--- title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible" author: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 520 of 927 url: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/520/ cite: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, section 520. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/520/" --- # Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible *Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown* The Victorian standard commentary, critical and practical, from Genesis to Revelation. ## 520. Amos · 6 of 8 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/520/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/520/#p-N [¶0] 6. drink ... in bowls--in the large vessels or basins in which wine was mixed; not satisfied with the smaller cups from which it was ordinarily drunk, after having been poured from the large mixer. [¶1] chief ointments--that is, the most costly: not for health or cleanliness, but wanton luxury. [¶2] not grieved for the affliction of Joseph--literally, "the breach," that is, the national wound or calamity ([Psa 60:2]; [Eze 34:4]) of the house of Joseph ([Am 5:6]); resembling in this the heartlessness of their forefathers, the sons of Jacob, towards Joseph, "eating bread" while their brother lay in the pit, and then selling him to Ishmaelites. [¶3] 7. Therefore ... shall they go captive with the first--As they were first among the people in rank ([Am 6:1]), and anointed themselves "with the chief ointments" ([Am 6:6]), so shall they be among the foremost in going into captivity. [¶4] banquet--literally, the "merry-making shout of revellers"; from an Arabic root, "to cry out." In the Hebrew, marzeach; here, there is an allusion to mizraqu, "bowls" ([Am 6:6]). [¶5] them that stretched themselves--on luxurious couches ([Am 6:4]). [¶6] 8. the excellency of Jacob--([Psa 47:4]). The sanctuary which was the great glory of the covenant-people [Vatablus], ([Eze 24:21]). The priesthood, and kingdom, and dignity, conferred on them by God. These, saith God, are of no account in My eyes towards averting punishment [Calvin]. [¶7] hate his palaces--as being the storehouses of "robbery" ([Am 3:10], ). How sad a change from God's love of Zion's gates ([Psa 87:2]) and palaces ([Psa 48:3], ), owing to the people's sin! [¶8] the city--collectively: both Zion and Samaria ([Am 6:1]). [¶9] all that is therein--literally, "its fulness"; the multitude of men and of riches in it (compare [Psa 24:1]). [¶10] 9. If as many as ten ([Le 26:26]; [Zec 8:23]) remain in a house (a rare case, and only in the scattered villages, as there will be scarcely a house in which the enemy will leave any), they shall all, to a man, die of the plague, a frequent concomitant of war in the East ([Jr 24:10]; ; [Eze 6:11]). [¶11] 10. a man's uncle--The nearest relatives had the duty of burying the dead ([Ge 25:9]; ; [Jud 16:31]). No nearer relative was left of this man than an uncle. [¶12] and he that burneth him--the uncle, who is also at the same time the one that burneth him (one of the "ten," [Am 6:9]). Burial was the usual Hebrew mode of disposing of their dead. But in cases of necessity, as when the men of Jabesh-gilead took the bodies of Saul and his three sons from the walls of Beth-shan and burned them to save them from being insulted by the Philistines, burning was practised. So in this case, to prevent contagion. [¶13] the bones--that is, the dead body ([Ge 50:25]). Perhaps here there is an allusion in the phrase to the emaciated condition of the body, which was little else but skin and bones. [¶14] say unto him that is by the sides of the house--that is, to the only one left of the ten in the interior of the house [Maurer] (compare Note, see on [Is 14:13]). [¶15] Hold thy tongue ... we may not ... mention ... the Lord--After receiving the reply, that none is left besides the one addressed, when the man outside fancies the man still surviving inside to be on the point, as was customary, of expressing devout gratitude to God who spared him, the man outside interrupts him, "Hold thy tongue! for there is not now cause for mentioning with praise ([Jos 23:7]) the name of Jehovah"; for thou also must die; as all the ten are to die to the last man ([Am 6:9]; compare [Am 8:3]). Formerly ye boasted in the name of Jehovah, as if ye were His peculiar people; now ye shall be silent and shudder at His name, as hostile to you, and as one from whom ye wish to be hidden ([Re 6:16]), [Calvin]. [¶16] 11. commandeth, and he will smite--His word of command, when once given, cannot but be fulfilled ([Is 55:11]). His mere word is enough to smite with destruction. [¶17] great house ... little house--He will spare none, great or small ([Am 3:15]). Jerome interprets "the great house" as Israel, and "the small house" as Judah: the former being reduced to branches or ruins, literally, "small drops"; the latter, though injured with "clefts" or rents, which threaten its fall, yet still permitted to stand. [¶18] 12. In turning "judgment (justice) into gall (poison), and ... righteousness into hemlock" (or wormwood, bitter and noxious), ye act as perversely as if one were to make "horses run upon the rock" or to "plough with oxen there" [Maurer]. As horses and oxen are useless on a rock, so ye are incapable of fulfilling justice [Grotius]. Ye impede the course of God's benefits, because ye are as it were a hard rock on which His favor cannot run. "Those that will not be tilled as fields, shall be abandoned as rocks" [Calvin]. [¶19] 13. rejoice in a thing of naught--that is, in your vain and fleeting riches. [¶20] Have we not taken to us horns--that is, acquired power, so as to conquer our neighbors ([2Ki 14:25]). Horns are the Hebrew symbol of power, being the instrument of strength in many animals ([Psa 75:10]). [¶21] 14. from the entering in of Hamath--the point of entrance for an invading army (as Assyria) into Israel from the north; specified here, as Hamath had been just before subjugated by Jeroboam II ([Am 6:2]). Do not glory in your recently acquired city, for it shall be the starting-point for the foe to afflict you. How sad the contrast to the feast of Solomon attended by a congregation from this same Hamath, the most northern boundary of Israel, to the Nile, the river of Egypt, the most southern boundary! [¶22] unto the river of the wilderness--that is, to Kedron, which empties itself into the north bay of the Dead Sea below Jericho ([2Ch 28:15]), the southern boundary of the ten tribes ([2Ki 14:25], "from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain") [Maurer]. To the river Nile, which skirts the Arabian wilderness and separates Egypt from Canaan [Grotius]. If this verse includes Judah, as well as Israel (compare [Am 6:1], "Zion" and "Samaria"), Grotius' view is correct; and it agrees with [1Ki 8:65]. ### Chapter 7 [¶24] [Am. 7:1-9]. The seventh, eighth, and ninth chapters contain Visions, with Their Explanations. The seventh chapter consists of two parts. First ([Am 7:1-9]): Prophecies Illustrated by Three Symbols: (1) A vision of grasshoppers or young locusts, which devour the grass, but are removed at Amos' entreaty; (2) Fire drying up even the deep, and withering part of the land, but removed at Amos' entreaty; (3) A plumb-line to mark the buildings for destruction. Secondly ([Am 7:10-17]): Narrative of Amaziah's Interruption of Amos in Consequence of the Foregoing Prophecies, and Prediction of His Doom. [¶25] 1. showed ... me; and, behold--The same formula prefaces the three visions in this chapter, and the fourth in [Am 8:1]. [¶26] grasshoppers--rather, "locusts" in the caterpillar state, from a Hebrew root, "to creep forth." In the autumn the eggs are deposited in the earth; in the spring the young come forth [Maurer]. [¶27] the latter growth--namely, of grass, which comes up after the mowing. They do not in the East mow their grass and make hay of it, but cut it off the ground as they require it. [¶28] the king's mowings--the first-fruits of the mown grass, tyrannically exacted by the king from the people. The literal locusts, as in Joel, are probably symbols of human foes: thus the "growth" of grass "after the king's mowings" will mean the political revival of Israel under Jeroboam II ([2Ki 14:25]), after it had been mown down, as it were, by Hazael and Ben-hadad of Syria ([2Ki 13:3]), [Grotius]. [¶29] 2. by whom shall Jacob arise?--If Thou, O God, dost not spare, how can Jacob maintain his ground, reduced as he is by repeated attacks of the Assyrians, and erelong about to be invaded by the Assyrian Pul ([2Ki 15:19], )? Compare [Is 51:19]. The mention of "Jacob" is a plea that God should "remember for them His covenant" with their forefather, the patriarch ([Psa 106:45]). [¶30] he is small--reduced in numbers and in strength. [¶31] 3. repented for this--that is, of this. The change was not in the mind of God ([Nu 2:19]; [Jas 1:17]), but in the effect outwardly. God unchangeably does what is just; it is just that He should hear intercessory prayer ([Jas 5:16-18]), as it would have been just for Him to have let judgment take its course at once on the guilty nation, but for the prayer of one or two righteous men in it (compare [Ge 18:23-33]; [1Sa 15:11]; [Jr 42:10]). The repentance of the sinner, and God's regard to His own attributes of mercy and covenanted love, also cause God outwardly to deal with him as if he repented ([Jon 3:10]), whereas the change in outward dealing is in strictest harmony with God's own unchangeableness. [¶32] It shall not be--Israel's utter overthrow now. Pul was influenced by God to accept money and withdraw from Israel. [¶33] 4. called to contend--that is, with Israel judicially ([Job 9:3]; [Is 66:16]; [Eze 38:22]). He ordered to come at His call the infliction of punishment by "fire" on Israel, that is, drought (compare [Am 4:6-11]), [Maurer]. Rather, war ([Nu 21:28]), namely, Tiglath-pileser [Grotius]. [¶34] devoured the ... deep--that is, a great part of Israel, whom he carried away. Waters are the symbol for many people ([Re 17:15]). [¶35] did eat up a part--namely, all the land (compare [Am 4:7]) of Israel east of Jordan ([1Ch 5:26]; [Is 9:1]). This was a worse judgment than the previous one: the locusts ate up the grass: the fire not only affects the surface of the ground, but burns up the very roots and reaches even to the deep. [¶36] 7. wall made by a plumb-line--namely, perpendicular. [¶37] 8. plumb-line in ... midst of ... Israel--No longer are the symbols, as in the former two, stated generally; this one is expressly applied to Israel. God's long-suffering is worn out by Israel's perversity: so Amos ceases to intercede (compare [Ge 18:33]). The plummet line was used not only in building, but in destroying houses ([2Ki 21:13]; [Is 28:17]; ; [La 2:8]). It denotes that God's judgments are measured out by the most exact rules of justice. Here it is placed "in the midst" of Israel, that is, the judgment is not to be confined to an outer part of Israel, as by Tiglath-pileser; it is to reach the very center. This was fulfilled when Shalmaneser, after a three years' siege of Samaria, took it and carried away Israel captive finally to Assyria ([2Ki 17:3], [5, 6], ). [¶38] not ... pass by ... any more--not forgive them any more ([Am 8:2]; [Pr 19:11]; [Mi 7:18]). [¶39] 9. high places--dedicated to idols. [¶40] of Isaac--They boasted of their following the example of their forefather Isaac, in erecting high places at Beer-sheba ([Am 5:5]; compare [Ge 26:23], ; ); but he and Abraham erected them before the temple was appointed at Jerusalem--and to God; whereas they did so, after the temple had been fixed as the only place for sacrifices--and to idols. In the Hebrew here "Isaac" is written with s, instead of the usual ts; both forms mean "laughter"; the change of spelling perhaps expresses that their "high places of Isaac" may be well so called, but not as they meant by the name; for they are only fit to be laughed at in scorn. Probably, however, the mention of "Isaac" and "Israel" simply expresses that these names, which their degenerate posterity boasted in as if ensuring their safety, will not save them and their idolatrous "sanctuaries" on which they depended from ruin (compare [Am 8:14]). [¶41] house of Jeroboam with ... sword--fulfilled in the extinction of Zachariah, son of Jeroboam II, the last of the descendants of Jeroboam I, who had originated the idolatry of the calves ([2Ki 15:8-10]). [¶42] [Am. 7:10-17]. Amaziah's Charge against Amos: His Doom Foretold. [¶43] 10. priest of Beth-el--chief priest of the royal sanctuary to the calves at Beth-el. These being a device of state policy to keep Israel separate from Judah. Amaziah construes Amos words against them as treason. So in the case of Elijah and Jeremiah ([1Ki 18:17]; [Jr 37:13], ). So the antitype Jesus was charged ([Joh 19:12]); political expediency being made in all ages the pretext for dishonoring God and persecuting His servants ([Joh 11:48-50]). So in the case of Paul ([Ac 17:6], ; ). [¶44] in the midst of ... Israel--probably alluding to Amos' own words, "in the midst of ... Israel" ([Am 7:8]), foretelling the state's overthrow to the very center. Not secretly, or in a corner, but openly, in the very center of the state, so as to upset the whole utterly.