Sunday, November 1, 2015

Amos Analysis 3:5

 Walk through Amos, verse by verse, with the great Bible Commentaries of Matthew Henry (1662 - 1714) & Adam Clarke (1760 - 1832)

3:5

Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all? KJV

{Whether a bird shall fall into a snare of (the) earth, without a fowler? Whether a snare shall be taken
away from (the) earth, before that it take something?} Wycliffe's Bible

Can a bird fall in a snare - Can ye, as a sinful people, fall into calamities which I have not appointed?
Shall one take up a snare - and have taken nothing - Will the snare be removed before it has caught the expected prey? - shall I remove my judgments till they are fully accomplished? This is a curious passage, and deserves farther consideration. The original, literally translated, is nearly as follows: "Shall the trap arise from the ground; and catching, shall it not catch?" Here is a plain allusion to such traps as we employ to catch rats, foxes, etc. 

  Affliction does not spring out of the dust, but it is God’s justice, and our own wickedness,