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Selected Verse: Amos 4:13 - King James
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Am 4:13 |
King James |
For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
The God whom Israel is to "prepare to meet" (Amo 4:12) is here described in sublime terms.
wind--not as the Margin, "spirit." The God with whom thou hast to do is the Omnipotent Maker of things seen, such as the stupendous mountains, and of things too subtle to be seen, though of powerful agency, as the "wind."
declareth unto man . . . his thought-- (Psa 139:2). Ye think that your secret thoughts escape My cognizance, but I am the searcher of hearts.
maketh . . . morning darkness-- (Amo 5:8; Amo 8:9). Both literally turning the sunshine into darkness, and figuratively turning the prosperity of the ungodly into sudden adversity (Psa 73:12, Psa 73:18-19; compare Jer 13:16).
treadeth upon . . . high places--God treadeth down the proud of the earth. He subjects to Him all things however high they be (Mic 1:3). Compare Deu 32:13; Deu 33:29, where the same phrase is used of God's people, elevated by God above every other human height. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
For lo, He that formeth the mountains - Their God whom they worshiped was but nature. Amos tells them, who "their God" is, whom they were to prepare to meet. He describes Him as the Creator of that, which to man seems most solid, to go furthest back in times past. Before the everlasting mountains were, God is, for He made them. Yet God is not a Creator in the past alone. He is a continual Worker. "And formeth the wind," that finest subtlest creature, alone invisible in this visible world; the most immaterial of things material, the breath of our life, the image of man's created immaterial spirit, or even of God's uncreated presence, the mildest and the most terrific of the agents around us. But the thought of God, as a Creator or Preserver without, affects man but little. To man, a sinner, far more impressive than all majesty of Creative power, is the thought that God knows his inmost soul. So he adds; "and declareth unto man what is his thought," that is, his meditation, before he puts it into words. God knows our thoughts more truly than we ourselves. We disguise them to ourselves, know not our own hearts, wish not to know them. God reveals us to ourselves. As He says, "The heart is deceitful above all things; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart; I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings" Jer 17:9-10. Man's own conscience tells him that God's knowledge of His inmost self is no idle knowledge. "If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things" Jo1 3:20.
That maketh the morning darkness - If the light become darkness, how great that darkness! From the knowledge of man's heart, the prophet goes on to retribution. Morning is the symbol of all which is beautiful, cheering, radiant, joyous to man; darkness effaces all these. Their God, he tells them, can do all this. He can quench in gloom all the magnificent beauty of His own creation and make all which gladdened the eyes of man, "one universal blot." "And treadeth upon the high places of the earth." He "treadeth" them, to tread them under. He humbleth all which exalteth itself. "God walketh, when He worketh. He is without all, within all, containeth all, worketh all in all. Hence, it is said, "He walketh on the wings of the wind Psa 104:3; He walketh on the heights of the sea Job 9:8; He walketh on the circuit of heaven" Job 22:14.
Such was He, who made Himself "their God," The Author of all, the Upholder of all, the Subduer of all which exalted itself, who stood in a special relation to man's thoughts, and who punished. At His command stand all the hosts of heaven. Would they have Him for them, or against them? Would they be at peace with Him, before they met Him, face to face? |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Declareth - Knows the thoughts of all men. The God of hosts - Whose sovereign power all creatures obey, and acts for or against us as he willeth. Let us humble ourselves before this God, and give all diligence to make him our God. For happy are the people whose God he is, and who have all this power engaged for them. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
He that formeth the mountains - Here is a powerful description of the majesty of God. He formed the earth; he created the wind; he knows the inmost thoughts of the heart; he is the Creator of darkness and light; he steps from mountain to mountain, and has all things under his feet! Who is he who hath done and can do all these things? Jehovah Elohim Tsebaoth, that is his name.
1. The self-existing, eternal, and independent Being.
2. The God who is in covenant with mankind.
3. The universal Commander of all the hosts of earth and heaven. This name is farther illustrated in the following chapter. These words are full of instruction, and may be a subject of profitable meditation to every serious mind. |
29 Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.
13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
3 For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.
16 Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
18 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
19 How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
12 Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:
8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars 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: The LORD is his name:
2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.
8 Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea.
3 Who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind:
20 For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.