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<title>Blue Letter Bible: Text Commentaries</title>
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PriorBook = 'Joel';
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Title = 'The Book of Amos';
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<p id="Chapter2" align="center">Commentary by A. R. FAUSSET<br>CHAPTER 2
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<p id="Am2_1"><a onclick="return mV('Amo',2,'1-16');">Amo 2:1-16</a>. CHARGES AGAINST MOAB, JUDAH, AND LASTLY ISRAEL, THE CHIEF SUBJECT OF AMOS' PROPHECIES.
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<p><b>1. burned...bones of...king of Edom into lime</b>—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 (<a onclick="return mV('2Ki',3,27);">2Ki 3:27</a>) [MICHAELIS]. Thus, "<i>king</i> of Edom" is taken as <i>the heir to the throne of Edom.</i> But "his son" is rather the <i>king of Moab's own son,</i> whom the father offered to Molech [JOSEPHUS, <i>Antiquities,</i> 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].
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<p id="Am2_2"><b>2. Kirioth</b>—the chief city of Moab, called also Kir-Moab (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',15,1);">Isa 15:1</a>). The form is <i>plural</i> here, as including both the acropolis and town itself (see <a onclick="return mV('Jer',48,24);">Jer 48:24</a>, <a href= "#" onclick="return mV('Jer',48,41);">41</a>, <i>Margin</i>).
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<br><br><b>die with tumult</b>—that is, amid the tumult of battle (<a onclick="return mV('Hsa',10,14);">Hsa 10:14</a>).
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<p id="Am2_3"><b>3. the judge</b>—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 <i>kings,</i> supreme <i>judges.</i>
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<p id="Am2_4"><b>4.</b> 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.
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<br><br><b>law</b>—the Mosaic code in general.
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<br><br><b>commandments</b>—or <i>statutes,</i> the ceremonies and civil laws.
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<br><br><b>their lies</b>—their lying idols (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',40,4);">Psa 40:4</a> <a onclick="return mV('Jer',16,19);">Jer 16:19</a>), from which they drew false hopes. The order is to be observed. The Jews first cast off the divine <i>law,</i> then fall into <i>lying errors;</i> God thus visiting them with a righteous retribution (<a onclick="return mV('Rom',1,25);">Rom 1:25</a>, <a onclick="return mV('Rom',1,26);">26</a>, <a onclick="return mV('Rom',1,28);">28</a> <a onclick="return mV('2Th',2,11);">2Th 2:11</a>, <a onclick="return mV('2Th',2,12);">12</a>). The pretext of a <i>good intention</i> is hereby refuted: the "lies" that mislead them are "<i>their</i> (own) lies" [CALVIN].
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<br><br><b>after...which their fathers . . . walked</b>—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 (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',23,32);">Mat 23:32</a> <a onclick="return mV('Act',7,51);">Act 7:51</a>) [CALVIN].
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<p id="Am2_5"><b>5. a fire</b>—Nebuchadnezzar.
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<p id="Am2_6"><b>6. Israel</b>—the ten tribes, the main subject of Amos' prophecies.
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<br><br><b>sold the righteous</b>—Israel's judges for a bribe are induced to condemn in judgment him who has a righteous cause; in violation of <a onclick="return mV('Deu',16,19);">Deu 16:19</a>.
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<br><br><b>the poor for a pair of shoes</b>—literally, "sandals" of wood, secured on the foot by leather straps; less valuable than shoes. Compare the same phrase, for "the most paltry bribe," <a onclick="return mV('Amo',8,6);">Amo 8:6</a> <a onclick="return mV('Eze',13,19);">Eze 13:19</a> <a onclick="return mV('Joe',3,3);">Joe 3:3</a>. 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.
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<p id="Am2_7"><b>7. pant after...dust of...earth on ...head of...poor</b>—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 <a onclick="return mV('2Sa',1,2);">2Sa 1:2</a> <a onclick="return mV('Job',2,12);">Job 2:12</a> <a onclick="return mV('Eze',27,30);">Eze 27:30</a>).
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<br><br><b>turn aside...way of...meek</b>—pervert their cause (<a onclick="return mV('Amo',5,12);">Amo 5:12</a> <a onclick="return mV('Job',24,4);">Job 24:4</a> [GROTIUS]; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',10,2);">Isa 10:2</a>).
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<br><br><b>a man and his father</b>—a crime "not so much as named among the Gentiles" (<a onclick="return mV('1Cr',5,1);">1Cr 5:1</a>). When God's people sin in the face of light, they often fall lower than even those who know not God.
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<br><br><b>go in unto the same maid</b>—from <a onclick="return mV('Amo',2,8);">Amo 2:8</a> 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.
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<br><br><b>to profane my...name</b>—Israel in such abominations, as it were, <i>designedly</i> seeks to insult God.
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<p id="Am2_8"><b>8. lay themselves...upon clothes laid to pledge</b>—the <i>outer garment,</i> which <a onclick="return mV('Exd',22,'25-27');">Exd 22:25-27</a> 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.
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<br><br><b>by every altar</b>—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.
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<br><br><b>drink...wine of the condemned</b>—that is, wine bought with the money of those whom they unjustly fined.
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<p id="Am2_9"><b>9. Yet</b>—My former benefits to you heighten your ingratitude.
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<br><br><b>the Amorite</b>—the most powerful of all the Canaanite nations, and therefore put for them all (<a onclick="return mV('Gen',15,16);">Gen 15:16</a> 48:22 <a onclick="return mV('Deu',1,20);">Deu 1:20</a> <a onclick="return mV('Jos',7,7);">Jos 7:7</a>).
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<br><br><b>height...like...cedars</b>— (<a onclick="return mV('Num',13,32);">Num 13:32</a>, <a href= "#" onclick="return mV('Num',13,33);">33</a>).
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<br><br><b>destroyed his fruit...above...roots ...beneath</b>—that is, destroyed him <i>utterly</i> (<a onclick="return mV('Job',18,16);">Job 18:16</a> <a onclick="return mV('Eze',17,9);">Eze 17:9</a> <a href= "#" onclick="return mV('Mal',4,1);">Mal 4:1</a>).
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<p id="Am2_10"><b>10. brought you up from...Egypt</b>—"brought up" is the phrase, as Egypt was low and flat, and Canaan hilly.
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<br><br><b>to possess the land of the Amorite</b>—The Amorites strictly occupied both sides of the Jordan and the mountains afterward possessed by Judah; but they here, as in <a onclick="return mV('Amo',2,9);">Amo 2:9</a>, stand for <i>all</i> 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.
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<p id="Am2_11"><b>11.</b> Additional obligations under which Israel lay to God; the <i>prophets</i> and <i>Nazarites,</i> appointed by Him, to furnish religious instruction and examples of holy self-restraint.
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<br><br><b>of your young men</b>—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 (<a onclick="return mV('Num',6,2);">Num 6:2</a>, etc.). God left nothing undone to secure the purity of their worship and their faithfulness to it (<a onclick="return mV('Lam',4,7);">Lam 4:7</a>). The same comes from a <i>Hebrew</i> root, <i>nazar,</i> "to set apart." Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist were Nazarites.
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<br><br><b>Is it not even thus</b>—Will any of you dare to deny it is so?
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<p id="Am2_12"><b>12.</b> Ye so despised these My favors, as to tempt the Nazarite to break his vow; and forbade the prophets prophesying (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',30,10);">Isa 30:10</a>). So Amaziah forbade Amos (<a onclick="return mV('Amo',7,12);">Amo 7:12</a>, <a onclick="return mV('Amo',7,13);">13</a>, <a onclick="return mV('Amo',7,14);">14</a>).
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<p id="Am2_13"><b>13. I am pressed under you</b>—so CALVIN (Compare <a onclick="return mV('Isa',1,14);">Isa 1:14</a>). The <i>Margin</i> translates actively, "I will depress your place," that is, "I will make it narrow," a metaphor for <i>afflicting</i> a people; the opposite of <i>enlarging,</i> that is, relieving (<a onclick="return mV('Psa',4,1);">Psa 4:1</a> <a onclick="return mV('Pro',4,12);">Pro 4:12</a>). MAURER translates, "I will press you <i>down</i>" (not as <i>Margin,</i> "your place"; so the <i>Hebrew,</i> <a onclick="return mV('Job',40,12);">Job 40:12</a>; or <a onclick="return mV('Amo',2,7);">Amo 2:7</a> in <i>Hebrew</i> text). Amos, as a shepherd, appropriately draws his similes from rustic scenes.
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<p id="Am2_14"><b>14. flight shall perish from...swift</b>—Even the swift shall not be able to escape.
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<br><br><b>strong shall not strengthen his force</b>—that is, shall not be able to use his strength.
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<br><br><b>himself</b>—literally, "his life."
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<p id="Am2_15"></a>
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<p id="Am2_16"><b>16. flee...naked</b>—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.
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