12. — I will send a fire &c.] Nebuchadnezzar subduced the Edomites, Jer. xxv. 9. 21; xxvii. 3. 6. Judas Maccabeus obtained a great victory over them, 1 Mac. v. 3; probably after they had left the Nabatheans in consequence of a sedition, and had settled to the south of Judah: for it seems that the Babylonian conquests had compelled them to take refuge in that part of Arabia. Afterwards Hyrcanus reduced them under subjection, and permitted them to remain in their country, on condition that they conformed to the Jewish laws: see the note on Obad. ver. 2. Teman and Bozrah were cities of Idumea. Abp. Newcome. 13. — of the children of Ammon.] Hazel king of Syria grievously afflicted the Israelites that lay eastward of Jordan, particularly the Gileadites; see 2 Kings x. 33. The low condition to which these countries were reduced, might probably encourage the Ammonites to possess themselves of Gilead, which lay near their own borders, and to destroy the inhabitants in the cruel manner here described. Compare Jer. xlix. 1; Zeph. ii. 8; Hos. xiii. 16. W. Lowth. The histories of those times, transmitted down to us, are so concise, that we often want information concerning the particular facts alluded to. Abp. Newcome. 14. — Rabbah.] This was the capital city of the Ammonites, who were conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, Jer. xxvii. 5, 6. Abp. Newcome. — with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind:] The destructions of war are often compared to the devastations caused by whirlwinds and tempests: see Isa. v. 26; Jer. xxv. 32; Dan. xi. 40: Zech. ix. 14. W. Lowth. Chap. II. ver. 1. — Moab.] As Moab and Ammon were nearly related, and bordered upon each other, so they are usually joined together in the theatres of the Prophets: see Jer. xlviii, xlix; Ezek. xxv. 1—8; Zeph. ii. 8. W. Lowth. For the origin of these two people, see Gen. xix. 37, 38. Their country lay to the east of the Dead sea. Abp. Newcome. — because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:] That is, into ashes, out of contempt and inhumamity. This is in all probability to be looked on as a distinct fact from that related in 2 Kings iii. 27, the circumstances being so widely different. Kirioth was the chief city of Moab. Dr. Wells. 3. — the judge] This word denotes the supreme magistrate or governour, see Deut. xvii. 9, and is here equivalent to the king. Compare Mic. v. 1. W. Lowth. Moab was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, Jer. xxvii. 3. 6. Abp. Newcome. 6. — Israel.] Amos first prophesied against the Syrians, Philistines, Tyrians, Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites; who dwelt in the neighbourhood of the twelve tribes, and had occasionally become their enemies and oppressors. Having thus taught his countrymen that the providence of God extended to other nations, he briefly mentions the idolatries and consequent destruction of Judah, and then passes on to his proper subject, which was to exhort and reprove the kingdom of Israel, and to denounce judgments against it. The reason why that kingdom was particularly addressed seems to have been, that Puli invaded it in the reign of Uzziah, 7. That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor.] All their desire is after this unprofitable dust of the earth, silver and gold, which they eagerly desire to gain, even by trampling on the heads of the poor. Bp. Holl. Or the sense may be taken according to the Latin version, "Who tread down the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth;" that is, they throw them into the dust, and then trample upon them. W. Lowth. — turn aside the way of the meek.] That is, from right and justice: see chap. v. 12; Isa. x. 1; xxix. 21. Abp. Newcome. — to profane my holy name.] To treat me as if I was not a holy and fearful God, Exck. xx. 39; or, by giving occasion of reproach among the heathen, Exck. xx. 9. Abp. Newcome. 8. And they lay themselves down &c.] This is to be understood of the feasts, which were made of part of their idolatrous sacrifices, and were eaten in some of the apartments of their temples, according to the custom both of the Jews and Gentiles: see I Sam. ix. 12, 13, 22; Isa. lvii. 7; Exck. xxiii. 41. The prophet reproves them, not only for partaking of things offered to idols, but likewise for making use of other men's furniture, left in their hands for a pledge, to set off their idolatrous entertainments. Here was another instance of their unmercifulness, to detain pledges received from the poor, contrary to law, Exod. xxii. 26. See note upon Exck. xxiii. 7. The Jews as well as the Romans used to lie along at their meals on couches, as appears by this verse; compare chap. vi. 4. This custom continued in aftertimes, as appears by several places in the Gospels, where it is in the original, "lay down to meat;" though our translation renders it "sat down to meat." The custom of sitting at meals seems to have been the more ancient of the two. See Gen. xliii. 33; I Sam. ix. 22; xvi. 11; xx. 25. W. Lowth. — and they drink the wine of the condemned] The drink offerings made with wine were a necessary part of the sacrifices; some of them were reserved for the entertainment that followed: see Exod. xxii. 6. And this was provided out of the fines of such as had been unjustly condemned, ver. 6. W. Lowth. 9. Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, &c.] The sins of the Israelites against God are here amplified by the sundry and great benefits of God towards the Israelites: first by the utter destruction of the powerful and valiant nation of the Amorites; and then by the blessings which He bountifully bestowed upon them, as in their deliverance from Egypt, and their establishment in the promised land, ver. 10, so also in the guidance which He vouchsafed them by means of Prophets and holy men devoted to his service, ver. 11. But these benefits they neglected or despised, especially those of a spiritual kind; enticing the Nazarites to break their vow of abstinence, Numb. vi. 2, &c. and forbidding the admonitions of the Prophets, ver. 12. Dancus. 13. Behold, I am pressed under you, &c.] I am ever overlaid with your wickedness: it is with me as with a cart that is overpressed with a load of sheaves, which goes heavily, and is ready to break under the burden. Bp. Holl. 14. Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, &c.] That is, God shall render ineffectual all their resources and methods of escape; whether they be natural, as swiftness of foot and strength of body, or acquired by industry, diligence, and wit, as power and authority among others, skill in battle, or riches, and horses trained for war. Hence appears the vanity of all human devices set up in opposition to the judgments of God. Nothing but God's mercy can deliver us from his justice; and that mercy is to be obtained only by true repentance through the promises of God in Christ Jesus. Dancus. Chap. III. ver. 1. — against the whole family &c.] All that family, of which Jacob or Israel was the head: "family" is equivalent to people, here and in the following verse; and so it is taken, Jer. 1. 15; viii. 3; x. 25; Nahum iii. 4; Zech. xiv. 18. W. Lowth. — that dwell—in the corner of a bed.] It means, that not many of those, who dwell and live delicately in Samaria, shall be able to deliver themselves from destruction. The delicacy and luxuriousness of their lives is described by their beds and couches, on which they daily lie and repose themselves. Danaus, Dr. Wells, Abp. Newcome. Those now most at their ease shall be delivered to their enemies, like sheep to the lion; and scarce any of them be rescued from his jaws. We learn from Dr. Pocock, Maundrell, Hanway, and other travellers, that in the East the place of honour, the most easy, voluptuous, indulging station, is the corner; and that it is the position in which great men usually place themselves. The word rendered "bed," may be understood of a divan or sofa. Harmer, Parkhurst, Fragments to Calmet. See the note on Deut. iii. 11, from Fragments to Calmet. — and in Damascus in a couch.] That is, who are now in high honour in their own, or indulging in foreign luxuries in other countries. Damascus was a most delightful place; and, as Amos delivered this prophecy "in the days of Jeroboam the son of Josah king of Israel," chap. i. 1, "who recovered Damascus for Israel," see 2 Kings xiv. 26, it is probable that many of the richer Israelites might choose to dwell there. Parkhurst. Chap. IV. ver. 1. Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, &c.] Hear this, O ye great and rich men of Samaria, that feed full and carelessly, like the kine in the fat pastures of Bashan: ye, who oppress the poor, and crush the needy; and say to your princes and judges, Set deep fines, and condemn freely, that we may feast upon the offences of the people. Bp. Hall. The luxury and insolence of oppressors is often compared to the wantonness of full-fed cattle: see Ps. xxii. 12; lxviii. 30. Bashan was remarkable for the richness of its pastures, and its breed of cattle; Numb. xxxii. 4; Deut. xxxii. 14; Ezek. xxxix. 18. W. Lowth. 2. You only have I known &c.] You only have I chosen from all other nations for my peculiar people, and have bestowed most cost and care upon you: therefore, since you have abused my mercies and rebelled against me, ye shall be surely punished. Bp. Hall. The more and the greater are the benefits of God towards a people, so much the more shameful is their ingratitude in despising God, and their sin the greater and more heinous. Danæus. 3. Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Will common reason permit two to walk friendly together, unless they be real friends? In like manner it is altogether unreasonable for you to think, that I will deal with you as your friend, while ye thus sin against me, and so act as those who hate me, or are my enemies. Dr. Wells. 4. Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? As a lion doth not use to roar but when he hath his prey in view, so neither doth God denounce his judgments unless your sins have made you proper objects of his displeasure. W. Lowth. Naturalists assert, that, when the lion sees his prey, he roars before he rushes on it, and that at this roaring many animals shew great fear. Abp. Newcome. 2. — he will take you away with hooks.] Invaders and spoilers are elsewhere compared to fishers: see Jer. xvi. 16; Hab. i. 15. W. Lowth. 3. And ye shall go out &c.] The Prophet tells the people, that they shall with all possible haste make their escape at the several breaches which shall be made in the walls of Samaria. Compare 2 Kings xxv. 4; Ezek. xii. 12. W. Lowth. — and ye shall cast them into the palace.] The sentence may be thus translated, "Ye shall cast out yourselves," that is, ye shall with haste betake yourselves "to Harmon:" so the Latin Vulgate. W. Lowth. 4. Come to Beth-el, and transgress; &c.] Go ye up now, O ye foolish Israelites, to your Beth-el, if you please, and sin your fill: go up to Gilgal, and glut yourselves with the full scope of your iniquities; bring those your morning sacrifices, which are due unto God, bring and offer them to your idols; and that, which the law of God requires of you, for the maintenance of his Levites, (that is to say,) lay aside the tithes every third year for sacred use, do ye that to the priests of your idols: so also ver. 5. Bp. Hall. A permission, spoken by way of sarcasm and irony, sharply upbraiding them as incorrigible, and not to be reformed by all the reproofs and admonitions that had been given them: like that of Ezekiel, chap. xx. 39, "Go ye, serve every one his idols." W. Lowth. 5. Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is &c.] As birds are not caught without the net of the fowler being already set and laid; and as the fowler doth not take up his nets, before he has secured a prey; so neither doth God threaten these things without being prepared to execute his judgments; nor will He withdraw his hand, but will punish you, except ye repent. Danæus. 5. — proclaim and publish the free offerings.] Or "freewill offerings," Lev. xxii. 18. 21. These offerings Before CHRIST 787. Or, ye shall cast away the things of the palace. years of days. by burning. love. 6. Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? &c.] Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, to summon the inhabitants to the walls, yet the people find no cause of the fear of an enemy? no more would God by his Prophets denounce these imminent judgments, if there were not just cause to expect and fear their speedy execution: and who shall or can execute them, but the just and powerful hand of God? Can there be any evil of punishment in the city, yea in the world, which is not of his sending, his inflicting? Bp. Hall. Shall the evil of earthquakes, of unfruitful seasons, of hostile incursions, befall my people without my special appointment. Abp. Newcome. By the "evil" here spoken of is not to be understood sin, or the evil of guiltiness, but affliction or trouble, or the evil of punishment; for God is not either the author or the cause of our sin, but we ourselves. Compare James i. 13, 14; Hosea xiii. 9. Danæus. 7. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, &c.] There was a succession of Prophets among the Jews from Samuel's time, till the captivity: the people commonly consulted them upon extraordinary occasions, and they gave them counsel and direction what was proper to be done. See chap. ii. 11; 1 Kings xxii. 13; 2 Kings iii. 11; xxii. 13; Jer. xvi. 2; Ezek. xx. 1, &c. The want of this prophetic gift was much lamented in the times of the captivity. See Ezek. vii. 26; Lament. ii. 9; Ps. lxxiv. 9. W. Lowth. 8. The lion hath roared, &c.] The awful admonitions uttered by the Prophets are as natural a consequence of God's command, as fear is of the lion's roaring. Abp. Newcome. 9. Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, &c.] God calls upon the heathen to be witnesses of his judgments upon his own people, that they may take warning thereby: particularly He gives notice to the "Philistines" and "Egyptians," the Jews' inveterate enemies, that they may assemble themselves, and with pleasure behold the ravages and oppressions which their insulting adversaries will bring upon the kingdom of Israel. W. Lowth. 12. — As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion &c.] As the shepherd, when a lion hath been devouring amongst his flock, finds some mangled remnants of a leg or an ear, which he carries home, to shew the spoil that hath been done by that fierce beast; so shall it be with Israel: of all the body of Samaria, there shall be some one or two left undevoured, for proof of the general slaughter and captivity. Bp. Hall. The causes of God's judgment. He reproveeth Israel for oppression. Before CHRIST 787. Or, on the bed's feet. so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and || in Damascus in a couch. 14. — I will also visit the altars of Beth-el: &c.] I will reckon with Israel for his idolatries in Dan and Beth-el, and for those altars which he hath erected there, and will cause those mis-erected altars to be beaten down to the ground. Bp. Hall. See 1 Kings xii. 29. 32. The destruction of the altar at Beth-el is also foretold, chap. v. 5, and is perhaps referred to in Jer. xlviii. 13. Abp. Newcome. 15. And I will smite the winter house with the summer house.] See the note on Jer. xxxvi. 22. — the house of ivory] The Romans anciently ornamented their houses with ivory: and the Eastern people might possibly do the same. Sir J. Chardin says, "the ceilings of the Eastern houses are of Mosaick work, and for the most part of ivory:" and Dr. Russell notices, that ivory "is likewise employed at Aleppo in the decoration of the more expensive apartments." Harmer. Such houses were probably called "ivory houses," just HEAR this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink. Chap. V. ver. 1. — against you.] Rather, "over you." The allusion is to the lamentations made at funerals: see ver. 16; Jer. ix. 17; Ezek. xix. 1; xxvii. 2. So the Prophet bemoans the state of the kingdom of Israel, as dead and irrecoverably lost. W. Lowth. 3. — The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, &c.] So few shall be left alive, after the hard and long sieges of the Assyrians, that in those cities of Israel, out of which a thousand able men were wont to go forth to war, there now shall be left but a hundred, &c. Bp. Hall. 4. 5. — Seek ye me, — But seek not Beth-el, &c.] The Israelites are here commanded to seek the Lord, and to abstain from idols, such as were then in Beth-el, Gilgal, and Beer-sheba; and the admonition is enforced by two powerful considerations, that if they "seek the Lord, they shall live;" that is, shall enjoy life, and salvation, and deliverance from their troubles; but that if they seek their idols, they shall be cut off together with those objects of their idolatrous worship. Dancus. 6. And I also have given you &c.] After declaring the presumptuous idolatry of the Israelites, the Prophet describes their obstinate continuance in it, which was such, that they could not be withdrawn from it by any afflictions or punishments, and be turned to worship and serve the true God. In this and the following verses are enumerated the several afflictions, with which they were visited: such as famine, ver. 6; drought, ver. 7, 8; destruction of the fruits of the earth, ver. 9; pestilence, war, and defeat, ver. 10; and the overthrow of some of their cities, ver. 11. At the end of each of these punishments, it is to be observed, that the Prophet adds in the name of the Lord, "yet have ye not returned unto me." This addition shews, that the mind of the Israelites was not only careless and unmoved amid these great miseries and calamities, but that it was also desperate and gone past recovery in their idolatry, which they could not by any means be wrought on to cast off, and so return by true repentance to the knowledge and worship of God. Duncus. It is the desire of God to reclaim men by afflictions, which for this purpose He sent among the Israelites. Bp. Hall. 12. Therefore thus will I do unto thee. Since thou hast slighted all these judgments, I am resolved to execute upon thee the severest of all my vengeance; and since thou hearest I have taken up this determination to proceed against thee, therefore prepare thyself, O Israel, to meet thy God with unfeigned humiliation and repentance. Bp. Hall. Or the phrase, "Prepare thyself to meet thy God," may be understood as signifying, Prepare to meet my wrath; that is, expect the most terrible punishment. See Abp. Tillotson's note at the end of the chapter. 7. Ye who turn judgment to wormwood.] Ye, who corrupt judgment, and make it grievous and hateful to my people. Bp. Hall. 8. — that maketh the seven stars &c.] Who maketh the great frame of the heavens, and all the glorious 10. — that rebuketh in the gate.] That judgeth up rightly, and freely, and impartially rebuketh the wicked man on the bench of justice. Bp. Hall. See the notes on Gen. xxiii. 10; Job v. 4. 13. For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, &c.] For well thou knowest, there is no hoping to resist the power of the Almighty: it is He that formeth the mountains, and infuseth the spirit into man, and knoweth and de- VOL. II. 13. — the prudent shall keep silence in that time; &c.] Seeing that his admonitions will do no good to men wholly devoted to their own ways of unlawful gain, and will be injurious to such as rebuke them. Dr. Stokes.