John Calvin Commentary Amos 5:13

"Therefore he that is prudent shall keep silence in such a time; for it is an evil time." — Amos 5:13 (ASV)

Some interpreters think that a punishment is here announced against the people of Israel: that the Lord would deprive them of Prophets and teachers. We indeed know that nothing is more to be dreaded than for the Lord to extinguish the light of sound doctrine and allow us to go astray in darkness, indeed, to stumble and rush headlong to ruin, as those do who are destitute of wholesome counsel.

But I think that the meaning is quite different. Another interpretation may be considered probable: that the prudent did not dare to speak because of the prevailing tyranny, for Amos had said before that the judges who then ruled would not bear reproof. Therefore, the prudent were forced to be silent at that time, for that time was evil; and all liberty of teaching was taken away.

And this meaning has even wider implications, for the silent would have to bear the wrongs done to them and inwardly suppress their own groans, because they did not dare to complain. Indeed, the very teachers did not oppose the torrent, for they saw that it was not the time to resist arrogant and violent men.

But this view may also be suitably applied to God’s judgment: that the prudent would be silent, being made fearful, for silence is often connected with fear. And it is a dreadful judgment of God when the prudent keep silent, or, as it is said elsewhere, put their hand on their mouth.

As for the first interpretation, I have already rejected it, and it certainly has nothing in its favor. But the second may be adapted to the general meaning of the Prophet, that is, the prudent shall be silent at that time, because all liberty will be taken away. At the same time, I am unwilling to restrict it in this way, as they do, for it was not fitting for a wise man to pass over in silence sins so grievous. Though tyrants threatened a hundred deaths, yet those on whom the necessity of teaching was laid ought not to have been silent.

But the Prophet here does not speak of what the prudent would do or omit to do; on the contrary, he suggests that whenever they began to speak, the arrogance of the judges would be so great as to repel all reproofs. The prudent then shall be silent, not willingly, for that, as I have said, would have been unworthy of wise men.

And the Prophet here, as a term of honor, calls those prudent who discern things rightly, who are not led astray by corruptions but remain upright; who, though they see the whole order of things collapsing, and though they see heaven and earth, as it were, mingled together, yet retain a sound judgment.

Since the Prophet speaks of such men, he certainly does not mean that they would be willingly silent, for it would have been a shameful laziness in them thus to betray the truth and a good cause. What then does he mean? He means this: that the wickedness of tyrants would be so great as not to allow one word to be declared by the prudent; when anyone came forward to reprove their vices, he was not tolerated.

When therefore he says that the time would be evil, he means that such audacity would prevail that all liberty would be denied to wise men. They would then be forced to be silent, for they could achieve nothing by speaking; indeed, they would have no freedom of speech allowed them. And though they attempted to fulfill their duty, tyrannical violence would instantly impose silence on them.

Similar was the case with Lot, of whom it is said that he groaned and vexed his own heart (Genesis 16:1). He was forced, I have no doubt, to be silent after having often used outspoken reproofs; indeed, he doubtless exposed himself to many dangers by his attempts to reprove the Sodomites.

This seems to me to be the meaning of the Prophet when he says that the prudent would be silent because these tyrants would impose silence on all teachers—now throwing them into prisons, then banishing them, now sentencing them to death, then inflicting some punishment on them, or heaping reproaches on them, or treating them with ridicule as persons worthy of contempt. We now understand the Prophet’s design.

We may further observe that men have then advanced to the extremity of evil when sound doctrine and beneficial counsel are no longer received, and when all liberty is sternly suppressed, so that prudent men do not dare to reprove vices, however rampant they are—vices which even children observe and the blind feel. When licentiousness has reached this point, it is certain that the state of things is beyond recovery and that there is no hope of repentance or of a better condition. This was the meaning of the Prophet.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that as we cannot see with our eyes Your infinite and incomprehensible glory, which is hidden from us, we may learn at least by Your works what Your great power is, so as to be humbled under Your mighty hand, and never trifle with You as hypocrites are accustomed to do; but to bring a heart truly sincere, and also pure hands, that our whole life may testify that a true fear of Your name prevails in our hearts. And grant that while we devote ourselves wholly to Your service, we may courageously and with invincible hearts fight against all these corruptions by which we are on every side beset, until, having finished our warfare, we attain that celestial rest which has been prepared for us by Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.