John Calvin Commentary Amos 3:3-8

"Shall two walk together, except they have agreed? Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is [set] for him? shall a snare spring up from the ground, and have taken nothing at all? Shall the trumpet be blown in a city, and the people not be afraid? shall evil befall a city, and Jehovah hath not done it? Surely the Lord Jehovah will do nothing, except he reveal his secret unto his servants the prophets. The lion hath roared; who will not fear? The Lord Jehovah hath spoken; who can but prophesy?" — Amos 3:3-8 (ASV)

The Prophet here gathers comparisons, which may, however, be reduced to five specific points:

1. He shows that he did not speak empty words but had God’s authority for what he said, and he appeals to God as his witness and approver.
2. He shows that God intentionally announces the punishment He would inflict on transgressors, so that they might repent in time; God does not cry out without reason, as thoughtless men become angry for nothing, but He is driven to anger by just causes and therefore terrifies them through His prophets.
3. He teaches that nothing happens by chance, so that the Israelites might thereby be led to consider God's judgments more attentively.
4. He declares that men are extremely stupid when they are not moved by the threats they hear proceeding from God.
5. He intimates that their execution was ready to take place, and that when God has denounced anything, His threatenings are not empty, like those used to frighten children.

These, then, are the five points, which we will notice later in their proper order. At the same time, he confirms what he said at the beginning of the chapter—that God did not suddenly take vengeance on the Israelites but called them to repentance, provided they were capable of being healed. He had indeed spoken before more distinctly, ‘For three transgressions, and for four, I will not be propitious to them;’ but now he demands attention from the people of Israel, “Hear this, you children of Israel, Will two men walk together, unless they agree among themselves?” By these words he teaches that, though God might have immediately and unexpectedly brought punishment on them, He yet spared them and suspended His judgment until they repented, provided they were not wholly beyond reclaiming. Amos now then confirms the truth that God would not punish the Israelites as He justly might, but would first try whether there was any hope of repentance.

Let us now come to the first comparison; he asks, Will two walk together without agreeing? Some forcibly misapply the Prophet’s words, as though the meaning was that God was constrained to depart from that people because He saw that they were going astray so perversely after their lusts. The meaning, according to these interpreters, would be, “Do you wish Me to walk with you?” That is, “Do you wish that My blessing should dwell among you, that I should show you, as usual, My paternal love, and bountifully support you?

Why then do you not walk with Me, or why should there not be a mutual consent? Why do you not respond to Me? For I am ready to walk with you.” But this interpretation, as you see, is too forced. There are two other interpretations: either that the Prophet implies here that so many of God’s servants did not, as it were with one voice, threaten the Israelites in vain; or, that the agreement of which he speaks was that between God and His prophets. This last interpretation, being rather obscure, requires a clearer explanation. Some, then, take the meaning of this verse to be the following: “I am not alone in denouncing punishment on you, for God has warned you before by other prophets. Many of them still live, and you see how well we agree together. We have not conspired as men do, and it has not happened by any human agreements that Isaiah and Micah denounce on you what you hear from my mouth. It is then a hidden agreement, which proceeds from the Holy Spirit.” This meaning is not unsuitable.

But there is a third interpretation, equally fitting, to which I have briefly referred: that the Prophet here affirms that he speaks by God’s command, just as when two people agree to follow the same road. For example, when one meets a chance companion, asks him where he is going, and upon hearing the destination, says, ‘I am going on the same road with you.’

Thus, Amos by this comparison very aptly illustrates the agreement between God and His prophets; for they did not rashly intrude themselves to announce anything according to their own will, but waited for God’s call. They were fully persuaded that they were not going astray by chance, but were keeping the road which the Lord had pointed out.

This in itself could not have been a sufficiently satisfactory proof of his call; but the Prophet had already begun his course of teaching. And though nearly the whole populace clamored against him, he still had given clear proofs of his call. He does not, then, mention all the evidence here, as though he intended to show that he was God’s prophet from the beginning; but he only confirms, by way of reproof, what his teaching had already sufficiently attested. Hence he asks, Will two walk together unless they agree among themselves? as though he said, “You are mistaken in judging me as though I were alone, and in taking no account of God. You think I am a shepherd, and this is true; but it ought to be added that I am sent by God and endowed with the gift of prophecy. Since, then, I speak by God’s Spirit, I do not walk alone, for God goes before me, and I am His companion. Know then that whatever I bring forward does not proceed from me, but God is the author of what I teach.”

This seems to be the genuine meaning of the Prophet: by this comparison, he affirms that he faithfully discharged his office, for he had not separated himself from God but was His companion, just as when two agree to travel the same road. So also, he shows that he and God were agreed. If, however, the former interpretation is more approved, I will not dispute the point; that is, that the Prophet here confirms his own doctrine by asserting that he was not alone but had other colleagues; for it was no small confirmation when it became evident that the other prophets added their testimony to what he taught. However, since he does not apply this comparison in this way, I do not know whether such was his design. I have therefore presented what seems to me to be a simpler view.

The second comparison follows: Will a lion roar in the forest without a prey? Will a lion send forth his voice from his den when he has caught nothing? By this verse, he implies that God does not cry out for nothing through His prophets; for ungodly men supposed that the air only reverberated with an empty sound when the prophets threatened. “These,” they said, “are mere words;” as though, indeed, they could not see that the necessity for this crying arose from themselves, because they had provoked God by their vices.

Hence the Prophet, addressing their objection, says, “If lions do not roar, except when they have obtained prey, shall God cry from heaven and send forth His voice as far as the earth, when there is no prey?” The meaning is that the word of God was very shamefully despised by the Israelites, as though there was no reason for crying, as though God were trifling with them. His word is indeed precious and is not thrown carelessly into the air as if it were mere refuse; it is an invaluable seed.

Since the Lord cries, it is not, says Amos, without a lawful cause. How so? Indeed, lions do not roar without prey; God then does not cry through His prophets, except for the best reason. It therefore follows that the Israelites were until now extremely stupid, inasmuch as they did not listen with more earnestness and attention to the teaching of the prophets, as though God had uttered only an empty sound.

The third comparison now follows: Will a bird fall on the earth, he says, without a fowler? The Prophet means here that nothing happens without being foreseen by God; for just as nets are laid for birds, so God ensnares men by His hidden punishments. Indeed, calamity comes unexpectedly, and it is commonly ascribed to chance; but the Prophet here reminds us that God stretches His nets, in which men are caught, though they think that chance rules and do not observe the hand of God.

They are deceived, he says; for the bird does not foresee the snare prepared for him; but yet he does not fall on the earth without the fowler, for nets do not weave themselves by chance, but they are made by the effort of the man who catches birds. So also, calamities do not happen by chance but proceed from the secret purpose of God.

But we must observe that comparisons ought not to be too strictly applied to the subject at hand. If one were to ask how God could compare Himself here to a fowler, since craft and artifice are employed in catching innocent birds when nets are laid for them, it would be a frivolous question; for it is evident enough what the Prophet meant, and that the design of his words was to show that punishments fall on men and that they are ensnared through the secret purpose of God; for God has long ago foreseen what He will do, though men act carelessly, like the birds who foresee nothing.

Then, in the fourth place, it follows: Will the fowler remove his snare before he has made a capture? In this second clause, the Prophet implies that God’s threatening would not be without effect, for He will execute whatever He declares. It is indeed true that fowlers often return home empty and gather their nets though they have caught nothing; but the Prophet, as I have said, in using these comparisons, only states what fowlers usually do when they are hoping for some prey.

For instance, when someone spreads his nets, he will wait and will not gather his nets until he catches some prey, if prey should come; he may indeed wait in vain all night. Then, just as fowlers are not easily discouraged and do not wish to lose their labor after they have spread their nets, so also the Prophet says that God does not proclaim His threatenings in vain to serve as empty scare tactics, but that His nets remain until He has taken His prey; which means that God will really execute what He has threatened through His prophets.

The meaning then is that God’s word is not ineffectual; when God declares anything, it is sure to be accomplished. And therefore he reproves the Israelites for receiving all God’s threatenings so carelessly and with deaf ears, as though God were only trifling with them. “It will not be,” he says, “as you expect; for God will take His prey before He takes up His nets.”

He adds, in the last place, Shall a trumpet sound and the people tremble not? Here he reprehends, as I have said, the sluggishness of the people, to whom all threatenings were a sport. “When a trumpet sounds,” he says, “all tremble, for it is a signal of danger. All then either flee for aid or stand amazed when the trumpet sounds. God Himself cries; His voice deserves much more attention than the trumpet which fills men’s minds with dread, and yet it is a sound uttered to the deaf. What then does this prove, but that madness possesses the minds of men? Are they not destitute of all judgment and of every power of reason?”

We therefore see that the Prophet in these words intended to show that the Israelites were, in a way, fascinated by the devil, for they had no thought of the evils; and though they knew that God sounded the trumpet and declared ruin, they yet remained careless and were no more moved than if all things were in a quiet state. What remains I cannot finish now.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as You are pleased daily to exhort us to repentance, and do not suddenly execute Your judgment by which we might be instantly overwhelmed, but give us time to seek reconciliation, — O grant that we may now attend to Your teaching, and all Your admonitions and threatenings, and become teachable and obedient to You, lest You be constrained, on finding us hardened against Your threatening and wholly beyond reclaiming, to bring extreme vengeance upon us. Make us then so to submit ourselves to You in the spirit of teachableness and obedience, that being placed under the protection of Your Son, we may truly call on You as our Father, and find You to be so in reality, when You shall show us that paternal love, which You have promised, and which all of us who have truly and from the heart called on Your name from the beginning have experienced, through the same, even Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

In our last lecture, these words of Amos were noted—that a whole people tremble at the sound of a trumpet. He now seems to add a completely different sentence, saying, No calamity happens, except through God. But he had previously said what we already noted regarding the sound of the trumpet, so that the people might understand that nothing happens by accident and that punishments are inflicted by the Lord for just reasons.

This he soon after confirms by saying that God did nothing without first having revealed His secret to His prophets. The meaning then is that the people of Israel were extremely stupid for not having repented after so many warnings; indeed, they still remained in their perverseness, though they had been constrained by the most powerful means.

We now then understand what the Prophet means; but so that the whole subject may be made clearer, let us notice this intervening sentence: there is no evil in the city which God has not done. By these words, the Prophet reminds us that calamities do not happen by chance, as common people believe; for the words, “Prosperous or adverse fortunes,” are, we know, on everyone's lips, as though God were idle in heaven and took no care of human affairs.

Hence, whatever happens, the world usually ascribes it to fortune. But the Prophet here shows that the government of this world is administered by God and that nothing happens except through His power. He does not, indeed, discuss sin here; but the Prophet, according to the usual practice, calls whatever is adverse to us רעה (roe), evil.

Whatever, then, we naturally shun is usually called an evil. Amos follows this way of speaking here, as God is said by Isaiah to have in His power night and day, light and darkness, good and evil (Isaiah 45:7). When good and evil are spoken of there, it is certain that what is referred to is prosperity and adversity.

So also here, the Prophet teaches that men are chastised by God whenever anything adverse happens to them. It is as though he said that fortune does not rule, as the world imagines, and that things do not happen at random, but that God is at all times the judge of the world.

In short, Amos wished to recall the people to an examination of their lives, as though he summoned them to God’s tribunal; and he showed by evident external signs that God was justly offended with the Israelites: “You see that you are severely dealt with; do you think that God sleeps idly in heaven?

Since nothing happens but by the will of God, He now intends to awaken you by treating you with such sharpness and severity, so that you may recognize your vices.” We now then perceive the Prophet’s design in saying that there was no evil in the city which God had not done.

In a similar way, God also sharply expostulates through Jeremiah with the people because they imputed slaughters in war, famine, and other evils to fortune. When, therefore, any calamity happened, the Jews complained of bad fortune, as people in the world are accustomed to do. God was displeased and severely reproved this profane notion, for the government of the world was thus taken away from Him.

For if anything were to take place against His will, that much would be subtracted from His power; and furthermore, men would grow hardened in their sins. For however grievously He might punish them, they would still not acknowledge His hand. They might indeed cry out under the blows and feel how severe His scourges were, but they would not regard the hand of the One striking, which is the principal thing, as it is stated elsewhere (Isaiah 9:13).

Then the Prophet takes this for granted: that whenever any calamity happens, men are extremely stupid if they are not roused to reflect on their sins and consider the signs of God’s wrath, so as to flee to Him, confess themselves guilty, and implore His mercy.

But he had previously spoken of the sound of the trumpet, for every excuse was thereby taken away from the Israelites, as God had not only recalled them to the right way by His scourges but had also preceded these with His word. And he shows how justly He was displeased with them; hence the Prophet adds another sentence, For the Lord Jehovah will do nothing without revealing His secret to His servants, the Prophets.

The Prophet declares in this verse that God did not deal with the Israelites as with heathen nations. For God punished other peoples without warning them by His word; He summoned to judgment neither the Edomites, nor the Ammonites, nor the Egyptians, but executed His vengeance, though He never addressed them. His dealing with the Israelites was different; for God not only brought on them such punishment as they deserved, but He preceded it with His word and showed beforehand what evil was near them, so that they might anticipate it.

He indeed gave them time to repent and was ready to pardon them, had they been capable of being restored. Now then, the Prophet aggravates the guilt of the people because they had not only been chastised by the Lord, but they might, if they chose, have averted their punishment; instead of doing so, they hardened themselves in their wickedness.

God then will do nothing without revealing His secret to His servants, the Prophets. This ought to be understood as confined to that people, and it also ought to be confined to the punishments of which the Prophet speaks. It is certain that God executes many judgments which are hidden from both men and angels. Amos did not intend to impose a necessity on God, as if He were not free to do anything without previously revealing it; such was not the Prophet’s design.

But his object was simply to condemn the Israelites for their unreformable perverseness and obstinacy, because, having been warned, they did not seriously think of repenting but despised all God’s threatenings and even scorned them.

God then will do nothing—that is, “God will not treat you in an ordinary way, as He does with other nations, whom He chastises without speaking to them. They, for the most part, do not understand what is done. But God, in a paternal manner, kindly reminds you of your sins, shows why He resolves to chastise you, and forewarns you, so that you may have time to seek and ask forgiveness.”

God therefore reveals His secret to His Prophets; that is, “He does not suddenly or unexpectedly punish you, as He might do, and as you see that He does with respect to others; but He proclaims what He will do and sends His messengers, as though they were heralds sent to declare war on you; and at the same time they open a way for reconciliation, provided you are not wholly past recovery and perverse in your wickedness.

You are then doubly inexcusable if God can achieve nothing by His word and by the punishment which He afterwards adds to His word.”

We now understand the Prophet’s object. Then the question is foolish, or at least unreasonable: “Does God here bind Himself by a certain law, that He will do nothing but what He previously reveals to His prophets?” For Amos does not mean this, but only affirms that it was the common method which the Lord adopted in chastising that people.

It is certain that the prophets did not know many things, for God distributed His Spirit to them by measure; all things, then, were not revealed to the prophets. But Amos here only implies that God did not deal with His chosen people as He did with heathen nations; for these often found God unexpectedly displeased with them and had no time to reflect so that they might repent.

God has acted much more kindly and mercifully with that people, says Amos; for God was unwilling suddenly to overwhelm or surprise them but has warned them through His prophets. We see how widely this doctrine unfolds; but it is enough to understand the Prophet’s design and to know the purpose to which his discourse should be applied.

God then will do nothing without first revealing His secret to the prophets. He calls it a secret because men are perplexed when God executes vengeance on them and stand amazed. But when they are warned in time, then what God intends becomes evident to them, and they know the cause and the source of punishment.

Thus then the secret is revealed which was hidden from miserable men; and the guilt of the people is doubled when, after these threatenings, they do not repent.

It now follows, The lion roars who would not fear? The Lord Jehovah speaks, who would not prophesy? In this verse, the Prophet reproved the Israelites for their usual contentions with the prophets when their sins were sharply reprehended. Thus indeed men are accustomed to do; they do not consider that prophets are sent from above and that a charge has been committed to them.

Hence, when prophets are severe in their words, the world clamors and argues: “What do these men intend? Why do they urge us so much? Why do they not allow us to rest quietly? For they provoke God’s wrath against us.” Whenever, then, men are roused, they immediately threaten God’s prophets with strife and contention and do not regard the threatening as coming from God Himself.

This vice the Prophet now condemns: The lion roars, he says, who would not fear? God speaks, who would not prophesy? “You think that I am your adversary, but you can gain nothing by quarreling with me. Were I silent, the voice of God would by itself be formidable enough.

The evil then does not proceed from my mouth but from God’s command, for I am constrained, willing or unwilling, to obey God. He has chosen me to be a prophet and has shown what He intends for me to proclaim. What can I do?” he says. “I am not at liberty to invent revelations, but I faithfully bring to you what has been delivered to me by the Lord.

How great then is your madness, that you contend with me and do not consider that your strife and contention are with God Himself?” We now see what the Prophet meant and also understand why he presented the four comparisons of which we have already spoken. I will now proceed with the remaining context.