John Calvin Commentary Amos 4:9

"I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees hath the palmer-worm devoured: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah." — Amos 4:9 (ASV)

Although one kind of punishment may not convince people, they are still proven by it with sufficient clarity to be guilty before God.

But when He urges them in various ways, and after trying in vain to correct them in one way, He resorts to another, and still accomplishes nothing, it then becomes even clearer that those who are in this way always unmoved and remain insensible—whatever means God may use to lead them to repentance—are completely beyond recovery.

This is the main point of what the Prophet now adds: he says that they had been smitten by the east wind. He shows that lack of food does not always come from one cause, for people become hardened when they experience only one kind of adversity. This is what happens when a country suffers from a drought; it will be thought to be, as it were, its fate. But when God chastises people in various ways, they should then undoubtedly be touched and truly affected. When, on the contrary, they ignore all punishments as if with their eyes closed, it is certain that they are completely obstinate and so bewitched by the devil that they feel nothing and perceive nothing. This is the reason why the Prophet records the various punishments which had already been inflicted on the people.

Therefore, he now says that they had been smitten by the east wind and by the mildew. We know what damage mildew does to the standing grain; when the sun rises after a cold rain, it burns out its substance, so that the ears grow yellow, and rottenness follows. God then says that the people's standing grain had been destroyed by this blight, after dryness had already prevailed, although not to the same extent throughout the whole land. For God sent rain on one part, while a neighboring region was parched from lack of rain. The Prophet, having stated this, now also mentions the mildew.

He says further that the fig-trees and vines had been consumed, that the gardens had been destroyed, and that the olive trees had been devoured by chafers or palmer worms. Since the Israelites had then been warned in so many ways, was it not a strange and monstrous blindness that, though frightened, they could endure these chastisements of God and not be moved to return to the right way? If the first chastisement had no effect, and if the second also had been fruitless, surely they should have repented at last. But as they continued in their usual way and persisted in their characteristic contumacy of which we have spoken, what else remained for them but to be completely destroyed as those who had trifled with God? We now therefore understand what the Prophet means.

Furthermore, this passage teaches, as other similar passages do, that seasons do not vary by chance. That drought now prevails, and then continual rains destroy the fruits of the earth; that chafers are now produced, and then that the sky is filled with various pestilences—this passage clearly shows that these things do not happen by chance. Instead, they are so many signs of God’s wrath, placed before our eyes.

Indeed, God does not govern the world as profane people think, as if He gave uncontrolled license both in heaven and on earth. Instead, He now withholds rain, then He pours it down in abundance; He now burns the grain with heat, then He moderates the air; He now shows Himself kind to people, then He shows Himself angry with them. Let us therefore learn to attribute the whole order of nature to the special providence of God. I mention His special providence, lest we imagine only some general operation, as ungodly people do. Rather, let us know that God intends for Himself to be seen in daily events, so that the signs of His love may cause us to rejoice, and also that the signs of His wrath may humble us, so that we may repent. Let this therefore be learned from the present words of the Prophet.

Amos further teaches us that wind and rain, hail and droughts, heat and cold, are arms or weapons by which God executes vengeance for our sins. Whenever God therefore intends to inflict punishment on us, He puts on His armor; that is, He sends either rain, or wind, or drought, or heat, or hail. Since this is so, let us not think that either rain or heat is accidental, or that they depend on the position of the stars, as ungodly people imagine. Let us therefore know that all nature so obeys God’s command that when rain falls at the right time, it is a sign of His love towards us, and when it is unseasonable, it is a proof of His displeasure. It is fitting to think the same of heat and of cold, and of all other things. Let us now continue with the words of the Prophet.