John Calvin Commentary Amos 5:8

"[seek him] that maketh the Pleiades and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth (Jehovah is his name);" — Amos 5:8 (ASV)

Some interpreters connect this verse with the previous one and think that what the Prophet had said before is explained here. However, they are greatly mistaken and misrepresent the Prophet's meaning. We have indeed said that the Prophet shows in that verse that the Israelites were not only treacherous and covenant-breakers with regard to God, having fallen away from His pure worship, but that they also acted wickedly and dishonestly towards men. But these interpreters think that God is, by a metaphor, called righteousness and that religion is called judgment. This is in no way the Prophet's mind; no, as I have already said, it is entirely different.

What, then, does the Prophet mean? I take this verse by itself, but we must still see why the Prophet proclaims God's power to us in such sublime terms. We know how heedlessly hypocrites trifle with God, as if they were dealing with a child. For they imagine a god according to their own fancy; indeed, they transform Him whenever they please and think Him to be delighted with frivolous trifles.

This is why the way of pacifying God is so easy for them. When they provoke God’s wrath in various ways, some little expiation is ready at hand, and they think it is a satisfaction to God. Since, then, hypocrites imagine that God is like a dead idol, this is the reason why the Prophet, to banish these delusions, shows that God's nature is far different.

“What sort of being,” he says, “do you think God is? For you bring your worthless and frivolous expiations as though God would be satisfied with these trifles, as though He were a child or some foolish individual. But God is He who makes the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into morning, who changes day into night, who pours forth on the earth the waters of the sea. Go now, and present your playthings, as though access to God were open to you, when you try to pacify Him with your trifles.”

We now perceive the Prophet’s object. We see how this verse ought to be taken separately and yet be connected with the Prophet's main discourse. For after having inveighed against the gross vices of the people, seeing he had to contend with the headstrong, indeed, with the mockers of God, he grows angry and sharply exclaims, “What do you think or imagine God to be?” Then the Prophet sets forth God's character as being far different from what hypocrites imagine Him to be in their own fancies. “What are your notions of Him?” he says. “You indeed make God to be like a child; but He made the Pleiades and Orion.”

Some translate כימה, kime, as Arcturus. There is no need to spend much effort on such names, for the Jews, ignorant of the liberal sciences, cannot today certainly determine which stars are meant. They also show their complete ignorance regarding herbs. They are indeed bold enough; they define what every word means, but yet, as I have said, they betray their own lack of knowledge.

And our Prophet was a shepherd and had never learned astronomy in his youth or in his manhood. He therefore speaks of the stars according to the common notions of his age, but he, no doubt, selected two stars of an opposite influence. The Pleiades (which are also called the Seven Stars) are, we know, mild; for when they rise, they moderate the harshness of the cold and also bring with them the spring rain.

But Orion is a fiercer star and always excites severe and turbulent disturbances both at its rising and setting. This being the case, the Prophet here names those stars most commonly known. He says, “Since the Lord changes the seasons, so that the mildness of spring follows the harshness of winter, and since days succeed nights, and darkness comes after light, and since it is God who makes a calm sky suddenly cloudy by raising vapors from the veins of the earth or from the sea—since all these changes manifest God's wonderful power to us, how is it that men so presumptuously trifle with Him?

Why is there such great stupidity, unless they completely overlook God's works, leaving Him a name only, and do not see what is before their eyes?” Thus we see how beautifully and strikingly the Prophet here sets forth God's power, and how appropriately he speaks of it. He then maketh the Pleiades and Orion.

And he adds, He changeth darkness into the morning, he maketh the day to grow dark into night. Here he presents to us the various changes of times. The night does not turn into day by chance, nor does darkness come over the earth by chance when the sun has ceased to shine.

Since, then, this variety ought to awaken even the unwilling and compel them to adore God, how is it that His majesty is treated by men with such mockery, that they bring their frivolous expiations and think Him to be no longer angry with them when they present to Him what is worthless and childish, as when a nurse soothes an infant with a pleasing sound?

I say again, why is there such great stupor, except that men willfully close their eyes to so bright a display, by which God shows Himself to us, that He might compel us all to adore His name? We now see why the Prophet describes the various changes that daily take place.

He also speaks of the waters of the sea: Who calleth, he says, the waters of the sea, and poureth them on the surface of the earth. Some explain this as referring to fountains, for they think that all waters proceed from the sea, and that fountains are nothing else but, as it were, the eyes of the sea.

But this passage should rather be seen as referring to rains, for God's power is not so conspicuous in the waters that come from the earth as when He suddenly darkens the heavens with vapors.

For why is it that the heavens, clear a short while ago, are now cloudy? We see clouds rising—but at whose command? Philosophers indeed assign some natural causes; they say that vapors are drawn up from both the earth and the sea by the sun's heat. But why is this done today rather than yesterday?

Why is there this diversity, except that God shows that the element of water is under His control, and also the air itself, as well as the vapors, which are formed, as it were, out of nothing? For what is vapor but dense air, or condensed air? And yet vapors arise from the hollow places of the earth as well as from the sea.

Certainly, water could not of itself produce a new element: it is heavy, and vapors rise high up. How can it be that water thus loses its own nature? But vapors are in an intermediate state between air and water, and yet they ascend above the air and arise from the earth to the heavens.

The Prophet therefore rightly says that waters are called—that is, that these vapors are called—from the sea, and are afterwards poured on the surface of the earth. This may be understood of the clouds as well as of rain, for clouds extend over the earth and surround us, and rain is poured on the earth. This is doubtless the wonderful work of God.

Therefore, the Prophet concludes, Jehovah is His name. It is not the idol that you have created for yourselves, for your expiations might indeed make a child smile, but they cannot satisfy God's judgment. Therefore, understand that you are dealing with God Himself, and let these fallacious delusions deceive you no longer.”