Commentary on Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah and Nahum John Calvin
MINOR PROPHETS
they securely indulged in such delights, and grieved not for the distress of their brethren, for God had miserably afÒicted the whole kingdom before their eyes. How much had four tribes already suffered? and how much the whole land and those who lived in the country? Ought God to have spared any longer these chiefs? It is indeed certain, that those who were still free from these calamities were especially culpable. Since then they did not consider the wrath of God, which was evident enough before their eyes, it was a proof of stupidity wholly insane, and showed them who still indulged themselves to have been utterly besides themselves.
We now then understand the full meaning of the Prophet; and hence he says, They shall emigrate at the head of the emigrants, that is, ``when there shall be an emigration, they shall be the first in order of time. I have hitherto indulgently spared you; but as I see that you have abused my forbearance, ye shall certainly be the forerunners of others; for ye shall go first into captivity. And my rigor shall begin with you, because I see that I have hitherto lost all my labor in attempting, kindly and paternally to call you to repentance. Ye shall now then migrate at the head of the emigrants
And come shall the mourning of those who extend themselves, {,}סרוחיםsaruchim 50 ; that is, ``Ye indeed lie down, (as he had said before,) ye extend yourselves on your couches; but mourning shall come to you. Ye think that you can escape punishment, when ye repose quietly on your beds; but though your chambers be closed, though ye move not a finger, yet mourning shall come to you.'' We now see the connection between the words, mourning and resting in idleness and indulgence. The word {,}סרחsarech, means indeed properly to recumb; and hence some render the passage, ``Mourning shall rest on you:'' but the more received meaning is, Mourning shall come on you while recumbing. Though then they stretched out themselves on their beds, that they might pleasantly and softly recumb and rest themselves, yet mourning would come to them, that is, would enter into their chambers.
Prayer.
Grant, Almighty God, that since thou showest thyself at this day to be justly offended with us, and our own consciences reprove us, inasmuch as dreadful tokens appear, by which we may learn how much and in how many ways we have provoked thy wrath, --- O grant, that we may be really touched with the consciousness of our evils, and being afÒicted in our hearts, may be so humbled, that without any outward afÒiction, we may wholly submit ourselves to be reproved by thee, and at the same time flee to that mercy which is laid up for us, and which thou daily offerest to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Lecture Sixty-second
Amos 6:8
8. The Lord God hath sworn by himself, saith the Lord the God of hosts, I abhor
50The words are {{}סרוחים{, }מרזה{ וסרusar merezach saruchim, --- an instance of striking alliteration. But Calvin's rendering, though amounting in its general import to the same thing, is certainly not the correct one. {}סרnever means to come, but the reverse, to depart. To decline, to turn aside or away, or to depart, is its common signification. Then {}מרזהis properly shouting, either for grief or for joy; here evidently for the latter; and it may be rendered here mirth; so the clause may be thus translated --- And depart shall the mirth of the recumbents, or, of those who stretch themselves. Dr. Henderson's version is the following: --- And the shouting company of those that recline shall depart. The translation of Symmachus is, ``Taken away shall be the company of the voluptuous, {ἑταιρεία} {τρυφητων}'' The idea of ``banquet'' for the word here used, is what the Rabbins have given to it. --- Ed.