John Calvin Commentary Amos 6:8

"The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by himself, saith Jehovah, the God of hosts: I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces; therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein." — Amos 6:8 (ASV)

God here declares that He would not cease, because He had until now bestowed many benefits upon His people; for He had now changed His purpose, so that He would no longer continue His favors.

The Prophet intentionally added this because, as we know, hypocrites grow hardened when they consider the dignity that had been conferred on them. They think their possessions are firm and perpetual, and so they become haughty towards God. Since hypocrites act so foolishly, the Prophet justly says that it would avail them nothing that they had until now excelled in many endowments, for God no longer regarded their excellency.

The Hebrew word גאון, gaun, means pride and also excellency, but it is to be understood here in a good sense, as it is in many other places. In Isaiah 2:10, it can only be understood as glory, for it is applied to God. So also in Psalm 47:4, The glory of Jacob, whom I loved; he had fixed the inheritance of God. The gifts of God always deserve praise; therefore, the Prophet in this place does not condemn pride but, on the contrary, shows that the Israelites were deceived, for they set up their excellency and nobility in opposition to God, as though they were thereby to be exempt from all punishment.

God then says that He had now rejected this excellency, which was nevertheless His gift; but because the Israelites had abused His benefits, they were therefore to be esteemed of no account. The meaning then is that there is no acceptance of persons before God; that the dignity conferred on the people of Israel was now of no moment, for it was a mere mask. They were unworthy of adoption; they were unworthy of the priesthood and kingdom.

It was then the same as if the Prophet had said, “I will judge you as the common people and heathens; for your dignity, of which you are stripped, is now of no account with Me.” They had indeed long before departed from God; they were therefore wholly unworthy of being owned by God as His inheritance.

Then, I detest the excellency of Jacob, and his palaces; that is, all the wealth with which they have until now been adorned. But the Prophet does not understand either palaces or excellency in a bad sense; on the contrary, he shows that God’s blessings do not safeguard the wicked from the judgment they deserve.

He afterwards adds, I will deliver up the city and its fullness; that is, “Though you are now full of wealth, I will empty you of all your abundance.” Hence, I will deliver up the city together with its fullness, that is, its opulence.

But so that this threatening might not be slighted, the Prophet confirms it by interposing an oath. Hence he says that God had sworn. And as we know that God’s name is precious to Him, it is certain that it was not brought forward here in vain, but because of the hardness and stubbornness of those who were accustomed to dismiss all the prophecies and, in particular, to regard all threatenings as nothing.

This was the reason the Prophet wished to ratify in this way what he had said: it was so that hypocrites might understand that they could not escape the vengeance he had denounced. The form of swearing, as it is, may appear improper; but God in this place takes on the character of a man, as He often does in other places.

He swears by His soul, that is, by His life, as though He were one of mankind. But we should accustom ourselves to such forms, in which God graciously accommodates Himself to our understanding. For what Hilary philosophizes about the soul—as though God the Father swore by His own wisdom—is frivolous; that good man certainly exposed his own doctrine to ridicule while he was attempting to refute the Arians.

“God the Father,” he says, “swears by His own wisdom. Now He who is accustomed to swear by Himself could not swear by an inferior; but wisdom is the only-begotten Son of God: hence it follows that the Son is equal to the Father.” These things at first sight seem plausible, but they are childish trifles.

Let it then be observed that God borrows this mode of swearing from humans, as though He said, “If people are believed when swearing by their life, which is nevertheless evanescent, of how much greater weight must that oath be by which I pledge My own life?”

Since God speaks in this way, surely the whole world ought to tremble. We now understand the Prophet’s design. Let us continue—