John Calvin Commentary Amos 8:3-4

"And the songs of the temple shall be wailings in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah: the dead bodies shall be many: in every place shall they cast them forth with silence. Hear this, O ye that would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail," — Amos 8:3-4 (ASV)

The Prophet here indirectly rebukes the Israelites for taking such delight in their superstitions as to sing in their prosperity, as if God favored them; for unbelievers are accustomed to misconstrue both the hatred and the favor of God based on the present appearance of things.

When the Turks enjoy prosperity, they boast that God is on their side; we also see that the Papists draw the same conclusion. It is the tendency of people not to look so much at themselves as at external circumstances. When, therefore, God indulges them for a time, though they may be more wicked than usual, they still do not doubt that God is favorable to them.

So the Sodomites, right up to the time they were overwhelmed by sudden destruction, thought that they had peace with heaven (Genesis 19:14). This is also the reason Isaiah says that the ungodly had made, as it were, a covenant with hell and death (Isaiah 28:15). And we know what Christ says about the time of Noah: that they then heedlessly feasted and built sumptuous houses (Matthew 24:38). Such carnal security has prevailed in almost all ages.

But a special vice is pointed out here by the Prophet: namely, that the people of Israel sang songs in their temples, as if they intentionally meant to mock God. For the voices of the Prophets resounded daily, uttering grievous and terrible threats; but the people, in the meantime, sang in their temples.

In the same way, the Papists act in the present day; while they bellow and chant, they think that God is pacified two or three times over. They also congratulate themselves in their temples when they have everything prosperous. This abuse, then, is what the Prophet refers to when he says, Howlings shall be the songs of the temple. Instead of melody, he mentions howling, as if he were saying, "God will turn your songs into lamentations, though they are now full of joy."

He afterwards adds, For many a carcass shall be cast down in every place. But I prefer to render the word passively: "Cast down everywhere with silence shall be many carcasses." By these words, he intimates that there would be such a slaughter that it would prevent them from burying the dead bodies.

We have said in another place that the right of burial is commonly observed even by enemies, for it is more than hostility to rage against the dead.

All who do not wish to be considered wholly barbarous either bury their dead enemies or permit them to be buried. There is a sort of understanding on this point among enemies, and the right of burial has usually been observed in all ages and held sacred among all nations.

Therefore, when dead bodies are thrown down in silence, it is evidence of a most grievous calamity. We therefore see why the Prophet distinctly states here that many a dead body would be cast down in every place in silence—that is, that there would be no burying of the dead.

But since we see people, though proven guilty a hundred times, still quarreling with God when He executes a rather grievous punishment, the Prophet now contends with the Israelites.

He again repeats what we have noted before: that God did not deal cruelly with them, and that even if He were to consume and obliterate the whole people, it would still be for just reasons, because they had reached the very extremities of wickedness.

And he assails by name the princes of the people: Hear this, he says, ye who tread upon or swallow up the poor. The Prophets, as we have already stated, did not without reason direct their discourses to the chief men, even though the common people were nearly as involved in the same guilt.

It is certain that the state of the people of Israel was then so corrupt that all, from the highest to the lowest, had become degenerate, and none were free from blame.

But as more guilt always belongs to leaders, this is the reason the Prophets treated them with more sharpness and severity. For many of the common people go astray through thoughtlessness or ignorance, or are led on by others; but those who govern pervert what is just and right, and then become the originators of all kinds of licentiousness.

It is no wonder then that the Lord, by His Prophets, inveighed so sharply against them. This is now the Prophet's object in saying, Hear this: for there is an emphasis in the expression when he commands them to hear. It was either because they did not sufficiently perceive their sins and were wholly deaf, or because they contended with God in vain, for hypocrites think that they can escape judgment by evasion.

Hear, he says, ye who devour the miserable, and destroy the poor of the land. We see here some distinction made: the Prophet does not summon the common people and the princes to God’s tribunal generally and indiscriminately, but turns his discourse only to the princes.