Commentary on Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah and Nahum John Calvin
JOHN CALVIN
Isaiah, that he was weighed down by the Israelites, `Ye constrain me,' he says, `to labor under your sins' (Isaiah 1:14) The sense then, that God was pressed down under them, may be viewed as not unsuitable: and yet the more received interpretation is this, ``Behold, I will bind you fast as a wagon is bound.'' I am, however, more inclined to take the first meaning, --- that God here reprehends the Israelites, because he had been pressed down by them: for {,}תחתיכםtacheticam, properly signifies, ``Under you,'' which some render, but strainedly, ``Is your place:'' for when the verb is transitive, they say, that {,}תחתיכםtacheticam, must be rendered ``In your place:'' but this is frigid and forced; and the whole passage will run better, if we say, ``I am bound fast under you, as though ye were a wagon full of sheaves; 28'' that is, ``Ye are to me intolerable.'' For God carried that people on his shoulders; and when they loaded him with the burden of iniquities, it is no wonder that he said that they were like a wagon --- a wagon filled with many sheaves: ``Ye are light as wind, but ye are also to me very burdensome, and I am forced at length to shake you off:'' and this he afterwards shows.
Prayer.
Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast not only redeemed us by the blood of thy only begotten Son, but also guides us during our earthly pilgrimage, and suppliest us with whatever is needful, --- O grant, that we may not be unmindful of so many favors, and turn away from thee and follow our sinful desires, but that we may continue bound to thy service, and never burden thee with our sins, but submit ourselves willingly to thee in true obedience, that by glorifying thy name we may carry thee both in body and soul, until thou at length gatherest us into that blessed kingdom which has been obtained for us by the blood of thy Son. Amen.
Lecture Fifty-third
Amos 2:14-16
14. Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself:
14. Peribit fuga a veloce, et fortis non roborabit vires suas, et robustus non servabit (non liberabit) animam suam:
15. Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself.
15. Et tenens arcum non stabit, et velox pedibus suis non liberabit, neque ascensor equi liberabit animam suam.
16. And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that 28This verse has caused great labor to commentators; and many have been the views given. The first difficulty is in the words rendered in our version, "under you." {{תחתand with the Iod commonly added when there is a sufÏx, often occurs, and means on doubt, an place, a spot, a standing, as in the following passages: Exodus
10:23; 16:29; 1 Samuel 14:9; Habakkuk 3:16; and this seems to be its meaning here. Then the second difÏculty is about ``the cart'' or wagon. Some consider it to be the vehicle to carry corn; and others, the machine to thresh it as Newcome and others do: but this view is not consistent with the other expressions used in this clause. A critic, quoted by Poole, evidently gives the meaning in these words, Sensus est, q.d. Ego vos in eas angustas adducam, unde vos ipsos mimime expedire valeatis --- ``The sense is, as though he said, I will bring you to those straits, from which ye will by no means be able to deliver yourselves.'' I would then translate the verse thus: --- Behold, I will confine you in your place, As a wagon confines its load---the sheaves; or word for word, As a wagon confines the filling of it --- the sheaf. The rendering of the last line by Newcome is certainly not what the original will bear; his translation of the whole verse is this: --- Therefore, behold I will press your place, As a loaded corn-wain presseth its sheaves. It is not pressing or crushing that corresponds with the contents of the following verses, but confining and reducing to straits from which they could not escape. --- Ed.