Amos 8:3

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. THE SONGS OF THE TEMPLE SHALL BE HOWLINGS IN THAT DAY - (). The joyous hymns in the temple of Judah (or, rather, in the Bethel 'royal-temple,' , "the king's chapel," or sanctuary; because the allusion is to Israel, not Judah, throughout this chapter) shall be changed into howlings. Grotius translates, 'the palace,' instead of "the temple;" cf. as to the songs there. But ; , favour the English version. They sh...

The Prophet touches the Israelites here, in an indirect way, for taking such delight in their superstitions as to sing in their prosperity, as though God was favorable to them; for the unbelieving are wont to misconstrue both the hatred and the favor of God by the present appearance of things. When the Turks enjoy prosperity, they boast that God is on their side: we see also that the Papists draw the same conclusion. It is the disposition of men not to look so much on themselves as on external circumstances. When, therefore, God indulges them for a time, though they be more than usually wicked, they yet doubt not but that God is favorable to them. So the Sodomites, to the very time in which they were overwhelmed by sudden destruction, thought that they had peace with heaven, (Genesis 19:14): this also is the reason why Isaiah says, that the ungodly had made, as it were, a covenant with h...

1-3 Amos saw a basket of summer fruit gathered, and ready to be eaten; which signified, that the people were ripe for destruction, that the year of God's patience was drawing towards a conclusion. Such summer fruits will not keep till winter, but must be used at once. Yet these judgments shall not draw from them any acknowledgement, either of God's righteousness or their own unrighteousness. Sinners put off repentance from day to day, because they think the Lord thus delays his judgments....

Verse Amos 8:3. _THE SONGS OF THE TEMPLE_] Instead of שירות _shiroth,_ _songs, Houbigant_ reads שורות _shoroth_, the _singing women_; and _Newcome_ follows him: "And the singing women of the palace shall howl in that day." Instead of joyous songs, they shall have nothing but lamentation. _THEY SHALL CAST_ THEM _FORTH WITH SILENCE._] Every place shall be filled with the dead, and a dreadful silence shall reign universally; the few that remain being afraid either to speak or complain, or even to chant a funeral dirge for the most respectable of the dead....

THE SONGS OF THE TEMPLE SHALL BE HOWLINGS - Literally, “shall howl.” It shall be, as when mirthful music is suddenly broken in upon, and, through the sudden agony of the singer, ends in a shriek or yell of misery. When sounds of joy are turned into wailing, all must be complete sorrow. They are not hushed only, but are turned into their opposite. Since Amos is speaking to, and of, Israel, “the temple” is, doubtless, here the great idol-temple at Bethel, and “the songs” were the choral music, with which they counterfeited the temple-music, as arranged by David, praising (they could not make up their minds which,) Nature or “the God of nature,” but, in truth, worshiping the creature. The temple was often strongly built and on a height, and, whether from a vague hope of help from God, (as in the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans,) or from some human trust, that the temple might be respected,...

EXPOSITION AMOS 8:1 § 5. _In the fourth vision, the basket of summer fruit, the Lord shows that the people is ripe for judgment. _Explaining this revelation, Amos denounces the oppression and greed of the chieftains (verses 4-10), and warns them that those who despise the Word of God shall some day suffer from a famine of the Word (verses 11-14). AMOS 8:1 A BASKET OF SUMMER FRUIT; Septuagint, ἄγγος ἰξευτοῦ_, _"a fowler's vessel;" Vulgate, _uncinus pomorum, _which Jerome explains," Sicut uncino rami arborum detrahuntur ad poma carpenda, ita ego proximum captivitatis tempus attraxi." The word _chelub _is taken to mean "a basket of wickerwork;" it is used for "a cage" in...

AND THE SONGS OF THE TEMPLE SHALL BE HOWLINGS IN THAT DAY, SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... Not the songs sung by the Levites in the temple of Jerusalem, this prophecy respects the ten tribes only; but those in imitation of them, sung in the temple at Bethel, and other idol temples; or profane songs in the palaces of princes and nobles; that is, instead of these, there should be howlings for the calamities come upon them. So the Targum, "they shall howl, instead of a song, in their houses then;'' particularly because of the slain in them, as follows; see Amos 5:23; [THERE SHALL BE] MANY DEAD BODIES IN EVERY PLACE; in all houses and palaces, in all towns and cities; and especially in Samaria, during the siege, and when taken, partly through the famine, and partly through the sword: THEY SHALL CAST [THEM] FORTH WITH SILENCE;

CHAPTER 8 The Fourth Vision: The Basket With Summer Fruit _ 1. The vision (Amos 8:1) _ 2. Israel ripe for judgment (Amos 8:4) 3. The coming days of famine (Amos 8:11) Amos 8:1. In his fourth vision the prophet beholds a basket of summer fruit. The Hebrew shows that it was a basket filled with ripe fruit. The ripe fruit is a symbol that Israel was ripe for the harvest of judgment. The message of the Lord to the prophet is, “The end is come upon My people Israel; I will not again pass by them any more.” The songs would be changed into howling lamentations and many should be slain....

THE VISION OF THE BASKET OF SUMMER FRUIT. The account of the visions is now resumed. This time the prophet sees a basket of summer fruit (Amos 8:1), and Yahweh explains (Amos 8:2) that the summer fruit (_kayiṣ?)_ symbolises the end (_kçṣ?)_ of the people of Israel. Thus we have a play upon words (as in Jeremiah 1:11 f.). In that day (Amos 8:3) the songs in the palace (_not_ temple) shall be turned into wailing. There shall be dead bodies everywhere, and these shall be cast away in silence without burial. This scene of the dead demands dead silence. 3. AND THE SONGS OF THE TEMPLE SHALL BE HOWLINGS: lit. and the songs of the palace shall wa

TEMPLE. The 1611 edition of the Authorized Version reads temples". BE. become, SAITH THE LORD GOD. [is] Adonai. Jehovah's oracle. DEAD BODIES. corpses. See notes on Amos 6:9; Amos 6:10. CAST THEM FORTH, i.e. and burn them. WITH SILENCE. with "Hush! "as in Amos 6:10....