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Listen to this word which I take up for a lamentation over you, O house of Israel:
Verse 1. Lamentation. Such canticles were usual. Isaiah 14.—Israel. It no longer formed a separate kingdom. Calmet.—When the people fear no evil, God laments for them. Worthington.
“The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up.”
For the Lord GOD says: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”
Verse 3. City, before ( Calmet.) or after the captivity. It required a long time to fill the cities as they had been. Bible.—When the Assyrians invaded the country, it was greatly reduced. Calmet.
For the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek me, and you will live;
but don’t seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don’t pass to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.
Verse 5. Bethel, … Galgal, … Bersabee. The places where they worshipped their idols. Challoner.—They had all been honoured by the patriarchs. Bersabee had belonged to Juda under Achab. 3 Kennicott. 19:3. But it was originally in the tribe of Simeon, and Jeroboam II. recovered all that had been lost. 4 Kennicott. 14:25. Calmet.—Unprofitable. Hebrew leaven, “for vanity,” ( Bible.) Bethaven.
Seek the LORD, and you will live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.
Verse 6. Joseph. His two grandchildren gave name to the principle tribes of the kingdom.—Bethel. Septuagint “Israel,” which seems preferable. Calmet.—Yet Bethel may stand, as it denotes the apostate Israelites.
You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth!
Verse 7. You. Septuagint “the Lord, [God] who does judgment on high, and has placed justice on the earth; (8) who maketh and transformeth all things, and turneth,” and so forth Bible.—Hebrew agrees with the Vulg. Calmet.
Seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name,
Verse 8. Arcturus and Orion. Arcturus is a bright star in the north, Orion a beautiful constellation in the south. Challoner.—Shepherds in Arabia and Spain are well acquainted with the stars. Calmet.—We have examined the meaning of cima and cesil, Job 9:9 and 38:31. S. Jerom’s master asserts that the latter means “efflugence.” Cima is rendered the Pleiades by Aquila and Th.; “the seven stars,” by Prot. Bible.—When such allusions to the heathen mythology occur, they give no sanction to it, but serve to explain what is meant. Saint Jerome—Morning, affording comfort. Calmet. 4:13.—Earth, by floods ( Calmet.) or rain. Saint Jerome
who brings sudden destruction on the strong, so that destruction comes on the fortress.
Verse 9. With a smile. That is, with all ease, and without making any effort. Challoner.—Aquila has “grinning,” to shew displeasure. Saint Jerome—Hebrew “he strengthens the oppressor against the strong,” so that those whom he pleases to chastise cannot escape.
They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.
Verse 10. They, the wicked, could not endure Amos, (Calmet. 7:12) nor those who rebuked them.
Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take taxes from him of wheat, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.
For I know how many are your offenses, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts.
Verse 12. Grievous. Hebrew also, “numerous.”
Therefore a prudent person keeps silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.
Verse 13. Time. It is to no purpose speaking to the deaf, (Sirach 32:9) or throwing pearls before swine. Matthew 7:6. Amos was silent for a while, till God opened his mouth again. Calmet. 3:8 and 7:12.
Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say.
Verse 14. Said. Probably Amaias took occasion, from the flourishing state of the kingdom, to assert that the Lord approved of their conduct. Calmet.
Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that the LORD, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
Verse 15. May be. God will not be wanting on his side. But this implies that man may find a difficulty in seeking good, and neglect to do it, though he may if he please, with God’s assistance. Worthington.—Remnant. Posterity. Calmet.
Therefore the LORD, the God of Armies, the Lord, says: “Wailing will be in all the wide ways. They will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.
Verse 16. Lament. Such hired mourners often seemed more grieved than those who were really affected. Hor. art. All were invited to join in the common sorrow. Jeremiah 9:17 and 48:31.
In all vineyards there will be wailing, for I will pass through the middle of you,” says the LORD.
“Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light.
Verse 18. The day. Some imprudently laughed at the prophets. Isaiah 5:19. Jeremiah 17:15. Others wished for the coming of the Lord, not reflecting that he would punish their guilt. Calmet.—Thus, many through impatience, desire to die. We must rather, repent, and leave our lives at God’s disposal. Saint Jerome
As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.
Verse 19. Serpent. All his attempts would thus proved abortive. The Israelites were not ruined by Phul, or by Theglathphalassar. But the serpent, ( Bible.) Salmanasar, came and took them in their own houses. 4 Kennicott. 17:7. Calmet.
Won’t the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? Even very dark, and no brightness in it?
I hate, I despise your feasts, and I can’t stand your solemn assemblies.
Verse 21. Festivities. Some were still observed. Calmet. 4:4.
Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.
Verse 22. Vows. Hebrew “peace-offerings of your mercies;” a sort of oxen. 2 Kennicott. 6:13 and 3 Kennicott. 1:9. Septuagint “the salvation of your appearance,” or what you offer for your welfare.
Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
Verse 23. Harp. Praise ill becomes the sinner. Sirach 15:9. Psalms 49:17.
But let justice roll on like rivers, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Verse 24. Mighty. Hebrew “Ethan.” Let your virtue appear, or the greatest miseries will shortly overwhelm you. Calmet.
“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?
Verse 25. Did you offer, and so forth Except the sacrifices that were offered at the first, in the dedication of the tabernacle, the Israelites offered no sacrifices in the desert. Challoner.—They ceased after the beginning of the second year. Saint Augustine q. 47 in Ex. Leviticus 7. and so forth Worthington.—God did not require sacrifices when the people came out of Egypt. Jeremiah 7:22. Deuteronomy 12:8. They were not performed so regularly in the desert, ( Calmet.) and the people still bore a secret affection for idols, (verse 26) which rendered all their victims useless. Bible.
You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.
Verse 26. A tabernacle, and so forth All this alludes to the idolatry which they committed, when they were drawn away by the daughters of Moab to the worship of their gods. Numbers 25. Challoner.—They imitated the superstitions of Egypt, and bore the image of Osiris, adorned with a star and crescent, on a sort of base, under a canopy. Hebrew “You carried the tents of your king and the base of your statues, the star of your gods, which you have made for yourselves.” Septuagint by changing ( Calmet.) ciun in Rephan, or ραιφαν, ( Bible.) have caused great confusion among commentators. If any change were requisite, ( Calmet.) cima ( Bible.) would be preferable. verse 8. Job 9:9. Yet the Hebrew seems to be correct, and chiun denotes a pedestal rather than an idol. Some read Kevan, the Saturn of the Arabs, and so forth and think that Rephan has been mistaken for it. The only difficulty is the authority of S. Stephen, who follows the Septuagint Acts 7:43. Yet he probably spoke in Syriac, and might pronounce Chevan; though Saint Luke might adopt the Septuagint in a matter of so little consequence. Calmet. Diss.—This decision may not probably give satisfaction to those who reflect that both these authors were under the immediate influence of the Holy Ghost, and that if an error had crept into the copy of the Septuagint he would have corrected it. Truth is always of sufficient consequence. See Kennicott, Diss. ii. p. 344. Bible.—Chiun and Rephan are “expressive of the same” god or idol, representing the machine of the heavens. The people of Peru worshipped Choun. Parkhurst, p. 137.—Remvan may be Remmon, (4 Kennicott. 6:18) or Saturn. Grot.—In a Coptic alphabet of the planets it is thus explained: (De Dieu. Collier. Dict. Septuagint and Acts) “You have taken the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your Rempham, figures,” and so forth Prot. marg. “the Siccuth, your king, and Chiun, your images, the star,” and so forth Bible.
Therefore I will cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Armies.
Verse 27. Damacus, or Babylon, (Acts 7) into Mesopotamia, and so forth The sense is the same. Calmet.—When the apostles quote passages, “they do not consider the words but the sense.” Saint Jerome—One Greek copy, however, has Damascus in the Acts. Bible.