Amos 5:6

Seek Jehovah, &c. The exhortation of Amos 5:4 is repeated, and enforced with a fresh motive lest a fire, namely, kindled by Jehovah, advance irresistibly, and spread irretrievable destruction in Israel.

break out lit. come mightily, advance forcibly. It is the word used of the spirit of God coming mightilyupon Samson (Judges 14:6; Judges 14:19; Judges 15:14), Saul (1 Samuel 10:6; 1 Samuel 11:6), and David (1 Samuel 16:13). The comparison of Jehovah to a fire, as Deuteronomy 4:24; Isaiah 10:17; cf. Deuteronomy 32:22; Jeremiah 4:4 ("lest my fury go forth as fire, and burn, and there be none to quench it"; so Jeremiah 21:12).

house of Joseph i.e. the Northern kingdom generally, Joseph being the ancestor of its most powerful tribe, Ephraim (which accordingly is used often by Hosea in the same sense). Song of Solomon 5:15; Song of Solomon 6:6; Obadiah 1:18; Zechariah 10:6; Psalms 78:67; cf. Ezekiel 37:16; Ezekiel 37:19.

for Beth-el named specially as the principal religious centre of Israel.