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Amos Chapter
Eight
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO AMOS 8
In
this chapter a fourth vision is delivered, the vision of a "basket of
summer fruit"; signifying the destruction of the ten tribes, for which
they were ripe, and which would quickly come upon them, Amos 8:1; the rich
are reproved for their oppression of the poor, their covetousness and earthly
mindedness, Amos 8:4; for which
they are threatened with entire ruin, sudden calamities, and very mournful
times, instead of light, joy, and gladness, Amos 8:7; and
particularly with a famine of hearing the word of God, Amos 8:11; the
consequence of which would be, a fainting of the young men and virgins for
thirst, and the utter and irrecoverable ruin of all idolaters, Amos 8:13.
Amos 8:1 Thus the Lord God showed me:
Behold, a basket of summer fruit.
YLT
1Thus hath the Lord Jehovah
shewed me, and, lo, a basket of summer-fruit.
Thus hath the Lord God showed unto me,.... Another
vision, which is the fourth, and after the following manner:
and, behold, a basket of summer fruit; not of the
first ripe fruit, but of such as were gathered at the close of the summer, when
autumn began. So the Targum,
"the
last of the summer fruit;'
such
as were fully ripe, and would not keep till winter; or, if kept, would rot; but
must be eaten directly, as some sort of apples, grapes, &c. denoting the
people of Israel being ripe for destruction, and would be quickly devoured by
their enemies; and that, as they had had a summer of prosperity, they would now
have a sharp winter of adversity.
Amos 8:2 2 And
He said, “Amos, what do you see?” So I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then
the Lord
said to me: “The end has come upon My people Israel; I will not pass by them
anymore.
YLT
2And He saith, `What art
thou seeing, Amos?' and I say, `A basket of summer-fruit.' And Jehovah saith
unto me: `The end hath come unto My people Israel, I do not add any more to
pass over to it.
And he said, Amos, what seest thou?.... To quicken his
attention, who might disregard it as a common thing; and in order to lead him
into the design of it, and show him what it was an emblem of:
and I said, a basket of summer fruit; some render
it "a hook"F23כלוב
"unicuus", V. L. , such as they pull down branches with to gather the
fruit; and the word so signifies in the Arabic languageF24"ferramentum
incurvum, seu uncus ex quo de sella commeatum suspendit viator", Giggeius
apud Golium, col. 2055. ; but the other is the more received sense of the word:
then said the Lord unto me; by way of explanation of
the vision: the end is come upon my people Israel: the end of the kingdom of
Israel; of their commonwealth and church state; of all their outward happiness
and glory; their "summer was ended", and they "not
saved", Jeremiah 8:20; all
their prosperity was over; and, as the Targum, their
"final
punishment was come,'
the
last destruction threatened themF25There is an elegant play on words
in the words קיץ, "summer", and קץ, "the end". :
I will not again pass by them any more; pass by their
offences, and forgive their sins; or pass by their persons, without taking notice
of them, so as to afflict and punish them for their iniquities: or, "pass
through them and more"F26So Mercerus, Grotius. now making an
utter end of them; See Gill on Amos 7:8.
Amos 8:3 3 And
the songs of the temple Shall be wailing in that day,” Says the Lord God— “Many dead
bodies everywhere, They shall be thrown out in silence.”
YLT
3And howled have
songstresses of a palace in that day, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Many
[are] the carcases, into any place throw -- hush!
And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day,
saith the Lord God,.... Not the songs sung by the Levites in
the temple of Jerusalem, this prophecy respects the ten tribes only; but those
in imitation of them, sung in the temple at Bethel, and other idol temples; or
profane songs in the palaces of princes and nobles; that is, instead of these,
there should be howlings for the calamities come upon them. So the Targum,
"they
shall howl, instead of a song, in their houses then;'
particularly
because of the slain in them, as follows; see Amos 5:23;
there shall be many dead
bodies in every place; in all houses and palaces, in all towns and cities; and
especially in Samaria, during the siege, and when taken, partly through the
famine, and partly through the sword:
they shall cast them forth with silence; they that
have the care of burying the dead bodies shall either cast them out of the
houses upon the bier or cart in which they are carried to the grave, or into
the pit or grave without any funeral lamentation: or, "they shall cast
them forth", and say, "be silent"; that is, as Kimchi explains
it,
"one
of them that casts them forth shall say to his companion, be silent;'
say
not one word against God and his providence, since this is righteously come
upon us; or say nothing of the number of the dead, lest the hearts of those
that hear should become tender, and be discouraged, as Aben Ezra; or the enemy
should be encouraged to go on with the siege.
Amos 8:4 4 Hear
this, you who swallow up[a] the needy,
And make the poor of the land fail,
YLT
4Hear this, ye who are
swallowing up the needy, To cause to cease the poor of the land,
Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy,.... Like a
man that pants after a draught of water when thirsty; and, when he has got it,
greedily swallows it down at one gulp; so these rich men swallowed up the poor,
their labours, gains, and profits, and persons too; got all into their own
hands, and made them bondsmen and slaves to them; see Amos 2:7; these are
called upon to hear this dreadful calamity threatened, and to consider what
then would become of them and their ill gotten riches; and suggesting, that their
oppression of the needy was one cause of this destruction of the land:
even to make the poor of the land to fail; or
"cease"F1לשבות "ad cessare
faciendum", Mercerus; "et facitis cessare", Munster, Drusius. ;
to die for want of the necessaries of life, being obliged to such hard labour;
so unmercifully used, their faces ground, and pinched with necessity; and so
sadly paid for their work, that they could not live by it.
Amos 8:5 5 Saying:
“When will the New Moon be past, That we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, That
we may trade wheat? Making the ephah small and the shekel large, Falsifying the
scales by deceit,
YLT
5Saying, When doth the new
moon pass, And we sell ground corn? And the sabbath, and we open out pure corn?
To make little the ephah, And to make great the shekel, And to use perversely
balances of deceit.
Saying, when will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn?.... The first
day of every month, on which it was forbid to sell any thing, or do any worldly
business, being appointed and used for religious service; see 2 Kings 4:23; and
which these carnal earthly minded men were weary of, and wanted to have over,
that they might be selling their grain, and getting money, which they preferred
to the worship of God. Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it of the month of
harvest, when the poor found what to eat in the fields; when they gleaned
there, and got a sufficiency of bread, and so had no need to buy corn; and
hence these rich misers, that hoarded up the grain, are represented as wishing
the harvest month over, that they might sell their grain to the poor, having
had, during that month, no demand for it; and so the Targum renders it the month
of grain: or the month of intercalation, as Jarchi understands it; every three
years a month was intercalated, to bring their feasts right to the season of
the year; and that year was a month longer than the rest, and made provision
dearer; and then the sense is, when will the year of intercalation come, that
we may have a better price for our grain? but the first sense seems best;
and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat; in the shops
or markets, for sale: or "open wheat"F2ונפתחה
בר "et apericmus frumentam", Pagninus,
Montanus, Vatablus; "ut aperiamus frumenti horrea", Junius
& Tremellius; "ut aperiamus frumentum", Piscator, Cocceius;
"quo far aperiamus", Castalio. ; the granaries and treasures of it,
to be seen and sold. Now the sabbath, or seventh day of the week, as no servile
work was to be done on it, so no trade or commerce was to be carried on on that
day; which made it a long and wearisome one to worldly men, who wished it over,
that they might be about their worldly business. Kimchi and Ben Melech, by
"sabbath", understand a "week", which these men put off the
poor unto, when the price of grain would rise; and so from week to week refused
to sell, and longed till the week came when it would be dearer. The Targum and
Jarchi interpret it of the seventh year Sabbath, when there was no ploughing,
nor sowing, nor reaping, and so no selling of grain, but the people lived upon
what the earth brought forth of itself. But the first sense here is also best;
making the ephah small; a dry measure, that held
three scabs, or about a bushel of ours, with which they measured their grain
and their wheat; so that, besides the exorbitant price they required, they did
not give due measure:
and the shekel great; that is, the weight, or
shekel stone, with which they weighed the money the poor gave for their grain
and wheat; this was made heavier than it should be, and so of course the money
weighed against it was too light, and the poor were obliged to make it up with
more; and thus they cheated them, both in their measure, and in their money:
and falsifying the balances by deceit? contrary to
the law in Deuteronomy 25:13.
Amos 8:6 6 That
we may buy the poor for silver, And the needy for a pair of sandals— Even sell
the bad wheat?”
YLT
6To purchase with money the
poor, And the needy for a pair of sandals, Yea, the refuse of the pure corn we
sell.
That we may buy the poor for silver,.... Thus making them pay
dear for their provisions, and using them in this fraudulent manner, by which
they would not be able to support themselves and their families; they might
purchase them and theirs for slaves, at so small a price as a piece of silver,
or a single shekel, worth about half a crown; and this was their end and design
in using them after this manner; see Leviticus 25:39;
and the needy for a pair of shoes; See Gill on Amos 2:6;
yea, and sell the refuse of
the wheat; not only did they sell the poor grain and wheat at a dear rate,
and in scanty measure, but the worst of it, and such as was not fit to make
bread of, only to be given to the cattle; and, by reducing the poor to extreme
poverty, they obliged them to take that of them at their own price. It may be
rendered, "the fall of wheat"F3מפל
בר "labile frumenti", Montanus;
"decidum frumenti", Cocceius; "deciduum triciti", Drusius,
Mercerus, Stockius, p. 690. ; that which fell under the sieve, when the wheat
was sifted, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, observe.
Amos 8:7 7 The
Lord has sworn by
the pride of Jacob: “Surely I will never forget any of their works.
YLT
7Sworn hath Jehovah by the
excellency of Jacob: `I forget not for ever any of their works.
The Lord hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob,.... Not by
the ark, as R. Japhet; nor by the temple, as Kimchi; but by himself; which
sense Kimchi also mentions, and Aben Ezra; the God of Jacob and his glory, the
most excellent of all Jacob's enjoyments, and of whom he had reason to boast
and glory; see Amos 6:8;
surely I will never forget any of their works; their wicked
works, especially those now mentioned; God forgets when he forgives them, or
suffers them to go unpunished; but though he had done so long, he would do so
no more; on which they might depend, since he had not only said it, but swore
to it.
Amos 8:8 8 Shall
the land not tremble for this, And everyone mourn who dwells in it? All of it
shall swell like the River,[b] Heave and
subside Like the River of Egypt.
YLT
8For this doth not the land
tremble, And mourned hath every dweller in it? And come up as a flood hath all
of it. And it hath been cast out, and hath sunk, Like the flood of Egypt.
Shall not the land tremble for this,.... For this wickedness
committed, in using the poor with so much inhumanity? may not an earthquake be
expected? and which happened two years after Amos began to prophesy, Amos 1:1; or that
the earth should gape and swallow up these men alive, guilty of such
enormities? or shall not the inhabitants of the land tremble at such judgments,
which the Lord hath sworn he will bring upon it?
and everyone mourn that dwelleth therein? at the
hearing of them, and especially when they shall come upon them: as the calamity
would be general, the mourning should be universal:
and it shall rise up wholly as a flood; that is, the
calamity threatened shall rise up at once like a flood of waters, like Noah's
flood, and cover the whole land, and wash off and utterly destroy man and
beast:
and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of
Egypt; or the river of Egypt, the Nile, which overflows at certain
times, and casts up its waters and its mud, and drowns all the country; so that
the whole country, during its continuance, looks like a sea: it overflows both
its banks, both towards Lybia or Africa, and towards Arabia, and on each side
about two days' journey, as HerodotusF4Euterpe, sive l. 9. c. 19.
relates; and this it does regularly every year, in the summer solstice, in the
higher and middle Egypt, where it seldom rains, and its flood is necessary; but
is not so large in the lower Egypt, where it more frequently rains, and the
country needs it not. StraboF5Geograph. l. 17. p. 542. says this
flood remains more than forty days, and then it decreases by little and little,
as it increased; and within sixty days the fields are seen and dried up; and
the sooner that is, the sooner they plough and sow, and have the better
harvests. HerodotusF6Ut supra. (Euterpe, sive l. 9. c. 19.) says it
continues a hundred days, and is near the same in returning; and he says,
unless it rises to sixteen, or at least fifteen cubits, it will not overflow
the countryF7Ibid. c. 13. : and, according to PlinyF8Nat.
Hist. l. 5. c. 9. , the proper increase of the waters is sixteen cubits; if
only they arise to twelve, it is a famine; if to thirteen, it is hunger; if to
fourteen, it brings cheerfulness; if to fifteen, security; and if to sixteen,
delights. But StraboF9Ut supra. (Geograph. l. 17. p. 542.) relates,
that the fertility by it is different at different times; before the times of
Petronius, the greatest fertility was when the Nile arose to the fourteenth
cubit; and when to the eighteenth, it was a famine: but when he was governor of
that country, when it only reached the twelfth cubit, there was great fruitfulness;
had when it came to the eighth (the eighteenth I suppose it should be) no
famine was perceived. An Arabic writerF11Apud Calmet. Dictionary, in
the word "Nile". gives an account of the Nilometry, or measures of
the Nile, from the year of Christ 622 to 1497; and he says, that, when the
depth of the channel of the Nile is fourteen cubits, a harvest may be expected
that will amount to one year's provision; but, if it increases to sixteen, the
corn will be sufficient for two years; less than fourteen, a scarcity; and more
than eighteen makes a famine. Upon the whole, it seems that sixteen cubits have
been reckoned the standard that portends plenty, for many generations, to which
no addition has appeared to have been made during the space of five hundred
years.
"This
we learn (says Dr. Shaw)F12Travels, p. 384. Ed. 2. , not only from
the sixteen children that attend the statue of the Nile, but from Pliny also;
and likewise from a medal of Hadrian in the great brass where we see the figure
of the Nile, with a boy upon it, pointing to the number sixteen. Yet in the
fourth century, which it will be difficult to account for, fifteen cubits only
are recorded by the Emperor JulianF13Ecdicio, Ep. 50. as the height
of the Nile's inundation; whereas, in the middle of the sixth century, in the
time of Justinian, ProcopiusF14De Rebus Gothicis, l. 3. informs us
that the rise of the Nile exceeded eighteen cubits; in the seventh century,
after Egypt was subdued by the Saracens, the amount was sixteen or seventeen
cubits; and at present, when the river rises to sixteen cubits, the Egyptians
make great rejoicings, and call out, "wafaa Allah", that is,
"God has given them all they wanted".'
The
river begins to swell in May, yet no public notice is taken of it till the
twenty eighth or twenty ninth of June; by which time it is usually risen to the
height of six or eight pikes (or cubits, πηεος, a Turkish
measure of twenty six inches); and then public criers proclaim it through the
capital, and other cities, and continue in the same manner till it rises to
sixteen pikes; then they cut down the dam of the great canal. If the water
increases to the height of twenty three or twenty four pikes, it is judged most
favourable; but, if it exceed that, it does a great deal of mischief, not only
by overflowing houses, and drowning cattle, but also by engendering a great
number of insects, which destroy the fruits of the earthF15Universal
History, vol. 1. p. 413. . And a late learned travellerF16Pocock's
Description of the East, p. 200. tells us, that
"eighteen
pikes is an indifferent Nile (for so high it is risen when they declare it but
sixteen); twenty is middling; twenty two is a good Nile, beyond which it seldom
rises; it is said, if it rises above twenty four pikes, it is looked on as an
inundation, and is of bad consequence.'
And
to such a flood the allusion is here. Thus the land of Israel should be
overwhelmed and plunged into the utmost distress, and sink into utter ruin, by
this judgment coming upon them; even the Assyrian army, like a flood, spreading
themselves over all the land, and destroying it. So the Targum,
"a
king shall come up against it with his army, large as the waters of a river,
and shall cover it wholly, and expel the inhabitants of it, and shall plunge as
the river of Egypt;'
see
Isaiah 8:7.
Amos 8:9 9 “And
it shall come to pass in that day,” says the Lord God, “That I will
make the sun go down at noon, And I will darken the earth in broad daylight;
YLT
9And it hath come to pass in
that day, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, I have caused the sun to go in at
noon, And caused darkness on the land in a day of light,
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God,.... When this
deluge and desolation of the land shall be, now spoken of:
that I will cause the sun to go down at noon: or to he so
dark as if it was set; as at the time of our Lord's crucifixion, to which many
of the ancient fathers refer this prophecy, though it has respect to other
times and things. Jarchi interprets it of the kingdom of the house of David. It
doubtless designs the kingdom of Israel, their whole policy, civil and
ecclesiastic, and the destruction of it; particularly their king, princes, and
nobles, that should be in great adversity, and that suddenly and unexpectedly;
it being a fine sunshine morning with them, and they in great prosperity, and
yet by noon their sun would be set, and they in the utmost darkness and
distress;
and I will darken the earth in a clear day; the land of
Israel, the people of it, the common people, who should have their share, in
this calamity and affliction; and though it had been a clear day with them, and
they promised themselves much and long felicity, yet on a sudden their light
would be turned into darkness, and their joy into sadness and sorrow.
Amos 8:10 10 I
will turn your feasts into mourning, And all your songs into lamentation; I
will bring sackcloth on every waist, And baldness on every head; I will make it
like mourning for an only son, And its end like a bitter day.
YLT
10And have turned your
festivals to mourning, And all your songs to lamentation, And caused sackcloth
to come up on all loins, And on every head -- baldness, And made it as a
mourning [of] an only one, And its latter end as a day of bitterness.
And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into
lamentation,.... Either their religious feasts, the feasts of pentecost,
tabernacles, and passover; at which three feasts there were eclipses of the
sun, a few years after this prophecy of Amos, as Bishop UsherF17Annales
Vet. Test. ad A. M. 3213. observes: the first was an eclipse of the sun about
ten digits, in the year 3213 A.M. or 791 B.C., June twenty fourth, at the feast
of pentecost; the next was almost twelve digits, about eleven years after, on
November eighth, 780 B.C., at the feast of the tabernacles; and the third was
more than eleven digits in the following year, 779 B.C., on May fifth, at the
feast of the passover; which the prophecy may literally refer to, and which
might occasion great sorrow and concern, and especially at what they might be
thought to forebode: but particularly this was fulfilled when these feasts
could not be observed any longer, nor the songs used at them sung any more; or
else their feasts, and songs at them, in their own houses, in which they
indulged themselves in mirth and jollity; but now, instead thereof, there would
be mourning and lamentation the loss of their friends, and being carried
captive into a strange land;
and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins; of high and
low, rich and poor; even those that used to be covered with silk and rich
embroideries: sackcloth was a coarse cloth put on in times of mourning for the
dead, or on account of public calamities:
and baldness upon every head: the hair being either
shaved off or pulled off; both which were sometimes done, as a token of
mourning:
and I will make it as the mourning of an only son; as when
parents mourn for an only son, which is generally carried to the greatest
height, and continued longest, as well as is most sincere and passionate; the
case being exceeding cutting and afflictive, as this is hereby represented to
be:
and the end thereof as a bitter day; a day of bitter
calamity, and of bitter wailing and mourning, in the bitterness of their
spirits; though the beginning of the day was bright and clear, a fine sunshine,
yet the end of it dark and bitter, distressing and sorrowful, it being the end
of the people of Israel, as in Amos 8:2.
Amos 8:11 11 “Behold,
the days are coming,” says the Lord God, “That I will send a famine on the land, Not
a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord.
YLT
11Lo, days are coming, An
affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, And I have sent a famine into the land, Not a
famine of bread, nor a thirst of water But of hearing the words of Jehovah.
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God,.... Which
Kimchi interprets of all the days of the second house or temple after Malachi,
when prophecy ceased; but it rather has respect to the time of Shalmaneser's
carrying captive the ten tribes, when they had no more prophets nor prophecy
among them, or any to tell how long their captivity should last, or when it
would be better times with them, Psalm 74:9;
that I will send a famine in the land; which, in a
literal sense, is one of God's arrows he has in his quiver, and sends out when
he pleases; or one of his sore judgments, which he sometimes orders to come
upon a people for their sins: but here is meant,
not a famine of bread; or through want of that,
which is very dreadful; as was the famine of Samaria, when an ass's head was
sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and a certain measure of dove's dung for
five pieces of silver, 2 Kings 6:25; and
as were the famines of Jerusalem, when taken both by the Chaldeans and Romans,
when delicate women boiled and ate their own children, Lamentations 4:8;
nor a thirst for water; which is more
distressing and tormenting than hunger; and to be slain with thirst is to be
destroyed in the most afflictive manner, Hosea 2:3.
Lysimachus is said to part with his kingdom for a draught of water; and the
torments of hell are set forth by a violent thirst for it, Luke 16:24; but
something worse than either of these is here threatened:
but of hearing the words of the Lord; the word of
prophecy, and the preaching of the word, or explaining the Scriptures. Of this
blessing the ten tribes were deprived at their captivity, and have been ever
since; and the Jews, upon their rejection of Christ, have had the kingdom of
God, the Gospel of the kingdom, the word and ordinances of God, taken from
them, and remain so to this day; the seven churches of Asia have had their
candlestick removed out of its place, and this famine continues in those parts
to this time; and, by the symptoms upon us, we may justly fear it, will be our
case before long. "The words of the Lord" are the Scriptures, which
cone from him, and are concerning him; the doctrines of grace contained in
them, the wholesome words of Christ: hearing them signifies the preaching of
them, Isaiah 53:1; by
which hearing comes, and is a great blessing, and should be attended to, as
being the means of conversion, regenerations, the knowledge of Christ, faith in
him, and the joy of it. Now, to be deprived of hearing the Gospel is a
spiritual famine, for that is food, bread, meat, milk, honey, yea, a feast; it
is food that is savoury, wholesome, nourishing, satisfying, strengthening, and
comforting; and when this is took away a famine ensues, as when a church state
is dissolved, ministers are ordered to preach no more in such a place, or are
scattered by persecution, or removed by death, and none raised up in their
stead; or when error prevails, to the suppressing of truth: all which is done,
or suffered to be done, for indifference to the word of God, unfruitfulness
under it, and contempt of it, and, opposition to it; which is a dreadful case,
when such a famine is; for the glory, riches, and light of a nation, are gone;
bread for their souls is no more; and the means of conversion, knowledge,
comfort, &c. cease; and people in course must die, for lack of these
things; see Isaiah 3:1.
Amos 8:12 12 They
shall wander from sea to sea, And from north to east; They shall run to and
fro, seeking the word of the Lord, But shall not find it.
YLT
12And they have wandered from
sea unto sea, And from north even unto east, They go to and fro to seek the
word of Jehovah, And they do not find.
And they shall wander from sea to sea,.... From the
sea of Tiberias, or Galilee; or from the Dead sea, the lake Asphaltites; or
from the Red sea, which was to the south of the land of Israel, to the great
sea, which is to the west, as Aben Ezra: so the Targum,
"from
the sea to the west;'
that
is, to the Mediterranean sea:
and from the north even to the east; proceeding from the
south to the west, they shall turn from thence to the north, and so to the
east, which describes the borders of the land of Canaan, Numbers 34:3; and
the sense is, that
they shall go to and fro; throughout the whole
land, and all over it,
to seek the word of the Lord; not the written word,
but the interpretation of it; doctrine from before the Lord, as the Targum; the
preaching of the word, or ministers to instruct them in it; or the word of
prophecy, and prophets to tell them when it would be better times, and how long
their present distress should last:
and shall not find it; there should be no
ministry, no preaching, no prophesying; as never since among the ten tribes, so
it has been the case of the Jews, the two tribes, upon the rejection of the
Messiah; the Gospel was taken from them; no tidings could they hear of the Messiah,
though they ran to and fro to find him, it being told them Lo, here, and Lo,
there; see John 7:34.
Amos 8:13 13 “In
that day the fair virgins And strong young men Shall faint from thirst.
YLT
13In that day faint do the
fair virgins, And the young men, with thirst.
In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. After the
word, for want of that grain and wine, which make young men and maids cheerful,
Zechariah 9:17;
but, being destitute of them, should be covered with sorrow, overwhelmed with
grief, and ready to sink and die away. These, according to some, design the
congregation of Israel; who are like to beautiful virgins, as the Targum
paraphrases it; and the principal men of it, the masters of the assemblies: or,
as others, such who were trusting to their own righteousness, and seeking after
that which they could never attain justification by, and did not hunger and
thirst after the righteousness of Christ, and so perished.
Amos 8:14 14 Those
who swear by the sin[c] of
Samaria, Who say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan!’ And, ‘As the way of Beersheba
lives!’ They shall fall and never rise again.”
YLT
14Those swearing by the guilt
of Samaria, And have said, Live doth thy god, O Dan, And, Live doth the way of
Beer-Sheba, And they have fallen -- and rise not again!'
They that swear by the sin of Samaria,.... The calf
at Bethel, which was near Samaria, and which the Samaritans worshipped; and was
set up by their kings, and the worship of it encouraged by their example, and
which is called the calf of Samaria, Hosea 8:5; the
making of it was the effect of sin, and the occasion of leading into it, and
ought to have been had in detestation and abhorrence, as sin should; and yet by
this the Israelites swore, as they had used to do by the living God; so setting
up this idol on an equality with him:
and say, thy God, O Dan, liveth; the other calf, which
was set up in Dan; and to this they gave the epithet of the bring God, which
only belonged to the God of Israel:
and the manner of Beersheba liveth; or, "the way of
Beersheba"F18דרך באר־שבע
"via Beersebah", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Vatablus, Mercerus,
Tigurine version; "iter, peregrinatio", Drusius; "Bersabanum
iter", Castalio. ; the long journey or pilgrimage of those at Beersheba;
who chose to go to Dan, rather than Bethel, to worship; imagining they showed
greater devotion and religion, by going from one extreme part of the land to
the other, for the sake of it. Dan was on the northern border of the land of
Judea, about four miles from Paneas, as you go to TyreF19Hieronymus de
locis Heb. fol. 92. H. ; and Beersheba was on the southern border of the land,
twenty miles from HebronF20Ibid. fol. 89. F. ; and the distance of
these two places was about one hundred and sixty milesF21Ib. Epist.
ad Dardanura, fol. 22. I. . And by this religious peregrination men swore; or
rather by the God of Beersheba, as the Septuagint render it; though the phrase
may only intend the religion of Beersheba, the manner of worship there, it
being a place where idolatry was practised; see Amos 5:5. The
Targum is,
"the
fear (that is, the deity) which is in Dan liveth, and firm are the laws of
Beersheba;'
even they shall fall, and never rise up again; that is,
these idolatrous persons, that swear by the idols in the above places, shall
fall into calamity, ruin, and destruction, by and for their sins, and never
recover out of it; which was fulfilled in the captivity of the ten tribes, from
whence they have never returned to this day.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)