Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

I imall but a large numU-r neas in its worst fom. 1 ' r; see at Ho*. \ these numbers on? to I rstood t to bo

Ibkdr signifies to give an answer, an: to make a word ineffectual. T reference is to the punishnv I is in the place of * | rse contains the epexegesis of

Go! not only declares th.v Mure t i y is full, but that it is filkd to overflowing sad

conquered provinces were wrested from him by Joaah kin 1 2 Kings xiii. 2 2 25). The breaking of the bar (the bolt of the gate) denotes the conquest of the capital; and the cutting off of the inhabitants of Bi<fath-Aven indicates the slaughter connected with the capture of the towns, and not their deportation; for hikJir'dh means to exterminate, so that ijdldh (captivity) in the last clause applies to the remainder of the population that had not been slain in war. In the parallel clause MKf "sin? the sceptre-holder, i.e. the ruler (either the the 5 I. Thii predict!* n was fulfilled in tlu* tin ind broke op the kingdom of Syria tive of Philistia, from the fad that in the announcement of the punishment, the other capitals of Philistia arc also mentioned. sh'Umdh is correctly explained by Jerome thus: Ka captivity so perfect and complete, that not a single captive remained who was not delivered to the Iduma'ans." The reference is to captive Israelites, who were carried off by the Philistines, and disposed of by them to the Edornites, the archenemies of Israel. Amos no doubt had in his mind the invasion of Judah by the Philistines and tribes of Arabia lVtraea in the time of Joram, which is mentioned in 2 Chron. xxi. 16, and to which Joel had already alluded in Joel iv. 3 sqq., wrhere the Phoenicians and Philistines are threatened wTith divine retribution for having plundered the land, and sold the captive Judscans to the Javanites (Ionians). But it by no means follows from this, that the " sons of Javan" mentioned in Joel iv. 6 are not Greeks, but the inhabitants of the Arabian Javan noticed in Ezek. xxvii. 19. The fact was simply this: the Philistines sold one portion of the many prisoners, taken at that time, to the Edom nd the who di in to tl I simply mention* the. Ith the object of his prophecy, hi the wide <li>-

. and th with which the other citi I by the comprelu terms in which the threat is conclui note "not the remaining Philistines who had not vet 1» nan M that was still in existence, and had escn;

manly the four ttatee just named, but every part of Philistia that bad hitk( -ruction, bo that Gath mint, Ver. 10. / %$nd firt inlO the wall of Turns, and it will devour their palacee? In the of Phoenicia, the capital which the Philistines were blamed, with this exception, that btftead of "Nori enfant? (VCr. G) we (urn simply Dryiorrty. If, therefore, Tyro is only charged with delivering np the captives to Edom, and not with having carried them away, it must have bought the prisoners from an enemy of Israel, and then disposed of them to Edom. From what enemy they were purchased, it is impossible to determine with certainty. Probably from the Syrians, in the wars of llazael and Benhadad with Israel; for there is nothing at variance with this in the fact that, when they purchased Israelitish captives in the time of Joram, they sold them to Javan. For a commercial nation, carrying on so extensive a trade as the Phoenicians did, would have purchased prisoners in more than one war, and would also have disposed of them as slaves to more nations than one. Tyre had contracted all the more guilt through this trade in <ly

Israelitish slaves, from the fact that it had thereby been unmindful of the brotherly covenant, i.e. of the friendly relation existing between Israel and itself — for example, the friendly alliance into which David and Solomon had entered with the king of Tyre (2 Sam. v. 11; 1 Kings v. 15 sqq.) — and also from the fact that no king of Israel or Judah had ever made war upon Phoenicia.

Vers. 11, 12. Edom. — Ver. 11. " TJms saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I shall not reverse it, because it pursues its brother with the sword, and stifles its compassion, and its anger tears in pieces for ever, and it keeps its wrath for ever, Ver. 12. / send fire into Teman, and it will monitei weregoiltyof.such cruelty towtxdi th" [srael is hero condemned, ii d led in the historical l"

die Old Testament; possibly during th- wan of Basael with [sraeL when they availed themseh pportanity to widen their territory by conquering back the land which had ted from them by Sihon king of the A * • and wm then taken possession of l»v the 1 i-aelit. when he was orercome by them, — a thing which they had attempted once >re in the time of Jephthah the jndge (Judg. xi. Ii' qq.). We may see from.Jr. slix. 1 sqq. that they had taken \ \ skm of the territory of the tribe of Qad, which!: to them, though probably not till after the carrying a^ the tribes beyond Jordan by t! - Kings w. 29). The uncled out as the climax of the cruelties which the Ammonites inflicted upon the Israelites daring the war. A punishment for this, their capital was to be burned, ami the king, with the princes, to wander into exile, and consequently their kingdom was to be destroyed. Habbdhy i.e. the great is the abbreviated name of the capital: Kabbah of the children of Ammon, which has been preserved in the ruins of A < (see at Deut. iii. 11). The threat is sharpened by the clause 'XS\ njnnnn, at the war-crv on the field of battle, i.e. an actual fact, when the enemy shall take the city by storm. '131 "W3 is a figurative expression applied to the storming of a city carried by assault, like n^DZi in Num. xxi. 14. The reading E3?'?, " their (the Ammonites') king," is confirmed by the LXX. and the Chaldee, and required by Vifen (cf. ch. ii. 3), wThereas MaX^ofjby Melchom, which is found in Aq., Symm., Jerome, and the Syriac, rests upon a false interpretation.

niat or A I the assault or for t!. neat 0f t: ] be judge with all the princes dull nine suffix refen to Moab ssa land or kingdom, and not to K rij th. I 'r«»in tl that tU tioned insfe of the king, it lias been conducted by tome that Muah had no: at that time, hut bad on! i ruler; end they ban sought to account f»>r this on the ground that Moah at that tinu' subject to the kingdom of the ten tribes (Hitzig and Hut then is no notice in the history of anything of

; iiitHi in ch. i. 5, and i iblynothii than a ri. d expression applied to tl: ""'-, who i died in the threat against Amnion, aiul simply used f<>r the sake of ami kingdoms mentioned from ch. i. 6 onwai fulfilled by the Chaldeans, who conqueivd all these kingdoms, and Carried the people themselves into captivity. For fuller remarks upon this point, see at Jer. xlvii. 49 and Esek« xxv. 28, cour the palaces of J ///." With the announcement that the storm of the wrath of God will also burst upon Judah, Amos prepares the way for passing on to Israel, the principal ct of his prophecies. In the case of Judah, he condemns its contempt of the law of its God, and also its idolatry. TurdU is the sum and substance of all the instructions and all the commandments which Jehovah had given to His people as the rule of life. Chuqofim are the separate precepts contained in the thordh, including not only the ceremonial commands, but the moral commandments also; for the two clauses are not only parallel, but synonymous. BrvnT2? their lies, are their idols, as we may see from the relative clause, since u walking after" {hdlakh 'achdre) is the standing expression for idolatry. Amos calls the idols lies, not only as res quce fallunt (Ges.), but as fabrications and nonentities (rflllm and habhdllm)* wav refers to the judgment or Legal process is too contract The third crime is their prof an., f the name of God bj shameless immorality (ver. lb): and the fourth, desecration of the sanctuary by drinking carousals (ver. 8). A man and his father, i.e. buth son and father, go to the girl, Lt, to the prostitute. The meaning is, to one and the same girl; but 'achath is omitted, to preclude all possible misunderstanding, as though going to different prostitutes was allowed. This sin was tantamount to incest, which, according to the law, was to be punished with death (cf. Lev. xviii. 7, 15, and xx. 11). Temple girls (<j'>h~.<Jf->th) are not to be thought of here. The profanation of the name of God by such conduct as this does not indicate prostitution in the temple itself, such as was required by the licentious worship of Baal and Asherah (Ewald, Manner, etc.), but consisted in a daring contempt of the commandments of God, as the original passage (Lev. xxii. 32) from which dun, theee altars were still bdmdtk, dedicaU id also meant to condemn a the won athen ihk it we bear in mind that Israel was indt: Lord its God for its elevation into an indent-: also for its ■ tiling. For this reason, the prophet reminds and as and, continuing the their utter destruction or D of their fruit and of their roots. For this -eh, in which the posteril fruit, and the kernel of the nation out of which it springs as the root, k. xvii. 9, Hos. ix. 16, Job xviii. 16. These two manifestations of divine mercy Moses impressed more than once upon the hearts of the people in his last addresses, to urge them in consequence to hold fast to the divine commandments and to the love of God (cf. Deut. viii. 2 sqq., ix. 1-G, xxix. 1-8).

But Jehovah had not only put Israel into possession of Canaan; He had also continually manifested Himself to it as him hi Inch t lies him, like that the kingdom wfll be destroy' out still further in the prophet's following addresses.

alone who are primarily threatened with the destruction the kingdom, to indicate at the very outset that Jii'iah might punishment, but that, on the contrary, the relafl into which the Lord hid ind I the punishmenl of ill evil d<; ■ 1; cut i S the rootoi i 1 [ confidence in divii tion. MTon or much fa

And 1 Jehovah had acknowl. ha 1 In ' 1 out and chosen Israel i nation best fitted to be the vehicle

Vers..'V 8. But this truth met with contradiction in the nation itself. The proud self-secure sinners would not hear such prophesying as this (compare ch. ii. 4, vii. 10 sq<p). Amos therefore endeavours before making any further announcement of the judgment of God, to establish his right and duty to prophesy, by a chain-like series of similes drawn from life. Ver. 3. "Do two icalk together without having agreed? Ver. 4. Does the Hon roar in the forest, and he has no prey? does the young lion utter his cry out of his den, without having taken anything? Ver. 5. Does the bird fall into the trap on the ground, when there is no snare for him? does the trap rise up from the earth without making a capture? Ver. 6. Or is the trumpet blown in the city, and the people are not alarmed? or does misfortune happen in the city, and Jehovah has not done it f Ver. 7. For the Lord Jehovah does nothing at all, without having revealed His secret to His servants the prophets. Ver. 8. The lion has roared; who does not fear? the Lord Jehovah hath spoken; who must not o mart terrible nature in the roaring of a Hon U that as a rule, it only roars with that sharp roar when it has the pr> -, upon which it immed.a'.ely spring* (Bochart, Iltcroz *?q., cd.

the evil to be foretold. Afl the trumpet, when blown in the city, frightens the people out of their self-security, so will the voice of the prophet, who proclaims the coming evil, excite a salutary alarm in the nation (cf. Ezck. xxxiii. 1-5). For the calamity which is bursting upon the city comes from Jehovah, is sent by Him as a punishment. This thought is explained in vers. 7, 8, and with this explanation the whole series of is mad *g

1 in the palaces of Samaria. Aab lod, one of the Philistian capitals, is mentioned bj way of exam; I chief city of the uncireumcised, who were regarded by brad as heathen; and Egvpt is mentioned along with it, as the na

Samaria, or the mountains upon which the city of Samaria wai situated — for Samaria was not built upon a plurality of mountains, hut upon one only (eh. iv. 1, \i. 1) — hut the mountains round about Samaria, from which you OOuld look into the city, built upon 01 tteel hill. The city, built upon the hill of

S ■</•, wafl situated in a mountain caldron or hadn, about two hours in diameter, which was BUROUnded On all lidea by lofty

10 the description is continued in the finite verb: they do not know how to do right; that if. injustice has become their nature; they wdio heap up sins and violence in their palaces like treasui

Thus do they bring about the ruin of the kingdom. Ver. 11. " Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, An enemy, and that roundabout the land; and he will hurl down thy glory from thee, and thy palaces are plundered. Ver. 12. Thus saith Jehovah, As the shepherd delivers out of the mouth of the lion two shinbones or an ear-lappet, so will the suns of Israel deliver themselves; they who sit on the corner of the couch and on the damask of the bed.'' The threat is introduced in the form of an aposiopesis. 1?, enemy, P^? ^??S and indeed round about the land (l explic. as in eh. iv. 10, etc.; and 2^D in the construct state construed as a preposition), i.e. will come, attack the land on all sides, and take possession of it. Others regard *i¥ as an abstract: oppression (from the Chaldee); but in this case we should have to supply Jehovah as the subject to T*lfcB; and although this is probable, it is by no means natural, as Jehovah is speaking. There is no foundation, on the other hand, for the

1 " As the mountains round the hill of Semer are loftier than this hill itself, the enemy might easily discover the internal state of besieged Samaria."— V. de Velde, R. i. p. 282.

sdvis and behold" in. The Latter option is the only covi\ r the context does not n a suffici tly in keeping that they should now hear what ii the puni^hment that God i il to inflict upon farad in and that they shouM bear witne - 1 tinst brad from what they have heard. 2 TJWJ, to bear witness towards or against

* u in," ai Banr supposes). The house of Jacob is the learn a lesson from the destru 3 imaria* As the appeal to the heathen to bear witn< tinst Israel Indie cumulation of the names of God in ver. 13 strengthen the declaration made by the Lord, who p.

sins of brael is to extend even to th Bethel, the a of the idolatrous image-worship, the hearth and home of the religions and moral corruption of the ten tribes. The smiting off of the horns of the altar is the destruction of the altars themselves, the significance of which culminated in the horns (see at Ex. xxvii. 2). The singular hammizhUdch (the alt preceded by a plural is the singular of species (cf. Ges. § 108, 1), and docs not refer to any particular one — say, for example, to the principal altar. The destruction of the palaces and houses (ver. 15) takes place in the capital. In the reference to the winter-house and summer-house, we have to think primarily of the royal palace (cf. Jer. xxxvi. 22); at the same time, wealthy noblemen may also have had them.?V, lit. over, so that the ruins of one house fall upon the top of another; then "together with," as in Gen. xxxii. 12. ]V W, ivory houses, houses the rooms of which are decorated by inlaid ivory. Ahab had a palace of this kind (1 Kings xxii. 39, compare Ps. xlv. 9). D^2") D^ro, not the large houses, but many houses; for the description is rounded off with these words. Along with the palaces, many houses will also fall to the ground. The ful- of Be ban, Amee meant the rich, volpptnooa, and violent inhabitant I Samaria. J' ibtf ul, however, whd he meant the rich and wanton l I the II t of the modern commentators follow Theodor., Theodoret, and others, in assuming; OK %* tlu- rulers of Israel, ami all the Leading men of thfl ti'ii tribes, who spent their time in pleasure and robbery" ( JeVOna) J «>r u those rich, luxurious, and lascivious inhabitants o( the palace of whom he had spoken in ch. iii. 9, 10" (Maimer), M the Chald., Luther, Calvin, and others supj and whom he CtHl OOWfj not oxen, to denote their i flVininarv and theil unbridled licentiousness. In support of the latter opinion we might adduce not only IIos. x. 11, where Ephraim is compared to a youn^f heifer, but also the circumstance that from ver. -1 onwards the prophecy refeil to the Israelites as a whole. But neither of thflte Argument! proves very much. The simile in IIos. x. 11 applies to Kphraim as a kingdom or people, and the natural personification as a wuinan prepares the way for the comparison to an ' ><ihih; whereas voluptuous and tyrannical grandees would be more likely to be compared to the bulls of Bashan ( Pi, xxii. 13). And so, a^ain, the transition in ver. 4 to the Israelites as a whole furnishes no help in determining more precisely who are addressed in vers. 1-3. By the cows of Bashan, therefore, we understand the voluptuous women of Samaria, after the Analogy of Isa. iii. 1G sqq. and xxxii. 9-13, more especially because it is only by forcing the last clause of ver. 1 that it can be understood as referring to men. Wtf for ruypiM? because the verb stands first (compare Isa. xxxii. 11). The mountain of Samaria is mentioned in the place of the city built upon the mountain (see at cb. iii. 0). The sin of these women consisted in the tyrannical oppression of the poor, whilst they asked their lords, i.e. their husbands, to procure them the means of debauchery. For PV*y and fSTJ, compare Deut. xxviii. 33 and 1 Sam. xii. 3, 4, where the two words are already connected, nx^n stands in the singular, because every wife speaks in this way to her husband. The announcement of the punishment for such conduct is introduced with a solemn oath, to make an impression, if possible, upon the hardened hearts. Jehovah swears by His holiness, i.e. as the Holy One, wTho cannot tolerate unrighteousness. "3 (f°r) before nan introduces the oath. Hit&ig takes $&)) as a niphal, as in the similar formula in 2 Kings xx. 17; but he takes it as a passive used impersonally with an accusative, after Gen. xxxv. 26 and other passages (though not Ex. xiii. 7). But as tffett unquestionably occurs as a piel in 1 Kings ix. 11, it is more natural to take

7 does not suit this, and consequently nearly all the ttflkf trail v: it as | &)- high land: at the i. it ^an neither an appellative, as He^ and Maurer suppose, Mthe high

Kinirhi and Greeenius maintain. The I n is open to the objection, that a bly im why simple idea of a mount r high land; and the second to this objection, that Mth( would require sometl bear yourselves 10-day*1 (Boa>). This explanation woul bible, if it were not that the use of a word which never occurs again in rendered it very improbable. At any rate, it is more admissible than the different oonjectures of the most recent commentators. Thus Hitzig, for example (Comm. ed. 3), would resolve luiharmondh into hdhar and m = mt'undh ("and ye will plunge headlong to the mountain as a place of refuge"). The objections to this are, (1) that hish likh does not mean to plunge headlong; (2) the improbability of m*'6ndh being contracted into mondh, when Amos has m''undh in ch. iii. 4; and lastly, the fact that nf'ondh means simply a dwelling, not a place of refuge. Ewald would read hdhar rimmonah after the LXX., and renders it, "ye will cast Rimmonah to the mountain," understanding by Rimmonah a female deity of the Syrians. But antiquity knows nothing of any such female deity; and from the reference to a deity called Rimmon in 2 Kings v. 18, you cannot possibly infer the existence of a goddess Rimmonah. The explanation given by Schlottmann (Hiob, p. 132) and Paul Botticher (Rudimenta mythologies

The unusual word certainly points to the name of a land or district, though we have no means of determining it more precisely.1

Vers. 4, 5. After this threat directed against the voluptuous women of th<* capital, the prophecy turns again to all the. In bitter irony, Amos tells them to go on with

Bat they will not keep hack the divine judgment by eo doing. Vet, 1. ', multiply mmmg; and is in tL tithes ererii (/.

«gn. root Qnn, to be high, and it cannot be shown that there was a goddess called Jlamian or BofMHIM Kb.in worship. Lastly, the fanciful i let harm- ancient place of rrfuge for expelled tribes'* (Judg. uc. 46 Bqq.), needs no refutation.

r beyond the mountains of Armenia.*1 Symmachus also had Armenia, according to the statement of Theodoret and Jerome. But this explanation is probably merely an inference drawn from 2 Kings xvii. 23, and cannot be justified, as Bochart supposes, on the ground that monah or mon is identical with mxnni.

their nature, as to smninon by ■ public proclamation to the motion of freewill-offerings, the rery peculiarity of which ad in the fact that they hid no other prompting than the will of the offerer'1 (v. Hofmann, Schrift. ii. 2, p..i73).

The irony of the summons to maintain their worship comes out rery distinctly in the words tittfa, and sin, or fall sway from God. /i/JH is not a nominative absolute, u as for Gilgal," but an accusative, and }K3 is to be repeated from the first clause. The absence of the copula before Win docs not compel us to reject the Masoretic accentuation, and connect blTin with W*to, SI Bitsig does, so as to obtain the unnatural thought, "sin ye towards Gilgal." On Gilgal mentioned along with Bethel i^\ as a place of idolatrous worship (here and ch. v. 5, as in Hos. iv. 15, IX. 15, and xii. 12), see at llos. iv. 15. Offer your s Iain-offerings labbdqer, for the morning, i.e. every morning, like lay yum in Jer. xxxvii. 21. This is required by the parallel UshlOshcth ydnum, on the three of days, i.e. every three days. &r\2\... W2n does not refer to the morning sacrifice prescribed in the law (Num. xxviii. 3) — for that is always called 'uldh, not zebach — but to slain sacrifices that were offered every morning, although the offering of z'bhdchlm every morning presupposes the presentation of the daily morning burnt-offering. What is said concerning the tithe rests upon the Mosaic law of the second tithe, which was to be brought every three years (Deut. xiv. 28, xxvi. 12; compare my Bibl. v(y

ArchdoL § 71, Anm. 7). The two clauses, however, are not to be understood as implying that the Israelites had offered slain sacrifices every morning, and tithe every three days. Amos is speaking hyperbolically, to depict the great zeal displayed in their worship; and the thought is simply this: " If ye would offer slain sacrifices every morning, and tithe every three days, ye would only thereby increase your apostasy from the living God." The words, " kindle praise-offerings of that which is leavened," have been misinterpreted in various ways. ")B£, an inf. absol. used instead of the imperative (see Ges. § 131, 4, b). According to Lev. vii. 12-14, the praise-offering (toddh) was to consist not only of unleavened cakes and pancakes with oil poured upon them, but also of cakes of leavened bread. The latter, however, were not to be placed upon the altar, but one cf them was to be assigned to the priest who sprinkled the

Brains. In southern T I commence* in the latter half of April 1 falls for the Dft ' in

May and.lime; but in t the land it i pp. 113, 111 i, so that in round number reckon three months from the latter rain t t. P»ut in order to show the people more clearly that the tending and withholding of rain belonged to Ilim, God caused it to rain here and th upon one town and one field, and not upon others (the imperfects from 'amtlr onwards express the repetition of a thing, what generally happens, and t'unmdttr, third pers. fem., is used impersonally). This occasioned such distress, that the inhabitants of the places in which it had not rained were obliged to go to a great distance for the necessary supply of water to drink, and yet could not get enough to satisfy them. ^, to stagger, to totter, expresses the insecure and trembling walk of a mau almost fainting with thirst.

nee with which God visited J (Ex. ix. 3 sqq.), is

D by the circumstance that it is only a dreadful murrain that is mentioned there. The slaying of the youths <t young men points to overthrow in war, which the Israelites endured most grievously in the wars with the Syrians (compare

. —a fad which is all in 2 bangs xiii. 7. From the slain men and animals forming the camp the chai atSj Amos mentions last of nil th a lion similar to that of S 'i and ( -.. the ati i of the statej by which brael was brought to thi \ ruin, so that it had only! i iiivhrand out of the fire. WDT!

docs not refer to an earthquake, which had laid waste cities and hamlets, or a part of the lai;. ay that mentioned in ch« i. 1, as Kiinchi and others suppose: hut it denotes the desolation of the whole land in consequence of rating wars, mor cially the Syrian ('2 Kings xiii. 4, 7), and other calami: which had undermined the stability of the kingdom, as in Isa. i. 9. The words Ml tfrftlt TOmtOl are taken from Deut. xxix. 22, where the complete desolation of the land, after the driving away of the people into exile on account of their obstinate apostasy, is compared to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. By thus playing upon this terrible threat uttered by Moses, the prophet seeks to show to the people what has already happened to them, and what still awaits them if they do not eventually turn to their God. Thev have arrain been rescued from the threatening destruction like a firebrand out of the fire (Zech. iii. 2) by the deliverer whom the Lord gave to them^ so that they escaped from the power of the Syrians (2 Kings xiii. 5). But inasmuch as all these chastisements have produced no fruit of repentance, the Lord will now proceed to judgment with His people.

rhich if more suiti omn Gkxl j md i • n of I be expl from the prophecy. To this ther raent i I [c

I al og over the of the earth, l*. II the earth with unlimited omnipotence (see at D xii. 13),

The elegy, which the prophet commences in ver. 2, upon the fall of the daughter of Israel, forms the theme of the admonitory addresses in these two chapters. These addresses, which are divided into four parts by the admonitions, u Jehovah, and live," in vers. 4 and 6, " Seek good" in ver. 14, and the two woes (hoi) in ch. v. 18 and vi. 1, have no other purpose than this, to impress upon the people of God the impossibility of averting the threatened destruction, and to take away from the self-secure sinners the false foundations of their trust, by setting the demands of God before them once more. In every one of these sections, therefore, the proclamation of d time had caused Beenheba to be made into ■ place idolatrous worthi] bich the Israelii wander into captivity (an expi. here on account of the similarity in the ring < I and WT tfa). Bethel would become \ivcn, that is to say, not u an idol" her.', but "nothingness," though there is an allusion to the change of Beth-el (God's house) into Beth-dven (an idol-house; see at IIos. iv. 15). The Joxuean Beenheba is passed over in the threat, because the primary intention of Amos is simply to predict the destruction of the kingdom of the ten tribes. After this warning the prophet repeats the exhortation to seek Jehovah, and adds this threatening, u that Jehovah come not like fire upon the house which rises from tlie sea and then falls D]. th as rain, no more answers to the words then.^elvos, than lb 1 by IlitziLT, that they refer to the water of the rivers and bro which flow out of the sea U well as into it (Eccles. i. 7). The words suggest the thought of terrible inundations of the earth by the swelling of the sea, and the allusion to the judgment of the flood can hardly be overlooked. This judicial act of the Almighty, no strong man and no fortress can dvfy. \\ ith the swiftness of lightning He causes desolation to smite the strong man. Bdlag, lit. micare, used in the Arabic to denote the

1 Theodoret has given a correct explanation, though he does not quite

exhaust the force of the words: " It is easy for Him to turn even the greatest dangers into happiness; for by the shadow of death he means great dangers. Ard it is also easy to bring calamity upon those who are in prosperity?"

lighting up of the rays of the dawn, JripJiil to cause to light up, is applied here to motion with the swiftness of lightning; it is also employed in a purely metaphorical sense for the lighting up of the countenance (Ps. xxxix. 14; Job ix. 27, x. 20). In ver. % the address is continued in a descriptive form; Ni^ has not n. causative meaning. The two clauses of this verse point to the Aate which awaits the Israelites who trust in their strength and their fortifications (ch. vi. 13). And yet they persist in unrighteousness.

Ver. 10. " They hate the monitor in the pzte, and abhor him that speaketh uprightly. Ver. 11. Therefore, because ye tread upon the poor, and take the distribution of corn from him, ye have built houses of square stones, and will not dwell therein; planted pleasant vineyards, and will not drink their wine. Ver. 12. For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great your sins; oppressing the righteous, taking atonement money; and ye bow down the poor in the gate." However natural it may seem to take rWto and tMMJ "i:n in ver. 10 as referring to prophets, who charge the ungodly with their acts of unrighteousness, as Jerome does, this explanation is precluded not only by basshaar (in the gate), since the gate was not the meeting-place of the people where the prophets were accustomed to stand, but the place where courts of judgment were held, and all the public affairs of the community discussed (see at Deut. xxi. 19); but also by the first half of ver. 11, which presupposes judicial proceedings. MdkJddch is not merely the judge who puts down unjust accusers, but any one who lifts up his voice in a court of justice against acts of injustice (as in Isa. xxix. 21). con ldhf he who says what is blameless, i.e. what is right and true: this is to be taken generally, and not to be restricted to the accused who seeks to defend his innocence. 3yn is a stronger expression than #yj. The punishment for this unjust oppression of the poor will be the withdrawal of their possessions. The air. Xey. boshes is a dialectically different form for DD12, from M, to trample down (Rashi, Kimchi), analogous to the interchange of ff*y? and P^p, a coat of mail, although as a rule & passes into D, and not D into K\ For the derivation from ana, according to which Dana would stand for VW)2 (Hitzig and Tuch on Gen. p. 85), is opposed both to the construction with?V, and also to the circumstance that Wia means to delay (Ex. xxxii. 1;

Judg. v. 28); and the derivation suggested by Hitzig from an Arabic verb, signifying to carry one's self haughtily towards others, is a mere loophole. Taking a gift of corn from the poor refers to unjust extortion on the part of the judge, who will only do justice to a poor man when he is paid for it. The main clause, which wras introduced with Idkhen, is continued with IVW ^2: " thus have ye built houses of square stones, and shall not dwell therein;" for "ve shall not dwell in the houses of square stones which ye have built." The threat is taken from Deut. xxviii. 30, 39, and sets before them the plundering of the land and the banishment of the people. Houses built of square stones are splendid buildings (see Isa. ix. 9). The reason for this threat is given in ver. 12, where reference is made to the multitude and magnitude of the sins, of which injustice in the administration of justice is again held up as the chief sin. The participles *Trtt and *ft\P are attached to the suffixes of E?W3 and D37)Nt3n: your sins, who oppress the righteous, attack him, and take atonement money, contrary to the express command of the law in Num. xxxv. 31, to take no kopher for the soul of a murderer. The judges allowed the rich murderer to purchase exemption from capital punishment by the payment of atonement money, whilst they bowed down the right of the poor. Observe the transition from tlie participle to the third person fern., by which the prophet turns away with disgust from these ungodly judges. Bowing down the poor is a. concise expression for bowing down the right of the poor: compare ch. ii. 7 and the warnings against this sin (Ex. xxiii. 6; Deut. xvi. 19).

Vers. 13-17. With the new turn that all talking is useless, Amos repeats the admonition to seek good and hate evil, if they wrould live and obtain favour with God (vers. 13-15); and then appends the threat that deep mourning will arise on every hand, since God is drawing near to judgment. Ver. 13. " Therefore, wJwever has prudence at this time is silent, for it is an evil time" As Idkhen (therefore) always introduces the threatening of divine punishment after the exposure of the sins (cf. vers. 11, 16, ch. vi. 7, iv. 12, iii. 11), we might be disposed to connect ver. 13 with the preceding verse; but the contents of the verse require that it should be taken in connection with what follows, so that Idkhen simply denotes the close connection mmiliating to carna 1 • 1 will then be remnant the people. T; '.. i is in these id ai much d

Hi. id an i Benhada 1 ha I conquered the whol the Ian Gilead in the tun John andJeh. and had annihil

'bourn ii. as "the lvmnant of J. Dot attempted any de; n, the nation of the ten tribes

Israel. It", therefore, Am- ut the ility of the favouring of the remnant of Joseph, he thereby gives distinctly to understand, that in the approaching judgment Israel will perish with the exception of a remnant, which may possibly be preserved after the great chastisement (ef. ver. 3), just as

Joel (iii. 5) and Isaiah (vi. 13, x. 21-23) promise only the salvation of a remnant to the kingdom of Judah.

This judgment is announced in vers. 1G, 17. \.r. 16. " Therefore thus saith Jehovah the God of hosts, the Lord: In all roads lamentation! and in all streets will men say, Alas! alas! and they call the hushandman to mourning, and lamentation to those skilled in lamenting. Ver. 17. And in all vineyards lamentation, because I go through tike midst of thee, saith Jehovahr iAhhSn (therefore) is not connected with the admonitions in vers. 14, 15, nor can it point back to the reproaches in vers. 7, 10-12, since they are too far off: it rather links on to the substance of ver. 13, which involves the thought that all admonition to return is fruitless, and the ungodly still persist in their unrighteousness, — a thought which also forms the back- ry of the w< id will brii:n nothing but harm and destruction, and not prosperil II: from life. To those who wish t will happen as to a man who, whei assuredly), that it will be no day of salvation, §& to those • seek evil and not good, and trample justice and righteous;, under foot (vers. 1-1, 15).

This threatening judgment will not be averted by the Israelites, even by their feasts and sacrifices (vers. 21, 22). The Lord has no pleasure in the feasts which they celebrate. Their outward, heartless worship, does not make them into the people of God, who can count upon His grace. Ver. 21. u I hate, I despise your feasts, and do not like to smell your holy days. Ver. 22. For if ye offer me burnt-offering sy and your no more be called a I rorship, than the open idolatry in the mid Tb i in that instance the outwardly idolatrous people did not tread the holy land, so i will the inwardly idolatrous people be driven out of the holy land*1 (i ■'. I 1. i. p. 157 fraud.).

But if this were the train of thought, the prophet would not have omitted all reference to the punishment of the idolatrous people in the wilderness. And as there is no such allusion.', it is more natural to take vers. 25 and 26, as Calvin does, to the itK-latrv of the | was in the wi ingoing ■ farther t, but be alto condemns their departure fro:, precept, < that this was not a new disease a;

pporl the assertion thai worship, for which 1 lit.1 ■. i prod that from time imme- which I all the different of the pie in tin- unitv ol the hon I i lei, because the existi

The opposition the Jehovah-worship which t ind the idol-worship which they carried tion to this difficult \ which has! ien explained in various ways from t!.it is necessary, above all things, to bear in mind the parallelism of the clauses. Wher in the first half of the verse the two objects are cqnnc< together by the copula 1 (p*$f the omission of both nx and the copula 1 before —'- indicates most obviously that MTOlj 30fa does not introduce a third object in addition to the two | ceding ones, but rather that the intention is to define those objects more precisely; from which it follows still further, that Djsfa TOO and OSm ps3 do not denote two different kinds of idolatry, but simply two different forms of the very same idolatry. The two a7r. Xey. sikkutJi and kvnjun are undoubtedly appellatives, notwithstanding the fact that the ancient versions have taken My y tin as the proper name of a deity. This is required by the parallelism of the members; for WD^J stands in the same relation to |f3 as Daata to TOD. The plural Dan&f, however, cannot be in apposition to the singular p*3 (kiyyun, your images), but must be a genitive governed by it: " the

'y, by the circnmstance that tl. allusion in the worda I worship <>f M S 'urn is simply to the false reading of the unpointed p^2 as jsn, inasmuch I the old Hebrew writing not only is 3 similar to -|, but) is also similar to s; and in 2 Sam. xxii. 12, where tPDTritVII is rendered okoto; (i.e. HDBTl) Cox7u>, v,'c have an example of the interchange of 3 and "). There was no god liephan or Rempha; for the name never occurs apart from the LXX. The statement made in the Arabico-Coptic list of planets, edited by Ath. Kircher, that Suhhel (the Arabic name of Saturn) is the same as ' P/itpxv, and the remark found in a Coptic MS. on the Acts of the Apostles, " liephan in Memphis the bull Apia was regarded as tin- living coi I 1>. 1 l,»l i. According to 1 to (ii. 42), < isu hipped by the ancient Eg) ptiana; ami, according to Diodorn S. (L 1 1 >, the Egyptians *.-tid to have had originally only two. Helios and Selene, and to hi' >rmer in Osiris, the latter in I

The J'an i appears to hare all rcdiar form of Osiris (cf. Diod. Sic L 25, and Leps* p. I7.'»j. Herod of this as of primeval antiquity, and

Tli A' \ ndrian translation of this ] which \\v have thus shown to rest upon a rnisin; i of the Hebl. has acquired a greater importance than it -would otherwise possess, from the fact that the protomartyi St( phen, in his address (Acts \ii. 42, 43), has quoted the words of the prophet according- to that version, simply because the departure of the k translation from the original text was of no consequence, so far as his object was concerned, viz. to prove to the Jews that they had always bed the Holy Ghost, inasmuch as the Alex, rendering also contains the thought, that their fathers worshipped the aTpocrtx -ou ovpetvev.

1 It is true, that in the first divine sphere Ra occupies the second place according to the Memphitic doctrine, namely, after Phtha (Hephsestos), and according to the Theban doctrine, Amen ("A^av). Mentu and Atmu stand at the head (Leps. p. 186); but the two deities, Mentu, i.e. the rising sun, and Atmu, i.e. the setting sun, are simply a splitting up of Ra; and both Hephsestos and Amon (Amon-Ra) were placed at the head of the gods at a later period (Leps. pp. 187, 189).

no doubt t Egyptian sun-gods that the star-god which the Israelii tied about with them in the wilderness This is all that can at present be detennini ning it There is not sufficient evidence to support Heng- all tl: heaven, from whi M had a: D for this, founded upon 1 \ further the aj I rael from il God, the judgment as the banishment of the people far; -rders of the land given to it by the J. where higldh evidently points-

) that when looked at from Damascus, the place showed itself afar off, i.e. according to one mode of viewing it, u far beyond Damascus."

heads of the nation, who were content with the existing state of things, who believed in no divine judgment, and who revelled in their riches (vers. lti). To these he annonn< destruction and the general overthrow of the kingdom (vers.

7 11), because they act perversely, and trust in their own power (vers. 12 L4). Ver. 1. u Woe to tht re upon Ziony and to the careless upon the mountain of Samaria^ to the chief men of the first of the nations, t<> whom the house of Israel routes!

iter than your territory? Ver..'>. Ye iclio keep the day of calamity far of) and briny the seat of This wee applies to the great men in Zion and Samaria, that is to say, to the chiefs of the whole of the covenant nation, because they were all sunk in the same godless security; though special allusion is made to the corrupt leaders of the kingdom of the ten tribes, whose debauchery is still further depicted in what follows. These great men are designated in the words *3£J Dpan fP^O, as the heads of the chosen people, who are known by name. As ';n msta is taken from Num. xxiv. 20, so *3pJ is taken from Num. i. 17, where the heads of the tribes who were chosen as princes of the congregation to preside over the numbering of the people are described as men ^2*^2 ^Optt IB*^ who were defined with names, i.e. distinguished by names, that is to say, well-known men; and it is used here in the same sense. 4V

Observe, however, with reference to wSlT] rffiWOj that in Xum. xxiv. 20 we have not Vtin, but simply E^3 nHWO. Amalek is so called there, as being the first heathen nation which rose up in hostility to Israel. On the other hand, D'W '"» is the firstling of the nations, i.e. the first or most exalted of all nations. Israel is so called, because Jehovah had chosen it out of all the nations of the earth to be the people of His possession (Ex. xix. 5; cf. 2 Sam. vii. 23). In order to define with still greater precision the position of these princes in the congregation, Amos adds, "to whom the house of Israel cometh," namely, to have its affairs regulated by them as its rulers. These epithets were intended to remind the princes of the people of both kingdoms, " that they were the descendants of those tribe- mentioned in Amos i. &■ B, that this occuned before the time

. ah in the passage before a nqucst did not tike place till aft raida. \ ites what the j [srael are tu see in loms of Judah and Israel, and that their territociea are not larger than theirs. It is \ relent that this doei not ipplj to cities that hi fflecL The gna the reUOfi for the woe pronounced upon the sinful f the princes of Israel, Ly depicting the godless * nliir to Ajnoa, via, in participles, These princes that the evil day,... the day of misfortune or of judgment and punishment, is fir awaj - rnj sTW, to be far off, by judgment rap -■'-", to move the sitting (ihebheth from of violence n better still, taking shebheth in the »f enthroning, as Bwild does, to move the throne of violence nearer. i.>. to cause violence to erect its tlu*one nearer and nearer among them.

This forgetfulness of God shows itself more especially in the reckless licentiousness and debauchery of these men. Ver. 4. u They who lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themst upon their couches, and eat lambs front the flock, and calves out of the fattening stall. Ver. 5. 117*0 prattle to the tune of the harp; like David, they invent string instruments. Ver. 6. Who drink wine out of sacrificial bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils, and do not afflict themselves for the hurt of Joseph" They lie stretched, as it were poured out (D^rnp), upon beds inlaid with ivory, to feast and fill their belly with the flesh of the best lambs and fattened calves, to the playing of harps and singing, in which they take such pleasure, that they invent new kinds of playing and singing. The air. Xey. pdrat, to strew around (cf. peret in Lev. xix. 10), in Arabic to throw many

This throat is carried OOl still furthor in vers. 8 11. Yor. 8. u Tht Lord.1 haA noorn by Himself, is to show the secure debauchee! the terrible severity of the jn inonts of God, the Lord announces to His people with a solemn oath the rejection of the nation which is so confident in its own power (cf. ver. 13). The oath runs here as in ch. iv. 2, with this exception, that instead of ^np:i wo have ^DJ| in the same sense; for the nephesh of Jehovah, His inmost being or self, is His holiness. SSnp, with the guttural softened, for -VHD. The participle describes the abhorrence as a continued lasting feeling, and not a merely passing emotion. 3P£ PX3, the loftiness or pride of Jacob, i.e. everything of which Jacob is proud, the true and imaginary greatness and pride of Israel, which included the palaces of the voluptuous great men, for which reason they are placed in parallelism with 'jp px:. This glory of Israel Jehovah abhors, and He will destroy it by giving up the city (Samaria), and all that fills it (houses and men), to the enemies to be destroyed, "^pn, to give up to the enemy, as in Deut. xxxii. 30 and Ob. 14; not to surround, to which nipDi is unsuitable. The words not only threaten surrounding, ov siege, but also conquest, and (ver. 11) the destruction of the rolilioav Sor loes it contain "the wotdiof OM wfcofapnin of any better future, and whose n>

>t) be mentioned," would be unsuitable as an utter.. loapafo h rati ates the fear lest, by I nine of God, the eye of Ood should be drawn towards ne, and he also should fall a victim t< if dea: I bis judgment • I. >rd accomplishes n account of the figurative use of the terms darnel and wormwood. These great men, however, rejoice thereby in 131 sfrj ut nothing,*' or a thing which has no existence. What

\g the vegetable of the lana\ I said. Lord Jehovah, forgive, 1 prau: hoic can Jacob stand? for he is small. \ or. 3. • repented of this: It shall not take place, saith Jehovah." The formula, u Thus the Lord Jehovah showed me," is common to this and the three following visions (vers. 4, 7, and ch. viii. 1), with this trifling difference, that in the third (ver. 7) the subject (the Lord Jehovah) is omitted, and 'Adonai (the Lord) is inserted instead, after v'hinnih (and behold). VlTJ? denotes seeing with the eyes of the mind — a visionary seeing.

to the destruction of the people indicated in -""*',%: | and.-n* supplied as the subject to rrrin \o9

■: h<>w can Jacob stand? for it is small. \ er. 6. Jelic J of this; this also shall not take place, said the Lord Jehovah.'" That the all-devouring fire represents a much severer judgment than that depicted under the figure of the locusts, is generally acknowledged, and needs no proof. But the more precise meaning of this judgment is open to dispute, and depends upon the explanation of the fourth verse. The object to N^P is BW3 3H3, and 3*1 is to be taken as an infinitive, with fin, Than

G-lO. The locu a figurati. of the judgments that still await the covenant nation, and will destroy it even to a small remnant, which will be saved through the prayers of the righteous. The vision of the fire has a similar scope, embracing all the past and all the future; but this also indicates the judgments that fall upon the heathen world, and will only receive its ultimate fulfilment in the destruction of everything that is ungodly upon the face of the earth, when the Lord comes in fire to strive with all flesh (Isa. Ixvi. 15, 16), and to burn up the earth and all that is therein, on the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men (2 Pet. iii. 7, 10-13).

Ian.".'..-. in the oentn of the kingdom of I iel ruunelj at Bethel, th giooi c —through all his sayings, which the land could not hear. To establish this charge, he states (in ver. 11) that Amos has foretold the death of Jeroboam by the sword, and the carrying away of the people out of the land. Amoi had really said this. The fact that in ver. 9 Jeroboam is named, and not the house of Jeroboam, makes no difference; for the head of the house is naturally included in the house itself. And the carrying away of the people out of the land was not only implied in the announcement of the devastation of the sanctuaries of the kingdom (ver. 9), which presupposes the conquest of the land on was what was intended, as many cornn red; for " thi • n an allbaioo to the 'eatin:

ttfen be land. Be bii ild die in an unclean la say, in ti. - in other it with th

Under the symbol of a basket tilled with ripe fruit, the Lord shows the prophet that Israel is ripe for judgment (\ 1-3); whereupon Amos explaining the meaning of this vision, announces to the unrighteous magnates of the nation the changing of their joyful feasts into days of mourning, as the punishment from God for their unrighteousness (vers. 4-10), and sets before them a time when those who now

Kick pi fruit is a fipir.v raracnttt; n <»f H natiaa thai ii now ripe for judgm::.

and bv bed corn (>. or refuse); that in this they might make the poor inn: ><>r, that he wouM cither be

89), or be handed over to the creditor by the coin' justice, be he was no I able to pay for 1 pair of

:.e. the very smallest debt (cf. ch. ii. Such wicked: ould be severely punished by the

Lord. Ver. 7. u MmuA hath sicorn hij the pride of J ibi I icill not forget all their deeds for ever. Ver. 8. Shall the earth not tremble for this, and every inhabitant upon it mourn? and all of it rises like the Xile, and heaves and sinks like the Nik of Egypt? The pride of Jacob is Jehovah, as in II. v. 5 and vii. 10. Jehovah swears by the pride of Jacob, as He has a still wider apj a. When tl I at noon, and:: with darkness i light. Ai or ki the ages 1 done upon that day, to their weeping and la:. WTJNI}, the end thereof, namely, of this mourning and loi tion, will be a bitter day (3 is caph verit.; see at Joel i. 15j. This implies that the judgment will not be a passing one, but will continue.

Vers. 11-14. And at that time the light and comfort of the word of God will also fail them. Ver. 11. "Behold, days come, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, that I send a hungering into the land, not a hungering for bread nor a thirst for water, but to hear the words of Jehovah. Yer. 12. And they will reel from to sea; arid from the north, and even to tlo they sv round to seek the word < rah, and will not find The bitterness of the time of punishment is increased by the fact that the Lord will then withdraw 1 1 is word from them, i.e. the light of His revelation. They who will not now hear His word, proclaimed by the prophets, will then cherish the greatest longing for it. Such hunger and thirst will I ikened by the dist and affliction that will come upon them. The intensity of tin's depicted in ver. 12. They reel (vu as in ch. iv. 8) from the sea to the sea; that isto Bay, not uh the Dead Sea in the Mediterranean in the west," for

1 ii. 20 and Zeeh. \i a not cases in point, as the two and Zech. ix. which the meaning is, from the

. occurs again, at the other end of the world, M tl: j of the earth*1 ( Hupfeld).

Those who n in all the fullest and fi I vigour of life, will succumb to this hunger and thirst. The virgin* and young men are individns is comprising that portion of the nation which possessed th< fulness of youth. r l»e enveloped in night, to sink into a swoon, kithp* to hide s self, to faint away. 2";z'::~\ refers to the young men and virgins; and inasmuch as they represent the most vigorous portion of the nation, to the nation as a whole. If the strongest succumb to the thirst, how much more the weak! W.dunath s fmVtfn, the guilt of Samaria, is the golden calf at Bethel, the principal idol of the kingdom of Israel, which is named after the capital Samaria (compare Deut. ix. 21, " the sin of Israel"), not the Asherah which was still standing in Samaria in the reign of Jehoahaz (2 -Zings. Li. 6); fc apart from the question whether it was there in the tim-c of Jeroboam, this is at variance with the second clause, in which the manner of their swearing is given, — namely, by the life of the god at Dan, that is to lay, the golden calf that was there; so that the guilt of Samaria can only have been the golden calf at Bethel, the national sanctuary of the ten tribes (cf. ch. iv. 4, v. 5). The way to Beersheba is mentioned, instead of the worship, for the sake of which the pilgrimage to Beersheba was made. This worship, again, was not a purely heathen worship, but an idolatrous worship of Jehovah (see ch. v. 5). The fulfilment of these threats commenced with the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, and the carrying away of the ten tribes into exile in Assyria, and continues to this day in the case of that portion of the Israelitish nation which is still looking for the Messiah, the prophet promised by Moses, and looking in vain, because they will not hearken to the preaching of the gospel concerning the Messiah, who appeared as Jesus.

DESTRUCTION OF TIIE SINFUL KINGDOM, AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NEW KINGDOM OF GOD. — CHAP. IX.

The prophet sees the Lord standing by the altar, and giving command to overthrow the temple, that the whole nation may be buried beneath the ruins (ver. 1). Should any one escape, the Lord will pursue him everywhere, and overtake and destroy him (vers. 2-4); for He is the Almighty God, and the Judge of the world (vers. 5 and 6); and Israel has become like the heathen, so that it deserves no sparing. Nevertheless it shall not be utterly destroyed, but simply sifted, and the sinful mass be slain (vers. 7-10). Then will the fallen tabernacle of David be raised up again, and the kingdom of God be glorified by the reception of all nations (ver. 12), and richly blessed with the fulness of the gifts of divine grace (vers. 13, 14), and never destroyed again (ver. 15). As the chapter gives the final development of the judgment threatened in the preceding one, so is it also closely attached in form to ch. vii. and viii., commencing with a vision just as they do. But whilst the preceding visions simply indicate the judgment which is to fall upon the sinful nation, and are introduced with the words, " The Lord showed me" (ch. vii. 1, 4, 7, viii. 1), this closing vision shows the Lord engaged in the execution of the judgment, and commences accordingly, with the words, " I saw the Lord standing," etc.

ut will shake the Jacob cannot house of Isra, because I contrast be; ah and and the antithesis; _rdom and the utter destru i in Bethel, but ■ plnrmlit I ut tl:. eaks in ch. vii. 9 (rf the desolation of the high places and tries of with tl: Itar in tuary of the covenant nation, to which the ten tri. in spite of their baying fallen away from the h. So long SJ the L dl continued to send prophets to the ten tribes, so long did they pass

till forming pert of the people of God, and so long also was the temple at Jerusalem the divinely appointed sanctuary and the throne of Jehovah, from which both blessings and punishment issued for them. The Lord roars from Zion, and from Zion He utters His voice (ch. i. 2), not only upon the nations who have shown hostility to Judah or Israel, but also upon Judah and Israel, on account of their departure from His law (ch. ii. 4 and 6 sqq.).

temple. The smiting of these \ ill m, I they fall to the ground, individualizes the destruction of t g any necessity in consequent these pillars as sapporting the roof of the temple hall. The

. it is Inadmiaaib] much aa * building falls to t! in- 1 in con* Darin i laid in rami ment that the L tern] le in ruins. The destruction of the temple represents the destruction of the kingdom of G in the temple, with which indeed the earthly temple would of necessity fall to the ground. No one will escape this judgment. This is affirmed in th Is which follow: And their last, their remnanl a, ai in eh. iv. I will slay with the sword; as to the meaning of which CoccehlS has correctly observed, that the magnitude of the slaughter is increased exehuione fwjientium et eorwn, qvividebaiUur effugisse. The apparent discrepancy in the statement, that they will all be crushed to pieces by the ruins, and yet there will be fugitives and persons who have escaped, is removed at once if we bear in mind that the intention of the prophet is to cut off every loophole for carnal security, and that the meaning of the words is simply this: u And even if any should succeed in fleeing and

1 Lather's rendering, " for their avarice shall come upon the head of all of them,'' in which he follows the Vulgate, arose from D^V2 being confounded with DW3- judgments upon the earth with omnipotent power. V< r. 5. u And the Lord Je). who toucheth tl. and ii

sea, and poureth them out over the earth: Jehovah is His jiame." This description of God, who rules with omnipotence, is appended, as in ch. iv. 13 and v. 8, without any link of connection whatever. We must not render it, " The Lord Jehovah of hosts is He who toucheth the earth;" but we must supply the connecting thought, " And He who thus directeth His eye upon you is the Lord Jehovah of hosts, who toucheth the earth, and it melteth." The melting or dissolving of the earth is, according to Ps. slvi. 7, an effect produced by the Lord, who makes His voice heard in judgments, or " the destructive effect of the judgments of God, whose instruments the conquerors are" (Hengstenberg), when nations reel and kingdoms totter. The

and ind who faithfully adfa to I Lord. I it wai il. 1 ama like the of the Cuahit with i ana

ii, tlu • will ik il In ' From destruction. A vinos hai thui cut <>ff all hope of the unj he rej in hii own word* in Baqq^the little gram fails to the ground. Ver. 10. All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, The evil will not overtake.c to as." The sinful kingdom is Israel; not merely the kingdom of the ten tribes however, but all Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes along with Judah, the house of Jacob or Israel, which is identical with the sons of Israel, who had become like the Cushites, although Amos had chiefly the people and kingdom of the ten tribes in his mind. Bammamldkhdh, not upon r destroying the sinful kingdom, He will set up the new and genuine kingdom of God. Ver. 11. u On i ill I uitu. Yer. 12. That they may take possession of the remnant of Edom, and all the nations upon which my name shall be called, i.e. when the judgment has fallen upon the sinful kingdom, and all the sinners of the people of Jehovah are destroyed.

Sukkdh, a hut, indicates, by way of contrast to bayith, the house or palace which David built for himself upon Zion (2 Sam. v.

11), a degenerate condition of the royal house of David. This is placed beyond all doubt by the predicate nopheleih, fallen

whole of the promii is is founded. The "lays of the rule of David and of his son SolomOD ar«' called u da. Mer-

Beted restorstkai The role of David had already n a considerable blow through the falling away of the ton tril

An i it would fall still deeper in the future; hut, according to the urODliie in i Sam* vii., it would not utterly perish, hut would I 1 up again from its fallen condition. It is not expressly stated that this will take place throngfa a shoot from its own stem j hut that is implied in the fact itself. The kingdom <>f David could only he raised Q] a through an offshoot from David's family. And that this can he n > other than the M< ssiah, was unanimously acknowli by tin.' earlier s, who even formed a QS i" the Messiah out of this from a fallen hut (see the j in Beogstenl tologVf vol. i. p. 386 tranaL). The kingdom of David is set up in order that they (the sons of Israel, who have been pro to be corn by the sifting, vcr. 9) may take possession of the remnant of Edom and all the nations etc. The Edomites had been brought into subjection by David, who had taken possession of their land. At a late period, when the hut of David was beginning to fall, they had recovered their freedom again. This does not suffice, however, to explain the allusion to Edom here; for David had also brought the Philistines, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and the Aramaeans into subjection to his sceptre, — all of them nations who had afterwards recovered their freedom, and to whom Amos foretels the coming judgment in ch. i. The reason why Edom alone is mentioned by name must be sought for, therefore, in the peculiar attitude which Edom assumed towards the people of God, namely, in the fact " that whilst they were related to the Judgeans, they were of all nations the most hostile to them" (Rosenmuller). On this very- ground Obadiah predicted that judgment would come upon the Edomites, and that the remnant of Esau would be captured by the house of Jacob. Amos speaks here of the a remnant of Edom," not because Amaziah recovered only a portion of Edom to the kingdom (2 Kings xiv. 7), as Hitzig

DiTjS,-w>. Hut if these words affirmed nothing more than what llofmann finds in them — namely, that all tl; ub- dued by David were subje une of Jehovah; or, as he says at p. 83, u made up, in connection with Israel, the kingdom of Jehovah and His anointed, without being circumcised, or being obliged to obey the law of Israel" — their demonstrative force would simply lie in what they do not affirm, — namely, in the fact that they say nothing whatever about circumcision being a condition of the reception of the Gentiles. The circumstance that the heathen nations which David brought into subjection to his kingdom were made tributary to himself and subject to the name of Jehovah, might indeed be typical of the fact that the kingdom of the second David would also spread over the Gentiles; but, according to this explanation, it would affirm nothing at all as to the internal relation of the Gentiles to Israel in the new kingdom of God. The Apostle James, however, quotes the words of Amos as decisive on the point in dispute, which the apostles were considering, because in the words, " all the nations upon whom my name is called," he finds a prediction of what Peter has just related, — namely, that the Lord has taken out of the heathen a people " upon His name," that is to say, because he understands by the calling of the name of the Lord upon the Gentiles the communication of the Holy Ghost to the Gentiles.1 To the setting up of the kingdom and its outward extension the prophet appends its inward glorification, foretelling the richest blessing of the land (ver. 13) and of the nation (ver. 14), and lastly, the eternal duration of the kingdom (ver. 15). Ver. 13. " Behold, days come, is the saying of Jehovah, that the ploughman reaches to the reaper, and the treader of grapes to the sower of seed; and the mountains drip new wine, and all the hills melt away. Ver. 14. And I reverse the captivity of my people Israel, and they build the icaste cities, and dwell, and plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; and make gardens, and eat the fruit thereof. Ver. 15. And I plant them in their land, and they shall no more be torn up out of their land which I have given them, saitJt Jehovah thy God.'' In the new kingdom of God the people of the Lord will enjoy the ble*ssing, which Moses promised to Israel when faithful to the covenant. This blessing will be poured upon the land in which the kingdom is set up. Ver. 13a is formed after the promise in Lev. xxvi. 5, "Your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing-time; " but Amos transfers the action to the

1 Moreover, Jame3 (or Luke) quotes the words of Amos according to the LXX., even in their deviations from the Hebrew text, in the words lita<; ecu Ix^TyGuorj oi Kocrx'honroi to>u cci/ffpcoTrcov (At (for which Luke has toV r.vpiov, according to Cod. Al.), which rest upon an interchange of jyj^> upon which it turned was not thereby altered, inasmuch as the possession of the Gentiles, of which the prophet is speaking, is the spiritual sway of the people of the Lord, which can only extend over those who seek the Lord and His kingdom. The other deviations from the original text and from the LXX. (compare Acts xv. 16 with Amos ix. 11) may be explained on the ground that the apostle is quoting from memory, and that he alters lv rf, qpeepet iKiluyi clvocjTviao) into ^£t« reevra ocuuvrpe^/u x.a,l dvotKolopcTjau, to give greater clearness to the allusion contained in the prophecy to the Messianic times.

persons employed, and says, " The ploughman will reach to the reaper." Even while the one is engaged in ploughing the land for the sowing, the other will already be able to cut ripe corn; so quickly will the corn grow and ripen. And the treading of the grapes will last to the sowing-time, so abundant will the vintage be. The second half of the verse is taken from Joel iv. 18; and according to this passage, the melting of the hills is to be understood as dissolving into streams of milk, new wine, and honey, in which the prophet had the description of the promised land as a land flowing with milk and honey (Ex. iii. 8, etc.) floating before his mind. In the land so blessed will Israel enjoy unbroken peace, and delight itself in the fruits of its inheritance. On miCHlX 2\w} see the exposition of Hos. vi. 11. That this phrase is not used hereto denote the return of the people from captivity, but the turning of misfortune and misery into prosperity and salvation, is evident from the context; for Israel cannot be brought back out of captivity after it has already taken possession of the Gentiles (ver. 12). The thought of ver. 14, as attached to ver. 13, is the following: As the land of Israel, i.e. the territory of the re-erected kingdom of David, will no more be smitten with the curse of drought and failing crops with which the rebellious are threatened, but will receive the blessing of the greatest fertility, so will the people, i.e. the citizens of this kingdom, be no more visited with calamity and judgment, but enjoy the rich beneficent fruits of their labour in blessed and unbroken peace. This thought is individualized with a retrospective glance at the punishment with which the sinners are threatened in ch. v. 11, — namely, as building waste cities, and dwelling therein, and as drinking the wine of the vineyards that have been planted; not building houses for others any more, as was threatened in ch. v. 11, after Deut. xxviii. 30, 39; and lastly, as laying out gardens, and eating the fruit thereof, without its being consumed by strangers (Deut. xxviii. 33). This blessing will endure for ever (ver. 15). Their being planted in their land denotes, not the settling of the people in their land once more, but their firm and lasting establishment and fortification therein. The Lord will make Israel, i.e. His rescued people, into a plantation that will never be torn up again, but strikes firm roots, sends forth blossom, and produces fruit. The words point back to 2 Sam. vii. 10, and declare that the firm planting of Israel which was begun by David will be completed with the raising up of the fallen hut of David, inasmuch as no further driving away of the nation into captivity will occur, but the people of the Lord will dwell for ever in the land which their God has given them. Compare Jer. xxiv. G. This promise is scaled by vK 'M TDK.

Wo have not to seek for the realization of this promise in the return of Israel from its captivity to Palestine under Zerubbabel and Ezra; for this was no planting of Israel to dwell for ever in the land, nor was it a setting up of the fallen hut of David. Nor have we to transfer the fulfilment to the future, and think of a time when the Jews, who have been converted to their ( rod and Saviour Jesus Christ, will one day be led back to Palestine. For, as we have already observed at J< 1 iii. 18, Canaan and Israel are types of the kingdom of

I and of the church of the Lord. The raising Up 0f the fallen hut of David commenced with the coming of Christ and the founding of the Christian church by the apostles; and the possession of Edom and all the other nations upon whom the Lord reveals His name, took its rise in the reception of tie into the kingdom of heaven set up by Christ. Tin; founding and building of this kingdom continue through all the ages of the Christian church, and will be completed when the fulness of th -hall one day enter into the kingdom of (iod, and the still unbelieving Israel shall have been converted to Christ. The land which will flow with streams of divine blessing is not Palestine, but the domain of the Christian church, or the earth, so far as it has received the blessings of Christianity. The people which cultivates this land is the Christian church, so far as it stands in living faith, and produces fruits of the Holy Ghost. The blessing foretold by the prophet is indeed visible at present in only a very small measure, because Christendom is not yet so pervaded by the Spirit of the Lord, as that it forms a holy people of God. In many respects it still resembles Israel, which the Lord will have to sift by means of judgments. This sifting will be first brought to an end through the judgment upon all nations, which will attend the second coming of Christ. Then will the earth become a Canaan, where the Lord will dwell in His glorified kingdom in the midst of His sanctified people.

S to the person and circumstances of Obadiah, nothing certain is known, since the heading to his prophecy simply contains the name J^.1?"V, Le. servant, worshipper of Jehovah (^Oj3Slov al. 'Aft&Lov, sc. opao-is, LXX.), and does not even mention his father's name. The name Obadiah frequently occurs in its earlier form ' Obadydlm. This was the name of a pious governor of the palace under king Ahab (1 Kings xviii. 3 sqq.), of a prince of Judah under Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. xvii. 7), of a brave Gadite under David (1 Chron. xii. 9), of a Benjamite (1 Chron. viii. 38), of an Issacharite (1 Chron. vii. 3), of a Zebulunite (1 Chron. xxvii. 19), of several Levites (1 Chron. ix. 16, 44; 2 Chron. xxxiv. 12), and of different men after the captivity (1 Chron. iii. 21; Ezra viii. 9; Neh. x. 6). The traditional accounts of our prophet in the rabbins and fathers, some of whom identify him with Ahab's pious commander of the castle, others with the third captain sent by Ahaziah against Elisha (2 Kings i. 13), whilst others again make him an Edomitish proselyte (see Carpzov, Introd. p. 332 sqq., and Delitzsch, de Habacuci vita atque aztate, pp. 60, 61), are quite worthless, and evidently false, and have merely originated in the desire to know something more about him than the simple name (see C. P. Caspari, Der Proph. Ob. pp. 2, 3).

The writing of Obadiah contains but one single prophecy concerning the relation in which Edom stood to the people of God. It commences with the proclamation of the destruction with which the Lord has determined to visit the Edomites, who rely upon the impregnability of their rocky seat (vers. 1-9); and then depicts, as the cause of the divine judgment which.

: so that,..ding the smaJ I by his pa rly liad a place 1 it in prophetic literature. At the ■ e cannot agree with llowiog Interpretation to this \iew of the attitude of Edom towards the people of God, namely, thai l i ih simply add aple of what he hi ly with I to tl ithen world, with its between Israel and the heathen world would eventually a and therefore that hii prophecy simply individualizes the thou of the anil lominion of the kingdom of God which would follow the idation of the people of ( h d, the fullest and tru dixation of which domii p in character and expression, or raised into a truth by any analogies in prophetic literature. All theprophecJ occasioned by distinct concrete relations and circuni-tances belonging to the tge from which they spring. And even those which are npied with the remote and remotest future, like Isa. xl.-lxvi. for example, form no real exception to this rule. Joel would not have mentioned Edom as the representation of the heathen world with its hostility to God (iii. ID), and Obadiah would not have predicted the destruction of Edom, if the Edomites had not displayed their implacable hatred to the people of God on one particular occasion in the most conspicuous manner. It is only in this way that we can understand the contents of the whole of Obadiah" s prophecy, more especially the relation in which the third section (vers. 17-21) stands to the first two, and explain them without force.

The time of the prophet is so much a matter of dispute, that some regard him as the oldest of the twelve minor prophets, whilst others place him in the time of the captivity, and Hitzig even assigns him to the year 312 B.C., when prophecy had long been extinct. (For the different views, see my Lehrbuch der Einleitung, § 88.) That Obadiah does not belong to the prophets of the captivity, or to those after the captivity, but to the earlier prophets, may be generally inferred