John Calvin Commentary Amos 5:4-6

"For thus saith Jehovah unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live; but seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beer-sheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Beth-el shall come to nought. Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be none to quench it in Beth-el." — Amos 5:4-6 (ASV)

Amos here again exhorts the Israelites to repentance. This address was common to all, though the greater part, as we have said, were altogether past recovery. However, it was necessary, as long as they continued a chosen people, to call them to repentance, for they had not yet been cast off.

We further know that the Prophets preached to invite some to God and to render others inexcusable. Regarding the purpose of public teaching, it is that all should be called collectively. But God’s purpose is different, for He intends, according to His own secret counsel, to draw the elect to Himself, and He designs to take away all excuse from the reprobate, so that their obstinacy may become more and more apparent.

We must further bear in mind that while the people of Israel continued, the doctrine of repentance and faith was preserved among them. The reason was the one I have alluded to: because they still remained in the fold of God. It is no wonder then that the Prophet again gives the Israelites the hope of pardon, provided they repented.

Thus saith Jehovah to the house of Israel, Seek me, and ye shall live. This sentence has two clauses. In saying, Seek me, the Prophet exhorts the Israelites to return to a sane mind, and then he offers them the mercy of God, if only they sought from the heart to reconcile themselves to Him.

We have said elsewhere that people cannot be led to repentance unless they believe that God will be favorable to them; for all who think Him to be implacable always flee from Him and dread the mention of His name. Hence, if anyone were to proclaim repentance throughout his whole life, he could achieve nothing unless he were to connect with this the doctrine of faith—that is, unless he were to show that God is ready to give pardon, if people only repent from the heart.

These two parts, then, which ought not to be separated, the Prophet here connects very wisely and for the best reason when he says, Seek me, and ye shall live. This intimates that the gate of mercy was still open, provided the Israelites did not persevere in their obstinacy. But, at the same time, he charges them with this: that they willfully perished through their own fault. For he shows that the only hindrance to their being saved lay within themselves, because God was not only ready to receive them into favor but also proactively exhorted them and of His own free will sought reconciliation.

Why then did the Israelites despise the salvation offered to them? This was the madness with which he now charges them, for they preferred ruin to salvation, because they did not return to God when He so kindly invited them, Seek me, and ye shall live. The same thing is stated in another place, where it is said that God seeketh not the death of a sinner (Ezekiel 18:32).

But as we have already said, the Prophets spoke thus in common to all the people, but their doctrine was not efficacious for all; for the Lord inwardly attracted His elect, and others were rendered inexcusable. Still, this is true: the whole blame for their perishing lay with the children of Israel, for they refused the salvation offered to them. What indeed was the cause of their destruction but their own obstinacy? And the root of the evil, was it not in their own hearts? Therefore, none of them could evade the charge made against them by the Prophet: that they were the authors of their own ruin, for each of them must have been conscious of his own perverseness.

But Amos afterwards defines the character of true repentance when he says, Seek not Bethel, go not to Gilgal, pass not over to Beersheba. Some think that the Prophet here repudiates all the disguises that hypocrites usually adopt. We indeed know that when God calls such people to Himself, they seek indirect and devious paths, for none of them return sincerely and willingly to God.

People indeed see that they are justly reproved for having departed from God. But when they are called back to Him, they take a circuitous path, as I have said, and not the straight road. Thus, though they pretend to seek God, they seek subterfuges so that they may not present themselves to Him.

All this is no doubt true, but the Prophet goes further. He shows here that the Israelites, by going to Bethel, not only lost all their labor but also grievously offended God, for superstition was in itself condemnable.

If Amos had preached at Jerusalem, he might have said, “Go not into the temple, for in vain ye offer sacrifices;” as indeed he does say later, “Come not with your flock.” For he there shows that God is not to be pacified by ceremonies. Indeed, in that very chapter, he rejects feast-days and sacrifices.

But in this place, he ascends higher and says that these two things are wholly contrary: to seek God and to seek Bethel. It is as though he said, “If ye from the heart return to me, renounce all the superstitions to which you have been until now attached.”

It is indeed a proof of true conversion when the sinner is displeased with himself on account of his sins, hates the things which before pleased him, and with a changed mind devotes himself wholly to God.

This is what the Prophet now discusses. It is as though he said, “If there is in you a purpose to return to God, cast away all your superstitions; for these two things—true religion and idolatry—cannot be joined together. As long then as ye remain fixed in that false worship to which you have accustomed yourselves, ye continue alienated from God. Then reconciliation with Him demands that you bid adieu to all your corrupt forms of worship.”

The import of the whole then is this: that the Israelites could not be reconciled to God unless they departed from their superstitions. Let them turn away, he says, from Bethel, and Gilgal, and Beersheba.

We indeed know that the calves were made at Bethel. Gilgal, no doubt, became celebrated for the passing of the people over the Jordan, and also, as is well known, for the circumcising of the children of Abraham. As to Beersheba, we know that Abraham dwelt there for a long time and frequently offered sacrifices to God.

Now, this vicious zeal (κακοζηλία—evil zeal or affectation) always prevails in the world. Without reason or judgment, it seizes upon something special when it undertakes to set up the worship of God, as we see to be the case under the Papacy. But God has prescribed to us a certain rule according to which He is to be worshipped; therefore, it is not His will that there should be a mixture of our inventions.

When, therefore, the posterity of Abraham presumptuously availed themselves of his example, and when they extolled the memorable event of the circumcision, God repudiated all contrivances of this kind. For as was well known, it was expressly His will to be worshipped at Jerusalem; and by appointing one tabernacle and one altar, He designed to cherish unity and concord among the people.

We now understand then that it was the intention of Amos to show that the conversion of the people would be fictitious until they turned away from all the superstitions and vicious modes of worship in which they had habituated themselves. Hence, Seek not Bethel, come not to Gilgal, pass not over to Beersheba.

The same thing may be said today to those who wish to blend the dregs of the Papacy with the pure and holy worship of God. For there are today many go-betweens (mediatores) who, while they see that our doctrine cannot be disapproved of, yet wish to contrive some middle course; that is, they wish to reconcile Popery with the doctrine of the Gospel. But the Prophet shows that such a mixture cannot be endured by God. How so? Because light cannot agree with darkness. Hence, corruptions, unless they are abolished, will always subvert the true worship of God. We now see that the lesson conveyed by this doctrine is that the pure worship of God cannot be restored while the corruptions of the world, which are contrary to His word, prevail.

Come not then to Gilgal, for by migrating it shall migrate. There is an alliteration in the words of the Prophet, “Gilgal by rolling shall be rolled,” for Gilgal means rolling. If such wording were allowable, it would be this, “Gilgal by gilling shall be gilled;” that is, it shall be rolled with quick rolling. God intimates that this place, under the protection of which the Israelites thought themselves safe, would be destroyed, as it had already been destined for destruction. Gilgal then by migrating shall migrate; not that the place could remove, but that it would be wholly demolished, so that nothing should remain there but dreadful signs of God’s vengeance.

He then adds, Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live. This repetition is not superfluous. The Prophet confirms what I have already stated: that such was the opposition between the true and legitimate worship of God, and idolatry and superstition, that the people of Israel, as long as they retained their corruptions, proved that they had nothing to do with God, whatever they might have pretended with their mouths and by their ceremonies.

Seek God, he says, and ye shall live. This repetition was very useful so that hypocrites might know that they were justly condemned, since they did not consecrate themselves wholly to God; for they were always ready to contend with God whenever they could. “Why does God deal so strictly with us? Why does He not concede at least something to us? For we do not deny Him everything. But if we do what we think to be right, why does He not indulge us at least on this account?”

But when God not only urges hypocrites by His doctrine but also visits them with punishments, then they become angry and even raise a clamor. Hence the Prophet, the second time, calls them to this duty, Seek Jehovah, and ye shall live. It is as though he said, “Ye will gain nothing by evasion; for if any one seeks God truly and from the heart, God will not disappoint him. He will receive him into favor and will bless him. That ye then pine away in your calamities, impute this to your own obstinacy and stubbornness: it is so, because ye do not truly seek God; for while ye retain your corruptions, as I have said before, ye do not seek Him.”

But he adds, Lest he pass on like a fire. צלח, tselach, means to pass on, to advance; it also means to break out, and sometimes to prosper; but, in this place, the Prophet no doubt meant what I have said. Thus it is, Lest he advance like fire upon the house of Joseph and consume it, and there be none to extinguish it in Bethel. The kind of vengeance that God threatened is not expressed here, but it may be easily understood.

There is, therefore, no obscurity in the meaning; for he declares that if the Israelites hardened their hearts against God, a burning was near at hand, which would seize them, devour, and consume them. A fire shall then come—or, as he puts it, shall advance—upon the house of Joseph; some say it shall burst out, which amounts to the same thing.

The house of Joseph means Ephraim, for he was, we know, the second son of Joseph. By taking a part for the whole, the Prophets usually include the ten tribes, as is well known, when they mention Ephraim; and the kingdom of Israel is sometimes called the house of Joseph.

Lest then he ascend as fire into the house of Joseph, and consume it, and there be none to extinguish it: this was said because the Israelites never thought that they would be consumed by such a sudden burning. The fire then shall devour the house of Joseph, and there will be none to quench it.

In the verse before, I omitted one thing, which I will now address. The Prophet said that Bethel would be for a trouble, or be nothing. Bethel, we know, is called in another place Bethaven, the house of iniquity; and Aven in Hebrew sometimes means iniquity, sometimes grief or trouble, sometimes labor or difficulty, and sometimes nothing.

It is not to be taken for iniquity in this place; this is certain. But Amos, on the contrary, speaks of the punishment that awaited that place, since it was abominable in the sight of God. As he had said of Gilgal, that it would be rolled, so now he says of Bethel, that it would be for a trouble or grief, or be nothing. Either meaning would be appropriate: that Bethel, from which the Israelites hoped for a remedy to all their evils, would be a trouble to them (that is, the cause of their ruin), or that it would be nothing, as though he had said that their hopes of expecting any relief from Bethel would be fallacious and empty.