Various woes denounced CHAP. VII. against the wicked. A. M. cir. 3217. saith the LORD the God of hosts, he will smite the great house B. C. cir. 787. Ante U. C. 34. Amulii Sylvii, R. Alban., cir. annum 10. I abhor the excellency of Jacob, Verse 9. Ten men-they shall die.] ALL shall be cut off by the sword, or by captivity, or by famine. Verse 10.- A man's uncle shall take him up] Bp. Newcome says, this obscure verse seems to describe the effects of famine and pestilence during the siege of Samaria. The carcass shall be burnt; and the bones removed with no ceremony of funeral rites, and without the assistance of the nearest kinsman. Solituđe shall reign in the house; and if one is left, he must, be silent, (see chap. viii. 3,) and retired, lest he be plundered of his scanty provision! Burning the body, and then collecting the ashes, and putting them into an urn, was deemed the most honourable mode of burial. Verse 11. He will smite the great house with breaches] The great and small shall equally suffer; no distinction shall be made, rich and poor shall fall together; death has received his eommission, and he will spare none. Horace has a sentiment precisely like this, Carm. Lib. i., Qd. iv., v. 13. e with breaches, and the little A. M. cir. 3217. B. C. cir. 787. Amulii Sylvii, cir. annum 10. 12 Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plough there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock : 13 Ye which rejoice in a thing of naught, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength? 14 But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of the wilderness. the shoeing of horses with iron was not then known. Secondly, If they did run on the rock, it would be useless to their owner, and hurtful to themselves. Thirdly, And it would be as useless to plough on the rock with oxen; for there it would be impossible to sow with any advantage. Fourthly, Just as useless and injurious would it be to put gall in the place of judgment, and hemlock in the place of righteousness. You have not only been labouring in vain for yourselves, but you have also been oppressive to others; and for both ye shall suffer. Verse 13. Ye which rejoice in a thing of naught] In your idols: for an idol is nothing in the world. Have we not taken to us horns] We have arrived to power and dignity by our strength. Horns were the symbols of power and authority. So Horace :— Vina parant animos: tum pauper cornua sumet. "Wine repairs our strength, and. furnishes the poor with horns." Pallida mors æquo pulsat pede pauperum TABERNAS, At such times they think themselves as great as the Regumque TURRES. With equal pace impartial fate Knocks at the palace as the cottage gate. greatest.. Verse 14. I will raise up against you a nation] The Assyrians under Pul, Tiglath-pileser, and Shalmaneser, who subdued the Israelites at various times, But this may refer particularly to the houses of the and at last carried them away captive in the days of poor in Eastern countries; their mud walls being fre-Hosea, the last king of Israel in Samaria. quently full of clefts; the earth of which they are built seldom adhering together because of its sandiness. Verse 12. Shall horses run upon the rock?] First, they could not do it, because they were unshod; for From the entering in of Hamath (on the north) unto the river of the wilderness.] Besor, which empties itself into the sea, not far from Gaza, and was in the southern part of the tribe of Simeon. CHAPTER VII. In this chapter God represents to Amos, by three several visions, the judgments he is about to bring on Israel. The first is a plague of locusts, threatening to cut off the hopes of the harvest by attacking it in the time of the second growth; the first luxuriances of the crop being probably mowed for the king's horses, 143. & Judgments denounced AMOS. against Israel. The next vision threatens a judgment by fire, which would consume a great part, 4-6; and the third a total overthrow of Israel, levelling it as it were by a line, 7–9. The rest of the chapter is a denunciation of heavy judgments against Amaziah, priest of Beth-el, who had brought an accusation to the king against the prophet, 10-17. 'A. M, cir. 3217. 787. B. C. cir. 3377 Ante U. C. 34. e B. C. cir. 787. Ante U. C. 34. Amulii Sylvii, R. Alban., THUS hath the Lord GOD seech thee: by whom shall 4. M. cir. 3217. in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings. 2 And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee by whom shall Jacob arise for he is small. 7 Thus he showed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. 8 And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline 3. The LORD repented for this: It shall not in the midst of my people Israel: 4 Thus hath the Lord GoD showed unto me and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend- by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part. 5 Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I be Verse. Behold, he formed grasshoppers] gobai is generally understood here to signify locusts. See the notes on Joel i. and ii. The shooting up of the latter growth] The early crop of grass had been already mowed and housed. The second crop or rowing, as it is called in some places, was not yet begun. By the king's mowings we may understand the first crop, a portion of which the king probably claimed as being the better hay; but the words may signify simply the prime crop, that which is the best of the whole. Houbigant thinks the shearing of the king's sheep is meant. Verse 2. By whom shall Jacob arise?] The locusts, the symbols of the many enemies that had impoverished Jerusalem, having devoured much of the produce of the land, were proceeding, till, at the intercession of the prophet, they were removed. Then, seeing in the light of prophecy the nation in every sense brought low, he cries, "By whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small." Calmet justly remarks: "After the death of Jeroboam the second, the kingdom, so flourishing and powerful before, was reduced to such weakness that it was obliged to have recourse to strangers for support. Menahem applied to Pul, king of Assyria, whence arose the final misery of the state. Verse 3. The Lord repented] Changed his purpose of destroying them by the locusts. See ver. 6. Verse 4. The Lord God called to contend by fire] Permitted war, both civil and foreign, to harass the land, after the death of Jeroboam the second. These wars would have totally destroyed it, had not the prophet interceded. I will not 9 And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.. 10 Then Amaziah the priest of Beth xxviii. 17; xxxiv. 11; Lam. ii. 8.- Chap. viii. 2; Mic. vii. 18. Beer-sheba, Gen. xxvi. 25; xlvi. 1; chap. v. 5; viii. 14. 1 Kings xví. 3.- -1 Kings xii. 32. It devoured the great deep, and did cat up a part.] We are here to understand the partially destructive wars which afterwards took place; for the Lord causes all these things to pass before the eyes of Amos in the vision of prophecy; and intimates that, at the intercession of his prophets, total ruin should be prevented. Verse 7. With a plumbline in his hand.] This appears to be intended as an emblem of strict justice, and intimated that God would now visit them according to their iniquities. Verse 8. I will set a plumbline] I will visit them by justice without any mixture of mercy. Verse 9. And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate] Their total destruction is at hand. The high place of Isaac was Beer-sheba, where Isaac-had built an altar to the Lord, Gen. xxvi. 25. This high place, which had been abused to idolatrous uses, was demolished by Josiah, king of Judah, as we read in 2 Kings xxiii. 8, for he defiled all the high places from Geba to Beer-sheba. I will rise against the house of Jeroboam] The Lord had promised, to Jehu, the ancestor of Jeroboam, that his family should sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation. Zechariah, the son of Jeroboam, was the fourth in order after Jehu; and on him the threatening in this verse fell; for he was murdered by Shallum after he had reigned six months, and in him the family became extinct. See 2 Kings X. 30, and xv. 8-10, Verse 10. Amaziah the priest of Beth-el] The idolatrous priest who had been established by the king to maintain the worship of the golden 11 For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. 12 Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: m 13 But prophesy not again any more at Beth-el for it is the king's chapel, and it oppression and injustice. phet's son; but I was a herd- A. M. cir. 3217. B. C. cir. 787. Ante U. C. 34. Amulii Sylvii, R. Alban., cir. annum 10. 15 And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. 16 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. 17 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 14 Then answered Amos, and said to Ama- die in a polluted land and Israel shall surely ziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a pro-go into captivity forth of his land. is the king's court. calves which Jeroboam the elder had set up at this place. Amos hath conspired against thee] This was truly a lying prophet; there is not one word of truth in this message which he sent to Jeroboam. Amos had not conspired against the king-had not said that Jeroboam should die by the sword-and had not said that Israel should be carried away captive, though this last was implied in God's threatenings, and afterwards delivered by this prophet; see ver. 17. : 1; Zechariah xiii. 5. Or, wild figs. Heb. from behind. " Ezek. xxi. 2; Micah ii. 6. See Jer. xxviii. 12; xxix. 21, 25, 31, 32.—w Isa. xiii. 16; Lam. v. 11; Hos. iv. 13; Zech. ix. 2. Verse 14. I was no prophet] I am an extraordinary messenger of God. I am not called to the prophetic office but for this occasion. I have no message to Judah, and therefore need not go there. I have a message to Israel alone, and I must faithfully de. liver it. For the account which Amos gives here of himself, see the introduction. Verse 16. Now therefore, hear thou the word of the Lord] While he was speaking in his own vindication, God seems to have inspired him with the awful prediction which he immediately delivers. Verse 12. O thou seer] He pretends kindness to the prophet, and counsels him to go into Judea, and prophesy there and be safe, even in the time that he had accused him of high treason against Jeroboam. Verse 17. Thy wife shall be a harlot] As this was Hireling priests of this kind have ever been the great the word of the Lord, so it was fulfilled; but as we enemies of the true prophets of God; and when they have no farther account of this idolatrous priest, so could bring no charge of false doctrine or immorality we cannot tell in what circumstances these threatenagainst them, have accused them of conspiring against ings were executed. 1. His wife was to be a public the government; and because they have preached prostitute; she was probably such already privately against sin, have held them up as exciting insurrec-in the temple, as the wife of an idolatrous priest. tion among the people. Verse 13. But prophesy not-at Beth-el] He must not speak against idolatry, because that was the king's religion; and he who speaks against the king's religion must be an enemy to the state. This was the doctrine held in England by popish James II. and his insidious Jesuit hireling priests, till God in his mercy put this pitiful tyrant down, and with him his false prophets, and the degrading superstition which they endeavoured to establish in these lands. 2. His sons and daughters were to fall by the sword. 3. Their inheritance was to be taken by strangers. 4. And himself was to die a captive in a heathen land. Israel shall surely go into captivity] He now declares fully what he had not declared before, though Amaziah had made it a subject of accusation. This particular was probably revealed at this instant, as well as those which concerned Amaziah and his family. CHAPTER VIII. This chapter begins with a fourth vision denoting the certainty and nearness of the destruction of Israel, 1–3. The prophet then proceeds to reprove their oppression and injustice, 4–7. Strong and beautiful figures, by which is represented the complete dissolution of the Israelitish polity, 8–10. The people threatened with a most awful judgment; a FAMINE of the word of God, 11-14. Israel threatened with A. M. cir. 3217. B. C. eir. 787. Ante U. C. 34. Amulii Sylvii, R. Alban., cir. annum 10. AMOS. still heavier judgments. A. M. cir. 3217. THUS hath the Lord GOD needy, even to make the poor B. C. cir. 787. showed unto me and be- of the land to fail, hold a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, a The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. 3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GoD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence. Ante U. C. 34. Amulii Sylvii, R. Alban., cir. annum 10. set the Sabbath, that we may forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit ? m 4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the their works. NOTES ON CHAP. VII. Verse 1. A basket of summer fruit.] As summer frit was not proper for preserving, but must be eaten as soon as gathered, so the Lord intimates by this symbol that the kingdom of Israel was now ripe for destræeton, and that punishment must descend upon it without delay. Some think the prophet means the fruits at the end of autuma. And as after the autumn no fruk could be expected, so Israel's summer is gone br, her vituma s ended, and she shall yield no more frut. Or. the sun of her iniquity is come; the measure is flod up, and now she shall gather the fruit of her sin a the soundance of her punishment. kelub Verse 2. A basket of summer fruit) pp bres; the end is come-727 82 ba hakkets: here is a pazoboztassa er play upon the words kayits, summer Siga, pod dete, the end, both coming from simiSee the note on Ezek. vi. 2, where there wa semar par on the same word. Zruč na get pass by them any more.] I will be Neh. xiii. 15, 16. Heb. open. Mic. vi. 10, 11. m Heb. perverting the balances of deceit; Hos. xii. 7.——————— Chap. ii. 6. Chap. vi. 8.—P Hos. viii. 13; ix. 9. of time! But bad and execrable as they were, they neither set forth their corn, nor their wheat, nor any other kind of merchandise, on the Sabbath. They were saints then, when compared to multitudes called Christians, who keep their shops either partially or entirely open on the Lord's day, and buy and sell without any scruples of conscience. Conscience! alas! they have none; it is seared as with a hot iron. The strong man armed, in them, is quiet, for all his goods are in peace. Making the ephah small, and the shekel great] Giving short measure, and taking full price; or, buying with a heavy weight, and selling with one that was light. Falsifying the balances] Having one scale light, and the other weighty; one end of the beam long, and the other short. A few months ago I detected a knave with such balances; with a slip of his finger along the beam he altered the centre, which made three ounces short weight in every pound. He did it so dexterously, that though I knew he was cheating, or, as the prophet expresses it, was falsifying the balances by deceit, it was some time before I could detect the fraud, and not till I had been several times cheated by this accomplished knave. So we find that though the knaves of ancient Israel are dead, they have left their successors behind them. Verse 6. That we may buy the poor for silver] Buying their services for such a time, with just money enough to clear them from other creditors. And the needy for a pair of shoes] See on chap. ii. 6. And sell the refuse of the wheat?] Selling bad wheat and damaged flour to poor people as good, knowing that such cannot afford to prosecute them. Verse 7. By the excellency of Jacob] By the state of eminence to which he had raised the descendants of Jacob; or, by the excellent ONE of Jacob, that is, The meaning is: "As surely as I have HIMSelf. raised you to such a state of eminence, so surely will I punish you in proportion to your advantages and your crimes.” ( .44* ) t 10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentations; "and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. 9 Hos. iv. 3.- Chap. ix. 5.- Job. v. 14; Isa. xiii. 10; lix. 9, 10; Jer. xv. 9; Mic. iii. 6.- Isa. i. 14; Tob. ii. 6. "Isa. xv. 2, 3; Jer. xlviii. 37; Ezek. vii. 18; xxvii. 31. 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. 13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. 14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again. a Jer. vi. 26; Zech. xii. 10.-1 Sam. iii. 1; Psa. lxxiv. 9; Ezek. vii. 26.- Hos. iv. 15.-y Deut. ix. 21. Heb. way; see Acts ix. 2; xviii. 25; xix. 9, 23;. xxiv. 14. Ch. v. 5. Verse 8. Shall not the land tremble for this] It is longer who would point out the way of salvation, or supposed that an earthquake is here intended, and would assure them of the mercy of God on their rethat the rising up and subsiding as a flood refers to pentance and return to him. This is the severest of that heaving motion that takes place in an earthquake, God's judgments on this side the worm that never and which the prophet here compares to the overflow-dieth, and the fire that is never quenched. ing and subsiding of the waters of the Nile. But it may refer to commotions among the people. Verse 9. I will cause the sun to go down at noon] This may either refer to that darkness which often precedes and accompanies earthquakes, or to an eclipse. Abp. Usher has shown that about eleven years after Amos prophesied there were two great eclipses of the sun; one at the feast of tabernacles, and the other some time before the passover. The prophet may refer to the darkness occasioned by those. eclipses; yet I rather think the whole may refer to the earthquake. Verse 10. I will turn your feasts into mourning] See on ver. 3. A bitter day.] A time of grievous calamity. Verse 11. A famine in the land] The most grievous of all famines, a famine of the words of Jehovah; a time in which no prophet should appear, no spiritual counsellor, no faithful reprover, none any | Verse 12. They shall wander from sea to sea] From the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea; or from west to east, and from north to south, to seek the word of the Lord; to find a prophet, or any person authorized by God to show them the end of their calamities. In this state they shall continue, because they have rejected Him who is the bread of life. Verse 14. By the sin of Samaria] Baal, who was worshipped here. Thy god, O Dan] The golden calf, or ox, the representative of the Egyptian god Apis, or Osiris. The manner of Beer-sheba] The worship, or object of worship. Another of the golden calves which Jeroboam had set up there. The word 777 derech, way, is here taken for the object and mode of worship; see Acts xix. 9, where way is taken for the creed and form of Divine worship as practised by the followers of Christ, and by which they were distinguished from the Jews. See also Acts ix. 2. CHAPTER IX. The first part of this chapter contains another vision, in which God is represented as declaring the final ruin of the kingdom of Israel, and the general dispersion of the people, 1–10. The prophet then passes to the great blessedness of the people of God under the Gospel dispensation, 11–15. See Acts xv. 15, 16. 691 |