This section of the prophecy falls naturally into three parts, Amos 5:1-27; Amos 6:1-14, each drawing out, in different terms, the moral grounds of Israel's impending ruin, and ending with a similar outlook of invasion, or exile. (1) Amos 5:1-17. Israel continuing to shew no signs of amendment, the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Woe to them_that, &c. AH! THEY THAT.… AND THAT, &c., as Amos 5:18. are _at ease_ Cf. Isaiah 32:9 ("rise up, ye women that _are at ease_"), Isaiah 32:11. The word (though it may be used in a good sense, _ib. Isaiah 32:18_; Isaiah 32:20) denotes, in such a context as die present, those who are reckle... [ Continue Reading ]
Two diametrically opposed explanations of this verse have been given. (1) It has been regarded as continuing the argument of Amos 6:1, the cities named in it being referred to as examples of _prosperity_: Can you find, from Calneh and Hamath in the North of Syria to the Philistine border on the Sout... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ye that put far away the evil day_ Probably, with aversion: cf. the use of the word in Isaiah 66:5. They feel themselves secure against coming disaster (Amos 9:10), and will not hear of it, while at the same time they _bring near the seat of violence_, or, more literally, _the sitting of violence_:... [ Continue Reading ]
The luxury and indifference of the leaders of the nation.... [ Continue Reading ]
_That lie upon_ DIVANS (Amos 3:12) _of ivory_ i.e. divans, the frames of which were inlaid with ivory: cf. the "ivory couches," and "great ivory seats," which Sennacherib boasts that he received from Hezekiah (_K.A.T_[174][175] p. 293 _bottom_, referred to by Mitchell). [174] _.A.T._… Eb. Schrader,... [ Continue Reading ]
_chant_ IMPROVISE IDLY. The word (_pâraṭ_) occurs only here; and its meaning is uncertain: but (if the text be correct) this on the whole is the most probable rendering: see the Additional Note, p. 236. In illustration of the custom of having music at banquets, see Isaiah 5:12; Isaiah 24:9. _the vi... [ Continue Reading ]
_that drink_ WITH BOWLS OF _wine_ Not satisfied with ordinary cups. _Bowl_is properly a _throwing-vessel_, the root _zâraḳ_signifying _to throw_or _dash in a volume_, Leviticus 1:5; Leviticus 1:11, &c. (not _to sprinkle_, which is _hizzâh_, Leviticus 4:6; Leviticus 4:17, &c.); and elsewhere it is al... [ Continue Reading ]
The sentence. These nobles will indeed retain their preeminence, but it will be at the head of a procession of exiles. _Therefore now_ i.e. as soon as the threatened disaster has arrived. _shall they_ GO INTO EXILE AT THE HEAD OF THEM _that_ GO INTO EXILE] heading the procession. _banquet_ REVELR... [ Continue Reading ]
The contemplation of such strange moral obliquity excites the prophet's indignation, which finds expression in the oath (cf. Amos 4:2; Amos 8:7), in which Jehovah solemnly affirms that He _abhors_Israel. _by himself_ Lit. _by his soul:_the same oath, Jeremiah 51:14 only. (Jehovah's -soul," Isaiah 1... [ Continue Reading ]
A house in which _ten men_were left, surviving the casualties and privations of a siege, must have been a fairly large one: no doubt, Amos has still in view the palaces of the wealthy (cf. Amos 3:15). Those, however, who in such a house have escaped other dangers, _shall_nevertheless _die_, viz. by... [ Continue Reading ]
The terrible consequences of the siege.... [ Continue Reading ]
A grim episode imagined by the prophet (cf. Isaiah 3:6 f.) for the purpose of illustrating vividly the terrors of the time: the relative of a deceased man enters his house to perform the last duties to his corpse: he finds no living person in it except one, secreted in a far corner, who tells him he... [ Continue Reading ]
_For behold_, &c. The words give the reason for Amos 6:8, rather than for Amos 6:9, which describe merely an episode in the ruin. _commandeth_ viz. the human agents, by whose instrumentality (cf. Isaiah 10:6) He carries out His will. Who these agents are conceived by Amos to be will appear in Amos... [ Continue Reading ]
DO _horses run upon_ CRAGS? DOTH one _plow_(there) _with oxen?_or (dividing one word into two) DOTH _one plow_ THE SEA WITH AN OX? THAT _ye_ HAVE TURNED _judgement into_ POISON, &c. The two questions are meant to represent what is obviously unnatural and absurd. Do horses run over the jagged crags,... [ Continue Reading ]
Ye _which rejoice in a thing of nought_ Lit. in a _no-thing_, a _non-entity_, what has no substantial existence, and is destined to pass away when the hour of trial comes, i.e. their boasted, but unreal, material prosperity. Hebrew poets, by prefixing to a term the negative _lô_, sometimes express t... [ Continue Reading ]
_But_ FOR, justifying the low estimate of their power, expressed in Amos 6:13. _raise up_ not absolutely, as Amos 2:11 (for the Assyrians had long existed as a nation), but _against you_, i.e. as your adversaries. As in Habakkuk 1:6 (of the Chaldaeans) the term is used of the unconscious instruments... [ Continue Reading ]