3 And the songs H7892 of the temple H1964 shall be howlings H3213 in that day, H3117 saith H5002 the Lord H136 GOD: H3069 there shall be many H7227 dead bodies H6297 in every place; H4725 they shall cast them forth H7993 with silence. H2013
Take thou away H5493 from me the noise H1995 of thy songs; H7892 for I will not hear H8085 the melody H2172 of thy viols. H5035
And it shall come to pass, if there remain H3498 ten H6235 men H582 in one H259 house, H1004 that they shall die. H4191 And a man's uncle H1730 shall take him up, H5375 and he that burneth H5635 him, to bring out H3318 the bones H6106 out of the house, H1004 and shall say H559 unto him that is by the sides H3411 of the house, H1004 Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, H559 No. H657 Then shall he say, H559 Hold thy tongue: H2013 for we may not make mention H2142 of the name H8034 of the LORD. H3068
For death H4194 is come up H5927 into our windows, H2474 and is entered H935 into our palaces, H759 to cut off H3772 the children H5768 from without, H2351 and the young men H970 from the streets. H7339 Speak, H1696 Thus saith H5002 the LORD, H3068 Even the carcases H5038 of men H120 shall fall H5307 as dung H1828 upon the open H6440 field, H7704 and as the handful H5995 after H310 the harvestman, H7114 and none shall gather H622 them.
And I will turn H2015 your feasts H2282 into mourning, H60 and all your songs H7892 into lamentation; H7015 and I will bring up H5927 sackcloth H8242 upon all loins, H4975 and baldness H7144 upon every head; H7218 and I will make H7760 it as the mourning H60 of an only H3173 son, and the end H319 thereof as a bitter H4751 day. H3117
Then the angel H4397 of the LORD H3068 went forth, H3318 and smote H5221 in the camp H4264 of the Assyrians H804 a hundred H3967 and fourscore H8084 and five H2568 thousand: H505 and when they arose early H7925 in the morning, H1242 behold, they were all dead H4191 corpses. H6297
Therefore thus saith H559 the LORD H3068 concerning Jehoiakim H3079 the son H1121 of Josiah H2977 king H4428 of Judah; H3063 They shall not lament H5594 for him, saying, Ah H1945 my brother! H251 or, Ah H1945 sister! H269 they shall not lament H5594 for him, saying, Ah H1945 lord! H113 or, Ah H1945 his glory! H1935
The inhabitants H7934 of Samaria H8111 shall fear H1481 because of the calves H5697 of Bethaven: H1007 for the people H5971 thereof shall mourn H56 over it, and the priests H3649 thereof that rejoiced H1523 on it, for the glory H3519 thereof, because it is departed H1540 from it. It shall be also carried H2986 unto Assyria H804 for a present H4503 to king H4428 Jareb: H3377 Ephraim H669 shall receive H3947 shame, H1317 and Israel H3478 shall be ashamed H954 of his own counsel. H6098
Awake, H6974 ye drunkards, H7910 and weep; H1058 and howl, H3213 all ye drinkers H8354 of wine, H3196 because of the new wine; H6071 for it is cut off H3772 from your mouth. H6310
Be ye ashamed, H3001 O ye husbandmen; H406 howl, H3213 O ye vinedressers, H3755 for the wheat H2406 and for the barley; H8184 because the harvest H7105 of the field H7704 is perished. H6
Gird H2296 yourselves, and lament, H5594 ye priests: H3548 howl, H3213 ye ministers H8334 of the altar: H4196 come, H935 lie all night H3885 in sackcloth, H8242 ye ministers H8334 of my God: H430 for the meat offering H4503 and the drink offering H5262 is withholden H4513 from the house H1004 of your God. H430
I have sent H7971 among you the pestilence H1698 after the manner H1870 of Egypt: H4714 your young men H970 have I slain H2026 with the sword, H2719 and have taken away H7628 your horses; H5483 and I have made the stink H889 of your camps H4264 to come up H5927 unto your nostrils: H639 yet have ye not returned H7725 unto me, saith H5002 the LORD. H3068
Therefore the LORD, H3068 the God H430 of hosts, H6635 the Lord, H136 saith H559 thus; Wailing H4553 shall be in all streets; H7339 and they shall say H559 in all the highways, H2351 Alas! H1930 alas! H1930 and they shall call H7121 the husbandman H406 to mourning, H60 and such as are skilful H3045 of lamentation H5092 to wailing. H4553
The horseman H6571 lifteth up H5927 both the bright H3851 sword H2719 and the glittering H1300 spear: H2595 and there is a multitude H7230 of slain, H2491 and a great H3514 number of carcases; H6297 and there is none end H7097 of their corpses; H1472 they stumble H3782 H3782 upon their corpses: H1472
Open H6605 thy doors, H1817 O Lebanon, H3844 that the fire H784 may devour H398 thy cedars. H730 Howl, H3213 fir tree; H1265 for the cedar H730 is fallen; H5307 because the mighty H117 are spoiled: H7703 howl, H3213 O ye oaks H437 of Bashan; H1316 for the forest H3293 of the vintage H1208 H1219 is come down. H3381 There is a voice H6963 of the howling H3215 of the shepherds; H7462 for their glory H155 is spoiled: H7703 a voice H6963 of the roaring H7581 of young lions; H3715 for the pride H1347 of Jordan H3383 is spoiled. H7703
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Amos 8
Commentary on Amos 8 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 8
Am 8:1-14. Vision of a Basket of Summer Fruit Symbolical, of Israel's End. Resuming the Series of Symbols Interrupted by Amaziah, Amos Adds a Fourth. The Avarice of the Oppressors of the Poor: The Overthrow of the Nation: The Wish for the Means of Religious Counsel, when There Shall Be a Famine of the Word.
1. summer fruit—Hebrew, kitz. In Am 8:2 "end" is in Hebrew, keetz. The similarity of sounds implies that, as the summer is the end of the year and the time of the ripeness of fruits, so Israel is ripe for her last punishment, ending her national existence. As the fruit is plucked when ripe from the tree, so Israel from her land.
2. end—(Eze 7:2, 6).
3. songs of … temple—(Am 5:23). The joyous hymns in the temple of Judah (or rather, in the Beth-el "royal temple," Am 7:13; for the allusion is to Israel, not Judah, throughout this chapter) shall be changed into "howlings." Grotius translates, "palace"; compare Am 6:5, as to the songs there. But Am 5:23, and Am 7:13, favor English Version.
they shall cast them forth with silence—not as the Margin, "be silent." It is an adverb, "silently." There shall be such great slaughter as even to prevent the bodies being buried [Calvin]. There shall be none of the usual professional mourners (Am 5:16), but the bodies will be cast out in silence. Perhaps also is meant that terror, both of God (compare Am 6:10) and of the foe, shall close their lips.
4. Hear—The nobles needed to be urged thus, as hating to hear reproof.
swallow up the needy—or, "gape after," that is, pant for their goods; so the word is used, Job 7:2, Margin.
to make the poor … to fail—"that they (themselves) may be placed alone in the midst of the earth" (Isa 5:8).
5. So greedy are they of unjust gain that they cannot spare a single day, however sacred, from pursuing it. They are strangers to God and enemies to themselves, who love market days better than sabbath days; and they who have lost piety will not long keep honesty. The new moons (Nu 10:10) and sabbaths were to be kept without working or trading (Ne 10:31).
set forth wheat—literally, "open out" stores of wheat for sale.
ephah—containing three seahs, or above three pecks.
making … small—making it below the just weight to purchasers.
shekel great—taking from purchasers a greater weight of money than was due. Shekels used to be weighed out in payments (Ge 23:16). Thus they committed a double fraud against the law (De 25:13, 14).
6. buy … poor for silver … pair of shoes—that is, that we may compel the needy for money, or any other thing of however little worth, to sell themselves to us as bondmen, in defiance of Le 25:39; the very thing which brings down God's judgment (Am 2:6).
sell the refuse of … wheat—which contains no nutriment, but which the poor eat at a low price, being unable to pay for flour.
7. Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob—that is, by Himself, in whom Jacob's seed glory [Maurer]. Rather, by the spiritual privileges of Israel, the adoption as His peculiar people [Calvin], the temple, and its Shekinah symbol of His presence. Compare Am 6:8, where it means Jehovah's temple (compare Am 4:2).
never forget—not pass by without punishing (Am 8:2; Ho 8:13; 9:9).
8. the land … rise up wholly as a flood—The land will, as it were, be wholly turned into a flooding river (a flood being the image of overwhelming calamity, Da 9:26).
cast out and drowned, &c.—swept away and overwhelmed, as the land adjoining the Nile is by it, when flooding (Am 9:5). The Nile rises generally twenty feet. The waters then "cast out" mire and dirt (Isa 57:20).
9. "Darkness" made to rise "at noon" is the emblem of great calamities (Jer 15:9; Eze 32:7-10).
10. baldness—a sign of mourning (Isa 15:2; Jer 48:37; Eze 7:18).
I will make it as … mourning of an only son—"it," that is, "the earth" (Am 8:9). I will reduce the land to such a state that there shall be the same occasion for mourning as when parents mourn for an only son (Jer 6:26; Zec 12:10).
11. famine of … hearing the words of the Lord—a just retribution on those who now will not hear the Lord's prophets, nay even try to drive them away, as Amaziah did (Am 7:12); they shall look in vain, in their distress, for divine counsel, such as the prophets now offer (Eze 7:26; Mic 3:7). Compare as to the Jews' rejection of Messiah, and their consequent rejection by Him (Mt 21:43); and their desire for Messiah too late (Lu 17:22; Joh 7:34; 8:21). So, the prodigal when he had sojourned awhile in the "far-off country, began to be in want" in the "mighty famine" which arose (Lu 15:14; compare 1Sa 3:1; 7:2). It is remarkable that the Jews' religion is almost the only one that could be abolished against the will of the people themselves, on account of its being dependent on a particular place, namely, the temple. When that was destroyed, the Mosaic ritual, which could not exist without it, necessarily ceased. Providence designed it, that, as the law gave way to the Gospel, so all men should perceive it was so, in spite of the Jews' obstinate rejection of the Gospel.
12. they shall wander from sea to sea—that is, from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean, from east to west.
from … north … to … east—where we might expect "from north to south." But so alienated was Israel from Judah, that no Israelite even then would think of repairing southward, that is, to Jerusalem for religious information. The circuit is traced as in Nu 34:3, &c., except that the south is omitted. Their "seeking the word of the Lord" would not be from a sincere desire to obey God, but under the pressure of punishment.
13. faint for thirst—namely, thirst for hearing the words of the Lord, being destitute of all other comfort. If even the young and strong faint, how much more the infirm (Isa 40:30, 31)!
14. swear by the sin of Samaria—namely, the calves (De 9:21; Ho 4:15). "Swear by" means to worship (Ps 63:11).
The manner—that is, as "the way" is used (Ps 139:24; Ac 9:2), the mode of worship.
Thy god, O Dan—the other golden calf at Dan (1Ki 22:26-30).
liveth … liveth—rather, "May thy god … live … may the manner … live." Or, "As (surely as) thy god, O Dan, liveth." This is their formula when they swear; not "May Jehovah live!" or, "As Jehovah liveth!"