Amos 3:7

Surely the Lord God will do nothing,.... In the world, in a nation or city; no remarkable event has happened, or shall happen, to the sons of men: but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the

Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

Surely, since that, or, forasmuch as, the Lord God will do nothing; usually the Lord doth no great tiring for or against his people, neither brings great judgments upon them for sin, nor bestows great good upon them for their encouragement to duty, but he revealeth, but he foretelleth the one and the other by his prophets to his people, that they may by repentance prevent the evil threatened, and by constancy in obedience attain the good promised. His secret; his purpose and determinate counsel, which would never be known aforehand if he did not reveal it. Unto his servants; who fear the Lord, and do his will in the midst of worst of times; they are holy men of God to whom the Lord revealeth his will. The prophets; by office called of God to this, and by gifts fitted for this, and by extraordinary assistance carried through this work.

Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.Ver. 7. Surely the Lord God will do nothing] i.e. hardly anything. He loveth to foresignify, to warn before he wound; and this merely out of his philanthropy. Howbeit sometimes, and in some cases, he is more sudden and still in his revenges; that he may thereby, first, maintain his honour and glory, the eyes whereof are by some sins extraordinarily provoked, as Acts 12:23. And secondly, to teach men not to continue in sin, no, not for a moment; since they may be presently cut off from all further time of repentance, acceptation, and grace for ever; this made Austin say that he would not be an atheist, no, not one half hour, to gain all the world. See Luke 17:32; Luke 12:20. Pharaoh had warning of the first and second plagues, not so of the third; and again of the fourth and fifth, but not of the sixth; and yet again of the seventh and eighth, but not of the ninth. And when neither warning nor no warning would do good, then came that sweeping plague; “ Tandem prototocos ultima plaga necat. ” But he revealeth his secret to his servants the prophets] God’ s prophets, then, are his menial servants; not his underlings, or inferior hinds but of noblest employment about him. Every faithful minister is servant to the King of heaven (Acts 27:23, "whose I am, and whom I serve"; this the devil denied not, Acts 16:16-17), yea, his steward, ambassador, herald (as here), by whom he proclaims war, but first proffers pardon and proposes conditions of peace: a practice usual not only among the people of God, by his appointment, Deuteronomy 20:10, but also among the heathens, as histories inform us. The Romans had their Lex Faecialis; by their heralds they sent to such as had wronged them, Caduceum et Hastam, as ensigns of peace and war, that within thirty days they might take their choice; within which time, if they did them not right, the herald presently denounced war against them, casting forth a dart in token thereof. Alexander’ s course was as follows, when he sat down before a city, to set up a torch; to show that if they would come in and submit before that torch were burnt out, they should have hearing; Tamerlane hanged out first a white flag, then a red, and lastly a black; and the Turks to this day first make to their enemies some offer of peace, how unreasonable soever it matters not. God’ s offers in this kind are all of grace, and for our good. If it were otherwise, what need he give warning? and why doth he not as Absalom did, when, intending to murder Amnon, he spake neither good nor evil to him? Well might the Lord say, "Fury is not in me: O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself. As I live, I desire not the death of a sinner," &c.

(6, 7) Surely the Lord . . .—In this, and the preceding verse, the future tense should be replaced by a present. Render doeth nothing, and in Amos 3:6 is a trumpet sounded . . . are not afraid . . . is there evil; for the prophet intends to express a continually-recurring fact. The word translated “evil” is commonly, but not universally, used for moral evil. (See Genesis 19:19; Genesis 44:34; Exodus 32:14.) “Evil which is sin the Lord hath not done, evil which is punishment for evil the Lord bringeth.” (Augustine.) Compare, as illustrations of the truth of Amo 3:7, the revelation of the Divine purpose to Noah with reference to the Deluge, to Abraham with respect to Sodom, to Joseph about the famine in Egypt, and to Moses concerning Pharaoh. The prophets of the Lord have given full warning of the judgment of God upon all sin.

Verse 7. Surely the Lord God will do nothing] In reference to the punishment, correction, or blessing of his people- But he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.] They are in strict correspondence with him, and he shows them things to come. Such secrets of God are revealed to them, that they may inform the people; that, by repentance and conversion, they may avoid the evil, and, by walking closely with God, secure the continuance of his favour.

7. Surely] For,—the reason, however, following not in Amos 3:7 but in Amos 3:8 (to which Amos 3:7 is subordinate): ‘I give all these examples of events and occurrences in nature being due regularly to their proper cause, for Jehovah does nothing without communicating His purpose to His prophets, and when He does so the call to declare it is an irresistible one (Amos 3:8)’: hence when the prophet speaks, and especially when he comes forward with a message such as that contained in Amos 3:2, it may be inferred that it is because he has heard Jehovah’s voice commanding him to do so. doeth nothing, except he have revealed &c.] An exaggeration, of course, of the actual fact; but Amos means naturally nothing of importance, so far as Israel was concerned. Prophets, whose mission it was to guide and advise Israel, appeared at all important crises in the national history. secret] Heb. sτd, properly friendly or confidential conversation (ὁμιλία, which the corresponding word in Syriac is often used to express), Psalms 55:14 : then, on the one hand, friendliness, friendship (Job 29:4; Psalms 25:14; Proverbs 3:32,—see R.V. marg. in these passages), and in a more concrete sense, a secret (Proverbs 25:9); on the other hand, a body holding confidential intercourse together, a council, or conclave, of familiar friends (Job 19:19, R.V. marg.; Jeremiah 15:17). In the latter sense sτd occurs in two passages illustrating the present one, Jeremiah 23:18; Jeremiah 23:22, where Jeremiah implies that the true prophets have access to the “council” of Jehovah, and preach the principles which are there approved (cf. Job 15:8, R.V. marg.; also Psalms 89:7). his servants the prophets] An expression otherwise used chiefly by writers of the age of Jeremiah (2 Kings 17:13; 2 Kings 17:23; 2 Kings 21:10; 2 Kings 24:2; Jeremiah 7:25; Jeremiah 25:4; Jeremiah 26:5; Jeremiah 29:19; Jeremiah 35:15; Ezekiel 38:17; also Zechariah 1:6; Daniel 9:10).

Surely the Lord God will do - For the Lord God “doeth” Nothing, but He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets - So our Lord saith, “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that,

3-8. The prophet’s authority. Amos anticipated the startling effect of his message. Many would consider him a madman, and pay no attention to his words, unless he could convince them that they were indeed a message from Jehovah.