टीका वर्तमान में केवल अंग्रेज़ी में उपलब्ध है। हिन्दी अनुवाद प्रगति पर है।
Amos 6 — Not Grieved for the Affliction of Joseph
Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria — that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near. They lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock; they chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; they drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed. The LORD abhors the excellency of Jacob and hates his palaces; He will raise up a nation against them, for they have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock.
“Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!”
— Amos 6:1
- v.1-3 Woe to the careless and complacent
- v.4-7 Luxury unmoved by Joseph's affliction
- v.8-14 Pride abhorred; the nation raised against them
The psychology of complacency: push the reckoning out of mind, and the postponement licenses the violence of the present. What we refuse to anticipate, we accelerate.
Putting far away the evil day does not move the day; it only disarms the man. Every generation that says my lord delayeth his coming begins to smite its fellowservants (Matthew 24:48-49).
Six marks of luxury — ivory beds, sprawling couches, choice lambs, improvised music, wine by the bowl, finest oils — and then the indictment that gives them all their guilt: not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
The sin of the banquet was not the wine but the numbness. Comfort becomes evil at the point where it anesthetizes compassion — feasting unmoved while the nation bleeds.
God swears by himself — the strongest oath heaven can take (Hebrews 6:13) — and what He swears is abhorrence of Jacob's pride. The palaces men admired, God hated, because of what they were built on and what they bred.
The excellency of Jacob — national pride in privilege without obedience. God is not impressed by the architecture of a people whose gates lack justice; He is provoked by it.
Two absurdities from nature expose a third from society: horses galloping on crags, oxen plowing stone — and a nation turning justice into poison. Perverted courts are as unnatural as plowed rock.
Judgment into gall... righteousness into hemlock. The very institutions designed to heal — law, courts, gates — had become toxic. When the remedy is corrupted, where does a society turn?
Verse 6 supplies the diagnostic for every comfortable believer: enjoying lawful comforts is not the sin — being not grieved is. Test your heart against the afflictions of the church and the world: do they reach you, move you, cost you anything? Where comfort has gone numb, fast something, give something, go somewhere the affliction of Joseph can touch you again.
Against the ungrieved feasters of Samaria stands the Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief — who wept over Jerusalem while its elite reclined at ease. Christ is everything Amos 6 found missing: the one truly grieved for the affliction of Joseph, who left the highest comfort to enter it (2 Corinthians 8:9).
The woe falls not on open rebels but on the comfortable — at ease in the religious capital, trusting in the political one. Complacency is a judgment-category of its own; carelessness can damn as surely as wickedness.
Their ease rested on status — named chief of the nations. Reputation, position, and precedent are the standard pillows of false security, and none of them bears weight on the evil day.