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Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying:
Verse 1. Family, including all the posterity of Jacob. Worthington.—He afterwards addresses the ten tribes in particular. Saint Jerome Calmet.
“I have chosen only you of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins.”
Verse 2. Known, with love, ( Bible.) and favoured with the law, and so forth Above all, styling you my people. Exodus 19:6. Ezekiel 20:5. Calmet.—Visit. That is, punish. Challoner.—I will treat you like my children, that I may spare you in eternity. Calmet.
Do two walk together, unless they have agreed?
Verse 3. Agreed? As t hey cannot do this well, so neither can man be acceptable to God, unless he keep his laws. Worthington.—The prophet here proves his mission, intimating that if he were not inspired, he would soon be open to detection. He had been banished from Bethel. Calmet. 7. By many similes, he shows that the event will prove the sincerity of his character, and that he cannot resist the holy spirit which is in him.
Will a lion roar in the thicket, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?
Verse 4. Nothing? Thus, shall I inveigh against your crimes, if there were no need?
Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth, where no snare is set for him? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when there is nothing to catch?
Verse 5. Somewhat? When the prophet speaks, has he no reason? God shews that he has sent him, by inflicting the punishments which he denounces.
Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and the LORD hasn’t done it?
Verse 6. Afraid. Yet you can hear these terrible truths without consternation! Will you therefore escape? Calmet.—Evil. He speaks of the evil of sin, of which God is not the author. Challoner.—All evil of punishment is sent by God, either to reclaim sinners or to be the beginning of sorrows, if they die impenitent. Worthington.—You know that He rewards or punishes. If, therefore, what I foretell come to pass, do not blame me.
Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
Verse 7. Prophets. In vain then would you silence them. Calmet. 2:12, and 7:12. He always tends to the conclusion. verse 8. Calmet.
The lion has roared. Who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken. Who can but prophesy?
Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see what unrest is in her, and what oppression is among them.”
Verse 9. Azotus. Septuagint “Assyrians.”—Follies. Septuagint “wonders.” Let you greatest enemies know what crimes you commit against yourselves ( Bible.) and others.
“Indeed they don’t know to do right,” says the LORD, “Who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces.”
Therefore the Lord GOD says: “An adversary will overrun the land; and he will pull down your strongholds, and your fortresses will be plundered.”
Verse 11. About, As oxen tread out corn, going round a tree. Calmet.—Septuagint “Tyre even all round, thy land shall be a desert.” Tsar means “Tyre and tribulation,” according to S. Jerom’s master. Bible.
The LORD says: “As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria on the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed.”
Verse 12. Ear: things of small value. Thus few even of the poor will escape the Assyrians. Menochius.—Damascus. Some render “couch side.” But there is no proof of this being accurate. Jeroboam II. subdued Damascus, and reigned in prosperity. Who would then have thought that Israel should so soon be removed into Media? Calmet.—Septuagint “over-against the tribe of Juda, and in Damascus, priests hear,” and so forth They probably left hares, ( Bible.) “couches,” (Aquila) untranslated, and some person has substituted “priests.” Saint Jerome—Only the miserable Menochius. or fugitives escape the enemy. Bible.
“Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob,” says the Lord GOD, the God of Armies.
“For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel on him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar will be cut off, and fall to the ground.
Verse 14. Bethel. Manahem seems to have sent one of the calves to engage Phul to come to his assistance. Osee 10:5 and 4 Kennicott. 15:19. Salmanasar had both. Osee 8:5. Josias afterwards defiled the profane altars. 4 Kennicott. 23:15.—Horns, made of brass, which the Assyrians carried off. Calmet.—The fairest possessions of sinners will at last perish. Worthington.
I will strike the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory will perish, and the great houses will have an end,” says the LORD.
Verse 15. Winter. Septuagint “winged house,” to keep off cold, (Saint Jerome) or to give air. Calmet.—Summer-house. The noblemen had such is cooler regions. Menochius.—The kings of Persia passed the summer at Ecbatana. Xen. Cyr. viii.—Palladius (1:12) orders that the summer apartments must look to the north.—Ivory. Many ornaments of this nature appeared in them, ( Calmet.) whence Achab’s palace was so called. 3 Kennicott. 22:39. Bible.