John Calvin Commentary Amos 6:12

"Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow [there] with oxen? that ye have turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood;" — Amos 6:12 (ASV)

Interpreters misrepresent this verse. Some think that the Prophet, by these figurative expressions, means that the people were wholly unprofitable for anything good. As someone says, “The slothful ox wishes for the saddle, the horse wishes to plough.” They therefore suppose that this is the meaning of the words: “You are no more fitted to lead a good life than a horse is to run on a rock, or an ox to plough on a rock.”

Others think that the Prophet complains that the order of things was subverted, as though he said, “You have equally confounded all equity, government, and justice. In short, you have subverted all right, as when one tries to ride swiftly over a high rock, or attempts to plough there, which is contrary to the nature of things: you have therefore become monsters.”

Still others understand that the Prophet here complains that he had lost all his labor, because he had been singing, according to the common proverb, to the deaf: “What do I accomplish with this iron generation? It is the same as if one tried to ride on the rock, to mount a rock on a swift horse, or as if one attempted to plough there—both of which are impossible. So now, when I address stupid men, there is no fruit to my labor, and no advantage is gained.”

But let us see whether a fitter and more suitable meaning can be elicited. We have already observed how secure the Israelites were, for they thought that God was, in a way, bound to them, because he had pledged his faith to be a father to them. This adoption by God puffed up their hearts.

The Prophet now reproves this presumptuous security, and in a fitting manner says, “Can a horse run on a rock? And can an ox plough in a stony place?” So there is not among you a free course for God’s blessings. You ought indeed to have been the vineyard and the field of the Lord; justice and judgment ought to have reigned among you, but you have turned judgment into gall (ראש, rash, which is variously interpreted, but as to the sense it matters little), you have then turned judgment into gall, and righteousness into hemlock. Since then you are so perverse, a way for God’s blessings is doubtless closed up.

“It cannot be that the Lord will act towards you in a manner like himself; for he must necessarily be refractory towards the refractory, as he is gentle towards the gentle.”

The Prophet seems to me to mean this, and if anyone impartially considers the whole verse, he will easily discover the truth of what I have stated: namely, that the Prophet here reproves the supreme haughtiness of the Israelite people, who thought God was bound to them, even though, at the same time, they, as it were, deliberately provoked his wrath.

“You think,” he says, “that God will always be propitious to you; from where does this confidence come? Is it because he has adopted you, because he made a covenant with your fathers? True, he has done so; but what sort of covenant was it? What was undertaken on your part? Was it not that you would be perfect before him?

But you have turned judgment into gall, and righteousness into hemlock. Since then you are thus covenant-breakers, what can God do now? Do you wish him to proceed in the same course and to bestow his blessings on you? You do not allow them to be bestowed. For you have become like craggy rocks. How can God proceed in his course? how can he continue his benefits to you? He can certainly no more do so than a horse, however nimble it may be, can run swiftly on a rock, or an ox plough on a rock.”

We now understand what the Prophet means in this passage. A confirmation of this view now follows, and from this connection, the truth of what I have stated will become more evident.