@Am 2:1-16. CHARGES AGAINST MOAB, JUDAH, AND LASTLY ISRAEL, THE CHIEF SUBJECT OF AMOS' PROPHECIES.
1. burned . . . bones of . . . king of Edom into lime--When Jehoram of Israel, Jehoshaphat of Judah, and the king of Edom, combined against Mesha king of Moab, the latter failing in battle to break through to the king of Edom, took the oldest son of the latter and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall (@2Ki 3:27) [MICHAELIS]. Thus, "king of Edom" is taken as the heir to the throne of Edom. But "his son" is rather the king of Moab's own son, whom the father offered to Molech [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 9.3]. Thus the reference here in Amos is not to that fact, but to the revenge which probably the king of Moab took on the king of Edom, when the forces of Israel and Judah had retired after their successful campaign against Moab, leaving Edom without allies. The Hebrew tradition is that Moab in revenge tore from their grave and burned the bones of the king of Edom, the ally of Jehoram and Jehoshaphat, who was already buried. Probably the "burning of the bones" means, "he burned the king of Edom alive, reducing his very bones to lime" [MAURER].
2. Kirioth--the chief city of Moab, called also Kir-Moab
(@Isa 15:1). The form is plural here, as including both the
acropolis and town itself (see @Jer 48:24,41, Margin).
die with tumult--that is, amid the tumult of battle (@Ho 10:14).
3. the judge--the chief magistrate, the supreme source of justice. "King" not being used, it seems likely a change of government had before this time substituted for kings, supreme judges.
4. From foreign kingdoms he passes to Judah and Israel, lest it should
be said, he was strenuous in denouncing sins abroad, but connived at
those of his own nation. Judah's guilt differs from that of all the
others, in that it was directly against God, not merely against man.
Also because Judah's sin was wilful and wittingly against light and
knowledge.
law--the Mosaic code in general.
commandments--or statutes, the ceremonies and civil laws.
their lies--their lying idols (@Ps 40:4 Jer 16:19), from which
they drew false hopes. The order is to be observed. The Jews first cast
off the divine law, then fall into lying errors; God thus visiting
them with a righteous retribution (@Ro 1:25,26,28 2Th 2:11,12). The
pretext of a good intention is hereby refuted: the "lies" that mislead
them are "their (own) lies" [CALVIN].
after . . . which their fathers . . . walked--We are not to follow the
fathers in error, but must follow the word of God alone. It was an
aggravation of the Jews' sin that it was not confined to preceding
generations; the sins of the sons rivalled those of their fathers
(@Mt 23:32 Ac 7:51) [CALVIN].
5. a fire--Nebuchadnezzar.
6. Israel--the ten tribes, the main subject of Amos' prophecies.
sold the righteous--Israel's judges for a bribe are induced to condemn
in judgment him who has a righteous cause; in violation of @De 16:19.
the poor for a pair of shoes--literally, "sandals" of wood, secured on
the foot by leather straps; less valuable than shoes. Compare the same
phrase, for "the most paltry bribe," @Am 8:6 Eze 13:19 Joe 3:3. They
were not driven by poverty to such a sin; beginning with suffering
themselves to be tempted by a large bribe, they at last are so reckless
of all shame as to prostitute justice for the merest trifle. Amos
convicts them of injustice, incestuous unchastity, and oppression first,
as these were so notorious that they could not deny them, before he
proceeds to reprove their contempt of God, which they would have denied
on the ground that they worshipped God in the form of the calves.
7. pant after . . . dust of . . . earth on . . . head of . . . poor--that is, eagerly thirst for this object, by their oppression to
prostrate the poor so as to cast the dust on their heads in mourning on
the earth (compare @2Sa 1:2 Job 2:12 Eze 27:30).
turn aside . . . way of . . . meek--pervert their cause
(@Am 5:12 Job 24:4 [GROTIUS];
@Isa 10:2).
a man and his father--a crime "not so much as named among the
Gentiles" (@1Co 5:1). When God's people sin in the face of light,
they often fall lower than even those who know not God.
go in unto the same maid--from @Am 2:8 it seems likely "the damsel"
meant is one of the prostitutes attached to the idol Astarte's temple:
prostitution being part of her filthy worship.
to profane my . . . name--Israel in such abominations, as it were,
designedly seeks to insult God.
8. lay themselves . . . upon clothes laid to pledge--the
outer garment, which @Ex 22:25-27 ordered to be restored to the
poor man before sunset, as being his only covering. It aggravated the
crime that they lay on these clothes in an idol temple.
by every altar--They partook in a recumbent posture of their idolatrous
feasts; the ancients being in the habit of reclining at full length in
eating, the upper part of the body resting on the left elbow, not
sitting as we do.
drink . . . wine of the condemned--that is, wine bought with the money
of those whom they unjustly fined.
9. Yet--My former benefits to you heighten your ingratitude.
the Amorite--the most powerful of all the Canaanite nations, and
therefore put for them all (@Ge 15:16 48:22 De 1:20 Jos 7:7).
height . . . like . . . cedars--(@Nu 13:32,33).
destroyed his fruit . . . above . . . roots . . . beneath--that is,
destroyed him utterly (@Job 18:16 Eze 17:9 Mal 4:1).
10. brought you up from . . . Egypt--"brought up" is the phrase, as
Egypt was low and flat, and Canaan hilly.
to possess the land of the Amorite--The Amorites strictly occupied both
sides of the Jordan and the mountains afterward possessed by Judah; but
they here, as in @Am 2:9, stand for all the Canaanites. God kept
Israel forty years in the wilderness, which tended to discipline them in
His statutes, so as to be the better fitted for entering on the
possession of Canaan.
11. Additional obligations under which Israel lay to God; the
prophets and Nazarites, appointed by Him, to furnish religious
instruction and examples of holy self-restraint.
of your young men--It was a specimen of Israel's highly favored state,
that, of the class most addicted to pleasures, God chose those who by a
solemn vow bound themselves to abstinence from all produce of the vine,
and from all ceremonial and moral defilement. The Nazarite was not to
shave (@Nu 6:2, &c.). God left nothing undone to secure the purity
of their worship and their faithfulness to it (@La 4:7). The same
comes from a Hebrew root, nazar, "to set apart." Samson, Samuel,
and John the Baptist were Nazarites.
Is it not even thus--Will any of you dare to deny it is so?
12. Ye so despised these My favors, as to tempt the Nazarite to break his vow; and forbade the prophets prophesying (@Isa 30:10). So Amaziah forbade Amos (@Am 7:12,13,14).
13. I am pressed under you--so CALVIN (Compare @Isa 1:14). The Margin translates actively, "I will depress your place," that is, "I will make it narrow," a metaphor for afflicting a people; the opposite of enlarging, that is, relieving (@Ps 4:1 Pr 4:12). MAURER translates, "I will press you down" (not as Margin, "your place"; so the Hebrew, @Job 40:12; or @Am 2:7 in Hebrew text). Amos, as a shepherd, appropriately draws his similes from rustic scenes.
14. flight shall perish from . . . swift--Even the swift shall not be
able to escape.
strong shall not strengthen his force--that is, shall not be able to
use his strength.
himself--literally, "his life."
16. flee . . . naked--If any escape, it must be with the loss of accoutrements, and all that would impede rapid flight. They must be content with saving their life alone.