A new section of the prophecy begins here. It consists of two parts, the first (Amos 4:1) addressed to the women of Samaria; the second (Amos 4:4) to the people generally. In Amos 4:1 Amos denounces the heartless luxury and self-indulgence of the wealthy ladies of the capital; in Amos 4:4 he points... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hear this word_ Amos 4:1; Amos 5:1. _ye kine of Bashan_ Bashan was the fertile region on the E. of Jordan, bounded on the S. by the Jarmuk, and a line passing through Edrei to Salecah, on the W. by Geshur and Maacah, on the N. extending towards Hermon (cf. Joshua 12:1; Joshua 12:5), and on the E. a... [ Continue Reading ]
The women of Samaria.... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah's indignation is aroused; and He _swears_(cf. Amos 6:8; Amos 8:7), that retribution will overtake them for such selfishness and cruelty. _hath sworn by his holiness_ God's holiness is made the pledge of the validity of the oath: so Psalms 89:35; cf. Jeremiah 44:26. BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING &... [ Continue Reading ]
_shall go out_at _the breaches_ Amos pictures Samaria as captured, and the self-indulgent ladies forced to leave the city, as captives, through the breaches made in the walls by the foe. _every_cow at that which is _before her_ EVERY ONE STRAIGHT BEFORE HER, forced to go on in the train of captives... [ Continue Reading ]
_Come_to _Beth-el, and transgress_&c. The words are meant of course ironically. Amos bids the people _come to Beth-el_, the principal and most splendid centre of their worship, _and transgress, to Gilgal_, another representative centre, _and multiply transgression:_their religious services, partly o... [ Continue Reading ]
Here the people at large are addressed by the prophet, perhaps at some festal religious gathering.... [ Continue Reading ]
_offer_ MAKE INTO SWEET SMOKE (the Homeric κνίση, _Il._I. 319), a term used technically of the consumption of sacrifices upon the altar (Leviticus 1:9, &c.). The idea is that of a repast: comp. Genesis 8:19. The root _ḳatara_in Arabic signifies _to exhale an odour in roasting_. _a sacrifice of thank... [ Continue Reading ]
Famine. _And I also_ i.e. And I on my part [153] in return for your zeal in the observance of a merely external formalism. [153] For this use of _also_comp. Genesis 20:6; Judges 2:3; Jdg 2:21; 2 Samuel 12:13; Psalms 52:5. &c.; and see the _Heb. Lexicon_published by the Clarendon Press, s.v. נם, 4.... [ Continue Reading ]
The five unheeded chastisements which have passed over Israel. The description of each ends with the pathetic refrain, indicating its failure to produce the desired effect, "Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith Jehovah" (cf. the refrain of Isaiah 9:12; Isaiah 9:17; Isaiah 9:21; Isaiah 10:4). "In... [ Continue Reading ]
Drought. _And_ I ALSO _have withholden the_ WINTER-RAIN _from you, when_there were &c.. The Heb. is not _mâṭâr_, but _géshem_, i.e. a _burst of rain_: the heavy rains of winter, which continue as a rule from the end of October to the end of February and are then followed by the -latter rain," or sho... [ Continue Reading ]
_wandered_&c. WOULD TOTTER … BUT WOULD NOT BE SATISFIED: the frequentative tenses are continued. Eastern cities are dependent largely for their water upon underground cisterns in which the rain is collected and stored; but the quantity thus supplied in the more fortunate city would not suffice for t... [ Continue Reading ]
Blasting and mildew. The same two words in combination, Deuteronomy 28:22; 1 Kings 8:37; Haggai 2:17. _Blasting_(cf. Genesis 41:6; Genesis 41:23; Genesis 41:27, "_blasted by_the east wind") denotes the disastrous effects produced by the scorching (Hosea 13:15; Jonah 4:8) and destructive ... [ Continue Reading ]
Pestilence and the sword. By the pestilence (_déber_) is meant what we should term an epidemic accompanied by great mortality, such as under the insalubrious sanitary conditions of Eastern life, are of frequent occurrence: it is often mentioned in the Old Testament, and frequently threatened as a ju... [ Continue Reading ]
The earthquake. This, the most terrible visitation, is reserved for the last. The earthquake is not only the most unfamiliar and the most mysterious of all the judgements enumerated; it is also the most sudden and startling, as well as the most formidable: it is as instantaneous in its operation as... [ Continue Reading ]
The sentence. All warnings have passed unheeded: no amendment is visible in the people; Jehovah must therefore proceed now to still more extreme measures. What these measures are, however, is not explicitly stated, in order, doubtless, that Israel, roused to alarm by the prospect of unnamed but not... [ Continue Reading ]
A verse describing the majesty and omnipotence of the Judge, and suggesting consequently a motive why His will should be obeyed, and His anger averted. He is the Maker both of the solid mountains, and of the invisible yet sometimes formidable and destructive wind: He knows the secrets of man's heart... [ Continue Reading ]