V. Commences with a veritable dirge over the calamity already threatened. The form of the dirge belongs to the second verse only (its poetic expression resembling the lament of David over Saul and Jonathan, 2 Samuel 1), but the spirit of the dirge extends through the entire chapter.... [ Continue Reading ]
FORSAKEN. — Or rather _dashed to the earth. “_Virgin” is a feminine designation of Israel poetically expressive of grace and beauty. Comp. the epithet “daughter of Zion,” nations and cities being represented by a feminine personification. She is not annihilated, but obliterated as a nation.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL LEAVE AN HUNDRED. — _i.e._, shall have an hundred only as a remnant of the thousand who went forth to war. The great cities were to be decimated in the coming struggle with Assyria.... [ Continue Reading ]
SEEK... LIVE. — Search after God is rewarded by finding Him, and this is life in the highest sense.... [ Continue Reading ]
SEEK. — The same word is used for the searching, or inquiring at idol shrines, which is here fervently condemned. Respecting Beersheba, see Note on Amos 8:14. On Grilgal there is a play of words in the original, which it is impossible to express accurately in translation. BETHEL SHALL COME TO NOUGH... [ Continue Reading ]
Render, _lest he rush down like fire on the house of Joseph_ (_i.e.,_ the Northern Kingdom). For “in Bethel” read _“for_ Bethel.” Let the blending of mercy with judgment be here observed, “Seek Jehovah and live, lest this evil befall you.” The curse is still conditional.... [ Continue Reading ]
Is placed after Amos 5:9 by Ewald, since Amos 5:7 stand in the Heb. without any connecting-link. The holy thing “judgment” is perverted into the bitter thing “wormwood,” that which is execrated. LEAVE OFF. — Or rather, _cast down righteousness to the earth, i.e.,_ by false judgments and unjust decr... [ Continue Reading ]
Connected by E.V. with Amos 5:6 through the verb “seek ye,” so that it may thus be linked to Amos 5:7. To regard it as a solemn assertion “There is one who maketh, &c.,” is not satisfactory. We prefer to render, _As for him who made the Pleiades_... _Jehovah is his name, i.e.,_ The God of the Hebrew... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT STRENGTHENED. — The rendering should be _who causeth desolation to gleam upon the strong_ (who were priding themselves on their immunity), _so that desolation cometh on the stronghold. _... [ Continue Reading ]
REBUKER IN THE GATE. — The person so described might be the prophet himself. So also _he that speaketh uprightly. _... [ Continue Reading ]
BURDENS OF WHEAT. — _i.e._, Ye take gifts of sifted corn, as a contribution to your own luxury, and which the poor man was not bound to offer, and only would offer to purchase your good will. Therefore your pomp and luxury shall be of no avail. Such is God’s judgment on indifference to the wants and... [ Continue Reading ]
I KNOW. — Most of the commentators imply that the “I” is Jehovah, but it is more likely to be the prophet himself. The adjectives “manifold,” “mighty,” should be rendered as predicates, _That manifold are your transgressions, and mighty your sins, ye afflicters of the just and takers of a bribe, and... [ Continue Reading ]
PRUDENT... SILENCE. — The dumb silence of the prudent is the awful curse which comes upon a people when they are given up to selfishness and rapacity. Thus the doom: — “Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone.”... [ Continue Reading ]
Break in like a beam of sunshine in the darkness. The fearful doom, already spoken of, is after all conditional. Let a moral change be wrought in them, and even now Jehovah, God of hosts, may deign to be with them. Enlist your passions on the right side. No virtue is safe till it is enthusiastic.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE. — Probably a pause occurs here, for once more the words of the prophet assume a more mournful tone. “Therefore” points back to the transgressions condemned in Amos 5:11. On the Divine name “Lord of hosts,” see note on Hosea 12:5, and Oehler, _Biblical Theology of the Old Testament,_ §§ 19... [ Continue Reading ]
DESIRE THE DAY OF THE LORD. — Expecting that day to bring you deliverance and judgments upon your enemies. It shall bring the reverse! There is a dark side to the pillar of fire.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Your escape will be impossible._ You will avoid one calamity, only to fall into a worse.... [ Continue Reading ]
DARKNESS. — In the form of an interrogative, the condemnation contained in Amos 5:18 is emphatically reasserted. The term rendered “very dark” is that used to denote the gross Egyptian darkness that might be felt (Exodus 10:22), the awful gloom, such as fell on Jerusalem at the Crucifixion, which is... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses closely resemble the condemnation which Isaiah pronounces (Amos 1:10) upon mere ritual, however punctilious, mere profession of orthodoxy, however exacting, which was not accompanied by righteousness and mercy, and was not the expression of inward penitence and purity. WILL NOT SMELL I... [ Continue Reading ]
SONGS. — The very sound of their tumultuous songs was a burden to Jehovah. As Christ cleansed the Temple, so would He dispel all this hypocritical and perilous confusion of ideas.... [ Continue Reading ]
MIGHTY STREAM. — Or rather _perennial stream. _... [ Continue Reading ]
_(_25, 26_)_ Much uncertainty belongs to the interpretation of these verses and their connection in thought. Some commentators would treat Amos 5:25 as a statement, and not a question, the first word being read as a definite article, and not an interrogative prefix in the Hebrew. But the constructio... [ Continue Reading ]