DAWN
Daily Arts Web Nucleus
Discover the Arts! Each day a different image from the Literary, Performing, or Visual Arts representing a portion of Scripture plus an explanation with links and a discussion forum 2013 April 24
The Morning Walk ('Mr and Mrs William Hallett') - (1785)
Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788)
Romanticism Style
National Gallery, London, England, United Kingdom
Image Source: Web Gallery of Art
Explanation: In Amos 3 the LORD announces his punishments on his people. To emphasize that their punishments will come from the LORD, not from mere secondary causes, the LORD asks a series of questions about causes and their inevitable effects. The first of these questions is one of the most well known quotes from Amos: "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" (verse 3). The main point of the series of questions is found in the latter part of verse 6: "shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD has not done it?" The point is that evil (judgment) is the effect, and the LORD is the cause. To illustrate what they can expect, he sets forth Ashdod and Egypt as examples of the kind of destruction that is coming upon his people. Very little will be left of God's people in either the Northern Kingdom or the Southern Kingdom - just bits and pieces. In verse 14, where the LORD says he will visit the sin of Israel upon him and his altars, the prophecy seems to have been fulfilled when Josiah (640-609 B.C.) from the Southern Kingdom burned the bones of Israel's priests of Baal upon their altars (2 Kings 23:15-16). This was in accord with a prophecy 300 years before by an unnamed prophet who rebuked Jeroboam I (931-910 B.C.) for his idolatry, and predicted this act, and called Josiah by name (1 Kings 13:2).
Amos 3
1 Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,
2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed?
4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?
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?
6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?
7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?
9 Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof.
10 For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.
11 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.
12 Thus saith the LORD; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch.
13 Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord GOD, the God of hosts,
14 That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.
15 And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD.
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