Amos 6:8

The Lord God hath sworn by himself,.... Because he could swear by no greater, Hebrews 6:13; which shows the importance and certainty of the thing sworn to, and is as follows: saith the Lord, the God

The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.

The secure, incredulous, and atheistical among the judges of Israel are here spoken to especially, and the prophet assures them that God had sworn by himself that they should be punished, and in the manner he had foretold. Saith the Lord the God of hosts; God assureth his prophet, that the prophet might attest it to his hearers. I abhor, I look with detestation, and remember with loathing, the excellency of Jacob; all that the seed of Jacob account a glory and excellency to them, and in which they do put their trust, all their external privileges and ceremonious worship. And hate his palaces; in which violence is stored up, in which luxury abounds. I will deliver up the city; Jerusalem, Samaria, and all the other cities. With all that is therein, both persons and things; Assyria first shall sweep away all out of Israel and Samaria, and Babylonians next shall carry away Judah, Jerusalem, and all in it.

Amos 6:8 The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.Ver. 8. The Lord God hath sworn by himself] Heb. by his soul, which is himself; since whatsoever is in God is God. So Amos 5:2 Genesis 22:16 Hebrews 6:16-17. Or, He hath sworn by his soul, that is, Serie et ex animo, Seriously and heartily. Among the heathens ex animi sui sententia was instead of an oath. Saith the Lord God of hosts] Who hath power enough in his hand to perform what he hath so solemnly assured. I abhor the excellency (or, the pomp and pride) of Jacob] So Basil, speaking of the Western Church, Odi fastum istius Ecclesiae, saith he, I hate their pride. This he elsewhere calleth οφρυνδυτικην, the Western brow, from the forehead, that seat of pride and arrogance, which at length occasioned that lamentable separation of the Eastern or Greek Church from communion with the Latin; the other four patriarchs dividing themselves from the bishop of Rome. Pride is an odious evil; fitly compared by one to a great swelling in the body, which unfits it for any good service; and is apt to putrify, and break, and run with loathsome and foul matter; so doth pride disable the soul from doing duty, and at last breaks forth into odious deeds, abominable to God and man. There are those who by excellence or glory here understand their glorious temple and other privileges, wherein they so much gloried, see Psalms 47:5; but Mercer thinks it rather meant of the ten tribes than of the two, whose crown of pride is elsewhere taxed, Isaiah 28:1 Hosea 7:10. "The pride of Israel testifieth to his face," it breaketh out in his forehead, as a great master pock. Therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein] Heb. with the fulness thereof; both persons and things are all forfeited, and shall be seized by the enemy; be the city of Samaria never so rich a Cargazon, so full a magazine of men and means, I will shut them up (so the word signifieth), after a strait siege, into the enemies’ hand, who shall make a spoil of them.

(8) By himself.—Literally, by His soul. Jehovah swears by His life or soul because He could swear by no greater—the eternal “I Am.” (Comp. the formula of Divine asseveration: “As I live, saith the Lord,” which derives illustration from the custom of swearing by the life of a monarch; Genesis 42:15-16.) With the eternal unchangeable being of the Supreme Monarch stands contrasted “the excellency of Jacob,” the false futile glory which Jehovah abhors. In Amos 8:7 the phrase is used for God Himself; not, however, in either passage God’s absolute perfection or objective glory, but the thoughts, sometimes wise, sometimes base, which men have entertained about Him. From the context we infer that the splendid shrine of Samaria, with its unacceptable offerings and calf-worship, is here meant. The reference to the coming destruction of buildings great and small (Amos 6:11) lends colour to this interpretation. (Comp. Amos 6:13.)

Verse 8. The Lord God hath sworn by himself] בנפשו benaphsho, by his soul, his being, existence.

8. The contemplation of such strange moral obliquity excites the prophet’s indignation, which finds expression in the oath (cf. Amos 4:2, Amos 8:7), in which Jehovah solemnly affirms that He abhors Israel. by himself] Lit. by his soul: the same oath, Jeremiah 51:14 only. (Jehovah’s ‘soul,’ Isaiah 1:14; Isaiah 42:1, Jeremiah 5:9; Jeremiah 6:8 al.) abhor] From being Israel’s guardian and protector He is turned into its foe. Comp. for the general thought Deuteronomy 28:63; Hosea 5:12; Hosea 5:14; Hosea 13:7 f.; Isaiah 63:10; and below, ch. Amos 9:4. excellency] pride,—whether of Israel’s vain-glorious temper itself (Isaiah 9:9), or of the objects of which it is proud, its affluence, material splendour, military efficiency, &c. The word will bear either sense: see (a) Hosea 5:5; Hosea 7:10, Isaiah 16:6; and (b) Nahum 2:3, Psalms 47:4, Zechariah 9:6. On the feeble and very inadequate rendering ‘excellency,’ see the Additional Note, p. 238. his palaces] in which Israel’s pride is only too manifest; the homes of the nonchalant nobles, founded on oppression (cf. Jeremiah 22:13-17, of Jehoiakim), and enriched by what had been wrung from the indigent (cf. ch. Amos 3:10). and I will deliver up &c.] As in Amos 2:14-16, Amos 3:11 f., Amos 4:2 f., Amos 5:16, there rises before the prophet’s eye a vision of invasion, one of the accompaniments of which would be naturally the siege of the strong cities. Additional Note on Chap. Amos 6:8 (excellent, excellency)The words excellency and excellent are unfortunately, to the great detriment of the sense, used frequently in both the Authorized and the Revised Versions, to represent various Hebrew words expressive of majesty, pride, glory[230]. Excellency is thus used (as here) for gβ’τn, majesty, pride (in a good or a bad sense according to the context), in Exodus 15:7 (“in the greatness of thy majesty (cognate with the verb rendered ‘hath triumphed gloriously’ in v. 1, 21; lit. hath risen up majestically) thou overthrowest them that rise up against thee”); Isaiah 13:19 (A.V. pride), Isaiah 60:15 (“an everlasting pride”); Ezekiel 24:21 (R.V. pride, as Leviticus 26:19 in A.V., in the same phrase); Amos 8:7; Nahum 2:2; Psalms 47:4; Job 37:4 (R.V. majesty); for ga’γwβh, majesty, Deuteronomy 33:26; Deuteronomy 33:29, Psalms 68:34; for gτbah, loftiness, Job 40:10 (R.V. dignity, using ‘excellency’ for gβ’τn); for hβdβr, splendour, glory, Isaiah 35:2 (‘the splendour of Carmel,’ ‘the splendour of our God’); and excellent for gβ’τn, Isaiah 4:2 (read this verse, “In that day shall the sprouting of Jehovah be for an ornament and for a glory, and the fruit of the land for majesty and for beauty, to them that escape of Israel,” and it both expresses more exactly the original, and also exhibits more clearly the prophet’s thought that a true glory is to take the place of the false glory which, as ch. 2, 3 has shewn, is to vanish away); for gη’ϋth, also majesty, Isaiah 12:5 (R.V. marg.

The Lord God - He who alone is and who alone hath power, “hath sworn by Himself,” literally, “by His soul;” as our “self” comes from the same root as “soul.” Jerome: “So God saith in Isaiah, “Your

8, 9. Lord Jehovah — See on Amos 1:8. Hath sworn — See on Amos 4:2. By himself — Literally, by his soul. The most solemn oath, since there is no greater than Jehovah (see also on Amos 4:2; compare Jeremiah 51:14).