3-6. Here follow several questions of a parable-like kind, to awaken conviction in the people.
Can two walk together, except they be agreed?--Can God's prophets be so unanimous in prophesying against you, if God's Spirit were not joined with them, or if their prophecies were false? The Israelites were "at ease," not believing that God was with the prophets in their denunciations of coming ruin to the nation ([Am 6:1], ; compare [1Ki 22:18], 24, 27; [Jr 43:2]). This accords with [Am 3:7], . So "I will be with thy mouth" ([Ex 4:12]; [Jr 1:8]; [Mt 10:20]). If the prophets and God were not agreed, the former could not predict the future as they do. In [Am 2:12] He had said, the Israelites forbade the prophets prophesying; therefore, in [Am 3:3], , He asserts the agreement between the prophets and God who spake by them against Israel [Rosenmuller]. Rather, "I once walked with you" ([Le 26:12]) as a Father and Husband ([Is 54:5]; [Jr 3:14]); but now your way and Mine are utterly diverse; there can therefore be no fellowship between us such as there was ([Am 3:2]); I will walk with you only to "punish you"; as a "lion" walks with his "prey" ([Am 3:4]), as a bird-catcher with a bird [Tarnovius]. The prophets, and all servants of God, can have no fellowship with the ungodly ([Psa 119:63]; [2Co 6:16], ; [Ep 5:11]; [Jas 4:4]).
7. his secret--namely, His purpose hidden from all, until it is revealed to His prophets (compare [Ge 18:17]). In a wider sense, God's will is revealed to all who love God, which it is not to the world ([Psa 25:14]; [Joh 15:15]; , ).
unto his servants--who being servants cannot but obey their Lord in setting forth His purpose (namely, that of judgment against Israel) ([Jr 20:9]; [Eze 9:11]). Therefore the fault which the ungodly find with them is groundless ([1Ki 18:17]). It aggravates Israel's sin, that God is not about to inflict judgment, without having fully warned the people, if haply they might repent.
8. As when "the lion roars" (compare [Am 1:2]; [Am 3:4]), none can help but "fear," so when Jehovah communicates His awful message, the prophet cannot but prophesy. Find not fault with me for prophesying; I must obey God. In a wider sense true of all believers ([Ac 4:20]; ).
9. Publish in ... palaces--as being places of greatest resort (compare [Mt 10:27]); and also as it is the sin of princes that he arraigns, he calls on princes (the occupants of the "palaces") to be the witnesses.
Ashdod--put for all Philistia. Convene the Philistine and the Egyptian magnates, from whom I have on various occasions rescued Israel. (The opposite formula to "Tell it not in Gath," namely, lest the heathen should glory over Israel). Even these idolaters, in looking on your enormities, will condemn you; how much more will the holy God?
upon the mountains of Samaria--on the hills surrounding and commanding the view of Samaria, the metropolis of the ten tribes, which was on a lower hill ([Am 4:1]; [1Ki 16:24]). The mountains are to be the tribunal on which the Philistines and Egyptians are to sit aloft to have a view of your crimes, so as to testify to the justice of your punishment ([Am 3:13]).
tumults--caused by the violence of the princes of Israel in "oppressions" of the poor ([Job 35:9]; [Ec 4:1]).
10. know not to do--Their moral corruption blinds their power of discernment so that they cannot do right ([Jr 4:22]). Not simple intellectual ignorance; the defect lay in the heart and will.
store up violence and robbery--that is, treasures obtained by "violence and robbery" ([Pr 10:2]).
11. Translate, "An adversary (the abruptness produces a startling effect)! and that too, from every side of the land." So in the fulfilment, [2Ki 17:5]: "The king of Assyria (Shalmaneser) came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years."
bring down thy strength from thee--that is, bring thee down from thy strength (the strength on which thou didst boast thyself): all thy resources ([Pr 10:15]).
palaces shall be spoiled--a just retribution in kind ([Am 3:10]). The palaces in which spoils of robbery were stored up, "shall be spoiled."
12. shepherd--a pastoral image, appropriately used by Amos, a shepherd himself.
piece of ... ear--brought by the shepherd to the owner of the sheep, so as not to have to pay for the loss ([Ge 31:39]; [Ex 22:13]). So if aught of Israel escapes, it shall be a miracle of God's goodness. It shall be but a scanty remnant. There is a kind of goat in the East the ears of which are a foot long, and proportionally broad. Perhaps the reference is to this. Compare on the image [1Sa 17:34], ; [2Ti 4:17].
that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed--that is, that live luxuriously in Samaria (compare [Am 6:1], ). "A bed" means here the Oriental divan, a raised part of the room covered with cushions.
in Damascus in a couch--Jeroboam II had lately restored Damascus to Israel ([2Ki 14:25], ). So the Israelites are represented as not merely in "the corner of a bed," as in Samaria, but "in a (whole) couch," at Damascus, living in luxurious ease. Of these, now so luxurious, soon but a remnant shall be left by the foe. The destruction of Damascus and that of Samaria shall be conjoined; as here their luxurious lives, and subsequently under Pekah and Rezin their inroads on Judah, were combined ([Is 7:1-8; 8]:4, 9; 17:3). The parallelism of "Samaria" to "Damascus," and the Septuagint favor English Version rather than Gesenius: "on a damask couch." The Hebrew pointing, though generally expressing damask, may express the city "Damascus"; and many manuscripts point it so. Compare for Israel's overthrow, [2Ki 17:5], ; [18:9-12].
13. testify in the house, &c.--that is, against the house of Jacob. God calls on the same persons as in [Am 3:9], namely, the heathen Philistines and the Egyptians to witness with their own eyes Samaria's corruptions above described, so that none may be able to deny the justice of Samaria's punishment [Maurer].
God of hosts--having all the powers of heaven and earth at His command, and therefore One calculated to strike terror into the hearts of the guilty whom He threatens.
14. That--rather, "since," or "for." This verse is not, as English Version translates, the thing which the witnesses cited are to "testify" ([Am 3:13]), but the reason why God calls on the heathen to witness Samaria's guilt; namely, in order to justify the punishment which He declares He will inflict.
I will also visit ... Beth-el--the golden calves which were the source of all "the transgressions of Israel" ([1Ki 12:32]; ; [2Ki 23:15], ), though Israel thought that by them their transgressions were atoned for and God's favor secured.
horns of the altar--which used to be sprinkled with the blood of victims. They were horn-like projecting points at the corners of ancient altars. The singular, "altar," refers to the great altar erected by Jeroboam to the calves. The "altars," plural, refer to the lesser ones made in imitation of the great one ([2Ch 34:5], compare with [1Ki 13:2]; [Ho 8:11]; ).
15. winter ... summer house--([Jud 3:20]; [Jr 36:22]). Winter houses of the great were in sheltered positions facing the south to get all possible sunshine, summer houses in forests and on hills, facing the east and north.
houses of ivory--having their walls, doors, and ceilings inlaid with ivory. So Ahab's house ([1Ki 22:39]; [Psa 45:8]).
Chapter 4
Am 4:1-13. Denunciation of Israel's Nobles for Oppression; and of the Whole Nation for Idolatry; and for Their Being Unreformed Even by God's Judgments: Therefore They Must Prepare for the Last and Worst Judgment of All
1. kine of Bashan--fat and wanton cattle such as the rich pasture of Bashan (east of Jordan, between Hermon and Gilead) was famed for ([De 32:14]; [Psa 22:12]; [Eze 39:18]). Figurative for those luxurious nobles mentioned, [Am 3:9], 10, 12, 15. The feminine, kine, or cows, not bulls, expresses their effeminacy. This accounts for masculine forms in the Hebrew being intermixed with feminine; the latter being figurative, the former the real persons meant.
say to their masters--that is, to their king, with whom the princes indulged in potations ([Ho 7:5]), and whom here they importune for more wine. "Bring" is singular, in the Hebrew implying that one "master" alone is meant.
2. The Lord--the same Hebrew as "masters" ([Am 4:1]). Israel's nobles say to their master or lord, Bring us drink: but "the Lord" of him and them "hath sworn," &c.
by his holiness--which binds Him to punish the guilty ([Psa 89:35]).
he will take yon away--that is God by the instrumentality of the enemy.
with hooks--literally, "thorns" (compare [2Ch 33:11]). As fish are taken out of the water by hooks, so the Israelites are to be taken out of their cities by the enemy ([Eze 29:4]; compare [Job 41:1], 2; [Jr 16:16]; [Ha 1:15]). The image is the more appropriate, as anciently captives were led by their conquerors by a hook made to pass through the nose ([2Ki 19:28]), as is to be seen in the Assyrian remains.
3. go out at the breaches--namely, of the city walls broken by the enemy.
every cow at that which is before her--figurative for the once luxurious nobles (compare "kine of Bashan," [Am 4:1]) shall go out each one right before her; not through the gates, but each at the breach before him, not turning to the right or left, apart from one another.
ye shall cast them into the palace--"them," that is, "your posterity," from [Am 4:2]. You yourselves shall escape through the breaches, after having cast your little children into the palace, so as not to see their destruction, and to escape the more quickly. Rather, "ye shall cast yourselves into the palace," so as to escape from it out of the city [Calvin]. The palace, the scene of the princes' riots ([Am 3:10], ; ), is to be the scene of their ignominious flight. Compare in the similar case of Jerusalem's capture, the king's escape by way of the palace, through a breach in the wall ([Eze 12:5], ). Gesenius translates, "Ye shall be cast (as captives) into the (enemy's) stronghold"; in this view, the enemy's stronghold is called "palace," in retributive contrast to the "palaces" of Israel's nobles, the store houses of their robberies ([Am 3:10]).
4. God gives them up to their self-willed idolatry, that they may see how unable their idols are to save them from their coming calamities. So [Eze 20:39].
Beth-el--([Am 3:14]).
Gilgal--([Ho 4:15]; ; ).
sacrifices every morning--as commanded in the law ([Nu 28:3], ). They imitated the letter, while violating by calf-worship the spirit, of the Jerusalem temple-worship.
after three years--every third year; literally, "after three (years of) days" (that is, the fullest complement of days, or a year); "after three full years." Compare [Le 25:20]; [Jud 17:10], and "the days" for the years, [Joe 1:2]. So a month of days is used for a full month, wanting no day to complete it ([Ge 29:14], Margin; [Nu 11:20], ). The Israelites here also kept to the letter of the law in bringing in the tithes of their increase every third year ([De 14:28]; ).
5. offer--literally, "burn incense"; that is, "offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with burnt incense and with leavened bread." The frankincense was laid on the meat offering, and taken by the priest from it to burn on the altar ([Le 2:1], 2, 8-11). Though unleavened cakes were to accompany the peace offering sacrifice of animals, leavened bread was also commanded ([Le 7:12], ), but not as a "meat offering" ([Le 2:11]).
this liketh you--that is, this is what ye like.
6-11. Jehovah details His several chastisements inflicted with a view to reclaiming them: but adds to each the same sad result, "yet have ye not returned unto Me" ([Is 9:13]; [Jr 5:3]; [Ho 7:10]); the monotonous repetition of the same burden marking their pitiable obstinacy.
cleanness of teeth--explained by the parallel, "want of bread." The famine alluded to is that mentioned in [2Ki 8:1] [Grotius]. Where there is no food to masticate, the teeth are free from uncleanness, but it is the cleanness of want. Compare [Pr 14:4], "Where no oxen are, the crib is clean." So spiritually, where all is outwardly smooth and clean, it is often because there is no solid religion. Better fighting and fears with real piety, than peace and respectable decorum without spiritual life.