(<a href='B:120 13:3-7'>2Ki 13:3-7</a>). We note here the destruction of their horses, which is mentioned here in <a href='B:370 4:10'>Amo 4:10</a>.</p>


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<p>Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel; and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel- Amos speaks of Israel’s final judgment as a day of their meeting their God, and he urges them to prepare to meet Him. This was no grim fatalism, as if an angry final statement. The language is shot through with allusion to how both Israel and Moses were told to prepare to meet Yahweh at Sinai (<a href='B:20 19:11'>Exo 19:11</a>; <a href='B:20 19:15'>Exo 19:15</a>; <a href='B:20 34:2'>Exo 34:2</a>). But that meeting involved a declaration of God’s Name, the foremost characteristic of which was that God is a God full of mercy and love for His people. Their preparation to meet God was therefore a call to repentance and moral preparation, so that the threatened judgments could be averted. It was because judgment had been pronounced and would surely happen, that Amos urges Israel to repent; because in the gap between pronouncement and actualization, there was the possibility of repentance which would as it were change God’s mind, as happened with Nineveh. This is the eternal intensity of the moments we now live in. The idea of meeting God is a development of the idea in <a href='B:370 3:3'>Amo 3:3</a> (see note there), where Israel are told that two (God and themselves) can walk together once they have an agreed meeting place; and God and Israel had"met"in covenant at Sinai. So the command to prepare to again meet God, just as they had ’prepared’ themselves to meet Him at Sinai by sanctification rituals, was no mere grim pronouncement of doom to come, but a desperately urgent appeal for repentance, for preparation and willingness to meet their God in renewed covenant relationship, as they had done at Sinai.</p>


text:
<p>For, behold, He who forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought; who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the earth: Yahweh, the God of Armies, is His name- The armies of Babylonians and Assyrians were God’s armies. The very mountains around Samaria alluded to in <a href='B:370 3:9'>Amo 3:9</a> had been created by God. The God of endless physical ability has the same boundless abilities when it comes to matters of the spirit or"wind"; He who created all things knows the thought of man. And this was where repentance needed to occur. He could invert His creative work, making light into darkness; and He would destroy the"high places"of the land through the forthcoming invasion. The invaders typically destroyed the shrines of those whom they conquered; hence the God of those armies would as it were tread on their high places, just as they had trampled upon the poor (see on :1).</p>


text:
<p>Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel-"Lamentation"is literally a funeral lament. It was as if they were already dead, and now God and Amos were as it were lamenting at the funeral; although the lamentation was yet future (:16). But although the prophetic word of destruction was so certain, yet there was still space to repent. In this was the desperate urgency of the appeal Amos is making. Israel were being asked to"listen"to their own funeral lamentation. We too can try to fast forward in time and reflect what could legitimately be said about us.</p>


text:
<p>The virgin of Israel has fallen; she shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up- But the idea of the restoration was that God would raise up Israel. So terms like"no more"and"never again"are relative to that generation, at that time; see another example in <a href='B:120 24:7'>2Ki 24:7</a>. This is quite normal language usage within Semitic thought, but it can cause difficulties of understanding and interpretation for more literalistic Western readers. All the same, that generation would fall and die, their bodies cast out in the open (<a href='B:330 29:5'>Eze 29:5</a>; <a href='B:330 32:4'>Eze 32:4</a>); and they were being asked to imagine the scene of their death and the funeral lament over them- and repent to avert that judgment. The present and past tenses are used to bring home how certain are God’s words of fulfilment.</p>


text:
<p>For thus says the Lord Yahweh: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel- As with the destruction of Jerusalem, there was always a remnant left. Samaria was to be left with just 10% of its former population; a majordestruction. And it was with this tiny remnant that God hoped to work. They were perhaps the tenth, the tithe, which were intended for God’s work. The idea of only a tenth surviving is repeated in <a href='B:370 6:10'>Amo 6:10</a>.</p>


text:
<p>For thus says Yahweh to the house of Israel: Seek Me, and you will live- We are frequently reminded in the prophets that the spiritual way of life is one which is seeking God. We are to seek His face (<a href='B:230 24:6'>Psa 24:6</a>; <a href='B:230 27:8'>Psa 27:8</a>)- which it is impossible to behold (<a href='B:20 33:20'>Exo 33:20</a>). Actually finding God in the ultimate sense is therefore unattainable in this life; but our whole mortal life must be lived in this spirit of seeking ultimate perfection. Seeking God is often defined in the prophets as forsaking our sins and desiring to be righteous (<a href='B:370 5:5'>Amo 5:5</a>; <a href='B:370 5:8'>Amo 5:8</a>; <a href='B:370 5:14-15'>Amo 5:14-15</a>). None of us are completely successful in our seeking of God in terms of quitting every sin and becoming perfect, and therefore it follows that none of is completely forsakes all our sinfulness. And yet righteousness is imputed to those who seek it, who love God’s ways but like Paul in Romans 7, allow themselves to be all too constrained by their human location. In Hebrew thought, to seek is to worship. God is worshipped by our seeking of Him. And thus the Kingdom blessing is for those who hunger and thirst to be righteous, even though they are not of themselves righteous (<a href='B:470 5:6'>Mat 5:6</a>).</p>


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<h4>But don’t seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don’t pass to Beersheba- Which required passing right across Judah. Judah too had her idol shrines in addition to Yahweh’s temple.</h4><h4>For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing- There is a word play here, as if to say"For Gilgal shall taste the gall of exile"-"Ha-Gilgal galoh yigleh". And likewise"Bethel", the house of God,"shall become an idolatry / idol house". No mention is made of Beersheba’s judgment, perhaps because there appeared more hope for Judah’s repentance.</h4>


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<h4>Seek Yahweh, and you will live-"Seeking"God is explained on :4.</h4><h4>Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel- Tiglath-Pileser first took into captivity all Gilead and Galilee, the majority of the territory of the ten tribes (<a href='B:120 10:32-33'>2Ki 10:32-33</a>); but didn’t touch the territory of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph. That earlier invasion had been a warning; the outpouring of wrath upon Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, could yet be averted. The fire had started, but it could still be quenched by repentance. But despite the message being so clear, they refused to repent; just as we can see the writing on the wall and refuse to note it. This blindness is a sad feature of human nature.</h4>


text:
<p>You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth- This is the thought of <a href='B:370 6:7'>Amo 6:7</a>"But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness". Israel’s judgment was to be cast down to the earth (<a href='B:290 28:2'>Isa 28:2</a>; <a href='B:340 8:12'>Dan 8:12</a>), and wormwood was to be their condemnation (<a href='B:300 9:15'>Jer 9:15</a>; <a href='B:300 23:15'>Jer 23:15</a>; <a href='B:310 3:15'>Lam 3:15</a>). It was serving other gods which would lead to the bitterness of wormwood (s:w. <a href='B:50 29:18'>Deu 29:18</a>). But they are condemned here not for idolatry, but for injustice, abusing the weak so that they left them with a bitter taste in their mouth, just as we feel when we have been misused or ripped off. This was the essential sin, and it was the egoism and selfishness behind that abuse which led further to idolatry. By making others feel this bitterness, by refusing to show justice / righteousness [the two ideas are closely connected in Hebrew], the abusers were securing their own condemnation when they would taste as it were the bitterness of wormwood</p>


text:
<h4>Seek Him who made the Pleiades and Orion- This is emphasized because Israel are rebuked for worshipping the star of Remphan in :26 (cp. <a href='B:510 7:43'>Act 7:43</a>). God had made not just one star but the"seven stars"(NEV"Pleiades"), all of them, and the entire constellation of stars seen in"Orion".</h4><h4>He who turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh is His name- According to God’s Name / essential character, He would reverse the creation process. Darkness would become night, and the waters of the sea, representing the armies of the invaders, would be poured out by Him upon the surface of the eretz / land promised to Abraham, just as they were at the flood. The same imagery is used in Revelation, where judgments are poured out as if from bowls / vials upon the same geographical area.</h4>


text:
<p>He who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress- The citadel of Samaria, their human strength and defence, would be destroyed. It would be sudden, in that they had previously trusted in their various alliances. This is the nature of divine judgment- to reveal all human strength as hopelessly weak, and it is for the faithful to perceive that before judgment comes. We live in an age when such human strength has been perfected and honed as never before, with insurance against every eventuality."The strong"refer to the group within Israel who were abusing the weak. The lesson for us is not simply regarding financial exploitation of the poor. We can all be strong in some contexts. You may be standing in line at a check out, and the person in front of you doesn’t speak the local language. You suddenly become the strong, and they the weak; it is not for you to be impatient and irritated with the weak. You may be an accepted member of a family or community; and an outsider comes within the circle. You are the strong, and they the weak.</p>


text:
<h4>They hate him who reproves in the gate- Perhaps a reference to Amos who stood in the gate of Samaria or Bethel delivering his warnings.</h4><h4>And they detest him who speaks blamelessly- Insofar as Amos spoke God’s words. This detesting of Amos led to him being banned from Israel, as he records in Amos 7.</h4>


text:
<p>Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, and take taxes of wheat from him- therefore you who have built houses of cut stone will not dwell in them. You who have planted pleasant vineyards shall not drink their wine- The taxes demanded had to be paid in kind, in agricultural produce, because the poor had nothing else to give; see on <a href='B:370 7:1'>Amo 7:1</a>. And <a href='B:370 4:6-9'>Amo 4:6-9</a> has explained that this was at a time of famine. The strong took away what little food the poor had, just in order to continue their own opulent living. We live in a world where there is every opportunity to do this, and on a global scale. In time of famine, everyone had to go down a step on the ladder. But the motivation for taxing the hungry and therefore taking their little food from them was because it was unthinkable that the strong should take a step down on the ladder. And this again is a principle which cuts to the core of our society. When it comes to actually stepping down a peg and going without some aspects of our current lifestyle, all within us rebels against it. We may be generous, but only if our current level of living is not undercut. And if circumstances require us to downsize or downgrade in whatever way, it is human nature to do literally anything, at any cost to the weak, in order to save us from doing so.</p>


text:
<h4>For I know how many are your offences, and how great are your sins- Israel like us were tempted to think that the apparent silence of God meant that He had as it were not noticed their sins. But God is deeply sensitive, and every offence was noted and felt, and the magnitude of it. But His sensitivity never turns off. What was apparently just an on paper series of offences are described here as"your mighty sins". What we may shrug off as just surface level failure are"mighty sins"to God.</h4><p>You who afflict the just- We note it was the righteous who were abused, in this case. The poor are not always"the just", for poverty is no guarantee of spirituality of itself. So it was the righteous remnant who were being abused, and God was particularly sensitive to that.</p><h4>Who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the courts- <a href='B:290 29:21'>Isa 29:21</a> uses the same phrase but adds that they turned aside the needy for"a thing of nothing". The bribes they received were very small, just as Judas betrayed the Lord for a mere 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave, that couldn’t even buy more than a small parcel of muddy, useless land. Amos has made this complaint elsewhere, that even for a pair of sandals, cheap shoes, the cause of the righteous was perverted (<a href='B:370 2:6'>Amo 2:6</a>; <a href='B:370 8:6'>Amo 8:6</a>). The allusion may be to <a href='B:40 35:31'>Num 35:31</a>, where bribes are forbidden to cover murder. By hating their brothers and abusing them, they had effectively murdered them. And the Lord confirmed in His teaching that hatred is as murder in God’s book.</h4>


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<p>Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time- The reference may be to the righteous keepingsilent in respect of the rightness of Divine judgments (<a href='B:30 10:3'>Lev 10:3</a>; <a href='B:230 39:9'>Psa 39:9</a>). The"evil time"was to come because they had themselves sought"evil"(:14). Constantly we see that the judgments which came were essentially that which they themselves sought. See on <a href='B:370 6:10'>Amo 6:10</a>.</p>


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<p>Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say- They claimed that Yahweh was with them, when He was not (<a href='B:400 3:11'>Mic 3:11</a>). Hence they claimed to desire the day of Yahweh, when in fact it would be their condemnation (:18). The promises of the Kingdom, the comfort of God’s love, are often appropriated by passive believers in times of crisis. But these promises, and the active presence of God, are to be experienced in daily life now. And this requires a seeking of good, rather than of evil. The unjust profiteers and materialists would likely have objected to the charge of actively seeking evil; but this is how God sees anything other than seeking good.</p>


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<p>Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that Yahweh, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph- The prophets called upon men to “hate evil and love good”, to have some passion about our positions. As noted on :6, only the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh was left intact after the earlier Assyrian invasion. And if they repented, and loved good rather than evil and were just, then they could experience the grace of God’s plan to save a remnant. The essence of spirituality is not achieving perfection, but loving good, loving the things of the Spirit; and therefore all who love the Lord’s appearing, with all that requires, shall be saved (see on <a href='B:620 4:8'>2Ti 4:8</a>).</p>


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<p>Therefore thus says Yahweh the God of Armies, the Lord: Wailing will be in all the boulevards; and they will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’, and they will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skilful in lamentation to wailing- As noted on :1, it was as if the lamentation was already in progress, so certain was it that Israel would perish in the judgment to come. But that future reality could still be changed by repentance, such was and is God’s sensitivity to human repentance."The farmer"seems to be used in order to give the impression that there would be mourning from city streets to country areas.</p>


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<p>In all vineyards there will be wailing; for I will pass through the midst of you, says Yahweh- See on :1,16. The passing through the midst in judgment is the language of God’s judgment of Egypt on Passover night (<a href='B:20 12:12'>Exo 12:12</a>). Israel had returned to Egypt in spirit and were judged accordingly, as Egypt. The wailing or funeral mourning was in the vineyards because they were symbolic of the wealthy life (:11). But those vineyards had already been smitten by the drought (<a href='B:370 4:9'>Amo 4:9</a>). They ought to have learnt the lesson, that the wealthy life and symbols of opulence were already of no meaning. But they continued in their hope that their vineyards would again flourish. We too are at times given premonitions about the meaninglessness of wealth and opulence. And if we don’t take the lesson, that wealth will be removed totally at the last day.</p>


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<p>Woe to you who desire the day of Yahweh! Why do you long for the day of Yahweh? It will be darkness for you, and not light- This and <a href='B:460 3:1-2'>Mal 3:1-2</a> warn that just desiring the coming of the Lord isn’t enough; for what end will it be, if we don’t truly love His appearing? Yet Amos goes on to say that Israel “put far away” the reality of the day of the Lord, in their minds (<a href='B:370 6:3'>Amo 6:3</a>). And yet they desired it. We can study prophecy, but not really love His appearing in seriously preparing ourselves for that day. Indeed, we can subconsciously put it far from us. When we grasp for a fleeting moment how very near is the second coming for us; can we dwell upon it, retain that intensity? Or would we rather put it “far away”? This is surely why the Lord brings the list of signs of His coming to a close with some chilling parables concerning the need for personal watchfulness. It’s as if He could foresee generations of believers straining to interpret His words carefully, correctly matching them with trends in the world::. and yet missing the essential point: that we must watch and prepare ourselves for His coming, whenever it may be for us. Having given so many indicators of His soon appearing, the Lord then says that His coming will be unexpected by the believers (<a href='B:470 24:36'>Mat 24:36</a>; <a href='B:470 24:44'>Mat 24:44</a>). Hewasn’t saying ‘Well, you’ll never properly interpret what I’ve just said’. He meant rather: ‘OK you’ll know, more or less, when my return is imminent; but all the same, in reality it will be terribly unexpected for most of you unless you prepare yourselves. You need to make personal changes, and be watchful of yourselves; otherwise all the correct prophetic interpretation in the world is meaningless’. Those described in <a href='B:520 1:32'>Rom 1:32</a> know the judgment of God; they know it will come. But they have a mind “void of [an awareness of] judgment” (<a href='B:520 1:28'>Rom 1:28</a> AVmg:). We can know, know it all. But live with a mind and heart void of it. <a href='B:630 1:16'>Tit 1:16</a> AVmg. uses the same word to describe those who “profess that they know God” but are “void of judgment”. We can know Him, but have no real personal sense of judgment to come. These are sobering thoughts.</p>


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<h4>As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him- &nbsp;The allusion may be to the idea that the lion may spare its prostrate prey, but the bear will not do so. This idea may be incorrect, but God uses it here; if they had repented to God prostrate before the invaders, then the judgment could have been averted. But they did not, and so they faced the merciless destruction of a bear.</h4><h4>Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him- They may flee for refuge into their houses, so often criticized by Amos, but find no safety there either. Again, human wealth and strength is to be no refuge. The point is so repeated by Amos because we are so slow to accept it. See on <a href='B:370 6:9'>Amo 6:9</a>.</h4>


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<p>Won’t the day of Yahweh be darkness for you, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?- They were perhaps grabbing hold of the promises in Joel about the day of Yahweh being of bright light, a new dawn for Israel. But it would not be so for them. It’s rather like an uncommitted nominally Christian person grabbing hold of words of comfort about the future Kingdom of God coming on earth; the question is, will that day be of judgment or salvation for us? The question here, rather than a simple statement, is to desperately appeal for them to imagine what judgment day would be like, and change the outcome by their repentance.</p>


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<p>I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can’t tolerate your solemn assemblies- The feasts and related gatherings are repeatedly described as feats of Yahweh, assemblies of Yahweh. But Israel had hijacked God’s religion and made His table, His feasts, their own- hence"your feasts". The New Testament likewise describes the feats as"feasts of the Jews"and Yahweh’s temple as the temple of the Jews. By making the Lord’s table effectively ours, we are doing the same; taking over His house as our own, with all the house rules of our denominationalism. The same language is used of God’s anger at the sacrifices and feasts held in the Jerusalem temple in Judah (<a href='B:290 1:10-15'>Isa 1:10-15</a>). Again we see that the shrines and rituals of the calves in the ten tribe kingdom were imitations of the Jerusalem temple.</p>


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<p>Yes, though you offer Me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals- They had failed to appreciate what the New Testament makes apparent- that the blood of sacrifices, the performance of religious ritual of itself, was not a ground for acceptability. Rather was a contrite, repentant heart required, and the cleansing was from God’s response to that rather than for the sake of the blood itself. And as noted on :21, we see that they in the ten tribe kingdom were carefully imitating the Mosaic rituals of the Jerusalem temple. But they were doing so in worship of their calves.</p>


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<p>Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps- The same language is used of how God was angry with the songs and harp music of the Jerusalem temple (<a href='B:290 1:14'>Isa 1:14</a>; <a href='B:290 24:8'>Isa 24:8</a>; <a href='B:330 26:13'>Eze 26:13</a>). The calf shrines of the ten tribes were imitations of the Jerusalem temple worship. They were therefore the more irritating to God.</p>


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<h4>But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream- In Hebrew, the word for justice is that for judgment. So we have here a double meaning; God was to send judgment upon Israel like mighty rivers, and such rivers are Biblical imagery for invading armies, Assyria especially (<a href='B:290 8:6'>Isa 8:6</a>). And yet this could be averted, if the country became awash with the justice which Amos so frequently appeals for.</h4><h4>"Mighty stream"suggests"Ethanim", the seventh month, just before the early rains, was called Ethanim, the month of the perennial streams. Perhaps the idea is that the final Assyrian judgment was to come in this month.</h4>


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<p>Did you really bring to Me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel?- The historical record says that they did, so the idea is that although they did, God didn’t accept them because they were also offering to other gods. This is a biting, incisive challenge to all of us who perform religious rituals, such as collective meetings, prayer, breaking of bread etc. We can do all these things, but not do them as God accepts. Such things are all a natural and correct part of communal life together, but they are also part of organized religion, and human nature tends to seek justification through ritual and religion rather than heartbroken faith in the God who saves by grace.</p>


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<p>You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves- Right at their birth by the Red Sea, the Almighty records that"the people feared Yahweh, and believed Yahweh, and His servant Moses"(<a href='B:20 14:23'>Exo 14:23</a>). No mention is made of the Egyptian idols they were still cuddling (we don’t directly learn about them until Ezekiel 20). Nor do we learn that this"belief"of theirs lasted a mere three days; nor of the fact that they rejected Moses, and in their hearts turned back to Egypt."There was no strange god"with Israel on their journey (<a href='B:50 32:12'>Deu 32:12</a>); but there were (<a href='B:370 5:26'>Amo 5:26</a>). The reconciliation is that God counted as Israel as devoted solely to Him. The references are to Moloch [the planet Mars] and Chiun [Saturn]. Hence the emphasis that in fact God had created all the planets (:8).</p>


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<p>Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says Yahweh, whose name is the God of Armies- Quoted in the New Testament as"beyond Babylon", which is more relevant to Judah’s captivity than that of the ten tribes to Assyria. We see here how the New Testament ’quotes’ the Old Testament often with paraphrase. The idea is that the judgments upon Israel were in essence to come upon Judah; and Amos had a ministry to both Israel and Judah.</p>


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<h4>Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure on the mountain of Samaria- As noted throughout Amos 5, the ten tribe kingdom of Israel had set up shrines to the golden calves, and a centre of worship in Samaria, which consciously imitated the Jerusalem temple which was in Judah. Judah were also apostate, and the abominations performed in the Jerusalem temple were in essence as those found at the calf shrines in Israel. This explains why Zion, the temple mount, is here paralleled with the central hill in Samaria where the idol shrine was located. Amos preached to both Israel and Judah, often with the same material; so we can better appreciate why he uses this parallel. The LXX suggests that the ten tribes were despising Zion, the mount of the Jerusalem temple, and considered that God had replaced it with the idol shrine in Samaria:"Woe to them that set at nought Sion, and that trust in the mountain of Samaria".</h4><p>They felt"at ease"and"secure"because they kidded themselves that the coming day of Yahweh would be for their salvation (see on <a href='B:370 5:18'>Amo 5:18</a>). The latter day equivalent is in those amongst God’s people who say"peace and safety"when sudden destruction is about to come (<a href='B:590 5:3'>1Th 5:3</a>)."Secure"or ’trusting’ is the word used in warning Israel that the high walls and fortifications in which they would ’trust’ would be brought down (<a href='B:50 28:52'>Deu 28:52</a> s:w:). The word is often used by the prophets in their appeal for God’s people to"trust"in Him and not human strength (<a href='B:290 12:2'>Isa 12:2</a>; <a href='B:290 26:3-4'>Isa 26:3-4</a> etc:) and not trusting in idols (<a href='B:290 42:17'>Isa 42:17</a>; <a href='B:290 47:10'>Isa 47:10</a>; <a href='B:420 2:18'>Hab 2:18</a> etc:). Their trust in their idols was however understood by them as trust in Yahweh. They had mixed the flesh and the spirit to such an extent</p><h4>The notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!- The idea is as GNB, reading"nations"as an intensive plural:"You great leaders of this great nation Israel, you to whom the people go for help!".</h4>


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<p>Go to Calneh, and see; and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms? Or is their border greater than your border?-"These kingdoms"would refer to Israel and Judah, or perhaps as in :1, to the"great nation Israel"(:1 GNB). The GNB therefore offers:"Go and look at the city of Calneh. Then go on to the great city of Hamath and on down to the Philistine city of Gath. Were they any better than the kingdoms of Judah and Israel? Was their territory larger than yours?". This is therefore a repeat of the appeal in Amos 1 and Amos 2, to reflect upon the destiny of Gentile nations around Israel, and to realize that unless they stopped acting like the Gentiles, then they would be judged as Gentiles."Calneh"had just been conquered by the Assyrians (<a href='B:290 10:9'>Isa 10:9</a>). Hamath had been conquered briefly by Jeroboam II in the time of Amos (<a href='B:120 14:25'>2Ki 14:25</a>), but Assyria had just captured it (<a href='B:120 18:34'>2Ki 18:34</a>). Gath had also been conquered by Uzziah king of Judah in the time of Amos (<a href='B:140 26:6'>2Ch 26:6</a>), but would also be conquered. The kings of Israel and Judah had not conquered Calneh and Hamath because they were"better than these kingdoms". Secular success is no certain sign that we are right with God; and here again we see the great error of the prosperity gospel.</p>


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<p>Those who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near- See on <a href='B:370 5:18'>Amo 5:18</a> Why do you long for the day of Yahweh?. They desired the coming of the day of Yahweh; but God’s word through Amos penetrates their deepest psychology. For deep in their hearts, they knew they had sinned and would be judged, but they were putting that reality far away. By doing so they were hastening the coming of judgment, as if that day was somehow flexible within God’s purpose. More positively, we can hasten the Lord’s coming. The final date is unknown because it will factor in both the ’hastening of judgment’ factor due to human sin, and the ’hastening of salvation’ due to the prayers of the righteous.</p>


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<p>Who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall- This decadence was all the worse because a famine preceded the final invasion; and as noted on <a href='B:370 4:6'>Amo 4:6</a>, the wealthy only retained their extravagant standard of living by forcing the weak and poor to pay them taxes in the form of food. We note that they both worshipped calves and ate them. They became like that which they worshipped, and that message is taught time and again in the prophets. It has strong relevance to us today. Likewise ’stretching’ is the word used for ’pouring out’ as if in the libations of sacrifice. They justified their decadence as service to God. And we have that same basic human tendency today.</p>


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<p>Who strum on the strings of a harp; who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David did- I suggested on :4 and :6 that this decadence had overtones of religious worship. They claimed to admire the spirituality of David and to be continuing his style of worship. When really they were just enjoying a decadent meal accompanied by music. This mixture of flesh and spirit is really our acutest temptation:&nbsp; They drunk wine and anointed their faces with oil- the language of rejoicing in God’s blessings, assuming they were righteous, and that the wealth they had wrongly gained was in fact Divine blessing. Many a corrupt Pentecostal pastor must have done the same in our days. They looked back to the heritage of their spiritual ancestors (David), and on a surface level appeared to follow them. They chanted the temple songs at their shrines in Samaria and Gilgal, and yet there was no grief within them for the affliction of God’s people (:6).</p>


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<h4>Who drink wine in bowls- This is the language of the drink offerings being poured out in bowls (<a href='B:450 14:20'>Zec 14:20</a>). As noted on :4 and :5, their decadence was performed with the appearance of religious worship to it.</h4><h4>And anoint themselves with the best oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph- This could refer to this historical Joseph, whose affliction was caused by his own brothers, and they ignored it (<a href='B:10 42:21'>Gen 42:21</a>). The suffering, spiritual, innocent Joseph then becomes representative of the righteous remnant who were being abused. Or the reference could be to how the areas of Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, wereto be afflicted, unless they repented; but those addressed were not grieved for that. They didn’t repent because of the suffering they saw their brethren passing through.</h4>


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<h4>Therefore they will now go into captivity with the first who go captive- The idea is that those who had gone into captivity first, during the early Assyrian incursions, were intended as a warning to them. But they had not taken that warning, and so they too would go into captivity as those who had"first"or earlier gone into captivity.</h4><h4>And the feasting and lounging will end-"Lounging"is Heb. mizrach, a word play with mizraq,"bowls", in :6."Will end"is the same word used in <a href='B:370 5:23'>Amo 5:23</a>, when God asks for their songs of worship to Him to be taken away or ended. Their feasting with bowls if wine was therefore performed as a feast to Yahweh. He ended it through the invasion, seeing they refused to stop. This is how obnoxious is self-gratification performed in the name of serving God.</h4>


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<h4>The Lord Yahweh has sworn by Himself, says Yahweh, the God of Armies, that I hate the pride of Jacob- For all the issues which the prophets could have condemned people for, pride was high on their list:&nbsp; Jeremiah wept in secret, his eyes running with tears, “for your pride” (<a href='B:300 13:15-17'>Jer 13:15-17</a>). Isaiah gets passionate about the way that Assyria thought that “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom” (<a href='B:290 10:13'>Isa 10:13</a>). Because Ephraim trusted in his wealth, the most awful words of judgment are pronounced upon him (<a href='B:350 12:8'>Hos 12:8</a>; <a href='B:350 10:13-14'>Hos 10:13-14</a>). We shrug when we see pride and trust in wealth. Rich or poor, we all tend to trust in money. Thinking that that’s life… under the sun. But the prophets went ballistic about this. We’ve developed established patterns of indifference to this kind of thing. But the prophet’s consciences were keenly sensitive to these patterns, and they openly challenged them. They weren’t just empty moralizers, bleating on about the state of the nation; their words are an assault of the mind and conscience.</h4><h4>And detest his fortresses. Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it- As noted often, the fortresses were the human strength which Israel trusted in, rather than in God; see on :1. God hated, even detested, all such trust in human defences. We need to take that lesson. For we have so many temptations to trust in human strength. And it is bank balances, reserves, health plans etc. which God detests if they are used to replace trust in Him.</h4>


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<p>It will happen, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die- We note again the reference of Amos to fortified houses, which the wealthy thought would be their defence against invaders. Such a large house must be in view, if ten men remained within it. Even if these houses were such a defence, God would send a snake on their walls inside to kill them (<a href='B:370 5:19'>Amo 5:19</a>). We really need to hear all this repetition- all human strength and defence is not so at all.</p>


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<p>When a man’s relative carries his body out of the house to burn it, he will ask him who is in the innermost parts of the house: ‘Is there yet any with you?’. And if he says, ‘No’, then he will say, ‘Hush! Indeed we must not mention the name of Yahweh’- The idea may be as in <a href='B:370 5:13'>Amo 5:13</a>. The righteous keep silent in respect of the rightness of Divine judgments (<a href='B:30 10:3'>Lev 10:3</a>; <a href='B:230 39:9'>Psa 39:9</a>), even if they fall upon their own relatives. And again, even the innermost, most fortified parts of their homes would not preserve them. The innermost parts, the very core, of our various human defence mechanisms will likewise be revealed as nothing before God’s judgment. It was the duty of the closest relatives to bury the dead; and AV"uncle"may imply that only an uncle was left in this family to bury the younger men. This relative was therefore the only one of the ten (:9) who survived in the house and family. This is mentioned also in <a href='B:370 5:3'>Amo 5:3</a>; Samaria was to be left with just 10% of its former population; a major destruction. And it was with this tiny remnant that God hoped to work. hey were perhaps the tenth, the tithe, which were intended for God’s work. To mention that Name of Yahweh was part of covenant relationship, but that was to be interrupted for the remnant who survived. They had called upon Yahweh as part of their idol worship; and now that was to be no longer possible. They would realize that they had in reality not called upon His Name at all.</p>


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<p>For behold, Yahweh says it, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits- Repeatedly Amos drives home the idea that their houses will not save them. Their fortified homes and hidden recesses within them were what they so trusted in, rather than turning to God. We too tend to have those hidden recesses of our own device.</p>


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<h4>Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plough there with oxen?- The answer is obviously"no". But this was how utterly foolish they were being in being unjust and causing bitterness to those they abused. It ought to have been obvious. But that which is spiritually obvious is not perceived because of the way that sin distorts our vision. But the Hebrew is difficult. The GNB offers:"You brag about capturing the town of Lodebar. You boast, "We were strong enough to take Karnaim". The military victories earlier in the time of Amos, under Jeroboam II and Uzziah (<a href='B:120 14:25-28'>2Ki 14:25-28</a>), were to be now revealed as meaningless; such secular success was no reflection of spirituality. And they would realize that all too late.</h4><h4>But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness- See on <a href='B:370 5:7'>Amo 5:7</a>. Justice and righteousness are God’s intentions for His people; but just as a horse can’t run on rocky crags, so they had inverted the entire sense of spirituality.</h4>


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<p>You who rejoice in a thing of nothing, who say, ‘Haven’t we taken for ourselves horns by our own strength?’- The horns of the Jerusalem altar were thought to be the ultimate source of safety (<a href='B:110 1:50'>1Ki 1:50</a>; <a href='B:110 2:28'>1Ki 2:28</a>). It seems that the ten tribes had replicated this by adding horns to their calf statues, which were "a thing of nothing". They had created their own strength, rather than realizing their weakness and trusting in God’s strength. They were aware that a righteous Ephraim would push her enemies as with the horns of a unicorn (<a href='B:50 33:17'>Deu 33:17</a>), and as noted on :1, they were "at ease" with God, assuming they were righteous, appropriating the blessings of the righteous to themselves. Only condemnation would make them realize how wrong they were.</p>


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<p>For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, says Yahweh, the God of Armies; and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah- From the north to the south. The same terms of definition are used to describe the territory which Jeroboam II had recently recovered (<a href='B:120 14:25'>2Ki 14:25</a>). All that secular success was no sign at all of God’s blessing. All this so easily translates into our modern terms. We need not assume that nice homes and possessions are God’s blessing and His approval of our spirituality. Not at all. It can be that we merely blessed ourselves with those things. Those armies sent to take these things away were effectively God’s armies, totally under His control.</p>


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<h4>Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: and behold, He formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s harvest- GNB "Just after the king’s share of the hay had been cut and the grass was starting to grow again". <a href='B:370 4:6-9'>Amo 4:6-9</a> has explained that this was at a time of famine. The strong took away what little food the poor had, just in order to continue their own opulent living, as explained on <a href='B:370 5:11'>Amo 5:11</a>. The king was chief in this offence. The punishment was therefore that locusts would eat up the harvest of the wealthy. However "the shooting up" may refer to the temporary revival of prosperity under Jeroboam II (<a href='B:120 14:25'>2Ki 14:25</a>) after it had as it were been mown down by the incursions of Hazael and Benhadad (<a href='B:120 13:3'>2Ki 13:3</a>; <a href='B:120 13:22'>2Ki 13:22</a>).</h4>&nbsp;<p>It could be argued that the timing of the judgment reflects God’s grace- the first harvest had already happened, the King taking the best of the hay. Note how Uzziah, the King inAmos’ time, <a href='B:370 1:1'>Amo 1:1</a>, "loved husbandry", <a href='B:140 26:10'>2Ch 26:10</a>; like us, he was tested at his weakest point. The grasshoppers [Heb. locusts] were prepared to destroy the secondary harvest which was not so crucial to survival. It could be that the locusts ate the grass but hadn’t moved on to the crops. God’s grace is seen in the midst of His judgments; He could have judged Israel far more severely, by destroying the primary harvest. The creation of a locust plague by God naturally alludes to the plague of locusts upon Egypt - which was ended by Moses’ mediation for Egypt just as Amos now interceded for Israel; see on :3. This is one of many examples of where God’s apostate people are treated as and spoken of in the language of Egypt / the world; the ultimate punishment for the rejected will be to be sent back into the world, the Egypt which they had preferred in their day of opportunity, and share their destiny. Hence Paul writes of being "condemned with the world". See on :4.</p><p>Note that God consciously "forms" locusts::. He sends His rain on the earth, there’s a consciousness about every movement in the natural creation, a conscious expenditure of His energy and Spirit.</p><h4>The LXX of <a href='B:370 7:1'>Amo 7:1</a> is interesting: "Behold, a swarm of locusts coming from the east; and, behold, one caterpillar, king Gog". Yet Amos intercedes: "Repent, O Lord, for this. And this shall not be, says the Lord". This would suggest that the Gog invasion was conditional and was forestalled by the intercession of Amos; thus not only Ezekiel 40-48 would be conditional prophecy, but Ezekiel 38, 39 also.</h4>


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<h4>It happened that when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, Lord Yahweh, forgive, I beseech You! How could Jacob stand? For he is so small- The only other time we read of Jacob being "small" is when the same Hebrew word is used about Jacob being the "younger" son (<a href='B:10 27:15'>Gen 27:15</a>; <a href='B:10 27:42'>Gen 27:42</a>). God delights to work through the weak, the younger sons, the spiritually weak, the sinners::. and Amos appeals to God’s grace, to continue working through the weak Israel. For how else shall Jacob "arise"- and the same Hebrew words are used of the historical Jacob ’arising’ and being saved by God’s grace from a just destruction for his sins (<a href='B:10 31:17'>Gen 31:17</a>; <a href='B:10 35:1'>Gen 35:1</a>). We can use these ideas to comfort those who feel they have fallen so far into sin that God has stopped working with them. His style is quite the opposite- to use such desperate situations to bring men and women to be His truest servants.</h4><p>The historical fulfilment of this may be in that the incursions of Hazael and Benhadad into Israel could have destroyed them; but it was the prayer of Amos which saved those "locusts" from totally destroying the kingdom. There was still some space for repentance; hence the intensity of Amos’ appeal. And in the time allotted, Jeroboam II did restore much land to Israel (see on :1), but still there was no repentance.</p><p>The idea of prophets was well known in the world around ancient Israel. The idea of a prophet was that a person was caught up in some kind of ecstasy, transported into some ‘other’ world, and leaving behind their humanity. The true prophets were different. Their inspiration was about being attuned to the mind of God, they remained very much in the flesh and in the world, and the subjects of their prophecy related to very real, human things- injustice, a guy building an extension on his house without paying the labourers. Not flashing lights and ethereal coasting through space. The pagan prophets (e:g. the prophets of Baal in <a href='B:110 18:26-29'>1Ki 18:26-29</a>) worked themselves into a frenzy in order to reach a state of depersonalization and loss of consciousness, in the hope that then they would be filled with Divine consciousness. True prophets like Amos were absolutely different; the inspiration process required them to be fully in touch with their own consciousness and personality, and it was exactly through their humanity that the personality of God came through in the inspired words they spake and wrote. Amos perceived the Lord’s word, and then ‘butted in’ as it were, in full consciousness: “O Lord God, forgive, I beseech Thee! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” (<a href='B:370 7:2'>Amo 7:2</a>). This is the very opposite of the pagan prophets losing touch with their human senses and reasoning.</p><h4>The relatively small amount&nbsp; of human repentance needed to make the Angel repent is shown here in Amos 7. Amos sees visions of the impending judgements on Israel. After each he prays for Jacob to be forgiven; and the answer comes: Yahweh repented for this. It shall not be, says the Lord". He repented for the sake of one intense prayer! Notice too Amos asking"Who shall stand for Jacob?". Michael the Angel stands for Israel in the court of Heaven (as the Angel ’God of Jacob’; <a href='B:340 12:1'>Dan 12:1</a>), and thus it appears Amos is pointing out that if Israel is condemned and punished they will have no Angel with them- and so the Angel / God changes His mind.</h4><h4>Although the prophets were onGod’s side as it were, sharing His spirit, speaking His words, they were also men, and they were largely Jews, members of the nation upon whom He was announcing His wrath. At times, they reason with God. Amos delivered God’s judgment against his people, and then pleaded with God about them, and He changed His mind. Other examples in <a href='B:290 6:11'>Isa 6:11</a>; <a href='B:300 4:14'>Jer 4:14</a>; <a href='B:230 74:10'>Psa 74:10</a>. This was how well the prophets knew God; and yet again, it shows that they weren’t merely impersonally reproducing a message from God. They were involved in it and highly sensitive to it.</h4>


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<p>Yahweh relented concerning this. It shall not be, says Yahweh- There really were intended Divine judgments upon Israel at this time which didn’t happen thanks to a subsistence farmer praying to God to change His mind::. Note the huge implications of the two words"for this"[NEV"concerning this"]. For those few words of Amos, Almighty God changed His mind. What’s amazing is that Amos had opened his prophecy by relaying the statement that God would not repent of His judgment of Israel. God is not the stone faced, unchanging Allah of Islam, nor the emotionless deity of the Greeks. He changes, just as He did over Nineveh. The only thing that is unchanging in Him is grace, whereby the sons of Jacob are not ultimately consumed when they ought to have been (<a href='B:460 3:6'>Mal 3:6</a> cp. <a href='B:300 10:25'>Jer 10:25</a>).</p>


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<h4>Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me and behold, the Lord Yahweh called for judgment by fire; and it dried up the great deep, and would have devoured the land-"Called"raises the question ’to whom?’. Maybe to the Angels in the court of Heaven?"Contend by fire"(AV) suggests a reference to Elijah calling God to contend by fire against an apostate Israel.</h4><p>Israel are likened to the sea, being burnt up by the heat of God’s wrath. But the sea is usually a symbol of the Gentile world- as in the notes on 7:1, apostate Israel are being likened to the Gentiles. God at that time would’ve burnt up all Israel- had not Amos interceded. This is exactly what happened with Moses. The idea of"part"of God’s land and people being burnt up by judgment is common in Revelation- the implication of the allusions back here to Amos could be that all God’s land / people aren’t destroyed in the last days because of intercession by third parties- ourselves?</p><h4>Destruction by fire is more radical and total than a locust swarm. As explained on :2, the locust swarm was stopped from totally destroying the kingdom by Amos’ intercession. But still Israel didn’t repent, and so destruction by fire was promised. But Amos again interceded and even this was delayed- explaining how all the more desperately intense was Amos’ appeal for repentance.</h4>


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<p>Then I said, Lord Yahweh, cease, I beg You! How could Jacob stand? For he is small- God is open to changing His stated plan due to the mediation of others. It would even appear that Amos believed God could forgive the sins of others because of his prayers rather than their repentance. For Amos doesn’t merely ask God not to execute His judgments, but to actually forgive Israel. There’s an obvious similarity with the intercession of Moses; the only other person to pray"Forgive, I beseech You"is Moses- the same Hebrew words are found on his lips twice (<a href='B:20 34:9'>Exo 34:9</a>; <a href='B:40 14:19'>Num 14:19</a>). Moses’ amazing example had been meditated upon by Amos as he did his agricultural work- and he rose up to the same level. He prayed the same prayer. We too should be motivated in our prayer lives by Biblical examples, even using the same words. So many Biblical prayers use the words of previous Scripture. God leads us to see the similarities between our situations and those of Biblical figures- e:g. by giving Amos a vision of judgment upon Israel in terms of a locust plague, which was intended to lead Amos to see Israel as Egypt and himself as Moses in making intercession to end the plague. Amos gets into the spirit of Moses by asking God to"cease", using the same word used to describe how the plagues"ceased"as a result of Moses’ intercession (<a href='B:20 9:29'>Exo 9:29</a>; <a href='B:20 9:33-34'>Exo 9:33-34</a>). Amos the humble herdsman rose up to the spirit of Moses, the figure set within Judaism as it were in stained glass as unapproachable and beyond imitation, to be revered but not copied. And we can rise up in the same way.</p>


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<p>Yahweh relented concerning this. This also shall not be, says the Lord Yahweh- Amos pronounced what the Lord had shown him: that the land would be destroyed by grasshoppers, and then by fire. But each time he begged Yahweh to relent. And “the Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord” (AV). Israel’s salvation was to some degree dependent on the love and prayer of Amos. God may have prepared great things potentially, which are only ‘released’ by our prayer for them:&nbsp; James reasons that because we have seen “the end intended by the Lord” (<a href='B:660 5:11'>Jas 5:11</a> NKJ) we ought therefore to do the maximum of our ability in prayer for others, and as Job praying for his friends, we can really influence the outcomes for third parties (see on <a href='B:480 2:5'>Mar 2:5</a>).</p>


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<p>Thus he showed me: Behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand- Measuring was an idiom for preparation for judgment, and like all prophecy, this will have its ultimate application in the last days (see on <a href='B:730 11:2'>Rev 11:2</a>). The idea may be that God had built the wall perpendicular, but Israel had built further upon it, and now He would assess precisely how far they had strayed. Every sin and failure led to others, just as building a wall with slight errors to begin with leads to the wall becoming more grossly out of shape as the building proceeds. This is the problem with considering that there are small sins, some ’out of line’ stuff in our lives that we shall just let be.</p>


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<p>Yahweh said to me, Amos, what do you see? I said, A plumb line. Then the Lord said, Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of My people Israel. I will not again change My mind about punishing them- God is aware that He has changed His mind::. elsewhere He warns that this time, His threatened punishment of Israel will not be as another echo in the mountains (<a href='B:330 7:7'>Eze 7:7</a>). But::. He still doesn’t destroy them fully. <a href='B:350 11:8'>Hos 11:8</a> describes His unbearable tension:"How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together"(<a href='B:350 11:8'>Hos 11:8</a>). This is the God whose word is ultimately firm still being open to changing it- such is the extent of His love for Israel; and us.</p>


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<p>The high places of Isaac will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword- We never read of Isaac having any idolatrous"high places", but all the patriarchs were amazingly weak at times and so it doesn’t surprise us. The point could be that the secret sins of God’s people, e:g. those of Isaac which by grace aren’t recorded in the Biblical record, will be revealed in the time of judgment. Hence the reference in 7:16 to"the house of Isaac". But Isaac had a vision from God at Beersheba and likely built an altar there (<a href='B:10 26:23-24'>Gen 26:23-24</a>). The apostacy of God’s people was in continually seeking to justify their idolatry by daubing it with references to true Yahweh worship; and Beersheba was one of the idol shrines (<a href='B:370 5:5'>Amo 5:5</a>).</p>


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<p>Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words- This was his commentary upon Amos preaching the word of :9, that the house of Jeroboam was to be destroyed. It would seem that Amos announced this word at Bethel, not Samaria. Perhaps he stationed himself there at the idol shrine and warned the people daily. As always happens, the words of the faithful are twisted; Amaziah implied that Amos was taking into his own hands to fulfil the prophecy against Jeroboam, and was plotting to murder him."Conspired"is literally"banded", as if Amos had built up a group of followers; perhaps indeed a minority did repent. And indeed the word of God could not be abided by Israel when it finally came to fulfilment; the same words are used in <a href='B:360 2:11'>Joe 2:11</a>.</p>


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<p>For Amos says, ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of hisland’- The implication is that Amos kept on saying this; and that although he was appealing for repentance, he recognized that the captivity was going to happen. To keep on giving an unpopular message is difficult; it’s one thing to whisper something once, but to keep warning is bound to make us unpopular. Amos is really an example to us.</p>


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<p>Amaziah also said to Amos, You prophet, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there-"Eat bread"may be an idiom to imply that he would be sponsored there, implying that Amos was just saying what his financial supporters wanted him to say. This would explain why his response is that he is not a professional prophet as they understood a prophet, i:e. a man just saying things for the sake of those who employed him (as in <a href='B:330 13:19'>Eze 13:19</a>); but rather was he just a humble herdsman and fig gatherer (:14).</p>


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<p>But don’t prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal house!- This is typical of how money controls spirituality in apostate religion. Jeroboam had funded the sanctuary, it was his [and not Yahweh’s]; therefore Amos shouldn’t be condemning the king in the king’s sanctuary. The record is making the point that Bethel, the house of God, was no longer the house of God but the king’s house. Israel had hijacked God’s house, just as the Lord’s table has so often been hijacked by those who act as if it is their table, and decide who may or may not enter the Lord’s house / family. Telling the prophets not to prophesy was the sin of God’s people in <a href='B:370 2:12'>Amo 2:12</a>. Reading or hearing God’s word but not letting it bite us is just the same.</p>


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<h4>Then Amos answered Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore figs- This was Amos’ answer to the implication he was a career prophet just saying what those who paid him wanted to hear (:12). He was not even the son of a prophet, probably referring to the"sons of the prophets"who had attended the schools of the prophets (<a href='B:120 4:1-2'>2Ki 4:1-2</a>). Amos was for whatever reason not within the mainstream and not apparently associated with the schools of the prophets. He was as he says, just a humble labourer. This is evidence enough that one can teach God’s word without any pedigree or theological education. Indeed it seems God prefers to work through outsiders such as Amos. He was poor- a herdsman who also gathered sycamore fruit, which was plentiful in Israel but inferior to figs.</h4><p>When asked who he was, John’s reply was simply: “a voice”. Amos, in the same way, was told not to keep on prophesying; but he replies: “I am no prophet…the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy” (<a href='B:370 1:14-15'>Amo 1:14-15</a> RV). It’s almost contradictory: ‘I’m not a prophet… I am a prophet’. He was truly selfless, like, John, just a voice for God. Samuel also spoke of himself at a distance from himself when he told Israel: “The Lord sent Jerubbaal… and Samuel… and delivered you” (<a href='B:90 12:11'>1Sa 12:11</a>).</p><p>Amos stresses that speaking forth God’s word wasn’t at all what he wished to do or was cut out for. Likewise Paul says that because preaching God’s word was against his natural inclination, therefore a calling to preach the Gospel had indeed been given to him (<a href='B:530 9:17'>1Co 9:17</a>). Paul was sent to the Gentiles and not the Jews as he might naturally have preferred; the disciples were unlearned and ignorant men called to preach to the Jewish intelligentsia; womenweren’t accepted as legal witnesses and yet the Lord asks women to be the first witnesses of His resurrection; always in the preaching of His word does God use those who humanly aren’t qualified to do so. He doesn’t use slick presentation, but rather human weakness in order to convert others. Amos doubtless alludes to himself in <a href='B:370 3:8'>Amo 3:8</a> where he says that a prophet cannot but speak out God’s word- and this is alluded to by the apostles when they say they cannot but speak out what they have seen and heard of Christ.</p><h4>Amos doesn’t actually answer the serious false allegation against him personally, but gets on with speaking forth God’s word. This is rather like Peter, who when forbidden to preach just continues to do so. Paul also was forbidden by the Jews to teach the Gentiles (<a href='B:590 2:16'>1Th 2:16</a>). Both Paul and Peter must have recalled Amos going through the same. Situations repeat within the lives of God’s children who are contemporary with each other, and also between our situations and those of Bible characters. This is the basis in practice for the unity of the Spirit. We are given real life examples of others who have walked this path before.</h4>


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<p>And Yahweh took me from following the flock, and Yahweh said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel’- The context is responding to the idea that he was only saying what men had paid him to say (see on :12). Amos seems to purposefully use the language used about David who was likewise taken from the flock to do God’s work (<a href='B:100 7:8'>2Sa 7:8</a>; <a href='B:230 78:70-71'>Psa 78:70-71</a>). David and Moses were seen as untouchable founding fathers of the Israelite culture and religion; for a humble labourer to act like Moses in mediating for Israel (as in :1-5), and now to see himself as David, was significant spiritual ambition. We too can rise up to these patterns rather than just admire them. The low status of Amos is therefore emphasized; he was a"herdman"(<a href='B:370 1:1'>Amo 1:1</a>), a noqeed because he shepherded naaqaad, a stunted and ugly breed, leading to the proverb"viler than a naaqaad". Likewise he gathered not figs, but sycamore fruit, the cheapest, commonest and least tasty fruit (:14).</p>


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<h4>Now therefore listen to the word of Yahweh: ‘You say, Don’t prophesy against Israel, and don’t preach against the house of Isaac’- To forbid the teaching of God’s word led to the serious condemnation of :17. And church politics today often lead to a similar forbidding of preachers, especially those considered to be outsiders like Amos. The same situation is criticized in <a href='B:400 2:6'>Mic 2:6</a>, where the command to stop others preaching was because those who forbad it didn’t want to"take shame". We can claim belief in an inspired Bible and yet refuse to be shamed by what we read, and effectively we are thereby shutting down God’s word. This shows that ’belief in an inspired Bible’ can never remain a mere theological tenet; it demands so much of us, and one can so easily deny it in practice despite giving lipservice to the theory.</h4><h4>The Israelites considered themselves the house / family of Isaac because they had transformed his shrine to Yahweh at Beersheba into an idol shrine, through which they claimed to worship Yahweh; see on :9. They thought their much proclaimed connection with Isaac somehow justified their sin, just as multi generational Christian believers can assume that their pedigree justifies their apostacy.</h4>


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<h4>Therefore thus says Yahweh: ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword- Imagine the nervous tone of voice in which Amos likely said those words, just as we imagine Joseph and Daniel summoning the courage to speak forth God’s word. We likely know that feeling. To call a man’s wife a prostitute was serious indeed. Presumably she would become such in order to placate the invaders, or because she simply needed to somehow get food in the desperate situation which was to come.</h4><p>And your land shall be divided by line- Such division is characteristic of how God judges people (<a href='B:310 4:16'>Lam 4:16</a>; <a href='B:330 5:1'>Eze 5:1</a> s:w:). Those who divide themselves within God’s kingdom or people are thereby living out their own condemnation.</p><h4>And you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land’- The Israelites considered Gentile lands"unclean", and yet they had made their own land unclean by their sins (<a href='B:290 24:5'>Isa 24:5</a>; <a href='B:300 2:7'>Jer 2:7</a>). It was therefore appropriate that they be taken away to die in an unclean Gentile land. Clearly it was the hypocrisy of Israel in considering other lands"unclean"which was so obnoxious to God. And the people of God must ever struggle with the temptation to be no better in essence than those they claim to be separate from.</h4>


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<p>Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: Behold, a basket of summer fruit-"Summer"translates a Hebrew word very similar to that used for"end"in :2. These final visions in Amos may be in response to him being exiled from Israel as recorded in Amos 7. Israel had stated finally that they didn’t want God’s word, and so Amos now gives visions of the end, and yet concludes with the gracious hope of restoration.</p>


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<h4>He said, Amos, what do you see? I said, A basket of summer fruit- The apparently obvious question was to help Amos be clear in his own mind. We too at times have to be asked ’What is this?’, because verbalizing the reply is helpful for our own understanding. The ’end fruit’ (see on :1) was the fruit of Israel’s behaviour. All our days and years are spent cultivating, and the fruit shall surely come. For Israel, the fruit they bore meant"the end"for them.</h4><h4>Then Yahweh said to me, The end has come on My people Israel. I will not again change My mind about them any more- Amos had successfully persuaded God to change His mind, but God says He will do so no more. And yet even then, there were changes in His plans, influenced always by His passionate desire to save at least some. The Divine statement here is proof enough that God does change His mind, as we see clearly in His altering of purpose regarding Israel’s destruction (<a href='B:40 14:34'>Num 14:34</a>) and that of Nineveh. He is only unchanging in His essential grace, in that the sons of Jacob are not consumed when they ought to be (<a href='B:460 3:6'>Mal 3:6</a>).</h4>


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<h4>The songs of the temple will be wailings in that day, says the Lord Yahweh- These visions seem particularly addressed to the ten tribes (:14), but most of Amos’ words also have relevance to Judah; for he prophesied to both kingdoms (<a href='B:370 1:1'>Amo 1:1</a>). I have noted earlier that the idol shrines of the ten tribe kingdom were conscious imitations of the worship at the Jerusalem temple; so"the songs of the temple"could refer to the musical worship at the shrine in Samaria. A historical fulfilment would have been in how the songs of Zion, the temple mount, became laments in Judah’s captivity (<a href='B:230 137:3-4'>Psa 137:3-4</a> s:w:). But the immediate context seems to concern wailing for the dead bodies in the temple / sanctuary.</h4><h4>The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out in silence- This"silence"is that spoken of in <a href='B:370 6:10'>Amo 6:10</a> (see note there). The bodies would be thrown out and not buried. Perhaps the reference is to what happened when the literal sanctuary at Bethel collapsed during the Assyrian invasion and destroyed those who had taken refuge there; see on <a href='B:370 9:2'>Amo 9:2</a>.</h4>


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<h4>Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy- The awful judgments of :3 were due to the abuse of the poor. We might have thought that the idolatry was the main reason, yet the sin which apparently angered God even more than that was the abuse of poor brethren. As they had swallowed up or devoured the needy (s:w. <a href='B:370 2:7'>Amo 2:7</a>), so they would be swallowed up by the invaders (s:w. <a href='B:290 42:14'>Isa 42:14</a>; <a href='B:330 36:3'>Eze 36:3</a>). To care for"the needy"was a major theme of the Mosaic law (s:w. <a href='B:20 23:6'>Exo 23:6</a>; <a href='B:50 15:4'>Deu 15:4</a>; <a href='B:50 15:7'>Deu 15:7</a>; <a href='B:50 15:9'>Deu 15:9</a>; <a href='B:50 15:11'>Deu 15:11</a> etc:). We have noted earlier in Amos that the poor were swallowed up for tiny amounts, such was the avarice of the wealthy.</h4><h4>And cause the poor of the land to fail-"Fail"is the same word as"sabbath"in the next verse. These"poor"were the ones left in the land by the Babylonians (<a href='B:120 25:12'>2Ki 25:12</a>; <a href='B:300 39:10'>Jer 39:10</a>; <a href='B:300 40:7'>Jer 40:7</a>) and it seems the Assyrians did likewise. There was no economic advantage in taking the dirt poor away into captivity. It was they who therefore remained in the land whilst she ’kept her sabbaths’ (<a href='B:140 36:21'>2Ch 36:21</a>). The word play is making the point that it was the abused who were the ones who would also ’sabbath’ in the land. It was this abused minority with whom God hoped to work and bring about a restored Kingdom.</h4>


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<p>Saying, ‘Oh when will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath end, that we may market wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit- We marvel that whilst God’s people were involved in such major idolatry and abuse, they would bother to religiously keep the sabbath. But they did, and this is exactly the warning to the religious man and woman- that external observance of spiritual rites and even obedience to Divine commandments is no reflection of spirituality. It was the kind of apparently petty, hidden sin which clearly weighed heavier with God than the more evident sin of idolatry. For tweaking balances would have resulted in only relatively petty gain for the trader, otherwise it would have been noticeable and lacking in credibility. Likewise Paul begins his critique of the Corinthians by speaking of their divisiveness, and only later addresses their drunkenness at the breaking of bread, use of prostitutes, denial of the resurrection etc. Hosea lamented the use of the same"balances of deceit", and saw how this was all part of an attempt to even deceive God (<a href='B:350 11:12'>Hos 11:12</a>; <a href='B:350 12:7'>Hos 12:7</a> s:w:). Micah likewise (<a href='B:400 6:11'>Mic 6:11</a>). This secret tweaking of balances was noticed by God and it was a consistent issue He had with Israel; it was"an abomination unto Yahweh"(<a href='B:240 20:23'>Pro 20:23</a>), using the very word typically used for idol worship.</p>


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<p>That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the sweepings along with the wheat?’- As noted on :5, the deceit and abuse practiced was for very petty gain on each transaction. This is where greed leads. The poor were sold into slavery for"a pair of shoes", or sandals."Pay me what you owe me"was the attitude (<a href='B:470 18:28'>Mat 18:28</a>), and for petty amounts, the debtor was forced into slavery. And the Lord quotes this attitude as pertinent to us today if we do not forgive our brother from the heart. The chaff or left over grain of the wheat should have been left for the poor of the land; we recall Ruth gleaning such corn. But Israel swept it up and sold it to the poor. And remember that such attitudes are being cited as reason for"the end"finally coming upon Israel (:1,2).</p>


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<h4>Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob- This could mean that the judgment was coming because of Jacob / Israel’s pride; or that He swore as the One whom Jacob / Israel were proud of. I have noted throughout Amos that the people were kidding themselves that they were Yahweh’s people and He would preserve them in the coming day of Yahweh; perhaps it was exactly because of this that He was so insistent that He would never forget or pass by judgment of their sins.</h4><h4>Surely I will never forget any of their works- There is within us all the tendency to assume that the passage of time works a kind of atonement for our sins; we forget them, or the reality of them fades, and we can assume that this is so likewise with God. But He doesn’t deal with sin like that. He doesn’t suffer from memory loss or the diminishing of felt reality simply due to the passage of time. Israel forgot God’s works, as the Psalmist laments, but God didn’t forget theirs. This is why it’s so critical to repent of our sins immediately, before the passing of time leaves us feeling that elapsed time has dealt with them, as if God operates some kind of statute of limitations. But He doesn’t. We need to throw ourselves upon God’s grace for past sins, and repent immediately when we sin. It is likewise important to realize that because God doesn’t forget sin, in terms of memory, then we must the more urgently throw ourselves upon His grace and believe we are saved due to our status in Christ.</h4>


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<h4>Won’t the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn who dwells in it?- This is the earthquake mentioned in <a href='B:370 1:1'>Amo 1:1</a> and <a href='B:370 9:5'>Amo 9:5</a> (see notes there). The things in view are the apparently lesser, secret sins of the previous verses. We would expect an earthquake in response to idolatry, but an earthquake for tweaking balances and demanding what is legitimately owed to us (:6)::. ? In secular terms, it seems a disproportionate response. But this is the major message in the minor prophets; that it is exactly those sins which are so major to God. And they are the very sins we are likely to commit.</h4><h4>Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River; and it will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Egypt- The allusion is to how the Nile rises and falls, spreading debris on its flood plain. Because they had trusted in Egypt, they would rise and fall like Egypt. And in physical terms this would refer to the literal rising and falling of the land as a result of the prophesied earthquake.</h4>


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<h4>It will happen in that day, says the Lord Yahweh, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the day time- Darkness is often associated in the OT with mourning. <a href='B:370 8:9-10'>Amo 8:9-10</a> speaks of earthquake and darkness at noon because"I will make it as the mourning for an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day", i:e. a funeral. The darkness at the cross was a sign of Almighty God mourning for His Son. The cross was the judgment of the Jewish world.</h4><h4>But the extinguishing of the noon day sun speaks of individuals and a society being cut off at the apparent zenith of their glory. The destruction of Israel was to be relatively sudden; they were to be cut down in the midst of the revived prosperity which had been brought about by Jeroboam II. There is every indication in Amos that their judgment would be unexpected by them. And so shall it be in the last day.</h4>


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<p>I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day- The way Israel kept the Mosaic feasts and sung David’s temple songs in their idol shrines, mixing idolatry with the trappings of Yahweh worship, was so upsetting to God. The mourning in view is very bitter and intense, and looks forward to the mourning of the rejected in the last day. Then, too late, the rejected Jews will mourn for the crucified, only Son of God. They will then mourn for Him in repentance (<a href='B:470 24:30'>Mat 24:30</a>; <a href='B:730 1:7'>Rev 1:7</a>), but too late. They will see Him when resurrected to judgment and hail Him (<a href='B:470 23:39'>Mat 23:39</a>; <a href='B:470 26:64'>Mat 26:64</a>) but not be accepted by Him. See on <a href='B:470 16:28'>Mat 16:28</a>.</p>


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<p>Behold, the days come, says the Lord Yahweh, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of Yahweh- Amos had been exiled from Israel because they didn’t want to hear Yahweh’s word from him (<a href='B:370 7:12'>Amo 7:12</a>). But they would desperately want to hear it later, just as Zedekiah earnestly sought to hear the word from Yahweh but too late. A literal famine had already been sent in the land, and this was to provide Israel with warning that just as they had gone around the land seeking for food and water in the time of Ahab’s famine, so they would spiritually. If we don’t accept God’s word now, and love it, then we shall desire to do so in the time of condemnation, but all too late. Now is the time to hear and apply ourselves to His word.</p>


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<p>They will wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they will run back and forth to seek the word of Yahweh, and will not find it- This desperate seeking of God’s word is commentary upon the way that Amos had been forbidden to speak God’s word in the ten tribe kingdom (<a href='B:370 7:12'>Amo 7:12</a>). The day would come, as for all who reject God’s word, when they would desperately seek that which they had no time for or rejected."Sea to sea"may refer to the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean, for the reference here is specifically to the ten tribe kingdom. North to east may refer to the location of their shrines. To seek and not find spirituality and salvation is going to be why the rejected bang their teeth as a result of their condemnation. It’s the foolish girls earnestly seeking to fill their lamps with oil, but all too late.</p>


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<p>In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint for thirst- The thirst is defined in :11 as a thirst for God’s word. Now, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled (<a href='B:470 5:6'>Mat 5:6</a>). The process of condemnation will not be met with indifference by those condemned; they will seek desperately to be righteous and to be accepted, but it will be too late. Life is the time to seek and serve the Lord. This is particularly directed by Amos at young men and women; the intellectual and physical energy of youth is intended to be directed to God’s word. And if it is not, then it may be too late at the last day.</p>


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<h4>Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives’- The golden calf is described as Israel’s sin (<a href='B:50 9:21'>Deu 9:21</a>)."The sin of Samaria"/ the ten tribe kingdom therefore refers to the golden calf at Bethel, rather than to the sin in Samaria. Yahweh is the only living God; that truth is repeated so often in Scripture. To claim that any idol is alive is to reject the one and only living God.</h4><h4>And, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives;’ they will fall, and never rise up again-"The way"can be an idiom to mean a system of worship, just as Christianity was at times called"the way", i:e. the only, one and true way. Beersheba was in Judah, but it is repeatedly mentioned as being the place of sin for the ten tribes; and the references to Isaac in Amos (see on <a href='B:370 7:9'>Amo 7:9</a>; <a href='B:370 7:16'>Amo 7:16</a>) are because he had built an altar there, which had been taken over as an idol shrine. The particular sin at Beersheba for the ten tribes was perhaps in that they considered they could just hop over the border and sin secretly. The whole mentality of hopping off for secret sin was and is so abhorrent to God. I noted on <a href='B:350 4:15'>Hos 4:15</a> that Judah were condemned for having this same mentality.</h4>


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<h4>I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said, Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will kill the last of them with the sword- The altar at Bethel had been the subject of other prophecies of destruction (<a href='B:110 13:2-4'>1Ki 13:2-4</a>). I have suggested on <a href='B:370 7:12'>Amo 7:12</a> that Amos may have stood near the altar, or the entrance to it in Bethel, and condemned it and its worshippers. It could be that now Amos is literally commanded to smash it. But the command seems to be associated with the total destruction unto death of the people who worshipped there, and may therefore be the Divine command to the Assyrian invaders, presided over by the Lord standing beside the altar."The altar"is put for the sanctuary around it, which would collapse upon the heads of the worshippers. It recalls the destruction of the pagan Philistine temple by Samson in his death. Perhaps the Assyrian soldiers literally fulfilled this; the Israelites believed that the horns of that altar would provide salvation for them (see on <a href='B:370 3:14'>Amo 3:14</a>; <a href='B:370 6:13'>Amo 6:13</a>). They would have fled for refuge there in the final Assyrian onslaught; only to be crushed beneath the falling masonry as the sanctuary was brought down upon them. Their wrong beliefs therefore led them to literal destruction.</h4><h4>There shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape- But even here, God did remember mercy. A remnant did escape. As noted often on Hosea, God speaks in anger, quite legitimately, but His saving grace comes to dominate still. However, the reference may specifically be to the sanctuary built around the altar, which was to collapse upon the worshippers beneath it and kill them all.</h4>


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<p>Though they dig into Sheol, there My hand will take them; and though they climb up to the sky, I will bring them down from there- This alludes to Psalms 139 which has already stated this and was likely one of the temple songs they sung. They knew the words and perhaps sung them, but overlooked their personal relevance. I suggested on :1 that the Israelites fled into the Bethel sanctuary for safety and deliverance from the final Assyrian onslaught, and those who did perished there beneath the falling masonry, perhaps triggered by the earthquake of :5 and <a href='B:370 8:8'>Amo 8:8</a>. It would seem that they dug bunkers there for safety; but it was but digging their own graves, digging into sheol. Perhaps they literally sung the temple songs as they cowered there; but their bodies were extricated and thrown out of the collapsed masonry in silence (<a href='B:370 8:3'>Amo 8:3</a>).</p>


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<h4>Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out from there- As some would seek to hide in the sanctuary at Bethel, others in the northern Kingdom would flee to the top of Carmel. This was a known Baal shrine (<a href='B:110 18:19-20'>1Ki 18:19-20</a>). God searched and found them there at the hands of the Assyrian soldiers, and as explained on :5, through the earthquake that shook the land at the time of the final Assyrian invasion.</h4><p>And though they be hidden from My sight in the bottom of the sea- The allusions to Psalms 139 make it clear that we can never be hidden from God’s sight. But here we have an example of the Bible speaking from the perspective of men. This was how Israel would feel; that like Jonah, they could somehow flee from Yahweh’s presence and be outside responsibility to Him. But it is impossible to flee&nbsp; His presence.</p><h4>There I will command the serpent, and it will bite them- The idea is similar to that of <a href='B:370 5:19'>Amo 5:19</a> (see note there). Whatever their place of escape and human strength, God saw it and controlled small animals which could destroy them."The serpent"could refer to some aspect of the Assyrian or Babylonian invaders (s:w. <a href='B:290 14:29'>Isa 14:29</a>; <a href='B:300 8:17'>Jer 8:17</a>; <a href='B:300 46:22'>Jer 46:22</a>).</h4>


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<h4>Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them- It’s unclear the extent to which this happened. Large numbers of the ten tribe kingdom and of Judah were not killed in captivity, but instead prospered. As often noted in Hosea, God speaks at times in great and legitimate anger, as He did to Moses regarding His intended total destruction of Israel; and yet He relents and does not do according to the fierceness of His anger. This is all of His grace.</h4><p>The parallel is with hiding on Carmel in the caves on the west side of the mountain (:3)- but still being discovered and judged. The idea may be that even going into Gentile lands didn’t mean that they were outside of God’s presence- a lesson Jonah had to learn. But again, in this judgment there is hope; for the comfort was that even in captivity, the presence of God could be with them, despite their lack of any temple and the opportunity to keep much of the old covenant. The cherubim moved from the Jerusalem temple to Babylon in Ezekiel’s visions, in visual representation of this truth.</p><h4>I will set My eyes on them for evil, and not for good- This could imply that right up until the captivity, all through the idolatry and wickedness of the generations before it, God as it were focused His eyes upon doing them good. He really wanted to save them and to give them good in every way; this is the great blessing of being in covenant relationship with Him. He really wishes us good and is determined to achieve this; but He will not force us to accept it. His eyes may refer to the activity of the Angels.</h4>


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<h4>For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, is He who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn- This earthquake is alluded to in <a href='B:370 8:8'>Amo 8:8</a> and is stated as being two years in the future in <a href='B:370 1:1'>Amo 1:1</a>. Here it is spoken of as actually happening. The prophetic word is so certain of fulfilment that it can be spoken of in the present or even past tenses, even though the fulfilment is yet future. And yet as happened with Nineveh, in the gap between pronouncement and fulfilment, there is the possibility of repentance and a change to God’s stated purpose (<a href='B:300 18:7-9'>Jer 18:7-9</a>, and the example of Nineveh and Moses changing God’s purpose of judgment about Israel). However it could be that the earthquake mentioned in <a href='B:370 1:1'>Amo 1:1</a> was but a premonition of the final earthquake which would happen at the time of the Assyrian invasion; they were being given thereby a foretaste of judgment to come, in the hope they repented. I suggested on :2 that the idolaters ran into the Bethel sanctuary for refuge, and it was destroyed by an earthquake as the Assyrians approached, killing the worshippers beneath the falling masonry. But that same earthquake affected the entire country; those who tried to hide in bunkers or mountains like Carmel (:3) were also destroyed or revealed by the same earthquake.</h4><h4>And it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt- The allusion is to how the Nile rises and falls, spreading debris on its flood plain. Because they had trusted in Egypt, they would rise and fall like Egypt. And in physical terms this would refer to the literal rising and falling of the land as a result of the prophesied earthquake.</h4>


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<p>It is He who builds His chambers in the heavens, and has founded His vault on the earth; He who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth; Yahweh is His name- God is in total, active control of nature. He hasn’t wound it up on clockwork and left it ticking. He is involved intensely and consciously; see on <a href='B:470 6:26'>Mat 6:26</a>. He can equally therefore bring about cataclysm. The literal earthquake described in :2 and :5 would involve flooding, and the flooding of the earth / land / eretz of Israel also spoke of how the invading armies are likened to rivers and gushing waters, called for by God and therefore irresistible. We have just noted how the Israelites thought they could hide in caves and bunkers on and beneath mount Carmel (:3); God’s vaults and chambers are infinitely larger than any human defence. The man who thinks his cattle or cash will be his defence is made to learn that the cattle on a thousand hills are His. All though these verses we see that all human defence against God’s judgment will be declared pathetically irrelevant. And we are to learn that now, and submit to His judgments, and be on His side wholeheartedly.</p>


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<p>Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to Me, you children of Israel?, says Yahweh. Haven’t I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?- Other nations had been brought by God from one country to another. The reference to the Ethiopians would be in allusion to the idea that the Assyrian ruling dynasty came from Ethiopia. The idea was that the Israelites should not assume that because they had historically been brought from Egypt to Israel through the Red Sea [cp. baptism, <a href='B:530 10:1'>1Co 10:1</a>], therefore they were definitely of God and He was always on their side. He has moved pagan nations around His chessboard as well. The fact God has moved mightily with us in the past, not least through the waters of baptism / the Red Sea, is no guarantee that where we stand now is therefore spiritually pleasing to Him.</p>


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<p>See, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says Yahweh- God’s eyes / Angels were now focused for evil upon them, see on :4. They would be destroyed from the eretz or land of Israel, but not utterly destroyed; in that a remnant were intended to repent and be restored. This was God’s intention for the ten tribe kingdom as much as for Judah; for the context here largely refers to the ten tribes. But they never returned, nor was there any recorded stirring of repentance amongst them. So much potential was wasted.</p>


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<p>For, see, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall to the earth- Israel’s moving to and from amongst the nations is to be likened to corn being “sifted in a sieve”, and the context is in explaining how the repentance and restoration of a remnant was to be brought about; see on :8. The potential plan was that they would be moved around amongst the nations of the Assyrian empire in line with Assyrian policy for captives; they would be preserved and thereby brought to repentance. But this didn’t happen, at least not on any notable scale. The prophecy may have been rescheduled for fulfilment in the last days and over a far longer period. For Israelites have indeed been sifted amongst the nations for centuries now. It follows that the longer they move amongst the nations, the more the corn will be prepared for final ingathering. The longer they suffer, the nearer they are to repentance. Reflect too that “yet shall not the least grain fall to the earth”. The least kernel that will not fall to the earth would mean that this remnant would be preserved. Does this imply that there has always been a faithful remnant amongst Israel, throughout all their wanderings amongst the nations? Remember that the context here is largely concerning the ten tribes.</p>


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<p>All the sinners of My people will die by the sword, those who say, ‘Evil won’t overtake us nor meet us’- They had been warned to prepare for this meeting with God in judgment, i:e. to repent (<a href='B:370 4:12'>Amo 4:12</a>). And as explained on <a href='B:370 3:3'>Amo 3:3</a>, the idea of meeting with God implied the entry of a new covenant with Him. But they were assured that in no way would they have any meeting with God in judgment; their self assurance and self righteousness led them to preclude any real possibility of condemnation by God. We need to be careful here. For we too can assume that the regular rhythm of our religion will somehow tide us through into eternity. But condemnation at the last day is a real possibility. We should be confident that by grace, if the Lord returns right now, I shall be saved and not condemned. That is the good news of the Gospel, and anything less than such confidence robs the ’gospel’ of its good news. But we may throw it all away tomorrow or later in our lives, as so many have done. There is therefore always the longer term possibility of condemnation; that sense of the future we might miss, the weight of our own&nbsp; weakness and how it could indeed lead us to miss the path in future::. must ever remain with us, and result in an appropriate humility and casting of ourselves upon God’s grace and spiritual preservation.</p>


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<h4>After this- After the repentance of the remnant spoken of in :8-10. Israel didn’t repent in Assyria. And so the plannedrestoration didn’t happen. But God’s prophetic word will still come true; the prophecy was rescheduled and reapplied. One of those reapplications was in the repentance of a remnant of Israelites after the Lord’s crucifixion and resurrection in the first century AD, and in Acts 15 James quotes the LXX version of :11,12 in this regard. But he does so within a practical context- of arguing that Gentiles too should be baptized into Jesus and allowed full part in the church and people of God.</h4><p>I will return- It was exiled Israel who were to return to the land. But God so identifies Himself with the downtrodden remnant that He speaks of Himself returning. The cherubim of glory had departed from Jerusalem and reappeared in Babylon, according to Ezekiel’s visions; and Ezekiel 48 concludes with the comment that if the temple were rebuilt as commanded in Ezekiel 40-48, then again"Yahweh will be there"in Zion. But most of the exiles, especially from the ten tribes, didn’t want to return; and so God’s desire to live with people was to be reapplied to the Gentiles, as James makes clear by his quotation of this passage.</p><p>And I will rebuild- The word can mean to resurrect; the reapplication of this prophecy to the formation of a new house or family of God was to be through the resurrection of David’s great descendant, Messiah Jesus.</p><p>The tent of David- Not the"house"of David. The allusion is to how David kept the ark of God in a tent and not in a house.</p><p>That has fallen down- This chapter began with a prophecy of the destruction of the sanctuary at Bethel built over the altar and golden calf, which would collapse and crush the apostate Israelite worshippers beneath it. This collapse and falling down was typical of what had happened to God’s presence amongst His people.</p><p>I will rebuild- The same word used of establishing a covenant (<a href='B:10 6:18'>Gen 6:18</a>; <a href='B:10 9:9'>Gen 9:9</a>; <a href='B:10 9:11'>Gen 9:11</a>). There is hint here of a new, restored covenant between God and His people. This"new covenant"for the returned exiles spoken of in Jeremiah and Ezekiel is the same new covenant which we enter today through baptism into Jesus. This rebuilding was all of grace, for God in His wrath had just sworn that they would never again"arise"or ’rebuild’ (<a href='B:370 8:14'>Amo 8:14</a> s:w:). But here in <a href='B:370 9:11'>Amo 9:11</a> the word is twice used of how God would resurrect / rebuild / make arise His people.</p><p>Its ruins- This is the word used of how Israel had"forsaken Your covenant, thrown down your altars"(<a href='B:110 19:10'>1Ki 19:10</a>; <a href='B:110 19:14'>1Ki 19:14</a>). What was in ruins was God’s covenant relationship with Israel, epitomized by the Jerusalem temple and the sanctuary at Bethel, the house of God (see on :1) being physically ruined (<a href='B:310 2:2'>Lam 2:2</a>; <a href='B:310 2:17'>Lam 2:17</a>; <a href='B:330 16:39'>Eze 16:39</a>; <a href='B:330 36:36'>Eze 36:36</a> s:w:). Under the new covenant, the God who had once ruined / overthrown them would build them again in a new covenant relationship (<a href='B:300 31:28'>Jer 31:28</a>; <a href='B:300 31:40'>Jer 31:40</a>; <a href='B:330 36:36'>Eze 36:36</a> s:w:).</p><h4>And I will restore it as in the days of old- The covenant relationship could be rebuilt, and could have happened at Israel’s return from exile, had they rebuilt the temple according to the laws in Ezekiel 40-48. But they didn’t, and so James explains that this prophecy has been reapplied to the building of a new house of God’s people, which includes Gentiles, in line with the prophetic hope that the restoration from exile would also bring blessing upon the Gentiles, who would identify themselves with the returning exiles and become God’s people. That didn’t happen at the time, and as Ezra and Nehemiah record, the returned exiles intermarried with Gentiles rather than being the light of the Gentile world. And so in <a href='B:510 15:15-17'>Act 15:15-17</a> James quotes this as meaning that because the house / people of David have been rebuilt, therefore it is now acceptable to help the Gentiles “seek after the Lord” Jesus. James perceived that firstly the Gospel must go to the house of David, the Jews, and once they had responded, then it would go to the Gentiles. Perhaps the Lord had the same principle in mind when He bad His preachers to not [then] preach to Gentiles but instead [at that stage] concentrateon preaching to the house of Israel (<a href='B:470 10:5'>Mat 10:5</a>). Yet the primary fulfillment of Amos 9 is clearly in the last days- then, after Israel have been sifted in the sieve of persecution amongst the Gentiles in the latter day holocaust, the tabernacle of David will again be ‘rebuilt’, the Gentiles will turn to the Lord, and then the Kingdom situation of :13-15 will come about. Surely what we are being told is that there must be a repeat of what happened in the first century. What happened then, in the repentance of a minority in Israel, the spread of the Gospel to the world and then the Lord’s ‘coming’ in AD70… this must all be repeated on a far greater scale. Thus some in Israel must repent in the last days, after the pattern of the 1st century. This will bring about the great latter day gathering in of the Gentiles at the establishment of the Kingdom, when the whole Gentile world will seek to come up to Zion (<a href='B:290 2:3'>Isa 2:3</a>; <a href='B:290 19:23'>Isa 19:23</a>; <a href='B:290 11:10'>Isa 11:10</a>; <a href='B:290 51:4-5'>Isa 51:4-5</a>; <a href='B:290 60:3'>Isa 60:3</a>; <a href='B:290 60:11'>Isa 60:11</a>; <a href='B:290 66:20'>Isa 66:20</a>; <a href='B:450 8:21'>Zec 8:21</a>).</h4>


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<h4>That the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord- As explained on :11, the initial possibility was that the returned exiles would have brought with them the Gentiles, who would come with them to"seek the Lord". But they didn’t return, for the most part; and mixed with the Gentiles rather than encouraging them to"seek the Lord", as Ezra and Nehemiah describe. And so the prophecy was reapplied, and partially fulfilled in Gentiles seeking the Lord Jesus and being baptized into the new covenant."The remnant"of natural Israel was to mix with all the Gentiles who called the Name on themselves by baptism into it. And so from this, James concludes that Gentiles should be baptized and accepted on an equal footing with ethnic Jews in the newly rebuilt house of David / kingdom of God, under the new covenant.</h4><h4>And all the Gentiles who are called by My name, says the Lord who makes these things known from of old- <a href='B:510 15:17'>Act 15:17</a> uses these words to encourage us to preach to the Gentiles “upon whom my name is [Amos says ‘has already been’] called”. The Name is called upon us by baptism; yet in prospect, in potential, the Name has already been called upon the whole world. But it is for us to go and convert them. This explains why Paul is spoken of as having been a convert before he actually was. James’ usage of this passage is an example of how the New Testament quotes several passages evidently prophetic of the future Kingdom as having their fulfillment in the preaching of the Gospel today. <a href='B:370 9:11-12'>Amo 9:11-12</a> had its fulfillment in the work of preaching to the Gentiles (<a href='B:510 15:13-18'>Act 15:13-18</a>; <a href='B:510 26:16-18'>Act 26:16-18</a>).</h4>


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<h4>See, the days come, says Yahweh, that the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him who sows seed- The idea is that the harvests would take so long to reap, that it would already be sowing time whilst the harvest was still ongoing. This idea is alluded to in John 4. The experience of preaching is in itself a foretaste of the future world-wide Kingdom. The harvest is both at the end of the age, according to the parables of Matthew 13, but also is ongoing right now (<a href='B:500 4:36'>Joh 4:36</a>) as we gather in the harvest of converts. The Lord in <a href='B:500 4:35-36'>Joh 4:35-36</a> took this figure far further, by saying that the harvest is such that the interval between sowing and harvesting is in some sense collapsed for those who engage in preaching. The reaper was already collecting his wages; the harvest was already there, even though it was four months away (<a href='B:500 4:35'>Joh 4:35</a>). This clearly alludes to the promises that in the Messianic Kingdom there would also be no interval between sowing and harvest, so abundant would be the harvest (<a href='B:30 26:5'>Lev 26:5</a>; <a href='B:370 9:13'>Amo 9:13</a>). And hence, we are impelled to spread the foretaste of the Kingdom world-wide by our witness right now.</h4><h4>And sweet wine will drip from the mountains, and flow from the hills- Vines were grown on terraces, and the grapes were seen as dripping wine directly from themselves.</h4>


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<p>I will bring My people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, and eat their fruit- Tragically, Israel and Judahdidn’t want to return from the lands of their captivity; many remained there, and those of Judah who did return were motivated by the hope of personal benefit, as Haggai and Malachi make clear, and soon descended into self-righteousness. So much Divine potential was wasted; the temple complex of Ezekiel 40-48 was a commandment to be obeyed, but the returned exiles didn’t obey it. As Haggai and Malachi record, they were smitten with drought and famine, rather than eating the fruit of their gardens. The Divine plan was therefore rescheduled and reapplied, as explained on :11. Our lives too waste so much potential; it must be so tragic for God, although He must therefore be the more pleased with we weak ones who at least say"Yes"to His plans rather than ignore them.</p>


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<h4>I will plant them in their land, and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them- As explained on :11,12, this entire prophecy could have come true at the restoration; but it didn’t, and so was reapplied to the coming of the Gentiles to believe in the Lord Jesus under the new covenant. It is questionable therefore whether these verses are to be read as requiring a literal returning of Jews to"their land". It certainly can’t apply to the return of Jewish people to Israel in the 20th century, because the descriptions of the latter day tribulation require Israel’s plucking up and brief latter day exile, when passages like <a href='B:50 28:68'>Deu 28:68</a> shall have to be fulfilled.</h4><h4>Says Yahweh your God- It is grace itself for Yahweh to still call Himself their God, when the context is of an Israel who had refused His word and multiple opportunities to repent. Always God remembers His longer term plan, which is of salvation.</h4>


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<h4>The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Lord Yahweh says about Edom- Edom, which is Esau Jacob’s brother (<a href='B:10 36:8'>Gen 36:8</a>), often joined in the attacks of others upon Judah and Jerusalem. Jeremiah’s prophecy against Edom seems to quote Obadiah’s (<a href='B:300 49:7-22'>Jer 49:7-22</a>). I say Jeremiah quotes Obadiah because Jeremiah is full of quotations of earlier prophecies against nations: against the Philistines (<a href='B:300 47:1-7'>Jer 47:1-7</a> = <a href='B:290 14:28-32'>Isa 14:28-32</a>), the Moabites (Jeremiah 48 = <a href='B:290 15:1-9'>Isa 15:1-9</a>; <a href='B:290 16:1-14'>Isa 16:1-14</a>), the Ammonites (<a href='B:300 49:1-6'>Jer 49:1-6</a> = <a href='B:370 1:13-15'>Amo 1:13-15</a>), Babylon (Jeremiah 50, 51 = <a href='B:290 13:1'>Isa 13:1</a> to <a href='B:290 14:23'>Isa 14:23</a>) and against Damascus (<a href='B:300 49:23-27'>Jer 49:23-27</a> = <a href='B:370 1:13-15'>Amo 1:13-15</a>). The style of Jeremiah’s prophecy against Edom is different to those passages where Jeremiah is giving his unique material. Israel and Judah are both in view in :10. The references to Jerusalem being taken do not have to refer to the Babylonian invasion, as Jerusalem was plundered several times before that; by the Egyptians (<a href='B:110 14:25-26'>1Ki 14:25-26</a>; <a href='B:140 12:2'>2Ch 12:2</a>), by the Arabians and Philistines in the time of Jehoram (<a href='B:140 21:16-17'>2Ch 21:16-17</a>); by Joash of Israel (<a href='B:120 14:13-14'>2Ki 14:13-14</a>; <a href='B:140 25:23-24'>2Ch 25:23-24</a>); by the Babylonians at the time of Jehoiakim (<a href='B:120 24:1'>2Ki 24:1</a>; <a href='B:140 36:6-7'>2Ch 36:6-7</a>). <a href='B:360 2:32'>Joe 2:32</a> quotes <a href='B:380 1:17'>Oba 1:17</a> ("as Yahweh has said"). So we can conclude that Obadiah was prophesying well before the final Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem and Judah. I suggest that Obadiah’s prophecy was originally given at the time of Jehoram, when the Edomites rebelled against Judah (<a href='B:120 8:22'>2Ki 8:22</a>; <a href='B:140 21:10'>2Ch 21:10</a>). They joined in with the Arabians and Philistines in sacking Jerusalem, and the Philistines gave the captives of Judah to the Edomites to abuse (<a href='B:370 1:6'>Amo 1:6</a>; <a href='B:370 1:9'>Amo 1:9</a>).</h4><p>When the Egyptians sacked Jerusalem (<a href='B:110 14:25-26'>1Ki 14:25-26</a>; <a href='B:140 12:2'>2Ch 12:2</a>), the Edomites joined in (<a href='B:360 3:19'>Joe 3:19</a>). They likewise assisted the Babylonians (<a href='B:230 137:7'>Psa 137:7</a>); and they would have been included within the general term"Arabians"who assisted the Philistines in destroying Jerusalem in the time of Jehoram (<a href='B:140 21:16-17'>2Ch 21:16-17</a>), and <a href='B:370 1:6'>Amo 1:6</a>; <a href='B:370 1:9'>Amo 1:9</a> speak of the Philistines and Edomites together abusing the captives of Judah.</p><p>We may wonder why the main perpetrators (Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, the Philistines) are not singled out for such condemnation; why do we have in Obadiah an entire prophecy against a minor player? In my early days of school teaching, I had to break up a fight between two boys behind the bicycle sheds. A ring of boys stood observing, but one boy was in the ring with the other two, full of blood lust, jumping up and down and inciting one of the fighters to grievously hurt the other, shouting abuse at that other fighter. My anger was particularly against that boy rather than the protagonists. And this then would be one of the major lessons from a minor prophet; that God likewise views the ancillaries to conflict as worthy of even more condemnation than the protagonists. And we need to think that through in the context of our own lives.</p><p>Further, Edom or Esau was singled out for such special condemnation because he was Jacob’s brother (:10). This was not the case for the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Philistines etc. Jacob and Esau were admittedly somewhat separated, and Jacob hadn’t been the best brother to Esau. But they were still brothers, and God expected much better of Esau / Edom than He did of the others. And here too we find a penetrating challenge. Our brethren whom we may view askance, from whom we may be separated by the way life has gone for us, are still our brothers. And we are judged very sensitively according to our attitudes toward them, especially in the time of their distress, however justified we may feel that distress to be.</p><p>We have heard news from Yahweh- It was the duty of prophets to share with others the"news"revealed to them from Yahweh. The"we"could refer to a school of the prophets centred around Obadiah. Or the"we"could refer to the Angels.</p><p>And an ambassador is sent among the nations- The Hebrew for"ambassador"is also translated"messenger", which is also what the Hebrew for"angel"means. So perhaps an Angel is in view, sent amongst the nations to stir them up to a battle which would result in the destruction of Edom.</p><h4>Saying, Arise, and let’s rise up against her in battle- The judgment of Edom was to result in the restoration of Israel’s Kingdom. This could have happened at various points in the history of Judah and Israel, but it didn’t, because Israel didn’t repent and the restoration was not conducted spiritually. The ultimate fulfilment of this prophecy, as of all prophecy, will be in the last days.</h4>


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<p>Behold, I have made you small among the nations. You are greatly despised- The past tense here must be compared with the present tense of :3 used about Edom’s pride at that time. It is therefore a prophetic perfect- God’s word, both of judgment and salvation blessing, is so certain of fulfilment that it can be spoken as having already happened. The parallel in <a href='B:300 49:15'>Jer 49:15</a> uses the future tense:"I will make you small among the nations". This is why there are passages which speak of the believer’s salvation as if it has already occurred, whereas at this point in human time we are still mortal. It was Israel / Jacob who were made small among the nations; Jacob was the"younger", s:w. ’smaller’, son compared to Esau (<a href='B:10 27:15'>Gen 27:15</a>; <a href='B:10 27:42'>Gen 27:42</a>). Esau / Edom was to receive the judgment of Jacob. This is a major theme of the Apocalypse, that Israel’s enemies suffer as she suffers; the seals of judgment upon Israel are in essence repeated in the vials of judgment upon the surrounding nations.</p>


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<h4>The pride of your heart has deceived you- It was their apparently awesome human strength which deceived Esau / Edom, according to the parallel in <a href='B:300 49:16'>Jer 49:16</a>. And in <a href='B:380 1:7'>Oba 1:7</a> it is the other nations in the confederacy against Israel who deceive Edom. They praised Edom’s strength, and Edom’s heart was thereby lifted up in pride. The problem with human strength is that it deceives; we thereby play God and become proud.</h4><p>You who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high- Pride is consistently given as the reason for the judgment of nations God is so sensitive to it, and so should we be. The allusion is to how the houses in Petra were carved out of caves in the rock. Edom is recorded as having expelled the Horites from the area where the Edomites settled, and ’Horite’ is literally ’a cave dweller’. The consistent message of the prophets is that human strength will not save ultimately, and is in fact an abomination to the God who loves humble trust in Him above all things.</p><h4>Who says in his heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’- The answer to that was"God"(:4).</h4>


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<h4>Though you mount on high as the eagle- The parallel <a href='B:300 49:22'>Jer 49:22</a> says that an eagle greater than them shall take them away from their mountain fortress.</h4><h4>And though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there, says Yahweh- This is similar language to the condemnation of Babylon in Isaiah 14, whose heart likewise was exalted to the stars. Edom thought that their physical height and unapproachable fortress in Petra (see on :3) guaranteed their safety. Just as a woman may think her bank balance or a man may consider his pedigree to be an invincible advantage in life. We need to come down from those heights in this life, rather than be brought down from them in the condemnation process. The bringing down of human pride and strength is a major theme of the latter day judgment of the nations around Israel; the word is used multiple times in the prophets (s:w. <a href='B:330 32:30'>Eze 32:30</a> <a href='B:440 2:22'>Hag 2:22</a>; <a href='B:450 10:11'>Zec 10:11</a>; <a href='B:450 11:2'>Zec 11:2</a> and often) as well as Israel herself (<a href='B:300 13:18'>Jer 13:18</a> and often). We either come down now, or then. And even the most modestly stationed person in life has some aspect to their lives which is their height of human strength.</h4>


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<h4>If thieves came to you, if robbers by night- The Lord’s second coming will indeed be as a thief in the night (<a href='B:590 5:2'>1Th 5:2</a>; <a href='B:680 3:10'>2Pe 3:10</a>), both to the world and to the unprepared amongst God’s people. Again we see that the final moment of all Bible prophecy is at the Lord’s return in the last day, the climax of prophecy.</h4><p>Oh, what disaster awaits you!- This seems to be Obadiah’s interjection, so fully does he personally believe the message he is preaching. Such interjections are common in the prophets. We too should feel the reality of the message of the Kingdom we preach; these things are really so, and shall absolutely come true.</p><h4>Wouldn’t they only steal until they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, wouldn’t they leave some gleaning grapes?- The implication of the argument is that a certain degree of theft or grape picking would have been acceptable with God. He recognized that Esau / Edom had a legitimate issue with Jacob, even though of course he should ideally have simply forgiven him. But God perceived that they had gone far beyond that. This is not to say that some degree of vengeance and sin is somehow OK with God, but beyond that invisible line, it is not. But on the other hand, God is used to judging human sin, and He does so with understanding, as the only true judge, taking into account all background factors which led to the sinful behaviour.</h4>


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<p>How are the men of Esau searched out! How are his hidden things searched through!- As noted on :2, the past tense is used of events yet future. The picture is of the attackers searching through the hidden things of Edom in search of booty, stripping the bodies of the slain men of Esau. As all the things and men of Jacob were searched (<a href='B:10 31:35'>Gen 31:35</a> s:w:), and as latter day Jacob must be likewise searched (<a href='B:430 1:12'>Zep 1:12</a> s:w:), so Esau must experience what Jacob went through. Perhaps this is why"Esau"is used here rather than"Edom". Despite the strong language of total condemnation, perhaps the idea is that Esau / Edom will come to understand the experiences of his brother Jacob, and eternally reconcile in the Kingdom age. The"hidden things"may refer to the secret sins of Esau (as Jacob’s hidden sins are to be searched out, s:w. <a href='B:350 13:12'>Hos 13:12</a>). And those hidden sins were his hatred of his brother. This is the central pivot of the prophecy- that Esau / Edom had hated his brother (:10).</p>


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<h4>All the men of your alliance have brought you on your way, even to the border- The idea is as in GNB"Your allies have deceived you; they have driven you from your country". It is hard to discern a major historical fulfilment of this; Edom is to be part of a wider alliance against Jacob / Israel, which then turns upon her and destroys her by deceit. But we can see it coming true in the last days, where so many Bible prophecies suggest that Israel’s invaders will destroy themselves, the ten horns will hate the whore. The"alliance"is that of the ten nations around Israel who make a covenant or alliance to destroy her (<a href='B:230 83:5'>Psa 83:5</a> s:w:). That sounds exactly like the Palestinian Covenant and other such documents which are the founding principles of the jihadist enemies of Israel in our days.</h4><h4>The men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you. Friends who eat your bread lay a snare under you. There is no understanding in him- Eating bread together was a religious act, and"peace"is the characteristic appeal of Islam, a word which can mean both ’submission’ and is also related to salam, peace; by peace the latter day entity of abuse shall destroy many (<a href='B:340 8:25'>Dan 8:25</a>; <a href='B:590 5:3'>1Th 5:3</a>).</h4>


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<p>Won’t I in that day, says Yahweh, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mountain of Esau?- The one time apparent friends of Esau have no understanding (:7) and neither does Esau. Understanding here is presented as the antithesis to pride and human strength. The true understanding is the humility that knows that human strength is nothing and indeed is an abomination to God. As Judah were destroyed (:12 s:w:) so was Edom to be. The destruction of understanding and human wisdom (see the parallel in <a href='B:300 49:7'>Jer 49:7</a>) happens in"that day". In a moment, men will realize that their entire worldview, what seemed to them wise and sensible and logical, has come crashing down. They were wrong, and it will be too late to learn wisdom. Now is the time to do so.</p>


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<p>Your mighty men, Teman, will be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter- The reference may be to the mountain in the sense of the nation, but probably specifically to Petra, their mountain fortress which they considered so invincible (see on :3). The"mighty men"may not simply be warriors; the parallel <a href='B:300 49:22'>Jer 49:22</a> implies that the heart of those might men will suddenly become like that of a woman hit by labour pains. As noted on :8, the entire worldview and value system of the world will in a sudden moment come crashing down. They will be left only with utter dismay and desperation."Dismay"is a word often used in the prophets of the result of Divine judgment; the idea is of mental shock and desperation."Slaughter"is the same word as"violence"in :10- hamas, a word often used by jihadism in teaching violence against Israel. What they do and have done to Jacob shall be done to them. We noted on :1 that Edom were never the main aggressors but the ancillaries; yet they are singled out for such judgment because they did this against their brother. The Arabs are Israel’s brothers; and this is felt and noted by God and factored in to His final judgment of Arab jihadism against Israel.</p>


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<p>For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever- This verse in terms of structure stands at the centre of the prophecy. This is the fundamental lesson; that Esau hated his brother, even though his brother had sinned against him and God recognized his legitimate feelings of anger (see on :5). And such hatred of our brother leads to eternal condemnation. Eternal"shame"is the language of rejection at the final judgment."Violence"translates hamas, the name of a terror organization currently fighting against Israel; and the use of hamas against Jews is one of the dogmas of jihadism. We can see how the latter day fulfilment of these words is already upon us. The eretz / land promised to Abraham is to be filled with this hamas before the Lord’s judgments come as the flood did to destroy all such violent people (s:w. <a href='B:10 6:11'>Gen 6:11</a>; <a href='B:10 6:13'>Gen 6:13</a>). The word is also used of the hamas done by Hagar against the seed of Abraham (<a href='B:10 16:5'>Gen 16:5</a>).</p>


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<h4>In the day that you stood on the other side- As noted on :1, it was Esau’s refusal to help Jacob during his time of trouble, both historically and particularly in the last days, which leads to this severe judgment. And so we have another major message from a minor prophet; doing nothing, looking on, is indeed seen as passive aggression by God and judged accordingly. Standing and doing nothing during the various desolations of Jerusalem listed on :1 made Edom"as one of them".</h4><p>In the day that strangers carried away his substance- This is the same word used in :13 of how Edom carried away Jacob’s substance. It could be that the allusions are to the various times when Jerusalem was invaded (see on :); sometimes Edom just did nothing to help, other times they joined in. Or the idea could be that by passively doing nothing they were indeed"like one of them". This is the serious weight of sins of omission, doing nothing when another is in need. You did not make the homeless person be on the street; but by not responding, you are responsible for their plight. The historical reference would have been to Edom supporting the Philistines when they ransacked Jerusalem and took captives (<a href='B:370 1:6'>Amo 1:6</a>; <a href='B:370 1:9'>Amo 1:9</a>).</p><h4>And foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were like one of them- The writer of Psalms 137, sitting angry and frustrated by a Babylonian riverside, with his guitar hanging on a willow branch, being jeered (“tormented” <a href='B:230 137:3'>Psa 137:3</a> RVmg:)&nbsp; by the victorious Babylonian soldiers who had led him away captive… he felt so angry with them. Especially when they tried to make him sing one of the temple songs (“sing us one of the songs of Zion”). And, as a bitter man does, his mind went from one hurt to another. He remembered how when Babylon had invaded, the Edomites hadn’t helped their Hebrew brethren (<a href='B:380 1:11-12'>Oba 1:11-12</a>). They had egged on the Babylonian soldiers in ripping down the temple, shouting [in a chorus?] “Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation”; see my comment on :1 about the boy who eggs on another boy in a school yard fight. And so in anger and bitterness this Jew prays with tears, as he remembered Zion, “O daughter of Babylon… happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the rock” (:8,9 RV). God read those angry words as a prayer, and in some sense they will have their fulfilment, in the judgment not only of Babylon but of Edom in the last days:&nbsp;For these words are picked up in <a href='B:730 18:8'>Rev 18:8</a>; <a href='B:730 18:21'>Rev 18:21</a> and applied to what will finally happen to Babylon. Her spiritual children such as Edom will be dashed against the rock of Christ, the stone of <a href='B:340 2:44'>Dan 2:44</a>, at His return. He will dash in pieces the Babylon-led people that oppose Him.</h4>


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<h4>But don’t look down on your brother in the day of his disaster- The time of Jacob’s trouble has particular reference to the last days (<a href='B:340 12:1'>Dan 12:1</a>; <a href='B:300 30:7'>Jer 30:7</a>). Edom are being urged not to act as they have done historically. And the challenge comes to us to not despise sinners when they are undergoing judgment for their sins, lest we be treated like them. Only by recognizing our own sinfulness will we be saved from doing this.</h4><p>And don’t rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction- Rejoicing over the downfall of anyone is sin; for we all deserve to fall and to take the consequence of our sin as they are doing. The fact Esau mocked Jacob as he skulked off to Padan Aram is picked up in <a href='B:380 1:12'>Oba 1:12</a> as a ground for Esau’s condemnation; and yet, humanly, Jacob was at that time by far the bigger and more responsible sinner. A bit of mocking from Esau was, from a human standpoint, a mild response. But he is here condemned for such an attitude. The future tense of this verse suggests that in the last days Edom / Esau is to be tempted to again treat Jacob / Israel in the same way as they did during previous invasions of Judah. To break with history and culture is indeed hard, even when that history is wrong and abusive. But this is an appeal for repentance on Edom’s part.</p><h4>Don’t speak proudly in the day of distress- This has particular reference to the latter day time of Jacob’s trouble (s:w."distress"; <a href='B:300 30:7'>Jer 30:7</a>; <a href='B:340 12:1'>Dan 12:1</a>).</h4>


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<h4>Don’t enter into the gate of My people in the day of their calamity- Again, this has particular reference to the latter day time of Jacob’s trouble (s:w."distress"; <a href='B:300 30:7'>Jer 30:7</a>; <a href='B:340 12:1'>Dan 12:1</a>). The AV renders these verses as rebuke of Esau for having done these things. The ambiguity in the tenses reflects God’s awareness that latter day Esau will be tempted to act toward Jacob as they have done historically. And the appeal is to break with the pattern of past behaviour and instead live by grace, motivated by n awareness of our own sin and desert of judgment. Entering into the gate of a person was an idiom used of intercourse, and in this context, of rape. This was what Edom were judged as having done, even though they were the lesser players in the drama, and simply jumping onside with the far larger powers who had invaded Judah. But this is how God saw it.</h4><p>Don’t look down on their affliction in the day of their calamity- For all the major acts of abuse listed here, looking down in pride upon a suffering sinner was especially noteworthy to God. This is just as bad as rape and theft.</p><h4>Neither seize their wealth on the day of their calamity- Again,"the day"has particular reference to the latter day time of Jacob’s trouble (s:w."distress"; <a href='B:300 30:7'>Jer 30:7</a>; <a href='B:340 12:1'>Dan 12:1</a>). I noted on :11 that standing doing nothing positive to assist may be counted here as if Edom did in fact seize Judah’s wealth. But it may also be a simple, plain statement as to what they did.</h4>


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<h4>Don’t stand in the crossroads to cut off those of his who escape- This presumably refers to a particular point on the route southwards to Egypt which ran through Edomite territory. The Jewish refugees were"cut off"by Edom; in line with the second half of the verse, this need not refer to murdering them, but to blocking their route, just as had happened when Israel came up out of Egypt to Canaan. By doing so they were effectively cutting them off in death, because the attackers would therefore catch up with them and slay them. Again and again we see that the collateral damage of apparently lesser actions is weighed carefully by God. And this is the huge takeaway lesson for our lives.</h4><h4>Don’t deliver up those of his who remain in the day of distress- It could be that some Jews fled to Edom for safety, throwing themselves upon their brother- but Edom delivered them up to their attackers.</h4>


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<h4>For the day of Yahweh is nearly upon all the nations!- The proximity of judgment day ought to stand for every generation as a reason for repentance. The preceding verses have been an appeal for Esau to act out of character with his historical pattern; and that is the essence of every human repentance. Edom was to be punished along with"all the nations", a term often used about all the nations around Israel. This never clearly happened historically, but looks ahead therefore to the latter day situation. The Nabatean conquest of Petra from the Edomites doesn’t fit Edom perishing along with"all nations".</h4><h4>As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head- I have noted several times already on Obadiah that Esau was to be taught Jacob’s experiences; not simply for the sake of a ’measure for measure’ punishment, but in order that they would perceive the meaning of what they had done, and repent.</h4>


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<h4>For as you have drunk on My holy mountain- Drinking is often used in a religious sense. They had blasphemed the temple mount; but the cup of wine they drunk there was effectively a drinking of condemnation to themselves.</h4><h4>So will all the nations drink continually. Yes, they will drink, swallow down, and will be as though they had not been- The cup of Divine judgment would cause their eternal death. This is the ultimate condemnation, rather than eternal, conscious torture. Again we note that Edom is to be destroyed at the same time as"all the nations"around Israel. This must have specific reference to the last days, as such a scenario hasn’t happened historically. And God’s word will always essentially and ultimately come true.</h4>


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<h4>But in Mount Zion, there will be those who escape, and it will be holy- This appears to have specific reference to the last days. In the very place where Israel’s God is mocked and blasphemed by the conquerors of Zion (:16), there will also be a remnant who escape (<a href='B:360 2:32'>Joe 2:32</a>; <a href='B:290 59:20'>Isa 59:20</a>). That remnant may refer to a remnant of Edom as well as Israel (<a href='B:290 4:2'>Isa 4:2</a>); the referent is purposefully ambiguous, because it is God’s plan to save individuals from Edom as well as Israel. Although the temple mount will have been desecrated (:16), it will suddenly be made holy (<a href='B:360 3:17'>Joe 3:17</a>). The reference is surely to the literal return of the LordJesus to Zion, to save the repentant remnant and judge their abusers.</h4><h4>The house of Jacob will possess their inheritances-"Jerusalem"is literally"possession of peace". The plural"inheritances"may refer to their one great inheritance, as an intensive plural- i:e. Jerusalem and Mount Zion. This area is already a major issue in Jewish-Arab relations, and possessing it is the goal of jihadism.</h4>


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<h4>The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame- As required by the new covenant and the prophecy of the sticks becoming one in Zechariah, the two houses of Israel, Judah and Israel, will unite as one (<a href='B:300 3:18'>Jer 3:18</a>). Entry of the new covenant will make them one who are part of it, as it does now. For disunity between believers is a denial of covenant relationship.</h4><p>And the house of Esau for stubble- As will all the opposing nations be burnt as stubble at the return of the Lord Jesus (<a href='B:460 4:1'>Mal 4:1</a>).</p><h4>They will burn among them and consume them. There will not be anyone remaining to the house of Esau. Truly Yahweh has spoken- The judgment upon Edom which we have in Obadiah raises questions regarding Isaac’s blessing of Jacob and Esau; for <a href='B:10 27:40'>Gen 27:40</a> promises that ultimately, Esau would break off the yoke of Jacob and also come to blessing. But this isn’t really what the prophecy of Obadiah sounds like. Perhaps Jacob’s words were only true of Esau personally and not his seed. Or maybe we are to conclude that Isaac’s blessings&nbsp; were nothing more than his ramblings, and were not the Abrahamic blessing. And so all the angst of Jacob and Esau about getting that human blessing was totally misplaced; Isaac’s words and blessing had no ultimate power in the long term. And that is true of all the secular blessings we might seek, when the Abrahamic blessing ought to be all we are interested in.</h4>


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<p>Those of the South will possess the mountain of Esau, and those of the lowland, the Philistines. They will possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria. Benjamin will possess Gilead- The"possessions"of :17 within the eretz will be finally and eternally possessed by the latter day repentant remnant of Israel. As they were sold into those areas to be abused by the historical Edomites and Philistine / Palestinians (<a href='B:370 1:6'>Amo 1:6</a>; <a href='B:370 1:9'>Amo 1:9</a>), so they will again; but they will rise up at the Lord’s return and possess those areas.</p>


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<p>The captives of this army of the children of Israel, who are among the Canaanites, will possess even to Zarephath; and the captives of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, will possess the cities of the Negev- The historical reference is to how when the Philistines [Canaan-dwellers] sacked Jerusalem, they sold the captives of Jerusalem to the Edomites to abuse (<a href='B:370 1:6'>Amo 1:6</a>; <a href='B:370 1:9'>Amo 1:9</a>). There could have been a restoration and Messianic kingdom even then; but Judah didn’t repent, and so the possibility was reapplied and rescheduled to the last days. The captive remnant of Israeli Jews, under abuse by latter day Edom and the Philistines / Palestinians, will repent and possess the eretz as God originally intended. Jerome says the name Sepharad in Assyrian means a boundary- i:e:, ’the Jews scattered in all boundaries and regions’.</p>


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<p>Saviours will come up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will be Yahweh’s- As the latter day Edomites and others desecrate the temple mount, perhaps by briefly building a physical structure there (:16), the Lord Jesus will return, Yah’s salvation, Yehoshua. He and those in Him, the repentant Jewish remnant who now identify with and in Him (:17), will appear there and judge Esau. And the kingdom of Yahweh will be eternally established upon earth, the scene of <a href='B:290 24:23'>Isa 24:23</a>.</p>


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<h4>Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying-"Jonah"means ’dove’, and we recall the dove going out from the ark, not finding rest,returning, and then going out again to find rest away from her original sanctuary in the ark, after judgment had been poured out upon the eretz or land promised to Abraham (<a href='B:10 8:8-9'>Gen 8:8-9</a>). This speaks of Jonah’s two journeys to Nineveh; the first unfruitful, and the second fruitful. And again, water is a strong feature of the narrative, as it was in that of the flood. The dove like Jonah was saved from the water by grace.</h4><h4>"Amittai"means ’truth’ or possibly even suggests ’the truth of Yahweh’. The final truth of the prophetic word is grace and not judgment, which is what Jonah was brought to learn. The narrative addresses the elitism which had crept into Israel, especially at the time of the restoration from Babylon. Although the book describes an event before then, at a time before Nineveh was overthrown, it was perhaps published, as it were, at that time.</h4>


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<h4>Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city- Quoting <a href='B:10 10:12'>Gen 10:12</a> about Nineveh. The archeological excavations have found an area of about 25 square kilometers all surrounded by a mighty wall. It took three days to go into the city (<a href='B:390 3:3'>Jon 3:3</a>).</h4><p>And preach against it- The idea is, to its face. Face to face contact is always the most effective way of witnessing, although we live in a world of social media and communication which tempts us to avoid doing this.</p><h4>For their wickedness has come up before Me- There is no specific call to repentance. But Jonah ought to have deduced that he was not called to merely inform them that they were wicked and that God had noticed. Rather the idea was that because God had noticed and was therefore going to respond in judgment, they ought to do something- repent. The language is that used about how the wickedness of Sodom and the world before the flood came up before God (<a href='B:10 6:5'>Gen 6:5</a>; <a href='B:10 18:21'>Gen 18:21</a>). Jonah passed through water, which he describes as a flood (<a href='B:390 2:3'>Jon 2:3</a>). He is presented therefore as having carried and experienced their judgment. He experienced ’death’ by a flood, just as Noah’s world did; and this was the experience which in essence was going to come upon Nineveh, seeing their wickedness had come before God as that of Noah’s world had done. This depends the sense in which Jonah was a type of the Lord Jesus; He represented us, tasting death for every man, dying the death of the cross, the death of the criminal, the sinner. And yet after three days and nights, was resurrected from it.</h4>


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<h4>But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish- The idea is, a place far from the eretz promised to Abraham, beyond its borders. But if a boat of those times could sail on a single voyage from Joppa to Tarshish, we can be sure that"Tarshish"has no reference to Britain. And there is no evidence that Palestine traded with Britain at that time or even knew it existed. Wherever it was, it was accessible by one voyage from Joppa. If it refers to the ancient city of Tartessus in Spain, then this was in precisely the opposite direction of Nineveh. In <a href='B:390 4:2'>Jon 4:2</a> Jonah states that he fled because he suspected that Yahweh would relent of His purpose to destroy Nineveh. He therefore represents the unspoken xenophobia which developed within Hebrew thinking after the restoration, a hypocritical dislike of Gentiles and assumption that ethnic Israel were the only people of God. We too can preach without any actual desire for the repentance of our audience, the exercise can often be a stroking of our own egos, in the name of ’witness’, rather than a desire that some will actually respond.</h4><h4>From the presence of Yahweh- Jonah knew the theory from the well known <a href='B:230 139:7'>Psa 139:7</a>:"Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, and whither shall I flee from thy presence?". But we can know Bible texts well, and yet act in a completely opposite way; see on :9. Perhaps he still laboured under the idea that God’s presence was only in the eretz promised to Abraham, and he thought that by leaving that he could thereby flee from relationship with God. The place where Yahweh was revealed was understood as the face or presence of God (<a href='B:10 4:4'>Gen 4:4</a>; <a href='B:10 32:30'>Gen 32:30</a>). Or possibly the allusion is to how God’s prophetic servants stood before His face / presence, and he thought that by leaving the eretz he could resign from relationship with God and the call to propheticservice. But we cannot resign from God and our standing before Him. Judah had indeed been cast out from the presence of Yahweh (<a href='B:120 24:20'>2Ki 24:20</a>; <a href='B:300 23:39'>Jer 23:39</a>; <a href='B:300 52:3'>Jer 52:3</a>), but Jonah was to learn that even when ’dead’ in the seas of the Gentiles, he was not out of that presence ultimately. And this was the lesson for all Israel and Judah in their dispersion.</h4><p>To stand in the presence of someone is often used in the sense of acting as one’s official minister (<a href='B:10 41:46'>Gen 41:46</a>; <a href='B:50 1:38'>Deu 1:38</a>; <a href='B:50 10:8'>Deu 10:8</a>; <a href='B:90 16:21'>1Sa 16:21</a> f:; <a href='B:110 17:1'>1Ki 17:1</a>; <a href='B:110 18:15'>1Ki 18:15</a>; <a href='B:120 3:14'>2Ki 3:14</a>, etc:) To flee from His presence was therefore"to refuse to serve Him in this office” (Theodore Laetsch, The Minor Prophets (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1956), p. 222). But there is no way we can resign from our calling to be witnesses. We are now with the Lord, and we cannot just resign from His purpose and calling. Jonah intended to flee to Tarshish, the very end of the known world; going the very opposite direction to Nineveh. And we too need to be impressed by the reality of the fact that we can never resign from the Father and Son; we are in their grip. We cannot just ‘pass’ on the piercing issues of commitment day by day.</p><h4>He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going down to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, in order to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh- We notice the triple emphasis upon his ’going down’, away from God. The term is used again in :5. See on <a href='B:390 2:6'>Jon 2:6</a>.</h4>


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<p>But Yahweh sent out a great wind on the sea and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up- &nbsp;God created a great wind, perhaps through an Angel being sent out (<a href='B:230 104:4'>Psa 104:4</a>) with which He brought Jonah and his fellows to their knees. God later creates another great wind with which to teach Jonah something else (<a href='B:390 4:8'>Jon 4:8</a>). Jonah ought to have perceived the same hand of the same God at work with him. Divine work and control of creation is quite a theme in Jonah- the wind, the great fish, the vine / gourd, the tiny maggot which ate it, and prepares the way for the conclusion at the end of the book, that God cares for animals too (<a href='B:390 4:11'>Jon 4:11</a>). The extent and scope of Divine involvement in our world was something Jonah as well as Israel in captivity needed to learn. He was not only involved with the Israelite people on the territory of their land, but with all men worldwide, and even with vegetation and animals great and small. Jonah surely knew all this from the Psalms, but as noted on :3 he acted contrary to the basic Bible verses he knew and sung. This is our problem too; the implications of just one verse of the Bible or a Bible-based hymn can turn our worldview right around, if we let them.</p>


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<h4>Then the sailors were afraid, and every man cried to his god- The implication was that Jonah was amongst Gentiles (see on :9), the very people he despised as unworthy of his witness. But through the whole incident of the storm, he was made to realize that he was to witness to Gentiles, indeed he had to. And this failure, like ours, prepared him for his greater witness to Gentile Nineveh.</h4><p>They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the ship- Circumstances repeat within the experience of God’s servants; repeating examples of Biblical characters, and also those of God’s children known and contemporary to us. It is the same Divine hand at work. Paul during his shipwreck experienced something similar, <a href='B:510 27:18-19'>Act 27:18-19</a> being very similar to the LXX here in Jonah; and again, it was a suffering en route to make a witness to the Gentiles. Paul would have been encouraged to go forward, insofar as he perceived the similarities with Jonah. We need to keep asking ourselves what Bible character has trodden our path before us, that through the comfort of the scriptures we might have hope, even if we cannot attach exact meaning to event in this life.</p><p>But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship-&nbsp; We noticed the triple emphasis upon his ’going down’ in :3, away from God. And now he goes even deeper down, and he will go even deeper, taken to the depths of the ocean by the fish. He ought to have come to repentance there, but it appears he didn’t; and so Jonah had o go into the great fish and be up hard against its rib cage, a grander form of the sides of the ship. At least later, he would have perceived the similarities. Our tribulations often repeat, that we might learn the lessons we ought to have previously learnt from similar but less extreme situations.</p><h4>And he was laying down, deeply asleep- Surely he wasn’t asleep, but was giving that impression. Here we have one of many examples of where the Bible records things from the viewpoint of how they appeared to men, even if that appearance was incorrect. The language of demons is another example. We think of the Lord Jesus likewise asleep during a storm; and see how Jonah was being set up as a type of Messiah.</h4>


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<p>So the captain came to him and said to him, What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Maybe your God will look to us so that we won’t perish- Jonah was the only one who didn’t apparently pray to his God, even though he is presented as the only one on board who had a relationship with the true God. He would have reflected that despite this, he had not used that relationship as he might have done, in order to save both himself and Gentiles. The Gentiles were more zealous for their gods than Jonah was. The captain himself made the effort to come down to Jonah to ask him to pray. Perhaps Jonah thought that Yahweh was only approachable from within the eretz promised to Abraham, and stubbornly refused to entertain the possibility that God could be prayed to from anywhere. This was a lesson which the captives in Babylon and Assyria had to learn, and so the book of Jonah addresses that question. Or maybe Jonah had given up with a God of so much grace. We note that "Your God" is ha Elohim, as if to imply that the captain was driven to the suspicion that there was only one true God, the God; and it was the God of Israel, the God of this rebellious Hebrew passenger. As with Jonah, God worked with those pagans to elicit from them a true recognition of Himself.</p>


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<p>They all said to each other, Come, let’s cast lots, that we may know who is responsible for this evil that is on us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah- Jonah had the opportunity to repent in front of them all; but he doesn’t. So the lot fell upon Jonah to elicit repentance from him. We too could avoid so many problems, for ourselves and others, if we repented earlier, rather than circumstance arising which forces us to public repentance.</p>


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<p>Then they asked him, Tell us, please, for whose cause this evil is on us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? Of what people are you?- This was to elicit from Jonah a statement of his own biography, which was used by God to elicit true repentance. It is no bad thing for us all to mentally prepare such a biography, that we might realize who we are before God.</p>


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<h4>He said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear Yahweh the God of heaven- "Hebrew" was a term always used either by or to foreigners. Again we are given the impression that he was on a Gentile ship; see on :5. The implication could be that he feared Yahweh’s judgment. For in :10 we read that Jonah told them that he was fleeing from Yahweh’s call. So he could hardly claim that he was truly fearing Yahweh when he had been so disobedient to Him.</h4><h4>Who has made the sea and the dry land- The Gentiles thought there were separate gods of the sea and of the dry land. Jonah in his extremity is brought to realize and teach that Yahweh is the only true God, God of both sea and dry land. But he had fled from the presence of Yahweh, thinking that Yahweh was only really active and present in the land of Israel. Now he was being driven to realize that God was also the God of the sea, symbolic as it clearly is in scripture of the Gentile nations. Jonah came to this realization quite naturally; we marvel at the way God taught him so much so quickly, or rather, brought Jonah to realize the truth in reality of that which he theoretically knew. See on :3.</h4>


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<h4>Then were the men extremely afraid and said to him, What is this that you have done?- This can be read not as a question, but an exclamation: "What ever have you done!". They realized the extreme sinfulness of what Jonah had done, more than he did. The wind and waves all around them were clearly sent from God, and were witness enough to the seriousness of the sin of denying others salvation. We must ask whether implicitly or explicitly we have done the same. For it is a serious matter. Who can be baptized or fellowshipped is a question we must ask ourselves; and it’s no good assuming that we are innocent of our part in barring others from these things just because we are mere members of a church or group who does this.</h4><h4>For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yahweh, because he had told them- He may have done so whilst explaining to them why he feared God’s judgment upon him (:9). Or perhaps he had earlier jokingly but in truth told them that he was a prophet of Yahweh who was running away from Him, seeing Jonah considered that He only operated in the land of Israel. And now they were all being taught how wrong that was.</h4>


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<p>Then they said to him, What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us? For the sea grew more and more stormy- They realized that their salvation depended upon Jonah; note the contrast between "you" and "us". This was to set Jonah up to appreciate that he and his mission really could be usedby God to save Gentiles. It was clear that destruction was imminent and not a moment could be wasted, or else that destruction was going to take away the lives of the sailors unless Jonah was proactive. This was to prepare Jonah for his work with Nineveh; in a sense, their salvation depended upon him being proactive.</p>


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<h4>He said to them, Take me up- The Hebrew means ‘to lift up’ in the sense of exaltation; the very idea used by the Lord to describe His exaltation and ‘lifting up’ on the cross. The language of Jonah suffering in the fish and drowning in “great waters” is full of allusions to Messianic Psalms which point forward to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus- and His saving out of it in resurrection.</h4><h4>And throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you; for I know that because of me this great storm is on you- Jonah reasoned that Yahweh sought to kill him in judgment, and he didn’t see the point in the Gentiles perishing along with him. This was a natural conclusion on his part; he was being brought to the position where he did in fact care whether Gentiles perished or not. God’s patient efforts to educate Jonah were amazing; and He tries likewise with us, working through our failures to teach the lessons. Jonah recognizes that his judgment is just; being drowned in the sea of nations but miraculously preserved by grace makes Jonah a representative of sinful Israel, who would finally accept the justice of their punishments (<a href='B:30 26:41'>Lev 26:41</a>; <a href='B:30 26:43'>Lev 26:43</a>). And yet at the same time, Jonah is clearly typical of the Lord Jesus, who died so that a great company of Gentiles might be saved (<a href='B:500 11:50'>Joh 11:50</a>). The Lord’s death was if He was drowning in the stormy sea (<a href='B:230 69:1-2'>Psa 69:1-2</a>). His three days in the grave was clearly represented by Jonah’s time inside the fish. The Lord represented sinful Israel, and yet at the same time, His death brought both them and the Gentiles to salvation. Jonah opens up to us the real import of the Lord’s representative sacrifice, dying as the representative of God’s sinful people, and yet thereby their saviour.</h4>


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<h4>Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get them back to the land- Literally, they ’broke through’, i:e. the waves. Jonah would have later reflected on their humanity, not wishing for one Hebrew to perish. This is in stark contrast to his indifference as to the perishing of multiple thousands of Gentiles, and the book of Jonah concludes by recording Jonah being rebuked for this. And who wrote the book of Jonah? Presumably, Jonah himself, under Divine inspiration. The way he concludes it is therefore his own recognition of how his inhumanity and indifference was worse than that of the Gentiles whom he had so despised. The book is really his own confession of utter guilt, having come to repentance and marvel at God’s grace by the time he wrote it.</h4><h4>But they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them- The men deeply believed Jonah’s story, and were driven by his suggestion to pray to Yahweh (:14). "Tempestuous" implies a whirlwind, of the type associated with the cherubim in Ezekiel’s visions. Jonah and the sailors were really witnessing a theophany, so powerful that they could only be saved from it by accepting Yahweh as God and [in Jonah’s case] repenting.</h4>


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<h4>Therefore they cried to Yahweh and said, We beg you Yahweh, we beg you, don’t let us die for the sake of this man’s life, and don’t lay on us innocent blood; for you, Yahweh, have done as it pleased You- As Jonah heard these Gentiles praying to Yahweh rather than their own gods, he must have realized that his failure had led them to Yahweh; and that Gentiles were quite capable of turning away from their gods to whom they had fruitlessly been praying just a short time before.</h4><h4>When Jonah heard the men of Nineveh praying that they ‘might not perish’, he should’ve thought back to how the men in the boat to Tarshish prayed the very same words. The men in the shipprayed earnestly that they ‘might not perish’, both in the storm and for the sake of Jonah’s life (1:6,14). The men of Nineveh prayed to God that they too ‘might not perish’ (<a href='B:390 3:9'>Jon 3:9</a>)- the record uses the same Hebrew word in both cases. Jonah should’ve learnt his lesson; the men in the ship didn’t perish because of his self-sacrifice- and the implication could be that they turned to Israel’s God as a result of the whole dreadful experience. And Jonah’s self-sacrifical preaching, just as painful for him as voluntarily suggesting he be thrown to his death, was eliciting in Jonah the same response from those he was preaching to. But he couldn’t maintain the intensity of the self-sacrificial life of witness; he gave up and got angry that they were responding, and, it seems, stopped preaching once he had entered into the city and the response had started. Take another lesson from this; we would likely have been inspired to continue preaching by such a good response. But for Jonah, the response was what discouraged him. What is encouraging for one in the work of witness is a great discouragement for another.</h4>


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<p>So they took up Jonah, and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased its raging- This continues the similarity with the Lord asleep in the storm and then the storm suddenly ending (<a href='B:490 8:24'>Luk 8:24</a>), confirming Jonah as a type of the Lord Jesus, even in his rebellion. The sea "stood still" (Heb:), recalling the miracle at the Red Sea. The Gentile sailors were bidden realize that they too could participate in such a great deliverance, through identity with the people of God.</p>


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<p>Then the men feared Yahweh exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to Yahweh and made vows- They sacrificed and animal whilst onboard, and made vows which would have been fulfilled when they got to land. Those vows were surely to accept Yahweh as their God. Perhaps as Jonah hit the waters and the storm ceased, the last thing he heard in the sudden silence was their vowing to make Yahweh their God. And this was why from within the fish he also made vows and promised that he would keep them and also offer sacrifice when back on dry land (<a href='B:390 2:9'>Jon 2:9</a>).</p>


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<h4>Yahweh prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah- As noted on :4, this continues the theme of God being actively at work not just with Israelites outside the land of Israel, not just with Gentiles, but also with animals, the natural creation and vegetation like the vine / gourd.</h4><p>And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights- The Lord quoted this as being typical of His time in the grave (see on <a href='B:470 12:40'>Mat 12:40</a>). Likewise we have noted that Jonah’s being asleep in the boat and then the storm ceasing was also typical of the Lord. But Jonah made no active effort in these matters; the events happened to him. Just as he brought Gentiles to believe in Yahweh and worked to save them (:12) without making any conscious effort. All this was to show him God’s grace; he was saved and used by grace, and this was intended to prepare him for the next stage of his life, which was the journey to Nineveh in order to offer them God’s grace based upon his own experience of that grace. We can also see phases in our own lives, for which we are educated by experience through our previous failures.</p><p>As Jonah was three days in the fish and then came up out of it to preach to the Gentiles, so the Lord would be three days in the grave and then would rise- as a sign to the Jews. But how was His resurrection a sign to them, seeing they never saw His risen body? Yet the Lord’s reasoning demands that His resurrection be a sign to them, just as tangible as the re-appearance of the drowned Jonah. But, the Jews never saw Him after the resurrection:::? The resolution must be that in the preaching of the risen Jesus by those in Him, it was as if the Jews saw Him, risen and standing as a sign before them, every bit as real as the Jonah who emerged from the fish after three days.</p><p>Matthew’s Gospel, which refers to this as a type of the Lord’s time in the grave, doesn’t seem to teach a literal 72 hours for Jesus in the grave. But a ‘day’ can mean ‘part of a day’- as in <a href='B:110 20:29'>1Ki 20:29</a>; <a href='B:190 4:16'>Est 4:16</a> to <a href='B:190 5:1'>Est 5:1</a>. The term is surely used to highlight the connection withJonah’s experience.</p>


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<p>Then Jonah prayed to Yahweh his God out of the great fish’s belly- Did Jonah die? It could be argued that he was cast into the sea, drowned, and his body went to the bottom of the sea. But there, he was swallowed by the "great fish", and revived within the fish’s belly. And from there he prayed to God, reflecting upon his death experience. This would then heighten the connection with the Lord’s death and resurrection. To pray to God on reviving inside the fish was surely natural and inevitable for any man. But as noted on Jonah 1, Jonah was led almost involuntarily to realize the error of his previous positions. He could pray to God from outside the land / eretz promised to Abraham, and far from the temple or any organized religious apparatus.</p>


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<h4>He said, I called because of my affliction to Yahweh and He answered me- "Affliction" translates the same word used of Israel’s afflictions for disobedience (<a href='B:50 31:17'>Deu 31:17</a>; <a href='B:160 9:27'>Neh 9:27</a>; <a href='B:290 37:3'>Isa 37:3</a>) and the time of Jacob’s trouble (<a href='B:10 35:3'>Gen 35:3</a>); Jonah was the representative of sinful Israel, bearing their punishment at the same time as he represented the sinless Lord Jesus in His time of dying. In this sense, the Lord Jesus was afflicted in all their affliction / condemnation for sin (<a href='B:290 63:9'>Isa 63:9</a> s:w:). Here we have profound insight into the representative nature of the Lord’s death; He died sinless, and yet intensely identified with the sinful people of God and their condemnation. Jonah’s prayer in Jonah 2 is shot through with allusions to various Psalms; here to <a href='B:230 120:1'>Psa 120:1</a>. God’s word was in his heart, but only through Divine teaching and affliction due to his own sinfulness::. could he come to know it as true for him personally. And this is a path we too pass through.</h4><h4>Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice- Here we learn clearly that sheol refers not to a place of fire and torment for the wicked, but to a covered place, the grave. And as noted on :1, it would support the idea that Jonah did actually die by drowning, and the belly of the fish became his tomb. The Hebrew words for "cried" and "heard" differ by only one rather similar letter; a subtle difference. Our cry in prayer and God’s hearing are intimately connected. He is not truly not far from every one of us.</h4>


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<h4>For You threw me into the depths, into the heart of the seas- Jonah perceived God’s hand in what others did to him, and that is an abiding lesson to take with us in life’s path. He alludes to <a href='B:230 88:6'>Psa 88:6</a>. The same word is used of God casting His people out of their land (<a href='B:50 29:28'>Deu 29:28</a>), out of His presence (<a href='B:120 24:20'>2Ki 24:20</a>; <a href='B:300 52:3'>Jer 52:3</a>)- just as Jonah felt he had been (see on :4).</h4><p>The water was all around me. All Your waves and Your breakers passed over me- This confirms the suggestion made on :1, that Jonah was not instantly swallowed by the fish. The pictures in children’s Bibles are nearly all wrong: of a grinning whale waiting eagerly to catch the body thrown by the sailors from the boat. Jonah was surrounded by waves and went down "into the heart of the seas". The Psalms allusions are to <a href='B:230 42:7'>Psa 42:7</a>; <a href='B:230 69:1-2'>Psa 69:1-2</a>; <a href='B:230 69:14-15'>Psa 69:14-15</a>, and Psalms 69 is clearly a foretaste of the Lord’s feelings on the cross. He felt there as condemned sinners like Jonah felt in the time of their condemnation. He never sinned, and was personally unworthy of condemnation. But that doesn’t mean that He doesn’t know how sinners feel now, as they are condemned in real time for their sins y the court of Heaven; nor how the condemned will feel at the last day. Judges pass down sentences which they have never experienced; but the Lord has experienced the feelings of condemned men, whilst being morally innocent. In this we see His complete identity with sinful man.</p><h4>The AV has "floods". Jonah experienced death by flooding; as noted on <a href='B:390 1:2'>Jon 1:2</a>, he thereby bore the condemnation due to Nineveh (<a href='B:390 1:2'>Jon 1:2</a> cp. <a href='B:10 6:5'>Gen 6:5</a>), and could therefore give Nineveh a real hope of repentance and salvation thanks to his experience.</h4>


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<h4>I said- The language and ideas are similar to those of Hezekiah (<a href='B:290 38:11'>Isa 38:11</a>), who felt he was condemned to death. Jonah in the fish is now recalling his last conscious thoughts before his lungs filled with water for the last time (see on :1). So his later thoughts in this chapter are the wonder of a man saved from condemnation by utter grace.</h4><h4>‘I have been banished from Your sight; yet I will look again toward Your holy temple’- This is absolutely the language of God’s exiled people, recalling the statement in Solomon’s prayer that wherever they were scattered for their sins, they could always look again towards the temple and pray (<a href='B:110 8:38'>1Ki 8:38</a>). Jonah was clearly representative of Israel. He had chosen to go out of God’s presence (<a href='B:390 1:3'>Jon 1:3</a>), and so he was being confirmed in that desire. He was being made to realize how terrible it was to in fact resign from God and His presence. His personal sin, however, must not be overlooked; for it was that which called forth all this judgment. It was not the sin of idolatry nor lukewarm response to Yahweh, but rather that of intolerance, pride and avoiding the call to witness. All of which things we at times have been guilty of and are continually tested with.</h4>


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<h4>The waters surrounded me, even to the soul- Alluding to <a href='B:230 40:12'>Psa 40:12</a>; <a href='B:230 69:1'>Psa 69:1</a>, both of which Psalms are quoted in the New Testament about the Lord’s death. See on :3.</h4><p>The deep was around me- The word used for sin and its judgment compassing around the condemned (<a href='B:230 18:4'>Psa 18:4</a>; <a href='B:230 40:12'>Psa 40:12</a>; <a href='B:230 116:3'>Psa 116:3</a>).</p><h4>The weeds were wrapped around my head- Confirming the suggestion in :1 that Jonah drowned and his body sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Perhaps he found himself inside the fish with seaweed wrapped around his body, as if they were his grave clothes and the burial napkin around his head. But "wrapped" is literally ’to bind around’ and is the word usually used for healing and restoration- which was to come about through death and resurrection.</h4>


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<h4>I went down- The same word used of his going down to Joppa, down into the ship, and further down into the very hold of the ship (see on <a href='B:390 1:3'>Jon 1:3</a>; <a href='B:390 1:5'>Jon 1:5</a>). He was brought down as low as could be, to be exalted in due time. This is indeed the path we shall all pass through; it’s a race to the bottom.</h4><p><a href='B:230 55:23'>Psa 55:23</a> speaks of the wicked, those who had ‘broken the covenant’ which Jonah was so proud to be part of, being ‘brought down’ into “destruction”; and these very same two Hebrew words occur together in <a href='B:390 2:6'>Jon 2:6</a>. They also occur together in <a href='B:330 28:8'>Eze 28:8</a>, speaking of how the Gentile king of Tyre was to be ‘broughtdown’ to “the pit”. This would have been the sort of prophecy which nationalistic Jonah would have loved to hear; but now he recognized that he was essentially like a wicked Gentile, and had shared their condemnation- but been graciously saved from it. The preaching of Jonah is surely our example.</p><h4>To the bottoms of the mountains; the earth barred me in forever: yet have You brought up my life from the pit, Yahweh my God- This clearly states that Jonah died and was only then swallowed by the fish; see on :1. And he went to the very bottom of the ocean, into the deepest ravine on the seabed, and had the impression of the permanence of death, barred in forever, alluding to <a href='B:220 17:16'>Job 17:16</a>. This was how low down he had to be brought, such was his pride, and such was the significance of the work Yahweh wished to do with him; see on <a href='B:390 1:3'>Jon 1:3</a>. "From the pit" is AV "from corruption", deepening the similarities with the Lord’s resurrection (<a href='B:230 16:10'>Psa 16:10</a>; <a href='B:510 2:27'>Act 2:27</a>; <a href='B:510 2:31'>Act 2:31</a>). <a href='B:230 71:20'>Psa 71:20</a> is also in view, where the Psalmist is brought out of "affliction" (s:w. :2), out of the pit to new life.</h4>


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<h4>When my soul ebbed away within me- Jonah recalled the feelings of death (<a href='B:230 42:6'>Psa 42:6</a>; <a href='B:230 73:26'>Psa 73:26</a>; <a href='B:230 142:3'>Psa 142:3</a>). The language is suggestive of how a person in the final minutes of palliative care ebbs back and forth until they cease breathing and the heart stops. It is the word used of the ebbing away of Judah’s life in the Babylonian invasion (<a href='B:310 2:12'>Lam 2:12</a>; <a href='B:310 2:19'>Lam 2:19</a>); again we see Jonah presented as representative of God’s people under condemnation. The way he describes those feelings make him a parade example of resurrection. Jonah’s life "ebbed away" inside the fish- and a very similar word is used about his experience as he sat under the gourd (<a href='B:390 4:8'>Jon 4:8</a>). In the fish, Jonah prayed that God would save his life, and was heard. But when he was made to feel the same again, he instead prayed God to take away his life. Perhaps this shows that even when we respond well to circumstances, those same circumstances may repeat in order to test us as to whether we will continue to make that right response.</h4><h4>I remembered Yahweh. My prayer came in to You, into Your holy temple- David also felt that his prayers came into God’s holy temple even before that temple was built (<a href='B:230 11:4'>Psa 11:4</a>; <a href='B:230 18:6'>Psa 18:6</a>). Jonah was brought to realize that the true temple presence of God was in Heaven and not in a stone building in Jerusalem. It is only desperation which leads us to these kinds of perceptions; that God is so real, that He is outside of organized religion. Israel too were afflicted as Jonah but the prayer of the faithful came into God (<a href='B:230 102:1'>Psa 102:1</a> s:w. <a href='B:390 2:2'>Jon 2:2</a> "affliction").</h4>


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<p>Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy- This is a profound truth; true grace ["mercy" is hesed] and salvation is only found in Yahweh the God of Israel. To forsake Him is to forsake our own access to mercy and grace. Jonah was surely reflecting upon how the sailors had begged their idols and gods for salvation, and not found it. Only Yahweh had provided such saving grace, both to them and to Jonah. This reflection was surely to motivate Jonah to now go and try to persuade the Ninevites of Yahweh’s grace. Jonah is constantly quoting from the Psalms, and here he may have in mind <a href='B:230 31:6'>Psa 31:6</a>: "I have hated them that regard lying vanities". But now Jonah doesn’t hate the idolaters personally, but rather perceives the tragedy of the fact that they are rejecting their own access to Yahweh’s grace. Yahweh is all about mercy, or grace; again, <a href='B:230 59:17'>Psa 59:17</a> "the God of my mercy" is in mind. But we preclude His grace if we trust in the lying vanities of this world.</p>


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<h4>But I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving, I will pay that which I have vowed- Jonah is repeating the words of the sailors (<a href='B:390 1:16'>Jon 1:16</a>), whom he has just been thinking about in :8. But he is also repeating the words of <a href='B:230 3:8'>Psa 3:8</a>; <a href='B:230 116:17-18'>Psa 116:17-18</a>. He comes to realize that those Gentile sailors had in their desperation come to the spirit of Yahweh’s inspired words, and to the very songs which were at the core of the Jewish religion. He came to realize that he could not from that location within a fish offer a sacrifice, and so all he could do was offer the sacrifice of praise. He was being taught that beyond ritual and organized religion, there is the real relationship with God in the Spirit. That praise is the essential sacrifice is recognized throughout the Bible (<a href='B:230 54:6'>Psa 54:6</a>; <a href='B:650 13:15'>Heb 13:15</a>); it was the essence of the new covenant (<a href='B:300 33:11'>Jer 33:11</a>), which Jonah was [like Israel in captivity] being prodded towards.</h4><p>Presumably his vow was to be obedient to his commission of preaching to Nineveh. And yet despite the intensity of his sincerity whilst within the fish, we find that when it comes to it, he doesn’t perform the vow at all well in that he loses the spirit of grace. We too, one moment, can be awed by our experience of grace and desire to give our very souls in order to share that grace with others; but then the old pride, bitterness and prejudices so easily return.</p><p>There are a number of Old Testament examples of preaching the word after becoming aware of the depth of one’s own sins. Consider Jonah preaching the second time, with the marks in his body after three days in the whale, admitting his rebellion against Yahweh, pleading with them to respond to His word. Reflect how when his head was wrapped around with seaweed, at the bottom of the sea at the absolute end of mortal life, he made a vow to God, which he then fulfilled, presumably in going back to preach to Nineveh (<a href='B:390 2:9'>Jon 2:9</a>). His response to having confessed his sins and daring to believe in God’s forgiveness, turning again towards His temple even from underwater, was to resolve to preach to others if he was spared his life. And this he did, although as with so many of us, the pureness of his initial evangelical zeal soon flaked. Or consider Manasseh, <a href='B:140 33:16'>2Ch 33:16</a>; Jehoshaphat, <a href='B:140 19:3'>2Ch 19:3</a> cp. 18:31; 19:2; Josiah, <a href='B:140 34:29'>2Ch 34:29</a>; <a href='B:140 34:32'>2Ch 34:32</a>; Nebuchadnezzar, <a href='B:340 3:29'>Dan 3:29</a>; <a href='B:340 4:2'>Dan 4:2</a>::.</p><h4>Salvation belongs to Yahweh- ’Jesus’ in Hebrew is Yahoshua, the salvation of Yah. Jonah was brought to understand the essence of salvation in Jesus.</h4>


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<h4>Yahweh spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land- Again we see God in harmony with nature and in personal communion with it. He created the vine for shelter, the tiny worm which ate it, the great fish, and the storm. And uses absolutely all things to reveal His grace. To be vomited out is the language used of Israel being vomited out of their land (<a href='B:30 18:25'>Lev 18:25</a>; <a href='B:30 18:28'>Lev 18:28</a>; <a href='B:30 20:22'>Lev 20:22</a>). Even in the moment of his salvation, Jonah was identified with sinful Israel in their condemnation, and was thereby the pattern for their salvation, and a clear prediction of the Lord’s saving experiences.</h4><p>The ‘resurrected’ Jonah was a type of the Lord- and he was a ‘sign’ to the Ninevites presumably in that he still bore in his body the marks of a man who had been three days within a fish. It could be that the fish beached itself, and vomited Jonah out of its stomach in its death throes (this is how beached whales meet their end). In this case, the fish would have drawn the attention of the local population, as would have the man with bleached hair and strange skin who walked away from it. We too as witnesses of Christ will have something about us that is unintentionally striking in the eyes of those with whom we mix. There was no human chance that Jonah would be listened to when he came to preach judgment against Nineveh. Some guy standing on the edge of town, saying ‘You’re all gonna be destroyed’. People would have laughed, ignored him, or told him to shut up. But there was something about him that was gripping and arresting. He was living proof that the judgment of God is real, and that His mercy is just as real. Presumably Jonah must have said far more than “Nineveh is going to be destroyed”.</p><h4>It is a worthwhile speculation that for Jonah to be a sign to the Ninevites by reason of being three days in the whale (<a href='B:470 12:38-40'>Mat 12:38-40</a>), he must have borne in his body the marks of his experience for all to see, as our Lord did. Being inside the fish for that period may have made his flesh change colour or bear some other physical mark so that he could be a sign to them of what had happened. Doubtless he recounted his story to them- so that they were encouraged by the fact of God’s love to the resurrected Jonah to repent and likewisethrow themselves on God’s mercy. In all this we see Jonah as a type of Christ. They would have looked upon that man as we look upon Jesus, to see the love of God manifested in him; they responded by repenting in sackcloth, casting off their materialism, and living in a way that showed their complete belief that "the judge stands before the door". What is our response to Jonah / Jesus?</h4>


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<h4>The word of Yahweh came to Jonah the second time saying- God’s patience is amazing. Jonah failed the first time and was given a second chance, but his failure was used to prepare him. Jonah has several parallels to Elijah, who likewise struggled with spiritual elitism and judgmentalism. He too was sent a second time with his commission to Israel (<a href='B:110 19:4'>1Ki 19:4</a>). Jonah quotes Elijah’s words in <a href='B:390 4:3'>Jon 4:3</a>. Perhaps the apostles likewise received a second commission to preach to the Gentiles after resisting that given to them just before the Lord’s ascension.</h4><h4>The boat was not far from land- for the sailors tried to row the boat to land. Jonah would have come ashore somewhere on the coasts of Israel. We are left to imagine him walking away up the beach from the dying fish, naked, disfigured by the acids of the fish’s belly, determined to pay his vows of sharing God’s grace with others, getting some clothes, gathering some money, and making his way on camel to Nineveh. In this he is our pattern. In the parable of the two sons, the Lord divides us into two groups- those who respond to a calling to ‘go’ by saying they will, but don’t go; and those who refuse to go but afterwards go. This is clearly an allusion to Jonah. But Jonah is thus made typical of each and every one of us.</h4>


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<h4>Arise, go to Nineveh- Earlier, Jonah had been told the same; but he ’arose’ and got a ship to Tarshish (<a href='B:390 1:2-3'>Jon 1:2-3</a>). He had been bidden by the captain to "arise" and relate with his God (<a href='B:390 1:6'>Jon 1:6</a>). Circumstances repeat in our lives in order to help us do correctly what we were asked to do by God the first time. See on :6.</h4><h4>That great city, and preach to it the message that I give you- The size of the city is mentioned because Jonah was intended to see the tragedy of so many people being lost. And the book of Jonah concludes with this same point (<a href='B:390 4:11'>Jon 4:11</a>). The tragedy of lost humanity ought to impress itself deeply upon us, as we see the lights of a city beneath us from an airplane, or as we see crowds streaming past us on a street. We wonder whether "the message" given was indeed simply limited to what is recorded in :4: "In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!". Perhaps there was also a call to repentance, which Jonah didn’t mention because he wanted to see Nineveh destroyed.</h4>


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<h4>So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Yahweh- This time he was obedient, when previously he had been told to arise and go to Nineveh, and had arisen and went to Tarshish (<a href='B:390 1:2-3'>Jon 1:2-3</a>).</h4><h4>Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey across- The Old Testament reflects that God has a heart for all humanity- not just Israel. Nineveh was a great city to God, and it grieved Him that it might have to be destroyed (<a href='B:390 3:3'>Jon 3:3</a>)- He even was sensitive to the plight of the animals there. The sensitive heart of God becomes all the more sensitive to us, His chosen people. The archeological excavations have found an area of about 100 square kilometers all surrounded by a mighty wall. It was indeed a great city, comprised of three or four smaller towns (<a href='B:390 1:2'>Jon 1:2</a>). It was large enough to contain 120,000 young children (<a href='B:390 4:11'>Jon 4:11</a>), suggesting a city of over half a million, with a high population density.</h4>


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<h4>Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey- The record seems to stress his reluctance and disobedience. He only started preaching after he had walked for one day within the city, when it took three days to walk across the city; despite the high populationdensity discovered by archaeologists and required by the large figure given for children (see on <a href='B:390 4:11'>Jon 4:11</a>).</h4>&nbsp;<p>And he cried out and said- He initially refused to “cry” the message of repentance to Nineveh; he wanted to be an incognito prophet. But an incognito prophet is a contradiction in terms, an oxymoron. So the Lord brought about a situation in which he desperately “cried” to God; and then told him to go and “cry” to Nineveh. The very same Hebrew words are used about his crying to God and his crying / proclamation to Nineveh (<a href='B:390 1:2'>Jon 1:2</a>; <a href='B:390 2:2'>Jon 2:2</a>; <a href='B:390 3:2'>Jon 3:2</a>; <a href='B:390 3:4'>Jon 3:4</a>). Jonah was forced by circumstance to share his relationship with God with the world around him which he despised. The Lord wants to use us as His candle, and He will arrange situations in life to enable this. The family at Bethany may have been an example of this. The Jews had commanded “that if any man knew where he was, he should shew it” (<a href='B:500 11:57'>Joh 11:57</a>). And “Jesus therefore… came to Bethany” (<a href='B:500 12:1'>Joh 12:1</a> RV). He purposefully attracted attention to His connection with the Bethany home. And so it was that “much people of the Jews learned that he was there”(<a href='B:500 12:9'>Joh 12:9</a>), and the context makes it clear that this was a source of witness to them (<a href='B:500 12:10-11'>Joh 12:10-11</a>). The Lord sought to expose their secret discipleship, to take the bucket off their candle. And He will do likewise with us. Jonah is of course the great example.</p><p>In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!- I suggested on :2 that Jonah may have purposefully omitted any call to repentance. He wanted the city to be destroyed. "Overthrown" recalls the triple emphasis using the same word that Sodom was "overthrown" (<a href='B:10 19:21'>Gen 19:21</a>; <a href='B:10 19:25'>Gen 19:25</a>; <a href='B:10 19:29'>Gen 19:29</a>). But Abraham had interceded that it might not be, and we are left to conclude from the record in Genesis 18 that if Abraham had had more spiritual vision, he could have asked God to spare the city for even the sake of one. And God would have heard. But Jonah is exactly the opposite; he didn’t intercede for the city, and instead wished its overthrow.</p><h4>It took Jonah three days to walk through Nineveh (3:3). On the first day in the city, he told them that in 40 days God would destroy them; it follows that by the time he was in the middle of the city he was telling them that they had 37 days left. So too the Jews had between 37 and 40 years notice of the destruction of Jerusalem.</h4>


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<p>The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least- It is often commented that Nineveh was ultimately destroyed, and therefore their repentance was insincere. Perhaps so, but God was very sensitive to any repentance and respected it, even if the intensity of repentance was not continued. However, the Lord states clearly that there will be men of Nineveh who arise in judgment at the last day and are accepted into God’s Kingdom, along with the Queen of Sheba, whereas the Jews of the Lord’s day will be rejected (<a href='B:470 12:41'>Mat 12:41</a>). What knowledge did the Ninevites and the queen of Sheba have? The queen of Sheba had the knowledge of Yahweh’s moral requirements as taught in Solomon’s Proverbs. It’s unclear how much correct theology she was taught; and if correct theology is so critically important, we would expect to hear of Solomon teaching it to her, before reading that she shall arise at the last day and be saved. We don’t read of her going back to her country clutching scrolls of the law of Moses. Maybe she was illiterate. But we read of her awed at the moral appeal of Yahweh worship. Likewise the men of Nineveh heard only a brief message from Jonah- that Yahweh was going to destroy them. We would expect to read of Jonah eagerly expounding true theology to them and giving them scrolls of the writings of Moses and the prophets; but we don’t, and we get the impression he had no interest in sharing Israelite theology with Gentiles anyway. But those men, many of them illiterate and with no access to the written word of Yahweh, shall arise in salvation at the last day. It was the moral appeal of Yahweh and their sense of His claim upon them which made them responsible to His judgment and thereby capable of salvation seeing they accepted that claim. This sets the level of knowledge required for responsibility to judgment, and for salvation, far lower than where many have set it.</p>


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<h4>The news reached the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne- We noted on :2 that the word "arise" runs like a theme throughout the book of Jonah. Jonah had been told to "arise" in response to God’s word and had not done so (<a href='B:390 1:2-3'>Jon 1:2-3</a>). The king of Nineveh arose in response to that same Divine word. The ideais to present the Gentiles as more responsive to God’s word than even His own prophet, let alone His own people. And the book of Jonah was presumably written by Jonah; in his spiritual maturity, he reflects upon all this, and perceives, and narrates, the paucity of his own response.</h4><h4>Took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes- Sackcloth and ashes are Biblically associated with repentance. We wonder why the king did this. Why listen to some wandering Jewish preacher guy who just rocked up with a message of doom, which we can infer he didn’t preach very enthusiastically and with no specific call to repentance? The same question arises as to why John the Baptist, who "did no miracle", could get large numbers of Jews to repent. I suggest it was the personality and experience of the preacher which gave credibility to the message. It has been claimed there was an eclipse of the sun around this time, but that passes, and so it was the personality of Jonah, carefully developed by God, which led to Nineveh’s repentance. And so it is today; technique and carrots will not elicit real, lasting repentance. So much depends upon personal contact with a preacher who is a credible example; and Jonah, perhaps with bleached skin from his time inside the whale, was proof enough of the reality of Divine judgment as well as Divine grace.</h4>


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<p>He made a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water- The sensitivity of God towards animals which the book of Jonah stresses was reflected in that of the king. The king took seriously the threat of total destruction; he realized that God had in view to destroy the entire city with all that was in it (see on <a href='B:390 4:11'>Jon 4:11</a>). And he therefore wished absolutely everyone and everything within the city, even animals, to reflect repentance. "Proclamation" is the same word translated "cry" in <a href='B:390 1:5'>Jon 1:5</a>, where the Gentile sailors ’cried’ to their gods and then ended up crying to Yahweh. The Gentile sailors and the Gentile Ninevites are clearly presented in parallel; Jonah ought to have learnt from the final repentance of the sailors that the Ninevites would likewise respond. His desire for them not to respond is therefore all the more obnoxious. The Hebrew for "decree" is literally ’taste’; it is the same word used for how nobody was to "taste" anything. The idea is that the king perceived or tasted the reality of judgment, and he ordered his people to have the same taste or perception. It could be that the city was saved because of the personal repentance of the king, and his preaching of that.</p>


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<h4>But let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and animal, and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let them turn each one from his evil way- There is a sense of mutuality and rapport built up between the preacher and the hearer in all successful preaching. Jonah “cried” to Nineveh (<a href='B:390 1:2'>Jon 1:2</a>; <a href='B:390 3:2'>Jon 3:2</a>; <a href='B:390 3:4'>Jon 3:4</a>) and they “cried” to God in response to his ‘crying’ to them- the same Hebrew words are used (<a href='B:390 3:5'>Jon 3:5</a>; <a href='B:390 3:8'>Jon 3:8</a>). As Jonah cried to God from the belly of the fish, so the Ninevites were inspired- presumably by what he related to them of his own life- to cry mightily to God for undeserved deliverance.</h4><p>The language here is exactly that of Jeremiah in appealing for Judah to turn from their evil ways and cry to God in repentance in order to avert the planned destruction by Babylon (<a href='B:300 25:5'>Jer 25:5</a>; <a href='B:300 36:3'>Jer 36:3</a>; <a href='B:300 36:7'>Jer 36:7</a>). Again, Gentile repentance is being held up in contrast to Jewish disobedience. This is quite a theme in Jonah. One function of the book of Jonah is to appeal for God’s people to repent, to take an example from the Ninevites. And this is how the Lord uses the book, in appealing for the Israel of His day to repent and avert the planned destruction of AD70. Perhaps Jonah was prophesying after some judgments upon Israel or Judah which the Assyrians were aware of; they perceived the similarities between themselves and God’s judged people, and repented. This would have been in line with God’s intentions regarding judging His people; that the Gentiles would see it and fear Him because of it. See on :9.</p><h4>And from the violence that is in his hands- Violence was what Nineveh was ultimately destroyed for (<a href='B:410 2:11-12'>Nah 2:11-12</a>; <a href='B:410 3:1'>Nah 3:1</a>). It was a characteristic of Assyria, as the prophets often mention. They were asked to repent of their lead personal characteristic which they were proud of. To repent of that which has become our own very self definition is so hard; but this is the radical call of God’s word</h4>


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<h4>Who knows- God may change His intended judgments; He frames or plans judgment, but may change from that plan (<a href='B:300 18:11'>Jer 18:11</a>). But we can in no way presume upon this, it is only of His grace; the same phrase is used in this context in <a href='B:100 12:22'>2Sa 12:22</a>; <a href='B:360 2:14'>Joe 2:14</a>.</h4><p>Whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger- God does change. It is as simple as that. He is only unchanging in that His grace to the sons of Jacob remains a permanent feature of His character (<a href='B:460 3:6'>Mal 3:6</a>). A God this open and this sensitive to even change His own stated, published intentions was the God known to Moses, who got Him to change His plan of destroying Israel as a nation. But this is the God unknown to all legalistic religion.</p><h4>So that we might not perish?- This is the word used of Israel’s perishing under Divine judgment for their sins (<a href='B:50 4:26'>Deu 4:26</a> and often). I suggested on :8 that Nineveh may have learnt from the perishing of Israel and therefore repented. It is the same word used of the perishing of the Gentile sailors which was averted because of their repentance and turning to Yahweh (<a href='B:390 1:6'>Jon 1:6</a>; <a href='B:390 1:14'>Jon 1:14</a>). Perhaps some of the sailors were Assyrians and had sent word back to Nineveh. The vine likewise perished (<a href='B:390 4:10'>Jon 4:10</a> s:w:), and the point was that God made to perish that which He had long laboured for, and that perishing was for Jonah’s sake. And He did not want to make Nineveh perish because of Jonah’s nationalism and elitism.</h4>


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<h4>God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which He said He would do to them, and He didn’t do it- Their turning led to God’s turning. This is how sensitive He is to human repentance, even if He knows that as in the case of some at Nineveh, it will not last long.</h4><p>How was it that one unknown man could turn up in a huge city and make all of them believe that judgment was really coming, and they really must repent? Why ever listen to this one man? He must surely have told them the story of his own disobedience, experience of judgment, and gracious salvation. There was something about him that proved to that city that this had really happened; that there was and is a God of judgment above. Perhaps the “sign” of the prophet Jonah was in that 3 days in the fish had bleached his hair, made him thin, making him look arrestingly different. Whatever it was, his antitypical experience of fellowship with the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus was enough to arrest a whole city in its tracks. Again, the more real, the more credible.</p><p><a href='B:470 12:41'>Mat 12:41</a> says that "The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation", Israel of the first century. We must read in an ellipsis, ‘[the people of] this generation’. For individuals and not entire generations will be judged. ’Standing up’ is possibly an allusion to the resurrection of the responsible at the last day, but more likely the figure is of a judge arising in judgment to state the verdict; which in this case, is condemnation. The Lord in <a href='B:470 12:27'>Mat 12:27</a> had spoken of how the children of the Jews would judge those Jews in the last day. The Lord clearly seems to envisage the judgment process as having a public dimension to it. The fact one person was spiritually responsive, given a similar or harder set of circumstances than what another has had who did not respond, will therefore as it were be the judgment of the person who didn’t respond. It clearly won’t be merely an awards ceremony nor a yes / no decision, but rather will context and precedent from others be taken into account. ‘If&nbsp;they&nbsp;responded and&nbsp;you&nbsp;did not, given similar circumstances, then&nbsp;they&nbsp;will condemn&nbsp;you’- that seems to be the Lord’s reasoning.</p><p>He says that the Ninevites repented "At the preaching of Jonah; and, behold, one greater than Jonah is here!":&nbsp;This effectively is a noun, referring to "the preaching" as in the message of Jonah, and yet also Jonah was himself the preaching or the message. And that was why he was so credible as a preacher. What he preached was judgment to come, and the Ninevites repented on hearing it. The Lord was teaching not only judgment to come, but was making specific the call to repentance implicit within that message, and urging peopleto accept God’s grace. Hence those who heard Him were even more guilty before the Ninevites. Jonah’s preaching occurred&nbsp;after&nbsp;he had been three days within the whale; after the Lord had been three days in the earth, He too would preach mightily, through the ministry of those ’in Him’ who were effectively His representatives and appealed on His behalf. But He reasons as if that appeal was already being made- as if in essence He had already passed through the cross and resurrection. This is not the only time He reasons in this way; in proclaiming Himself Lord, the serpent lifted up on the pole, the One who had already "overcome the world", He reasoned as if the successful outcome of His death had already occurred. Such was His faith that He would come forth triumphant.</p><h4>Their repentance according to <a href='B:470 12:41'>Mat 12:41</a> was so sincere that it lasted a lifetime; for at the last day, they shall arise in judgment over the Jews of the first century and condemn them. Some of the Ninevites will be in God’s Kingdom and accepted at the day of judgment.</h4>


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<h4>But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry- Jonah wanted to see Nineveh’s destruction. The ’grace’ side of God, His desire for human repentance and salvation, just wasn’t reflected in Jonah. He focused on God’s anger with sin and sinners, and overlooked the rest. The book of Jonah was written by Jonah to state his repentance of legalism, elitism, racism and lack of grace. It’s a profound warning that conservatism is not right of itself, and can lead to serious moral failure. It’s simply not the case that conservatism is likely, as a rule of thumb, to be closer to God than liberalism. That has been the deeply wrong assumption of so many people. The Lord warned that conservatism is part of our human nature, and His teaching is radically progressive and anti-conservative (see on <a href='B:490 5:39'>Luk 5:39</a>). It was God’s right to be angry with sin and Nineveh; it was not for Jonah to be angry just because they had repented. The Lord perceived this feature of human nature when He commented that His goodness leads some to have an evil eye, a bitter outlook because He has saved (see on <a href='B:470 20:15'>Mat 20:15</a>). Jonah had invested so much of himself in the message of judgment that he preached; when he realized God was changing from that path, he felt the whole narrative of his own life had been upset. God can change; this is clearly taught throughout the Bible. His passion for human salvation makes Him open ended in many ways. But for some, that is too much. Divine history has to be foretold in advance according to their particular interpretation of it. And when things don’t work out for them, because either their understanding was faulty or God worked differently because of factoring in human repentance or potential to repent, they lose their faith or drift away from God. Jonah speaks to them.</h4><h4>Nineveh repented; thousands repented, and there must have been a party of joy in Heaven! But on earth, God’s preacher, Jonah- didn’t share Heaven’s joy. He was angry. He didn’t walk in step with the spirit. He didn’t reflect Heaven’s joy on earth. The Lord said: "Is your eye evil [i:e. are you clouded by a mean spirited feeling], because I am good?". We are all prone to this; to respond to God’s grace by being evil-eyed, by our worldview, our "eye", becoming narrower and clouded because of the extravagance of His grace. By these comments I do not in any way underestimate the sadness and urgency of resolving divisions in the body of Christ; but we must remember that all true Christians who are in the one body preach, by that token, the same true Gospel. Their baptisms are valid-&nbsp; so, we can rejoice. For who, after all, is Paul or Apollos, or Steve Z or Steve A, or Andy A or Andy Z, or any of us, but ministers. The essence is Christ.</h4>


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<h4>He prayed to Yahweh and said, Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee away to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and You relent of doing harm- See on <a href='B:360 2:14'>Joe 2:14</a>. This remonstration with God isn’t recorded from God’s standpoint in the record of Jonah 1. But the book of Jonah is Jonah’s confession of sin and repentance. So he now records what he said. And he does so in exactly the terms in which God revealed His character and Name to Moses in Exodus 32. Jonah is effectively saying that he can’t stand who God really is. He wanted, like so many religious people, to focus on a few aspects of God [in this case, God’s anger with sin and judgment of it] and build the narrative of his understanding of God upon them; without wanting to see the far wider picture of who God is. In Jonah’s case, his wilful ignoring of God’s gracious side was tantamount to not knowing the God whom he knew only in theory; for the gracious side of God dominates. And Jonah’s amazing salvation from death, even his experience of resurrection, ought to have been enough to help him see that side. But here we see how hard it is to understand grace and believe it. Even death and resurrection, salvation by utter grace, wasn’t enough to persuade Jonah of it. Others are likewise dragged through hell and high water, as Jonah was literally, and still don’t get it. Judgmentalism and elitism dies a hard death, and many never get there. For to accept God’s grace means an admission that they were wrong.</h4><h4>Jonah didn’t share Heaven’s joy. He was angry. He didn’t walk in step with the spirit. It is apparent from the lesson of the gourd, and God’s final approval of Nineveh’s repentance, that His motive in asking Jonah to preach judgment to come upon Nineveh was because God wanted their repentance. Jonah’s initial response had been to refuse to preach, because He feared God’s grace might incorporate them too. We need to probe the motives for our reticence in not preaching as we might. It’s too easy to excuse it as our personal shyness. Can there not be a sense in us too that we actually don’t want our potential audiences to share in God’s grace, even though we may not express this to ourselves directly? And another lesson arises for our preaching. It was God’s intention, surely, that an upfront confrontation of Nineveh with their sins and the reality of God’s coming judgment if proclaimed with love in the heart and a sense of our own unworthiness would bring about their conversion. We must ask whether we have perceived this in our approach to preaching.</h4>


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<p>Therefore now Yahweh, take, I beg You, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live- This is a quotation of Elijah’s words in <a href='B:110 19:4'>1Ki 19:4</a>. As noted on <a href='B:390 3:1'>Jon 3:1</a>, there are similarities between Jonah and Elijah; who likewise struggled with spiritual elitism and judgmentalism. His whole life was centred around his sense that he was right and others wrong; and that judgment would come upon the ’others’. To have the whole narrative of his life and psychology wrecked by God’s grace::. was too much for him. He saw no point in being alive, despite the fact that he of all people had been preserved alive and resurrected. We too were raised with the Lord Jesus in baptism; our lives are worth it, they are for the Lord’s sake and the sake of His grace, rather than to prove ourselves always right and others wrong.</p>


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<p>Yahweh said, Is it right for you to be angry?- Perhaps the emphasis is on the word "you". Jonah was a sinner. God alone had the right to be angry with the sins of Nineveh, and by being angry that others could be saved, Jonah was playing God. And not even playing God very well, for he was ignoring the gracious side of God which is so fundamental to Him. All who struggle with anger issues need to read Jonah this way; are you right to be angry? Even if anger is justified, it is not always for you to express that anger. Anger, Divine wrath, is in the end His and not ours. For He is the judge; we are the sinners, saved by grace like Jonah and responding to that grace by showing it to others.</p>


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<h4>Then Jonah went out of the city- Jonah was hoping the city would be destroyed, and so rather than remain there begging them to repent for 40 days, he simplyuttered the doom and left. Perhaps he was aware of prophecies that the Assyrians would destroy Judah and God’s people go into captivity there. And perhaps that was why he wanted to see Nineveh destroyed. But by thinking that way, he was accepting that God’s prophetic word could change according to human action, in this case, his not persuading Nineveh to repent. And yet again, in a beautiful way, he was brought to realize that if God’s intentions can indeed change, then he should allow Nineveh the chance of repentance to change the otherwise inevitable prophetic outcome.</h4><p>And sat on the east side of the city, and there made himself a shelter- This is the same word used of the booths made by Israel at the time of the feast of tabernacles. Perhaps it was that time of year, and Jonah legalistically tried to keep the feast. But he was keeping it in Gentile territory. And so his legalism was used by God to teach him that relationship with Him was perfectly possible outside eretz Israel. But the word for "shelter" is also used in Isaiah as a double symbol- of Israel in their condemnation (<a href='B:290 1:8'>Isa 1:8</a>) and of God’s final giving of shelter to all nations upon Zion (<a href='B:290 4:6'>Isa 4:6</a>). And by being condemnatory of Gentiles, Jonah was living out the symbolism of a condemned Judah. For if we condemn, we shall be condemned (<a href='B:470 7:1'>Mat 7:1</a>). So God seeks to convert Jonah to see the better symbolism, and live that out. He creates for Jonah a better shelter, to give him shade from the heat, and this is described in the very language of <a href='B:290 4:6'>Isa 4:6</a>: "There will be a pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a shelter from storm and from rain". God is ever seeking to convert legalists and hyper conservatives like Jonah, when their judgmentalism and total lack of love would make many of us just give up with them. We note the Lord’s similar efforts towards the scribes and Pharisees, which actually paid off in that after His ascension, many of them were baptized.</p><p>And sat under it in the shade- As noted above, the shade of the booth was clearly alluding to <a href='B:290 4:6'>Isa 4:6</a>, the salvation given by Yahweh in Zion. Jonah experienced it not in Zion but in a Gentile land. But that didn’t make him recalculate his position. He himself enjoyed the shade of God’s grace, but was unwilling to see Gentiles share it. His story would have been a powerful message to the early Jewish Christians who initially struggled with accepting Gentiles into the hope of Israel.</p><h4>Until he might see what would become of the city- Jonah left the city because he believed and hoped that it would be destroyed. He is presented as being diametrically opposed to the will of God. Indeed, seeing Jonah wrote the book of Jonah, he presents himself this way, because the book is his confession. Let us note that in this case it was religious conservatism which led to his being so totally out of step with God, just as it was the libertinism of the Corinthian believers which led them to the same final position.</h4>


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<h4>Yahweh God prepared- "Prepared" is a major theme in Jonah. God prepared a huge fish (<a href='B:390 1:17'>Jon 1:17</a>), the vine, a tiny worm (:7) and an east wind (:8). The impression is clearly given that God was at work in things and ways great and small in order to bring about the repentance of both Jonah and the Ninevites.</h4><h4>A vine, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. So Jonah was very glad because of the vine- We would likely have turned away in disgust from someone as self-righteous and unloving as Jonah. But God saw the man’s discomfort and showed him grace. The vine or gourd was a special creation, although perhaps an exaggerated form of a quick growing shrub known in the area, as the big fish likewise was a special creation but an exaggerated form of a whale or shark. The impression given is that God magnifies the natural in such a way as to demonstrate His power and preference to use the natural and well known.</h4>


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<h4>But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine so that it withered- Jonah was being taught that God can give grace and take it away in a moment if we don’t appreciate it. From mighty fish to tiny worms, God is at work. For "prepared" see on :6.</h4><h4>This incident was to make Jonah understand how God valued Nineveh. God had made each of the Ninevites to “grow” (4:10,11), just as He had made the gourd grow (4:6). Jonah was so grateful for the gourd; he valued it. And this was to show him God’s value of Nineveh. Yet Jonah was angry with the worm, who had made the gourd perish. The perishing of Nineveh (<a href='B:390 3:9'>Jon 3:9</a>) and the perishing of the gourd (4:10) are clearly parallel. He was being led to realize who he really was- a worm, who unthinkingly had sought to fell and cause to perish a wonderful and beautiful part of God’s creation. Jonah’s anger that Nineveh had been preserved is set against his anger that the gourd had perished. He was being shown that he was not in step with God’s thinking / Spirit here. If Nineveh had perished, God would have been angry and sad and depressed, just as Jonah felt on the perishing of thegourd. This was the whole purpose of the gourd incident, and it is the purpose of many incidents in our lives- to show us how God feels. Jonah was angry that Nineveh had been preserved, when instead he should have been angry if it had perished. His anger, his feelings, were not in step with God’s. And the gourd incident beautifully brought this out to him.</h4>


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<h4>It happened that when the sun arose, God prepared- For "prepared" see on :6.</h4><p>A hot east wind- A sign of Divine judgment, as this was what was sent upon the Egyptians. Jonah was sitting on the east of the city and so it came directly upon him.</p><p>And the sun beat on Jonah’s head- Being smitten by the sun was to be understood as Divine judgment, and preservation from this is a sign of being God’s people (the same Hebrew phrase is used in <a href='B:230 121:6'>Psa 121:6</a>; <a href='B:290 49:10'>Isa 49:10</a>). Jonah had set himself up in his booth to observe the hoped for judgment upon Nineveh. But in fact they were to be spared judgment, and instead, judgment was aimed at Jonah, even though God in His grace had been willing to spare Jonah from it through creating the vine. The whole narrative of Jonah’s thinking and self-understanding was being overturned. Sinful Gentiles had repented and were being saved; and instead Divine judgment was headed for him for his self-righteous elitism.</p><p>So that he fainted- Jonah “fainted” as a result of the gourd perishing, just as he “fainted” [s:w:] when he refused to preach to Nineveh initially (<a href='B:390 2:7'>Jon 2:7</a>). Circumstances so often repeat in the lives of God’s people, and this is in order to seek to teach us something. It seems that Jonah only preached on the outskirts of Nineveh and then gave up; for it was only word of his message that reached the King (<a href='B:390 3:3-4'>Jon 3:3-4</a>). Jonah couldn’t maintain the intensity; he wilted as the gourd did. He couldn’t maintain a sense of God’s grace, of His tremendous desire to save, and his motivation waned. And so, circumstances repeated. His half hearted preaching was tantamount to his refusal to preach; and he fainted as a result of each of these things.</p><h4>And requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live- See on <a href='B:390 1:4'>Jon 1:4</a>. These are the very words of the self-righteous Elijah, who wished to die because he considered himself to be the only faithful believer in Israel, ignoring the at least 7000 whom God stated were faithful. Elijah said this after the contest on Carmel, after which Ahab apparently repented. Perhaps it was Ahab’s repentance which made Elijah wish to die; he wished judgment upon Ahab. And Jonah didn’t learn the lesson. I argued on Jonah 2 that Jonah had already died and been resurrected by grace. He really ought to have learnt grace; but instead he just wants to die again. He considered the new life he had been given to be worthless, unless he could in that life see judgment upon sinners. We too can be saved from so great a death, preserved by grace, and yet still not let that grace become the narrative of our lives, but instead return to legalism, anger and self-righteous condemnation of others. The story of Jonah is indeed an incisive challenge to us in our age, where anger and condemnation of others is so much part of daily experience.</h4>


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<p>God said to Jonah, Is it right for you to be angry about the vine? He said, I am right to be angry, even to death- As noted on :8, Jonah ought to have learnt from his own salvation by grace that all bitterness and wrath was to have no part in his life from then on. But he didn’t. Again we must put the emphasis upon "you"- is it right for you to be angry, when wrath and judgment belongs to God alone? Jonah was angry that God had taken away the vine, just as he was angry that Nineveh wasn’t being judged. Yet the gift of the vine to shelter him in his anger was purely by God’s grace. He was angry that grace had been withdrawn from him, just as he was angry that judgment had been withdrawn from Nineveh. He assumed that he had a right to God’s grace, whereas Nineveh didn’t. He was being powerfully tested in these things, just as we are. "Is it right:::?" translates a Hebrew word which really carries the idea of ’Are you doing / creating good?’. Anger of Jonah’s kind is uncreative. No good will come of it. Whilst anger is part of our human makeup, it needs to be controlled. The expression of God’s anger is always ultimately creative, His judgments bring others to know Him, His Name is glorified:. whereas the anger displayed by Jonah was not going to do or create anything good or right. It was purely selfish, and he admits that he is angry unto death- so angry, that he wanted to die, and throw away the gift of saved life which He had earlier been given when resurrected out of the fish.</p>


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<h4>Yahweh said, You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not laboured, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night- If Jonah didn’t want God’s grace withdrawn from him nor the vine, then he had to understand that God also didn’t want to withdraw His grace from Nineveh. And God had far more invested in Nineveh than Jonah had in the vine. He had laboured for Nineveh and its people; proof enough that this world isn’t just wound up by God and left ticking on a clockwork mechanism. Everything, especially human life, is a result of His outgoing giving out of His power and energy. God had made the people of Nineveh grow::. this is how close God is to Gentiles. And let us not think that people are unimportant to God, or not noticed by Him if they don’t know the Gospel. He expends conscious effort for all growth, especially human growth. People matter to Him, even if we cannot fathom why many die without never hearing the Gospel; perhaps He foreknew they would not accept it, and so not calling them to hear it was an act of grace. For those who hear it and reject it shall be raised to condemnation. Whatever the reason, we must accept that God is love, and reveals Himself here as having made each animal and human to grow; to destroy them with mass destruction was clearly not what He wanted to do. Instead, He had "pity" (AV), or "was concerned" for Nineveh even more than Jonah was for the vine (:11). And so we should be for all people; John Thomas was quite wrong to claim that we should "not care a rush" for those who differ from us in their religious understandings.</h4><p>The vine ’perished’ as Nineveh were going to perish and as the Gentile sailors had almost perished (see on <a href='B:390 3:9'>Jon 3:9</a>). The point was that God made to perish that which He had long laboured for, and that perishing was for Jonah’s sake. And He did not want to make Nineveh perish because of Jonah’s nationalism and elitism.</p><h4>Can one person on a speck of a planet in a speck of a solar system in a mediocre clump of a galaxy really make a difference to the creator of that universe? Just one of the billions who have lived on this planet since Adam? As David looked to the heavens, he felt what surely we all have: “What is man, that You are mindful of him…?”. Almighty God created a bush to give Jonah shade from the sun; and created a tiny worm to take it away, to teach Jonah something. We matter to God. Our lives and experiences and the things in our lives are important to Him, down to the micro level [a worm, in Jonah’s case]. And we should reflect this in the way we treat others- all men. God reminded Jonah that He had laboured and ‘made to grow’ the people of Nineveh, just as He had consciously&nbsp; expended energy on the growth of the gourd. People should matter to us; their lives, their feelings, their eternal destiny. I am not preaching some kind of humanism. Rather, appealing for us to reflect the same senseless, illogical, caring and saving spirit of our Lord and our Creator.</h4>


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<h4>Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city- The greatness of the city was the basis for His feeling of compassion, His desire that they would not perish [although they were worthy of it] and come to repentance. This enables us to read <a href='B:390 1:2'>Jon 1:2</a> in a somewhat different light: “Go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against”. When God described Nineveh as a “great city”, the very fact of its size elicited a desire to spare it. And of course we meet the same phrase in Revelation (<a href='B:730 18:21'>Rev 18:21</a>), where a condemned Babylon is described as a “great city”. This was not God gleefully preparing to destroy a huge city. He surely had Nineveh in mind when He inspired those words. This was, and will be, a God whose very heart is touched by the tragedy of sinners having to be punished, and who is open to a change of purpose if they will repent. Thus the latter day appeal to “Come out of her!”, whether we understand ‘Babylon’ as false religion, the Moslem world, the world of sinners or whoever, is rooted in God’s spirit of passionate love towards Nineveh. As Jonah “cried” against Nineveh, so God ‘cries’ against Babylon (<a href='B:730 18:2'>Rev 18:2</a>). We who make that appeal in these last days should be reflecting here on earth the mind of God in Heaven not merely pronouncing doom and gloom against ‘Babylon’, but warning them of God’s stated intentions towards them with a heart that bleeds for them and seeks their repentance. The heart of God Almighty responded in harmony to the hearts of the Ninevites- brought out by the repeated word play in <a href='B:390 3:8-10'>Jon 3:8-10</a>, whereby the ‘turning’ of Nineveh in repentance is reflected in how God ‘turns’ and repents of what He had said He would do to them.</h4><h4>In which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?- As noted on :10, all life on this earth is a result of God’s conscious, active involvement and labour. And this includes animal life; and so the tragedy of destroying the city would involve the loss of the animal life too. What was in God’s mind therefore was a cataclysm the size of that which hit Sodom; it would have been on a huge scale, if 120,000&nbsp; children and all the animals would have been destroyed. Keil and Delitsczh quote ancient sources which claim that a child was considered to only be able to certainly differentiate between right and left at seven years old. 120,000 under seven would mean a population of over half a million, with high population density. The total desolation of the Nineveh area was clearly in His mind; and therefore His sensitivity to human repentance is the more evident, in that He changed that plan.</h4><p>In all true spiritual endeavour and genuine spiritual progress, there seems almost inevitably to be a process of two steps backward and three forward. Consider the pattern of Jonah’s life:</p><p>-&nbsp;&nbsp; Encounters the presence of God</p><p>-&nbsp;&nbsp; Flees from his preaching responsibility; faints</p><p>-&nbsp;&nbsp; Saved by God’s grace</p><p>-&nbsp;&nbsp; Repents and obeys the call to preach</p><p>-&nbsp;&nbsp; Loses his intensity</p><p>-&nbsp;&nbsp; God shows Jonah how He feels about Nineveh</p><p>-&nbsp;&nbsp; Jonah faints</p><p>-&nbsp;&nbsp; Repents and obeys the call to preach by writing up his poem and writing the book of Jonah.</p><p>Within the course of a few hours, we can go through the essence of this process, learning again the lesson of Jonah and the gourd. We are encountering the presence and call of God to minister every hour; for the need of the world around us is the call.</p><p><strong>Jonah and Nahum</strong></p><p>Nahum also prophesied against Nineveh. When we read his words, it would appear that there was no chance for Nineveh. And yet presumably there was always a chance for them, just as there was at Jonah’s time some years previously. But it seems to me that the essential message of Nahum was that of Jonah. They could have repented, even then. Not surprisingly, we find many allusions by Nahum back to Jonah:&nbsp;</p><table><tr><td></p><h4>Nahum</td><td>Jonah [re. Nineveh]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>God is slow to anger (1:3)</td><td>4:2 [same Hebrew words]- and therefore He saved Nineveh.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>“Who can abide in the fierceness ofHis anger?” (1:6)</td><td>God turns away from “the fierceness of His anger” [s:w:] against Nineveh (3:9)- Nineveh had survived God’s fierce anger by repenting, and so they could even in Nahum’s time. The Hebrew word translated “abide” in <a href='B:410 1:6'>Nah 1:6</a> is that used in Jonah to describe how the King of Assyria “arose” (3:6) in repentance. The answer to the question: “Who can abide / arise in the [presence of] the fierceness of His anger?” is: ‘The King of Assyria if he repents’.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The wickedness of Nineveh “came up” before God’s face (2:1)</td><td>The same words are used about Nineveh (1:2).</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>God was “against” Nineveh (2:13)</td><td>Same word in 1:2</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Judged for “wickedness” (3:19)</td><td>Same word in 1:2; 3:8</td><td></td></tr></table><p>It becomes apparent that the Ninevites of Nahum’s day are being directed back to the repentance of their city at the time of Jonah; but clearly they are also being invited to share in Jonah’s personal repentance. &nbsp;</h4><table><tr><td></p><h4>Nahum</td><td>Jonah [re. Jonah]</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>God has His way in the storm (1:3)</td><td>Jonah’s experience in the storm</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>God rebukes the sea (1:4)</td><td>As God stilled the storm which Jonah was in</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Who can stand before God? (1:5)</td><td>Jonah had to be ‘stood up’ [s:w:]&nbsp; from his hiding in the ship when fleeing from God’s presence (1:15)</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>The Lord is a stronghold “in the day of trouble” (1:7) to those who trust Him.</td><td>Jonah cried to God in his “affliction” [s:w. “trouble” ] (2:2)</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>An “overrunning flood” will overtake Nineveh (1:8)</td><td>“The floods…passed over [s:w. “overrunning”] Jonah (2:2); but Jonah repented and was saved. Note how the connections between <a href='B:410 1:7-8'>Nah 1:7-8</a> and <a href='B:390 2:2'>Jon 2:2</a> are in close proximity- surely an allusion is intended here.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>Affliction (1:9)</td><td>Affliction [s:w:] (2:2)</td><td></td></tr></table><p>From this it becomes apparent that Jonah is seen by God as in essentially the same position as the Ninevites. This was why his appeal to them was so strong. For he had been in just their position, in essence, yet had repented. The fact Nahum makes all these allusions to Jonah’s personal repentance indicates that they well knew the story of Jonah; and his repentance had inspired that of the audience he preached to. In these we see a very real pattern for ourselves; it is our identity with our audience, as repentant sinners ourselves, which will elicit their response.</h4><h4>Nahum’s message was not only a warning of judgment to come upon Nineveh. It was an appeal to Israel, that unless they repented, they would likewise perish. The appeal to Judah to “perform thy vows” (<a href='B:410 1:15'>Nah 1:15</a>) is couched in the very same words as Jonah used in <a href='B:390 2:9'>Jon 2:9</a>: “I will pay [s:w. perform] that which I have vowed”. Judah were being asked to be like Jonah, and not despise Nineveh, but rather appeal to her to repent.</h4>


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<p>The word of Yahweh that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem- We note that although Micah was based in Judah, his work was also in appealing to Samaria, the ten tribes, as well as the two tribe kingdom of Judah whose capital was Jerusalem. Micah’s words were perhaps addressed specifically to the leadership and priests in the cities of Samaria and Jerusalem, although all the people were also addressed (:2).</p>


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<h4>Hear, you peoples, all of you- As noted on :1, Micah was appealing to both Israel and Judah. Hence "all" the earth / eretz / land was addressed. Perhaps there was a tendency for Judah to assume that all words of Divine condemnation were for others rather than themselves; and we all have that tendency:&nbsp; Several of the prophets appeal to both Israel and Judah; potentially, if both nations had repented, they could have reunited as one nation under God and the dominion of God’s Kingdom established over them both.</h4><p>Listen, O earth, and all that is therein- The Hebrew terms for&nbsp; "hear", usually meaning ’be obedient’, and "listen", meaning literally to hear or pay attention, are often used together in the Hebrew Bible. The idea is that if we really hear, we will be obedient to what we hear. And this is our problem; the language of the Bible can drift over us, without us paying attention. And so the two terms are used together- to really hear God’s word is to be obedient to it.</p><h4>And let the Lord Yahweh be witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple- The imagery of the court room continues in :3. God is both the witness, and the judge. Just as the Lord Jesus is later presented as both the judge and also the advocate, on our side and successfully pleading our case, hopeless as it is. There is no essential contradiction; the imagery here gives us an insight into the thinking of God Himself. "From" is not a reflection of the original; the idea is that God in His heavenly temple, of which the Jerusalem temple was but a reflection, had entered into judgment with His people and was giving evidence</h4>


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<h4>For behold, Yahweh comes forth out of His place, and will come down and tread on the high places of the earth- God would come forth from the Heavenly temple and trample the "high places" where His people worshipped idols (:5). This probably has primary reference to the Angel going forth from the temple to slay the Assyrians in Hezekiah’s time. See on <a href='B:230 78:60'>Psa 78:60</a>. Micah’s appeal for repentance was heard at Hezekiah’s time (<a href='B:300 26:18-19'>Jer 26:18-19</a>), and so God came forth in judgment upon the enemies of His people rather than upon Judah, as would otherwise have happened as Micah here foresees. This is an example of where God’s stated purposes can be changed by human repentance. And yet the prophetic word comes true, but in a different form and time. Yahweh in His Angel did come out of His temple; but to judge Assyria and not Judah as originally intended.</h4><p>There are a whole set of allusions to Saul and Jonathan’s death in Micah 1, 2, where they are connected with a spiritually collapsed Israel:</p><table><tr><td></p><h4>Micah 1, 2</td><td>Saul and Jonathan</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>High places (1:3)</td><td>Slain at the site of their high places (<a href='B:100 1:19'>2Sa 1:19</a>; <a href='B:100 1:25'>2Sa 1:25</a>). These high places are consistently associated with idolatry and at best semi-spirituality.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"A wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls" (1:8) for apostate Israel</td><td>David’s lament over Jonathan and Saul</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"They covet fields, and take them away::. they oppress a man" (<a href='B:400 2:2'>Mic 2:2</a>)</td><td>Saul was guilty of this.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"Lament with a lamentation of lamentations" for the pathos of it all (<a href='B:400 2:4'>Mic 2:4</a> AVmg:)</td><td>David’s lament over Jonathan and Saul</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"Your shame naked" (1:11)</td><td>Stripped naked by the Philistines, with Saul’s body&nbsp; paraded naked on the wall of Bethshan.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"It is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem" (1:9)</td><td>The Philistines took the Israelite cities at this time (<a href='B:90 31:7'>1Sa 31:7</a>), presumably including Jerusalem, which David had to recapture.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"Declare ye it not at Gath" (1:10) - regarding Israel’s judgment for sin</td><td>This is a direct quote from <a href='B:100 1:20'>2Sa 1:20</a>.</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>“The glory of Israel hides in the cave of Adullam” (1:15 NEB)</td><td>Saul</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>"She is grievously sick of her wounds" (1:9 AVmg:)</td><td>How Saul and Jonathan died (<a href='B:90 31:1-2'>1Sa 31:1-2</a> AVmg:).</td><td></td></tr></table>&nbsp;<p>David’s lament over Saul and Jonathan was that of God and Micah over Israel. There is therefore the possible hint that Jonathan’s personal spirituality was not what it might have been at this time. The grief of Micah for Israel was that of David for Jonathan: "I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls" (<a href='B:400 1:8'>Mic 1:8</a>). The extent of David’s grief is another indication of his love for Jonathan; and this is a prophecy of Christ’s love for us:&nbsp;The spirit of Christ was in Micah.</h4>


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<h4>The mountains melt under him- The language of <a href='B:230 97:5'>Psa 97:5</a>; <a href='B:230 97:7'>Psa 97:7</a> about the judgment upon idolaters.</h4><p>And the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire- The language of condemnation of the wicked (<a href='B:230 68:2'>Psa 68:2</a>). We note that on the cross, the Lord’s heart was also like melted wax (<a href='B:230 22:14'>Psa 22:14</a>). Although He never personally sinned, through the crucifixion process He endured the condemnation of sinners; those He condemns will therefore be given a judgment which He has Himself experienced although innocent. No human judge can do this. His judgment will therefore be ultimately just. And yet we also see how even sin doesn’t put us in a position which He cannot appreciate.</p><h4>Like waters that are poured down a steep place- Waters and rivers often represent Gentile powers. They would gush into the land in judgment, poured out by God, rather like the bowls of judgment are poured out upon eretz Israel in Revelation.</h4>


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<h4>All this is because of the disobedience of Jacob, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the disobedience of Jacob? Isn’t it Samaria?- There are many hints in the Genesis record that the historical Jacob and his family were all too involved with idols as well as Yahweh. <a href='B:10 31:36'>Gen 31:36</a> uses the precise Hebrew words as here: "Jacob answered Laban, What is my trespass [s:w."disobedience"]? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me?". The context is that Jacob’s wife Rachel had stolen her father’s idols, and Jacob was in denial of this. The disobedience of Jacob and the sins of the Jacob family, "Israel", was not only idolatry, but specifically the denial that they practiced it. Soon afterwards, Jacob urged the family of Israel to repentance and they buried their idols beneath a tree. And this was the ongoing sin of Israel at Micah’s time- idolatry, and the denial of it. The disobedience of Jacob was at the idol shrine of Samaria, where the ten tribes worshipped their idols in the name of Yahweh, claiming that their ancestor Jacob had done the same; Hosea comments often about this. See on <a href='B:350 7:1'>Hos 7:1</a>; <a href='B:350 8:5-6'>Hos 8:5-6</a>; <a href='B:350 10:5'>Hos 10:5</a>; <a href='B:350 10:7'>Hos 10:7</a>; <a href='B:350 13:16'>Hos 13:16</a>.</h4><h4>And what are the high places of Judah?Aren’t they Jerusalem?- Just as the ten tribes worshipped their idols in the name of Yahweh worship, so the Jerusalem temple was used. Ezekiel was shown men worshipping idols right within the temple. And this is our tendency; not to totally deny Yahweh and fall into atheism, but to worship our idols in the name of serving God. Our passion for a career, nice house, car and vacations becomes justified as Yahweh worship when it is just the same idolatry which the people around us shamelessly practice.</h4>


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<p>Therefore I will make Samaria like a rubble heap of the field, like places for planting vineyards; and I will pour down its stones into the valley, and I will uncover its foundations- It was normal for victorious invaders to destroy the religious symbols of those they vanquished, and this was to happen to Samaria. And yet in wrath God always remembers mercy; the desolate site would become a place where vineyards could be planted. This is the very picture of God’s restored Kingdom upon earth (<a href='B:290 65:21'>Isa 65:21</a>; <a href='B:370 9:14'>Amo 9:14</a>). God’s anger is unlike human anger. It is to clear the ground for His restorative work, albeit with another generation and even nation.</p>


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<p>All her idols will be beaten to pieces, and all her temple gifts will be burned with fire, and all her images will be destroyed; for as the hire of a prostitute has she obtained them, and to the hire of a prostitute shall they return- The condemnation of Jerusalem and her temple cult is more extreme than that of Samaria. Those who prided themselves that they were worshipping Yahweh correctly, in the temple rather than at Jeroboam’s idolatrous calf shrines, were actually worse than those they felt superior to. And this is the danger of legalism to this day. As noted on :6, it was usual for victorious invaders to destroy the religious symbols of those they vanquished, and this was to happen to Jerusalem. It was only the reformation led by Isaiah’s school of the prophets, which surely included Micah, aided by Hezekiah, which stopped this prophecy coming true at that time. The idols were "temple gifts"; they were justified as having been devoted to Yahweh. See on :5. Micah uses the same language as Hosea, in seeing Jerusalem as a prostitute who was paid for her services with idols which she treasured.</p>


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<h4>For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked- This was the judgment of prostitutes, and Micah has just likened Jerusalem to a prostitute in :7. He doesn’t merely condemn, but feels himself into the shoes of those whose behaviour is so abhorrent. No wonder therefore that his appeal was successful in Hezekiah’s time (<a href='B:300 26:18-19'>Jer 26:18-19</a>).</h4><h4>I will howl like the jackals, and moan like the daughters of owls- The Hebrew specifically refers to female jackals and female owls. The females only howl like this when their very own young are taken from them. This was how Micah felt as he predicted the destruction of God’s people; for in :16 he will speak of how they would lose their beloved offspring. It would be a very personal loss to Micah. Their diminishing was his diminishing, and in this he powerfully reflected the feelings of God. These terrible judgments were not therefore uttered in anger, and unlike Jonah, they were uttered with every appeal for the hearers to repent and to thereby change the otherwise inevitable.</h4>


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<h4>For her wounds are incurable; and it has come even to Judah- The incurable wound was healed by their repentance (<a href='B:300 26:18-19'>Jer 26:18-19</a>). This is the paradox of grace. God is really willing to change His stated purpose, as He did regarding Israel at the time of Moses, and for Nineveh- because He so respects the repentance of even a remnant, and their intercession.</h4><h4>It reaches to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem- As noted on :8 and :10, Micah’s personal identity with his target audience is impressive, and the root of his success. Hence he speaks of "my people". We see here too the unity of spirit between God and His prophet, His man on earth. These words about "my people" could be God speaking, or Micah. Micah was one in spirit with God in his feelings about God’s people. The process of inspiration would have worked through this.</h4>


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<h4>Don’t tell it in Gath- See on :3. Micah mourned for God’s people as righteous David did for sinful Saul, whom he so loved despite all the wickedness that man did to him.</h4><h4>Don’t weep at all. At Beth Ophrah I have rolled myself in the dust- Rolling naked (:7) in the dust… this was the extent ofMicah’s passion for the repentance of his audience. The success of his appeal (<a href='B:300 26:18-19'>Jer 26:18-19</a>) was because of his personal appeal and identity with his target audience. And this is the lesson for every preacher. "Beth Ophrah" is literally ’house of dust’, this was what that idol shrine would become; and Micah rolls himself in the dust in order to show his extreme identity with those facing such impending judgment. He didn’t shrug and not care for those who refused to listen; his heart bled for them because of his urgent and desperate sense of identity with them. This shines through all of Micah’s appeals. The prophets believed their message, to the point that it overcame them with grief that men wouldn’t heed them. Is this how we feel at the rejection of our message? Is our testimony to Jesus really in the spirit of these prophets…? Can we identify with Micah when he lamented and wailed, going stripped and naked, because of the import of what he was prophesying, and human rejection of it? Depending which translation we choose, it appears that Micah now lists 10 towns around Jerusalem which are to be judged. This may be in order to suggest that Judah is effectively no better than the ten tribe kingdom and will suffer their judgment.</h4>


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<h4>Pass on, inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame- As noted on :7 and :8, the judgment for a prostitute. "Shaphir" means ’beautiful woman’, another connection with prostitution. They would flee the invaders, or be taken captive by them, in naked shame. Yet Micah also went naked and shamed because he so identified with them (:8). The towns of Judah listed here were presumably centers of idolatry. If we follow the LXX here, the identity of the next towns is no longer an issue: "The inhabitant of Sennaar, fairly inhabiting her cities, came not forth to mourn for the house next to her: she shall receive of you the stroke of grief". This would be in contrast to how Micah did mourn for those next to him.</h4><h4>The inhabitant of Zaanan won’t come out- "Zaanan" could be a form of "Zion". They would not be able to flee to Beth Ezel, possibly Azal near Jerusalem (<a href='B:450 14:5'>Zec 14:5</a>). Zion would be surrounded by her enemies and there would be no place to escape to, as all the surrounding villages would have been captured. There is a similar idea in :12, where another village near Jerusalem is mentioned.</h4><h4>When you hear the wailing of Beth Ezel, you will know there is no protection there- Beth Ezel is "house of joining", perhaps a reference to the brothels associated with idol worship.</h4>


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<h4>For the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously hoping for good- The villages around Jerusalem were to be overrun by the Assyrians as they closed in on Jerusalem. The problem was that the Jews had been worshipping idols in the name of Yahweh worship (see on :5), and they thought that therefore Yahweh would protect them; they ’anxiously hoped’, s:w. "pray" in <a href='B:450 8:22'>Zec 8:22</a>; but the response was to be "evil" rather than the "good" they asked for. Both "good" and "evil" come from Him, not Satan.</h4><h4>But evil has come down from Yahweh to the gate of Jerusalem- Clear evidence that evil in the sense of disaster comes from God and not from any supernatural being called Satan. Micah felt that the "evil" was already at the gate of Jerusalem, about to enter. The picture is of the enemies at the gates of Jerusalem, surrounding the city. This is what happened when Sennacherib invaded, but Micah’s appeal was heard, a remnant repented, led by Isaiah and his school of the prophets, which included Micah, whose prophecies have much in common with Isaiah (Micah 4 = Isaiah 2). And so the situation was averted, although the towns around Jerusalem did indeed fall to the Assyrians at that time.</h4>


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<h4>Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lachish- The idea could be that Lachish should prepare to flee. But the rest of the verse speaks as if there was particular sin found there. I suggest therefore that the idea is that the Assyrians had a camp at Lachish from which they would begin their assault on Jerusalem, and this is exactly what is stated in <a href='B:290 36:2'>Isa 36:2</a>. Yet that invasion was sent by God, at His command; see on :4.</h4><h4>She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the transgressions of Israel were found in you- As explained on :5, the transgression of Israel / Jacob was idolatry and refusing to accept their sin. The daughter of Zion refers specifically to the temple mount, which had become a place of idol worship in the name of Yahweh (:5). Some of the idols they worshipped came from the Assyrians who were now going to attack and destroy them. "The beginning of sin" can mean "the great sin".</h4>


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<h4>Therefore you will give a parting gift to Moresheth Gath- Micah was from Moresheth (:1), he perhaps calls it "Gath" to suggest it was Philistine in spirit. Again, he is stressing that the judgment he is announcing affects him personally, "my people" (:9), and even his own home village. This continues the theme of Micah’s complete identification with the audience he was preaching to</h4><h4>The houses of Achzib will be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel- There is a word play here, as "deceitful" is the same word as "Achzib". The word is used of the false prophets in <a href='B:400 2:11'>Mic 2:11</a>, so perhaps these houses were the centers of the false prophets who had assured the people that they were serving Yahweh through their idolatry and He would therefore protect them from the invaders; see on :12.</h4>


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<h4>I will yet hand you over to your enemy, inhabitant of Mareshah- Again the emphasis is upon the fact that God would do this, He would pour out the waters of the invaders upon His own people.</h4><h4>The leader who is the glory of Israel will come to hide in the Adullam cave- As noted on :3, Micah was lamenting for his people as David did for Saul. They gloried in their king just as Israel initially did in Saul, but he would come to hide himself in the Adullam cave just as Saul did. But again there is hope implied; for at that cave, David gave Saul the opportunity for repentance. And this is always the hint throughout Micah, and it seems some took it. The leader whom Israel glorified was presumably a king of Judah before Hezekiah; but the judgment of Jerusalem didn’t then come, because Micah’s message was responded to. The book of Micah has three discernible sections, possibly corresponding to the prophecies he uttered in the reign of the three kings mention in :1. These words may have therefore had Jotham or Ahaz in view.</h4>


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<h4>Shave your heads, and cut off your hair for the children of your delight. Enlarge your baldness like the vulture; for they have gone into captivity from you!- I noted on :8 that Micah wept as if he had lost his children. He was totally identified with those who were so sinful, who were under certain judgment, but whom he hoped to save by bringing them to repentance. In no way did he practice guilt by association and mental separation from those who were under judgment. Instead, on God’s behalf, he identified with them in order to try to win them to repentance. And this was supremely what God did through the work and death of His Son, who was "son of man" as much as any man was. A woman did not shave her head in grief for lost children; this was the punishment of a prostitute, and this is the theme of this section. Israel had prostituted themselves to other gods (:7). Judah was to cut off her hair in shame and grief (<a href='B:290 3:24'>Isa 3:24</a>; <a href='B:300 7:29'>Jer 7:29</a>), and yet they would do so themselves.</h4><h4>Micah Chapter 2</h4>


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<h4>Woe to those who devise iniquity- The same phrase used in <a href='B:230 36:4'>Psa 36:4</a> of Saul who has been set up as the prototype of a condemned Israel at Micah’s time (see on <a href='B:400 1:3'>Mic 1:3</a>). It is the same phrase used of the Jerusalem leadership who brought idols into the temple (<a href='B:330 11:2'>Eze 11:2</a>). This was ongoing in Micah’s time (<a href='B:400 1:5'>Mic 1:5</a>), but judgment didn’t come for it because Micah’s appeal succeeded, thanks to his passionate identity with the people he was appealing to, and to the effects of the school of the prophets to which he belonged.</h4><p>And work evil on their beds!- "Evil" was to come upon Jerusalem (<a href='B:400 1:12'>Mic 1:12</a>), but the people had themselves worked or created that evil.</p><h4>When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand- We have here one of many Biblical examples of where thought gives direct rise to action. The state of our mind, our spirit, is therefore critically important. They ’did’ ["practiced"] evil; and that phrase is the consistent refrain of the record of the kings, that they "did evil in the sight of Yahweh". But that doing of evil was conscious, and the result of their thoughts as they lay at night upon their beds.</h4>


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<p>They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage- As noted on :1, the thought gives rise to the action. They coveted fields in their hearts, and then in the morning, they actually seized them. We think of Ahab’s coveting Naboth’s vineyard. The perpetrators of these things were the ruling classes. Land inheritances were from God, and the Mosaic law defended inheritances, seeing the land was God’s and He had divided it as He wished. To simply grab property from another was therefore to as it were steal from God. To "oppress" others by legalistic games to their own advantage would lead to the Assyrians’oppressing’ them; the same word is used about this in <a href='B:290 52:4'>Isa 52:4</a>. If Judah stopped oppressing their brethren, they would not be oppressed by their enemies (<a href='B:300 7:6'>Jer 7:6</a>; <a href='B:300 21:12'>Jer 21:12</a>; <a href='B:300 50:33'>Jer 50:33</a>). Not oppressing our brethren is a major theme of the law and the prophets. And it has wide application to our lives today. The collateral damage caused is brought out here- by seizing the house of a man, the oppressor was hurting the man’s house in the sense of his family. The collateral damage of unpleasant behaviour against individuals is often ignored or discounted. But God notices.</p>


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<h4>Therefore thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am planning against these people a disaster- This is the same word for "evil"; the evil of the oppressors (:1) would lead to the evil of the invasions (<a href='B:400 1:12'>Mic 1:12</a>). God plans judgment, and states it as if it will surely happen, as He did with Nineveh in Jonah’s time. But in the gap between statement and fulfilment, there is the opportunity for repentance, and God is so sensitive to that, that He will change His stated word of judgment. The evil planned need not happen if there is repentance (the same words are used in <a href='B:300 18:11'>Jer 18:11</a>).</h4><h4>From which you will not remove your necks, neither will you walk proudly; for it is an evil time- The idea is that the invaders would impose a yoke upon God’s people, implying captivity and bondage. And yet they could remove their necks from it eventually, for it was God’s purpose that the captives would return. But the generation that first experienced it would not. The intention was to bring down their proud necks; pride as always was the essential problem.</h4>


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<p>In that day they will take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, saying, ‘We are utterly ruined! My people’s possession is divided up. Indeed he takes it from me and assigns our fields to traitors!’- Again we see that the judgments to come were really of their own device. They had taken others’ possessions, and so now the fields they had stolen (:2) would be taken by the invaders. Who would take up the parable "against you"? They themselves. They were to lament themselves, and recognize that their fields had been taken away and given to the immoral. Micah ahead of time had lamented (<a href='B:400 1:8'>Mic 1:8</a>). He felt himself into the condemnation of his people, although he himself was innocent. Just as the Lord did to supremacy on the cross. It was this identity and empathy with the objects of the wrath he was pronouncing which made Micah so effective, and it is the reason why the cross of the human Christ must be central to our appeal to men; for He there is what elicits response.</p>


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<p>Therefore you will have no one who divides the land by lot in the assembly of Yahweh- It was at these land courts that the poor were deceived out of their property and inheritances, as criticized in :2. And yet it was done in the name of Yahweh; those illegal courts were presented as being an "assembly of Yahweh" just as idol worship was claimed as Yahweh worship. Or it could be that we are to associate :5 with :6; and this verse is the threat of the Jewish leaders to Micah, that they would arrange that he would lose his inheritance.</p>


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<p>Don’t preach!, they preach, Don’t preach about these things. Disgrace won’t overtake us- As noted on <a href='B:400 1:5'>Mic 1:5</a>, Judah worshipped other gods in the name of Yahweh worship, and the false prophets of both Israel and Judah assured them that therefore Yahweh would protect them from the Assyrians; they expected good to come from Him in the time of their need (see on <a href='B:400 1:12'>Mic 1:12</a>). The word for "preach" is literally ’to drip’, which was the metaphor for prophecy in <a href='B:50 32:2'>Deu 32:2</a>. They ’preached’ or ’dripped’ that Micah was not to ’drip’ or preach. They were claiming Divine inspiration in forbidding Micah to preach. Amos had the same. Anyone who feels the need to stop another preaching is really revealing their own agenda. These false prophets claimed to have had Divine revelation that Micah should stop teaching, and that they had a message that the people would not be overtaken by disgrace as Micah claimed. Truly false teachers say what people want to hear. Isaiah, contemporary with Micah, had prophesied that they would indeed suffer "disgrace" (s:w. <a href='B:290 30:3'>Isa 30:3</a>; <a href='B:290 45:16'>Isa 45:16</a>). Micah taught the same. In Semitic worldviews, shame was worse than death. It was again their pride which led them to reject intuitively any message that they would be humbled, and it is the same root cause for human rejection of the Christian message.</p>


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<h4>Shall it be said, O house of Jacob: Is the Spirit of Yahweh restrained?- Micah spoke by the Spirit of Yahweh, and to tell him not to speak those words (:6) was therefore an attempt to restrain the Spirit. They could not restrain God’s Spirit by simply stating that the inspired word of God was not inspired. People make the same mistake today.</h4><h4>Are these His doings? Don’t My words do good to him who walks blamelessly?- The power of God’s word is such that those who are spiritual, who ’walk blamelessly’, are strengthened further by them. His words "do good"; perhaps the false prophets were saying that Micah’s prophetic word were ’not good’ for the people, just as was claimed against Jeremiah.</h4>


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<h4>But lately My people have risen up as an enemy- God’s people became His enemy in that they were on the side of God’s enemies; and He would be an enemy to their enemies (<a href='B:20 23:22'>Exo 23:22</a> s:w:). Perhaps this was reflected in Micah’s personal experience, just as God’s painful relationship with Israel was reflected in that of Hosea with his faithless wife Gomer. For Micah will use the same word for "enemy" in speaking of how his own close family members, perhaps even his own wife, had become his "enemy" (<a href='B:400 7:6'>Mic 7:6</a>; <a href='B:400 7:8'>Mic 7:8</a>; <a href='B:400 7:10'>Mic 7:10</a>). We will note on :11 that the problem was not simply with the minority who were the leaders; but the entire people were polluting the land by eagerly listening to false prophets.</h4><p>You strip the robe and clothing from those who pass by- As noted on <a href='B:350 7:1'>Hos 7:1</a>, the priests were even robbing those who passed along the roads.</p><h4>Confidently assuming that they aren’t in danger- As noted on :6, the false prophets claimed that Yahweh would protect His people from the Assyrians because they were worshipping Him when they worshipped the idols. The ten tribe kingdom did the same with their calf worship.</h4>


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<p>You drive the women of My people out from their pleasant houses; from their young children you take away My blessing forever- This continues the complaint in :2, that houses and the Divine blessing of land inheritance were being taken away from people by wealth-hungry leaders.</p>


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<p>Arise, and depart! For this is not your resting place, because of your uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction- There has been a strong theme in this chapter of inheritances being given by God but then taken away by corrupt men. This seems to continue here; the land would spew out those who corrupted it (<a href='B:30 18:28'>Lev 18:28</a>; <a href='B:30 20:22'>Lev 20:22</a>). The people are being asked to recognize this, and themselves depart. It could not be their permanent resting place because they were destroying it by their own uncleanness. They would be dealt with just as the Canaanites had been.</p>


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<p>If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies: I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink; he would be the prophet of this people- The false prophets spoke under the influence of alcohol / spirit drink, and yet claimed to be inspired by God’s Spirit. The same contrast between the two types of spirit is made by Paul in <a href='B:560 5:18'>Eph 5:18</a>; perhaps he got the idea from here. And yet the people loved to listen to them and accepted them as Divine prophets. The judgment therefore shifts from the religious leaders to the people, who gave them power and eagerly accepted the false prophets. God would surely not have destroyed the whole land and people for the sake of a few individuals who were falsely claiming to be prophets; the problem was that people had itching ears, and the nature of how they were and what they wanted inspired the false prophets to teach them what they wanted to hear. See on <a href='B:400 3:5'>Mic 3:5</a>.</p>


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<p>I will surely assemble, Jacob, all of you; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of their pasture; they will swarm with people- As so often, the prophecies of condemnation lead immediately onwards to those of God’s restorative purpose. His judgments were not threatened nor executed in the kind of anger which men have. Rather did God always use those judgments towards His further purpose of salvation for a repentant remnant. and it sees He envisaged that remnant including both Israel and Judah. Their repentance would lead them to realize that all the personal barriers between them were as nothing; reconcilliation with God empowers reconcilliation between those reconciled with Him. The experience of repentance and forgiveness involves the humility which is required for reconcilliation between persons. This is why the prophets (Ezekiel and Zechariah particularly) often present the restoration to God as the time of unity between the remnants of Judah and Israel.</p>


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<h4>He who opens the breach goes up before them. They break through and pass the gate, and go out. And their king passes on before them, with Yahweh at their head- This sounds like the final desperate exit from Jerusalem by Zedekiah many years later. But this could have happened soon after the prophecy was first given. It didn’t, because Micah’s appeal met some response. God’s plan was therefore changed, but His word still came finally true, just as it did in Jonah’s prophecy of Nineveh’s destruction. It was averted by repentance, but the prophetic word was reinterpreted and rescheduled in fulfilment. But even in that shameful exile, Yahweh would as it were be leading the exiles, at their head.</h4><p>But the Hebrew can be translated quite comfortably in a way which would rather speak of the return of the exiles, again with Yahweh at their head; and this would fit the context of :12. The same lesson is taught here as in the cherubim visions of Ezekiel; Yahweh in all His glory went with the exiles out of Jerusalem into captivity, and would return with their children to a restored Zion. It was not that God turned away in disgust from His sinful people. He worked with them to both punish and restore, and this is an abiding feature of His work with His people.</p>


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<h4>I said, Please listen- Often the prophets break off from predicting coming condemnation to plead personally with their hearers to repent [this explains some of the strange shifts of pronouns in the prophets]. Chapter 2 is a message of judgment from God against Israel. And now Micah pleads personally with them.</h4><h4>You heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Isn’t it for you to know justice?- "Heads" translates the same word used in the preceding verse, <a href='B:400 2:13'>Mic 2:13</a>, where we noted that Yahweh was the head of His people, both in exile and restoration. The leadership were supposed to be working on God’s behalf, leading the people with Him and for Him. They didn’t "know" justice in the sense of actively engaging with it; "know" means effectively to have relationship with. By not knowing justice they hated it (:9).</h4>


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<p>You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones- This is the language of wolves tearing their prey. The shepherds of Israel were in fact wolves.</p>


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<p>Who also eat the flesh of My people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces for the pot, and as flesh within the cauldron- It is a lion who breaks the bones of its prey. The leaders of Israel had acted as the Assyrian lions would do to God’s people.</p>


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<p>Then they will cry to Yahweh, but He will not answer them. Yes, He will hide His face from them at that time, because they made their deeds evil- "Evil" is the term used so often of the evil to be brought upon God’s people by their invaders. But the people had themselves done "evil" to themselves. Their judgment was appropriate to their sin.</p>


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<h4>Thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who lead My people astray; for those who proclaim, Peace! to those who feed them- "Peace" often refers to peace with God. The priests of the calf shrines of Israel and of the idol shrines within the Jerusalem temple (<a href='B:400 1:5'>Mic 1:5</a>) assured the people that they enjoyed peace with God, and would not suffer from the Assyrians. This is the same kind of fake "peace and safety" cry of the last days (<a href='B:590 5:3'>1Th 5:3</a>). They said this to those who paid them, who fed them. They were career religionists. As noted on <a href='B:400 2:11'>Mic 2:11</a>, it was for this reason that the common people were as guilty as their spiritual leaders; for they wanted to hear the message which their leaders taught them, and even paid for it. It’s simply not the case that God would punish the mass of innocent people for the sins of their religious leaders. The masses get the leadership they essentially want, in that the leaders know they must say what the masses want. That principle has been historically true, regardless of whether democracy was practiced or not. And so at this point in Israel’s history, the leaders spoke what they knew the masses wanted to hear. And so the masses, although they were abused by their leadership, still stood responsible before God. See on :7.</h4><h4>And whoever doesn’t provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him- The singular "him" may refer specifically to Micah. Those who didn’t pay the false prophets to teach what they wanted to hear, had war prepared or sanctified against them. This is the language of jihad, of holy war- but waged by the false prophets upon the faithful minority. They religiously justified persecuting those who didn’t support them, appealing to a very quasi spirituality. See on <a href='B:400 4:3'>Mic 4:3</a>.</h4>


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<p>Therefore night is over you, with no vision, and it is dark to you, that you may not divine; and the sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will be black over them- The prophets in view are the false prophets of :5. It is the same idea as <a href='B:330 13:23'>Eze 13:23</a>: "Therefore you shall no more see false visions, nor practise fortune telling. I will deliver My people out of your hand". This verse is not saying that from then on, there would be no more prophets inspired by Yahweh. For there were prophets after Micah, and he himself goes on to insist that he is inspired (:8). The false prophets would have no further vision because the night of destruction would come upon them, rather than the light of God’s Kingdom which they claimed was about to dawn due to the people’s supposed faithfulness to the idol shrines, which they claimed were a form of devotion to Yahweh. This was the very message of <a href='B:370 5:18'>Amo 5:18</a>; <a href='B:370 5:20'>Amo 5:20</a> - the false prophets proclaimed the coming of a glorious day of Yahweh, but that day would be night and not light to them. The inversion of light to darkness suggests a de-creation, an undoing of creation, which is the very way that God envisages the destruction of His people and land.</p>


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<p>The seers shall be disappointed, and the diviners confounded. Yes, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from God- In their last moments, they would realize that there was no answer from God. God going silent is the ultimate sign of condemnation, as experienced by Saul. "Confounded" is the word Isaiah uses of how Judah would be "confounded" when their idols were destroyed and revealed as impotent (<a href='B:290 1:29'>Isa 1:29</a>). "Disappointed and confounded" is the Hebrew phrase used about the ordinary people of Judah in <a href='B:300 15:9'>Jer 15:9</a>. As noted on :5, the masses were also not innocent, for it was their desires which led to the leaders teaching as they did.</p>


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<h4>But as for me, I am full of power by the Spirit of Yahweh, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel his sin- Micah insists that he is inspired by God’s Spirit, whereas the false prophets were not. The references to Jacob and Israel may refer to Judah and the ten tribes. Both had sinned, and Judah were not to assume that they were more righteous. Micah personally was to be the declaration to Israel; see on <a href='B:400 6:8'>Mic 6:8</a>.</h4><h4>The reality of God’s anger, His hurt, His jealousy, means that God isn’t indifferent to sin. And neither should we be, increasingly surrounded by it as we are, with sin presented to us as the norm of human existence. We may feel or express disapproval at sin; but God’s reaction is something which language can’t convey. It results in the broken heart of God. This is the message of the prophets: that we must end our indifference, quite literally, for God’s sake. Sadly, many readers of the prophets seem to feel that these men are merely droning on, one prophet, one chapter, seems so much like the next. Yet read sensitively, and in a good translation, the words of the prophets expose us to a relentless shattering of indifference. Their words are onslaughts against cherished assumptions, patterns of living, challenging our endless evasions of issues, calling faith and behaviour to account. They are the very voice of God passionately imploring us to turn more fully to Him. Their task was “to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin”; just as Isaiah did, who probably led the school of prophets which Micah belonged to(<a href='B:400 3:8'>Mic 3:8</a> = <a href='B:290 58:1'>Isa 58:1</a>).</h4>


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<p>Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who hate justice, and pervert all right judgment- They didn’t "know" justice in the sense of actively engaging with it; "know" means effectively to have relationship with (:1). By not knowing justice they hated it. They of course would have denied this; but God sees the implication of our actions and states them for what they really are. The words for "justice" and "right judgment" are typically associated with the characteristics of God Himself (<a href='B:50 32:4'>Deu 32:4</a>). The leaders are called the ’leaders’ of His people (:1) just as God is described with the same term in <a href='B:400 2:13'>Mic 2:13</a>. They were to manifest God, to reflect His characteristics to others.</p>


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<p>They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity- The great houses of Jerusalem were built on the basis of the fraud and theft they had committed, as detailed in :11 and also mentioned in <a href='B:300 22:13'>Jer 22:13</a>; <a href='B:330 22:27'>Eze 22:27</a>; and the records of Jerusalem’s desolation stress the destruction of the great houses. Instead of building up Zion, they were in effect reducing her to rubble (:12).</p>


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<h4>Her leaders judge for bribes- Micah’s contemporary Isaiah had also bemoaned this (<a href='B:290 1:23'>Isa 1:23</a>); it was a flagrant disobedience to the Law (<a href='B:20 23:8'>Exo 23:8</a>; <a href='B:50 16:19'>Deu 16:19</a>).</h4><p>And her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money- As explained on :5, the fact the people paid for their teaching meant that the teachers taught what those paying them wanted to hear. And so the guilt of the nation was shared by the entire society; it wasn’t just the false teachers and priests who were responsible, but those who paid them to tell them what they wanted to here. The "fortune" they prophesied was that a wonderful Messianic kingdom would come soon, rather than destruction. Hence as explained on :6, the day of Yahweh which was coming would be night and not light for them, as in <a href='B:370 5:18'>Amo 5:18</a>; <a href='B:370 5:20'>Amo 5:20</a>.</p><p>Yet they lean on Yahweh and say, Isn’t Yahweh in the midst of us? No disaster will come on us- The context of :12 suggests this is specifically concerning the false teachers of Judah. They assumed Yahweh was in their midst, and therefore they were invincible, because they had the Jerusalem temple and didn’t worship in the calf shrines of the ten tribes. They felt that having the temple in their territory and using it was their automatic justification (<a href='B:290 48:2'>Isa 48:2</a>; <a href='B:300 7:4'>Jer 7:4</a>; <a href='B:300 7:8-11'>Jer 7:8-11</a>). And the departure of the cherubim in Ezekiel 1 would suggest that the shekinah glory was still seen in the temple until the captivity. And yet they had built idol shrines within the Jerusalem temple (<a href='B:400 1:5'>Mic 1:5</a>; Ezekiel 8). This is the problem with organized religion and religious symbols; simply being involved with them can lead to the false assumption that therefore Yahweh is with us, in our midst, and we must be on the right path.</p><p>"Lean" is a word often used by Micah’s contemporary prophet Isaiah. Judah leaned or trusted upon their enemies rather than Yahweh (<a href='B:290 10:20'>Isa 10:20</a>), upon Egypt (<a href='B:290 31:1'>Isa 31:1</a>), upon their own deceit (<a href='B:290 30:12'>Isa 30:12</a>). And yet they also claimed to trust in Yahweh. This is not contradictory, but rather absolutely true to life; that effectively we can trust in human strength, whilst genuinely claiming to trust Yahweh. Rabshakeh mocks Judah for this, saying that they trusted or leaned upon Egypt, and yet also upon their God Yahweh (<a href='B:290 36:6'>Isa 36:6</a>; <a href='B:290 37:10'>Isa 37:10</a>). Trust in Yahweh can only be total; anything less than total trust is not trust.</p><h4>Yahweh was only "in the midst" of His people in the restored, Messianic Kingdom (s:w. <a href='B:360 2:27'>Joe 2:27</a>; <a href='B:430 3:15'>Zep 3:15</a>; <a href='B:430 3:17'>Zep 3:17</a>). But they assumed they had Him with them, when in fact their uncleanness precluded His real presence in their midst</h4>


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<h4>Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest-&nbsp; We can wrongly get the impression that the prophets droned on and were never really responded to. But Micah was different. These prophecies of his did elicit repentance. These words could have come true in his time, when the Assyrians invaded Judah; but they didn’t, because there was sufficient repentance of a minority (<a href='B:300 26:18-19'>Jer 26:18-19</a>), to the point that Jeremiah cites this as an appeal for the Judah of his day to repent. These words came only partially true in the Babylonian context. The Babylonian invasion left part of the temple still standing and even functional, although mount Zion was desolate (<a href='B:310 5:18'>Lam 5:18</a>), but the foundations weren’t plowed, although there were heaps of rubble (<a href='B:160 2:17'>Neh 2:17</a>; <a href='B:160 4:2'>Neh 4:2</a>). The only time Zion’s foundations were plowed was by the Romans in AD70. And so we see how prophecy is conditional, just as in 40 days, Nineveh would have been destroyed. But the Ninevites repented, and it didn’t happen. But the prophetic word does come finally true, even if it is reapplied and rescheduled. And so these words of Micah did come true in AD70.</h4>


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<p>But in the latter days, it will happen that the mountain of Yahweh’s temple will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills; and nations will stream to it- Micah was contemporary with Isaiah, and these words are largely repeated in <a href='B:290 2:2-4'>Isa 2:2-4</a>. Micah also prophesied before Isaiah (<a href='B:400 1:1'>Mic 1:1</a>), so it could be that Isaiah is quoting Micah. The "But::." suggests that after mount Zion is plowed as a field (<a href='B:400 3:12'>Mic 3:12</a>), at some future point, it will be revived into the restored mount and temple of the Messianic kingdom which could have come about at the restoration. This didn’t happen, and so we look to the latter day desolation of Zion, perhaps with the total destruction of the area to pave the way for an "abomination of desolation" to be built there, followed by the Lord’s return to immediately replace that with the mountain of His house, exalted above all other kingdoms, great ["mountains"] and small ["hills"]; or we may prefer to interpret the mountains as the seven mountains upon which latter day Babylon sits, perhaps seven surrounding nations or power blocs, or seven kings (<a href='B:730 17:9-11'>Rev 17:9-11</a>). But the theme of social justice is never absent from Micah. He has spoken of how the "houses" of the wealthy in Zion were those "taken away" from others (<a href='B:400 2:2'>Mic 2:2</a>), and "taken away" is the same word here translated "exalted". All that petty grabbing of houses will be totally subsumed within the huge and eternal reality of the exaltation of Yahweh’s house. The nations will stream or flow unto God’s house / kingdom, whereas previously they streamed together to Babylon (s:w. <a href='B:300 51:44'>Jer 51:44</a>). The word is used in <a href='B:300 31:12'>Jer 31:12</a> of how those who accept the new covenant will flow to Zion in order to receive Yahweh’s goodness as well as literal food. So we can assume that these people who flow to Zion are those converted to the Lord Jesus at His return. This is confirmed in :2.</p>


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<h4>Many nations will go and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem- This connects with the previous theme of Micah 3, that Judah had despised Yahweh’s law and acted unjustly directly contrary to it. But such would be their restoration, that from the disgraced Zion would go out Yahweh’s law to all nations. The Divine vision was that when Judah returned from exile, the Gentile nations of their dispersion would come with them, just as many Egyptians came up with Israel out of Egypt. But this didn’t happen at the restoration, and instead the Jews were heavily influenced by the Gentiles’ religions and intermarried with them rather than being a light to them. And most of God’s people didn’t even return to Zion but chose to remain in their dispersion. As noted on <a href='B:400 3:12'>Mic 3:12</a>, Divine prophecy can be reapplied andreinterpreted, but often only in essence rather than to the letter. And so we can see these words as having an ultimate fulfilment, but we would be unwise to insist upon a strictly literal exact fulfilment for them.</h4><h4>The ultimate fulfilment, as explained on :1, will be when repentant people flow to Zion to accept the new covenant. And this will involve learning God’s ways, as expressed in the word and law which comes from Zion. That law doesn’t have to be the law of Moses; it will be the law of the new covenant. The "law" , torah, is a form of the verb just used, "to teach"; the idea is simply ’His teaching’, and not specifically the Pentateuch or Decalogue.</h4>


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<h4>And He will judge between many peoples- <a href='B:230 72:4'>Psa 72:4</a> uses this phrase to predict that Messiah would judge the poor and needy of the peoples. Again, Micah has social justice in view, seeing he has been condemning Israel’s judges for failing in this; the idea is that they ought to have lived the kingdom life right now, as we should. But they didn’t. <a href='B:360 3:2'>Joe 3:2</a> uses the phrase concerning how the Lord will judge the peoples for how they have treated His people Israel. And again, it is the abuse of the weak and downtrodden which will be the eternal issue.</h4><p>And will decide concerning strong nations afar off- "Decide" is literally ’rebuke’, and Micah’s contemporary prophet Isaiah explains that the rebuke of the returned Lord Jesus will concern how they treat the poor and downtrodden (<a href='B:290 11:3-4'>Isa 11:3-4</a>); and that passage also says that He will rebuke not from what He sees before His eyes. As Micah puts it, He will be able to do this "afar off". We get the impression that at the Lord’s return, the nations will not be forced into spirituality; they will still have their conflicts and tendencies to sin and abuse, and the Lord’s word will address these issues. There will therefore be a process of time from His return to the final spiritual subjugation of the planet. Whether that period will be a literal 1000 years is a question I discuss in the commentary on Revelation 20, but a process of time is certainly implied. For it is not God’s way to force anyone to accept His ways.</p><p>They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks- This will be a conscious reversal of the aggressive spirit of militarism into which the nations around Israel will have sunk in the immediate lead up to the Lord’s return (<a href='B:360 3:10'>Joe 3:10</a>). The destruction of all military hardware is spoken of again in <a href='B:350 2:18'>Hos 2:18</a>; <a href='B:450 9:10'>Zec 9:10</a>.</p><h4>Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more- The "war" of the context in <a href='B:400 3:5'>Mic 3:5</a> is aggression against others who don’t agree with us and who stand up to unGodly behaviour. "Learn" is literally to goad, perhaps alluding to the destruction of all prodding spears; there will be no more provocation of conflict on whatever level.</h4>


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<h4>But they will sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and no one will make them afraid: for the mouth of Yahweh of Armies has spoken- Sitting under ones own vine and fig tree is a picture of not being afraid, which is the context of :3; and the idiom is used like this in <a href='B:110 4:25'>1Ki 4:25</a>, meaning ’to dwell safely’. In the later day program, this may be the time of <a href='B:330 38:11'>Eze 38:11</a> (see note there) when Israel are re-established as God’s Kingdom at the Lord’s return, and then experience an unsuccessful invasion led by Gog. <a href='B:450 3:10'>Zec 3:10</a> says that the restored people of God will invite Gentiles to sit with them under their vine and fig tree; so the picture is not merely of peace and safety, but of peace with God in covenant with Him. We may legitimately interpret the vine and fig tree of God’s people as Messiah, the true vine (John 15).</h4><h4>Micah made this prophecy at a time when Assyria were offering their subject peoples to live under their own vine and fig tree (<a href='B:120 18:31-32'>2Ki 18:31-32</a>), and likely Rabshakeh was alluding to Micah’s words, claiming that the real Kingdom experience was available there and then, if only they accepted Assyrian domination. And so the promises of the Kingdom are replicated in the false claims of materialism today, and perhaps will be specifically claimed by the latter day antiChrist, a fake Christ offering a fake Kingdom of God.</h4>


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<p>Indeed all the nations may walk in the name of their gods; but we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God for ever and ever- See on <a href='B:290 19:18'>Isa 19:18</a>. The idea may be that there will no coercion of the nations in the Messianic Kingdom; but rather the example of God’s people walking in the Name of their God will convert the nations. And this principle is seen today; no true convert is one by coercion or high powered argument, but rather by the example of God’s people. As noted on :4, the idea is that the restored people of God will invite others to come sit with them under their vine and fig tree (<a href='B:450 3:10'>Zec 3:10</a>). But that will be by invitation and freewill response, and not coercion.</p>


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<h4>In that day, says Yahweh, I will assemble that which is lame, and I will gather that which is driven away- This is all very much the language of limping Jacob being gathered home after his exile in Padan Aram. But in him we must see all of us. The results of sin and trusting in human strength will still be evident, but Jacob will still be regathered. In the primary context, those "driven away" would refer to those who went into captivity in Babylon and Assyria now returning and becoming the "strong nation" (:7) at the centre of God’s revived Kingdom on earth. But that didn’t work out, because most didn’t want to return, and those who did didn’t respond spiritually. And yet the prophecy will come true therefore in the last days; although this requires a later day ’driving away’ of Jewish people from their land, perhaps spoken of in <a href='B:290 27:13'>Isa 27:13</a> where the same word is used of the driven out ones in Egypt and Assyria. However, the Hebrew for "driven away" is that used of how God’s people would be driven away from God by false teachers (<a href='B:50 4:19'>Deu 4:19</a>; <a href='B:50 13:5'>Deu 13:5</a>; <a href='B:50 13:10'>Deu 13:10</a>). And this may be the sense in which the prophecy comes true in the last days. For Micah has previously warned about the damage of the false prophets. <a href='B:50 30:1'>Deu 30:1</a>; <a href='B:50 30:4'>Deu 30:4</a>; <a href='B:50 30:17'>Deu 30:17</a> plays on the idea- Israel would be driven away from God, and so God would drive them away into captivity.</h4><h4>And that which I have afflicted- This is literally, ’done evil to’. It is proof enough that both good and ’evil’ in the sense of calamity come from God. There is no space left for the existence of a personal, supernatural ’Satan’ figure as the source of such ’evil’. The same word is used of evil in a moral sense in <a href='B:400 3:4'>Mic 3:4</a>; <a href='B:290 1:16'>Isa 1:16</a>; Judah had done "evil" and so would receive "evil" from their invaders.</h4>


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<p>And I will make that which was lame a remnant, and that which was cast far off a strong nation: and Yahweh will reign over them on Mount Zion from then on, even forever- The allusion to Jacob continues; he limped after his exile, as a result of trusting in his own strength (<a href='B:10 32:31'>Gen 32:31</a>). His return from exile is seen as representative of the exiles returning, which would be the time when God’s Kingdom would be re-established under a Messianic figure and king. But the exiles who returned under Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah failed to become "a strong nation". Andso the prophecy has been reapplied and rescheduled to our last days. "The remnant" who repent and ’return’ from their being ’driven away’ from God (see on :6) will become the "strong nation" at the heart of God’s restored Kingdom on earth. "Strong nation" is the very term used in the promises to Abraham about his seed (<a href='B:10 18:18'>Gen 18:18</a>; <a href='B:50 26:5'>Deu 26:5</a>). But "nation" is goy, typically used of Gentile nations. This is the paradox- that the seed of Abraham would also comprise Gentiles. This ought to have left all Jewish national pride and elitism stillborn had they thought about it.</p>


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<h4>You, tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come- The Kingdom will come to the temple mount when Yahweh in the person of His Son returns to establish His Kingdom based there. "Hill" is ophel, the name of part of Jerusalem, and a word also translated "tower". "The daughter of Zion" usually refers to the faithful remnant. It was Yahweh’s hill, but also their hill. The tower or mound of Zion was the "tower of the flock", although a different word is used for "tower", migdal. Hezekiah and Jotham, in whose reigns Micah prophesied (<a href='B:400 1:1'>Mic 1:1</a>), had built towers in Jerusalem (<a href='B:140 32:5'>2Ch 32:5</a> s:w:), and Jotham had particularly built in Ophel (<a href='B:140 27:3'>2Ch 27:3</a>). There was a "great tower" in Ophel (<a href='B:160 3:26-27'>Neh 3:26-27</a>) which was rebuilt at the time of the restoration. But this was not to be the full restoration of God’s Kingdom on earth. The great towers recently built in Micah’s time were not the real thing; a far greater "tower" was to be built in the Messianic kingdom. But "tower" effectively means ’city’; towers were built as the place of final refuge within a city and came to be iconic symbols of the city (<a href='B:10 11:4-5'>Gen 11:4-5</a>; <a href='B:70 8:9'>Jdg 8:9</a>; <a href='B:70 9:47'>Jdg 9:47</a>; <a href='B:70 9:49'>Jdg 9:49</a>; <a href='B:70 9:51'>Jdg 9:51</a>; <a href='B:330 26:4'>Eze 26:4</a>). In the parable of Isaiah 5, a prophecy contemporary with Micah, Yahweh says He had built a tower in the midst of His vineyard (<a href='B:290 5:2'>Isa 5:2</a>). "The flock" in view is that of restored, repentant Israel (<a href='B:400 2:12'>Mic 2:12</a>), and there will be a tower built as shepherds built towers to watch their flocks. Yahweh’s hill and tower of Zion was to be the place of safety, the hill, tower and Kingdom of His people, the regathered flock of Jacob (<a href='B:400 2:12'>Mic 2:12</a>), parallel with "the daughter of Zion".</h4><h4>Another possibility is that Edar, "flock", refers to a village near Bethlehem where there was a shepherd’s watchtower, perhaps used by David as a shepherd in that area. This would then prepare us for the forthcoming announcement in <a href='B:400 5:2'>Mic 5:2</a> that the Messianic king was to come from Bethlehem.</h4><h4>Yes, the former kingdom will return, the kingdom will come to the daughter of Jerusalem- The former kingdom returning speaks of the restoration of God’s Kingdom on earth as it once was (<a href='B:330 21:25-27'>Eze 21:25-27</a>). This restoration could have happened after the 70 years exile in Babylon, but it didn’t happen as God intended. And so the prophecies have been reapplied and rescheduled to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.</h4>


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<p>Now why do you cry out aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pains have taken hold of you as of a woman in travail?- The crying aloud was in labour pains; and the "daughter of Zion" of Micah’s day was corrupt. She would not bring forth a king, for her king was to be taken away from her into captivity and death (<a href='B:300 52:9'>Jer 52:9</a>). <a href='B:310 4:20'>Lam 4:20</a> could imply that they believed that even in captivity they would still live under Zedekiah their king; but this was not to be. His counsellors would be proven wrong and perish. "Is there no king:::?" effectively means ’he has been taken away’; the same literary device is found in <a href='B:300 49:7'>Jer 49:7</a> "Is wisdom no more in Teman?". The wisdom of Teman had been taken away. All this has reference to the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem. But Micah prophesied in the time of Hezekiah, and this same figure of Zion in travail is used by him at the time of the Assyrian invasion (<a href='B:290 37:3'>Isa 37:3</a>). The labour pains at that time were to have issued forth in the rebirth of the nation, and perhaps in the ’birth’ or coming of a Messianic king for the revived kingdom. But that didn’t happen, although by grace, Zion was saved from her pains by the destruction of the Assyrian army by an Angel.</p>


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<h4>Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail- This is perhaps alluded to by Hezekiah in <a href='B:290 37:3'>Isa 37:3</a>; when the Assyrians surrounded the city, the remnant were in travail, but failed to bring forth the Messianic king and kingdom as a result of that travail. And so the pangs, as it were, came upon them again during the Babylonian invasion.</h4><p>For now you will go forth out of the city- In surrender tot heir enemies (<a href='B:120 14:12'>2Ki 14:12</a>; <a href='B:290 36:16'>Isa 36:16</a>). This could have happened at the time of the Assyrian invasion, but the response of a minority to Micah’s message meant that it didn’t. But it was to come true in the later Babylonian invasion.</p><p>And will dwell in the field, and will come even to Babylon. There you will be delivered- The idea was that through the experience of captivity in Babylon, dwelling in the fields in temporary camps (<a href='B:330 3:15'>Eze 3:15</a>) and then taken to Babylon, a righteous remnant would be brought forth out of all the suffering there, which would return to Zion and re-establish God’s Kingdom on earth. Micah’s words are to be connected with those of <a href='B:290 39:6'>Isa 39:6</a>, where the punishment for the remnant not then being brought forth was that they would go to Babylon.</p><h4>There Yahweh will redeem you from the hand of your enemies- Judah in exile were not redeemed from their enemies because most of them didn’t want that redemption, and preferred to remain there. This prophecy will therefore have its final fulfilment in the last days, when again there will be travail in Jerusalem which will kill many (<a href='B:470 24:8'>Mat 24:8</a>; <a href='B:590 5:3'>1Th 5:3</a>), but will result in the birth of a righteous remnant and the establishment of God’s Kingdom upon earth and final, ultimate redemption.</h4>


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<p>Now many nations have assembled against you, that say, Let her be raped, and let our eye gloat over Zion- The "now" may suggest that this prophecy was given when Jerusalem was surrounded by the Assyrians and their mercenaries drawn from the surrounding nations. There was however the response of a remnant to the preaching of Micah, and therefore the seemingly inevitable capture of Jerusalem was averted by the Angelic destruction of the Assyrian army; see on :10 For now you will go forth out of the city. "Raped" or "defiled" suggests that the rape of a virgin is in view. Isaiah’s recent prophecy that a virgin would bring forth the Messianic king at this time (<a href='B:290 7:14'>Isa 7:14</a>) was not to be fulfilled; she was to be raped. But Micah’s ministry was partially successful; the response to his message was enough to stop the rape, but the virgin did not bring forth as she could have done; see on <a href='B:400 5:1'>Mic 5:1</a>. And so she was finally raped to death in the later Babylonian invasion, as Jeremiah laments in Lamentations. And in <a href='B:400 7:10'>Mic 7:10</a> Micah appears to have perceived this.</p>


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<h4>But they don’t know the thoughts of Yahweh, neither do they understand His counsel- The "they" could refer to the invading armies, who are the subject of the second half of the verse. But perhaps the referent of the "they" and "them" in the two parts of this verse are different. Those who don’t know Yahweh’s thoughts are Judah in <a href='B:290 55:8'>Isa 55:8</a>. They didn’t perceive the possibilities of the Messianic king and kingdom at that time (<a href='B:520 11:33'>Rom 11:33</a>).</h4><h4>For He has assembled them like the sheaves to the threshing floor- As noted on :11, this could have application to the time when the Assyrians were assembled around Jerusalem. Their destruction could have been the threshing floor judgment spoken of in other prophets as heralding the re-establishment of God’s Kingdom upon earth. But Hezekiah let the baton drop. Although the repentance of a remnant averted the destruction of the city (see on <a href='B:400 3:12'>Mic 3:12</a>), the great potential then possible for the more powerful establishment of God’s Kingdom didn’t come true.</h4>


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<h4>Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs brass; and you will beat in pieces many peoples: and I will devote their gain to Yahweh, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth- As noted on :12, this may speak of the potential possible for Judah after the destruction of the Assyrians outside the gates of Jerusalem. But the righteous remnant, the daughter of Zion with Hezekiah and the prophets within Jerusalem, didn’t go forth and capitalize upon it as planned. Instead Hezekiah became proud and short-termist, and instead of threshing his enemies he accepted their gifts and devoted them to himself rather than to Yahweh. And likewise the Babylonian invaders could have been threshed, if the ministry of the later prophets at that time had been responded to (<a href='B:290 41:15-16'>Isa 41:15-16</a>; <a href='B:300 51:33'>Jer 51:33</a>). And so all these potentials must come true in the latter day fulfilment, when a remnant repent and accept Jesus as Messiah. The Jews in Micah’s time were glad that the immediate problem had been solved; the Assyrians lay dead outside Jerusalem. But they didn’t heed Micah’s call to go forth and thresh them and lead to the establishment of a Messianic Kingdom.</h4>


