Amos 4:9

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 bythe east wind") denotes the disastrous effects produced by the scorching (Hosea 13:15; Jonah 4:8) and destructive (Job 27:21) -east wind," blowing up hotly from the desert. The -east wind" of the O.T. is something very different from the -east wind," as known to us: it corresponds to the modern simoomor sirocco(Arab. sherḳîyeh, or -east" wind, applied, however, also to winds from the S.E. and S.), hot winds which in Palestine come up suddenly with great violence, driving clouds of sand before them, and so "withering and burning the growing corn that no animal will touch a blade of it" (Van Lennep, Bible Lands, p. 238). Robinson gives a description of one which he experienced in the extreme S. of Judah (B.R[154], I. 195): "The wind had been all the morning north-east, but at 11 o'clock it suddenly changed to the south, and came upon us with violence and intense heat, until it blew a perfect tempest. The atmosphere was filled with fine particles of sand, forming a bluish haze; the sun was scarcely visible, his disk exhibiting only a dun and sickly hue; and the glow of the wind came upon our faces as from a burning oven." See also ib.p. 207, II. 123; G. A. Smith, Geogr., pp. 67 69; and Wetzstein's note in Delitzsch's Commentary on Job 27:21. By mildewis meant "a blight, in which the ears turn untimely a pale yellow, and have no grain." The Heb. word signifies (pale and unhealthy) greenness.

[154] .R.… Edw. Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine(ed. 2, 1856).

when your gardens … increased&c. R.V. the multitude of your gardens … hath the palmerworm devoured. Neither rendering is grammatically possible: the Hebrew is corrupt. Read, with Wellh., החרבתי for הרבות, and an excellent sense is at once obtained: " I laid waste your gardens and your vineyards; and your fig-trees and your vines would [freq.] the shearer devour. " The shearer (gâzâm) is a name for a locust, so called from its destructiveness: see p. 85. A visitation of locusts was no uncommon occurrence in Palestine: for a vivid picture of their ravages, see Joel 1:4-12.