Historical chapter commentary
Verse 1. Back. The people were just returned when the nations around fell upon them, and were miraculously defeated. Theod.—We shall follow the system respecting God, given Ezekiel 38. Calmet.—Most people, with S. Jerom, suppose that the general judgment is described, though some explain it of the captives delivered from their enemies. Worthington.
Verse 2. Josaphat, “the judgment of the Lord,” ( Bible.) marks the place where the Judge will sit, on the east of Jerusalem, between the temple and Olivet, whence our Lord ascended into heaven. Worthington.—There also had been seized and treated contumeliously. Bible.—But many of the Fathers assert that the whole world will be the scene of judgment, and the first author who determines the situation of Josaphat, is one in the works of V. Bede. Here it may denote the great plain reaching from Carmel to the Jordan, where the army of Cambyses perished with its chief. People of almost all nations were there. Ezekiel 38.—Land. The Chaldees, now governed by a Persian, had scattered the Jews, and the Idumeans had seized part of their land.
Verse 3. Boy, to gratify their brutal passions; (Lamentations 5) or, they have exchanged such for harlots, ( Calmet.) and paid the latter with captive boys. Septuagint Bible.
Verse 4. Me. These cities and nations had rejoiced at the ruin of the Jews. Ezekiel 25. Calmet.—Coast. Septuagint “Galilee of strangers.” Bible.
Verse 5. Temples, or palaces. The Chaldeans had done so, and perhaps had sold some to others.
Verse 6. Greeks: the Ionians carried on such a traffic. Ezekiel 27:13. Tyre and the Philistines were ready to sell. ib. 26:2 and 25:15.
Verse 7. Them, particularly under Hystaspes and Artaxerxes.
Verse 8. Sabeans; probably at the bottom of Arabia. Calmet.—Thirty thousand Tyreans were sold by Alexander. Arrian ii.—The Jews would not fail to purchase. Calmet.
Verse 9. Prepare. Lit. “sanctify.” Bible.—God sends Cambyses to chastise Egypt. His turn will then come.
Verse 11. Down. Many perished in Egypt, the rest in Judea. verse 2.
Verse 11. Valley, at Jezrahel, the valley of destruction. verse 14.
Verse 13. Harvest, the time of vengeance. Matthew 13:30. Revelation 14:15. Calmet.
Verse 14. Nations. Hebrew hamonim, “multitudes.” Bible.—This alludes to the place Amona, where God was buried. Ezekiel 30:15. 18. Calmet.—Septuagint “sounds have been heard in the vale of justice,” where sentence has been pronounced and executed. Bible.—The repetition of peoples and destruction, shews the crowds ( Bible.) which shall be judged and cut in pieces like fuel for the fire. Psalms 128:4. Worthington.
Verse 15. Shining. All shall be amazed at the fall of Cambyses. Calmet. 2:30. Ezekiel 28:18. A storm shall overwhelm his army. Calmet.
Verse 16. Roar, in thunder. Jeremiah 25:30. Amos 1:2. Bible.
Verse 17. No more, for a long time. Antiochus and the Romans again profaned the temple. But the Church of Christ is always holy.
Verse 18. Sweetness; oil and honey. Calmet.—Fountain, and so forth that is the fountain of grace in the Church militant, and of glory in the Church triumphant; which shall water the torrent or valley of thorns, that is, the souls that before, like barren ground, brought forth nothing but thorns, or that were afflicted with the thorns of crosses and tribulations. Challoner.—Septuagint have, “bands.” Hebrew shittim. Bible.—Abundance shall ensue after the death of Cambyses, as a figure of the graces which shall be granted to Christians. Ezekiel 47:2.
Verse 19. Desolation. Cambyses laid it waste for three years, as Ochus did afterwards.—Edom. Judas and Hican punished them for their former barbarity. Psalms 136:7 and 2 Maccabees 10:16. Ezechiel 25:12. Calmet.
Verse 20. Judea and Jerusalem. That is, the spiritual Jerusalem, that is the Church of Christ. Challoner.—Judea was unmolested for a considerable time.
Verse 21. Which must be supplied in Hebrew. The Idumeans had been spared for a long time. But they shall not escape. Chal. and so forth Calmet.—The rites of the law could not purify, as the sacraments of Christ do. Saint Jerome—God will cleanse his people, and will chastise the Ammonites, and so forth who had injured them. Septuagint “I will seek (or avenge) their blood, and will not pronounce innocent;” αθωωσω. Bible.—Sion, in heaven, ( Menochius.) and in the tabernacles of the Catholic Church, from the beginning of the world unto eternity. Bible.
AMOS
THE PROPHECY OF AMOS