Amos 3:9

Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof. PUBLISH IN THE PALACES AT ASHDOD - as being places of greatest resort (cf. ); and also as it is the sin of princes that he arraigns, he calls on princes, the occupants of the "palaces," to be the witnesses. Translate as the Hebrew, 'Publish upon the palaces of Ashdod, and upon the palaces of Egypt' - i:e., upon the flat roofs of their highest buildings, whence all can hear. ASHDOD - put for all Philistia. Convene the Philistine and the Egyptian magnates, from whom I have on various occasions rescued Israel. The opposite formula to "Tell it not in Gath" ...

Amos begins here to set judges over the Israelites; for they would not patiently submit to God’s judgment: and he constitutes and sets over them as judges the Egyptians and Idumeans. This prophecy no doubt increasingly exasperated the minds of the people, who were already very refractory and rebellious; but yet this was necessary. God, indeed, had cited them to his tribunal, as long as a hope of reconciliation remained: when they became angry on account of God’s threatening, clamored against his servants, yea, and obstinately disputed, as though they were guilty of no fault, what remained, but that God should constitute judges over them, whom the Prophet names, even the Egyptians and Idumeans? “Ye cannot bear my judgment; unbelievers, who are already condemned, shall pronounce sentence upon you. I am indeed your legitimate judge; but as ye have repudiated me, I will prove to you how true...

9-15 That power which is an instrument of unrighteousness, will justly be brought down and broken. What is got and kept wrongfully, will not be kept long. Some are at ease, but there will come a day of visitation, and in that day, all they are proud of, and put confidence in, shall fail them. God will inquire into the sins of which they have been guilty in their houses, the robbery they have stored up, and the luxury in which they lived. The pomp and pleasantness of men's houses, do not fortify against God's judgments, but make sufferings the more grievous and vexatious. Yet a remnant, according to the election of grace, will be secured by our great and good Shepherd, as from the jaws of destruction, in the worst times....

Verse Amos 3:9. _PUBLISH IN THE PALACES_] The housetops or flat roofs were the places from which public declarations were made. See on Isaiah 21:1, and on Matthew 10:27. See whether in those places there be not _tumults, oppressions_, and _rapine_ sufficient to excite my wrath against them....

PUBLISH - “ye,” they are the words of God, commissioning His prophets IN (ON) THE PALACES OF ASHDOD - , that is, on the flat roofs of their high buidings, from where all can hear AND IN (ON) THE PALACES IN THE LAND OF EGYPT - Theodoret: “Since ye disbelieve, I will manifest to Ashdodites and Egyptians the transgressions of which ye are guilty.” Amos had already pronounced God’s sentence on “the palaces of Ashdod” and all Philistia, for their sins against Himself in His people (see the notes at Amos 1:6). Israel now, or a little later, courted Egypt Hosea 7:11; Hosea 12:1. To friend then and to foe, to those whom they dreaded

EXPOSITION VERSE 1-CH. 6:14 Part II. THREE ADDRESSES PARTICULARIZING THE SINS OF ISRAEL AND ANNOUNCING IMMINENT JUDGMENT. AMOS 3:1 _§ 1. First address: the prophet begins by showing Israel's ingratitude for past mercies _(Amos 3:1, Amos 3:2)_, and his own commission to announce the coming judgment _(Amos 3:3). They have drawn this upon themselves by iniquities which astonish even heathen

PUBLISH IN THE PALACES AT ASHDOD, AND IN THE PALACES IN THE LAND OF EGYPT,.... This is spoken to the prophets, to publish and declare in all the courts of the Philistines and Egyptians, and among all the princes and great men therein, the sins of the people of Israel, and the punishment God threatened them with; and let them, even these very Heathens, judge whether there was not a just proportion between them, and whether their sins did not deserve such calamities to be brought upon them, the Lord by his prophets had denounced; AND SAY, ASSEMBLE YOURSELVES ON THE MOUNTAINS OF SAMARIA; the metropolis of the ten tribes, Isaiah 7:9; and which was built upon a mountain, and several others were about it, and joined to it; where these princes of Ashdod or Azotus in Palestine, and of Egypt, are called to leave their courts, and meet together, to behold the iniquities committed by Isra

II. THE PROPHETIC MESSAGES UNCOVERING THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE CHAPTER 3 The First Discourse _ 1. There is cause for judgment (Amos 3:1) _ 2. The coming judgment visitation (Amos 3:9) Amos 3:1. “Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You have I only known of all the families of the earth, therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities.” This is the solemn beginning of the special messages addressed to the nation by the humble herdman of Tekoa. The Lord had singled them out from the other nations. He had separated them unto Himself. With His mighty power and outstretched arm He had del

GUILT AND DOOM OF SAMARIA. The prophet proceeds to apply the lesson. The peoples are summoned to proclaim the fate that has befallen (Amos 3:9 *) the castles of Ashdod and those in the land of Egypt, and then to assemble and witness the sins of Samaria. From the mountains of Samaria, the city presents a spectacle of great turmoil and deep-rooted oppression. And the reason is (Amos 3:10) that the ruling classes have no proper sense of what is right or straightforward. Wrong thought brings wrong doing, and wrong doing inevitably brings punishment. Therefore an adversary will succeed in encompassing the land and will be the means of bringing low the proud and rich potentates. Amos knew by experience that when the lion attacks the sheep, often all that can be saved is two legs or the piece of an ear ...

PALACES. See note on Amos 1:4. THE OPPRESSED. oppressive acts. Hebrew. _'ashukim =_ oppressed by violent and forcible exactions. Occurs only here; Job 35:9. and Ecclesiastes 4:1. Reference to Pentateuch Leviticus 19:13.Deuteronomy 24:14; Deuteronomy 24:14)....