1Woe to those at ease in Zion, and those trusting in the mountain of Samaria, noted as chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came. 2Cross over to Calneh and see; and from there go to the great Hamath; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are they better than these kingdoms, or their border than your border? 3You who put the evil day far away, and cause the seat of violence to come near, 4who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves on their couches; and those eating the lambs from the flock, and calves from the midst of the stall; 5who chant with the sound of the lute; they invent instruments of song for themselves like David; 6who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the best of ointments; but they are not grieved for the crushing of Joseph! 7Therefore they shall go into captivity with the first of the captives, and the feast of those who recline shall come to an end. 8The Lord Jehovah has sworn by Himself, declares Jehovah the God of Hosts: I abhor the pride of Jacob, and hate his palaces; therefore I will deliver up the city and its fullness. 9And it shall come to pass, if ten men remain in one house, that they shall die. 10And when a man's uncle shall take him away, and he who burns the bodies, to bring out the bones from the house; and he shall say to the one left in the recesses of the house, Are there any still with you? And he shall say, No. Then he shall say, Keep quiet! For we must not mention the name of Jehovah. 11For, behold, Jehovah gives a command, and He will strike the great house into pieces, and the little house with cracks. 12Shall horses run on the rock? Or will one plow there with oxen? For you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood, 13those rejoicing for nothing; who say, Have we not taken horns to ourselves by our own strength? 14For, behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel, declares Jehovah the God of Hosts. And they shall oppress you from the entrance of Hamath to the valley of the wilderness.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 DENUNCIATION OF BOTH THE SISTER NATIONS (ESPECIALLY THEIR NOBLES) FOR WANTON SECURITY--ZION, AS WELL AS SAMARIA: THREAT OF THE EXILE: RUIN OF THEIR PALACES AND SLAUGHTER OF THE PEOPLE: THEIR PERVERSE INJUSTICE. (
Amos 6:1-
Amos 6:14)
named chief of the nations--that is, you nobles, so eminent in influence, that your names are celebrated among the chief nations [LUDOVICUS DE DIEU]. Hebrew, "Men designated by name among the first-fruits of the nations," that is, men of note in Israel, the people chosen by God as first of the nations (
Exod 19:5; compare
Num 24:20) [PISCATOR].
to whom . . . Israel came--that is, the princes to whom the Israelites used to repair for the decision of controversies, recognizing their authority [MAURER]. I prefer to refer "which" to the antecedent "Zion" and "Samaria"; these were esteemed "chief" strongholds among the heathen nations "to whom . . . Israel came" when it entered Canaan;
Amos 6:2 accords with this.
2 Calneh--on the east bank of the Tigris. Once powerful, but recently subjugated by Assyria (
Isa 10:9; about 794 B.C.).
Hameth--subjugated by Jeroboam II (
2Kgs 14:25). Also by Assyria subsequently (
2Kgs 18:34). Compare
Amos 6:14.
Gath--subjugated by Uzziah (
2Chr 26:6).
be they better--no. Their so recent subjugation renders it needless for Me to tell you they are not. And yet they once were; still they could not defend themselves against the enemy. How vain, then, your secure confidence in the strength of Mounts Zion and Samaria! He takes cities respectively east, north, south, and west of Israel (compare
Nah 3:8).
3 Ye persuade yourselves that "the evil day" foretold by the prophets is "far off," though they declare it near (
Ezek 12:22,
Ezek 12:27). Ye in your imagination put it far off, and therefore bring near violent oppression, suffering it to sit enthroned, as it were, among you (
Ps 94:20). The notion of judgment being far off has always been an incentive to the sinner's recklessness of living (
Eccl 8:12-
Eccl 8:13;
Matt 24:48). Yet that very recklessness brings near the evil day which he puts far off. "Ye bring on fever by your intemperance, and yet would put it far off" [CALVIN].
4 (See
Amos 2:8).
beds of ivory--that is, adorned, or inlaid, with ivory (
Amos 3:15).
stretch themselves--in luxurious self-indulgence.
lambs out of the flock--picked out as the choicest, for their owners selfish gratification.
5 chant--literally, "mark distinct sounds and tones."
viol--the lyre, or lute.
invent . . . instruments . . . like David--They fancy they equal David in musical skill (
1Chr 23:5;
Neh 12:36). They defend their luxurious passion for music by his example: forgetting that he pursued this study when at peace and free from danger, and that for the praise of God; but they pursue for their own self-gratification, and that when God is angry and ruin is imminent.
6 drink . . . in bowls--in the large vessels or basins in which wine was mixed; not satisfied with the smaller cups from which it was ordinarily drunk, after having been poured from the large mixer.
chief ointments--that is, the most costly: not for health or cleanliness, but wanton luxury.
not grieved for the affliction of Joseph--literally, "the breach," that is, the national wound or calamity (
Ps 60:2;
Ezek 34:4) of the house of Joseph (
Amos 5:6); resembling in this the heartlessness of their forefathers, the sons of Jacob, towards Joseph, "eating bread" while their brother lay in the pit, and then selling him to Ishmaelites.
7 Therefore . . . shall they go captive with the first--As they were first among the people in rank (
Amos 6:1), and anointed themselves "with the chief ointments" (
Amos 6:6), so shall they be among the foremost in going into captivity.
banquet--literally, the "merry-making shout of revellers"; from an Arabic root, "to cry out." In the Hebrew, marzeach; here, there is an allusion to mizraqu, "bowls" (
Amos 6:6).
them that stretched themselves--on luxurious couches (
Amos 6:4).
8 the excellency of Jacob-- (
Ps 47:4). The sanctuary which was the great glory of the covenant-people [VATABLUS], (
Ezek 24:21). The priesthood, and kingdom, and dignity, conferred on them by God. These, saith God, are of no account in My eyes towards averting punishment [CALVIN].
hate his palaces--as being the storehouses of "robbery" (
Amos 3:10,
Amos 3:15). How sad a change from God's love of Zion's gates (
Ps 87:2) and palaces (
Ps 48:3,
Ps 48:13), owing to the people's sin!
the city--collectively: both Zion and Samaria (
Amos 6:1).
all that is therein--literally, "its fulness"; the multitude of men and of riches in it (compare
Ps 24:1).
9 If as many as ten (
Lev 26:26;
Zech 8:23) remain in a house (a rare case, and only in the scattered villages, as there will be scarcely a house in which the enemy will leave any), they shall all, to a man, die of the plague, a frequent concomitant of war in the East (
Jer 24:10;
Jer 44:13;
Ezek 6:11).
10 a man's uncle--The nearest relatives had the duty of burying the dead (
Gen 25:9;
Gen 35:29;
Judg 16:31). No nearer relative was left of this man than an uncle.
and he that burneth him--the uncle, who is also at the same time the one that burneth him (one of the "ten,"
Amos 6:9). Burial was the usual Hebrew mode of disposing of their dead. But in cases of necessity, as when the men of Jabesh-gilead took the bodies of Saul and his three sons from the walls of Beth-shan and burned them to save them from being insulted by the Philistines, burning was practised. So in this case, to prevent contagion.
the bones--that is, the dead body (
Gen 50:25). Perhaps here there is an allusion in the phrase to the emaciated condition of the body, which was little else but skin and bones.
say unto him that is by the sides of the house--that is, to the only one left of the ten in the interior of the house [MAURER] (compare Note, see on
Isa 14:13).
Hold thy tongue . . . we may not . . . mention . . . the Lord--After receiving the reply, that none is left besides the one addressed, when the man outside fancies the man still surviving inside to be on the point, as was customary, of expressing devout gratitude to God who spared him, the man outside interrupts him, "Hold thy tongue! for there is not now cause for mentioning with praise (
Josh 23:7) the name of Jehovah"; for thou also must die; as all the ten are to die to the last man (
Amos 6:9; compare
Amos 8:3). Formerly ye boasted in the name of Jehovah, as if ye were His peculiar people; now ye shall be silent and shudder at His name, as hostile to you, and as one from whom ye wish to be hidden (
Rev 6:16), [CALVIN].
11 commandeth, and he will smite--His word of command, when once given, cannot but be fulfilled (
Isa 55:11). His mere word is enough to smite with destruction.
great house . . . little house--He will spare none, great or small (
Amos 3:15). JEROME interprets "the great house" as Israel, and "the small house" as Judah: the former being reduced to branches or ruins, literally, "small drops"; the latter, though injured with "clefts" or rents, which threaten its fall, yet still permitted to stand.
12 In turning "judgment (justice) into gall (poison), and . . . righteousness into hemlock" (or wormwood, bitter and noxious), ye act as perversely as if one were to make "horses run upon the rock" or to "plough with oxen there" [MAURER]. As horses and oxen are useless on a rock, so ye are incapable of fulfilling justice [GROTIUS]. Ye impede the course of God's benefits, because ye are as it were a hard rock on which His favor cannot run. "Those that will not be tilled as fields, shall be abandoned as rocks" [CALVIN].
13 rejoice in a thing of naught--that is, in your vain and fleeting riches.
Have we not taken to us horns--that is, acquired power, so as to conquer our neighbors (
2Kgs 14:25). Horns are the Hebrew symbol of power, being the instrument of strength in many animals (
Ps 75:10).
14 from the entering in of Hamath--the point of entrance for an invading army (as Assyria) into Israel from the north; specified here, as Hamath had been just before subjugated by Jeroboam II (
Amos 6:2). Do not glory in your recently acquired city, for it shall be the starting-point for the foe to afflict you. How sad the contrast to the feast of Solomon attended by a congregation from this same Hamath, the most northern boundary of Israel, to the Nile, the river of Egypt, the most southern boundary!
unto the river of the wilderness--that is, to Kedron, which empties itself into the north bay of the Dead Sea below Jericho (
2Chr 28:15), the southern boundary of the ten tribes (
2Kgs 14:25, "from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain") [MAURER]. To the river Nile, which skirts the Arabian wilderness and separates Egypt from Canaan [GROTIUS]. If this verse includes Judah, as well as Israel (compare
Amos 6:1, "Zion" and "Samaria"), GROTIUS' view is correct; and it agrees with
1Kgs 8:65.
The seventh, eighth, and ninth chapters contain VISIONS, WITH THEIR EXPLANATIONS. The seventh chapter consists of two parts. First (
Amos 7:1-
Amos 7:9): PROPHECIES ILLUSTRATED BY THREE SYMBOLS: (1) A vision of grasshoppers or young locusts, which devour the grass, but are removed at Amos' entreaty; (2) Fire drying up even the deep, and withering part of the land, but removed at Amos' entreaty; (3) A plumb-line to mark the buildings for destruction. Secondly (
Amos 7:10-
Amos 7:17): NARRATIVE OF AMAZIAH'S INTERRUPTION OF AMOS IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE FOREGOING PROPHECIES, AND PREDICTION OF HIS DOOM.