to the Red Sea and the borders of the Persians, Æthiopians, and Indians. And because no grain at all is grown on this dry and sandy soil, it is all full of shepherds, that they may make amends for the barrenness of the land, by the multitude of flocks." The place retains its ancient name, but slightly altered, Tekua. "It lies," says Robinson (II. p. 182), "on an elevated hill, not steep, but broad on the top, and covered with ruins to the extent of four or five acres." "Its high position gives it a wide prospect. Toward the north-east the land slopes down towards the Wady Khureitun; on the other sides the hill is surrounded by a belt of level table-land; beyond which are vallies, and then other higher hills. This belt is tilled to a considerable extent, and there were now several fields of grain upon it. On the south, at some distance, another deep valley runs off south-east towards the Dead Sea. The view in this direction is bounded only by the level mountains of Moab, with frequent bursts of the Dead Sea, seen through openings among the rugged and desolate intervening mountains." "The whole country," writes Thomson ("The Land and the Book,' p. 606), “is now deserted, except by the Arabs, who pasture their flocks on those barren hills."

2. His call, date, subject and style. It was from such a country, and from such occupations, that Amos was called to be a prophet of the Lord. He tells us this plainly in recording his words to Amaziah the priest of Beth-el. I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son (vii. 14). He had not been trained by human teachers for the task assigned to him. He had not been reared in any school of the prophets. "The Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel." He who took David from the sheepfolds of the same region-who brought him from following the ewes great with young to feed Facob His people, and Israel His inheritance, now chose the shepherd and sycamore gatherer of Tekoa to denounce His judgments against the neighbouring nations, to threaten Judah, and foretell the approaching doom of idolatrous and profligate Israel.

In the reign of Jeroboam I. a man of

God came out of Fudah by the word of the Lord unto Beth-el (1 K. xiii. 1), confronted the king at his altar, and foretold its desecration by a prince yet unborn. In the same sudden manner, we may suppose, did Amos appear within the dominions of Jeroboam II., rebuking the sins of monarch, princes, priests and people, within the precincts of the court and sanctuary at Bethel (vii. 13). The journey was but a short one. For Bethel was about the same distance to the north of Jerusalem that Tekoa was to the south, and in a single day the shepherd of the wilderness might traverse the 24 miles that separated him from the chief scene of his mission. He says that his prophetic vision was granted to him in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Feroboam the son of Foash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. His words indicate the time when those two kings were contemporary, i.e. from B. C 809-784. His mention (vi. 14) of the entering in of Hemath as the northern border of Israel, implies that he prophesied after its recovery by Jeroboam (2 K. xiv. 28). Besides this, there does not appear to be any limitation of time. The kingdom of Israel was prosperous and secure, and the sins that are rebuked are such as agree with a season of peace and plenty-idolatry, debauchery, oppression of the poor, bribery, extortion, covetousness and fraud. During what period Amos uttered his warnings cannot be determined. But it would appear that he must have raised his voice in more than one place, and at several times, for thus we can more easily explain the words of Amaziah: Amos hath conspired against thee in the midst of the house of Israel, and the land is not able to bear all his words.

There is a tradition that Amos suffered death at the hands of his countrymen for the boldness of his denunciations, but it has not the support of early authorities. Jerome merely says that the prophet's tomb was, in his days, still pointed out in Tekoa.

As Amos follows Joel in our Bible, so he takes up the subject of his prophecy, and as if to link their words together he begins by using a phrase of his predecessor's. Joel had predicted the judgments to be inflicted on Tyre, Zidon,

Philistia and Egypt, for their violence towards Judah. Amos does not mention Egypt, but adds Damascus, Ammon, Moab, and Judah herself.

There is a remarkable unity about the prophecy. The judgments of God are denounced, first, against the neighbouring nations. The thunderstorm (to borrow the illustration of Umbreit) rolls successively over Syria, the Philistines, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab. Judah does not escape. But it bursts with all its force on Israel (i-ii. 6). Israel is the main subject. The people are rebuked for their manifold sins (ii. 6-vi. 14). Then follows a series of visions, or prophetical symbols, which are described and interpreted (vii. 1-ix. 7). latest utterance of the prophet is not one of woe. The overthrow of Israel is certain. But the house of Jacob is not to be utterly destroyed. There was a day coming in which the fallen tabernacle of David should be reared up again, and the people of Israel should enjoy blessings far higher and more enduring than had been theirs in their earlier history.

The

From the days of Jerome downwards the force, beauty, and freshness of the images freely employed by Amos have been pointed out. They are almost all drawn from those aspects of nature with which his place of abode and manner of life rendered him most familiar. His addresses to his countrymen shew great oratorical power. He exhibits the hideousness of vice by graphic details. He is no unlettered peasant, but a man of great natural powers of thought, of observation and expression-all subordinated to the will of Him who called him to his office and fitted him for his work. Throughout he speaks not as of himself, but as uttering the words of Him Who had

been pleased to reveal His secret to His servant (iii. 7). Bp Lowth well describes the peculiarities of the prophet's style and manner, when he says: Equus judex, de re non de homine quæsiturus, censebit, credo, pastorem nostrum μndèv vσтeρηкévai Tv veрλíaν πродηтŵν, ut sensuum elatione et magnificentia spiritus prope summis parem, ita etiam dictionis splendore et compositionis elegantia vix quoquam inferiorem.

The form of strophes into which he has thrown his predictions against the seven nations, and the repetition of that phrase which marks the aggravation of their offences, invest his words with great solemnity. In other places, too, certain words often recur. Such are those with which chaps. iii. iv. and v. open: Hear this word; the emphatic therefore of iii. II, iv. 12, v. 11, 16; the tender expostulation, yet have ye not returned unto me (iv. 6, 8, 9, 10, 11).

It must also be noticed that Amos abounds in terms, idioms, and ritual allusions which prove great familiarity with the Books of Moses, and imply it on the part of those whom he addressed. And as he has employed in his writings the words that are found in the earlier books, so later prophets have incorporated several of his expressions in their works. These points of resemblance are noticed in the passages where they occur'.

1 The following are instances: Cf. ii. 10 with Deut. xxix. 5; iv. 6, 8, 9, 10 with Deut. iv. 30, Deut. xxix. 23; v. II with Deut. xxviii. 30, 39; XXX. 2; iv. 9 with Deut. xxviii. 22; iv. II with v. 12 with Num. xxxv. 31. In i. 2 Joel iii. 16 is cited; in ix. 13 Joel iii. 18. i. is referred to in Jer. xlix. 27; i. 13 in Jer. xlix. 3; v. 1 in Ezek. xxvii. 2, xxviii. 12, xxxii. 2; iv. 9 in Hag. ii. 7.

For the expressions that occur in Hosea and Amos, see Introduction to Hosea, at the end.

CHAP. I. 1. The words of Amos] The prophets do not all use the same formula as the preface of their message. Frequently it is The word of the LORD came. The opening of Jeremiah is exactly the same as we find hereThe words of Jeremiah. In each case the context shews that the words of the prophet were not his own, strictly speaking, but had a divine origin. Here Amos says that he saw these words, and the verb which he uses is limited to prophetic vision. What he utters, therefore, was not revealed to him by nesh and blood, but by the God of Israel. In describing himself as one among the shepherds of Tekoa, he does not employ the common term to describe his occupation, but one of rare occurrence, expressive of the breed of sheep under his care. On this and the situation of

Tekoa see the Introduction.

The Jeroboam here mentioned was the second of that name-the great-grandson of Jehu. At his accession he found his kingdom weakened and stripped of some of its possessions. In the course of his long reign of forty-one years he recovered what had been lost, and restored the prosperity of his country. The writer of the Book of Kings (2 K. xiv. 27) says, The Lord said not that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven: but He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash. And when their prosperity did not bring them back to God, Amos was sent to foretell that ruin which the long-suffering of Jehovah had for a season averted. The warning voice of the prophet was raised two years before the earthquake. In the historical books we find no notice of this, but the consternation it produced may be inferred from the language of Zechariah (xiv. 5) several centuries later: ye shall flee, as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.

2. The LORD will roar] Amos here re

Joash king of Israel, two years before the a " earthquake.

a Zech 14

30.

2 And he said, The LORD will 'roar Jer. 25. from Zion, and utter his voice from Joel 3. 16. Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.

1 Or, yea,

3 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus,' and for for four.

peats the words of Joel (iii. 16), and thus links his own prophecy with his. It has been observed by a recent writer (Wilton's 'Negeb,' p. 42) that the incidental allusions in the Old Testament to the lion generally connect it with the Negeb, the southern border of Palestine; and he gives a calculation shewing that the references to a lion in Amos, "the prophet of the Negeb," are, proportionally, far more numerous than those of any of the other prophets (ib. p. 45, note). At the sound of that voice all nature withers. The prophet seems to trace its effects from the south, where his own home lay, the habitations of shepherds, to the headland of Carmel on the north. This is the Carmel spoken of, as shewn by the mention of its top. The same expression occurs in a later chapter (ix. 3). Its name is expressive of the richness of its soil and its fitness for the vine and olive. Rising 1200 feet above the sea, its bold front forms the south end of the Bay of Acre. From the abundance of its dews it is still green and flowery, even in midsummer. Its flowers are numerous and various. Amid all its neglect it still retains its old character-it is a wilderness of luxuriant vegetation.

I

3. Damascus] The first mention of this very ancient city as the seat of a kingdom is in the reign of Solomon. From 1 K. xi. 23— 25 it may be gathered, that during the reign general, of Hadadezer king of Zobab, threw of David, Rezon, a subject, and probably a off his allegiance, and, gathering around him a band of men, succeeded in making himself master of Damascus. This city became subsequently the capital of Syria. Rezon was reign. Of his successors seven are named in the adversary of Solomon throughout his Scripture. We find them always at war with the neighbouring kingdom of Israel.

For three transgressions...and for four] This is not to be understood as four transgressions

the punlet it be ishment thereof; because they have So ver. 6, threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:

quiet: and

&c.

4 But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.

added to three that had gone before, but of a fourth transgression that, as it were, filled up the measure of iniquity of three others. This meaning is conveyed by the marginal rendering, yea, for four. The phrase is a favourite one with the prophet. It occurs eight times in the prediction of the evil that was to befall the guilty nations. We meet with this form of expression in the book of Job (v. 19): He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. Again, of the ways in which God calls men to repentance (xxxiii. 29): All these things worketh God, oftentimes (in the margin, lit., twice and thrice) with man. In the one case, it is the severest trouble of all from which deliverance is promised; in the other, it is some crowning act of mercy that is referred to. So in the sayings in Prov. xxx., of the four things mentioned, the fourth has some pre-eminence. Similar is the use of numbers in Eccles. xi. 2; Prov. vi.

16—19.

I will not turn away the punishment thereof] Lit. I will not turn it back, or reverse it, as the same word is rendered in Num. xxiii. 20. Clearly it is the sentence of condemnation that should not be reversed. But the compression of the prophet's language makes it more solemn and emphatic. In Isai. xliii. 13 the same verb is used of undoing, or reversing, what is done by God: I will work, and who shall let it? See the margin: who shall turn it back?

because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron] The agricultural implement here spoken of is described by Jerome as "a sort of wain, that moves on iron wheels set with teeth, so that it threshes out the corn, and breaks the straw in pieces."

The cruelties practised by the Syrians are noticed in 2 K. x. 32, 33: Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel; from Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan. This was in Jehu's reign. In that of his son, the king of Assyria oppressed them... and had made them like the dust by threshing. In this savage way had Hazael carried on war in this lovely land, and thus fulfilled the prediction of Elisha respecting him (2 K. viii. 12). Gilead here includes all the country occupied by the Israelites on the eastern side of Jordan.

4. The fire here threatened, as in the other

predictions, may include more than the devouring flame itself. It is used elsewhere as a symbol of all the severities of war, as in the ancient saying: a fire is gone out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it hath consumed Ar of Moab, the lords of the high-places of Arnon (Num. xxi. 28), and an emblem of God's wrath, as in Deut. xxxii. 22: a fire is kindled in Mine anger, and it shall burn unto the lowest hell. By the house of Hazael may be meant his family, no less than his dwelling. It had been founded in blood, for Hazael had murdered his master, Benhadad II. (2 K. viii. 15). His son and successor bore the name of Benhadad. Hadad, supposed to have been a title of the Sun, was the chief god worshipped by the Syrians, and is found in other names, as Hadadezer. Benhadad means a son, i, e. a worshipper, of Hadad.

5. the bar] of brass (1 K. iv. 13), or iron (Ps. cvii. 16), which secured the strong gate of a city. To break this was to lay open the city to the enemy.

the plain of Aven] Or, as it is in the margin, Bikath-aven. The first part of this compound name signifies a cleft, and so, a valley between mountains. Almost the same word, El-bukāa, is still used by the Arabs to designate the country between Libanus and Antilibanus, which was known by the Greeks under a name of similar meaning, Cole-Syria, or Hollow Syria, Amos probably called it the Valley of Vanity, or iniquity, in allusion to the idolatrous worship that disgraced that region. So Hosea (iv. 15, x. 5) speaks of Beth-el (house of God) as Beth-aven (house of vanity), because it was the seat of the calf-worship. In Josh. xi. 17, xii. 7 the same word (Bikah) is used for the "valley of Lebanon." And the names Baal Gad (ibid.) and Baal Hermon (Judg. iii. 3) point to the worship of Baal or the Sun in early times. In the middle of this valley, on its highest part, stood Heliopolis, the city of the Sun, which is said by ancient writers (Lucian, de Syr. D.'§5; Macrobius, 'Sat.'1.23) to have derived both its name and worship from the Egyptian Heliopolis. Its other name, Baalbek, is of doubtful origin. See Robinson's Later Researches,' p. 524.

him that holdeth the sceptre] may describe the king himself, or a subordinate prince. Benhadad is said (1 K. xx. 1) to have brought into the field thirty and two kings.

the house of Eden] Or, as a proper name, Beth-eden. It means the house of delight.

In the Hebrew there is a slight difference of pronunciation, distinguishing it from the home of our first parents. In that beautiful country there is no lack of places which might fitly be called by this name. But the spot intended by the prophet has not been identified with certainty. Three places have been proposed: (1) a village near Beshirrai, on the road from Tripolis, with a delicious climate, well watered, and very fertile. It still bears the name of Ehden, but similar as the name seems in English letters, the spelling is different in Arabic; and Robinson (Later Researches,' p. 587, note) considers this a fatal objection. (2) a place that bears a name of the same meaning in Arabic, Beit-el-janne (or House of Paradise), situated "about eight and a half hours from Damascus on the way from Banias" (Porter's Five Years,' I. p. 313). (3) the Paradisus of the Greeks, one of three towns in Laodicene. But it has not now those natural features that agree with the name used by Amos; and seems rather suited for that which its Greek name properly means, a park for hunting.

the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir] In Isaiah (vii. 8) Damascus is spoken of as the head of Syria, i.e. Aram; and the use of the name Syria alone, after the time of Hazael, in place of the names Aram Zobah, Aram Maachah, &c., intimates that the small kingdoms of earlier times had been united under the sway of the kings who ruled in Damascus. In a later part of his prophecy (ix. 7) Amos speaks of the Syrians as having been brought by God from Kir. Kir then had been the home of their ancestors, who had migrated in search of sunnier lands and found them. The people having long dwelt in a country often spoken of as an earthly paradise, were to be carried captive back to the same northern clime from which the race had come. The prediction was fulfilled about fifty years afterwards when (as we read in 2 K. xvi. 9) the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin. Kir has been supposed to be connected with the river Kur, to the north of Armenia, which flows into the Araxes not far from the Caspian Sea. Other places less well known have been identified with it, but with less probability. It has been objected that Armenia is nowhere in Scripture said to be included in the Assyrian

of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof:

8 And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon, and I will turn mine hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the

empire, and it may seem to be implied in the flight of Sennacherib's parricide sons thither, that Armenia lay beyond his authority. But in the cuneiform inscriptions the country south of the Kur is often named as invaded and conquered by Assyrian kings. See Rawlinson's Herod.' I. p. 460.

The verb translated shall go into captivity is very expressive. It means far more than the removal of some captives of war. This is expressed by another word. The prophet's word has the meaning of stripping, baring, uncovering; and expresses the transportation of the bulk of the population to another land, while their own was deserted. It is worthy of remark that it is of rare occurrence in earlier books of the Bible, while it is found frequently in Amos, as well as in contemporary and later writers. This of itself would indicate that the practice expressed by it was of recent date. And we have no evidence that a custom, which belonged to the policy of the East in subsequent times, prevailed among the Assyrians in the days of Amos. Such a wholesale captivity he foretells only in the case of the Syrians and the ten tribes.

6. Gaza] For Gaza and Ashdod, see note on Josh. xiii. 3.

The Philistines carried away captive the whole captivity; they spared none, neither young nor old, neither woman nor child; they tore all from their homes, and then, as an aggravation of their cruelty, gave them over into the hands of their implacable enemy Edom. Mention is made of such an invasion of the Philistines in the reign of Jehoram (2 Chro. xxi. 16, 17). Joel (iii. 6) had foretold the punishment of the same sin. was at this time strong and flourishing, yet the prophet declares that its wall, its pride and strength, should be destroyed; and so it came to pass. Jeremiah (xlvii. 1) says that he delivered his prophecies against the Philistines before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.

Gaza

8. By him that holdeth the sceptre is meant the king or lord of the place, as he is called in our Bible. The Hebrew name given to these rulers of the five combined cities is Seren, or axle. See note on Josh. xiii. 3.

Ekron may mean firmly rooted. Alluding to its derivation, Zephaniah predicts (ii. 4) that Ekron shall be rooted up.

the remnant of the Philistines] Of the five