Nat. Hit.:dorri
-wholly confumed all the grafs of the land; then the prophet faid what follows: then I faid, O Lord God, forgive I befeech thee; the fins of the people, as the Targum, which were the caufe of thefe locufts coming, or of the Afjrian army invading the land; andsthe prophet prays that God would avert this judgement, fienified in this vifion, or remoye it; which is often in feripture meant by the forgivenefs of fin, Exod. xxxii. 31, 32. Numb. xiv. 19. 1 Kings viii. 33, 34, 36, 37, 39. this is the bufinefs. of the prophets and minifters of the Lord,. to intercede for a people when ruin is near; and happy is that people, when they have fuch to ftand up in the breach for them. The argument the prophet ufes is, dy whom fhall Facob arife'? for he is {mall ot little*; like the firft fhooting up of the grafs, after it has been mown: or as Noldius » renders ity; Low otherwife /hould Facob fland? and fo Kimchi, how should there be a ftanding for him? that is, unlefs God forgives his fin, and turns away his wrath, how fhall he ftand up under the weight of his fins, which muft lie upon him, unlefs forgiven’? and how fhall he bear the wrath and indignation of God for them? and fo if any finner is not forgiven, how fhall he ftand before God to. ferve and worfhip him now? or at his tribunal with confidence hereafter?' or fuftain his wrath and difpleafure to all eternity? fee Pf cxxx. 3, 4. or,. who of or tn Facobd fhall fiand ‘? not one will be
‘left; all muft be cut off, if God forgive not; for all are finners, there are none without fin: or, who foall fland for Facob *? or intercede for him? it will be to no purpofe, if God is inexorable: fo
‘the Targum, <* who will ftand and afk pardow for
‘¢ their fins?” or, who will raife up Facob*? from that low condition in which he is, or likely to be in, if God»forgive not, and does not avert the judgment threatened, to a high and glorious ftate of profperity and happinefs; for if all are cut off, there will be none left to be inftruments of fuch a work: for he is fmall,; few in number, and greatly weakened by one calamity or another; and if this fhould take place, would be fewer a weaker. ftill. So the church of Chrift, which ‘is often fignified by Facod, is fometimes in a very low eftate; the number of converts few; has but a little ftrength to bear afflictions, perform’ duty, and withftand enemies; it is a day of fmall thin with it, with refpec& to light and knowledge, and the exercife of grace, efpecially faith; when fome like the prophet are. concerned for it, by whom it fhall arife; the God of Facod can caufe it to arife, and can raife up inftruments for fuch fervice, and - make his minifters, and the miniftry of the word and ordinances, means of increafing’ the number, ftature, fpiritual light, knowledge, grace, and ftrength of his people. a oy y¥. 3. The Lord repented for this, 8cc.) He heard the prayer of the prophet, and at his interceffion averted the threatened judgment; thus the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, Fam. v. 16. this is fpoken after the manner of men; as men, when they repent of a thing, defift from it, fo the Lord defifted from going on with this judgement; he did not change Kis! fiddle: changed the difpenfations of his providence according to his mind and will: i /hall not be, Saith the Lord;
Lord; thefe grafhoppers or locufts, the Afirian army fhall riot at this ‘time deftroy the land: of Jf rael: Pul king of Affria took a fum of money of ' the kine of J/rae/, and fo turned back, and ftayed not in the land, 2 Kings xv. 19,°20. *
¥. 4. Thus hath the Lord fhewed unto me, 8ec.] Another vifion after this manner: and bebold, the Lord God called to contend by fire; gave out that he would have a controverfy with his people J/rael, and proclaiméd the time when he would try. the caufe with them, and that by fire: or he called his
- family, as Yarchi; that is, his’ angels, as Kimchi, to caufe fire to defcend upon J/rael, as upon Sodom and Gomorrhas, fo other Rabbins, Kimchi mentions: or as he interprets’ it, the fcorching heat ‘of the fun, like fire, that reftrained the rain, dried up the plants, and lefiened the waters of the river,.and fo brought on a general drought, and in confequence famine: or rather a foreign army, involving them in war, burning their cities and towns; fee ch. i. 4, 7,10, 12,14: and it devoured the great deep; it feemed as if it did; as the fire from heaven, in Elijah’s time, licked up the water in the trench, 1 Kings xviii. 38. fo this coming at God’s command, feemed to dry up the whole ocean; by which may be meant the multitude of people, nations, ard kingdoms, fubdued by the Affyrians, fee Rev. xvii. 15: and did eat up a part; a part of the field,. as Farchi and Aben Ezra’; of the king’s field, ¥. 1. as Kimchi; fhewing, as he obferves, that the reigning king was a bad king, and that this was for his fin: or rather, a part of the land of J/rael, and fo refers, as is generally thought, to Tiglath: Pilefer’s invafion of the land, who carried captive a part of it, 2. Kings xv. 209.
¥. 5. Then fad I, O Lord God, ceafe, I befeech thee, &c.] From deftroying the land; fuffer not this calamity to proceed any further; ufing the fame argument as before: by whom fhall Facob arife? for be is fmall, fee the note on y. 2.
¥. 6. The Lord repented for this, &c.} He heard the prophet’s prayer, and defifted from going on with the threatened deftruétion: this alfo fhall not be, faith the Lord Ged; the whole land fhall not be deftroyed, only a part of it catried captive.
y. 7. Thus he fhewed me, &c.} A third vifion, which was in the following manner: and bebold, ihe Lord ftood upon a wall made by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in bis hand; this wall was the people of Zrael, who were built up as a wall, firm and {trong; and fo ftood againft their enemies, whilft fupported by the Lord, and he ftood by them. ‘The Septuagint verfion is, an adamantinewall. In their conftitution, both civil and ecclefiaftic, they were formed according to the good.and righteous laws of God, which may be fignified by the plumb-line; and fo the Targum renders it, the wall of judgment. And now the Lord appears ftanding upon this wall, to trample it down, and not to fupport it; and with a plumb-line-in his hand, to examine and try, whether this wall was as it was firft ere€ted; whether it did not bulge out, and vary from its former ftruéture, and was not according to the line and rule of his divine word, which was a rule of righteoufnefs.
yv. 8. And the Lord faid unto me, Amos, what)
vifion, as the former, make any fupplication to the Lord 3 as alfo, becaufe this vifion portended fomething of moment and importance, which he would have the prophet attend to: and I foid, a plumb-line; the fame word as before, and is differently rendered, as already obferved. The Valgate Latin ’verfion renders it, a plafterer’s or majon’s trowel; with which they lay their plafter and-morter on in building: the Septuagint, an adamant? and which, by Play ', is called Anachites; a word in found near to this here ufed: the Targum renders it, judgment: but Yarcki and Aben Ezra obferve, that in the Arabic tongue it fignifies lead or tin, as it does ¢; and fo a line with lead at the end of it. Then faid the Lord, behold, I will fet a plumb. line in the midft of my people Ifrael, take an exact account of their actions, and fee how they agree of difagree with the rule of the words and in the moft ftriét and righteous manner deal. with them for their fins and tranfgreffions, Jay judgment to the line, and righteoufne/s to the plummet, U. xxviii. 17. I will not again pals by them any more; wink at their fins, and overlook their tranfgreffions, by not correcting and punifhing for them; or will not pardon them, but infli€t punifhment on them. So the argum, “ behold, I will exercife judgment *« in the midft of my people J/rae/, and I will not ‘<add any more to pardon them.” Tho’ fome underftand it of God’s making fuch an utter end of them, that he fhould no more pa/s thro’ them, to deftroy them, having done it at once, and tho« roughly.
¥. 9. And the high places of Iaac foall be defolate, &c.] Such as the ten tribes of J/rael, who defcended from J/aac, built at Beerfoeba, in imitation of Jfaac, and pleading his example; who worfhipped there, tho’ not idols, as they, but the true God; and in commemoration of his being bound upon an altar on mount Moriah: but thefe, as the Septuagint verfion renders it, were high places of laughter; tidiculous in the eyes of the Lord, defpifed by him, and fo fhould be made defolate: and the fanéiuaries of Ifrael fhall be laid wafte; the temples built for the calves at Dan and Bethel, and other places: and I will rife againft the houfe of Feroboam with thé fword; or as the Targum, ‘I will raife up againgt ** the houfe of Feroboam thofe that flay with the ‘¢ fword;” this was fulfilled by Shallum, who confpired againft Zachariah the fon of Feroboam, and flew him, and reigned in his ftead, which put an end to the family of Feroboam, 2 Kings xv. 10. +
¥. 10. Then Amaziah the prieft of Bethel, &c.] The Targum calls him, the prince or prefident of Bethel, and the word ufed fignifies both a prince and a prieft; and very probably this man had the cate of the civil as. well as religious matters in Bethel. Aben Ezra ftiles him, the prieft of Baal, he was one that fucceeded the priefts that Feroboam the fon of Nebat placed here, to offer facrifices to the calf he fet up in this place, & Kings xii. 32. who hearing the above three vifions of Amos delivered, and fearing that he would alienate the people from the idolatrous worfhip he was at the head of, and frighten them from an attendance on it, which would leffen his efteem with the people, and alfo his worldly gain and profit; and ob-
"feet thou? &c:] This queftion was put to him, the rather, fince he was filent, and did not upon this! ferving that Amos did not make any interceffion for the averting of the judgment threatened in the laft vifion, as in the other two, and which particularly concerned the king’s family: he fent to Feroboam king of Ifrael, either letters or mefien-. gers, or both; who, it feems was not at this time at Bethel, but at fome other place; perhaps. Samaria, which was not a great way from hence: Saying, Ainos hath confpired againft thee in the midft of the land of Ifrael; he {peaks of Amos as if he was well known to the king, and perhaps he might be, having long prophefied in the land of Jracl, and near the court; and reprefents him as a feditious perfon, not as affecting the crown and kingdom himfelf, but as ftirring up a fpirit of rebellion among the people; taking off their. affections from their prince, and them from their allegiance to him, by reprefenting him as a wicked perfon that would in a little time be cut off; and this he did not privately, and in a corner, but publickly, in the midft of the land, and before all the people of J/rae/; and this was no new and_unufual thing to reprefent good men, and efpecially minifters of the word, as enemies to the.civil government, when none are truer friends to it, or more quiet under it: the land is not able to bear all bis words; either to withftand the power of them; they’ll have fuch an influence upon the people, if timely care is not taken, as to caufe them both to reject the eftablifhed religion and worfhip at Daz and Bethel, and to rife up in arms againft the civil government, and dethrone him the king; fuch terrible things he fays to the people, as will frighten them, and put them upon taking fuch meafures as thefe: or elfe the prophet’s words were fo intolerable, that his good fubjeéts, the inhabitants of the land, could not bear them; and if he did not give orders himfelf to take away his life, they would rife up againit him, and difpatch him themfelves.
¥. 11. For thus Amos faith, Feroboam fhall die by the fword, &c.] Which was not faying truth; for Amos faid not that Fereboam fhould die by the {word, but that God would raife up the {word again{t his houfe or family; nor did Feroboam die by the fword, but.his fon Zachariah did: and I/- vael foall furely belted away captive out of their own land; this was true; 4mos did fay this, and he afterwards confirms it. This is the amount of the charge brought againft the prophet, which has fome truth and fome falfood mixed together; and by which method the prieft hoped to gain his point, and get the prophet either banifhed, or put to death.
‘y¥. 12. Alfo Amaziah faid unto Amos, &c.| Either at the fame time; or it may be, after he had waited for the king’s anfwer, and received none; or what did not come up to his expectations andwifhes. We have no account of any anfwer the king returned; who either gave no heed to the reprefentations of the prieft, or had a better opinion of the prophet, and did not credit the things imputed to. him; which the prieft obferving, took another way to get rid of the prophet, and that by flattery: O thou feer; that feeft vifions, and foretels things to come. This title, which of right belonged to him, and is given to the true prophets of God fometimes, is here given to Amos, either ferioufly or ironically:\ go flee thee away into the land of Judah, to which he belonged, and‘ where the temple ftood, and the true worhhip of God was performed; and where the king, princes and people were on his fide of the queftion; and where his prophecies would be received, and he carefled for them, being againft the ten tribes, with whom they were at variance, and where alfo he would be fafe; for he fuggefts, that in giving this advice, he confulted his good and fafety; for if he ftaid here long, king eroboam would certainly take away his life; and therefore he advifed him to flee with all hafte to his own country: and there eat bread, and prophefy there; he took him for a mercenary man like himfelf, and that he prophefied for bread; which he intimates he would never be able to get in the land of Jacl, but in all probability might in the land of Yudea.
¥. 13. But prophely not again any more at Bethel, &c.] He might prophefy any where, if he did not there, for what the prieft cared, that fo his honour and intereft were not hurt. The reafons he gave, were, for it is the king’s chapel; or fanc- ‘uary +; where a temple was built for the idol-calf, and where the king worfhipped it, and attended all other religious fervice: and it is the king’s court; or the houjfe of the kingdom *; the feat of it, where the king had a royal palace, and fometimes refided here, and kept his court, as well as at Samaria; often coming hither to worfhip, it being nearer to him than Daz, where the other calf was placed; intimating hereby, that the king would never fuffer fuch a troublefome man as he to be fo near him; and by prophefying to interrupt him, either in his religious or civil affairs; and therefore advifes him by all means to depart, if he had any regard to his life or peace.
¥.14. Then anfwered Amos, and faid to Amaziah, &c.] With much freedom, boldnefs and intrepidity, and yet with modefty and humility; not at all moved by his frowns or his flatteries: J was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s fon; he was not a prophet originally, or from his youth, as Kimchi; he was not born and bred one; neither. his father was a prophet, by whom he could get any inftructions in the myftery of prophefying; nor was he a difciple of any of the prophets, or brought up in any of their fchools, as fome were; he was no prophet till the Lord called him immediately, at once, from his fecular employment to this office; and therefore did not take it up to get a livelihood by. archi and Aben Ezra interpret it, that he was not one of the falfe prophets that prophefied for hire, and took.a reward: dut I was an berdfman, and a gatherer of fycomore fruit; that — is, originally: this was the employment he was brought up in from his youth, and was in it when he was called to be a prophet; he looked after cattel, both great and fmall; and at a certain time of the year ufed to gather fycomore fruit, which was a kind of figs; and by its name had the re~ femblance both of figs and mulberries. Some take it to be what were called Egyplian figs; thefe he gathered, either for the ufe of his mafters, or for food for himfelf, or for the cattel, or both: or he was an opener of them, as the Septuagint; he cut them, and made incifions in them; for as Pliny ', Diofcorides™ and Theophraftus " obferve, this fruit muft be cut or fcratched, either with the nail, or with iron, or it will not ripen; but four a after being icratched or cut will become ripe. a-fhepherd, fach an one Avos was, and in this
Mr. Norden, a late traveller in Egypt, has given us a very particular account of this tree and_ its fruit. ‘* This fycamore (he fays) is of the height ** of a beech, and bears its fruit in a manner quite different from other trees; it has them on the trunk itfelf, which fhoots out little fprigs in form of grape-ftalks; at the end of which grow the fruit clofe to one another, almoft like bunches of grapes. The tree is always green, and bears fruit feveral times in the year, without obferving any certain feafons: for I have feen (fays he) fome fycamores that have given fruit two months after others. The fruit has the figure and fmell of real figs, but is inferior to them in the tafte, having a difeuftful fweetnefs, Its colour is an yellow, inclining to an ‘< oker, fhadowed by a flefh colour. In the infide it refembles the common figs, excepting that it has a blackith colouring with yellow {pots. This fort of tree is pretty common in Egypt; the people for the greater part live upon its fruit, and think themfelves well regaled when they have a piece of bread, a couple of fycamore-figs, and a pitcher filled with water from the Nile.” This account in feveral things agrees with what Pliny» and Solinus + relate of this tree and its fruit; very likely there might be many of thefe trees int Fudea; there feem to have been great numbers of them in Solomon’s time, 1 Kings x. 27. and perhaps it was one of thefe that Zaccheus climbed, in order to fee Chrift, Luke xix. 4. for this fort of trees delight in vales and plains, fuch as were the plains of Yericho; and in the Zalmud we read of fycamore-trees in Jericho; and of the men of Jericho allowing the branches of them to be cut down for facred ufes. Thefe alfo grew in lower Galilee, but not in upper Galilee; and that they were frequent in the land of J/rae appears from the rules the Mi/nic doétors * give about the planting and cutting them down; and now in the opening of thefe trees, and making incifions in them, and in gathering the fruit of them mos might be concerned. Kimchi and Ben Melech fay, the word fignifies to mix, and that his bufinefs was to mix theie together with other fruit. ben Ezra obferves, that in the Arabic language it fignifies to dry; and then his work was after he had gathered them to lay them a drying. Some render the word, a fearcher t of them; as if his employment was to look out for them, and feek them where they were to be got: however, be this as it will, the prophet fuggefts that he had been ufed to a low life, and to mean fare, with which he was contented; and did not take up this bufinefs of prophefying for bread, and could return to his tormer employment without any regret to get a maintenance, if fo was the will of God. The Targum gives it a different fenfe, “ for I am a *¢ mafter of cattel, and have fycamores in the “* fields;” and fo Farchi, Kimchi and Ben Melech reprefent him, as fuggefting that he was rich, and had no need of bread to be given him, or to prophefy for that.
¥. 15. And. the Lord took me as I followed the
employ when the Lord called him, and took him to be a prophet; he did not feek after it, nor did he take this honour to himfelf; by which it appears, that his miffion was divine, and that he did not enter on this work with lucrative views: thus
God took David in a like ftate of life, and made him king of Jrael; and Elifba from the plow, and made him a prophet: and Chrift took feveral of his difciples from being fithermen, and made them fifhers of men, or minifters of the word; and fo their call appeared more clear and manifeft. 4nd the Lord faid unto me; in a vifion or dream by night;, or by an articulate voice he heard; or by an impulfe upon his fpirit, which comes from the Spirit of God: go, propbe/y unto my people Ifrael + for fo they were by profeffion, and notwithftanding their apoftacy; as yet they were not called Loammi to thefe the prophet was bid to go out of the land of Fudea, where he was a herdfman, and prophefy in the name of the Lord to them; wherefore what he did was in obedience to the command of God,.and he did but his duty; and what he in this and the preceding verfe declares, is a fufficient vindication of himfelf, his chara¢ter and conduct; and having done this, he has fomething to fay to the prieft, as follows:
¥. 16. Now therefore bear thou the word of the Lord, &c.] Which I have from him concerning thee, and which he has pronounced upon thee and thy family: thou faye/t, prophefy not againft Irae when God has bid me prophefy: and drop not thy word againft the houfe of Ifaac;, fay nothing againft it, tho’ in ever fo foft and gentle a manner: it defigns the fame thing as before, only in_ different words; and is a prohibition of the prophet, to prophefy againit the ten tribes, that defcended from J/aac, in the line of Facob. So the Targum paraphrafes it, ** thou fhalt not teach a- ‘* oainft the houfe of J/aac;” or deliver out any prophecy or doctrine that is againft them, or threatens them with any calamity. archi fays, the phrafe is expreffive of prophecy; fee Deut. XXXil. 2. Hzek. XXi. 2.
y. 17. Therefore thus faith the Lord, &c.] For withftanding the prophet of the Lord, and forbidding him to fpeak in his name againft the idolatry of J/rael, as well as for his own idolatry: thy wife foall be an harlot in the city; either of Bethel or
Samaria; either thro’ force, being ravifhed by the foldiers upon taking and plundering the city; fo Theodoret and others: or rather of choice; either thro’ poverty to get bread, or thro’ a vicious -inclination, and that in a public manner: the meaning is, that fhe fhould be a common {trumpet 5 which muft be a great affliction to him, and a juft punifhment for his idolatry, or fpiritual adultery; this muft be before the fiege and taking of Samaria, fince by that time the prieft’s wife would be too old to be ufed as an harlot: and thy fons and thy daughters fhall fall by the fword; either of Shallum, who {mote Zachariah the fon of Feroboam with the fword, before the people, and very probably many of his friends with him, among whom this family was; or of Menahem, who flew Shai- flock, &c.| Or from bebind it *; a defcription of| um, and deftroyed many places that opened not to him, with their inhabitants, and ript up the women with child; or in the after invafions by Pul, Tiglath-Pilefer, and Salmanefer, 2 Kings xv. 10, 14, 16, 19, 29. and xvii. 5, 6: and thy land fhall be divided by line; either the whole land of Ijrael he lived in, or the land that was in the poffeffion of this prieft, and was his own property; this fhould be meafured with a line, and be parted among foreigners, that fhould invade the land, and fubdue it; a juft punifhment of the fins he had been guilty of, in getting large poffeffions in anill manner: and thou fhalt die in a polluted land, not in his own land, reckoned holy, but in a heathen land, which was accounted defiled, becaufethe inhabitants of it were uncircumcifed and idolaters, and he was no better; perhaps the land of Alpria, whither he might with others be carried captive; or fome other land he was forced to flee into; and Ifrael foall furely go into captivity forth of his land, as he had before prophefied, and here confirms it; and which was fulfilled in the times of Hofbea king of [/rael, by Salmanefer king of Af-
WN this chapter a fourth vifion is delivered, the vifion of a bafket of fummer fruit; fignifying the deftru@tion of the ten tribes, for which they were ripe, and which would quickly come upon them, y. 1, 2, 3. the rich are reproved for their oppreffion of the poor, their covetoufnefs and earthlymindednefs, ¥. 4, 5, 6. for which they are threatned with entire ruin, fudden calamities, and very mournful times, inftead of light, joy, and gladnefs, ¥. 7,8, 9, 10. and particularly with a famine of hearing the word of God, y. 11, 12. the confequence of which would be, a fainting of the young men and virgins for thirft, and the utter and irrecoverable ruin of all idolaters, ¥. 13, 14.
xy. 1. Thus hath the Lord God fhewed unto me, &c.] Another vifion, which is the fourth, and after the following manner: and behold, a bajket of fummer-fruit; not of the firft ripe fruit, but of fuch as were gathered at the clofe of the fummer, when autumn began. So the Targum, ‘* the laft “¢ of the fummer-fruit;” fuch as were fully ripe, and would not keep till winter; or if kept, would rot; but muft be eat directly, as fome fort of apples, grapes, &c. denoting the people of J/rae/ being ripe for deftruction, and would be quickly devoured by their enemies; and that as they had had a fummer of profperity, they would now have a fharp winter of adverfity.
¥. 2. And he faid, Amos, what feet thou? &c.] To quicken his attention, who might difregard it as a common thing; and in order to lead him into the defign of it, and fhew him what it was an emblem of: and I faid, a bafket of fummer-fruit; fome render it 2 hook “, fuch as they pull down branches with to gather the fruit; and the word fo fignifies in the Arabic language *; but the other is the more received fenfe of the word: then faid the Lord unto me; by way of explanation of the vifion: the end is come upon my people I/rael; the end of the kingdom of J/rael; of their commonwealth and churchftate; of all their outward happinefs and glory; their fummer was ended, and they not faved, Fer. viii. 20. all their profperity was over; and as the Targum, their “ final punifhment was come,” the laft deftruction threatened them ’: J will not again pais by them any more, pafs by their offences, and iorgive their fins; or pafs by their perfons, without taking notice of them, fo as to affli& and punifh them for their iniquities: or, pa/s thro’ them-any more *; now making an utter end of them; fee the note on ch. vii. 8.
y¥. 3. And the fongs of the temple foall be howlings in that day, faith the Lord God, &c.] Not the fongs fung by the Levites‘in the temple of Feru/alem, for this prophecy refpects the ten tribes only; but thofe, in imitation of them, fung in the temple at Bethel, and other idol-temples; or profane fongs in the palaces of princes and nobles; that is, inftead of thefe, there fhauld be howlings for the calamities come upon them. So the Targum, ** they ‘*¢ fhall howl, inftead of a.fong, in their houfes “* then’;” particularly becaufe of the flain in them, as follows; fee ch. v. 23: there fhall be many dead, bodies in every place; in all houfes and palaces, in all towns and cities; and efpecially in Samaria, during the fiege, and when taken, partly thro? the famine, and partly thro’ the fword: they fhall cajt them forth with filence, they that have the care of burying the dead bodies, fhall either caft them out of the houfes upon the bier or cart in. which they are carried to the grave, or into the pit or grave without any funeral lamentation: or, they fhall cajt them forth, and fay, be filent; that is, as Kimchi explains it, ‘“* one of them that cafts them forth, ‘* fhall fay to his companion, be filent;” fay not one word againft God and his providence, fince this is righteoufly come upon us; or fay nothing of the number of the dead, left the hearts of thoie that hear fhould become tender, and be difcouraged, as Aben Ezra; or the enemy fhould be encouraged to go on with the fiege.
y¥. 4. Hear this, O ye that fwallow up the needy, &c.] Like a man that pants after a draught of water when thirfty, and when he has got it, greedily fwallows it down at one gulp; fo thefe rich men fwallowed up the poor, their labours, gains, and profits, and perfons too; got all into their own hands, and made them bondfmen and. flaves to them; fee ch. ii. 7. thefe are called upon to hear this dreadful calamity threatened, and to confider what then would become of them, and their ill-got riches; and fuggefting, that their oppreffion of the needy was one caufe of this deftruction of the land: even to make the poor of the land to fail, or ceafe*; to die for want of the neceffaries of life, being obliged to fuch hard Jabour; fo unmercifully ufed, their faces ground, and pinched with neceffity; and fo fadly paid for their work, that they could not live by it. a
¥. 5. Saying, when will the new moon be gone, that we may fell corn? &c.| The firft day of every month, on which it was forbid to fell any thing, — or do any worldly bufinefs, being appointed and
Ws ferramentuin incurvum, feu uncus ex quo de fella commeatum fufpendit viator, Y There is an elegant paronomafia in the words ar) fummer, and XP the end. s maw ad ceflare faciendum, Mercerus; & facitis ceffare, Munfter, Drufius.
ufed for religious fervice } fee 4 Kings iv. 23. and which thefe carnal earthly-minded men were weary of, and wanted to have over, that they might be felling their corn, and getting money, which they preferred to the worthip of God. Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it of the month of harveft, when the poor found what to eat in the fields; when they gleaned there, and got a fufficiency of bread, and fo had no need to buy corn; and hence thefe rich mifers, that hoarded up the corn, are repre- ‘fented as wifhing the ‘harveft-month over, that they might fell their corn to the poor, having had, during that month, no demand for it; and fo the Targum renders it, the month of corn: or the month of intercalation, as Farchi underftands it; every three years a month was intercalated, to bring their feafts right to the feafon of the year; and that year was a month longer than the reft, and made provifion dearer; and then the fente is, when will the year of intercalation come, that we may have a better price for our corn? but the firft fenfe feems beft. And the fabbath, that we may fet forth wheat; in the fhops or markets, for fale: or apen wheat; the granaries and treafures of it, to be feen and fold. - Now the fabbath, or feventh day of the week, as no fervile work was to be done on it, fo no trade or commerce was to be carried on on that day; which made it a long and wearifome oné to worldly men, who wifhed it over, that they might be about their worldly bufinefs. Kimchi and Ben Melech, by fabbath, underftand a week, which thefe men put off the poor unto, when the price of corn would rife; and fo from week to week refufed to fell, and longed till the week came when it would be dearer. The Targum and ‘Farchi interpret it of the feventh yearfabbath, when there was no plowing, nor fowing, nor reaping, and fo no felling of corn, but the people lived upon what the earth brought forth of itfelf. But the firft fenfe here is alfo beft. Making the ephah fmall; a dry meafure, that held three feahs, or about a bufhel of ours, with which they meafured their corn and their wheat; fo that befides the exorbitant price they required, they did not give due meafure: and the fhekel great; that is, the weight, or fhekel-ftone, with which they weighed the money the poor gave for their corn and wheat; this was made heavier than it fhould be, and fo of courfe the money weighed againft it was too light, and the poor were obliged to make it up with more; and thus they cheated them, both in their meafure, and in their money: and falffying the balances by deceit, contrary to the law in Deut. xxv. 13, 14, 15. Ezek. xlv. 10. ¥. 6. That we may buy the poor for filver, &c.] Thus making them pay dear for their provifions, and ufing them in this fraudulent manner, by which they would not be able to fupport themfelves and their families; they might purchafe them and theirs for flaves, at fo {mall a price as a piece. of filver, or a fingle fhekel, worth about half a crown; and this was their end and defign, in ufing them after.this manner; fee Lev. xxv. 39, 40: and the needy for a pair of fooes, fee ch. il. 6: and fell the refufe of the wheat, not only did they fell the poor, corn and wheat at a dear rate, and in fcanty meafure, but the worft of it, and fuch as was not fit to make bread of, only to be given to