Amos 5:11

King James Version (KJV)

Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

Adam Clarke
Bible Commentary

Your treading is upon the poor - You tread them under your feet; they form the road on which ye walk; and yet it was by oppressing and impoverishing them that ye gained your riches.

Ye take from him burdens of wheat - Ye will have his bread for doing him justice.

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Albert Barnes
Notes on the Whole Bible

Forasmuch therefore - (Since they rejected reproof, he pronounces the sentence of God upon them,) “as your treading is upon the poor.” This expresses more habitual trampling on the poor, than if he had said, “ye tread upon the poor.” They were ever trampling on those who were already of low and depressed condition. “And ye take from him burdens of wheat, presents of wheat.” The word always signifies presents, voluntary, or involuntary, what was carried, offered to anyone. They received “wheat” from the poor, cleansed, winnowed, and “sold the refuse Amos 8:6, requiring what it was wrong to receive, and selling what at the least it was disgraceful not to give. God had expressly forbidden to “lend food for interest” Leviticus 25:37; Deuteronomy 23:19. It may be that, in order to evade the law, the interest was called “a present.”

Ye have built house of hewn stone - The houses of Israel were, perhaps most commonly, built of brick dried in the sun only. As least, houses built of hewn stone, like most of our‘s, are proverbially contrasted with them, as the more solid with the more ordinary building. “The white bricks are fallen down, and we will build with hewn, stones” Isaiah 9:10. And Ezekiel is bidden to dig through the wall of his house Ezekiel 12:5, Ezekiel 12:7. Houses of stone there were, as appears from the directions as to the unhealthy accretions, called the leprosy of the house Leviticus 14:34-48. It may be, however, that their houses of “hewn stone,” had a smoothed surface, like our “ashlar.” Anyhow, the sin of luxury is not simply measured by the things themselves, but by their relation to ourselves and our condition also; and wrong is not estimated by the extent of the gain and loss of the two parties only, but by the injury inflicted.

These men, who built houses, luxurious for them, had wrung from the poor their living, as those do, who beat down the wages of the poor. Therefore they were not to take possession of what was their own; as Ahab, who by murder possessed himself of Naboth‘s vineyard, forfeited his throne and his life. God, in the law, consulted for the feeling which desires to enter into the fruit of a man‘s toil. When they should go to war they were to proclaim, “what man” is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard and hath not eaten of it? let him go. and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it” Deuteronomy 20:5-6. Now God reversed all this, and withdrew the tender love, whereby He had provided it. The words, from their proverbial character, express a principle of God‘s judgments, that wrong dealing, whereby a man would secure himself or enlarge his inheritance, destroys both. Who poorer than our Lord, bared of all upon the Cross, of whom it had been written, “They persecuted the poor helpless man, that they might slay him who was vexed at the heart” Psalm 109:15, and of whom the Jews said, “Come let us kill Him, that the inheritance may be ours?” Matthew 21:38. They killed Him, they said, “lest the Romans take away our place and nation” John 11:48. “The vineyard was taken from them;” their “place” destroyed, their “nation” dispersed.

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Matthew Henry
Concise Bible Commentary

The same almighty power can, for repenting sinners, easily turn affliction and sorrow into prosperity and joy, and as easily turn the prosperity of daring sinners into utter darkness. Evil times will not bear plain dealing; that is, evil men will not. And these men were evil men indeed, when wise and good men thought it in vain even to speak to them. Those who will seek and love that which is good, may help to save the land from ruin. It behoves us to plead God's spiritual promises, to beseech him to create in us a clean heart, and to renew a right spirit within us. The Lord is ever ready to be gracious to the souls that seek him; and then piety and every duty will be attended to. But as for sinful Israel, God's judgments had often passed by them, now they shall pass through them.

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Ellen G. White
Education, 143

“Riches and honor are with Me,” declares Wisdom; “yea, durable riches and righteousness.” Proverbs 8:18. Ed 143.1

The Bible shows also the result of a departure from right principles in our dealing both with God and with one another. To those who are entrusted with His gifts but indifferent to His claims, God says: Ed 143.2

“Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.... Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it.” “When one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.” “Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of Mine house that is waste.” “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings.” “Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.” Haggai 1:5-9; 2:16; Malachi 3:8; Haggai 1:10. Ed 143.3

“Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, ... ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.” “The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto.” “Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another, ... and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.” Amos 5:11; Deuteronomy 28:20, 32. Ed 143.4

“He that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.” Jeremiah 17:11. Ed 143.5

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