Commentary on Amos (No. 021C)

Introduction

The name Amos is thought to have been derived from Amaziah (7:10) or Amasiah (2Chr. 17:16). The Talmudic Rabbis decided he must have been heavy of speech like Moses (cf. Soncino Intro., p. 81). He was a herdsman and dresser of sycamore trees (1:1, 7:14). While so employed he was called by God to go to Israel and inform them that their cup of wickedness was full and without their immediate repentance and return to God they would suffer dire punishment and captivity. This call by God forced him to leave his home in northern Judea and take up residence in Samaria and Bethel in order to deal with these centres of immorality and vice and of paganism and idolatry.

Amos is generally accepted as writing between the years 765 and 750 BCE in the reign of Jeroboam II (782-743). His book is listed third in the Canon but he is accepted to have been first of the later prophets and his work distances himself from the earlier prophets with whom corruption had entered their schools as we see from his writings. His denial of the prophets does not mean that he was not one but rather he condemned their corruption and was not one of them.

The earthquake to which he refers in 1:1 is held to have occurred in the time of Uzziah (Zech. 14:5). The eclipse of the sun referred to in 8:9 is calculated to have occurred in 763 BCE (cf. Soncino Intro., p. 81).

Once again we see the period of thirty and forty years come into play in the repentance of Israel (cf. also Cox. Commentary on Jonah). The warning is marked at 763-2 BCE and in 733 the Assyrians captured Damascus and made Israel a tributary system. In 723-2 they moved on Samaria and in 722 BCE the Israelites were taken into captivity and removed north of the Araxes not to return until the Second Advent of the Messiah.

He is acknowledged as attacking the corrupt priests and prophets in his writing and that he was killed by a blow to the forehead with an iron. The first view is that he was killed by a blow to the forehead by Uzziah with a glowing iron. The second is that he was killed with a blow struck by Amaziah priest of Bethel. Both accounts agree on the method of his death merely which authority did it (cf. Soncino, ibid). He was either killed by a leprous king of Judah or a corrupt priest of Israel. Either way, as usual, the prophets of God were killed in the course of their duty.

The Message

It is worth quoting the rabbinical view in that although they understand the thrust of the message Judah ignores it and is still under condemnation because of it. Modern Christianity also is absolutely condemned by the Twelve Prophets and Amos in particular.

“As an expounder of the moral and ethical aspects of religion the importance of Amos is pre-eminent. God is not the God of Israel only, but of the entire universe. Nor is His covenant with Israel indissoluble. They will be punished for their sins even more severely than other nations, and the evil which deserves most punishment is social injustice. Meticulous observance of ritual worship will not save them. Amos is most emphatic when denouncing the delusion that ritual of itself can have the approval of God Who demands righteousness and mercy. True, Israel was His chosen people, but the complement of privilege is obligation.

His message of eternal import is that society, if it is to exist, must rest on justice between man and man, as well as between nations. For Amos, honesty and fair dealing were the mainsprings of national welfare. His Golden Age is one in which noble thought and simplicity of life are harmoniously blended.”(Soncino, ibid).

It is however God that is issuing the prophecy at the end of Amos talking directly to Israel and aside from the prophecies we have mentioned in the Pentateuch and the mentions of the earlier prophets of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, Amos is acknowledged as the earliest prophecy that has survived intact.

The Book falls naturally into three divisions. The first two chapters are considered a preamble to the prophet’s thesis or more correctly the preparation through the prophet by God to deal with Israel.

Israel of all nations played the idolatrous harlot and as the other nations did not escape nor will Israel and God is about to deal with Israel first using a nation that has already been condemned. Then we will go on to deal with all nations as we see from the Twelve Prophets. Not one of these religious whores will survive and all will be brought to destruction.

The next four chapters deal with the people who looked upon their prosperity as a sign of their righteousness. This is still the fundamental flaw of the nations of Israel who still to this day do not understand that what they have been given was theirs by right of inheritance from Abraham and the Patriarchs and has nothing to do with their value as a people and their righteousness is as dirty rags in the eyes of God. The rot stems from Western Europe through the Commonwealth and all nations and especially the USA. The antinomianism of the so-called Modern Christians is about to be punished and Amos looks forward from the Assyrian captivity to the final war of the end and the Messiah. There can be no righteousness without God’s Law and Justice. Tsedek is the same word in Hebrew for both concepts.

Note the text identifies him as among the shepherds of Tekoa. This is part of the traditions of the prophets and the Qur’an says that there is no prophet that has not been a shepherd.

Amos Chapter 1

[1] The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Teko'a, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzzi'ah king of Judah and in the days of Jerobo'am the son of Jo'ash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. [2] And he said: "The LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds mourn, and the top of Carmel withers." [3] Thus says the LORD:"For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. [4] So I will send a fire upon the house of Haz'ael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-ha'dad. [ 5] I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him that holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir," says the LORD. [6] Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom. [7] So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour her strongholds. [8] I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod, and him that holds the scepter from Ash'kelon; I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish," says the Lord GOD. [9] Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they delivered up a whole people to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood. [10] So I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour her strongholds." [11] Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever. [12] So I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah." [13] Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have ripped up women with child in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border. [14] So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour her strongholds, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind; [15] and their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together," says the LORD.

Summary

Thus the nations to the north were taken into exile as a warning to Israel but they did not heed the warning.

Then Moab the son of Lot was destroyed for their persecution of Edom. Judah is prophesied against but their destruction was to be long after that of Israel with Israel out by 722 and Judah not destroyed until 586 CE.

The Syrians and Philistines and Edomites were to be destroyed, as was Tyre. These punishments were inflicted again and again and will carry through to the end in the Last Days. The 40 years of Repentance for Syria was given from the end of the Yom Kippur war in 1974 in May and the wars destroying Syria escalated from May 2014. Gaza also was enmeshed as was Lebanon. Edom is now part of Judaism.

Moab on the east bank of the Jordan at that time spoke a dialect of Hebrew and was subject to Israel until the reign of Ahab. The revolt of King Mesha against the authority of Ahab is referred to in 2Kings 3 and also on the Moabite stone.

Amos Chapter 2

[1] Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom. [2] So I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ker'ioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet; [3] I will cut off the ruler from its midst, and will slay all its princes with him," says the LORD. [4] Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have rejected the law of the LORD, and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked. [5] So I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem."

Note 2.1

Verse 4: Amos proceeds to judgment on Judah for their sin in rejecting the Torah. This theme carries through also to the Last Days. To this very day they turn the Torah on its head with the Talmud and pervert the calendar with their traditions and the Babylonian intercalations. In Isa. 5:24 and Hos. 4:6 we see the same charges as Amos regarding the moral aspects of the law.

Their lies refer to the idols and false gods. They are extent today and people do not even realise their origins.

Verse 5: A fire on Judah refers to the Babylonian destruction of 586 BCE.

[6] Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes -- [7] they that trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and turn aside the way of the afflicted; a man and his father go in to the same maiden, so that my holy name is profaned; [8] they lay themselves down beside every altar upon garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined. [9] "Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and who was as strong as the oaks; I destroyed his fruit above, and his roots beneath. [10] Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. [11] And I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?" says the LORD. [12] "But you made the Nazirites drink wine, and commanded the prophets, saying, `You shall not prophesy.' [13] "Behold, I will press you down in your place, as a cart full of sheaves presses down. [14] Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain his strength, nor shall the mighty save his life; [15] he who handles the bow shall not stand, and he who is swift of foot shall not save himself, nor shall he who rides the horse save his life; [16] and he who is stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day," says the LORD.

Summary

Moab was judged here. Ammon had been judged in Chapter 1. The judgment was more severe because Israel was commanded not to attack them and they attacked Israel (Deut. 2:4ff.). Thus the entire country of Jordan is judged and dealt with in this time. They were asked not to attack Israel in the 1967 war and they attacked them but abstained from the Yom Kippur War in 1973/4. Their refraining in the Last Days will keep them out of the hands of the Beast power of the North but they will be brought under the Nation of Israel under Messiah from the War of Hamon –Gog (No. 294).

Note that Israel is judged on sins of the flesh as well as corrupting the religious Nazarites and failure to carry out the prophecies of God and for suppressing the prophets and indeed killing them as they did to Amos himself. Father and son share the same woman and they persecute the righteous and sell them for silver. They take garments in pledge and go to the altar of the Lord as righteous. Israel today is worse than it was when this was written. God broke their military power on which they relied and He will do it again in the Last Days.

That on which they rely will be taken from them and they will be forced to rely on God alone.

Then in Chapter 3 God is speaking to the entire house of Israel which He brought out of Egypt and that includes Judah. In this chapter God states He does nothing save He first warns them through the prophets.

The fact is the no curse comes without its cause (Prov. 26:2).

Amos Chapter 3

[1] Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt: [2] "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. [3] "Do two walk together, unless they have made an appointment? [4] Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing? [5] Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing? [6] Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does evil befall a city, unless the LORD has done it? [7] Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. [8] The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken; who can but prophesy?" [9] Proclaim to the strongholds in Assyria, and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt, and say, "Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Sama'ria, and see the great tumults within her, and the oppressions in her midst." [10] "They do not know how to do right," says the LORD, "those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds." [11] Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "An adversary shall surround the land, and bring down your defenses from you, and your strongholds shall be plundered." [12] Thus says the LORD: "As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who dwell in Sama'ria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part of a bed." [13] "Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob," says the Lord GOD, the God of hosts, [14] "that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions, I will punish the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground. [15] I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall come to an end," says the LORD.

Summary

Philistia and Egypt were summoned to come and witness the destruction of Israel. This was also to stand as a lesson to them over the Last Days. These two were punished and destroyed and Israel was to remember their fate and then in the Last Days all of their lands will be dealt with finally.

Mountains of Samaria: They were to be able to view the vices in Samaria from mountains surrounding them. The state has sunk to violent confusion through corruption and force. Their moral sense had become corrupted.

The horns of the altar were grasped by those seeking sanctuary from God. The capacity to seek sanctuary from God will be removed. Some rabbinical sources even claim that the foundations of the altar are removed.

The winter house is mentioned again in Jeremiah 36:22. It seems to refer to the opulence of the ruling classes versus the poor who have nothing. Their opulence will be removed and the ruling classes will be left with nothing.

The tribes were to be punished for their idolatry and the Sun cults and for what they did in Bethel. In this captivity the major sections of the Levites went into captivity also and the 24 divisions had to be recreated from the three divisions still in Judah so the Temple priesthood could function. It was a great blow to Levi throughout Israel. They all went into captivity beyond the Araxes and were absorbed among the northern Hittites or Celts.

In verses 11 and 12 we see that the prophecy was fulfilled and after thirty years Syria was surrounded and captured by the Assyrians after a three year siege. The costly furniture of Samaria so despised by Amos was broken up by the Assyrians.

The text in Chapter 4 shows God is specifically against the women of Israel, the Cows of Bashan that oppress the poor. They are to be sent into captivity and punished for their idolatry and revelry at Bethel instigated by Jezebel in the Sun Cults. The corruption of Samaria was identified by Amos as emanating from the greed of its women and they are likened to cattle of Bashan.

This idolatry is seen in Israel to this very day.

Amos Chapter 4

[1] "Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are in the mountain of Sama'ria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, `Bring, that we may drink!' [2] The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks. [3] And you shall go out through the breaches, every one straight before her; and you shall be cast forth into Harmon," says the LORD. [4] "Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days; [5] offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel!" says the Lord GOD. [6] "I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me," says the LORD. [7] "And I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain upon one city, and send no rain upon another city; one field would be rained upon, and the field on which it did not rain withered; [8] so two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied; yet you did not return to me," says the LORD. [9] "I smote you with blight and mildew; I laid waste your gardens and your vineyards; your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me," says the LORD. [10] "I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I slew your young men with the sword; I carried away your horses; and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me," says the LORD. [11] "I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomor'rah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me," says the LORD. [12] "Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!" [13] For lo, he who forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought; who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth -- the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name!

Summary

Note the Lord of Hosts deals with Israel on a selective basis and forces them by groups and cities yet still they did not repent and turn to Him.

The text in verses 4-13 begins with Come to Bethel. This vein is similar to Elijah on Mt. Carmel (1Kgs. ch. 18). It rebukes their idolatrous hollow ceremonials from which they derive no satisfaction and are rejected by God who rebuked them by drought and fire, earthquakes, famine, pestilence and war. And still they did not listen.

For the message on Gilgal see the note on Hosea 4:15.

The sacrifices were done to false gods and the tithes were given to support the false system of Baal in Israel and it is so to this very day. The rolling of their sin which was the intent of Gilgal was not rolled away.

Chapter Five goes on to deal with the structure of the disasters. There will be none to raise Israel up. The entire nation is to be decimated. The first verses are a dirge over Israel beginning with a lamentation. Israel is fallen. The verb is in the prophetic perfect and thus described as having taken place. She lies abandoned. This text thus goes on into prophecy.

The nation was decimated and thus was intended to not be strong again.

God is giving express direction to Israel saying that they are not to go to Gilead across the Jordan as they are to go into captivity before Samaria. Neither are they to ask assistance from the idol worshippers at Bethel nor are they permitted to go to Judah and occupy the southlands at Gilgal and Beersheba. None of that will help them. Alliances will be of no help and the Lord of Hosts will follow them wherever they go and persecute them.

If they turn to God they will live but they will not survive if they do not do that. God will inflict starvation and drought upon Israel until they repent and this will continue at the Last Days.

Amos Chapter 5

[1] Hear this word which I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel: [2] "Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel; forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up." [3] For thus says the Lord GOD: "The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel." [4] For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: "Seek me and live; [5] but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beer-sheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nought."[6] Seek the LORD and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel,

Note 5.1

This religious system that destroyed Israel from Bethel is nurtured among Israel and they do not repent and they set up a system of injustice in their courts (gates).

The Sun Cults of Baal are to this day entrenched in Israel and they worship on the day of the Sun and they keep the Festivals of Christmas and Easter and for this they will be punished (see the paper The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235)).

[7] O you who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth! [8] He who made the Plei'ades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning, and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name, [9] who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

Note 5.2

Their systems of injustice become entrenched. Corruption is everywhere and those in power hate to be reproved. Truth is cast to the ground. In the end God is forced to intervene. This goes on to the Last Days as we see the prophecy take us over time to the Day of the Lord. We are told to be prudent and to hate evil and love good and the Lord of Hosts will be with us. The injustice in the centuries before the Settlement of Canada and the US and of Australia and New Zealand was horrendous and God used that abuse to resettle the poor in other lands and to save many nations until the time of the end.

They have persecuted the faith and the speakers of truth and observers of the law of God over the centuries.

[10] They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. [11] Therefore because you trample upon the poor and take from him exactions of wheat, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. [12] For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great are your sins -- you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate. [13] Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time; for it is an evil time. [14] Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said. [15] Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. [16] Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord: "In all the squares there shall be wailing; and in all the streets they shall say, 'Alas! alas!' They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation, [17] and in all vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through the midst of you," says the LORD.

Note 5.3

Corruption is everywhere in the Last Days and the prudent dare not say anything. It is only by the justice of the courts in Israel will it be saved. As it becomes more corrupt it will be punished.

The droughts cause the farmers mourning and the wine growers will lament.

The Day of the Lord is not the thing that the people should desire as they will be harmed in it without repentance.

[18] Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why would you have the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light; [19] as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned with his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him. [20] Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?

Note 5.4

God declares that He hates and despises their feasts. Many of the Churches of God have introduced the false calendar and their feasts do not fall on the commanded days such as they have done in the Hillel Calendar in Judah. In Israel the majority declare their assemblies as the Pagan rites of Baal as were worshipped at Bethel in the Sun and Mystery Cults of Christmas and Easter of the goddess. (See the papers God’s Calendar (No. 156); The Calendar and the Moon: Postponements or Festivals (No. 195); Distortion of God’s Calendar in Judah (No. 195B) and The Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235).) God will accept nothing from them anywhere.

[21] "I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. [22] Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and cereal offerings, I will not accept them, and the peace offerings of your fatted beasts I will not look upon. [23] Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

Note 5.5

It is the requirement that justice and moral and ethical conduct flow from the center of Israel and its religious system and it is not to be an empty shell as it is now.

[24] But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. [25] "Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? [26] You shall take up Sakkuth your king, and Kaiwan your star-god, your images, which you made for yourselves; [27] therefore I will take you into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

Summary

The systems of worship in Israel are corrupted and God will not accept them.

Sakkuth and Kaiwan are pagan deities and the star of Chiun or Kaiwan or Remphan is still used in Judah even to this day. These are Babylonian and Assyrian deities found to this day and worshipped together. There they were forced to carry their foreign gods into Assyria and beyond, north of the Araxes. They will be dealt with again in the Last Days for the same sins.

Note that Chapter six goes on to specifically reprimand Judah in Zion as well as Samaria indicating that the worship has permeated both.

Amos Chapter 6

[1] "Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Sama'ria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come! [2] Pass over to Calneh, and see; and thence go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory,

Explanatory Note 6.1

Calneh and Hamath fell in 738 and 720 BCE.

Thus it is thought that they may have suffered earlier catastrophes to which Amos refers (cf. Soncino fn.). Gath is the principal city of the Philistines (cf. 1:6) and the text should be read to imply a rhetorical question to Israel i.e. Do you think you are better that you will escape their fates?

[3] O you who put far away the evil day, and bring near the seat of violence? [4] "Woe to those who lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat lambs from the flock, and calves from the midst of the stall; [5] who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and like David invent for themselves instruments of music; [6] who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! [7] Therefore they shall now be the first of those to go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves shall pass away." [8] The Lord GOD has sworn by himself (says the LORD, the God of hosts): "I abhor the pride of Jacob, and hate his strongholds; and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it." [9] And if ten men remain in one house, they shall die.

Note 6.2

Thus the wealthy and powerful that were the rich and also the rich of Israel in the Last Days will be the first to be destroyed. Those who lay on ivory beds and hide from the destruction will be taken and burnt as will they of the Last Days also.

They will die and none of the house will survive, and they will rely on relatives to burn them because of the plagues that will be inflicted on them; and especially in the Last Days those plagues will be great.

[10] And when a man's kinsman, he who burns him, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, "Is there still any one with you?" he shall say, "No"; and he shall say, "Hush! We must not mention the name of the LORD." [11] For behold, the LORD commands, and the great house shall be smitten into fragments, and the little house into bits.

Note 6.3

God has turned His back on them and their prayers will be turned to punishment.

According to the Targum the Great House refers to Israel and the Little House refers to Judah. Both shall be smashed to pieces. The text refers to the perversion of justice. It is as dangerous to pervert justice as it is to ride horses on rocks and as useless as it is to plough the sea with oxen. Israel and Judah have perverted Justice and Righteousness into poison and wormwood. They are the same thing Tsedek.

[12] Do horses run upon rocks? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood -- [13] you who rejoice in Lo-debar, who say, "Have we not by our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?" [14] "For behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel," says the LORD, the God of hosts; "and they shall oppress you from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of the Arabah."

Summary

Lo debar is a thing of nought or nothing. (A No-people, Deut. 32:21). They are concerned with the inconsequential and trivialities and that which lacks substance.

The name Karnaim means horns and is a wordplay used by Amos to deal with the names of Israel. Graetz is noted as suggesting that Lo Debar and Karnaim were place names in Gilead. Lidbir and Lo Dabar are listed in Joshua 13:26; 2Samuel 9:4f; 17:27. Ashtaroth Karnaim is mentioned in Genesis 14:5 and associated with the goddess Ashtaroth or Easter the consort of Baal worshipped in Israel to this very day. Gilead was the scene of war between Jeroboam II and the Syrians and Amos thus prophesied against them by using a play on words. The term “a nation” refers to Syria and onwards into the Last Days (cf. Soncino fns).

The term of Hamath unto the Brook of the Arabah is likened to Dan to Beersheba. Thus the whole country over which Israel rules will be overrun (cf. 2Kgs. 14:25). This prophecy of destruction concludes this section of the prophecy.

Introduction to Chapter 7

The next phase begins with the First Vision: A Plague of Locusts.

Amos’ fervent intervention manages to stop the plague. Thus God is showing that it is only by the intervention of His servants the prophets will they be saved.

This continues right up until the end and it is only by the prayers of the elect will they be saved.

There are five visions.

The species of locusts used here to show that God was forming them was Gobai also used in Nahum 3:17. The latter growth (Heb. Lekesh the roots appearing in malkosh as the “latter rain”) refers to the growth of the crops in Spring.

The “King’s Mowings” was the tribute paid in kind to the kings of Israel in provender for the cavalry (cf. 1Kgs 18:5). After this tax had been paid people could cut the grass for their own use but the locusts came and devoured it (Driver).

Amos Chapter 7

[1] Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, he was forming locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and lo, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings. [2] When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, "O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech thee! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!" [3] The LORD repented concerning this; "It shall not be," said the LORD.

Note 7.1

The Hebrew word translated grass here is rendered herb in Genesis 1:12 and is a general term for vegetation.

Amos basically said by using the term rise up that “How could Israel recover from such a disaster.” He also understood that the punishment was to be inflicted by God on a sinful people and hence asked for forgiveness for them. He argued that despite their view of their wealth their resources were considered too small to recover from the disaster.

The locusts were symbolic of the hordes from the North as used in later prophets e.g. Nahum for all the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions.

Thus Amos intervened on behalf of Israel. They were spared from the Northern Locusts but Judah was allowed to return to their lands after the destruction by the Babylonians so they could see the Messiah in their own lands.

Then the Lord God showed Amos that He was calling for a judgment by fire because they had not repented. Then the Lord dispersed Judah into the earth and destroyed Jerusalem by fire and scattered the church also.

[4] Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, the Lord GOD was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. [5] Then I said, "O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!" [6] The LORD repented concerning this; "This also shall not be," said the Lord GOD.

Note 7.2

The Soncino makes the point here that God is always citing the people before the bar of Judgment (e.g. Isa. 3:13; Jer. 2:9; Hos. 4:1 Mic. 6:1). The “great deep” was thought to refer to the oceans on which the earth was raised and critics argue that it was based on faulty science. However, the great deep has just been discovered by scientists as the great store of waters under the North American continent. That may be the threatened judgment of the Last Days that would swamp the earth.

It may also refer to the people of the world among which Israel and Judah were scattered.

The next vision concerned the Plumb Line. This was God’s Judgment against the House of Isaac and it was thus that Israel was sentenced to go into captivity due to the idolatry of its kings and its priests and its people.

Amaziah the Priest of Bethel tried then to get Amos killed and sought to prevent the captivity. In this way all the false priests and prophets have sought to silence the word of God in Israel.

[7] He showed me: behold, the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. [8] And the LORD said to me, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them; [9] the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jerobo'am with the sword." [10] Then Amazi'ah the priest of Bethel sent to Jerobo'am king of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. [11] For thus Amos has said, `Jerobo'am shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.'" [12] And Amazi'ah said to Amos, "O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there; [13] but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom." [14] Then Amos answered Amazi'ah, "I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, [15] and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, `Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' [16] "Now therefore hear the word of the LORD. You say, `Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.' [17] Therefore thus says the LORD: `Your wife shall be a harlot in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be parceled out by line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.'"

Summary

God spoke His judgment on Israel and on the false prophets of the Sun cults in Israel and that judgment will be executed on them over the Last Days as well.

Then in the next chapter God takes Amos beyond the dispersal under the Assyrians where He likens Israel to a basket of summer fruit. This is the time of the end. It is the Fourth Vision.

Amos Chapter 8

[1] Thus the Lord GOD showed me: behold, a basket of summer fruit. [2] And he said, "Amos, what do you see?" And I said, "A basket of summer fruit." Then the LORD said to me, "The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass by them. [3] The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day," says the Lord GOD; "the dead bodies shall be many; in every place they shall be cast out in silence."

Note 8.1

God is now refusing to pass by Israel. He had destroyed the physical Temple but the Psalms were still sung. The New Moons and Sabbaths were properly kept on the correct days all over the time of Christ and up until the time of the destruction. They were not turned into wailings or howlings until the Last Days when the US Protestantism made the church services of Israel a complete farce and a disgrace and they have corrupted the world with their howlings. So-called Christianity keeps neither Sabbaths nor New Moons and no feasts except the feasts of the Sun God Baal and the Mystery Cults (see the paper Origins of Christmas and Easter (No. 235)). The Sardis Era of the Churches of God did away with the New Moons and the Feast of the Passover and Unleavened Bread and kept the Holy Days on the wrong days according to Hillel and even the wrong months due to the Babylonian intercalations. For that they will go to the Second Resurrection as will the Laodicean system.

So also has Judah turned the New Moons into a farce and the Holy Days are never kept on the correct days except when there is no other choice or by accident.

[4] Hear this, you who trample upon the needy, and bring the poor of the land to an end, [5] saying, "When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great, and deal deceitfully with false balances, [6] that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the refuse of the wheat?"

Note 8.2

Note that the deceit over the New Moons and Sabbaths is also attributed to the use of false weights and measures and deceit in their financial arrangements. Recently the US repaid the Germans in fake gold after causing the Global Financial Crisis with Fraudulent Collateralised Debt Obligations (CDOs).

God is intolerant of this conduct (cf. Lev. 19:35ff; Deut. 25:13ff; Prov. 20:10). The ephah was about eight gallons.

Note now what the Lord God of Israel has said about what He will do to them. This is in the Last Days in the very near future. If Israel does not repent they will die in large numbers and God will not spare them.

[7] The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: "Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. [8] Shall not the land tremble on this account, and every one mourn who dwells in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?" [9] "And on that day," says the Lord GOD, "I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. [10] I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day.

Note 8.3

This will be at the time of the end when the people will not hear the words of the Living God from the mouths of the Churches of God and the last three prophets (Jer. 4:15-16; Rev. 11:3-14) will deal with them as God directs. This is the famine of the word of God which has been over the last century and the priests are measured and judged for it. All the Sunday worshipping priests of Baal are about to be dealt with and destroyed. Those that follow after them will in like manner suffer.

The eclipse of 15 June 763 BCE is assumed to have been taken as a herald of that fact (cf. Soncino n to v. 9).

The baldness referred to in verse 10 is a reference to the heathen practice in Arabia and Greece of shaving the forehead and leaving the hair on the tomb as to establish a covenant between the living and the dead and here condemned by God as a punishment. The death of an only son was the bitterest form of bereavement a couple could suffer in old age (cf. Jer. 6:26; Zech. 12:10).

[11] "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord GOD, "when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. [12] They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it. [13] "In that day the fair virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst. [14] Those who swear by Ash'imah of Sama'ria, and say, `As thy god lives, O Dan,' and, `As the way of Beer-sheba lives,' they shall fall, and never rise again."

Note 8.4

The sin (Ashemath) of Samaria: The word for sin was a deliberate distortion of Ashima the name of a Syrian Goddess they had adopted in the Mother goddess system of Baal worship (cf. 2Kgs. 17:30). It is mentioned in Papyri discovered at Elephantine and some rabbinical authorities associate it with the Golden Calf introduced by Jeroboam 1. Thy God O Dan refers to the Golden calf set up there (1Kgs. 12:29). This Moon God Sin and the Sun Cults is endemic to Israel in the Last Days

The text: As the way of Beersheba lives is a reference to the pilgrimages to the idolatrous shrines especially among the Sun and Mystery Cults. That happens all over the world in the modern era. Muslims to this very day swear an oath by the sacred way to Mecca (G. A. Smith).

Summary

None of these people who seek knowledge from their false priests and false prophets will learn and repent and live. Only with the removal of the false priests of the Sun cults will they live.

God has said that none of them shall escape judgment. Their structures will be destroyed and their people put to the sword. They will not escape.

We go on to the final destruction in the next chapter; The Fifth Vision, God’s Sentence of Israel.

Amos Chapter 9

[1] I saw the LORD standing beside the altar, and he said: "Smite the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and what are left of them I will slay with the sword; not one of them shall flee away, not one of them shall escape.

Note 9.1

They can dig bunkers of protection and hide in the rocks of the earth but they will not escape. This is the section of Revelation that shows that the kings of the earth hide underground and seek to avoid the wrath of God in the coming of the Messiah, but they will not escape. They have nowhere to hide.

[2] "Though they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. [3] Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search out and take them; and though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.

Note 9.2

Note that even in captivity in the Last Days they will not escape. There is only one way and that is to repent and call on the name of God and obey His Laws. There is no escape.

Each person that desires to enter the millennial system will have repented and be baptized and keep the Sabbaths, New Moons and the Feast of God.

Not one devotee of the Sun cults will remain alive unrepentant.

The reference to Carmel refers to the fact that it was a high mountain (1800 ft.) laced with serpentine limestone caves exceeding 2000 in number and in the days of Strabo were inhabited by robbers hiding in the caves and forests (cf. Soncino).

Their escape to the sea will simply see more attacks and God will set his eyes upon them for their punishment and not for gain.

[4] And though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them; and I will set my eyes upon them for evil and not for good." [5] The Lord, GOD of hosts, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn, and all of it rises like the Nile, and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt; [6] who builds his upper chambers in the heavens, and founds his vault upon the earth; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the surface of the earth -- the LORD is his name. [7] "Are you not like the Ethiopians to me, O people of Israel?" says the LORD. "Did I not bring up Israel from 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 the surface of the ground; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob," says the LORD. [9] "For lo, I will command, and shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes with a sieve, but no pebble shall fall upon the earth. [10] All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, `Evil shall not overtake or meet us.'

Note 9.3

The sinful kingdom refers to the entire nation of Israel and Judah. The surviving remnant will not belong to Judah only but to Israel desolate (cf. also v. 11).

The last grain is lit. pebble and the dispersion of the people is like grain through a sieve. The Day of the Lord is a time of discipline and purification.

Thus Israel will be sifted and all those in it who sin and do not repent will die. Only those that repent will live. Then the world will face the First Resurrection and the restoration of the Booth of David. This is a reference to the sons of God at the resurrection of the House of David referred to in Zechariah 12:8 which is the church under Jesus Christ the Angel of the Lord at their head.

[11] "In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old; [12] that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name," says the LORD who does this.

Note 9.4

The remnant of Edom is the reference to the Edomites that are now part of the remnant of Judah among Judaism and all the nations refers to the Sons of Isaac by whom Israel is known. Then God will restore Israel. This restoration is that mentioned in Isaiah 65 through its entirety to the Second Resurrection and also in Zechariah 14:16-19 through the Millennium.

[13] "Behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when the plowman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed; the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it. [14] I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit. [15] I will plant them upon their land, and they shall never again be plucked up out of the land which I have given them," says the LORD your God.

Summary

So from the return of the Messiah, Israel and Judah will be sifted like wheat. They will be judged and restored and corrected.

The saints will form the household of David as it was on Zion before the Temple of Solomon representing the elect of the First Resurrection and the Temple being the full City of God.

The human race with the Angelic Host will then form the basis of the City of God in what will become the Garden of Eden restored in the Millennium and the Second Resurrection.

Notes on the Hebrew of the original text

The prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel used the name of God Yahovih (SHD 3069) which refers to the One True God Eloah as Ha Elohim. It is read by the rabbis as Elohim and not Adonai. Strong makes this important observation in his Exhaustive Concordance in reference to 3068 Yahovah and 3069 Yahovih. They are two or more beings.

Amos continues this important naming whereas the others of the twelve prophets only use 3069 in Micah 1:2; Zephaniah 1:7 and Zechariah 9:14. In the works of the prophet Zechariah the term Yahovah Sabaioth is used 44 times in chapters 1-8 and nine times in chapters 9-14 where it is Yahovah Sabaioth that speaks and is characteristic of the prophecies in Zechariah.

In Amos the word Yahovih for the One True God is used 22 times: at Amos 1:8; 3:7,8,11,13; 4:2,5; 5:3; 6:8; 7:1,2,4,4,5,6; 8:1,3,9,11; 9:5,8,15. Other instances use elohim for the God of Hosts and for elohim in general.

The use of Yahovih 22 times is the number of completion and refers only to the One True God and is a stamp of the prophecy taking the sequence to the Last Days. Elohim is used only 11 times, indicating the sequence of incompleteness regarding the elohim and the creation of God, whereas the prophecy is complete and finished in the sequence to the Last Days. For comparison: the use of elohim 11 times and translated God and SHD 410 only once occurs in Micah and Yahovih is used only once. Yahovah is used 37 times in that sequence and translated Lord. SHD 136 is used twice with the other words for the Lord of the Temple and Lord God and SHD 113 is used once for Lord of the Whole earth.

Yahovah 3068 is used in Amos 60 times and translated as Lord. This is the number of the plan of creation multiplied as a sequence.

SHD 136 occurs 25 times and is coupled with and as Lord God or God of Hosts the Lord.

These number sequences are stamps of authority and differentiate the beings and prophecies and are a verification of the authority of the texts.

It also shows that the translators knew that SHD 3069 Yahovih was the One True God and translated it that way and rendered Yahovah as according to its prefixes.

This shows the insanity of referring to God simply as Yahweh as the term does not exist in Hebrew and has no meaning aside from the specific words of the texts.

We will examine the other aspect in Hosea and Micah.

************

Bullinger’s notes from the Companion Bible are as follows:

Amos 1:1

TITLE. The words of Amos. But the words of Yahovah by Amos. See 1:3.

Amos = Burden.

herdmen = shepherds. Heb. nokdim; so called from a peculiar breed of stunted sheep (with fine wool). Mesha was called a noked, rendered "sheepmaster" (2Kgs 3:4). See Ap. 54. Occurs only in these two places. But Amos was also a herdman, as is clear from 7:14; where boker is from bakar, an ox, and hence is connected with ploughing (1Kgs 19:19, 21, &c.) See note on 7:14.

Tekoa. Now Khan Telkua, five miles south of Bethlehem, and ten from Jerusalem. Cp. 2Sa 14:2. 2Ch 20:20.

which = which [words].

saw = saw [in a vision]. Cp. Num 24:4, 16. Isa 30:10. Eze 12:27.

Israel. This gives us the subject of the book. in the days. Cp. Hos 1:1.

Jeroboam. See 7:10.

two years before the earthquake: i.e. before the one well known and remembered. Cp. Zec. 14:5.

the earthquake. Fig. Hysteresis. Ap. 6.

Amos 1:2

The LORD. Heb. Yahovah. Ap. 4. This title is not the usual one in this book.

roar = roar as a lion, or thunder. It is always, when predicated of the Lord, connected with the end of Gentile dominion. Cp. Jer 25:30, Joe 3:16.

utter = give out.

habitations = pastures.

shepherds. Not the same word as in 1:1, but the usual word (raah = tenders).

top of Carmel. Mount Carmel in the north, thus embracing the whole land; now Jebel Kurmul; not Carmel in Judah (south of Hebron); now el Kurmul. Cp. 1Sa 25:2. Isa 33:9.

wither = be dried up.

Amos 1:3

Thus saith the LORD. Yahovah's words: not the words of Amos. The prophetic formula. See Ap. 82. See the twelve with Yahovah, in vv. 3:6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6; 8:12; 5:4; 16; 7:17; and the two with Adonai Yahovah in 3:11; 5:3.

three . . . four. Hebrew idiom to express several, or many (Job 33:29, marg.) Cp. Pro 30:15, 18, 21, 29.

transgressions. Heb. pasha. Ap. 44.

turn away = turn it back, or avert it. the punishment thereof. There is no Ellipsis to be supplied, and no separate Heb. word for "thereof". The Heb. is lo' ashibennu, I will not cause it to turn back: i.e. I will not avert it.

The pronoun "it" is masc., agreeing with and referring to earthquake (v. 1), and means that Yahovah would not avert it. So in all the eight occurrences (vv. 3:6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6).

thrashed Gilead. Cp. Joe 8:14. The very term used in 2Kgs 13:7.

With = [as it were] with. Fig. Hypocatastasis. Ap. 6.

Amos 1:4

I will send a fire. Cp. 1:7, 10, 12; 2:2, 5. Refer to Jer. 17:27; 49:27; 50:32. Hos. 8:14.

Hazael. Cp. 2Kgs 8:12; 10:32, 33; 13:3.

palaces: or fortresses. Heb. 'armon. Occurs (in pl.) twelve times in Amos (see Ap. 10): 1:4, 7, 10, 12, 14; 2:2, 5; 3:9, 10, 11; 6:8; seven times with the verb "devour" (Heb. akal).

Ben-hadad. An official title of the Syrian kings = son of Hadad i.e. the sun-god. The Ben-hadad of 2Kgs 13:3; not of 2Kgs 8:7-15.

Amos 1:5

the bar. Note the Fig. Metalepsis (Ap. 6), by which "bar" is put by Fig. Metalepsis, Ap. 6, for the gates, and then the gates put for defence of the city. Cp. Deut. 3:5. 1Kgs. 4:13. Jer. 51:30. Lam. 2:9.

the inhabitant: or, him that is seated: i.e. the ruler, corresponding with the next line.

Avon. Same a Beth-aven, east of Beth-el, belonging to Benjamin. Cp. Hos. 4:15; 5:8; 10:5, 8.

the house of Eden = Beth-eden.

Kir. So in 9:7, 2Kgs 16:9. Isa. 22:6.

Amos 1:6

Gaza (Ghuzzeh), in Philistia.

the whole captivity = a wholesale captivity.

captivity = captives. Put by Fig. Metonymy (of Adjunct), Ap. 6, for a whole body of captives. See Jer. 13:19. Cp. Jer. 47:1. 2Ch. 21:16, 17; 28:17.

Amos 1:7

wall. Put by Fig. Synecdoche (of Part), Ap. 6, for the whole city.

Amos 1:8

Ashdod. Afterward called by the Greeks, "Azotus". Now Esclud, in the plain of Philistia, thirty-five miles north of Gaza.

Ashkelon. Now 'Askalan, on the coast of Philistia.

Ekron. Afterward, Greek, "Accaron" (1 Macc. 10.89), Now 'Akir, six miles west of Gezer. For "Gezer "see Bullinger’s note on 1Kgs. 9:15-17.

saith = hath said.

the Lord GOD. Heb. Adonai Jehovah. Ap. 4. and II. This Divine title occurs twenty-one times (7 x 3. See Ap. 10) in this book (1:8, 3, 7, 8, 11, 13; 4:2, 5; 5:3; 6:8; 7:1-6; 8:1, 3, 9, 11; 9:5, 8). For "thus hath said Adonai Jehovah" See 3:11.

Amos 1:11

Edom. Cp. Isa,. 21:11; 34:5. Jer. 49:8, etc. Ezek. 25:12-14; Ezek. 35:2. Joel 3:19; Oba. 1:1. Mal. 1:4.

because, etc. Ref. to Pent. (Gen 27:41. Cp. Deut. 23:7). (cf. Comp. Bible, Ap. 92. Cp. Mal. 1:2.

his brother. Ref. to Pent. (Gen. 25:24-26).

tear perpetually : or, tear [his prey] perpetually. Ginsburg thinks = kept his grudge. Cp. 2Chr. 28:17.

he. The 1611 edition of the A.V. omits "he".

Amos 1:12

Teman. Cp. Jer. 49:7. Oba. 1:9. Hab. 3:3. Eliphaz was a Temanite (Job 2:11, &c.)

Bozrah; Now el Buseirah, south-east of the Dead Sea.

Amos 1:13

children = sons.

Ammon. Cp. 1Sa 11:1.

ripped up, &c. Foretold in Hos 13:16. 2Ki 8:12; 15, 16.

that they might, &c. Cp. Jer. 49:1.

14 Rabbah. Now 'Amman (on the highlands of Gilead), "the city of waters", twenty-five miles north of the Dead Sea. Cp. 2Sam. 11:1, and 2Sam. 12:26, 27. Jer. 49:2. Ref. to Pent. (Deut. 3:10, 11). Ap. 92.

shouting = a great war-cry.

the day of battle: i.e. the day of their foe's tumultuous assault.

Amos 1:15

he. Ginsburg thinks it = his priests, with Sept.

(cf. Companion Bible).

Their king (Malkam). The same consonants with different vowel points give Milcom the god of the Ammonites (1Kgs 11:5). This is allegedly referring to the polic of their rulers in its presentation but it is referring to the entire religious structure of these people (cf. Soncino).

Amos 2:1

Burned ...lime. So vindictive were the Moabites that they would not allow the dead to rest and they were judged here because they burned the bones of the King of Edom (an enemy of Israel) to lime. Thus the judgment here in Amos shows God’s impartiality in the judgment of these tribes.

Amos 2:2

Kirioth: lit., his cities. Now el Kureiyat, or Kiraiathaim, between Dibon and Medeba. (cf. Jer. 48:24) Mentioned by Mesha on the Moabite Stone. (See Comp. Bible, Ap. 54.) Centre of the worship of Chemosh.

shouting = war-cry. Cp. 1:14

trumpet. Heb, shophar.

Amos 2:3

Judge = ruler (sceptre-holder; Num. 24:17)

Amos 2:6

they sold. Ref. to Pent. (Lev. 25:39. Deut. 15:12). Comp. Bible, Ap. 92, A Hebrew might sell himself, but not his brother or an insolvent debtor (2Kgs. 4:1; Neh. 5:5),

the righteous = the righteous one.

the poor = a needy one. Heb. ebyon. (cf. also Pro. 6:11).

a pair of shoes. Put by Fig. Metonymy (of Adjunct), see Comp. Bible, Ap. 6, for the title-deeds of which it was the token (Cp. Rth. 4:7).

Amos 2:7

pant = crush. Heb. shaaph, A Homonymyn, meaning (1) to gasp or long for (Job 7:2; 36:20, Psa. 119:131. Ecc. 1:5. Jer 2:24); (2) to crush (like shuph in Gen. 3:15 Rendered "swallow up" in 8:4. Job 5:5. Psa. 56:1, 2; 57:3. Ezek. 36:3. So here it = crush. See Oxford Gesenius, p. 983, vol. 2. Render: "crush the head of the poor ones in the dust of the earth".

the poor = impoverished ones. Heb. dal (pl.) See note on "poverty", Pro 6:11. Not the same word as in 2:6.

turn aside the way = pervert their whole way.

the meek = humble ones, Heb, pl. of `ani, See note on "poverty", Pro 6:11

a man. Heb. 'ish. Ap. 14.

and his father. This was done in the Canaanite idolatry, with the women of the temples, called Kadeshoth (fem.) and Kadeshhim (masc.)

maid = a young person (male or female). So called because of youthful vigour.

to profane, &c. This marks the result, not the intention, and shows the enormity of the sin in Yahovah's sight. Ref. to Pent, (Lev. 18:21; 20:3). (cf. Comp. Bible, Ap. 92). Cp. Isa. 48:11. Ezek. 20:9, 14; 36:20-23, Rom. 2:24. 1Cor. 5:1.

holy. See note on Exo. 3:5.

Amos 2:8

lay themselves down, &c. Ref. to Pent. (Exo. 22:26. Deut. 24:12), (cf. Comp. Bible, Ap. 92). every altar. The sin lay in the fact that the law of the one altar had been known as an ancient commandment as well as the law concerning the restoration of pledged garments.

wine, Heb. Yayin. Cf. Comp. Bible, Ap. 27.I and Wine in the Bible (No. 188).

of the condemned: or, exacted wine.

Amos 2:9

Yet. Former blessings now cited to heighten the crime of their fivefold rebellion.

the Amorite. Ref. to Pent. (Num. 21:24. Deut. 2:32-34). (cf. Comp. Bible, Ap. 92). Cp. Jos. 24:8. These being the descendants of the Nephilim were all to have been destroyed, with the other Canaanite nations, by the sword of Israel. (cf. Comp. Bible, Ap. 23 and Ap. 25).

them. Some codices, with three early printed editions, read "you".

height. Ref. to Pent. (Num. 21:24. Deut. 2:32-34).(cf. Comp. Bible, Ap. 92).

Amos 2:11

I raised up, &c. Not till the priests had failed in their duty to teach the law. See Lev. 10:8, 11. Deut. 33:8, 10. Prophets were not provided originally for Nazarites; Ref to Pent. (Num. 6:2). (cf. Comp. Bible, Ap. 92.

It is not . . . ? Fig. Erotesis. Ap. 6.

Children = sons.

saith the Lord = [is] Yahovah's oracle.

Amos 2:16

courageous = stout in heart. (cf. Comp. Bible, Ap. 92).

naked: or, armourless.

(cf. Bullinger, Companion Bible.)

Amos 3:1

the LORD. Heb. Yahovah.

children = sons. Some codices, with one early printed edition, Aram, and Sept., read "house". Either reading shows that these chapters relate to the twelve-tribed nation.

I brought up, etc. Ref. to Pent. (Exo. 12:51, etc.)

you only have I known, etc. See the Structure above. Ref. to Pent. (Deut. 7:6). (cf. Comp. Bible, Ap. 92; cf. Ps. 147:19, 20.)

earth = soil. Heb. addamah.

punish you = visit upon you, as in 3:14. Ref. to Pent. (Exo. 32:34). (cf. Comp. Bible, Ap. 92)

iniquities. Heb. `avah. (cf. Comp. Bible, Ap. 44).

Amos 3:3

Can two . . . ? Fig. Erotesis (in neg. affirmation). Ap. 6. This is the first of five parables. The answer to each is self-evident,

be agreed = have met together by appointment [of time and (place].

Amos 3:6

Shall . . . ? Fig Erotesis. (cf. Comp Bible, Ap. 6).

trumpet. Heb. shophar.

not be afraid = not run together.

evil = calamity; as in 5:13. Ps. 141:5.

Heb. ra'a'. = evil: not moral evil, but evil inflicted in judgment, (as in 5:13. Isa. 45:7. Jer. 18:11. Lam. 3:38).

and the LORD hath not done it? With the true meaning of "evil" Bullinger is of the view that there is no need to do violence to the Heb. to defend Yahovah's righteous dealings.

done = inflicted.

Amos 3:8

The lion hath roared. Fig. Hypocatastasis (cf. Comp. Bible, Ap. 6).

the Lord GOD hath spoken. Fig. Hermeneia (cf also Ap. 6 ibid). Explaining the Fig. Hypocatastasis. in the preceding line.

who can but prophesy ? Fig. Erotesis. (cf. Ap. 6 ibid). Some modern critics alter the Heb. to "be frightened", not seeing that it is through the prophets that God speaks (Heb 1:1).

Amos 3:12

taketh = rescueth, like a brand plucked from the burning.

a piece = the tip.

in a couch = [in the corner of] a couch: i.e. luxuriously. Cp. 6:1-4. Ellipsis (of Repetition). (cf. Ap. 6, ibid).

Amos 4:3

cow, i.e. woman.

at that which is before her = each woman through the breach [in the wall of Samaria].

before her i.e. without turning to the left or right. Cp. Jos. 6:5, 20.

ye shall cast them into the palace. Palace, Heb. harmon (see note on 1:4). Here it is Ha-Harmonah, which forms the Fig. Paronomasia (cf. Comp. Bible, Ap. 6) with 'arman (3:11). The clause is to be interpreted by 3:11, 12, end 5:27, and would then read: "ye shall be cast forth toward Ha-Harmon". The place is not known, but it may mean "ye women who are at ease in your palaces" (arman, 3:11, 12) will be cast forth into Ha-Harmonah: into exile. The text is not necessarily "corrupt" because we do not happen to know a place of that name.

Amos 4:4

Come to Beth-el, etc. Here we have Divine irony, as though it meant "Fill up the measure of your iniquity". Cp. Mat. 23:32.

transgress . . . transgression. Heb. pasha'. Ap. 44.

Beth-el . . . Gilgal. Cp. 3:14; 5:5; Hos 4:15; 9:15; 12:11.

after three years. The ref is to the Pent. (Num. 28:3. Deut. 14:28), (Ap. 92 ibid); not to "days", or to modern "Mohammedan pilgrimages".

Amos 4:7

The heavy rains of winter occur from the end of October to the end of February. The “Latter Rain” is in March and April.

The three months to the harvest is when the soil needs the rain most. To aggravate the punishment it falls where it is least needed and does not fall where it is needed.

Amos 4:9

Why build gardens since they will all be destroyed.

Palmerworm is also in Joel 1:4.

Amos 4:10

The way of Egypt is better in the manner of Egypt (cf. Isa. 10:24,26) and as severe as Egypt (cf. Ex. 9:3ff).

Amos 4:12

prepare to meet, etc. i.e. in judgment. cf. Ezek. 13:5; 22:30. Verses 11 and 12 are not "out of place" or an "interpolation", but are required by the Structure, "M", (Bullinger, p. 1236).

Amos 5:5

Bethel. Gilgal. Beer-sheba. Cp. Hos. 4:15; 10:8. These were the seats of Israel's idolatrous worship.

pass not = pass not through; which was necessary in order to get from the north to Beer-sheba in the south. Cp. 4:4; 8:14.

Gilgal shall surely go into captivity. Note the Fig. Paronomasia (Comp. Bible, Ap. 6), for emphasis. Heb. Gilgal galoh yigleh = The Roller, rolling, shall roll away: i.e. be utterly removed. This is emphasized by the Fig. Polyptoton (Ap. 6).

Amos 5:15

Hate the evil, he. Cp. Ps. 34:14; 97:10. Rom. 12:9, This concludes the last of the three exhortations.

it may be. Heb. ‘ulay. The whole verse is the exhortation: but the Heb, accent marks off this sentence, calling attention, not to uncertainty on the part of Yahovah, but to the difficulty on Israel's part; and this order to stimulate obedience to the exhortation. Cp. Ex. 32:30. 2Kgs. 19:4. Joel 2:14.

Joseph. Put by Fig. Synecdoche (of the Part), (Ap. 6 ibid), for the whole of the Northern Kingdom.

Amos 5:18

Woe. The first woe. See the Structure for the day of the LORD (cf. Day of the Lord and the Last Days (No. 192). (See Bullinger’s notes on Isa. 2:12; 13:6. Joel 2:1.)

darkness, and not light. Note the Fig. Pleonasm (Ap. 6) for emphasis. cf. Jer. 30:7. Joel 2:2. Zep. 1:15.

Amos 5:25

Have ye offered, &c . . . . ? Fig. Erotesis. Ap. 6. This is a question in some codices and three early printed editions; but other codices, and four early printed editions, read it as an affirmative statement. If a question, the answer is No. See Deut. 32:17. Jos 5:5-7. Jer. 7:22, 23. Ezek. 20:8, 16, 24.

unto Me, Not "unto demons". Ref to Pent. (Lev. 17:7. Deut. 32:17). (Ap. 92 ibid), (cf. Ps. 106:37. 1Cor. 10:7).

Amos 5:26

Chiun. The Egyptian or Greek equivalent was Remphan (Sept. Raiphan; another spelling preserved in the Sept. and in Act 7:43). Proper names frequently differ in spelling: e.g. Ethiopia is the Heb. Kush which may also mean Chaldea; Egypt is Mizraim; Mesopotamia and Syria is 'Aram, or 'Aram-naharaim, etc.

Amos 5:27

beyond Damascus. In Act 7:43 beyond Babylon, which was of course "beyond Damascus", and included it, showing what was in the Divine purpose in the words of Yahovah (v. 27) by Amos. Moreover, the road to Assyria lay through Damascus. Cp. 2Kgs 15:29; 16:9. Isa. 8:4. 3:12. One asks the question: May not God through the Holy Spirit quote and adapt His own words as He pleases?

Amos 6:1

'Woe. The second woe. See 5:18. them: i.e. the nobles of Judah, in comparison with the nobles of Israel (in Samaria) in the next clause. at ease = careless, secure, or easy-going.

trust = confide. Heb. batah. (cf. Ap. 69 op. cit).

Here Part. = them that confide.

which are named = [the men of] men, cf. Num. 1:17

chief of the nations: i.e. Israel. Ref. to Pent. (Ex. 19:5).(Ap. 92 ibid),

the house of Israel: i.e. the Northern Kingdom = the People of Israel.

came. Supply the Ellipsis: "came [for judgment and justice]", as shown by the rest of this member ("y¹").

Amos 6:10

a man's uncle = a relative

him i.e. the corpse burneth. See note on 4:10. Here, and 1Sam. 31:12 are the only two places where burning corpses is mentioned, etc. Both are exceptional cases, but it was the common practice of the Horites (Gen. 14:6; Deut. 2:12, 22) whose remains were found in the excavations at Gezer. See Bullinger’s note on 1Kgs 9:15-17.

bones; i.e. one reduced to a mere skeleton. Cp. Job 7:15; 19:20.

him that is, etc. i.e. the survivor.

by the sides of = in the midst of, or hinder part.

any: i.e. any alive or dead.

make mention of = call upon, or invoke. Cp. Isa. 26:13; 49:1; 62:6.

Amos 7:9

high places. Used for idolatrous altars, &c.

Isaac . . . Israel. Used only by Amos in this sense. Put by Fig. Metonymy (of Adjunct), Ap. 6 ibid, for the nation of Israel. Cp. Pe. 105:9, 10. Jer. 33:26, &c.

I will rise against, &c. Fulfilled in 2Kgs 15:10. Jeroboam. Cf. Hos. 1:4.

Amos 7:10

the priest. The idolatrous priest.

Beth-el. Cp. 3:14; 4:4; 5:5, 6.

conspired = formed a conspiracy; the calves being connected with Israel's state policy (1Kgs 12:26-33).

in the midst, &c. : i.e. openly. Cp. 7:8.

bear = endure.

Amos 7:11

Jeroboam shall die, etc. This charge was not true. Cp. Acts 17:6-7; Acts 24:5. Note what Amaziah omitted to repeat.

Amos 8:3

temple. The 1611 edition of the A.V. reads temples".

Amos 8:9

cause the sun. This determines the time of the fulfilment of this "threatening". See Isa. 13:10; 59:9, 10. Jer. 15:5. Joel 2:2; 3:15. Mic. 3:6. Can this refer to the earthquake of 1:1?

Amos 9:1

the LORD. One of the 134 places where the Sopherim say they altered "Yahovah" of the primitive text to "Adonai" (Ap. 2 ibid). See also Comp. Bible, Ap. 4. and II . Here it is combined with 'eth = Yahovah Himself.

upon beside, or by.

the altar. Probably the same altar at Beth-al where Jeroboam had once stood (1Kgs. 13:1). Cp. 7:13, lintel = capital. Render: "smite the capital, shake the foundations, cut them off [i.e. the pillars] by the head, all of them". and I will slay. This is the signification of the symbolical act.

the last of them: i.e. the remnant of the People.

Amos 9:11

In that day. Passing to the subject of the future restoration (see The Day of the Lord and Last Days (No. 192)). Quoted in Acts 15:14-18 of David. Erected on Zion by David (2Sam. 6:17. Cp. 7:6) before the Temple was built on Moriah by Solomon. In 7:7-9, it was seen to be "out of plumb", therefore on the point of falling. Here it is fallen down: hence the prophecy here given. In Acts 15 the time had come, had the people obeyed Peter's call in 3:18-21. But it was finally rejected (Acts 28:25-28), and this prophecy, therefore, yet awaits its fulfilment.

Amos 9:13

the plowman, etc. This shows that the fulfilment of this prophecy is yet in abeyance, for these temporal blessings were postponed on the rejection of the call to repentance in Acts 3:18-26. Cp. Acts 28:25-58. Note the ref. to Pent. (Lev. 26:5). Ap. 92 ibid.

the mountains, &c. Cp. Joel 3:18.

sweet wine = new wine. Heb. asis See Wine in the Bible (No. 188).

melt : i.e. dissolve into wine and oil. Fig. Hyperbole (Ap. 6), for emphasis.

Amos 9:15

I will plant. Ref to Pent, (Lev. 25:18, 19; 26:5). Ap. 92 ibid.

their land. Ref. to Pent. (Gen. 13:15, &c.) Ap. 92 ibid. Cp. Isa. 60:21. Jer. 24:6; 32:41. Ezek. 34:28; 37:25. Joel 3:20. Mic. 4:4.

no more be pulled up. Cp. Jer. 32:41.

which I have given them. This is the ground of' all the blessing. Ref. to Pent. (Num. 32:7, 9. Deut. 3:18; 26:15; 28:52). Ap. 92 ibid. Cp. Jos. 2:6, 15; 18:3; 23:13, 15. Jer. 25:5. The so-called "Priests "Code", according to most modern critics, was compiled by the priests in Babylon, and most of the Pentateuch is "post-exilic" (see Encycl. Brit., eleventh (Cambridge) edition, vol. 3, p. 852, col. I). Yet it was well known to Amos (cent. 7 B.C.) Cp. 2:4, 7, 8, 12; 4:4, 5; 5:12, 21, 22; 9:4, etc. Some even then try to use this false conjecture to justify the late origin of Amos.

saith = hath said.