Amos 7:9

high places local sanctuaries, usually situated on eminences (1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 17:10 f.), a little outside the towns to which they belonged (cf. 1 Samuel 9:12; 1 Samuel 9:14; 1Sa 9:19; 1 Samuel 9:25; 1 Samuel 10:5), sometimes, where no natural eminence was available, erected, it is probable, upon artificial mounds (cf. Jeremiah 7:31; 2 Kings 17:9). The custom of worshipping at such spots was borrowed, as seems evident (cf. Deuteronomy 12:2), from the Canaanites: it also prevailed in Moab (Isaiah 15:2; Isaiah 16:12: Mesha also, in his Inscription, Isaiah 50:3, tells us that he had "made a high-place" for his god Chemosh). The sanctuaries in question consisted of a "house," or shrine (1 Kings 12:31; 1 Kings 13:32), with an altar, and were served by priests (1 Kings 12:31-33; 1 Kings 13:33; 2 Kings 23:9): they are often alluded to as popular places of sacrifice, especially during the period of the monarchy (1 Sam. ll. cc.; 1 Kings 22:43; 2Ki 12:3; 2 Kings 14:4; 2 Kings 15:4, &c.). Worship at such local sanctuaries, down to the 7th cent. b.c., in so far as it was not contaminated with heathen elements, was regarded as quite regular (comp. Exodus 20:24; 1 Samuel 9:13, where Samuel presides at and blesses the sacrifice at such a bâmâh; 1 Kings 3:4; 1 Kings 18:30); but under the centralizing influence of Deuteronomy, a change came in, and it was treated as illegitimate. The compiler of the Book of Kings, in his condemnation of the worship at the high-places, reflects the Deuteronomic standpoint. Amos, in so far as he refers to the bâmôthwith disparagement, does so, not on account of their conflicting with the Deuteronomic law of the single sanctuary, but on account of the unspiritual character of the worship carried on at them. Comp. Nowack, Heb. Arch. ii. 12 14.

Isaac As in Amos 7:16, a poetic synonym of Israel (not so elsewhere).

and I will rise, &c. For the expression, cf. Isaiah 30:2; for the thought, Hosea 1:4, where the same dissatisfaction with the dynasty of Jehu finds expression.

with the sword Jehovah's agent, then, will be the army of an invader, the nation, viz., whom in Amos 6:14 He says that He will "raise up" against Israel.