_Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan_ Bashan was famous for its flocks and herds, Deuteronomy 32:14; Ezekiel 39:18. The proud and luxurious matrons of Israel may be here described. In this sense the words are understood by Grotius, and some other commentators. Thus rich, proud, and tyrannical men are... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord hath sworn by his holiness_ As sure as God is holy and true, so certainly will he bring the threatened judgment upon you; _that he will take you away with hooks_ “The original word in the masculine is used for _thorns;_ but in the feminine it signifies _shields._ So that, perhaps, a fishin... [ Continue Reading ]
_And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow_, &c. The prophet pursues the metaphor taken from the _kine of Bashan, Amos 4:1_, and tells the people, that as cattle strive to get out at every breach they can find in a mound or fence: so should they, with all possible haste, endeavour to make their... [ Continue Reading ]
_Come to Beth-el_ The known place of the calf-worship; _and transgress_ A strong irony, giving them over as incorrigible: like that of Ezekiel 20:39, _Go ye, serve every man his idols. At Gilgal multiply transgression_ This place also, as well as Beth-el, was the scene of idolatry, as appears from t... [ Continue Reading ]
_And I also have given you_ Or, for this cause I have given you, _cleanness of teeth_ An expression signifying a scarcity of food, or a famine. The famine which we read of 2 Kings 8:1, seems to be that which is here referred to. _Yet have ye not returned unto me_ Nevertheless ye have not been brough... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt_ I have sent such pestilence among you as I formerly sent upon Egypt: Or, such as has frequently taken place in Egypt. “The unwholesome effluvia, on the subsiding of the Nile, caused some peculiarly malignant diseases in this country.”... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore thus will I do unto thee_ I will continue to send these several judgments upon thee till I entirely destroy thee. _And because_, or, _forasmuch, as I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel_ Expect that he will come to take full vengeance upon thee, and consider whether... [ Continue Reading ]