Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

“Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again. She lies abandoned on her land, with no one to raise her up.”

“La 2:13; may be interpreted, Thou who wast once the "virgin daughter of Zion." Rather, "virgin" as applied to a state implies its beauty, and the delights on which it prides itself, its luxuries, power, and wealth [CALVIN].”

For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek Me and live!

“Seek ye me, and ye shall live--literally, "Seek . . . Me, and live." The second imperative expresses the certainty of "life" (escape from judgment) resulting from obedience to the precept in the first imperative. If they perish, it is their own fault;”

Seek the LORD and live, or He will sweep like fire through the house of Joseph; it will devour everything, with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.

“God is "a consuming fire" (De 4:24; La 2:3). the house of Joseph--the kingdom of Israel, of which the tribe of Ephraim, Joseph's son, was the chief tribe (compare Eze 37:16).”

He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face…

“He names the stars well known to shepherds (to which class Amos belonged), Orion as the precursor of the tempests which are here threatened, and the Pleiades as ushering in spring. shadow of death--Hebraism for the densest darkness.”

He flashes destruction on the strong, so that fury comes upon the stronghold.

“The Hebrew is elsewhere used, to make, to shine, to make glad: and as English Version here (Ps 39:13), "recover strength." the spoiled shall come--"devastation," or "destruction shall come upon" [MAURER].”

Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink…

“Or wheat advanced in time of scarcity, and exacted again at a burdensome interest [RABBI SALOMON]. built houses . . . but not dwell in them . . . vineyards, . . .”

Hate evil and love good; establish justice in the gate. Perhaps the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”

“Hate . . . evil . . . love . . . good-- (Isa 1:16, 17; Ro 12:9). judgment in the gate--justice in the place where causes are tried. it may be that the Lord . . . will be gracious--so, "peradventure" (Ex 32:30).”

It will be like a man who flees from a lion, only to encounter a bear, or who enters his house and rests his hand against the wall, only to…

“As if a man did flee . . . a lion, and a bear met him--Trying to escape one calamity, he falls into another.”

“I hate, I despise your feasts! I cannot stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.

“I do not acknowledge them: unlike those in Judah, yours are of human, not divine institution. I will not smell--that is, I will take no delight in the sacrifices offered (Ge 8:21; Le 26:31). in your solemn assemblies--literally, "days of restraint." Isa 1:10-15 is parallel.”

Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.

“So Isa 1:14, "They are a trouble unto Me (literally, 'a burden upon Me'): I am weary to bear them." the noise of thy songs--The hymns and instrumental music on sacred occasions are to Me nothing but a disagreeable noise.”

But let justice roll on like a river, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

“The sin of Israel in Amos' time is the very sin of their forefathers, mocking God with worship, while at the same time worshipping idols (compare Eze 20:39).”

Cross over to Calneh and see; go from there to the great Hamath; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms?

“Also by Assyria subsequently (2Ki 18:34). Gath--subjugated by Uzziah (2Ch 26:6). be they better--no. Their so recent subjugation renders it needless for Me to tell you they are not.”

You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.

“(See Am 2:8). beds of ivory--that is, adorned, or inlaid, with ivory (Am 3:15). stretch themselves--in luxurious self-indulgence. lambs out of the flock--picked out as the choicest, for their owners' selfish gratification.”

You improvise songs on the harp like David and invent your own musical instruments.

“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…”

The Lord GOD has sworn by Himself—the LORD, the God of Hosts, has declared: “I abhor Jacob’s pride and detest his citadels, so I will deliver up the city and…

“The sanctuary which was the great glory of the covenant-people [VATABLUS], (Eze 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].”

“Do horses gallop on the cliffs? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—

“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].”

And when the locusts had eaten every green plant in the land, I said, “Lord GOD, please forgive! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?”

“The mention of "Jacob" is a plea that God should "remember for them His covenant" with their forefather, the patriarch (Ps 106:45). he is small--reduced in numbers and in strength.”

The high places of Isaac will be deserted, and the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with My sword.”

“In the Hebrew here "Isaac" is written with s, instead of the usual ts; both forms mean "laughter"; the change of spelling perhaps expresses that their "high places of Isaac" may be well so called, but not as they meant by the name; for they…”

Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel.

“Not secretly, or in a corner, but openly, in the very center of the state, so as to upset the whole utterly. land is not able to bear all his words--They are so many and so intolerable. A sedition will be the result.”

And Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah; earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.

“He judges of Amos by his own selfishness, as if regard to one's own safety and livelihood are the paramount considerations. So the false prophets (Eze 13:19) were ready to say whatever pleased their hearers, however false, for "handfuls of barley and pieces of bread."”

“I was not a prophet,” Amos replied, “nor was I the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore-fig trees.

“I am a shepherd (compare Am 7:15, "flock"; the Hebrew for "herdsman" includes the meaning, shepherd, compare Am 1:1) in humble position, who did not even think of prophesying among you, until a divine call impelled me to it. prophet's son--that is, disciple.”

People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east, seeking the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.

“The circuit is traced as in Nu 34:3, &c., except that the south is omitted. Their "seeking the word of the Lord" would not be from a sincere desire to obey God, but under the pressure of punishment.”

Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, ‘As surely as your god lives, O Dan,’ or, ‘As surely as the way of Beersheba lives’—they will fall, never…

“The manner--that is, as "the way" is used (Ps 139:24; Ac 9:2), the mode of worship. Thy god, O Dan--the other golden calf at Dan (1Ki 22:26-30). liveth . . . liveth--rather, "May thy god . . . live . . .”

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said: “Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake.

“He demands many victims on the altar, but they are to be human victims. CALVIN and FAIRBAIRN, and others, make it in the temple at Jerusalem. Judgment was to descend both on Israel and Judah.”

All the sinners among My people will die by the sword—all those who say, ‘Disaster will never draw near or confront us.’”

“All the sinners--answering to the chaff in the image in Am 9:9, which falls on the earth, in opposition "to the grain" that does not "fall." overtake . . . us--"come on us from behind" [MAURER].”