CHAPTER 3 Nov. 23 
The Inevitability of Judgment 
Hear this word that Yahweh has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying: 2You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins. 3Do two walk together, unless they have agreed where to meet? 4Will a lion roar in the thicket, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing? 5Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth, where no snare is set for him? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when there is nothing to catch? 6Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city and Yahweh hasn’t done it? 7Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless He first reveals His secret to His servants the prophets. 8The lion has roared- who will not fear? The Lord Yahweh has spoken- who can but speak it forth? 9Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see what unrest is in her, and what oppression is among them. 10Indeed they don’t know how to do right, says Yahweh, who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces. 11Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: An adversary will overrun the land; and he will pull down your strongholds, and your fortresses will be plundered. 12Thus says Yahweh: As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria on the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed. 13Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob, says the Lord Yahweh, the God of Armies. 14For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel on him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar will be cut off, and fall to the ground. 15I will strike the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory will perish, and the great houses will have an end, says Yahweh.

Commentary

3:2 We whom God has chosen in Christ are therefore more responsible for our sins than others in the world; they sin with far less accountability than we have. We must remember this when we are tempted to sin as they do.
3:6 A classic proof of the fact that God rather than any sinful Satan figure brings “evil” in the sense of disaster on earth (Is. 45:5-7).
3:7 See on 7:1-6.
3:9 Hebrew poetry rhymes according to the ideas presented rather than the assonance of the words. However, this doesn’t mean that in a couplet, the first part is directly equal to the second part. Subtle differences are set up in order to make a point. The lion has roared: who shall not fear? God has spoken: who can but speak forth? If a lion roars, so a man naturally fears as a result of it. God speaks, and just as naturally we can do nothing but speak it forth. Hence the hearers are to publish God’s purpose to the Gentile nations around them. The lion roars, and man fears; and we are set up to expect: God speaks, and man should fear. But there is an intended dashing of this expectation. God has spoken, just as the lion may roar; but we are not to fear but rather to speak it forth to others. If we believe that the Bible is indeed the inspired word of God, if we hear that voice of Yahweh, we will inevitably speak it forth to others. Hence Peter says that he could never agree not to speak forth God’s word, because to do so is a natural process for the believer (Acts 4:20)