CHAPTER V _This chapter opens with a tender and pathetic lamentation, in_ _the style of a funeral song, over the house of Israel_, 1, 2. _The prophet then glances at the awful threatening denounced_ _against them_, 3; _earnestly exhorting them to renounce their idols, and seek_ _Jehovah, of wh... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 5:2. _THE VIRGIN OF ISRAEL_] The kingdom of Israel, or the _ten_ tribes, which were carried into captivity; and are now totally lost in the nations of the earth.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 5:3. _THE CITY THAT WENT OUT BY A THOUSAND_] The city that could easily have furnished, on any emergency, a _thousand_ fighting men, can now produce scarcely one _hundred_-_one_ in _ten_ of the former number; and now of the _hundred_ scarcely _ten_ remain: so reduced was Israel when Shalm... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 5:4. _SEEK YE ME, AND YE SHALL LIVE_] Cease your rebellion against me; return to me with all your heart; and though consigned to _death_, ye shall be rescued and live. Deplorable as your case is, it is not utterly desperate.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 5:5. _BUT SEEK NOT BETH-EL_] There was one of Jeroboam's _golden calves_, and at _Gilgal_ were _carved images_; both were places in which idolatry was triumphant. The prophet shows them that all hope from those quarters is utterly vain; for Gilgal shall go into captivity, and Beth-el be b... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 5:6. _SEEK THE LORD, AND YE SHALL LIVE_] Repeated from Amos 5:4. _IN THE HOUSE OF JOSEPH_] The Israelites of the _ten_ tribes, of whom Ephraim and Manasseh, sons of Joseph, were the chief.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 5:7. _YE WHO TURN JUDGMENT TO WORMWOOD_] Who pervert judgment; causing him who obtains his suit to mourn sorely over the _expenses_ he has _incurred_ in gaining his _right_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 5:8. _THAT MAKETH THE SEVEN STARS AND ORION_] Or, _Hyades_ and _Arcturus, Kimah_ and _Kesil_. Job 9:9; _"_Job 38:32_"_, where the subject of this verse is largely considered. _TURNETH THE SHADOW OF DEATH INTO THE MORNING_] Who makes day and night, light and darkness. _CALLETH FOR THE WA... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 5:9. _THAT STRENGTHENETH THE SPOILED_] Who takes the part of the poor and oppressed against the oppressor; and, in the course of his providence, sets up the former, and depresses the latter.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 10. _THEY HATE HIM THAT REBUKETH IN THE GATE_] They cannot bear an upright _magistrate_, and will not have _righteous laws_ executed.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 11. _YOUR TREADING_ IS _UPON THE POOR_] You tread them under your feet; they form the road on which ye walk; and yet it was by oppressing and improverishing them that ye gained your riches. _YE TAKE FROM HIM BURDENS OF WHEAT_] Ye will have his _bread_ for doing him justice.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 12. _I KNOW YOUR MANIFOLD TRANSGRESSIONS_] I have marked the _multitude_ of your _smaller crimes_, as well as your _mighty offenses._ Among their _greater offenses_ were, 1. Their afflicting the righteous. 2. Taking bribes to blind their eyes in judgment. And, 3. Refusing to hear the poor,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 13. _THE PRUDENT SHALL KEEP SILENCE_] A wise man will consider that it is useless to complain. He can have no justice without bribes; and he has no money to give: consequently, in such an _evil time_, it is best to keep silence.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 14. _SEEK GOOD, AND NOT EVIL_] Is there a greater mystery in the world, than that a mall, instead of seeking _good_, will seek _evil_, knowing that it is _evil_? _AND SO THE LORD_] As God is the Fountain of good, so they who seek the supreme good seek him: and they who seek shall find him; _f... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 15. _HATE THE EVIL, AND LOVE THE GOOD_] What _ruins_ you, _avoid_; what _helps_ you, _cleave_ to. And as a proof that you take this advice, purify the _seats of justice_; and then expect God to be gracious to the _remnant of Joseph_-to the posterity of the ten tribes.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 16. _THEY SHALL CALL THE HUSBANDMAN TO MOURNING_] Because the crops have failed, and the ground has been tilled in vain. _SUCH AS ARE SKILFUL OF LAMENTATION_] Jeremiah 9:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 17. _AND IN ALL VINEYARDS_ SHALL BE _WAILING_] The places where festivity especially used to prevail. _I WILL PASS THROUGH THEE_] As I passed, by the ministry of the destroying angel, through Egypt, not to _spare_, but to _destroy_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 18. _WO UNTO YOU THAT DESIRE THE DAY OF THE LORD_] The prophet had often denounced the coming of _God's day_, that is, of a _time of judgment_; and the unbelievers had said, "Let his day come, that we may see it." Now the prophet tells them that that day would be to them _darkness_-calamity, a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 19. _AS IF A MAN DID FLEE FROM A LION, AND A BEAR MET HIM_] They shall go from one evil to another. He who escapes from the _lion's_ mouth shall fall into the _bear's_ paws: - Incidit in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim. The Israelites, under their king _Menahem_, wishing to avoid a civil w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 5:21. _I HATE, I DESPISE YOUR FEAST DAYS_] I _abominate_ those sacrificial festivals where there is no _piety_, and I _despise_ them because they _pretend_ to be what they are not. This may refer to the _three annual festivals_ which were still observed in a certain way among the Israelit... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 5:22. _THE PEACE-OFFERINGS OF YOUR FAT BEASTS._] מריאיכם _merieychem_ probably means _buffaloes_; and so _Bochart_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 5:23. _THE NOISE OF THY SONGS - THE MELODY OF THY VIOLS._] They had both _vocal_ and _instrumental music_ in those sacrificial festivals; and God hated the _noise_ of the _one_ and _shut_ his _ears_ against the _melody_ of the _other_. In the _first_ there was nothing but _noise_, because... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 5:24. _LET JUDGMENT RUN DOWN_] Let the execution of justice be everywhere like the _showers_ that fall upon the land to render it fertile; and let righteousness in _heart_ and _life_ be like a mighty river, or the Jordan, that shall wind its course through the whole nation, and carry ever... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 5:24. _HAVE YE OFFERED UNTO ME SACRIFICES_] Some have been led to think that "during the _forty years_ which the Israelites spent in the wilderness, between Egypt and the promised land, they did _not offer any sacrifices_, as in their circumstances it was impossible; they offered none be... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 5:26. _BUT YE HAVE BORNE_] The preceding verse spoke of their _fathers_; the present verse speaks of the _Israelites then_ _existing_, who were so grievously addicted to idolatry, that they not only worshipped at stated public places the _idols_ set up by _public authority_, but they _car... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Amos 5:27. _WILL I CAUSE YOU TO GO INTO CAPTIVITY BEYOND DAMASCUS_] That is, into _Assyria_, the way to which, from Judea, was by Damascus. But St. _Stephen_ says, Acts 7:43, _beyond Babylon_; because the Holy Spirit that was in him chose to _extend_ the meaning of the original text to that g... [ Continue Reading ]