Yehovah, "All who shall invoke in the name of Je-
hovah."
That CHRIST is the Jehovah here mentioned
appears plain from Rom. x. 15, where the reader had
better consult the notes. "This refers," says Bp.
Newcome, "to the safety of the Christians during the
Jewish and the Roman war." It may but it has a
much more extensive meaning, as the use of it by
St. Paul, as above, evidently shows. Every man
who invokes Jehovah for mercy and salvation by or in
the name, JESUS that very name given under heaven
among men for this purpose-shall be saved. Nor is
there salvation in any other; and those who reject
him had better lay these things to heart before it be
too late.

idolatrous nations.

For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem] Our blessed Lord first began to preach the Gospel in Mount Zion, in the temple, and throughout Jerusalem. There he formed his Church, and thence he sent his apostles and evangelists to every part of the globe: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.". Of the Jews there was but a remnant, a very small number, that received the doctrine of the Gospel, here termed the remnant that the Lord should call; p kore, whom he calleth. Many were called who would not obey: but those who obeyed the call were saved; and still he delivers those who call upon him; and he is still calling on men to come to him that they may be saved.

CHAPTER III.

The prophecy in this chapter is thought by some to relate to the latter times of the world, when God shall finally deliver his people from all their adversaries; and it must be confessed, that the figures employed are so lofty as to render it impossible to restrain the whole of their import to any events prior to the commencement of the Christian era. The whole prophecy is delivered in a very beautiful strain of poetry: but what particular events are referred to is at present very uncertain, 1–21.

AM. cir. 3314-
O1. cır. XXII. 3.
Numa Pompilii,
R. Roman.,
cir. annum 26.

B. C. cit. 690.

them down into the valley of Jeho-
shaphat, and will plead with them.
there for mypeople and for my heri-
tage Israel, whom they have scat-
tered among the nations, and parted my land.

c2 Chron. xx. 26; ver. 42.- Isa. lxvi. 16; Ezek. xxxviii. 22.
conjecture, and will be only known when the time of
fulfilment shall take place. In this painful uncertain-
ty, rendered still more so by the discordant opinions
of many wise and learned men, it appears to be my
province, as I have nothing in the form of a new
conjecture to offer, to confine myself to an explana-
tion of the phraseology of the chapter; and then
leave the reader to apply it as may seem best to his
own judgment.

I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem.] This may refer to the return from the Babylonish captivity; extending also to the restoration of Israel, or the ten tribes.

* Verse 1. For, behold, in those days] According to the preceding prophecy, these days should refer to Gospel times, or to such as should immediately precede them. But this is a part of the prophecy which is difficult to be understood. All interpreters are at variance upon it; some applying its principal parts to Cambyses; his unfortunate expedition to Egypt; the destruction of fifty thousand of his troops (by the moving pillars of sand) whom he had sent across the desert to plunder the rich temple of Jupiter Ammon; his return to Judea, and dying of a wound which he received from his own sword, in mounting his horse, which happened at Ecbatane, at the foot of Mount Carmel. Verse 2. The valley of Jehoshaphat] There is no On which his army, composed of different nations, | such valley in the land of Judea; and hence the seeing themselves without a head, fell out, and fought | word must be symbolical. It signifies the judgment against each other, till the whole were destroyed. of God, or Jehovah judgeth; and may mean some And this is supposed to be what Ezekiel means by place (as Bp. Newcome imagines) where NebuchadGog and Magog, and the destruction of the former. nezzar should gain a great battle, which would utterly See Ezek. xxxviii. and xxxix. discomfit the ancient enemies of the Jews, and resemble the victory which Jehoshaphat gained over the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites, 2 Chron. xx. 22-26.

Others apply this to the victories gained by the Maccabees, and to the destruction brought upon the enemies of their country; while several consider the whole as a figurative prediction of the success of the Gospel among the nations of the earth. It may refer to those times in which the Jews shall be brought in with the fulness of the Gentiles, and be re-established in their own land. Or there may be portions in this prophecy that refer to all the events; and to others that have not fallen yet within the range of human

Threatenings against

A. M. cir. 3314.
B. C. cir. 690.

Ol. cir. XXII. 3.
Numa Pompilii,
R. Roman,
cir. annum 26.

f

JOEL.

3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink. 4 Yea, and what have ye to do with me, O Tyre, and Zidon, and all the coasts of Palestine? will ye render me a recompense? and if ye recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your own head;

5 Because ye have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:

h

6 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have ye sold unto the Grecians, that ye might remove them far from their border.

7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head

idolatrous nations.

8 And I will sell your sons and your daugh- 13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is

* Obad. 11; Nah. iii. 10.- - Amos i, 6, 9. - Ezek. xxv. 15, 16, 17.——————h Heb. desirable; Dan. xi. 38.

Heb. the sons

P See Isa. ii. 4; Mic. iv. 3.- - Or, scythes.- Zech. xii. 8.
Ver. 2.- Or, the LORD shall bring down—Psa. eií,

of the Grecians.- Isa. xliii. 5,6; xlix. 12; Jer. xxiii. 8.20; Isa. xiii. 3. Ver. 2.- - Psa. xcvi. 13; xcviii. 9; ex. Ezek. xxiii. 42. Jer. vi. 20. See Isa. viii. 9, 10; 6; Isæ. ii. 4; iii. 13; Mic. iv. 3.- Matt. xiii. 39; Rev. xiv. Jer. xlvi. 3,4; Ezek. xxxviii. 7.- Heb. sanctify. 15, 18.- -y Jer. li. 33; Hos. vi. 11.

Verse 3. Have given a boy for a harlot] To such wretched circumstances were the poor Jews reduced | in their captivity, that their children were sold by their oppressors; and both males and females used for the basest purposes. And they were often bartered for the necessaries or luxuries of life. Or this may refer to the issue of the Chaldean war in Judea, where the captives were divided among the victors. And being set in companies, they cast lots for them and those to whom they fell sold them for various purposes; the boys to be slaves and catamites, the girls to be prostitutes; and in return for them they got wine and such things. I think this is the meaning of the text. Verse 4. What have ye to do with me] Why have the Tyrians and Sidonians joined their other enemies to oppress my people? for they who touch my people touch me.

Will ye render me a recompense?] Do you think by this to avenge yourselves upon the Almighty to retaliate upon God! Proceed, and speedily will I return your recompense; I will retaliate.

Verse 5. Ye have taken my silver and my gold] The Chaldeans had spoiled the temple, and carried away the sacred vessels, and put them in the temple of their own god in Babylon.

Verse 6. Sold unto the Grecians]. These were the descendants of Javan, Gen. x. 2-5. And with them the Tyrians trafficked, Ezek. xxvii., 19.

That ye might remove them far from their border.] Intending to send them as far off as possible, that it might be impossible for them to get back to reclaim the land of which you had dispossessed them.

bring them back from the place whither ye have sold them, and they shall retaliate upon you the injuries they have sustained. It is said that Alexander and his successors set at liberty many Jews that had been sold into Greece. And it is likely that many returned from different lands, on the publication of the edict of Cyrus.-Newcome.

Verse 8. I will sell your sons] When Alexander took Tyre, he reduced into slavery all the lower people, and the women. Arrian, lib. ii., says that thirty thousand of them were sold. Artaxerxes Ochus destroyed Sidon, and subdued the other cities of Phænicia. In all these wars, says Calmet, the Jews, who obeyed the Persians, did not neglect to purchase Phoenician slaves, whom they sold again to the Sa beans, or Arabs.

Verse 9. Prepare war] Let all the enemies of God and of his people join together; let them even call all the tillers of the ground to their assistance, instead of labouring in the field; let every peasant become a soldier. Let them turn their agricultural implements into offensive weapons, so that the weak, being well armed, may confidently say, I am strong: yet, when thus collected and armed, Jehovah will bring down thy mighty ones; for so the clause in ver. 11 should be rendered.

Verse 12. Let the heathen be wakened] The heathen shall be wakened.

The valley of Jehoshaphat] Any place where God may choose to display his judgments against his enemies.

Verse 13. Put ye in the sickle] The destruction of Verse 7. I will raise them] I shall find means to his enemies is represented here under the metaphor of

CHAP. III.

and mercies promised. A. M. cir. 3314. ripe: come, get you down; for 17 So i shall ye know that I A. M. cir. 3314. Ol. cir. XXII. 3. the press is full, the fats over- am the LORD your God dwelling Numa Pompilii, flow; for their wickedness is great. in Zion, my holy mountain :

Isa. lxiii. 3; Lam. i. 15; Rev. xiv. 19, 20.- a Ver. 2. Dan. xi. 45; Obad. 16; Zech. viii. 3.- Heb. holiness. b Or, concision, or threshing. c Chap. ii. 1.- d Chap. ii. 10, m Isa. xxxv. 8; lii. 1; Nah. i. 15; Zech. xiv. 21; Rev. xxi. Jer. xxv. 30; chap. ii. 11; Amos i. 2.- Hag. ii. 27. Amos ix. 13. Psa. xxx. 25.P Heb. go.- - Psa. Isa. h. 5, 6. Heb. place of repair, or harbour. xlvi. 4; Ezek. xlvii. 1; Zech. xiv. 8; Rev. xxii. 1.- Num.

19 Egypt shall be a desola- 20 But Judah shall "dwell A. M. cir. 3314. Ol. Cir. XXII. 3. tion, and Edom shall be a for ever, and Jerusalem from Ol. eir. XXII. 3. Numa Pompilii, Numa Pompilii, desolate wilderness, for the vio-generation to generation. R. Roman.,

Verse 21. For I will cleanse their blood] 'n'p】 nik- among his people.

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK

'OF THE

PROPHET A MOS.

AMOS, the third of the minor prophets, was, it is said, of the little town of Tekoa, in the tribe of Judah, about four leagues southward of Jerusalem. There is no good proof, however, that he was a native of this place; but only that he retired thither when he was driven from Beth-el, which was in the kingdom of the ten tribes. It is very probable that he was born within the territories of Israel, and that his mission was directed principally to this kingdom..

As he was prophesying in Beth-el, where the golden calves were, in the reign of Jeroboam the second, about the year of the world 3217; before the birth of Jesus Christ, 783; before the vulgar era, 787; Amaziah, the high priest of Beth-el, accused him before King Jeroboam, saying, "Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land." Amaziah said therefore unto Amos, "O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there but prophesy not again any more at Beth-el; for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court."

Amos answered Amaziah, "I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was a herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit. And the Lord took me as I followed the flock; and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. Now, therefore, hear thou the word of the Lord; Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. Therefore thus saith the Lord, Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land, and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land."

After this the prophet retired into the kingdom of Judah, and dwelt in the town of Tekoa, where he continued to prophesy. He complains in many places of the violence offered him by endeavouring to oblige him to silence, and bitterly exclaims against the disorders of

Israel.

He began to prophesy the second year before the earthquake, which happened in the reign of King Uzziah; and which Josephus, with most of the ancient and modern commentators, refers to this prince's usurpation of the priest's office, when he attempted to offer incense to the Lord.

The first of his prophecies, in order of time, are those of the seventh chapter. The others he pronounced in the town of Tekoa, whither he retired. His two first chapters are against Damascus, the Philistines, Tyrians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, the kingdom of Judah, and that of the ten tribes. The evils with which he threatens them refer to the times of Shalmaneser, Tiglath-pileser, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar, who did so much mischief to these provinces, and at last led the Israelites into captivity.

He foretold the misfortunes into which the kingdom of Israel should fall after the death of