Amos 2:9

Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them Namely, when they came out of Egypt. The Amorites include the rest of the Canaanites, and are here mentioned rather than the others, as being the mightiest nation of them all. Here the benefits which God had bestowed upon the Israelites are mentioned that it might appear how great their ingratitude was toward him. Whose height was like that of the cedars Who were men of a vast stature, and remarkable strength. The image is a grand and natural one. Virgil makes the same comparison, speaking of the Titans, Æneid, lib. 3. ver. 677.

“Concilium horrendum, quales cum vertice celso, Aeriæ quercus, aut coniferæ Cyparissi Constiterunt, sylva alta Jovis, lucusve Dianæ.”

“A dreadful council, with their heads on high, Not yielding to the tow'ring tree of Jove, Or tallest cypress of Diana's grove.” DRYDEN.

Yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath The prophet diversifies and continues the image with great beauty. See similar ones, Homer's Il., 13: 389, and Hor. Od., 50. Amos 4:6. So Virgil compares the destruction of Troy to the cutting down a mountain ash; and the fall of Entellus to that of a pine. Æn., 2: 626; 5:447.