Amos 3:1-8

Israel's Responsibility and the Prophet's Obligation. Amos, after addressing the children of Israel, includes Judah by adding the whole family, unless this is a gloss, as it may be, since the inclusion of Judah here seems inappropriate. Yahweh had selected Israel for special notice and favour. On that account its apostasy and sin were all the more deserving of punishment. The law of cause and effect applies here as elsewhere. When two walk in accord (so Ehrlich, comparing Genesis 22:8), the reason is that they have made an appointment (mg.). When a lion roars, it is because he scents the prey. When vv. young lion growls from his lair, it is because he has made a capture. When a bird falls on the ground, it is because a boomerang has struck it. When a trap springs up from the ground, it is because it has caught something. When a horn is blown in the city, it is because there is some cause for alarm. And when some calamity befalls a city, it is because Yahweh has caused it. In like manner when the prophets speak, it is because Yahweh has revealed His secret to them (Amos 3:7 may, however, be a gloss). So Amos-' own speaking and prophesying are due to the same law of cause and effect.

Amos 3:3. except they have agreed: LXX for nô-â du implies nô dâ- u, unless they know each other. This would give the words a more general application. But for safety two men journeying through a desert may agree to walk together without knowing one another.

Amos 3:5 a. Translate, Will a bird fall to the earth (omitting pah here with LXX), when there is no boomerang for it? Mokesh here probably denotes a boomerang such as we find depicted on Egyptian monuments (so Marti; see W. Max Mueller, Asien und Europa, 123f.).