Amos 5:9

That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong,.... Such as have been taken by an enemy, who have been stripped of their armour, and spoiled of all their goods and substance, and have no friends

That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. That strengtheneth the spoiled - literally, spoil, or devastation: hence, the person spoiled.

That strengtheneth the spoiled; you have been exceedingly weakened and spoiled by your enemies; yet return, repent, seek God, for he can renew your strength, that you shall spoil your spoilers who are strong. Against the strong; the mighty, victorious, and insolent. The spoiled, those that had lost their strength, and were as conquered, shall come against the fortress; shall rally, re-embody, and form a siege against their besiegers: so God, whom you should serve, will soon turn all from dark and dismal into light and pleasing unto you and yours; in your apostacy all will be misery and darkness, but in your return all shall be well and prosperous with you.

Amos 5:9 That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.Ver. 9. That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong] Victorem a victo superari saepe videmus. God can quickly change the scene, turn the scales, Jeremiah 37:10, though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire. In a bloody fight between Amurath III, king of Turks, and Lazarus, despot of Servia, many thousands fell on both sides. In conclusion the Turks had the victory, and Lazarus was slain. Amurath, after that great victory, with some few of his chief captains, taking view of the dead bodies, which without number lay on heaps in the field like mountains, a Christian soldier, sore wounded and all blood, seeing him, in staggering manner arose (as if it had been from death) out of a heap of slain men, and making toward him, for want of strength fell down various times by the way as he came, as if he had been a drunken man. At length, drawing nigh unto him, when they which guarded the king’ s person would have stayed him, he was by Amurath himself commanded to come nearer, supposing that he would have craved his life of him. Thus this half-dead Christian, pressing nearer unto him, as if he would, for honour’ s sake, have kissed his feet, suddenly stabbed him in the bottom of his belly with a short dagger which he had under his coat; of which wound that great king and conqueror presently died. The name of this man was Miles Cobelite, who, before sore wounded, was shortly after in the presence of Bajazet (Amurath’ s son), cut into small pieces. So in that memorable fight between the Swissers and the Dolphin, near to Basil, when Burcardus, monk, a nobleman and a great soldier, grew proud of the victory, and put up his helmet that he might behold what a slaughter they had made, one of the half-dead Swissers, rising up upon his knees, threw a stone at him, which, hitting right, gave him his death’ s wound. At the battle of Agincourt, where our Henry V won the day, the French were so confident of a victory, that they sent to King Henry, to know what ransom he would give. Henry, comforting his army with a speech, resolved to open his way over the enemy’ s bosom, or else to die. After which, such was the courage of the English, notwithstanding their great wants, as he that ere while could scarcely bend his bow is able now to draw his yard long arrow to the very head. So that the spoiled (or spoil) shall come against the fortress] And take it by assault. Deus loca, quantumvis valida, vasta facit. There is no strength against the Lord, Proverbs 21:30.

(9) 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.

Verse 9. That strengtheneth the spoiled] Who takes the part of the poor and oppressed against the oppressor; and, in the course of his providence, sets up the former, and depresses the latter.

9. That strengthened the spoiled against the strong &c.] that causeth devastation to flash forth (R.V. marg.) upon the strong, so that devastation cometh (R.V.) upon the fortress. From illustrations of Jehovah’s power as displayed in the physical government of the world, the prophet passes to examples supplied by the moral government of the world: He brings sudden destruction upon the mighty, so that even their strongest fortresses cannot save them. The word rendered strengtheneth occurs also Job 9:27; Job 10:20, Psalms 39:13, and a cognate subst. in Jeremiah 8:18. The meaning was forgotten by the Jews; and hence the mediaeval commentators, as David Kimchi, conjectured a sense to strengthen or become strong, more or less consonant with the context in the various passages where the word occurred, which was followed by the Auth. Version of 1611 (in Job and Jer. comfort myself, or take comfort [Lat. ‘comfortare’]; in Psalms 39 recover strength; and here strengtheneth). When, however, subsequently, Arabic was again studied, and compared (especially by Alb. Schultens) with the cognate Semitic languages, the true meaning of the word was speedily discovered: balija, the corresponding word in Arabic, is to have a clear, uncontracted brow, then figuratively, to have a bright, cheerful countenance, or more generally, to be joyous; applied to the dawn, or the sun, to be bright, shine brightly (see Schultens, Origines Hebracae, 1761, p. 19. f.; Lane, Arab. Lex. p. 245). One or other of these meanings suits all the passages in which the word occurs in Hebrew: accordingly in R.V. Job 9:27 is rendered be of good cheer, with marg. “Heb. brighten up”; Job 10:20, Psalms 39:13 the old renderings are retained, but the same margin is repeated: here the text (“bringeth sudden destruction”) is also a paraphrase, but the more literal rendering is given on the margin, “causeth destruction to flash forth.”—The repetition of the same word in the two clauses is inelegant: the LXX. for the second ùã (‘devastation’) read probably ùáø, destruction; cf. Isaiah 59:7; Isaiah 60:18.

That strengtheneth the spoiled - (Literally, “spoil” English margin) probably That “maketh devastation to smile on the strong.” .

8. The seven stars — R.V., “Pleiades”; literally, a cluster, that is, of stars.