Amos 3:3

Can better Will?or Do?if one sees two persons walking together, it may be inferred that, either at the time or previously, they have come to some agreement to do so. The example may have been suggested by Amos's experience of the wild moorlands of Tekoa, or of the desert regions of Judah, in which "men meet and take the same road by chance as seldom as ships at sea" (G. A. Smith, p. 82).

be agreed lit. have appointed themselves(or each other), i.e. have met by agreement(Job 2:11; Joshua 11:5), or have agreed to be together.

Additional Note on Chap. Amos 3:13 (Jehovah of hosts)

The title "Jehovah of hosts" is one which occurs with great frequency in the prophets (except Obadiah, Joel, Jonah, Daniel, and, somewhat remarkably, Ezekiel: Hosea, Micah, Nahum, and Habakkuk, however use it each once only), and fifteen times in eight Psalms (Psalms 24, 46, 48, 59, 69, 80, 84, 89): in the historical books it is found only in 1 Samuel 1:3; 1Sa 1:11; 1 Samuel 4:4; 1Sa 15:2; 1 Samuel 17:45; 2 Samuel 5:10 (1 Chronicles 11:9), 2 Samuel 6:2; 2Sa 6:18, 2 Samuel 7:8; 2 Samuel 7:26 (1 Chronicles 17:7; 1 Chronicles 17:24), 2Sa 7:27, 1 Kings 18:15; 1 Kings 19:10; 1Ki 19:14, 2 Kings 3:14; 2 Kings 19:31, several of these occurrences being in the mouth of prophets: it is thus preeminently the propheticaltitle of Jehovah. The origin of the expression is not certainly known. Hostis used in Hebrew in the sense of an army of men (as in the common phrase, "captain of the host," 1 Kings 1:19 &c.); in addition to this, however, the Hebrews pictured the angels (1 Kings 22:19; cf. Psalms 68:17; Psalms 103:21; Psalms 148:2), and also the stars (Deuteronomy 4:19; Jeremiah 8:2; Isaiah 34:4; Isaiah 40:26; Isaiah 45:12), as forming a -host." Accordingly it is supposed by some (as Kautzsch, art. Zebaoth, in Herzog's Realencyclopädie; G. A. Smith, pp. 57 f.: cf. Schultz, O.T. Theol. I. 139 141) that the expression originally denoted Jehovah as a warrior, the leader of Israel's forces (cf. Exodus 14:14; Exodus 15:3; Numbers 21:14 [the "Book of Jehovah's Wars"], 1Sa 17:45; 1 Samuel 18:17; 1 Samuel 25:28; Psalms 24:8; Psalms 60:10); but (as it occurs in many passages where an exclusively martial sense would be inappropriate) that it was afterwards gradually enlarged so as to denote Him also as the God who had other "hosts" at His command, and could employ, for instance, the armies of heaven (cf. Judges 5:20; 2 Kings 6:17) on His people's behalf: according to others (as Smend, Alttest. Religionsgeschichte, pp. 185 188) it had this wider sense from the beginning. Ewald (History of Israel, iii. 62; Lehre der Bibel von Gott, II. i. 339 f.; comp. Oehler, O.T. Theol. §§ 195 198) made the clever and original suggestion that the expression may have first arisen on occasion of some victory under the Judges, when it seemed as if Jehovah descended with His celestial hosts to the help of the armies of Israel (cf. Judges 5:13): "born" thus "in the shout of victory," it fixed itself in the memory of the people, and larger ideas gradually attached themselves to it, until in the prophets it became "the loftiest and most majestic title" of Israel's God. Thus, whatever uncertainty may rest upon the originof the expression, all agree that as used by the prophets it is Jehovah's most significant and sublimest title: it designates Him, namely, as One who has at His disposal untold -hosts" of spiritual and material agencies, and is Lord of the forces of nature, in a word, as the Omnipotent(comp. Cheyne, Origin of the Psalter, p. 323). It is accordingly in the LXX. often (2 Sam. and Minor Prophets (usually), Jer. (frequently): elsewhere Κύριος Σαβαὼθ is generally used [220]) very appropriately represented by κύριος παντοκράτωρ [221] -Lord Omnipotent" (more exactly -Lord all-sovereign": Westcott, Historic Faith, p. 215). The prophets often employ the title with much effectiveness and force; and it is necessary to bear in mind the ideas suggested by it, if their use of it is to be properly understood (comp., for instance, its use in Amos 3:13; Amos 4:13; Amos 5:14; Amos 5:27; Amos 6:8; Amos 6:14).

[220] In the Psalms, and occasionally in other books, κύριος τῶν δυνάμεων (i.e. of forces, hosts: see Numbers 2:10 in the LXX. passim).

[221] Comp. in the N.T. 2 Corinthians 6:18, and nine times in the Revelation, viz. Revelation 1:8; Revelation 4:8; Revelation 11:17; Revelation 15:3; Revelation 16:7; Revelation 16:14; Revelation 19:6; Revelation 19:15; Revelation 21:22 (ὁ θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ; comp. in Amos Κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ. The rend. "Almighty" in Rev. connects the word wrongly with Shaddai[see p. 81], for which παντοκράτωρ stands only in Job, and never there with ὁ θεὸς preceding).