1Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt: 2“Only you have I known from all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” 3Can two walk together without agreeing where to go? 4Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Does a young lion growl in his den if he has caught nothing? 5Does a bird land in a snare where no bait has been set? Does a trap spring from the ground when it has nothing to catch? 6If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it? 7Surely the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing His plan to His servants the prophets. 8The lion has roared— who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken— who will not prophesy? 9Proclaim to the citadels of Ashdod and to the citadels of Egypt: “Assemble on the mountains of Samaria; see the great unrest in the city and the acts of oppression in her midst.” 10“For they know not how to do right,” declares the LORD. “They store up violence and destruction in their citadels.” 11Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “An enemy will surround the land; he will pull down your strongholds and plunder your citadels.” 12This is what the LORD says: “As the shepherd snatches from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so the Israelites dwelling in Samaria will be rescued having just the corner of a bed or the cushion of a couch. 13Hear and testify against the house of Jacob, declares the Lord GOD, the God of Hosts. 14On the day I punish Israel for their transgressions, I will visit destruction on the altars of Bethel; the horns of the altar will be cut off, and they will fall to the ground. 15I will tear down the winter house along with the summer house; the houses of ivory will also perish, and the great houses will come to an end,” declares the LORD.
Matthew Henry's Commentary
Judgments against Israel. (1-8) The like to other nations. (9-15) 1-8 The distinguishing favours of God to us, if they do not restrain from sin, shall not exempt from punishment. They could not expect communion with God, unless they first sought peace with him. Where there is not friendship, there can be no fellowship. God and man cannot walk together, except they are agreed. Unless we seek his glory, we cannot walk with him. Let us not presume on outward privileges, without special, sanctifying grace. The threatenings of the word and providence of God against the sin of man are certain, and certainly show that the judgments of God are at hand. Nor will God remove the affliction he has sent, till it has done its work. The evil of sin is from ourselves, it is our own doing; but the evil of trouble is from God, and is his doing, whoever are the instruments. This should engage us patiently to bear public troubles, and to study to answer God's meaning in them. The whole of the passage shows that natural evil, or troubles, and not moral evil, or sin, is here meant. The warning given to a careless world will increase its condemnation another day. Oh the amazing stupidity of an unbelieving world, that will not be wrought upon by the terrors of the Lord, and that despise his mercies! 9-15 That power which is an instrument of unrighteousness, will justly be brought down and broken. What is got and kept wrongfully, will not be kept long. Some are at ease, but there will come a day of visitation, and in that day, all they are proud of, and put confidence in, shall fail them. God will inquire into the sins of which they have been guilty in their houses, the robbery they have stored up, and the luxury in which they lived. The pomp and pleasantness of men's houses, do not fortify against God's judgments, but make sufferings the more grievous and vexatious. Yet a remnant, according to the election of grace, will be secured by our great and good Shepherd, as from the jaws of destruction, in the worst times.