Amos 2:9

Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them,.... Here the Lord by the prophet reckons up the many favours and blessings he had bestowed upon Israel, which was an aggravation of their sins, and showed

Yet destroyed I 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. Yet.

Yet destroyed I, whom they have ungratefully forgotten and forsaken, and set up idol’ s in competition with me; nay, cast off my law and worship, and embraced idolatry, worshipped idols that never could do them good, nor destroy their enemies; this they did after I had destroyed their enemies. The Amorite; the mightiest nation of all the Canaanites, and therefore expressly mentioned as an instance of God’ s great mercy, and Israel’ s great ingratitude: by this nation mentioned all the rest of the Canaanitish nations are to be understood. These Amorites dwelt beyond Jordan, between that and Moab, and their land fell by lot unto Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh. Before them, the children of Israel under the conduct of Moses, , &c.; , at the very sight of whom these mighty men fled, for God had struck them with terror that they might not stand before Israel. Whose height was like the height of the cedars: the Amorites were men of largest size, they were of the race of the giants, ,33. This is a proverbial speech, and sets out the Amorites, exceeding ordinary men in stature as much as the cedar exceeds ordinary trees in height. Strong as the oaks; another proverbial speech, denoting their great strength above the strength of other men. I destroyed; utterly rooted them out. His fruit from above: trees propagated by fruit are diminished by destroying the fruit which is the seed of them; so God cut off the children of the Amorites, and thereby prevented all succession. His roots from beneath: this refers to the destroying the old standards, that present generation: this last clause refers to the command God gave, .

Amos 2:9 Yet destroyed I 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.Ver. 9. Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them] It is not usual with God to hit men in the teeth with what he hath done for them, James 1:5, unless in case of unthankfulness, as here. Then, indeed, people shall hear of what they have had, and be taught the worth of good turns by the want of them. Good turns aggravate unkindnesses; and our offences are not a little increased by our obligations. Hence this approbation; and it is as if God should say, This people hath not only done the evils before mentioned, but also after the receipt of mercies without measure, and many miraculous deliverances; as if I had even hired them to be wicked; and as if that were to pass for truth which the snake in the fable said to the countryman that had showed it kindness, Summum praemium pro summo beneficio est ingratitudo. In the year 1245 the Pope was denied entrance into England; it being said that the Pope was but like a mouse in a satchel, or a snake in one’ s bosom, who did but ill repay their hostess for their lodging. God had done exceeding much for this perverse people; and this they now hear of with stomach enough, as well they deserved. At Athens, if a servant proved ungrateful for his manumission, his master had an action, αποστασιου, against him; and might recover him again into bondage. Lycurgus, the Lacedemonian lawgiver, would not make a law against ingratitude; as holding it monstrous not to requite a kindness, not to acknowledge a good turn. The old Romans decreed that such as were found guilty of this fault should be cast alive to the cormorant, to be pulled in pieces and devoured. Our Saviour fitly yokes together the evil and the unthankful, Luke 6:35; and God here sums up all his people’ s sins in this one, as the epitome of all the rest. Yet I destroyed the Amorite] When once his iniquity was full, Genesis 15:16, when he had filled the land from corner to corner with his uncleanness, Ezra 9:11, then sent I my hornets before them, which drove them out before them. But not with their sword nor with their bow, Joshua 24:12. See this thankfully acknowledged by this Church after she had prayed for her learning, Psalms 44:2-3; Psalms 44:9-10. Whose height was like the height of the cedars, &c.] For stature and strength they seemed insuperable, Numbers 13:28, &c.

(9) Destroyed I.—Emphasis belongs to the pronoun “I.” The Amorites proper occupied the S.W. coast of the Dead Sea. Their formidable stature and power were attributed occasionally to all the inhabitants of the land. (Joshua 24:18; Judges 6:10.) They were absorbed before the time of Amos.

Verse 9. Yet destroyed I the Amorite] Here follow general heads of God's mercies to them, and the great things he had done for them. 1. Bringing them out of Egypt. 2. Miraculously sustaining them in the wilderness forty years. 3. Driving out the Canaanites before them, and giving them possession of the promised land. 4. Raising up prophets among them to declare the Divine will. 5. And forming the holy institution of the Nazarites among them, to show the spiritual nature of his holy religion, Amos 2:9-11.

Amos 2:6-16. The sin of Israel, and its punishment 6–16. At last Amos comes to Israel. The Israelites might listen with equanimity, or even with satisfaction, whilst their neighbours’ faults were being exposed: but they now find that precisely the same standard is to be applied to themselves. The stereotyped form is not preserved after the first verse; both the indictment and the punishment being developed at much greater length than in the case of any of the previous nations. The indictment (Amos 2:6-8) consists of four counts: 1. maladministration of justice; 2. oppression of the poor; 3. immorality; 4. inordinate self-indulgence, practised in the name of religion—all, in view of the signal favours conferred by Jehovah upon Israel in the past, aggravated by ingratitude (Amos 2:9-12). The judgement, viz. defeat and flight before the foe, follows in Amos 2:13-16.

Yet - (and I) I (Emphatic) destroyed Such were “their” doings; such their worship of “their God.” And what had “God” done? what was it, which they thus requited?

9-12. What contrast between the actual conduct of the people and the conduct that might be expected of them in view of Jehovah’s loving care for them throughout their entire history!