Amos 5:1-27
1 Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
3 For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.
4 For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live:
5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
6 Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.
7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
9 That strengtheneth the spoileda against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasantb vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.
12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe,c and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.
15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD.
18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
20 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26 But ye have borne the tabernacled of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.
27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.
Amos 5:2. The virgin of Israel is fallen. Babylon, which had never been stormed by a besieging army, is called a virgin. Isaiah 47:1. Thus Israel, whose kingdom had never yet been wholly subdued, is called a virgin. Jeremiah 18:13. Referring to her vile idolatries, the prophet says, “The virgin daughter of Israel hath done a very horrible thing.” Alas, the virgin of Samaria is fallen; the Assyrians have overleaped her walls, and she is fallen to rise no more.
Amos 5:5. Seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal. That would be to roll back the reproach which was once taken away by circumcision, as stated by Joshua 5:2. Pass not to Beersheba, the favoured abode of Abraham, where he had planted a grove. Idolatry was crafty in establishing its haunts and altars in these three places, once so highly favoured with the divine presence. All this was recession and apostasy from the only altar of the Lord.
Amos 5:7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, or baneful hemlock, for favour or reward, and abandon the cause of righteousness to be trampled down upon the earth; a double corruption in the elders who filled the bench of justice. They hated him that rebuked in the gate. O tempora! O mores!
Amos 5:8. The seven stars and Orion. See the note on Job 9:9, and Schulten's remarks on these terms. Amos was among the shepherds learned in practical astronomy. The seven stars are called the Hiadees by the Vulgate, and the Pleiades in modern versions. Some think that they refer to the warmth of the spring, and Orion or Arcturus to the tempestuous seasons.
Amos 5:17. In all vineyards shall be wailing. In these places they indulged in gambols and in feasting, when the fruits were gathered: but soon alas they shall be burned and destroyed by the insolent and wanton invaders.
Amos 5:26. Ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch. Literally, ye have borne Siccuth your king. Dr. Lightfoot reads it so, and also Kimchi. Hence Siccuth was an idol, sometimes written moloch, molech, milchom, and malcham. It is expressly the same with Baal, unless two idols stood in one place. So Jeremiah 32:35. “They built the high places of Baal to offer their sons to Moloch.” So also 2 Chronicles 28:2. See the note in that chapter. Ahab, it would seem, from the bloody worship of Baal's prophets, had introduced this idol, or rather revived its worship after 1 Kings 11:2 2 Kings 18 2 Kings 18.
Moloch and Chiun. Ham is the Cronus of the Greeks. His wife was Ashteroth or Astarte. קרן karen is the etymology of his name. The LXX read Ραιφας which in the new testament is altered to Ρεφαν. Acts 7:43. The name Rephas was Ham's title; and being father of the Rephaim, smitten by Chedorlaomer in Ashteroth-karnaim, is so called because Astarte was worshipped there. Genesis 14:5. They chose therefore to call themselves by his more honourable appellation. The Coptics gave his name to a star, which was worshipped at large in the east. Cicero admits that Venus was the Astarte of Syria. Moloch, Melech, or Malchus is a title given to Ham, who offered his son Jeoud, a λυτρον , an expiatory sacrifice in the time of a plague. Hence the cruel influence it had on his posterity, in making their children pass through the fire to his statue. See Euseb. Præparat. Also the note on Leviticus 18:21.
Amos 5:27. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus. The empire of the Assyrians beyond the Euphrates is understood; but the districts adjacent to the Caspian sea were then but little known to the jews.
REFLECTIONS.
The holy prophets spake from the mouth of the Lord. Their mission was clothed with the glory of divine majesty. This elevation of thought and purity of character inspired them to reprove sin, and preach righteousness in a manner that no other men could do. How grand are the arguments in calling a backsliding nation from dumb idols to worship the true and living God, who made the constellations of heaven, who sends a morning sun to chase away the shades of night, who raises vapours from the sea in the ever-changing scenes of beauteous clouds.
On sincerely returning to the Lord, the worst of sinners need not despair of mercy, even they who have hated rebuke, and abhorred the upright; while on the other hand, incorrigible wickedness will disinherit the oppressor; and though he build his house with hewn stones, it shall not be able to protect him.
A woe is denounced against those who desire the day of the Lord, in which Israel should be overthrown, hoping that the Assyrian tyrants would be milder than the oppressors in Samaria, who turned judgment to wormwood. Ah no: it is all a delusion. It is like avoiding the lion, and meeting the bear. We had better pray for our rulers and governors than wish for a change of masters. Sinners seldom get advantage by a change, unless they exchange the yoke of Satan for that of Christ.
The devotion of wicked men is peculiarly abhorrent to God. He hates, he despises their festivals, and turns away his nostrils from the incense of their prayers; their devotion is as carnal as their worldly wishes. Hence he informs Israel, if we may read the text in the future tense after Rabbi Solomon, that instead of receiving protection from their idols, they should carry them on their shoulders, or by some means beyond Damascus. Ah, most intolerable load, when mortals carry their mortal gods! Yet so it is still; when men make gods of their gold, they have to carry their cares, nor can their riches protect them in the day of the Lord. Let us abide in covenant with our Lord and Saviour, for he only is a sure defence.