Exploring the Meaning of Amos 4
Napsal(a) Helen Kennedy
In chapter 4 of the Book of Amos, verses 1-3 are talking about people who pervert the truths of the church. They will fall into falsities in outermost things.
In the Bible, fish represent "lower" things than mammals, so we can interpret the fishhooks in verse 2 as meaning being caught and held fast in natural or lower things.
Verses 4-6 are about acts of worship such as tithes and sacrifices. These look similar to genuine worship, but are only external sorts of things. We can tell because ‘teeth’ (in verse 6) represent ultimates or outermost things (see Secrets of Heaven 6380). It follows that “cleanness of teeth” would mean outermost things that look good but only imitate genuine worship. The Lord exhorts, “Yet you have not returned to me.”
Verses 7-8. Some things true will remain, when where there are too many false ideas, the truths don't get through. This can be seen where the Lord says, “I made it rain on one city; I withheld rain from another city... where it did not rain the part withered.” Again the Lord exhorts, “Yet you have not returned to me.”
Verse 9. Afterward all things of the church are falsified, shown by blight attacking the gardens, vineyards, fig tree and olive trees. The last three represent spiritual, natural and celestial things, or all the things of spiritual life. “Yet you have not returned to me,” says the Lord.
Verses 10-11. The Lord explains the devastating things he allowed to happen: plague in Egypt, death of young men by swords, stench in the camps, Sodom and Gomorrah. This is because they are profaned by sensual knowledges. Profanation means the mixing of good and evil together. (See Secrets of Heaven 1001[2]).
This extends to all things of the church, with the church being the Lord’s kingdom on earth (Secrets of Heaven 768[3]).
With profanation “as soon as any idea of what is holy arises, the idea of what is profane joins immediately to it,” (Secrets of Heaven 301).
Now there is hardly anything left. “Yet you have not returned to Me,” says the Lord again.
Verses 12-13: Because people adamantly remain in their profane ways, they are warned, “Prepare to meet your God!”. This is the God powerful and mighty, “who forms mountains, and creates the wind,” and even more close to home, “Who declares to man what his thought is.” As intimately a knowing as that is, the Lord’s love for all humanity is contained in His exhortations for them to turn themselves to Him.
See, for example, Luke 6:44-45, and True Christian Religion 373.
Exodus 22
1
Si quis furatus fuerit bovem aut ovem, et occiderit vel vendiderit : quinque boves pro uno bove restituet, et quatuor oves pro una ove.
2
Si effringens fur domum sive suffodiens fuerit inventus, et accepto vulnere mortuus fuerit, percussor non erit reus sanguinis.
3
Quod si orto sole hoc fecerit, homicidium perpetravit, et ipse morietur. Si non habuerit quod pro furto reddat, ipse venundabitur.
4
Si inventum fuerit apud eum quod furatus est, vivens : sive bos, sive asinus, sive ovis, duplum restituet.
5
Si læserit quispiam agrum vel vineam, et dimiserit jumentum suum ut depascatur aliena : quidquid optimum habuerit in agro suo, vel in vinea, pro damni æstimatione restituet.
6
Si egressus ignis invenerit spinas, et comprehenderit acervos frugum, sive stantes segetes in agris, reddet damnum qui ignem succenderit.
7
Si quis commendaverit amico pecuniam aut vas in custodiam, et ab eo, qui susceperat, furto ablata fuerint : si invenitur fur, duplum reddet :
8
si latet fur, dominus domus applicabitur ad deos, et jurabit quod non extenderit manum in rem proximi sui,
9
ad perpetrandam fraudem, tam in bove quam in asino, et ove ac vestimento, et quidquid damnum inferre potest : ad deos utriusque causa perveniet, et si illi judicaverit, duplum restituet proximo suo.
10
Si quis commendaverit proximo suo asinum, bovem, ovem, et omne jumentum ad custodiam, et mortuum fuerit, aut debilitatum, vel captum ab hostibus, nullusque hoc viderit :
11
jusjurandum erit in medio, quod non extenderit manum ad rem proximi sui : suscipietque dominus juramentum, et ille reddere non cogetur.
12
Quod si furto ablatum fuerit, restituet damnum domino ;
13
si comestum a bestia, deferat ad eum quod occisum est, et non restituet.
14
Qui a proximo suo quidquam horum mutuo postulaverit, et debilitatum aut mortuum fuerit domino non præsente, reddere compelletur.
15
Quod si impræsentiarum dominus fuerit, non restituet, maxime si conductum venerat pro mercede operis sui.
16
Si seduxerit quis virginem necdum desponsatam, dormieritque cum ea : dotabit eam, et habebit eam uxorem.
17
Si pater virginis dare noluerit, reddet pecuniam juxta modum dotis, quam virgines accipere consueverunt.
18
Maleficos non patieris vivere.
19
Qui coierit cum jumento, morte moriatur.
20
Qui immolat diis, occidetur, præterquam Domino soli.
21
Advenam non contristabis, neque affliges eum : advenæ enim et ipsi fuistis in terra Ægypti.
22
Viduæ et pupillo non nocebitis.
23
Si læseritis eos, vociferabuntur ad me, et ego audiam clamorem eorum :
24
et indignabitur furor meus, percutiamque vos gladio, et erunt uxores vestræ viduæ, et filii vestri pupilli.
25
Si pecuniam mutuam dederis populo meo pauperi qui habitat tecum, non urgebis eum quasi exactor, nec usuris opprimes.
26
Si pignus a proximo tuo acceperis vestimentum, ante solis occasum reddes ei.
27
Ipsum enim est solum, quo operitur, indumentum carnis ejus, nec habet aliud in quo dormiat : si clamaverit ad me, exaudiam eum, quia misericors sum.
28
Diis non detrahes, et principi populi tui non maledices.
29
Decimas tuas et primitias tuas non tardabis reddere : primogenitum filiorum tuorum dabis mihi.
30
De bobus quoque, et ovibus similiter facies : septem diebus sit cum matre sua, die octava reddes illum mihi.
31
Viri sancti eritis mihi : carnem, quæ a bestiis fuerit prægustata, non comedetis, sed projicietis canibus.
