Charles Ellicott Commentary Amos 2
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Amos 2
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Amos 2
"Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Moab, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:" — Amos 2:1 (ASV)
Compare Isaiah 15-16, Isaiah 25:10–12, and Jeremiah 48:0. Translate burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom. The historical reference is obscure. (See 2 Kings 3:26–27.) Whether Moab was guilty of desecrating royal tombs, or offering the heir of the king of Edom in sacrifice, cannot be determined. When Moab took revenge upon Edom, the latter was subject to Jehoram.
"but I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet;" — Amos 2:2 (ASV)
Kirioth.—This properly signifies a group of towns, but here refers to a single large town in Moab, the modern Kureiât. .
CURSE ON JUDAH.
Great privileges have met with mad and foolish contempt. Exalted to the highest heaven of possibility, Judah has despised the “Law of the Lord,” instead of preserving, with sacred reverence, His ordinances and institutions.
Their lies.—i.e., their false deities, which they have treated as divine. “The lies after which the fathers walked deceived the children. The children canonize the errors of their fathers. Human opinion is as dogmatic as revelation” (Pusey).
"but I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem." — Amos 2:5 (ASV)
Judah. —Such high privilege does not involve immunity from punishment. Judah shall be chastised with the same penalty as Edom, Philistia, Ammon, and Moab.
"Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes-" — Amos 2:6 (ASV)
CURSE ON ISRAEL.
Transgressions of Israel. The storm of Divine threatening which had swept over the whole political horizon gathers, at last, over Israel. The sins and ingratitude of the people are aggravated by a recital of the Divine Mercy. By comparing this verse with Amos 8:6, it is clear that the Jewish interpreters (followed by Keil) were incorrect in attributing this sin to corrupt judges, who, by bribery, would deliver unjust judgments against the righteous.
The sin consists in the perverse straining of the law, which allowed an insolvent debtor to sell himself into bondage to redeem a debt (compare 2 Kings 4:1). In this case, the debtor was a righteous man in dire straits through no fault of his own. This should be translated as: on account of a pair of sandals. A paltry debt, equivalent in value to a pair of sandals, would not save him from bondage at the hands of an oppressive ruler (see Introduction).
"they that pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father go unto the [same] maiden, to profane my holy name:" — Amos 2:7 (ASV)
Dust of the earth on the head of the poor.— This can only mean, as Ewald and Keil interpret, that they long to see the poor reduced to such distress that dust is thrown on their heads as a sign of grief. The meek are defrauded because they are too weak to claim their own.
The latter part of the verse points to the sensuality of the popular worship; the word “maid” actually refers to the prostitute (Hebrew: k’dçshah) who was devoted to the lustful ritual of Ashera. This obscenity is regarded by the prophet as part of a deliberate act of desecration to the name of the Holy One of Israel. Moreover, the relationship between “father” and “son” was in this way sullied and degraded (Leviticus 18:15; Leviticus 20:11).
Kuenen, Religion of Israel, volume 1, pages 92-93.
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