The Pulpit Commentary on Amos 6:12

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Shall horses run upon the rock? Can horses gallop safely over places covered with rocks and stones? Will one plough there with oxen? Do men plough the rock with their oxen? The answer, of course, is "No." Yet your conduct is equally foolish, your labour is equally lost. Some, dividing the words differently, translate, "Does one plough the sea with oxen?" which reminds one of the Latin proverb, "Litus arare bubus." Thus Ovid, 'Ep. Heroid,' 5:115—

"Quid facis OEnone? Quid arenae semina mandas?

Non protecturis litora bubus aras."

For ye have turned; or, that ye have turned. Judgment into gall (see note on Amos 5:7). Hemlock. Some plant with an acrid juice. Ye turn the administration of justice, which is "the fruit of righteousness," into the bitterest injustice and wrong. It were "more easy," says Pusey, "to change the course of nature or the use of things of nature, than the course of God's providence or the laws of his just retribution."

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commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Amos 6:1-14EXPOSITIONJoseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryMatthew Henry on Amos 6:8-14How dreadful, how miserable, is the case of those whose eternal ruin the Lord himself has sworn; for he can execute his purpose, and none can alter it! Those hearts are wretchedly hardened that will not be brought to me…Matthew Henry commentaryThreatenings of Judgment. (b. c. 790.)THREATENINGS OF JUDGMENT. (B. C. 790.) In the former part of the chapter we had these secure Israelites loading themselves with pleasures, as if they could never be made merry enough; here we have God loading them with…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Amos 6:12-14The prophet shows the folly of these evil doers who think in their own strength to defy judgment and to resist the enemy whom God is sending against them.Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Amos 6:12The vanity of the sinner's principles and hopes. The perfect naturalness and genuineness of Amos must be apparent to every reader. The sources from which he drew his graphic imagery were his own life and experiences. As…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Amos 6:12Man's perverting power. "For ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock." The meaning of this is that they had turned the best things into bad use. Judgment and righteousness, the law…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Amos 6:12Trying the impossible. "Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plough there with oxen?" The folly of expecting real prosperity by committing acts of injustice or pursuing courses of sin is here forcibly represented by…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Amos 6:12-14The doomed people who will not turn. Sin brings often present gain, but it never pays in the end. When the balance is struck, the wrong doer always finds it on the wrong side of the book. A sinner is one who sets himsel…Joseph S. Exell and contributors