Amos 9:12

That they may possess the remnant of Edom&c. i.e. that the empire of David may be restored to its former limits. The allusion is to the nations the Philistines, Moab, Ammon, Aram of Zobah, Damascus, Edom, &c. which, though they had been conquered by David (2 Samuel 8, &c.), had afterwards revolted: these, Amos promises, should again be incorporated in the restored empire of David.

the remnant of Edom No doubt Edom is named specially on account of the ancient rivalry subsisting between it and Israel; in the happy future which the prophet here anticipates, he pictures it as reduced to a mere remnant (cf. Amos 1:12; Obadiah 1:18-21). This seems better than to suppose an allusion to recent defeats, whether the victory of Amaziah (2 Kings 14:7), which, however, must have taken place some 30 years previously, or the subjugation by Uzziah, which appears to be presupposed by 2 Kings 14:22 (cf. 2 Kings 16:6 R.V. marg.).

and all the nations, over whom my name has been called] viz. in token of conquest, or ownership. The reference is to the nations which, as just stated, had been conquered by David: in virtue of their subjugation by him, they had passed under the dominion of Jehovah. The sense of the expression, over whom my name was called, appears clearly from 2 Samuel 12:28, where Joab, while besieging Rabbah of the Ammonites, invites David to come and take it himself "lest I(emph.) take the city, and my name be called over it," i.e. lest I get the credit of having captured it, and it be counted as my conquest. The phrase expresses thus the fact of ownershipwhether acquired by actual conquest or otherwise (cf. Isaiah 4:1). It is used especially of the people of Israel, Jerusalem, or the temple, as ownedby Jehovah: see Deuteronomy 28:10; Jeremiah 7:10-11; Jeremiah 7:14; Jeremiah 7:30; Jeremiah 14:9; Jeremiah 15:16 (of Jeremiah himself), Jeremiah 25:29; Jeremiah 32:34; Jeremiah 34:15; 1 Kings 8:43 (2 Chronicles 6:33); Isaiah 63:19; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Daniel 9:18-19; and the newly-recovered Hebrew text of Sir 47:18. In A.V., R.V., the phrase is often, unfortunately, represented by the obscure paraphrase, "called by my name"; but the literal rendering, which is both clearer and more forcible than the paraphrase, is sometimes added in the margin of R.V. (e.g. 1 Kings 8:43).

that doeth this An epithet confirmatory of the preceding promise; cf. Jeremiah 33:2.

Amos 9:11-12 stands in the LXX. (cod. B) thus: ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἀναστήσω τὴν σκηνὴν Δαυεὶδ τὴν πεπτωκυῖαν, καὶ ἀνοικοδομήσω τὰ πεπτωκότα αὐτῆς, καὶ τὰ κατεσκαμμένα (A b Q* κατεστραμμένα) αὐτῆς ἀναστήσω, καὶ ἀνοικοδομήσω αὐτὴν καθὼς αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ αἰῶνος, 12 ὅπως (A+ ἂν) ἐκζητήσωσιν οἱ κατάλοιποι τῶν ἀνθρώπων (A+ τὸν Κύριον), καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἐφʼ οὒς ἐπικέκληται τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐπʼ αὐτούς, λέγει Κύριος ὁ ποιῶν ταῦτα. In Acts 15:17 the verses are quoted by St James or by St Luke in his report of St James" speech in this form (μετὰ ταῦτα ἀναστρέψω καὶ ἀνοικοδομήσω τὴν σκηνὴν Δαυεὶδ τὴν πεπτωκυῖαν, καὶ τὰ κατεστραμμένα αὐτῆς ἀνοικοδομήσω, καὶ ἀνορθώσω αὐτήν, ὅπως ἂν ἐκζητήσωσιν οἱ κατάλοιποι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸν Κύριον, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἐφʼ οὒς ἐπικέκληται τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐπʼ αὐτούς, λέγει Κύριος ποιῶν ταῦτα γνωστὰ ἀπʼ αἰῶνος), for the purpose of shewing that God's having visited the Gentiles "to take out of them a people to his name" was in accordance with the teaching of the prophets. The passage illustrates the freedom which New Testament writers allow themselves in quoting from the Old Testament. Not only are there many minor variations from the text of the LXX.; but in the most important part of the quotation, the rendering adopted implies a reading of the Hebrew text (אָדָם למען יִדְרְשׁוּ שארית "that the remnant of men may seek [the Lord]," for למען יִירְשׁוּ את שארית אֱדֹם "that they may inherit the remnant of Edom"), which cannot be right, and can hardly even express a thought implicit in Amos" words, though it is no doubt one found in other prophets, viz. that the ultimate aim of Israel's restoration is to exert upon the nations a spiritual influence, and bring them to the knowledge of the true God (cf. Isaiah 55:5). Τὸν Κύριον ("the Lord"), to which nothing corresponds in the Heb., has been supplied, it will be observed, in order to provide the verb "seek" with an object. The text of the Vatican MS. of the LXX. (cod. B) is purer and more original than that of the Alexandrian MS. (cod. A): the quotation in the Acts agrees in several particulars with the latter against the former; and it is not improbable that the text of cod. A has been corrected on the basis of the quotation. In Psalms 14 (13) 3, the composite quotation of St Paul (Romans 3:13-18) has found its way even into the text of Cod. B.