Amos 8 - Introduction
_BY A BASKET OF SUMMER FRUIT IS SHEWED THE PROPINQUITY OF ISRAEL'S END. OPPRESSION IS REPROVED. A FAMINE OF THE WORD THREATENED._ _Before Christ 787._... [ Continue Reading ]
_BY A BASKET OF SUMMER FRUIT IS SHEWED THE PROPINQUITY OF ISRAEL'S END. OPPRESSION IS REPROVED. A FAMINE OF THE WORD THREATENED._ _Before Christ 787._... [ Continue Reading ]
A BASKET OF SUMMER FRUIT— _Of autumnal fruit;_ or, "Of the last season of the year." Houbigant; and so in the next verse, where, instead of _the end,_ he reads the _last end,_ keeping up the allusion, and the expressive play of the words קצ _keits,_ and קיצ _kaiits,_ in the original: whereby is sign... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SONGS OF THE TEMPLE— _And the singers of the palace shall howl,_ &c. Houbigant. As Amos prophesies against Israel, not against Judah, the temple cannot be meant here. See Amos 8:8 of the preceding chapter.... [ Continue Reading ]
O YE THAT SWALLOW UP THE NEEDY— _Ye that tread down the poor, and oppress the meek of the land._ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NEW MOON, &C.— Of that month wherein the fruits of the year were used first to be sold. By _the sabbath_ the Chaldee understands the sabbatical year; for, as Grotius observes, that year being past, they who had not money enough to provide for themselves before the year, were compelled to buy the... [ Continue Reading ]
HATH SWORN BY THE EXCELLENCY OF JACOB— Or, "By those benefits by which he had conferred honour and distinguished privileges upon Jacob and his posterity." In this place _excellency_ is taken in a good sense; as if the Lord had said, "As I have caused the sons of Jacob to abound with glory and honour... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SHALL RISE UP, &C.— _And destruction shall rise up like a flood; and it shall be dissolved and drowned as by the river of Egypt._ The prophet here refers to the great earthquake, whereof he spoke at the beginning of this book.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS, &C.— Times of calamity are frequently expressed by the failing of the light of the sun, and the day's being overspread with darkness. Archbishop Usher has observed, that about eleven years after the time when Amos prophesied, there were two great eclipses of the sun; one a... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL SEND A FAMINE— The prophet here foretels that it should come to pass, that when they were suffering by famine they should inquire for prophets from whom they might hear the word of God; but that no prophets should be found; or if there were any, they should have nothing to deliver them from G... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL WANDER FROM SEA TO SEA, &C.— _From the west to the south._ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY THAT SWEAR BY THE SIN OF SAMARIA— The calf set up at Beth-el by Jeroboam. Instead of, _The manner of Beer-sheba,_ Houbigant reads very properly, _Thy god, O Beer-sheba!_ Compare chap. Amos 5:5. REFLECTIONS.—1st, The prophet is called upon to attend to another vision, and, lo! a basket of summe... [ Continue Reading ]