Amos 3:14

visit Cf. on Amos 3:2.

I will also visit I will visit: there is no -also"; the וְ, by a common Hebrew idiom, merely introduces the verbal predicate.

the altars of Beth-el Beth-el, now Beitin, was in Amos's day the principal sanctuary of the northern kingdom. It lay on the sloping side of a low hill about 10 miles N. of Jerusalem, on the right hand of the great route leading northwards to Shechem and Samaria. It must have been regarded as a sacred spot from very early times: its maẓẓçbâh, or sacred stone pillar, was connected by tradition with a memorable occasion in the life of the patriarch Jacob (Genesis 28:10-22; cf. Genesis 35:1-8; Hosea 12:4; it is alluded to as a sanctuary in 1 Samuel 10:3); and its time-honoured sanctity, taken in conjunction with its situation at the extreme south of Jeroboam's kingdom, on the immediate route to Jerusalem, no doubt led him to select it as one of his chief sanctuaries (1 Kings 12:28-33). Here he established one of the two calves of gold, erected an altar, and instituted a priesthood to serve it (ib.: cf. Amos 7:10). Amos represents Beth-el as being the most popular sanctuary of the northern kingdom: it was under the special patronage of the king (Amos 7:13); altars (in the plural) had taken the place of the single altar of Jeroboam I. (1 Kings 13:1); the sanctuary was crowded with worshippers (Amos 9:1); an elaborate ritual was observed there (Amos 4:4-5), and the houses of the wealthy were numerous (Amos 3:15). Comp. also Amos 3:5; Hosea 4:15; Hosea 10:5; Hosea 10:8; Hosea 10:15. The altar and sanctuary of Beth-el were finally destroyed by Josiah (2 Kings 23:15). At present Beth-el is nothing more than a poor village, containing, it is said, about 400 persons. See Rob. B.R[148] i. 448 f.; Stanley, S. and P. pp. 217 223; Memoirs of the P. E. F. Survey, ii. 295 f.; Moore, Comm. on Judges, pp. 40, 42, 433.

[148] .R.… Edw. Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine(ed. 2, 1856).

the horns of the altar which conferred the right of asylum upon those who laid hold of them (see 1 Kings 1:50-51; 1 Kings 2:28): but even this refuge should fail Israel in the day of visitation, which Amos here foresees. On the -horns" of the altar, see also Jeremiah 17:1; Ezekiel 43:15; Ezekiel 43:20; Exodus 27:2 (on the altar of burnt-offering); Exodus 30:2 (on the altar of incense); Psalms 118:27. They were an important adjunct to the altar: and at least in the ritual of the Temple at Jerusalem the ceremonial of atonement could in many cases only be completed upon them (Leviticus 4:7; Leviticus 4:18; Leviticus 4:25; Leviticus 4:30; Leviticus 4:34). A stelè from Teima (S.E. of Edom), containing an interesting Aramaic inscription, shews the -horns" rising from the corner of an altar, and curved like those of an ox (Perrot and Chipiez, Hist. of Art in Sardinia, Judaea, &c., i. 304).