Amos 5:4Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Thus, it is fitting to depict Him as extending an assurance to pardon them of their sins and deliver them from punishment and dread, for the Creator is inherently good, patient, and compassionate toward wrongdoing, as it is stated in Joel 2:13, and, as He expresses through Ezekiel, He desires not the death of the sinner but rather that he turns from his wicked ways and lives (Ezekiel 18:23). If life is deeply cherished and seen as a source of joy, do not be misled; rather, let go of prolonged despair and call upon Me, He invites: serve Me, the God who is the source of life, able to save and to protect His followers from all that is evil. However, it is vital first to cleanse oneself by casting out the corruption of rebellion, removing the impurities of deception, and then to hold fast to God. What those returning to repentance are to undertake is clarified in His commands: Do not seek Bethel, do not enter Galgal, do not go to the place of oaths. He refers to Gerarah as the graveyard of oaths. This city belonged to the Philistines; following the treaty made between Abraham and Abimelech at the well, it was renamed the Oath-basket. Galgal, Bethel, and indeed Gerarah were cities inclined toward wickedness and lured many into temptation. He urged the necessity of distancing themselves from these cities and included a warning to motivate them toward righteousness in every manner possible. Bethel and other towns will face their downfall, He warns: one will be taken captive, another will burn until it seems as though it had never been. Therefore, He emphasizes, we must seek God to embrace life, before the house of Joseph rises up and is witnessed, with no end to its fire. He refers to the house of Joseph as Ephraim, or the people of Samaria, for Ephraim and Manasseh are descended from Joseph. Likewise, when He refers to them as Israel, we recognize that His descendants bear the name of their ancestor, just as when He mentions Joseph, it should be understood similarly. Indeed, repentance is a powerful means that averts judgment, halts the outpouring of wrath, protects those sincere in their efforts from divine correction, and liberates us from all threats.

6), He reassures them with promises: "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your deeds from before My eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. Come now, let us reason together," says the Lord (ibid., vv. 16-18). Just as Isaiah offers encouragement through His gracious words after issuing stern admonitions, the Lord now speaks to those whom He has warned by stating, "the house of Israel has fallen and shall rise no more; the virgin of Israel is forsaken, and there is none to lift her up." He does not direct this to them but to the house of Israel, meaning the ten tribes, saying, "Seek Me and you shall live," for you have become spiritually dead from neglecting to seek Me. When you genuinely seek, you will find, and in finding, you will attain life. "And do not seek Bethel," where the golden calf was worshipped, nor Gilgal, a center of idolatry, of which I previously noted, "All their wickedness is in Gamalekh" (Hosea 9:15). "And do not go to Beersheba." Indeed, "Do not go to Beersheba," namely, the well of oaths, for it was there that the tribe of Judah often erred by bowing to idols. But Israel fell so deeply into idolatry that they sought foreign gods beyond those of their own making. The text continues, "Gilgal shall be taken into exile, and Bethel shall be rendered useless," referring to the destruction of idols. Beersheba is notably omitted, for after the downfall of the ten tribes, the city of Beersheba, belonging to Judah at that time, was neither captured nor destroyed. It is worth noting that the Seventy translated the name Beersheba as "the well of oaths," and they also referenced "your God lives, Dan, and the way to Beersheba lives" (Amos 8:14). They mention the way to Beersheba because the people traveled from Israel to worship idols far into the outskirts of Judah, at Gerar, bordering the wilderness of Egypt. This is the site where Abraham and Abimelech made an oath after giving seven lambs, hence it was called "the well of the oath" or "the well of the seven," referring to the seven lambs (Genesis 21); for "sabe" can mean both. Allegorically, it is a command to the house of Israel—those who falsely boast of knowing God—not to pursue Bethel, nor to enter Gilgal, nor to go up to the well of oaths, but instead to seek God and abide in Him. Those who pursue Bethel, the house of God, are those who proclaim, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord" (Jeremiah 7:4), finding hope in the structures of which the Lord told His disciples, "The days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down" (Luke 21:6). Those who go to Gilgal are the ones who, after Christ's advent, attempt to reinstate circumcision. In Gilgal, the people underwent circumcision a second time, thus the name reflects the Lord removing the shame of Egypt from them (Numbers 5). "And do not go to Beersheba," or "to the well of oaths": do not look to the boundaries of Judah, where the Scriptures once literally promised, "from Dan to Beersheba," nor should you continue to say with the prophets, "God rules in Judah; great is His name in Israel" (Psalm 75:2); but heed what is said of the apostles, "Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world" (Psalm 18:5; Romans 10:18). For Gilgal, which denotes the physical circumcision, will be overcome by the true circumcision of the heart, while Bethel, viewed as the house of God, shall become worthless, or more accurately, rendered "aven," transforming from the house of God to "the house of worthlessness," or the house of an idol. Therefore, he who seeks Bethel seeks merely the letter that kills, ignoring the spirit within the words, which is God. He who enters Gilgal seeks elevated revelations, deceiving himself with hollow knowledge, and goes to draw from the well that the Samaritan woman desired, yet could not truly satisfy her thirst, unaware of Him from whom flow springs of living water leading to everlasting life (John 4).