John Calvin Commentary Amos 5:2

"The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is cast down upon her land; there is none to raise her up." — Amos 5:2 (ASV)

This was essentially the vengeance that was now near the Israelites, though they rested securely and even scorned all the threats of God. The virgin of Israel, he says, has fallen. Commentators have explained the word virgin too subtly, for they think that the people of Israel are called a virgin here because God had espoused them to himself, and that though they should have observed spiritual chastity towards God, they yet abandoned themselves to all kinds of pollutions. But a virgin, we know, is a title usually given by the Prophets to this or that people on account of their delicate living. For Babylon, no less than Samaria or the people of Israel, is called a virgin. Certainly, this subtle interpretation cannot be applied to Babylon, to Egypt, to Tyre, and to other places.

I have therefore no doubt that the Prophet here arraigns the Israelites because, relying on their strength, they indulged themselves. They were secure in their own retreats, and when all kinds of blessings abounded, they lived delicately and lavishly. Since they were indulging themselves in such pleasures, he calls them a virgin. The virgin of Israel then has fallen, and shall no more rise again.

A condition may be included here, as an exhortation to repentance immediately follows. We may then appropriately regard this as implying, “unless they repent in time;” otherwise, the Israelites must have fallen without hope of restoration.

But we may also refer this to the body of the people. Fallen then had the virgin of Israel, yet not so that they were all destroyed, as we shall see later, for the Prophet says that a tenth part would remain. But this is rightly said of the people generally, for we know that the kingdom had so fallen that it never afterwards rose.

A remnant of the tribe of Judah did indeed return to Jerusalem, but the Israelites are to this day dispersed throughout various parts of the world; indeed, they are hidden either in the mountains of Armenia or in other regions of the East. Since then what the Prophet here denounces has been truly fulfilled for the whole kingdom, we may understand the passage without supposing anything implied: Fallen has the virgin of Israel.

For the fact that God showed mercy, so that some remained when the people as a body were destroyed, does not contradict the prophecy that the whole body had fallen. Fallen then has the virgin of Israel, nor will she any more rise again; that is, the kingdom will not be restored through recovery, and this, we know, has never taken place.

Forsaken is she, he says, on her own land, and there is none to raise her up. This means that she will continue fallen; though she may remain in her own place, she will not yet recover what she had lost. We now understand the Prophet’s meaning. We also see that those people had fallen so completely as never to rise again into a kingdom, as has been stated.