Amos 8
PATThe prophet by a fourth vision gives notice of the certainty and nearness of the destruction of the ten tribes: he reproves them for oppression, and foretells that the sun shall be darkened by an eclipse 1 upon their solemn festivals, which shall turn their present joy into mourning, and shall be esteemed a prognostication’ of more dismal calamities to come; amongst which a famine of Gocts word here threatened may be esteemed the greatest. The prophet seeth a fifth vision, representing the final destruction of the kingdom of Israel; but he concludes his prophecy with promises of restoring the kingdom of David, and the Jewish nation, under the Messias, when the church shall be enlarged by the gentiles coming in to it.
Amos 8:1
JOEHOLD, a basket of summer fruit— Then said the Lord unto me, An end is come upon my people of Israel. The basket of ripe summer fruit, which Amos saw in a vision, was to denote that Israel’s sins were now ripe for judgment; as the time of judgment is elsewhere expressed by a harvest or a vintage. (See Joel iii. 13.) The two Hebrew words, hacks, summer fruit, and kets, an end, have an affinity in their sound: such paronomasias are to be found in other texts of Scripture. (Sec Isa. xxiv. 17. Jer. i. 11,12.) Many instances of this kind are to be found; >Iicah i. 10, &c. I will not again pass by them any more.] Sec vii. 8. JL SAW the Lord standing, upon the altar.] This may most probably be understood of the altar at Beth-el. (Compare iii. 14.) God’s standing upon the altar, may likewise denote the destruction of the idolaters themselves, as so many victims slain to atone the Divine vengeance. (Compare Ezek. ix. 2. xxxix. 17. Isa. xxxiv. 6.) This appearance of God was, by a visible and glorious light, commonly called the Schechinah by the Jewish writers; concerning wh’ch the reader may consult Archbishop Tenison’s treatise of Idolatry, chap. 14…. Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake.] This denotes the approaching ruin of that idolatrous temple, which should put an end to the worship performed there. (See viii. 3.) The altar of burnt-offerings probably stood near the outward door of the temple, as it did at Jerusalem. And I will cut them in the head, alt of them; and I will slay the last [or residue] of them with the jsword.] I will give them a mortal wound, (compare Psal. lxviii. 21. Isa. Ii. 9. Habak. iii: 13.) so that there shall be no residue or remainder left to escape. (Compare Ezek. xxiii. 25.) He that fleeth of them shall not flee away, &c] See ii. 14.
Amos 8:2
Tliough they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them, Sac. Though they hide themselves in the deepest holes or caverns of the earth, (see Isa. ii. 19,) or take refuge in the highest fortresses, they shall not escape my vengeance. -
Amos 8:3
And the songs of the temple shall be hoivlings in fhat day. The songs or hymns sung in the temple at J5eth-cl, shall be turned into bowlings or lamentations. (Seo v. 23.) This may relate to the time when the golden calf was catricd away byShalmaneser. (Compare Hos. x. 5, 6.) TJiere shall be many dead bodies on that day: they shall cast them forth with silence.] The Assyrians (see ver. 8.) will make such a slaughter among the people, that there wi)l be np opportunity of using public mournings or lamentations at their funerals, as was usual in other cases; but their friends will hurry them to th£ir graves with a,s much silence and privacy as they can. (Compare Jer. xxii. 18.) Though they hide themselves in the top of CarmeL] There were great caves formed by nature, in the tops of some mountains, where men used to secure themselves in the time of danger. Such was the cave in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph, 1 Sam. xxiii. 14. (See the note upon Ezek. xxxiii. 27. and Dr. Lightfoot’s Works, vol.ii. p. 88.) Though they be hid from my sight hi the bottom of the sea, thence will I command a serpent, and he shall bite, them.]’ The word serpent is usual for a water-animal, Isa. xxvii. 1. and is joined there with leviathan and tannin, which last word signifies, not a dragon, as it is translated j but a whale. In like manner the word nahash, used here, may signify some carnivorous fish.
Amos 8:4
Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy. Or, Trample upon them. (Sec the note on ii. 7.) And if they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them.] The same judgment is denounced against them, Lev. xxvi. 33. Deut. xxviii. 65. compare likewise Ezek. v. 13.
Amos 8:5
When tvill the new moon be gone, &c. This was one of their solemn feasts, the use of which they retained with their idolatrous worship. (See ver. 10.) Making tlie ephah small, and the shekel great, Sec] The ephah was the measure wherewith they sold, containing about one of our bushels: this they made smaller than the just standard. The shekel was the money they received for the price of their goods: and by falsifying the balances, when they weighed it, they diminished its just value, and demanded a greater price for their goods. So both ways they overreached those that dealt with them. (See Micah vi.ll.); And [or, for] the Lord of hosts toucheth the land, and it shall melt.] The least token of God’s displeasure 2A Microsoft® A COMMENTARY UPON AMOS. [chap. IX. will put tho whole frame of nature out of order. (Compare Isa. lxii. 1. 3. Micah i. 4. Habak. iii. 10.) And when God’s hand is visibly stretched out against a land, or people, they become altogether dispirited; the stoutest men lose their courage; (see ii. 16.) their hearts failing them for fear, and out of a dreadful expectation of the miseries which arc coming upon them. And it [this calamity] shall rise up wholly like a flood, and [they that dwell in the land] shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.] See viii. 8.
Amos 8:6
That we may buy the poor for silver, &c. Who must be forced to sell themselves to us for slaves, to satisfy the debts they owe to us. (See ii. C.) Yea, and sell the refuse of the’wheat.] The traders by these deceitful arts made corn so dear, that people wcro glad to buy the worst of it, and such as was not fit to make bread. It is he that buildeth his stories in the heavens.] An awful description of God’s irresistible power, discovering itself in the works of the creation, particularly in his appointing several regions of the air, as so many apartments that lead to the highest heavens, the seat of his own glory. (See Psal. civ. 3.) And hath founded his troop in the earth.] The old English translation hath rendered the sense very perspicuously thus: And hath laid the foundation of his globe of elements in the earth. The word agudah, troop, signifies* the collection of elements and other creatures, which furnish the earth, expressed by the word isaba, the host, Gen. ii. 1- The Chaldee paraphrase expresses the sense thus: It is he that hath placed the Schechinah or tabernacle of his glory in the height above, and made his church glorious upon earth. He that callethfor the waters of the sea, &c.] See v. 8.
Amos 8:7
The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, &c. By himself, who is truly the glory of Jacob, or Israel, (see Psal. Ixviii. 34.) whatever other excellency or advantage they may make the subject of their glory. (See vi. 8.) I will never forget any of their works,] God is said to remember men’s sins, when he punishcth them. (See Hos. viii. 13. ix. 9. Isa. xliii. 25. Jer. xxxi. 34.) Are you not as the children of the Ethiopians to me?] Atc ye not under a curse, as the Ethiopians, the posterity of Ham, were, (see Gen. ix. 35.) by reason of your multiplied sins and apostacies? Cushi, or Cnshim, often signifies the Arabians, but it is sometimes understood of the Ethiopians, properly so called, as hath been observed in the notes upon Jer. xiii. 23. Have I not brought vp the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor?’] You may think my former kindness in delivering you out of the Egyptian bondage, and giving you the land of Canaan, obliges me still to continue your protector. But I have shewed the like favour to other nations, particularly to the Philistines, who had their original from Caphtor, and afterward dispossessed the old inhabitants of Palestine, and dwelt in their stead; (see Deut. ii. 23. and the note upon Jer. xlvii. 4.) and yet against these very Philistines I have denounced my judgments for their sins. (See the forementioned place of Jeremy, and i. S. of this prophecy.) And the Syrians from Kir?] Some copies of our English Bible read Assyrians, but it is a mistake of the print; the more correct editions read Syrians, which answers tho Hebrew Aram. Some understand the words of the new colonics which Tiglath-pileser transplanted from Kir, and placed in Syria in the room of the native Syrians, whom he had carried captive to Kir. (See i. 5.) But it may be understood of some more ancient removal of the Syrians from Kir, not elsewhere taken notice of.
Amos 8:8
And it shall rise tip wholly like a flood, &c. Or a river. The LXX. with a very small alteration in the Hebrew points, give a plainer sense of the words thus: Destruction shall rise up like a flood: the calamity of a hostile invasion by the Assyrians shall be like an inundation, which in a short time overruns a whole country. (Compare Isa. viii. 7, 8. Jer. xlvi. 8. Dan. ix. 26.) And it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt.] Or rather, The river of Egypt. The inhabitants of the land shall be cast out <5f their possessions, or the land itself shall be swallowed up, as Egypt is by the inundation of the river Nile. To this sense the Chaldce paraphrase expounds the place: lie shall make a king come against it [the land] with a numerous army like a flood, and he shall drive out the inhabitants thereof, and [the land itself] shall be drowned, as when the flood of Egypt [overflows]. Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, &c] Sec ver. 4. Saving tliat I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob.] God still promises to preserve a remnant in the midst of his heaviest judgments, that he may perform to them the promises he made to their fathers. (Sec Jer. xxx. 11. Joel ii. 32. Rom. xi. 28, 29.)
Amos 8:9
I will cause the sun to go doivn at noon, and I tcill darken the earth in the clear day. Calamitous times are expressed by the failing of the light of the sun, and tho day’s being overspread with darkness. (Sec Isa. xiii. 10. lix. 0, 10. Jer. xv. 0. Job v. 14. xxii. 11.) But Archbishop Usher hath observed in his Annals, ad A. 31. 3213, that about eleven years after the time when Amos prophesied, there were two great eclipses of the sun, one at the feast of tabernacles, the other at the time of the Passover: so the text may probably be understood of that darkness; which, to be sure, was looked upon as ominous, and gave men more than ordinary apprehensions by falling out upon these solemn festivals: which if they were not celebrated UlylllZGU Oy IVIICrOSOIl \Q/ CHAP. VIII.] UPON AMOS. with such solemnity among the ten tribes, as they were in Judea, where the temple was situate, yet were observed by many of the Israelites, according to the traditions they had received from their fathers. (See ver. 5. of this chapter, and iv. 5.) I will sift the house oflsi-ael among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve.] I will mingle or scatter the Israelites among all nations, just as gopd and bad grain arc mingled in a sieve; but will so order it, that none of the good grain shall be lost, or fall to the ground. (Compare Matt. iii. 12.)
Amos 8:10
And I ivill turn your feasts into mourning. God commanded the Jews to celebrate their festivals with joyand gladness: (see Deut. xii.7.12.xvii.l4,15.)whiehit would be impossible for them to do under such melancholy circumstances und prognostications of the Divine displeasure. And all your songs into lavientations.] There were particular psalms and hymns that used to be sung at the Passover, and other great festivals. (See Lightfoot’s Temple- Service, chap. 13, 14. 16. and Dr. Hammond upon Matt. xxvi. 30.) And I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head.] See Isa. xv. 2. Jcr. xlviii. 37. Ezek. vii. 18. And the end thereof as a bitter day.] Those feasts, however begun in joy, shall end in bitterness; and the calamities which follow them shall still increase the sorrow. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword.] They shall be cut off by some judgment sent from God. (Sec the note upon Zech. xi. 17.) IVliich say, The ebil shall not overtake us, nor prevent us.] Who indulge themselves in their carnal security, without any apprehension or dread of the Divine judgments denounced against them. (Compare vi. 3.)
Amos 8:11
I will senda famine upon the land, not a famine of bread, but of hearing the word of the Lord. It was usual among the Jews to resort to the prophets for counsel under any difficulty. (See ii. 11. Ezek. xiv. 7. xx. 1.) Amos tells them, that in a little time there will be no prophets for them to consult; and this shall be a just punishment for their despising their former prophets, and their instructions. This was fulfilled upon the whole nation at the time of the Babylonish captivity: (see 2 Sam. ii. 9. Psal. lxxiv. 9. Ezek. vii. 26.) and after their return from captivity they had no succession of prophets from the time of Malachi till the coming of Christ. (See 1 Mace. iv. 4G. ix. 27.) In that day.] When I come to make a remarkable difference between the good and the bad, (ver. 9.) The phrase denotes some extraordinary time or season, prefixed by God, for restoring the good estate of his people the Jews, or bestowing great blessings upon the world, (See the note upon Isa. iv. 2.) The sense of it is expressed by Mtraravra, afterward, Acts xv. 16. which phrase is equivalent to the last days, Joel ii. 28. which both Jews and Christians expound of the days of the Mcssias. Will I raise vp the tabernacle of David which is fallen down, &c] At that time I will restore the kingdom to the house and family of David, in the person of the Messias, so often styled in the prophets the seqd or offspring of David, and known by that title among the Jews of our Saviour’s age. (See Matt. xii. 23. xx. 30. xxi. 9.) And whereas that family had been, for several, years before his coming, reduced to a mean andobscure condition, (see Micah. v. 2: Luke i. 48. 52.) it shall now recover its ancient splendour and dignity. Tlie tabernacle of David is an expression met with but twice in Scripture, here and Isa. xvi. 5. It may allude to his having been a shepherd, and dwelling in tents, before he was advanced to a kingdom, but since that reduced in his. family to as low a condition as it was in. at first: but I conceive the phrase does mystically denoto the, church, whereof the Messiah, here foretold, was to be the head; which is elsewhere styled God’s tabernacle, as being a place of his especial residence, as the tabernacle in the wilderness was. (See Lev. xxvi. ll.Ezek. xxvii. ^..compared with Hev.xxi. 3.) Tobit understood this text of the days of the Messiah, xiii. 10. where he exhorts Zion to praise God that his tabernacle may again be built in her.
Amos 8:12
And they shall wander from sea to sea. From the sea or lake of Sodom, called the eastern sea, to the Mediterranean, which lay upon the western coasts. (See Joel ii. 20.) And from the north even to the east.] The prophet omits naming the south; because the idolaters, to whom he directs his discourse, would choose to inquire any where, rather than of the true prophets of the Lord, (see 1 Kings xxii. 7. 2 Kings iii. 11.) who dwelt in the tribe of Judah,that was situated in the southern parts of the nation. Tliat they may possess the remnant of Edonh and of all the heathen that are called by my name.] [If we follow the English translation, the words foretell the. same event which is foretold by Obadiah, ver. 19. of his prophecy; and by Balaam, Numb. xxiv. 18.] The words in the Hebrew are capable of another translation, thus: The remnant of Edom, and of alt the heathen that are (or shall be) called by my name, may possess me, the Lord: i\ e. that both those of Edom, which are near neighbours, but fierce enemies to the Jews, (see the notes upon Isa. xi.14.) as well as the other gentiles which were afar off, may be made subjects to the kingdom of David, now again erected. This sense of the text is. followed by the LXX. and approved by Lud. de Dieu, and our learned Dr. Pocock, in order to reconcile the Greek translation with the original. (See Dr. Pocock’s Not Miscell. cap. 4. p. 4G.) But others suppose the LXX. read, with a small altera-* tion from the present Hebrew,.yidreshu, seek,.\ox yireshu,
Amos 8:13
In that day shall the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst. They who are in the bloom of their youth and in the strength of their age shall faint and be dispirited, like those that want necessary refreshment. (Compare Jer. xlviii. 18.) A place that wants the necessaries for life, is expressed by a dry and thirsty land. (Psal. Ixiii. 1. Ezek. xix. 13.)
Amos 8:14
Tliey that swear by the sin of Samaria. The calf set up at Beth-el by Jeroboam, who committed a great sin in so doing, and made Israel to sin. (1 Kings xii. 30. xiv. 16. compare Micah i. 5.) Swearing is a solemn invocation of the name of God, and, as such, a proper part of Divine worship: (see Deut. vi. 13. x. 20.) and therefore ought not to be given to an idol. *’’ > And the manner [or way] of Beer-sheba livelh.] The LXX. render it, The god of Beer-sheba liveth, expressing the sense rather than the words. The way or manner signifies the same with the way of worship: in this sense it is probably taken, Hos. x. 13. and the phrase is often used Dfgitized by so in the Acts; particularly xix. 23. xxiv. 14. Here it is taken metonymically for the god or object of their. worship. Beer-sheba was a place noted for idolatry, as hath been observed upon v. 5. / * CHA|. IX.