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"Do horses run on rocks?"

Text: Amos 6:12

MANY ATTEMPTS

Speaking to rebellious and stubborn Israel was a very difficult task. Various literary methods were employed in the hope that something would get through to their sinful nature! Rhetorical questions were used in the following text.

“Do horses run on rocks?
Does one plow there with oxen?
Yet you have turned justice into gall,
And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.”
Amos 6:12

1. Two rhetorical questions were raised up

a) Rhetorical questions do not require an answer.

b) The answers are too obvious to necessitate an answer.

2. Horses do not run on rocks

a) By themselves.

b) But they may be forced to do so by masters.

i) Who are foolish.

ii) Who are wicked and cruel.

iii) Who do not care about the animals they own.

3. Plowing on rocks

a) This is not done by the wise farmer.

b) Only those who are foolish would attempt to use their oxen to plow (plough) on rock!

4. “Yet you have”

a) This is a reference to Israel and its masters.

b) They made their horses run on rocks and they made their oxen plough on rock.

5. “Yet you have turned justice into gall”

a) The rulers were supposed to uphold justice.

b) But they did not do that.

c) The justice they meted out was bitter gall to all who were the victims of their injustice.

6. “And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood”

a) “Wormwood” may be compared to “gall” for it was just as bitter.

b) Righteousness should have been a basic requirement for all who are supposed to uphold justice, but in reality, the fruit of their work was bitter wormwood.