John Calvin Commentary Amos 6:4

"that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;" — Amos 6:4 (ASV)

Amos still pursues the rebuke we noticed at the beginning of the chapter: that the chief men, of whom he speaks, cast off all cares and anxieties and indulged in pleasures, while the whole country was miserably distressed.

We must always bear in mind what I have already said: luxury is not simply condemned by the Prophet, as some incorrectly think (not having sufficiently considered what is said), for that is not what the Prophet is addressing. Rather, he rebukes the Israelites for setting up an iron neck against God’s judgments, indeed, for shamelessly trifling with God, while He was trying to lead them gradually to repentance.

The Prophet complains that nothing had any effect on them.

He then says, first, that they slept on ivory beds. Using ivory beds was not bad in itself, except that excess is always to be condemned. For when we give ourselves up to pomp and pleasures, we are certainly not then free from sin; indeed, every desire for present things that exceeds moderation is always justly reprehensible.

And when people greedily seek splendor and display, or become ambitious and proud, or are given to delicacies, they are guilty of vices always condemned by God. But it might be that someone used an ivory bed who was still willing to lie on the ground, for we know that there was a great abundance of ivory then, and that it was commonly used in Asia.

Italy formerly did not know what it was to use an ivory bed, that is, before the victory of Lucius Scipio. But after King Antiochus was conquered, Italy then freely used ivory beds and fineries; and thus luxury broke down their courage and made them effeminate.

I will come now to our Prophet. It might have been that ivory was not so valuable then in Judea; they might then have used ivory beds without blame. But Amos always regards the miseries of those times. The rich then ought to have given up all their luxuries and to have resorted to dust and ashes when they saw that God was incensed with them, when they saw that the fire of His vengeance was kindled. We now perceive then why Amos was so indignant against those who slept on ivory beds.

He adds, And who extend themselves on their beds: for סרח, sarech, properly means to extend; it also means to become fetid; and further, it means to be superfluous. Therefore, some render the words, “upon ivory beds and superfluities”; but this is strained and does not agree with what follows, upon their couches.

The Prophet then, I have no doubt, points out here the behavior of those who so heedlessly indulged themselves: “You extend,” he says, “your legs and your arms on your couches, as idle people, accustomed to indulgences, usually do. But the Lord will awaken you in a new way; His scourges ought to have roused you, but you remain asleep. Hence, since God could not terrify you by His rods, nothing more remains but to draw you out against your will to be punished.”

This was the reason why the Prophet said that they extended themselves on their couches.

Ye eat also the lambs from the flock, and the calves from the midst of the rich pasture, or of the stall. I prefer taking מרבק, merebek, for folds. Since they loved fat meat then, the Prophet rebukes this luxury.

He indeed had in view, as has already been said, the calamitous time then; for if the rich had feasted in their usual way, and had even eaten fat meat, they would not have deserved so severe a punishment. But when the Lord called them to mourning, and when the signals of His wrath spread horror all around, it was an intolerable stupidity for them to continue their indulgences, which they ought, on the contrary, to have renounced.

Indeed, this passage agrees with that of Isaiah, to which I have already referred.