upon it rained not withered. 8. So two or
three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were
not satisfied; yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the Lord. 9.
I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens, and
your vineyards, and your fig-trees, and your olive-trees increased,
the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto Me,
saith the Lord. 10. I have sent among you the pestilence, after the
manner of Egypt; your young men have I slain with the sword, and
have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your
camps to come up unto your nostrils; yet have ye not returned unto
Me, saith the Lord. 11. I have overthrown some of you, as God
overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked
out of the burning; yet have ye not returned unto Me, saith the
Lord. 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. 13.
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.'--AMOS iv. 4-13.

The reign of Jeroboam II. was one of brilliant military success and of
profound moral degradation. Amos was a simple, hardy shepherd from the
southern wilds of Judah, and his prophecies are redolent of his early
life, both in their homely imagery and in the wholesome indignation and
contempt for the silken-robed vice of Israel. No sterner picture of an
utterly rotten social state was ever drawn than this book gives of the
luxury, licentiousness, and oppressiveness of the ruling classes. This
passage deals rather with the religious declension underlying the moral
filth, and sets forth the self-willed idolatry of the people (vs. 4, 5),
their obstinate resistance to God's merciful chastisement (vs. 6-11),
and the heavier impending judgment (vs. 12, 13).

I. Indignant irony flashes in that permission or command to persevere in
the calf worship. The seeming command is the strongest prohibition.
There can be no worse thing befall a man than that he should be left to
go on forwardly in the way of his heart. The real meaning is
sufficiently emphasised by that second verb, 'and _transgress_'. 'Flock
to one temple after another, and heap altars with sac