Amos 2:2

the palaces of Kerioth more exactly Ḳeriyyoth: named here and Jeremiah 48:41 (cf. Jeremiah 48:24) as a representative city of Moab, and hence evidently a considerable place, if not the capital of Moab. Mesha, also, in a passage of his Inscription (lines 10 13), sufficiently interesting to extract in full, speaks of it in terms implying that it was a place of importance, possessing a sanctuary of the national god (Numbers 21:29; 1 Kings 11:7), and a royal residence: "And the men of Gad had dwelt in the land of Ataroth (Numbers 32:3; Numbers 32:34) from of old; and the king of Israel built for himself Ataroth. And I fought against the city, and took it. And I slew all [the people of] the city, a gazing-stock [cf. Nahum 3:6] to Chĕmôsh, and to Moab. And I brought back [or, took captive] thence the altar-hearth of Davdoh (?), and I dragged it before Chĕmôsh in Ḳeriyyoth." From the fact that, notwithstanding its importance, it is not mentioned in the long enumeration of Moabite cities in Isaiah 15-16, and that conversely where Ar, the capital of Moab, is named, Ḳeriyyoth is not mentioned, it has been supposed by many that Ar and Ḳeriyyoth were different names of the same place. Its situation is uncertain, though, if it was identical with Ar, it will have lain somewhere on the N. or N.E. border of Moab, in the valley of the Arnon (see Deuteronomy 2:9; Deuteronomy 2:18).

and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the horn] The nation is personified, and pictured here as dying, under the assault of its foes, as in Isaiah 25:11 it is pictured as drowning. The tumultis the confused roar, or din, of the fray (cf. Hosea 10:14; Psalms 74:23; the same word, of a distant roar of a great multitude, or of rushing waters, Isaiah 17:12-13): the shouting, as Amos 1:14, is that of the attacking foe, parallel with die shôphâror horn, calling them on, as Jeremiah 4:19 (-the shouting of battle"), Zephaniah 1:16; Job 39:25.

The shpôhârwas the curved hornof a cow or ram, to be carefully distinguished from the long straight metal ḥatzôtzerâh, or trumpet, with expanding mouth, represented on Jewish coins, and on the Arch of Titus (Stainer, Music of the Bible, p. 131; in use also among the Assyrians, ib.p. 132 f.). The shôphârwas principally, and in early Israel perhaps entirely, used for secular purposes, chiefly to give signals in war (Judges 3:27; 2 Samuel 2:28; 2 Samuel 20:1, &c., and here), or to raise an alarm (see on Amos 3:6), sometimes also to announce or accompany an important public event, such as an accession (1 Kings 1:34; 1 Kings 1:39), or other joyous occasion (2 Samuel 6:15 [142]; cf. Psalms 47:5): as a sacred instrument it is mentioned rarely, and mostly, if not entirely, in later writers (Psalms 81:4; Psalms 98:6; Psalms 150:3; 2 Chronicles 15:14; cf. Leviticus 23:24; Leviticus 25:9, and Joel 2:15). The ḥatzôtzerâh, on the other hand, appears rarely as a secular instrument (Hosea 5:8; 2 Kings 11:14), but often, especially in later times, in the Chronicler's descriptions of religious ceremonies, as a sacred, instrument (2 Kings 12:13; 1Ch 13:8; 1 Chronicles 15:28 [addedto the earlier narrative of 2 Samuel 6:5; 2 Samuel 6:15]; 2 Chronicles 15:14; 2 Chronicles 20:28; Ezra 3:10, &c.; cf. Numbers 10:3-9). The two words are very unfortunately confused in the English version, except where they occur together, when shôphâris rendered -cornet" (e.g. Hosea 5:8; Psalms 98:6; 1 Chronicles 15:28; 2 Chronicles 15:14). Comp. Stainer, Music of the Bible, p. 127; Nowack, Heb. Arch.i. 277 f.

[142] Note that the shôphâris here in the hands of layIsraelites.

Shôphârsas used in a modern synagogue, on New Year's Day (Leviticus 23:24; Numbers 29:1), and at the close of the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 25:9). (From Engel's Music of the Most Ancient Nations, 1870, p. 293.)

Two silver ḥatzôtzerahs(Numbers 10:2), as figured on the Arch of Titus, in front of the Table of Shewbread. (From the Speaker's Commentary, i. 363. Comp. Reland, De Spoliis Templi, 1716, p. 70.)