A plague of] CHAP. VII. CHAP. VII. THUS hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings. 2 And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. 3 The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD. 4 Thus hath the Lord GOD shewed unto me and, behold, the Lord GOD called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part. 5 Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. 6 The LORD repented for this: This also shall not be, saith the Lord GOD. 7 Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made [locusts threatened. by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand. 8 And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumb-line. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more: 9 And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. 10 Then Amaziab the priest of Beth-el sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land. 12 Also Amaziah said unto Amos, O thou seer, go, flee thee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: 13 But prophesy not again any EXPOSITION. praise, and the melody of their viols (or stringed instruments), which probably performed the interludes between them. But music formed also a principal part of their amusements. Like too many Christians, they praised with equal ardour "Jehovah, Jove, or Lord." The gods of beauty, wine and mirth, have always been the favourite idols of men, who, while they indulge themselves in all the luxuries and gaities of this life," are not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph." Those, however, who are thus equally insensible to their duty to God, and their fellow-creatures, are announced to be among the first that shall be carried away into captivity in a foreign land. The latter part of the chapter, ver. 10, &c., is supposed to "describe the effects of famine and pestilence during the siege of Samaria;" when, contrary to the general custom of the Jews, the dead bodies were taken away to be burnt, to prevent the spreading of infection, and that without any funeral rites, or the usual lamentations. All was death and silence. (Chap. viii. 3.) See Abp. Newcome; but, perhaps, the best comment on this melancholy scene may be found in the history of the plague in London, A. D. 1665. NOTES. CHAP. VII. Ver. 1. He formed grasshoppers(Heb. Gobai) generally considered to be a species of focusts, as Mr. Parkhurst thinks, in their caterpillar state, wherein they do the greatest mischiefs. This agrees with the season here mentioned, which he thinks was March. See Harris's Nat. Hist. of the Bible, in Locust; also Harmer's Obs. vol. iv. p. 394. Ver. 3. The Lord repented. See Expos. of Gen. vi. 1-7. Ver. 4. It devoured the great deep.-This seems to have been a subterraneous fire, which raised up a part of the bottom of the sea. Ver. 8. Behold, I will set a plumb-line, &c.—that is, according to Newcome, "I will destroy and level, as it were, by a line. See 2 Sam. xviii. 2; 2 Kings xxi. 13. Ver. 13. Prophesy not any more-Heb. "Add not to prophecy For it is the king's chapel-Marg. "It is the king's sanctuary, the house of the kingdom."-Beth-el signifies "the house of God." Ver. 14. I was no prophet.-Not brought up at the college, &c.A gatherer (Harmer, "a dresser ") of Sycamore fruit (or wild hgs).-This fruit grows from the tree, without leaves, and requires skill in dressing it, to make it good.-Orient. Cust. No. 1143. more at Beth-el: for it is the king's chapel, and it is the king's court. 14 Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycamore fruit: 15 And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. 16 Now therefore hear thou the word of the LORD: Thou sayest, Prophesy not against Israel, and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac. 17 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land. (G) CHAP. VIII. THUS hath the Lord GoD shewed unto me and behold a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of sum CHAP. VII. [for punishment, mer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them any more. 3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord GOD; there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence. 4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, 5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit ? 6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? 7 The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. 8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and every one mourn that dwelleth therein? and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. EXPOSITION. (G) God's judgments against Israel represented in three distinct visions.-In this chapter God represents to Amos, by three several visions, the judgments he was about to bring on Israel; but most of which were averted or mitigated by the intercession of the Prophet. The first is a plague of locusts, threatening to cut off the hopes of the harvest, by attacking it in the time of the second growth; the first luxuriances of the crop being probably mowed (or cut off) for the king's horses. The second vision threatens a destructive judg. ment by fire, which would consume a great part of the nation; and the third judg ment, which is declared irreversible, a total overthrow of Israel, levelling the people, as it were, by a measuring line. The rest of the chapter is a denunciation of heavy judgments against Amaziah, priest of Bethel, who had brought an accusation to the king against this Prophet. This Amaziah was one of the courtly priests of Jeroboam's calves, and felt quite indignant that the rural Prophet should presume to interfere in his department:" It is the king's chapel," and in "the king's court." But the herdman of Tekoah puts to shame the priest of Bethel. NOTES. CHAP. VIII. Ver. 1. A basket of summer fruitNewcome," Of late summer fruits," by which we understand, such as had remained to nearly the end of the season, and were full ripe, and fast approaching to decay, an apt representation of Israel at this period. Ver.3. There shall be many dead, &c.-We should rather read, "(So) many dead bodies....(that) they shall be cast forth with silence." Comp. ch. vi. 10. Ver. 5. Set forth (Heb. open") wheat-that is, exhibit it for sale on the new moon, or sabbath. 66 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: 10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. 11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. 13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. 14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again. (H) [unavoidable. CHAP. IX. the SAW the Lord standing upon altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them ; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. 2 Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them: though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: 3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them: 4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence will I command the sword, and it shall slay them and I will set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. : 5 And the Lord GoD of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn and it shall rise up wholly like CHAP. VIII. EXPOSITION. (H) A fourth vision representing the near approach of Israel's ruin. - A basket of ripe" summer fruits," here represents, in one view, Israel's ripeness for ruin, and the near approach of God's vindictive judgments. The Prophet then proceeds to reprove them for their oppression and injustice, which appears to have been their ruling sin, and to have eaten up the vitals of their religion; so that, even while they were engaged in public worship, they were anxious for it to be oyer; and were ready to take every advantage of the poor to enrich and aggrandise themselves. The Prophet then foretells, that in the time of one of their solemn festivals, the sky should be darkened by a solar eclipse, (in those days thought ominous), which should turn their joy into mourning, and be a sign of the calamities here predicted. He concludes with threatening a famine of the word of God, which they now made so light of, as to persecute the Prophet by whom it was delivered. Abp. Usher states that there was, about eleven years after Amos prophesied, a great eclipse of the sun, at the feast of tabernacles, which may be here alluded to; but the passage appears to us chiefly to refer to Israel's political decline as a nation, while Judah still subsisted for full 150 years longer, and a great part of that time with much glory, particularly during the reigns of Hezekiali and Josiah. NOTES. CHAP. IX. Ver. 1. Upon the altar-What altar? Dr. Boothroyd thinks that at Beth-el; but the scene is the temple at Jerusalem, as appears by the next clanse. Smite the lintel of the door. Margin, "Chapiter, or knop." So Gesenius, "The knop, or capital of a pillar, perhaps in the form of a pomegranate, or its flower. See Zeph. ii. 14. -- Cut (Marg," wound ") them. —— I will slay the lastthat is, the whole of them. Ver. 2. Into hell Newcome, "The grave;" Boothroyd," Hades." Comp. Ps. cxxxix. 3. Ver. 3. Carmel-a mountain of considerable extent, and said to contain great cavities. See 1 Kings ch. xviii.The serpent - that is, doubtless, the great sea serpent. See Expos. Isa. xxvii. 1. and N. Ver. 5. It shall rise up-Comp. ch. viii. 8. Promises of] AMOS. a flood; and shall be drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 6 It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name. 7 Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? 8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD. 9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. 10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us. CHAP. IX. [future restoration 11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old : 12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. 13 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shallover take the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. 14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God. (I) EXPOSITION. (1) Israel's captivity certain; but its restoration under Messiah less sure.— God is here represented as standing upon his own alter, and solemnly denouncing his judgments against Israel, in the general dispersion of the people, without showing them any more respect than to heathen nations to whom his providence also extended. The latter part of the chapter concludes the prophecy as usual with large and comfortable promises of restoration and prosperity under the kingdom of Messiah. Three things here merit our particular no tice: 1. That God reckons his own people not according to the flesh, but according to the faith of their father Abraham, (Rom. ix. 8.) 2. That when the true Israelites return, it shall be in harmony and union with converted Gentiles. So (ver. 12) “the heathen called by my name " are Christians. 3. That when the Jews shall be brought back to God, together with converted Gentiles, they shall enjoy in common, as well the blessings of peace and temporal prosperity as those of grace and pardon. "Godliness hath as well the promises of this life," as of " that which is to come." (1 Tim. iv. 8.) NOTES-Chap. IX. Con. Ver. 6. His stories in the heaven-Heb. " Ascensions." Comp. Ps. civ. 3. Ver. 7. Children of the Ethiopians-Heb. "Cushites." The Arabian Cushites, who, according to Bochart, were a powerful, though despised people. They were freebooters and idolaters.--The Philistines from Caphtor. See Note on Jer. xlvii. 4. The sense of the verse is, that "God had raised up and transplanted other nations, as well as the Israelites," they must not, therefore, infer from their being brought up from Egypt, that they should never be rejected. See Boothroyd. Ver. 8. Saving-Newcome, "Yet." Ver. 9. Yet shall not the least grain-that is, no true Israelite, no child of Abraham by faith. Ver. 11. The tabernacle of Darid-that is, the kingdom of Messiah. See Acts xv. 16, Ver. 12. That they may possess the remnant Edom. -For Edom, the LXX, Arabic, and some Syriac MSS, read Adam, or "men," and so St James quotes the passage, Acts xv. 17. See Note there.-Called by my name-Heb. "Over whom my name is called. Ver. 13. The plowman shall overtake the reaperthat is, instead of the greater part of the year by De spent in military campaigns, the whole shall be spent in cultivating and gathering in the fruits of the estła. Comp. Isa. ii. 4. OBADIA H. INTRODUCTION. THIS Prophet is thought to have been partly contemporary with Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who prophesied the same destruction to the Edomites (or descendants of Esau), -on account of their cruel insultings over the Jews, after their city was taken. The prophecy, according to Usher, began to be fulfilled about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem; that is, about 582 years before Christ. Mr. Preb. Townsend, however, places the prophecy much earlier, vizy B. C. 740. See 2 Chron, xxviii. 17. THE vision of Obadiah, Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen, Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. 2 Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised. 3 The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? 4 Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD. 5 If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes? 6 How are the things of Esau searched out! how are his hidden things sought up! 7 All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him. 8 Shall I not in that day, saith the LORD, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau ? 9 And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. 10 For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever. 11 In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, NOTES. Ver. 4. As the eagle.-Jer. xlix. 16. Ver. 5. Some grapes - Newcome, "Gleanings of grapes." Jer. xlix. 5. Ver. 6. Sought up-Newcome," Enquired after." Ver. 7. The men that were at peace, &c. - Heb. The men of thy peace, the men of thy bread."- Have aid around.This Newcome thinks unintelligible, and reads with ancient versions, "Laid a snare under thee." But to us, to lay a wound under a person, appears to mean, to wound them secretly and unawares. In him-Marg. " Of it." Ver. 8, 9. Wise men out of Edom-"Idumea (or Uz) was regarded by the Jews in the same light of elegance as Greece was by the Romans; and Teman as the Athens of Arabia Petræa." Good in Job, Intr. xlv. Sce Jer. xlix. 5, 7. Ver. 10. For thy violence, &c.-Instead of "Cut off by slaughter," the ancient versions join the last word of the preceding verse with this, thus: "For slaughter and for violence against," &c. Comp. Amos i. 11. So Newcome and Boothroyd. Ver. 11. Thou wast as one of them.-The following verses, by stating what Edom should not have done, give us to understand what they did do, which amounts (ver. 14.) to no less than robbery and murder. |