Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Amos 4:3
And ye shall go out at the breaches, every [cow at that which is] before her; and ye shall cast [them] into the palace, saith the LORD.
3. shall go out at the breaches ] Amos pictures Samaria as captured, and the self-indulgent ladies forced to leave the city, as captives, through the breaches made in the walls by the foe.
every cow at that which is before her ] every one straight before her, forced to go on in the train of captives, unable to turn aside or go back to save anything which she has left behind her, perhaps (if the fig. of Amo 4:1 be still in the prophet’s mind) “as a herd of cows go one after another through a gap in a fence.” For the Hebrew idiom employed, see Jos 6:5; Jos 6:20.
and ye shall cast them into the palace ] The words are very obscure; and indeed, in all probability, corrupt. The slightest change would be to read, with the alteration of a vowel-point in the verb (supported by Sept. Pesh. Vulg.), And ye shall be cast into Harmon: Harmon would then be the name of the place of exile, or disgrace, into which they were to be ‘cast’ or ‘flung’: the word is used mostly of a corpse, as Jer 22:19, but not always so (see Jer 22:28, ‘cast into’). No place, however, named Harmon is known; nor is the word an appellative in Hebrew. Some of the ancients saw in ‘Harmonah’ an allusion to Armenia: thus the Targ. renders, ‘And they shall carry you into exile beyond the mountains of Harmini’; Pesh. ‘And they shall be cast to the mountain of Armenia’; Symm. ‘into Armenia’; cf. Jerome (in his note), “Et projiciemini in locis Armeniae, quae vocantur Armona.’ In this case we should read, for , : in Jer 51:27 Minni (Targ. Harmini, as here; Pesh. Armenia) is the name of a people on the S.E. of Ararat, the Mannai of the Assyrian Inscriptions (Schrader, K.A.T [150][151] , pp. 423 f.); this would yield a sense in harmony with Jer 51:27 (“beyond Damascus”). It is however doubtful whether it is the original reading; very possibly the corruption lies deeper, and the original reading is irrecoverable.
[150] .A.T. Eb. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und das A. T., ed. 2, 1883 (translated under the title The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the O. T. 1885, 1888). The references are to the pagination of the German, which is given on the margin of the English translation.
[151] Eb. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und das A. T., ed. 2, 1883 (translated under the title The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the O. T. 1885, 1888). The references are to the pagination of the German, which is given on the margin of the English translation.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ye shall go out through the breaches – Samaria, the place of their ease and confidence, being broken through, they should go forth one by one, each straight before her, looking neither to the right nor to the left, as a herd of cows go one after the other through a gap in a fence. Help and hope have vanished, and they hurry pell-mell after one another, reckless and desperate, as the animals whose life of sense they had chosen.
And ye shall cast them into the palace – Or, better, (since nothing has been named which they could cast) cast yourselves. The word may describe the headlong motion of the animal, and the desperate gestures of the hopeless. They should cast themselves from palace to palace, from the palace of their luxuries to the palace of their enemies, from a self-chosen life of sensuousness to he concubines in the harem. If the rulers are still included, it was reserved for the rich and noble to become eunuchs in the palace of their Assyrian or Babylonian conquerors, as Isaiah foretold to Hezekiah Isa 39:7. It is another instance of that great law of God, wherewithal a man sinneth, by the same shall he be tormented (Wisdom Isa 11:16). They had lived in luxury and wantonness; in luxury and wantonness they should live, but amid the jealousies of an Eastern harem, and at the caprice of their sensual conquerors.
The word however rendered, to the palace, occurring only here, is obscure. The other most probable conjecture is, that it is a name of a country, the mountains of Monah, that is, perhaps Armenia. This would describe accurately enough the country to which they were to be carried; beyond Damascus; the cities of the Medes. The main sense is the same. They should be cast forth from the scene of their pleasures and oppression, to be themselves oppressed. The whole image is one, which an inspired prophet alone could use. The reproof was not from man, but from God, unveiling their sins to them in their true hideousness. Man thinks nothing of being more degraded than the brutes, so that he can hide from himself, that he is so.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. And ye shall go out at the breaches] Probably the metaphor is here kept up. They shall be caught by the hooks, or by the nets; and though they may make breaches in the latter by their flouncing when caught, they shall be taken out at these very breaches; and cast, not in the palace, but into a reservoir, to be kept awhile, and afterwards be taken out to be destroyed. Samaria itself is the net; your adversaries shall besiege it, and make breaches in its walls. At those breaches ye shall endeavour to make your escape, but ye shall be caught and led into captivity, where most of you shall be destroyed. See Houbigant on this passage.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And ye, kine of Bashan, oppressors distressed by the just hand of God, and by the violent hand of your enemy, shall go out, endeavour to make your escape by flight, at the breaches, which the besieging enemy made in your walls, when Samaria is besieged.
Every cow at that which is before her: it shall be a universal flight, and with great consternation, they not able to forecast where the safest, but taking which way is readiest.
Ye shall cast them into the palace; either cast away all the riches and ornaments of your palaces, or the prey and bribes you had laid up there, or ye shall abandon the palaces ye dwelt in.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. go out at the breachesnamely,of the city walls broken by the enemy.
every cow at thatwhich is before herfigurative for the onceluxurious nobles (compare “kine of Bashan,” Am4:1) shall go out each one right before her; not throughthe gates, but each at the breach before him, not turning tothe right or left, apart from one another.
ye shall cast theminto the palace“them,” that is, “yourposterity,” from Am 4:2.You yourselves shall escape through the breaches, after having castyour little children into the palace, so as not to see theirdestruction, and to escape the more quickly. Rather, “ye shallcast yourselves into the palace,” so as to escape from itout of the city [CALVIN].The palace, the scene of the princes’ riots (Amo 3:10;Amo 3:15; Amo 4:1),is to be the scene of their ignominious flight. Compare in thesimilar case of Jerusalem’s capture, the king’s escape by wayof the palace, through a breach in the wall (Eze 12:5;Eze 12:12). GESENIUStranslates, “Ye shall be cast (as captives) into the (enemy’s)stronghold”; in this view, the enemy’s stronghold is called”palace,” in retributive contrast to the “palaces”of Israel’s nobles, the store houses of their robberies(Am 3:10).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And ye shall go out at the breaches,…. Not at the gates of the city, as they had used to do at pleasure; but at the breaches of the walls of it, made by the enemy, in order to make their escape, if possible; they who had broke down the fences of law and justice, and injured the poor and needy, shall now have the walls of their city broken down and they themselves exposed to the most imminent danger, and glad to get out of them to save their lives:
every [cow] at that [which is] before her; every woman, as Jarchi and Kimchi; or every great person, compared to the kine of Bashan, shall make up as fast as he can to the breach before him, to get out; shall follow one another as quick as they can, and clamber on one another’s backs, as such cattle do, to get out first; which shows the hurry and confusion they should be in, upon the taking of their city Samaria:
and ye shall cast [them] into the palace, saith the Lord; either their children, or their substance, which they shall cast into the royal palace, or fort, or citadel, for safety. Some render it, “ye shall cast yourselves”; so Abarbinel; that is, such as could not get out at the breaches should betake themselves to the palace or fort for their security. The Targum of the whole is,
“and they shall break down the wall upon you, and bring you out, gathered everyone before him, and carry you beyond the mountains of Armenia.”
And so some others, taking it to be the name of a place, render it, “ye shall be cast into Armon”, or Mona; which Bochart r suspects to be the same with Minni, mentioned with Ararat, a mountain in Armenia, Jer 51:27.
r Geograph. Sacr. l. 1. c. 3. col. 20.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Prophet expresses now, in different words, what would be the future calamity of that kingdom; but he still speaks of the rich and the chief men. For though he threatened also the common people and the multitude, it was not yet needful expressly to name them, inasmuch as when God fulminates against the chief men, terror ought surely to seize also the humbler classes. The Prophet then designedly directs his discourse still to the judges and the king’s counselors, Ye shall go forth at the breaches, every one of you. We see that he continues as yet the same mode of speaking, for he counts not those pompous and haughty masters as men, but still represents them as cows, “Every one”, that is, every cow, he says, shall go forth through the breaches over against it. We know how strictly the rich observe their own ranks and also how difficult it is to approach them. But the Prophet says here, that the case with them would be far different: “There will not be,” he says, “a triple wall or a triple gate to keep away all annoyances, as when ye live in peace and quietness; but there will be breaches on every side, and every cow shall go forth through these breaches; yea, shall throw herself down from the very palace: neither the pleasures nor the indulgence, in which ye now live, shall exist among you any more; no, by no means, but ye will deem it enough to seek safety by flight. Each of you will therefore rush headlong, as when a cow, stung by the gadfly or pricked by goads runs madly away.” And we know how impetuous is the flight of cows. So also it will happen to your says the Prophet. We now then perceive the import of the words.
Some take הרמונה, ermune, for Armenian because the Israelites were led away into that far country; and others, take it for the mount Amanus; but for this there is no reason. I do not take its as some do, as meaning, “In the palace,” but, on the contrary, “From the palace,” or, from the high place. Ye shall then throw yourselves down from the palace; that is, “Ye shall no more care for your pomps and your pleasures, but will think it enough to escape the danger of death, even with an impetuosity like that of beasts, as when cows run on headlong without any thought about their course.”
It was not without reason that he repeated the name of God so often; for he intended to shake off from the Israelites their self-complacencies; inasmuch as the king’s counselors and the judges, as we have already stated, were extremely secure and careless; for they were in a manner stupefied by their own fatness. It follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Every cow . . .Render each one (ref. to the women, Amo. 4:1) straight before her. The enemy shall have broken down the citys defences, and the women shall tamely go forth through the breaches into captivity. The next clause is very obscure. It is best to take the verb as passive, Ye shall be thrown out. The word that follows is rendered the palace by the E.V. with Kimchi and other authorities, under the assumption that the Heb. harmn is another form of the word elsewhere used in Amos armn. But this is mere guess-work, and yields no good sense. It would be better to adopt a slight emendation of our text, and treat the obscure word as a proper name (LXX., Targ., Syr., Vulg.). Many commentators (Michaelis, G. Baur, De Wette) follow the Targ. and Syr. and render Ye shall be cast out to the mountains of Armenia (their place of banishment). For further information see Excursus.
EXCURSUS A (Amos 4:3).
The rendering of the LXX., to the mountain Remman (or Romman), has suggested to Ewald the interpretation, And shall cast Rimmona to the mountain, i.e., in their flight (comp. Isa. 2:18-21), Rimmona being the idol-goddess of love, corresponding to the masculine deity Rimmon (2Ki. 5:18). In this ingenious, though somewhat far-fetched, interpretation of a difficult passage, it will be observed that Ewald takes the Hebrew verb as an active, and not a passive. In this he is supported by most MSS.
But the credit of suggesting the most plausible explanation belongs to Hitzig, who, in his commentary, proposes to read Hadad-Rimmon, and translates, Ye shall be cast away to Hadad-Rimmon. On Zec. 12:11, there is a long note by Steiner supporting the supposition that Hadad-Rimmon was a modified designation of the sun-god, and was likewise the counterpart of the Greek Adonis, over whose wounding and death there was an annual lamentation, in which the women took part, and gave way to all kinds of excess. Hadad-Rimmon was, therefore, the name of the deity and the locality of his worship (comp. Ashtaroth Karnaim and other examples), now called Rummne, four miles south of Ledshn (Megiddo). To this spot the women were to be carried off for purposes of prostitution. (Comp. the threat pronounced by the prophet, Amo. 7:17.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Amo 4:3. And ye shall go out, &c. And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow after the other, and shall betake yourselves to the mountains of Mona, saith the Lord. But Houbigant supposes the metaphor in the preceding verses to be kept up; and he translates it, And ye shall come out by the apertures which are nearest to you, and ye shall be cast into nets, or receptacles. He conceives the meaning of the metaphor to be, that these fishes, being caught with hooks and nets, should be taken out thence and cast into a kind of well, a receptacle, for future use.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Amo 4:3 And ye shall go out at the breaches, every [cow at that which is] before her; and ye shall cast [them] into the palace, saith the LORD.
Ver. 3. And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow ] Qua data porta ruitis, ye shall be glad to get out at any breach to save your lives, which now hang in suspense, Deu 28:66 , yea, to ride one upon the back of another for haste, as kine do, in a narrow strait. Or, ye shall be led into captivity, after the taking and dismantling of your cities; see Eze 12:5 ; Eze 12:12 .
And ye shall cast them into the palace
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
cow, i.e. woman.
at that which is before her = each woman through the breach [in the wall of Samaria].
before her i.e. without turning to the left or right. Compare Jos 6:5, Jos 6:20.
ye shall cast them into the palace. Palace, Hebrew. harmon (see note on Amo 1:4). Here it is haharmonah, which forms the Figure of speech Paronomasia (App-6) with ‘arman (Amo 3:11). The clause is to be interpreted by Amo 3:11, Amo 3:12, end Amo 5:27, and would then road: “ye shall be cast forth toward Ha-Harmon”. The place is not known, but it may mean “ye women who are at ease in your palaces” (arman, Amo 3:11, Amo 3:12) will be cast forth into Ha-Harmonak: into exile. The text is not necessarily “corrupt” because we do not happen to know a place of that name.
saith the LORD = is Jehovah’s oracle.
the LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
ye shall go: 2Ki 25:4, Eze 12:5, Eze 12:12
them into the palace: or, away the things of the palace, 2Ki 7:7, 2Ki 7:8, 2Ki 7:15, Isa 2:20, Isa 31:7, Zep 1:18, Mat 16:26
Reciprocal: Jer 49:5 – ye shall Amo 4:12 – thus
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Amo 4:3. Go out at the breaches refers to the protecting wall around the capital city that was to be pierced, and the inhabitants forced to leave the city by way of these breaches or gaps Cast them into the palace is explained in. the margin to mean that the inhabitants of the palace will be forced to discard the things belonging to it.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Amo 4:3. And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow, &c. The prophet pursues the metaphor taken from the kine of Bashan, Amo 4:1, and tells the people, that as cattle strive to get out at every breach they can find in a mound or fence: so should they, with all possible haste, endeavour to make their escape at the several breaches which should be made in the walls of Samaria. And ye shall cast them into the palace The marginal reading is preferable, Ye shall cast away the things; namely, the riches and ornaments, of the palace. Or the clause may be rendered, Ye shall cast out yourselves, that is, ye shall with haste betake yourselves to Harmon: so the Vulgate, Et projiciemini in Armon, that is, says Grotius, into Armenia. So the Hebrews understand it.