Walk through Amos, verse by verse, with the great Bible Commentaries of Matthew Henry (1662 - 1714) & Adam Clarke (1760 - 1832)
2:12
But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. KJV
{And ye poured out wine to (the) Nazarites, and commanded to (the) prophets, and said, Prophesy ye not.} Wycliffe's Bible
....young men Nazarites, devout, and conscientious, and mortified to the pleasures of sense; and those that are such Nazarites are purer than snow, whiter than milk; they are indeed the polite young men, for their polishing is of sapphires, Lamentations 4:7. Those that have such men, such young men, among them,
You gave the Nazarites wine to drink, contrary to their vow, that, having broken it in that instance, they might not pretend to keep it in any other. Some they surprised, or allured into it, and with their much fair speech caused them to yield; others they forced and frightened into it, reproached and threatened them if they were more precise than their neighbours; and, by drawing them in to drink wine, they spoiled them for Nazarites. Note, Satan and his agents are very busy to corrupt the minds of young people that look heavenward; and many that we thought would have been Nazarites they have overcome by giving them wine to drink, by drawing them in to the love of mirth and pleasure, and drinking company. Multitudes of young men that bade fair for eminent professors of religion have erred through wine, and been undone for ever. And how do the factors for hell triumph in the debauching of a Nazarite! They did what they could to silence good ministers, and to stop their mouths: “You commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not, and threatened them if they did prophesy (Amos 7:12), as if God’s messengers were bound to observe your orders, and might not deliver their errand unless you gave them leave, and so you not only received the grace of God, in raising up those prophets, in vain, but put the highest affront imaginable upon that God in whose name the prophets spoke.” Note, Those have a great deal to answer for that cannot bear faithful preaching, and those much more that suppress it.
