Amos 6:14

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 Hemath unto the river of the wilderness. AND THEY SHALL AFFLICT YOU FROM THE ENTERING IN OF HAMATH - the point of entrance for an invading army (as Assyria) into Israel from the north; specified here, as Hamath had been just before subjugated by Jeroboam II (). The boundaries are virtually the same as those mentioned, , as restored to Israel by Jeroboam II, "from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain" - i:e., the Dead Sea, into which "the river of the wilderness," here mentioned flows. Do not glory in your recently acquired city, because it shall be the starting-point for the foe to afflict you. How sad the contrast to the f...

At last follows a denunciation, and this is the close of the chapter. God then after having seriously exposed the vices which prevailed among the people of Israel, again declares that vengeance of which he had shortly before reminded then; but with this difference only — that God now points out the kind of punishment which he would inflict on the Israelites. He had said before, ‘Behold God commands;’ and then he had spoken of calamity, but expressed not whence that calamity would come: but he now points it out in a special manner, _Behold _he says _I am raising up against you, O house of Israel, a nation, who will straiten you from the entrance into Hemath to the river, etc. _The Prophet no doubt speaks here of the Assyrians, and expresses in strong terms how dreadful the war with the Assyrians would be, which was now nigh at hand; for though large was their land and country, (and being...

8-14 How dreadful, how miserable, is the case of those whose eternal ruin the Lord himself has sworn; for he can execute his purpose, and none can alter it! Those hearts are wretchedly hardened that will not be brought to mention God's name, and to worship him, when the hand of God is gone out against them, when sickness and death are in their families. Those that will not be tilled as fields, shall be abandoned as rocks. When our services of God are soured with sin, his providences will justly be made bitter to us. Men should take warning not to harden their hearts, for those who walk in pride, God will destroy....

Verse Amos 6:14. _I WILL RAISE UP AGAINST YOU A NATION_] The _Assyrians_ under _Pul, Tiglath-pileser_, and _Shalmaneser_, who subdued the Israelites at various times, and at last carried them away captive in the days of Hosea, the last king of Israel in Samaria. _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....

BUT - (For,) - it was a non-thing, a nonexistent thing, a phantom, whereat they rejoiced; “for behold I raise up a nation.” God is said to “raise up,” when, by His Providence or His grace, He calls forth those who had not been called before, for the office for which He designs them. Thus, He raised up judges Judges 2:16, delivers Judges 3:9, prophets , Nazarites Amos 2:11, priests 1 Samuel 2:35, kings 2 Samuel 7:8, calling each separately to perform what He gave them in charge. So He is said to “raise up” even the evil ministers of His go

EXPOSITION AMOS 6:1 With a second woe the prophet denounces the chiefs of the whole nation, who were quite satisfied with the present state of things, and, revelling in luxury, feared no coming judgment. AMOS 6:1 THEM THAT ARE AT EASE IN ZION; living in fancied security and self-pleasing (Isaiah 32:9, Isaiah 32:11; Zephaniah 1:12). Judah is included in the denunciation, because she is equally guilty; the whole covenant nation is sunk in the same dangerous apathy. Septuagint, τοῖς ἐξουθ

BUT, BEHOLD, I WILL RAISE UP AGAINST YOU A NATION, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL, SAITH THE LORD, THE GOD OF HOSTS,.... The Assyrian nation, under its king, Shalmaneser; who invaded Israel, came up to Samaria, and after a three years' siege took it, and carried Israel captive into foreign lands, 2 Kings 17:5; AND THEY SHALL AFFLICT YOU; by battles, sieges, forages, plunders, and burning of cities and towns, and putting the inhabitants to the sword: FROM THE ENTERING IN OF HAMATH UNTO THE RIVER OF THE WILDERNESS; from Hamath the less, said by Josephus q and Jerom r to be called Epiphania, in their times, from Antiochus Epiphanes; it was at the entrance on the land of Israel, and at the northern border of it; so that "the river of the wilderness", whatever is meant by it, lay to the south; by which it appears that this affliction and distress would be very general, f

CHAPTER 6 The Fourth Discourse _ 1. Woe to them that are at ease in Zion (Amos 6:1) _ 2. The punishment announced (Amos 6:7) Amos 6:1. This woe concerns the great men, the chiefs of the nation, who were sunk into a godless self-security, and dreamt on in their darkness, while the clouds of judgment were gathering above them. They were to go from Calneh to Hamath and then down to Gath of the Philistines. Calneh was built by Nimrod in the land of Shinar Genesis 10:10; Hamath was the capital of a Syrian kingdom, and Gath the center of Philistia. These places were the places of vileness and corruption. But were the kingdoms of both J

THE MISERABLE FATE OF THESE RULERS. Yahweh solemnly declares (Amos 6:8) that the pride (_mg.)_ of Jacob, the vainglory which has displaced true glory, has become an abomination to Him. There follows a difficult section, Amos 6:9 f., which does not suit the context very well and may have been added by a scribe. It seems to describe the horrors of a siege or plague. So terrible is the scourge that in a house where there are ten men none may escape (Amos 6:9). A kinsman (_mg._), whose privilege it is to burn sacred spices in honour of the dead (_cf._ Jeremiah 34:5;...

I WILL RAISE UP, &c. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 28:49). they shall afflict you. Reference to Pentateuch (Exodus 3:9; Deuteronomy 26:7). FROM... UNTO: i.e. through the length and breadth of the land. HEMATH. Same as Hamath (Amos 6:2), in the north. the river. Hebrew nahal. torrent, or wady. THE WILDERNESS. Hebrew ha. arabah. the _'Arabah:_ i.e. the plain, south of Judah. Reference to Pentateuch (Deuteronomy 1:1, &c.)...