INTRODUCTION TO AMOS 8 In this chapter a fourth vision is delivered, the vision of a "basket of summer fruit"; signifying the destruction of the ten tribes, for which they were ripe, and which would quickly come upon them, Amos 8:1; the rich are reproved for their oppression of the poor, their cove... [ Continue Reading ]
THUS HATH THE LORD GOD SHOWED UNTO ME,.... Another vision, which is the fourth, and after the following manner: AND, BEHOLD, A BASKET OF SUMMER FRUIT; not of the first ripe fruit, but of such as were gathered at the close of the summer, when autumn began. So the Targum, "the last of the summer fru... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID, AMOS, WHAT SEEST THOU?.... To quicken his attention, who might disregard it as a common thing; and in order to lead him into the design of it, and show him what it was an emblem of: AND I SAID, A BASKET OF SUMMER FRUIT; some render it "a hook" w, such as they pull down branches with to... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SONGS OF THE TEMPLE SHALL BE HOWLINGS IN THAT DAY, SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... Not the songs sung by the Levites in the temple of Jerusalem, this prophecy respects the ten tribes only; but those in imitation of them, sung in the temple at Bethel, and other idol temples; or profane songs in the... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAR THIS, O YE THAT SWALLOW UP THE NEEDY,.... Like a man that pants after a draught of water when thirsty; and, when he has got it, greedily swallows it down at one gulp; so these rich men swallowed up the poor, their labours, gains, and profits, and persons too; got all into their own hands, and m... [ Continue Reading ]
SAYING, WHEN WILL THE NEW MOON BE GONE, THAT WE MAY SELL CORN?.... The first day of every month, on which it was forbid to sell any thing, or do any worldly business, being appointed and used for religious service; see 2 Kings 4:23; and which these carnal earthly minded men were weary of, and wanted... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT WE MAY BUY THE POOR FOR SILVER,.... Thus making them pay dear for their provisions, and using them in this fraudulent manner, by which they would not be able to support themselves and their families; they might purchase them and theirs for slaves, at so small a price as a piece of silver, or a... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD HATH SWORN BY THE EXCELLENCY OF JACOB,.... Not by the ark, as R. Japhet; nor by the temple, as Kimchi; but by himself; which sense Kimchi also mentions, and Aben Ezra; the God of Jacob and his glory, the most excellent of all Jacob's enjoyments, and of whom he had reason to boast and glory;... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL NOT THE LAND TREMBLE FOR THIS,.... For this wickedness committed, in using the poor with so much inhumanity? may not an earthquake be expected? and which happened two years after Amos began to prophesy, Amos 1:1; or that the earth should gape and swallow up these men alive, guilty of such enor... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THAT DAY, SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... When this deluge and desolation of the land shall be, now spoken of: THAT I WILL CAUSE THE SUN TO GO DOWN AT NOON: or to he so dark as if it was set; as at the time of our Lord's crucifixion, to which many of the ancient fathers refer t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL TURN YOUR FEASTS INTO MOURNING, AND ALL YOUR SONGS INTO LAMENTATION,.... Either their religious feasts, the feasts of pentecost, tabernacles, and passover; at which three feasts there were eclipses of the sun, a few years after this prophecy of Amos, as Bishop Usher q observes: the first... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, THE DAYS COME, SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... Which Kimchi interprets of all the days of the second house or temple after Malachi, when prophecy ceased; but it rather has respect to the time of Shalmaneser's carrying captive the ten tribes, when they had no more prophets nor prophecy among them, or... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SHALL WANDER FROM SEA TO SEA,.... From the sea of Tiberias, or Galilee; or from the Dead sea, the lake Asphaltites; or from the Red sea, which was to the south of the land of Israel, to the great sea, which is to the west, as Aben Ezra: so the Targum, "from the sea to the west;'' that is,... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THAT DAY SHALL THE FAIR VIRGINS AND YOUNG MEN FAINT FOR THIRST. After the word, for want of that grain and wine, which make young men and maids cheerful, Zechariah 9:17; but, being destitute of them, should be covered with sorrow, overwhelmed with grief, and ready to sink and die away. These, acc... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY THAT SWEAR BY THE SIN OF SAMARIA,.... The calf at Bethel, which was near Samaria, and which the Samaritans worshipped; and was set up by their kings, and the worship of it encouraged by their example, and which is called the calf of Samaria, Hosea 8:5; the making of it was the effect of sin, an... [ Continue Reading ]