Amós 3
Cyril of Alexandria · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Amós 3:1
The word might be understood as having come against all of Israel, no longer taking Judah and Ephraim in part, but with the whole race gathered as if into one; for every tribe of Israel was brought up from Egypt. Therefore, with none being left out, he commands them to hear the things from God. And what were these things? For there are countless, he says, cities and countries throughout the whole world under heaven, and those in them are beyond number, but you from Israel out of all I have made chosen, I made myself manifest through many wonders, I delivered you from bitter and unbearable slavery, I declared you enviable and thrice-blessed, I have instructed you by law for what is pleasing to me, I have fortified you with my assistance, and I have brought you into the land promised to the fathers. But since you alone, he says, out of all who have been deemed worthy of so conspicuous a grace have not ceased grieving and have offended in many ways, for this reason I will henceforth demand of you an account of your folly, I will no longer tolerate those who sin and have an unreproved inclination for this. Therefore, to despise God and to disregard the master's will is a cause of destruction for anyone henceforth who has known him, or has been known by him, in the manner of spiritual kinship. — Commentary on Amos
Amós 3:3
He therefore accuses them, because they claimed that the prophets from Him did not convey words from above and from God; but rather they thought that things were being uttered from their own opinion, and that they were speaking things different from what seemed good to the Lord of all. For this reason He says, O foolish and senseless ones, will any of you become friends and walk the same path of life, not having known yourselves, or rather one another; that is, unless they have seen one another to be of the same character and like-minded? "For every creature loves its like, and a man will cleave to his like." And if this is true, how could I have accepted the prophets, as it were, into friendship and love, being holy Myself, if they too had not become holy? How then do you persecute the saints, to whom I have entrusted My words, whom I have accepted as good, as it were walking the same road of My wills? For whatever I might wish, this is also their will. Therefore, to rebuke the prophets is nothing other than to direct the rebuke against Me. — Commentary on Amos
Amós 3:4
Those who study the habits of wild beasts say that the lion, when it is in need of food, roams about powerfully through mountains and glens and forests, turning its eye this way and that, and seeking to catch something of the animals grazing in the woods. But when it sees something suitable for food, then it comes near and makes its attack, roaring terribly and harshly. Why then, He says, do you accuse God, because He makes the threat before the attack of terrible things? And why do you gnash your teeth at the prophets themselves, because they too have cried out against your impiety? For I am like a lion, He says, which is accustomed to roar before the hunt, all but threatening the attack beforehand, and the prophets are like cubs, imitating my custom. But just as for the animals in the mountains the hunter's shout beforehand is not entirely unprofitable, scaring them to flight before they happen to be caught, so also for sinners the threat and prediction before the terrible things is exceedingly useful, leading them to repentance and avoidance of what is impending. God, therefore, compares himself to a lion that does not leap upon and bring things from his wrath upon some, unless he first makes known the threat, so that by repenting they might be saved, receiving the prediction of the things that will be as a medicine for salvation before the onset of the terrible things. — Commentary on Amos
Amós 3:5
The discourse is now made by way of comparison. For fowlers most skillfully bring down the sparrows that have settled in the plants, and with snares, on the other hand, some crush what is caught. But the discourse now seems to signify through the sparrows those who are accustomed to think lofty things, the boastful in mind and arrogant in spirit, and not enduring to be brought down with the lowly; and through those caught in snares, the lovers of earthly things, and those who seek only carnal and fattening things. And God again compares himself to a fowler and a snare, bringing the proud down to the earth, and as it were crushing and hunting for punishment those who mind only the things on earth. But those from Israel were boastful, despising God and rejecting prophets and dishonoring the law; and they were no less also exceedingly greedy for the things in the world, and seeking only the things on earth, overcome by whose strange desires they did not accept the word of God, but opposed those who call to virtue. — Commentary on Amos
Amós 3:6
But perhaps you say that the outcome of these matters grieves you not moderately. Will there then be an affliction in a city, perchance, which the Lord has not done? It is like as if one should say: Will there then be anyone among men able to afflict a city either with diseases or sieges or destructions of crops or even in some other such way? But if no one of men could do such things, and it lies rather in the authority and power of God, why are you angry with those who announce it beforehand? And yet it is necessary to repent, and by inclinations to this to appease him the one who is grieved and has the power to harm those who have sinned. Therefore, in these matters, we shall understand the 'evil' that comes from God in the cities not as wickedness—far from it!—but rather as an affliction, that is, the wrath and movement for whatever reason, which He might bring upon sinners, persuading them to turn back to what is more fitting. For it is written that, "With bit and bridle you shall restrain the jaws of those who do not draw near to you." For since He is good, and "wishes all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth," He somehow compels them by means of wrath toward what is better, and sometimes powerfully moves, with terrors and threats, those whom reason and the guidance of what is beneficial do not persuade. — Commentary on Amos
Amós 3:8
"A lion will roar, and who will not be afraid? The Lord God has spoken, and who will not prophesy?" It is not the prophets, he says, who bring on the things that come from wrath; how could they? For they are also human in nature, just like you, but they have been honored by God by learning all the things that He might wish to fulfill, and to bring upon cities and lands either good things, perhaps, or things that are accustomed to cause pain. But perhaps you say to this: Let them learn, if you wish; let them be enriched by you with the knowledge of future events; let all the mysteries be made clear to them; but let them speak to no one, nor let them sound anything in the ears of those who reject them. What then is the reply to this from God? A lion will roar and who will not be afraid? For if, he says, when the lion roars, the most powerful of beasts, there would not be anyone so hard-hearted and arrogant as not to receive fear, how, when God, who is above all, speaks and commands them to announce what they learn, would they not fear the one who has commanded them? For they are not, like you, scornful and unyielding, holding in no account the things that seem good to the Lord of all. — Commentary on Amos