saith] The word used here, and in twenty other places by the prophet (n'um), has far more significance than the English suggests. It means the utterance, perhaps the secret utterance or oracle, of God to His prophet, and by him delivered to others. Here it forms the solemn close of this part of the prophecy. The frequency of the word in Amos is worthy of notice. It occurs only four times in Hosea, and once in Joel. It is most common in Jeremiah and Ezekiel,

Gesenius renders the passage thus: "Ecce ego deprimam vos, sicut comprimit plaustrum, plenum mergitibus, sc. quæ sub eo sunt" (Thes.' pp. 1003-4); and elsewhere (ib. p. 1496) he translates the first words, "Ego vos deprimam deorsum," assigning a meaning to nnn which is not proved by the passage he quotes (Job xl. 12) or by any other. If the verb is regarded as transitive, the words should mean, “I press under you," which would be very obscure, and the absence of any object after the verb in the second clause would be difficult to explain. All becomes easy, simple, and natural if the verb in both clauses is taken intransitively. And the usage of the Hebrew language allows this. It is quite true that the Hiphil of py might mean to press or squeeze,

CHAP. III. 1. Hear this word] This solemn preface is thrice used. Here, and again in iv. 1, v. 1. Though Israel is mainly warned and rebuked in this prophecy, Judah is indirectly admonished. Both are included in the whole family.

2. You only have I known] Known unto God are all men, and He is good to all (Ps. cxlv. 9), for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. v. 45). In the other families of the earth He left not Himself without witness (Acts xiv. 17). But to Israel He had made Himself known as He had not

as the Kal probably meant "to be pressed." This, however, is the only place in the Old Testament where the verb is found. But it should be remembered that verbs in the Hiphil form cannot always be rendered as causatives in other languages. Illustrative instances may be found in Gesenius's Grammar,' § 53, Rem. 1, and Ewald, 'Lehrbuch,' § 122, C. 7th Ed. To these may be added 2 (Ps. xii. 5) and " (Dan. xii. 3). Such evidence seems sufficient to shew that the word used by the prophet may well mean, to shew or feel pressure. This view is supported by the Vulg., which has, Ecce ego stridebo subter vos, sicut stridet plaustrum onustum fœno. And St Cyril, in his commentary, explains the passage in the same way.

seen fit to do to them. Israel was specially loved, protected, and ruled by Him: cf. Gen. xviii. 19 and the note there. Family is here employed in a wide sense. So it is used in the promise of God to Abraham (Gen. xii. 3): In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

therefore, &c.] Israel's sins were not like those of other nations. They were sins against light and love. Mercy, favour, and instruction had been lavished upon them, Thus they had more to answer for, their guilt was greater. Therefore He Who chose them would punish them. But however severe the punishment, God visited His people in love. He did

not cast them off. Chastisement was a token of His love. He would not let them be as others who knew Him not. By judgments, by warnings, by threats He would bring them back to Himself; and if they did not return to Him, it would be only because they would not.

3-8. The key to these short parables that follow is in the words of vv. 7, 8. No prophet speaks his own words, utters his own thoughts, expresses his own fears and forebodings. He has been admitted to share some of the secret counsels of God (v. 7), whose servant he is. And he may not, nay, he cannot conceal what has been revealed to him. He must prophesy. Whether, therefore, Israel would listen or not, Amos has a message from God to deliver, he must give warning of impending judgments. And he explains the necessity that is laid upon him by illustrations drawn from ordinary life, all of which shew that where there is a cause we look for an effect, and where we observe an effect we are sure that there must be a cause. Further, all the images employed except the first are such as fill the mind with alarm.

3. Can two walk, &c.] Or, Will or Do two walk together? Does not their walking together necessarily imply that they previously agreed upon time and place of meeting, and that they have a common object in view? The question, if taken in connection with the previous verses, would suggest the thought of Israel's stubborn refusal to walk in the ways of God, and it might remind them of the language used in the Law: If ye will not be reformed by Me, but will walk contrary unto Me; then will I also walk contrary unto you (Lev. xxvi. 23, 24). If regarded as an introduction to what follows, the question may imply that the words of the prophet and the judgments of God could not agree by mere accident.

4. Will a lion roar, &c.] The lion roars when he is about to spring on his prey: thus he gives terrible warning of his approach. In the latter part of the verse the figure is inverted: the young lion growls in his lair over the prey he has taken.

5. Can a bird, &c.] It is difficult to dis

tinguish the words here rendered snare and gin. Perhaps the former stands for the whole, the latter for that part in which the bird is entangled.

shall one take up a snare] That is, will the fowler do this? Or it may mean, will the snare rise up, start, spring up. The meaning of the verse will thus be: "When a bird lights on the snare it is taken; and when it is taken the snare rises, and so shews what has happened."

6. Shall a trumpet be blown] The reference may be to the office of a watchman set upon the wall to sound an alarm when he seeth the sword come upon the land. See Ezek. xxxiii. 2 foll.

The evil here mentioned is clearly to be understood in the sense of calamity. The prophets sounded the alarm of coming evil. Should not the people tremble? When the threatened evil came, could it be doubted that it was from the Lord? This illustration leads naturally to what follows in the two next verses.

7. Surely the Lord GOD] Surely, lit. For. God is here printed in capitals because it represents the word in the Hebrew text which we pronounce Jehovah.

be revealeth his secret, &c.] The word here rendered secret is most commonly so translated in the A. V. Its primary meaning is the meeting of those who converse or take counsel together, as in Jer. vi. 11: the assembly of young men. Hence it gets the sense of deliberation (Prov. XV. 22, counsel), familiar intercourse (Job xix. 19, my inward friends, see the margin and note), and then, as here, of secret. In past times God had thus revealed His secret purpose to Noah (Gen. vi. 13), to Abraham (ib. xviii. 17), to Joseph (ib. xli. 16), to Moses the plagues of Egypt.

8. The lion hath roared] With this image Amos had begun his prophecy, ch. i. 2. When the Lord utters His voice from Zion, who shall not fear? Still, whether men would fear or not, the duty of the prophet was the same. A necessity was laid upon him. If he were tempted to keep silence, he could not. The words of Jeremiah (xx. 9) would express the

experience of all who shrank from executing their commission.

9. Publish, &c.] These we may suppose to be the words of God instructing His prophets in the proclamation they were to make. It was to be delivered after the Oriental manner (cf. Matt. x. 27), not in, but literally on the palaces of Ashdod and Egypt, on their flat broad roofs, that high and low might hear. The Philistines and Egyptians were thus to be summoned to witness the enormities of which God's people were guilty. Why these nations are singled out is not clear. The former had been foremost among the enemies of Israel after their entrance into Canaan. The latter about this time was not unfriendly (cf. Hos. vii. 11, xii. 1); but it was the earliest and most grievous oppressor of Israel. Other nations threatened by Amos-Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, Syrians-were more or less connected with Israel. Tyre too, though alien in blood, had been a close ally (Amos i. 9). Neither Philistia nor Egypt had any affinity with God's people, and perhaps on this account are selected as witnesses of Samaria's guilt and humiliation.

the mountains of Samaria] are the mountains that encircle the capital built by Omri, the father of Ahab (1 K. xvi. 24), called Samaria, after the name of the original owner of the place, Shemer. Its site is very remarkable. "The fine round swelling hill, or almost mountain of Samaria, stands alone in the midst of this great basin of some two hours in diameter, surrounded by higher mountains on every side......The situation is one of great beauty" (Robinson's Palestine, III. p. 138, 139). "The view from the summit of the hill presents a splendid panorama of the fertile basin and the mountains around" (ib. p. 644). "It would be difficult to find, in all Palestine, a situation of equal strength, fertility, and beauty combined" (ib. p. 146). The hill rises 300 feet above the level of the plain.

the mountains of Samaria are mentioned elsewhere only by Jeremiah (xxxi. 5). They are so close to the city that one who stood upon them could observe what passed among its terraces. The language of Amos therefore is most exact.

From these heights the enemies are invited

to behold the great tumults, the disorders and confusion of a city where right was overpowered by might, and the oppressed, or better multiplied, that were suffered by the weak, (as in margin), the oppressions, various and and that not in some obscure quarters, but in the midst thereof, pervading the city and visible to all. Amos uses two phrases for the in the midst thereof. The second might be translated in her heart, or centre.

10. For they know not to do right] In the Hebrew it is simply, And they know not. They, the citizens of Samaria, had become so corrupt that they no longer knew, had no sense of right: what was straightforward, is the meaning of the word.

who store up] In the Hebrew this is a participle, the storers, making the phrase more emphatic and personal (cf. ii. 7). And what did they store up? To them it seemed that their palaces were filled with silver and gold, with corn and wine, with whatever could minister to their convenience or luxury. But in the eyes of the Lord they stored up violence and robbery, for all was gained unjustly, wrung by oppression from the weak. And they had been in fact only treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath (Rom. ii. 5).

11. An adversary, &c.] The language of the prophet is more abrupt and striking. It is literally, A foe, and round the land. The occupying the land. The name by which he enemy is seen as already investing the city and is called is not descriptive of enmity, like the common word for enemy, but expresses hemming in, straitening, closing in upon, an object. The palaces in which violence and robbery had been stored should be spoiled in requital by the invader.

he shall bring down thy strength from thee] Abase thy pride, lay low that in which thou trustest for defence (as the same verb is used in Isai. lxiii. 6; Obad. 4), and not only bring down thy strength, but from thee, taking it away from thee, stripping thee of it, spoiling thy treasures, and carrying captive thy people. The siege of Samaria lasted three years. For the facts and the causes of the captivity see 2 K. xvii. 3-23.

12. The materials of the prophet's illustration were no doubt supplied by his own

experience. With his own hand he may have done what the shepherd is described as doing. Attention has already been drawn to the frequency of the mention of lions by Amos (note on i. 2). The shepherd pursues and attacks the lion, but all that he recovers is the most worthless parts, the two shank-bones and a bit or tip of the ear. Harmer ('Observations,' Vol. II. p. 326, 327) ingeniously supposes that the prophet here refers to a large-eared kind of goat, which is still common about Jerusalem. He quotes a traveller who said that he had seen goats about Jerusalem with hanging ears, almost two feet long. For an engraving and other particulars see Smith's 'Bible Dict.' App. p. lvi.

These parts the shepherd not simply taketh out of the mouth of the lion, but, better, as in margin, delivereth, or rescueth, for the word, as here used, means deliverance from difficulty or peril. Thus should it be with the people. Only a remnant, impoverished and despised, should be rescued, because the enemy would not trouble himself about them. So when Judah was carried captive, the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen (2 K. xxv. 12). In contrast with this observe the image under which the indolent ease and security of the nation are described. They dwell (lit. sit) in Samaria in the corner of a bed, on a seat of honour on the divan, where the two cushioned sides meet.

and in Damascus in a couch] Damascus had been taken by Jeroboam II. (2 K. xiv. 28), and this most lovely city was to his subjects like a canopied bed (such is the exact meaning of the word translated couch), serving them for state and luxury. The very different rendering in the margin, on the bed's feet, intimates that the Hebrew words are obscure. For a statement of the difficulties and a defence of the text, see Note below.

13. Hear ye, and testify, &c.] The prophets or priests, or those whose duty it was to warn the nation, are here bidden first to bear the divine threatening, and then to testify not in, merely, but against the house of Jacob. Thus the same phrase is commonly rendered as in Deut. iv. 26, xxx. 19. And this is not the language of the prophet. It is the utterance (see on ii. 16) of the Lord Jehovah, the God of Hosts, of Him who made all things in

heaven and earth (Gen. ii. 1), and whom all things obey.

word is used as before in chaps. i. and ii. It 14. the transgressions of Israel] The same properly means rebellion, and so designates more heinous offences against God. In this verse both the altars of Beth-el, and the altar are mentioned. We read of only one altar set up by Jeroboam in Beth-el. Those here spoken of would seem to have been set up after his example, though without authority. His altar appears to have been made after the pattern of God's altar in Jerusalem. Here its borns are specified. These were projections of the shape of horns, rising at each of the four corners (Exod. xxvii. 2), on which some of the victim's blood was put (Exod. xxix. 12). altar (1 K. xiii. 2) is here repeated, and it is The prediction uttered against Jeroboam's further specified that the horns shall be cut off, or bewed down by an enemy.

15. And I will smite, &c.] We read (Judg. iii. 20) of Eglon's summer parlour (in the margin, parlour of cooling), and of the winter house, in which king Jehoiakim was sitting when the prophet's roll was read to him (Jer. xxxvi. 22). By these expressions, as well as those in the text, we are probably to understand not distinct houses, but different

apartments in the same house. Thomson says, "Such language is easily understood by an Oriental. In common parlance the lower apartments are simply el beit-the house; the house. Every respectable dwelling has both, upper is the ullîyeh, which is the summer and they are familiarly called beit shetawy and beit seify-winter and summer house. If these are on the same storey, then the external and airy apartment is the summer house, and that for winter is the interior and more sheltered room. It is rare to meet a family that has an entirely separate dwelling for summer" (The Land and the Book,' p. 309). Whether, however, we suppose the prophet to speak of separate houses or not, his words imply that he was referring to the domestic habits of the wealthy and luxurious. Hence the mention of houses of ivory, that is, in which ceilings, walls, floors and furniture were adorned with ivory. Of Ahab alone it is recorded that he made an ivory house (1 K. xxii. 39). Solomon made a great throne of ivory (1 K. x. 18). The increase of luxury in the prophet's days

of Beth-el: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.

15 And I will smite the winter

is intimated by his mention of beds of ivory (vi. 4) as an article of furniture among the rich. The word translated great may equally

house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD.

mean many, and is so rendered in Isai. v. 9. If the word is taken in the latter sense it points to the wide extent of the ruin threatened.

439

monly elsewhere, p (i. 3, v. 27). are, however, various readings, p

There

pp, supported by MSS. The particulars may be seen in De Rossi, and Jahn's

Ed.

The ancient translators understood the word to represent Damascus, and it is probable that they were right. In modern times it has been supposed by several critics that the word stands for a costly silk stuff, "damask," as we call it, using a name derived from that of the city. But there is no evidence that the word had this meaning in the days of Amos. In the time of Ezekiel (xxvii. II) it is not silk, but "white wool," for which Damascus was famous. Appeal is made to certain Arabic words in support of this view, but their forms do not appear to be derived from the name of the city. In Arabic, Damascus is

CHAP. IV. 1. kine of Bashan] In figurative language princes and the mighty are spoken of as fatlings of Bashan (Ezek. xxxix. 18), and fierce, strong, unrelenting enemies are called strong bulls of Bashan (Ps. xxii. 12, and note there). Here the prophet speaks of kine, and it might be supposed that in this phrase he pointed to women, who by their self-indulgent lives and extravagance occasioned the oppression of the weak and needy, because they required from their husbands whatever could gratify their wishes. But he has not used the feminine gender throughout, using the masculine several times. Thus in the Hebrew, Hear ye, their masters, upon you, shall take you, are masculine; that oppress, that crush, that say, your posterity, ye shall go out, each before her, ye shall cast, are feminine. The language therefore is ambigu

Vox peregr. dicitur quoque

دمقس

et do Sericum crudum. Kam. Dj.; aliis Pannus sericus, alius alous propr. Amru '1 Kais,

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ous, and will apply at least as well to the dissolute nobles of Samaria as to their wives. When the prophet addresses them as kine of Bashan, he reproaches them with their effeminacy combined with cruelty. While they could get what they wanted they cared not what misery they inflicted. They habitually oppressed the poor and crushed the needy, secretly and openly, by fraud and violence. Such is the force of the prophet's words. They were always saying to their master, that is, their lord or king, Bring, and let us drink. The word translated masters, though plural in form, stands for the singular in Hebrew, and is so rendered in other places in our A. V., e.g. Gen. xl. 1; 2 S. x. 3. Compare Hos. vii. 5, where the princes are represented as encouraging the king to drink to excess.

2. God swears by the holiness which they