Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Amos 5:16
Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing [shall be] in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful of lamentation to wailing.
16. Therefore ] because of Israel’s obduracy in wrong-doing.
wailing ] loud cries of grief: comp. Mic 1:8, “I will make a mispd like the jackals” in allusion to their doleful cries. The Orientals, especially women, on occasions of grief, are very demonstrative, and the ‘wailing’ is a public ceremony (Ecc 12:5, ‘And the wailers go about in the streets’). Thomson, op. cit. i. 245 f., describes the funeral of a Moslem sheikh: in a corner of the cemetery was gathered a large company of women in three concentric circles; the outer circle consisted of sober, aged matrons, seated on the ground, who took but little active part in the solemnities; those constituting the inner circles were young women and girls, who “flung their arms and handkerchiefs about in wild frenzy, screamed and wailed like maniacs”; from time to time they would go in parties to the tomb of the departed sheikh, and there “dance and shriek around the grave in the wildest and most frantic manner.”
streets highways ] broad places streets the ‘broad place’ (we might say ‘square’) being the open space in an Eastern city, especially near the gate (Neh 8:1). The same two words often stand in parallelism: e.g. Isa 15:3 (also in a picture of national mourning).
shall say Alas! alas! ] The Heb. ( h, h elsewhere hy, hy) is onomatopoetic; and Ah! Ah! would correspond more closely. It must have been a common cry of lamentation. Comp. 1Ki 13:30, “And they wailed over him, (saying,) Hy, my brother!” Jer 22:18, “They shall not wail for him, Hy, my brother! or Hy, sister! They shall not wail for him, Hy, master! or Hy, his glory!” Jer 34:5, “And Hy, master! will they wail for thee.” In the modern Syriac dialect of Urmia, h, h, is the cry of a lament.
and they shall call the husbandman to mourning ] The husbandman will be summoned from his occupation in the fields to take part in the general lamentation.
and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing ] The Heb. is “And wailing to those skilled in lamentation,” the construction being changed for variety, and the word ‘call’ being understood from the preceding clause, in the sense of proclaim (which it also has in Hebrew, as Jer 34:8). By those ‘skilled in (lit. understanding) lamentation’ are meant professional mourners, such as were called in to assist at a funeral. They were usually women (Jer 9:17 f. “call to the women who chant dirges that they may come, and send for the cunning (lit. wise) women that they may come; and let them hasten and take up a lamentation (same word as here) for us” &c.; cf. Amo 5:20, “And teach, O women, your daughters a lamentation, and every one her neighbour a dirge”), but might also, as here (where the gender is masc.), be men (cf. Ecc 12:5; 2Ch 35:25). How the nh (‘lamentation’) differed from the nh (‘dirge’) of Amo 5:1 is not certain: the passages in which it occurs make it probable that it was a slightly more general term of similar import: Jer 9:10, “I will take up a weeping and lamentation for the mountains, and a dirge for the pastures of the wilderness”; Amo 5:18 ; Amo 5:20 just quoted; 19, “a voice of lamentation is heard out of Zion, (saying,) ‘How are we spoiled’ &c.”; Mic 2:4; Eze 27:32, “And they shall take up a dirge over thee in their lamentation, and chant a dirge over thee, (saying,) ‘Who is like Tyre?’ &c.” (comp. the verb, Mic 2:4; Eze 32:18). See further the Additional Note, p. 232.
Additional Note on Chap. Amo 5:16 ( Mourning ceremonies)
Mourning ceremonies belong to a class of institutions which change little from generation to generation; and Wetzstein, for many years Prussian Consul at Damascus, has given an account of them as observed in modern Syria, which throws light upon various allusions in the O.T. [222] The corpse, having immediately after death been washed, dressed, and bestrewed with spices, is laid out upon the ‘threshing-board’ mentioned above (p. 227), on which, as it were, it lies in state, the head being supported on the end which is curved upwards: on the following morning a tent of black goats’ skin is erected, sometimes, if the deceased was wealthy, on the flat open house-top, but usually, at least in Syria, on the village threshing-floor: thither the corpse is brought on the threshing-board; soon after, a procession of the female relatives of the deceased, unveiled, with bare heads and feet, and wearing long black goats’-hair mourning tunics, advance from his house and form a circle round the tent. The professional mourners now begin to play their part. In the cities these consist of a chorus of women ( lamt, ‘those who smite themselves on the face’), of whom one after another successively takes the lead; in the country a single singer, called the awwla, or “speaker,” sometimes supported by one or two others, is deemed sufficient: in either case the singer must be able either to recite from memory, or to extemporise for the occasion, funeral dirges of sufficient length. Standing, if in Damascus, in the open court of the house, if in villages, round the tent just spoken of, in which the corpse lay, these women chant their ma‘d, or dirge (which must have a definite poetical form, with metre and rhyme), recounting the virtues of the deceased his goodness, his nobleness, his hospitality, &c., or the circumstances of his death, perhaps in defence of the cattle of his tribe against a raid of Bedawin, and bewailing the pain of separation: at the end of each dirge, or, if it be a long one, at the end of each stanza of it, the female relatives of the deceased, who form another chorus, called redddt, the ‘answerers,’ or neddbt, or nawwt, the ‘mourners,’ reply with the refrain, uttered with a prolonged note, into which much feeling is thrown, wl, “Woe is me!” The dirges for those who have fallen bravely consist of 30 or 40 stanzas, and are often, says Wetzstein, of great beauty. The dirges continue for two or three hours: at the end of this time invited guests from the neighbouring villages come in order, men and women forming two processions, to pay their last respects to the deceased and to offer their condolences to his relations. The interment then takes place. The ceremony of singing the dirges is repeated on the next day, and if the family be a wealthy one is continued during a whole week [223] .
[222] In Bastian’s Zeitschrift fr Ethnologie, 1873, pp. 295 301: some particulars are quoted by Budde in the Zeitsch. fr die alttest. Wiss., 1882, p. 26 f. Mariti, an Italian priest, witnessed a similar ceremonial near Jaffa in 1767; extracts from his description are given by Budde in the Zeitsch. des Deutschen Palstina-Vereins, 1883, p. 184 ff., and compared in detail with the particulars stated by Wetzstein.
[223] The ‘threshing-board’ is regarded by the Syrian peasant with a superstitious reverence. It is used not only at funerals, but also at marriages: covered with a decorated cloth, it is arranged to form a throne, on which a newly-wedded couple, during the seven days (the “King’s week”) following their marriage, play king and queen, and songs are sung before them by the villagers and others (see the writer’s Introduction, ed. 5, p. 537, ed. 6, under the Song of Songs). A threshing-board, it is said, is never stolen: the would-be thief, when he sees it, is reminded of the day when he will be laid upon it himself, and dreads to touch it.
A clear distinction, it will be here noticed, is drawn between the ‘dirge,’ which is an ode sung solely by the professional mourners, and the wailing refrain, which is joined in by all the others, whenever a pause is made by the singers. The ma‘d corresponds to the nh, or artistically constructed ‘dirge,’ of the O.T. (comp. on Amo 5:1), the professional mourning women correspond to the ‘wise’ women (i.e. those instructed in their art), who ‘chant dirges,’ to whom Jeremiah alludes (Jer 9:17) [224] : the refrain of woe reminds us of the hy, hy (or h, h), quoted in the note on Amo 5:16.
[224] In later times such dirges were accompanied by the flute: see Mat 9:23; Joseph. B. J. iii:9, 5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
16 17. But Amos sees that his exhortation will not be listened to, and again therefore he draws a dark picture of the future to which the nation is hastening: so great will be the slaughter wrought by the foe (cf. Amo 5:27; Amo 2:14-16, Amo 4:2-3, &c.), that universal lamentation will prevail throughout the land.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Therefore the Lord, the God of Hosts, the Lord – For the third time in these three last verses Amos again reminds them, by whose authority he speaks, His who had revealed Himself as I am, the self-existent God, God by nature and of nature, the Creator and Ruler and Lord of all, visible or invisible, against their false gods, or fictitious substitutes for the true God. Here, over and above those titles, He is, that is, He alone is, the God of Hosts, God of all things, in heaven and earth, the heavenly bodies from whose influences the idolaters hoped for good, and the unseen evil beings Isa 24:21, who seduced them, he adds the title, which people most shrink from, Lord. He who so threatened, was the Same who had absolute power over His creatures, to dispose of them, as He willed. It costs people nothing to own God, as a Creator, the Cause of causes, the Orderer of all things by certain fixed laws. It satisfies certain intellects, so to own Him. What man, a sinner, shrinks from, is that the God is Lord, the absolute disposer and Master of his sinful self.
Wailing in all streets – Literally, broad places, that is, market-places. There, where judgments were held, where were the markets, where consequently had been all the manifold oppressions through injustice in judgments and in dealings, and the wailings of the oppressed; wailing should come on them.
They shall say in all-the highways – that is, streets, alas! alas! our, woe, woe. It is the word so often used by our Lord; woe unto you. This is no imagery. Truth has a more awful, sterner, reality than any imagery. The terribleness of the prophecy lies in its truth. When war pressed without on the walls of Samaria, and within was famine and pestilence, woe, woe, woe, must have echoed in every street, for in every street was death and fear of worse. Yet imagine every sound of joy or din or hum of people, or mirth of children, hushed in the streets, and woe, woe, going up from every street of a metropolis, in one unmitigated, unchanging, ever-repeated monotony of grief. Such were the present fruits of sin. Yet what a mere shadow of the inward grief is its outward utterance!
And they shall call the farmer to mourning – To cultivate the fields would then only be to provide food for the enemy. His occupation would be gone. One universal sorrow would give one universal employment. To this, they would call those unskilled, with their deep strong voices; they would, by a public act, proclaim wailing to those skillful in lamentation. It was, as it were, a dirge over the funeral of their country. As, at funerals, they employed minstrels, both men and women , who, by mournful anthems and the touching plaintiveness of the human voice, should stir up deeper depths of sorrow, so here, over the whole of Israel. And as at the funeral of one respected or beloved, they used exclamations of woe, ah my brother! and ah sister, ah lord, ah his glory, so Jeremiah bids them, call and make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears: for a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion. How are we spoiled! Jer 9:17-19. : In joy, men long to impart their joys to others, and exhort them to joy with them. Our Lord sanctions this, in speaking of the Good Shepherd, who called His friends and neighbors together, rejoice with Me, for I have found the sheep which I had lost.
Nor is it anything new, that, when we have received any great benefit from God, we call even the inanimate creation to thank and praise God. So did David ofttimes and the three children. So too in sorrow. When anything adverse has befallen us, we invite even senseless things to grieve with us, as though our own tears sufficed not for so great a sorrow. The same feeling makes the rich now clothe those of their household in mourning, which made those of old hire mourners, that all might be in harmony with their grief.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. They shall call the husbandman to mourning] Because the crops have failed, and the ground has been tilled in vain.
Such as are skilful of lamentation] See Clarke on Jer 9:17.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The prophet foreseeing their obstinacy in their sins, and their refusing to obey his counsel from the Lord, doth proceed to denounce judgment against them.
The Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus: that there might be no doubt made of the truth of the prophets words, he doth in most solemn manner attest it to be from the Lord; and that he might awake them to repentance and humiliation, he proclaims the majesty and power of God who calls them to it.
Wailing; lamentations uttered in words and gestures, Ecc 12:5; Jer 4:8; Zec 12:10, shall every where be seen and heard in the broad streets of your cities, as when the Assyrians prevailed and cut off the forces of Israel, besieged and took their strong holds. Shall be in all streets of great towns or cities.
They shall say in all the highways, abroad in the country, and on the road, all shall cry out, as undone, dispirited, and hopeless men,
Alas! alas! They shall call the husbandman to mourning: this sort of men are little used to such ceremonies of mourning, but now such shall their state be, that they shall be called upon; Leave your toil, betake yourselves to public mourning.
And such as are skilful of lamentation; and to make all sound doleful, call in those whose art lieth in acting the part of mourners, and can move hardest hearts to lament and bewail. See these Jer 9:17,18; Mt 9:23.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. Thereforeresumed from Am5:13. God foresees they will not obey the exhortation (Amo 5:14;Amo 5:15), but will persevere inthe unrighteousness stigmatized (Amo 5:7;Amo 5:10; Amo 5:12).
the LordJEHOVAH.
the God of hosts, the Lordanaccumulation of titles, of which His lordship over all things is theclimax, to mark that from His judgment there is no appeal.
streets . . . highwaysthebroad open spaces and the narrow streets common in theEast.
call the husbandman tomourningThe citizens shall call the inexperienced husbandmento act the part usually performed by professional mourners, as therewill not be enough of the latter for the universal mourning whichprevails.
such as are skilful oflamentationprofessional mourners hired to lead off thelamentations for the deceased; alluded to in Ec12:5; generally women (Jer9:17-19).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus,…. The connection of these words is not with those that immediately precede, but with the whole context; seeing neither promises nor threats, exhortations, good advice, and intimations of grace and mercy, had no effect, at least upon the generality of the people, therefore the Lord declared as follows:
wailing [shall be] in all streets; in all the streets of the towns and cities of Israel, because of the slain and wounded in them:
and they shall say in all the highways, alas! alas! in the several roads throughout the country, as travellers pass on, and persons flee from the enemy; they shall lament the state of the kingdom, and cry Woe, woe, unto it; in what a miserable condition and circumstances it is in:
and they shall call the husbandmen to mourning: who used to be better employed in tilling their land, ploughing, sowing, reaping, and gathering in the fruits of the earth; but now should have no work to do, all being destroyed, either by the hand of God, by blasting, and mildew, and vermin, or by the trampling and forage of the enemy; and so there would be just occasion for mourning:
and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing; that have got the art of mourning, and were expert in making moans, and using plaintive tones, and who assisted at funerals, and other doleful occasions; and who are made use of to this day in some countries, particularly in Ireland; and were the old Romans, by whom they were called “siticines”, “praefici”, and “praeficae” and these mourning men and women were also employed among the Jews at such times; see Mt 9:23; in Jer 9:17, the mourning women are called “cunning women”; and so Lucian h calls: them , “sophists at lamentations”, artists: at them, well skilled therein, such as those are here directed to be called for. Mr. Lively, our countryman, puts both clauses together, and renders them thus, “the husbandmen shall call to mourning and wailing such as are skilful of lamentation”; to assist them therein, because of the loss of the fruits of the earth; and such a version is confirmed by Jarchi, though he paraphrases it to a different sense;
“companies of husbandmen shall meet those that plough in the fields with the voice of mourners that cry in the streets.”
h Dialog. .
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This judgment is announced in Amo 5:16, Amo 5:17. Amo 5:16. “Therefore thus saith Jehovah the God of hosts, the Lord: In all roads lamentation! and in all streets will men say, Alas! alas! and they call the husbandman to mourning, and lamentation to those skilled in lamenting. Amo 5:17. And in all vineyards lamentation, because I go through the midst of thee, saith Jehovah.” Lakhen (therefore) is not connected with the admonitions in Amo 5:14, Amo 5:15, nor can it point back to the reproaches in Amo 5:7, Amo 5:10-12, since they are too far off: it rather links on to the substance of Amo 5:13, which involves the thought that all admonition to return is fruitless, and the ungodly still persist in their unrighteousness, – a thought which also forms the background of Amo 5:14, Amo 5:15. The meaning of Amo 5:16, Amo 5:17 is, that mourning and lamentation for the dead will fill both city and land. On every hand will there be dead to weep for, because Jehovah will go judging through the land. The roads and streets are not merely those of the capital, although these are primarily to be thought of, but those of all the towns in the kingdom. Misped is the death-wail. This is evident from the parallel ‘amar ho ho , saying, Alas, alas! i.e., striking up the death-wail (cf. Jer 22:18). And this death-wail will not be heard in all the streets of the towns only, but the husbandman will also be called from the field to mourn, i.e., to seep for one who has died in his house. The verb , they call, belongs to , they call lamentation to those skilled in mourning: for they call out the word misped to the professional mourners; in other words, they send for them to strike up their wailing for the dead. (those skilled in mourning) are the public wailing women, who were hired when a death occurred to sing mourning songs (compare Jer 9:16; Mat 9:23, and my Bibl. Archologie, ii. p. 105). Even in all the vineyards, the places where rejoicing is generally looked for (Amo 5:11; Isa 16:10), the death-wail will be heard. Amo 5:17 mentions the event which occasions the lamentation everywhere. , for (not “if”) I go through the midst of thee. These words are easily explained from Exo 12:12, from which Amos has taken them. Jehovah there says to Moses, “I pass through the land of Egypt, and smite all the first-born.” And just as the Lord once passed through Egypt, so will He now pass judicially through Israel, and slay the ungodly. For Israel is no longer the nation of the covenant, which He passes over and spares (Amo 7:8; Amo 8:2), but has become an Egypt, which He will pass through as a judge to punish it. This threat is carried out still further in the next two sections, commencing with hoi .
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Threatenings and Reproofs. | B. C. 790. |
16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing. 17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through thee, saith the LORD. 18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light. 19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. 20 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
Here is, I. A very terrible threatening of destruction approaching, Amo 5:16; Amo 5:17. Since they would not take the right course to obtain the favour of God, God would take an effectual course to make them feel the weight of his displeasure. The threatening is introduced with more than ordinary solemnity, to strike an awe upon them; it is not the word of the prophet only (if so, it might be made light of) but it is the Lord Jehovah, who has an infinite eternal being; it is the God of hosts, who has a boundless irresistible power, and it is Adonai–the Lord, who has an absolute incontestable sovereignty, and a universal dominion; it is he who says it, who can and will make his words good, and he has said, 1. That the land of Israel shall be put in mourning, true mourning, that all places shall be filled with lamentation for the calamities coming upon them. Look into the cities, and wailing shall be in all streets, in the great streets, in the by-streets. Look into the country, and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! we are all undone! The lamentation shall be so great as not to be confined within doors, nor kept within the bounds of decency, but it shall be proclaimed in the streets and highways, and shall run wild. The husbandman shall be called from the plough by the calamities of his country to the natural expressions of mourning; and, because those who will come short of the merits of the cause, such as are skilful of lamentation shall be called to artificial mourning, to put accents upon the lamentations of the real mourners with their Ahone, ahone. Even in all vineyards, where there used to be nothing but mirth and pleasure, there shall be general wailing, when a foreign force invades the country, lays all waste, and there is no making any head against it, no weapons left but prayers and tears. 2. That the land of Israel shall be brought to ruin, and the advances of that ruin are the occasion of all this wailing: I will pass through thee, as the destroying angel passed through the land of Egypt to destroy the first-born, but then passed over the houses of the Israelites. God’s judgments had often passed by them, but now they shall pass through them, shall run them through.
II. A just and severe reproof to those who made light of these threatenings, and impudently bade defiance to the justice of God and his judgments, v. 18. Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord, that really wish for times of war and confusion, as some do who have restless spirits, and long for changes, or who choose to fish in troubled waters, hoping to raise their families, as some had done, upon the ruins of their country; but the prophet tells them that this should be so great a desolation that nobody could get by it. Or it is spoken to those who, in their wailings and lamentations for the calamities they were in, wished they might die, and be delivered out of their misery, as Job did, with passion. The prophet shows them the folly of this. Do they know what death is to those who are unprepared for it, and how much more terrible it will be than any thing that can befal them in this life? Or, rather, it is spoken to those who speak jestingly of that day of the Lord which the prophet spoke so seriously of; they desired it, that is, they challenged it; they said, Let him do his worst; let him make speed, and hasten his work, Isa. v. 19. Where is the promise of his coming? 2 Pet. iii. 4. It intimates, 1. That they do not believe it. They say that they wish it would come because they do not believe it will ever come; nor will they believe it unless they see it. 2. That they do not fear it; though they may have some belief of it, yet they had so little consideration of it, and their mind is so intent upon other things, that they are under no apprehension at all of peril from it; instead of having the conscience to dread it, they have the curiosity to desire it. In answer to this, (1.) He shows the folly of those who impudently wished for any of God’s judgments, and made a jest of any of the terrors of the Lord: “To what end is it for you that the day of the Lord should come? You will find it both certain and sad; not a thing to be bantered, for it is neither a thing to be questioned whether it will come or no nor a thing to be turned off with a slight when it does come. The day of the Lord is darkness, and not light, v. 18. Shall it not be so? v. 20. Do not your own consciences tell you that it will be so, that it will be very dark, and no brightness in it?” Note, The day of the Lord will be a dark, dismal, gloomy day to all impenitent sinners; the day of judgment will be so; and sometimes the day of their present trouble. And, when God makes a day dark, all the world cannot make it light. (2.) He shows the folly of those who impatiently wished for a change of God’s judgment, in hopes that the next would be better and more tolerable. They desire the day of the Lord, in hopes to better themselves (though their hearts and lives be not amended), or, at least, to know the worst. But the prophet tells them that they know not what they ask, v. 19. It is as if a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him, a beast of prey more cruel and ravenous than a lion, or as if a man, to escape all dangers abroad, went into the house for security, and leaned his hand on the wall to rest himself, and there a serpent bit him. Note, Those who are not reformed by the judgments of God will be pursued by them; and, if they escape one, another stands ready to seize them; fear and the pit and snare surround them, Isa 24:17; Isa 24:18. It is madness therefore to defy the day of the Lord.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
The Day Of The Lord, v. 16-20
Verses 16-20:
Verse 16 concludes that because God foresees they will not obey His exhortation, therefore the Lord, with all His majestic titles and righteousness, marks them for waiting and weeping in al! their streets, and as they cry aloud on the highways. In vain the rulers will call the husbandmen and those trained in the skills of mourning and lamentation to come together, to wail aloud. As Baal’s false prophets vainly wailed for help, 1Ki 18:26-29. In ancient times there were paid, hired mourners, usually women, for special occasions, Ecc 12:5; Jer 9:17-19.
Verse 17 announces that in all the vineyards of Israel there should be wailing. Where joy and merriment normally abounded, judgment wailing would soon be heard, from the vineyards and husbandmen of vineyards, as God passed through executing vengeance, Exodus 12; Exodus 12, 23; Nah 1:12; Mic 7:18.
Verse 18 announces a woe upon those who think they desire “the day of the Lord,” as they treated it as if it were the “pope-dream” of a prophet, Isa 5:19; Jer 17:15; Eze 12:22. Then Hosea chides them, asking what benefit did they remotely think it might bring to them in their impenitent, transgressing way. He concludes that it will surely be a day of darkness (when the lights go out) on mercy now, and for so long extended to them, Rom 10:21.
Verse 19 describes the day of the Lord to be as shocking and deathly to rebellious Israel as when a man outran a lion, only to be hemmed in by a bear, or like a man who went into a house to rest, leaned his hand on the wall, only to have a serpent to bite him. Such shall be Israel’s inevitable escape from the day of the Lord, in judgment for her sins, Num 32:23; Job 20:24; Isa 24:18.
Verse 20 concludes with rhetoric question meaning “The Day of the Lord shall be one of darkness and not light, will it not?” “It will be one of intense darkness, and no brightness at ail, will it not?” Such is the meaning of the phrase “The Day of the Lord,” to those who turn not from evil, v. 18; Isa 2:10-22; Rev 19:11-12.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
The particle of inference, set down here, confirms what has been already said, — that the Israelites vainly flattered themselves, though they were in the worst condition. And as the Prophet knew that there would be no end to their evasions, being, as they were, perverse hypocrites, he cuts off all their subterfuges by saying, that God had now announced his purpose concerning them, and that however they might object this or that, God’s judgment could no longer be deferred by delay, for their iniquity was more than sufficiently proved.
Therefore Jehovah, he says, God of hosts, the Lord, saith. He again repeats the attributes of God, in order to set forth his supreme power; as though he had said, that the Israelites gained nothing by acting the part of sophisters with God; for that he is the supreme judge, against whom there is no appeal, and whose sentence cannot be revoked. Hence we see that what is here checked is that waywardness which deceived the Israelites, while they continued to clamor against God. Thus then saith Jehovah; this was said, that they might understand that they were depraved in their disposition, corrupt in morals, wholly given to wickedness, and without a particle of goodness in them.
Thus then saith God, In all the streets of concourse there shall be lamentation, and in all the highways they shall say, Woe! Woe! (36) The Prophet disputes not here with them, nor denounces their vices, but speaks only of punishment; as though he had said, that the litigation was decided, that there was no need of an accuser; for nothing now remained but that God should execute his vengeance on them, inasmuch as he had already contended more than enough with them. And this mode of teaching frequently occurs in the Prophets; and it ought to be observed, that we may not think that we can gain anything by our evasions, when the Lord regards us as guilty. Let us then dread the punishment, which is prepared for all the intractable and the obstinate. They shall say, he says, in all the highways, Woe! Woe! They now prattle and think to prevail by their loquacity: when they murmur against God, they think that a delay is thus attained, that he dares not to inflict punishment; but God nevertheless proceeds with his judgment; they shall cry, Woe! Woe! there will be no time then for devising shifts, but they will be wholly taken up with wailing.
They shall call, he says, the husbandman to mourning Some think אכר, acar, derived from נכר, nucar, which is to own, or, to make, one’s self a stranger: and they are induced to regard it so only for this reason, because the Prophet immediately mentions those who were skillful in mourning. But, as all the Hebrews agree as to the meaning of this word, I am unwilling, without authority to make any change: and it also harmonizes well with what the Prophet says. At the same time, those Hebrew interpreters are wrong, who think that the order is inverted, as though it ought to have been thus, “The skillful in lamentation shall call husband men to mourning.” But the Prophet, I doubt not, meant, that all were to be led together to mourning; for, though the manner was different, yet, in the first place, he appoints mourning to husbandmen, and then he shows that it would be common to all those who were wont to mourn.
Let us then consider what the Prophet says, Lamentation to all the skillful in mourning. Eastern nations we know, exercised themselves in acting grief, and so they do at this day. We find, indeed, that they practiced all manner of gesticulations: a greater moderation at least is seen among us, however heavy the grief may be. And this custom in former times came also into Europe; for we know that there were women hired to mourn at Rome; and we know that there were everywhere those who lamented. They therefore mourned for wages. This vicious custom the Prophet notices: but it is not discussed here whether this was done rightly or foolishly: for the Prophet here only refers to a common custom; ‘There will be lamentations’ he says, ‘to all the skillful in mourning;’ that is, all who are wont to employ their labor in weeping will now be fully occupied. This is the first, though the last in order, at least it is the middle between two other clauses. Now, the two others follow, which are these, — that the very husbandmen would be led to mourning, — and then that there would be lamentation in all the highways. But why does the Prophet say, that all the skillful in mourning were to be occupied in lamentation? Because the common calamity would thus constrain them. He further adds, that this grief would not be feigned; but that as destruction would prevail through the cities and fields none would be exempt. However much the husbandmen were unaccustomed to such rites, they would yet wail and learn this new art, says the Prophet. We now then see what these words mean: but the next verse must be joined to them —
(36) Henderson gives a better rendering of these two lines, —
In all the broad places there shall be wailing, And in all the streets, they shall say, Oh! Oh!
רחבות, from רחב, to be dilated, and to be made broad or wide, mean broad places or broad streets: and חוצות, from חצה, to divide, signify the common streets, by which the town is divided. The exclamations, הו, הו, are rendered by Calvin, Vae! Vae ! Eheu , in Latin, and Woe, in our language come nearest to sound in the original. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Amo. 5:16. Therefore] if ye seek not God, there will be lamentation not only by professional mourners, but in the streets of the city, in all towns of the kingdom, and in places where joy is expected.
Amo. 5:17. Pass through] as in Egypt (Exo. 12:12; Nah. 1:12), taking vengeance and creating death wail.
Amo. 5:18. Woe] to the confident who deceive themselves with false hopes. Desire] Deriding the prediction of the prophet (Jer. 17:15; Eze. 12:22). It was an impious daring of God to do his worst [Elzas].
Amo. 5:19.] Two figures from pastoral life illustrate the false hope of escape. Fleeing from a lion to meet a bear means that whoever escapes one danger will fall into another. The bear spares none, and the serpents bite in the hand is fatal. In that day every place is full of danger and death; neither in-doors nor out-of-doors is any one safe; for out-of-doors lions and bears prowl about and in-doors snakes lie hidden, even in the holes of the walls [Corn, a Lap.].
Amo. 5:20. Bright.] i.e. to those who do not turn from evil.
HOMILETICS
THE DAY OF THE LORD.Amo. 5:16-20
Amo. 5:16. Therefore. God foreseeing that they will not forsake sin continues the threatening (Amo. 5:13). Israel misapplied the words of Joel (Joe. 2:31; Joe. 3:4), thought that the day of the Lord would be deliverance to them and destruction to their enemies. The prophet warns them of false security. In blind infatuation they long for its approach, but it would be a day of unmitigated evil.
I. The day of the Lord described. A day of universal darkness and distress. The judgments were extensive as the manifold guilt.
1. A day of Divine displeasure. God would be with them not in the way they expected and boasted; in judgment, not mercy. I will pass through thee. There would be a repetition of the events in Egypt. He would not pass over them in forgiving love, as the angel passed by the blood-stained doors; but through them in punishment severe and exact. Some as stubble or wood are ripe for Divine judgments (Nah. 1:10; Jas. 3:5). God may have passed by them, but soon will pass through them. Nations may escape at one time and fearfully suffer at another. For there was not a house where there was not one dead (Exo. 12:12; Exo. 12:30).
2. A day of universal mourning. Wailing shall be in all the streets. (a) Mourning in all places. In the streets of the city, the vineyards of the fields, and the highways of the country; in centres of business and scenes of joy, would be lamentation and wailing. The hum of men and the mirth of children were turned into grief. There was a vintage not of wine, but of woe. Gods displeasure turns joy into mourning and robes all things with darkness and death. (b) Mourning by all persons. The skilful the professionals of lamentation, and the real mourners, the husbandmen called from the country, blended their cries together. Alas! Alas! The punishment was unequalled and the grief beyond expression. Sorrow will find all that are guilty, and none can escape. Take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters. For a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion, How are we spoiled!
3. A day of darkness without light (Amo. 5:18-20). Calamities darken the brightest day. The day of present trouble is often without light. But no day so gloomy to impenitent sinners as the day of judgment. The word of God and the voice of conscience darken the prospects of the wicked. Unless they flee to Christ the future will be even very dark, and no brightness in it.
4. A day of calamity without escape. Two comparisons illustrate this. (a) No escape by flight. To flee from the lion would only be to meet a bear. To escape from one danger was only to fall into another (cf. Jer. 48:44; Isa. 24:18). He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through. (b) No escape by shelter. If a man rushed into a house and leaned in confidence upon the wall a serpent would bite him. Men often meet with destruction where they expect safety. Evil shall hunt the wicked man to overthrow him. If men escape present they cannot the future judgment. It is vain to expect mercy at that day if we despise it now. Come to God instead of fleeing from him. Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?
II. The day of the Lord threatened. The Lord saith thus
1. Though long delayed it will come. To prove his love and give time for repentance God delays his promise. But he is not slack and forgetful. Threatening may not suddenly be executed, for he is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish. Remember the nature of God and his determination to punish. Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
2. Though apparently far off it will come. All things continue as they were, but may unexpectedly change. The flood interrupted the order of nature. If we realize the past, it will help us to believe the future. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night.
3. Though ridiculed by ungodly men it will come. Scoffers walking after their own lusts cry, Where is the promise of his coming? Join not their ranks. Heed not their ridicule. The promise is uttered and cannot be retracted. The coming is gradual, certain, and will soon be felt. Atheists should beware and presumptuous sinners should fear. The primeval world has changed, the deluge of Noah swept the earth, and a terrible day awaits impenitent sinners. A little while, and he that shall come will come and will not tarry.
III. The day of the Lord desired. You that desire the day of the Lord. Their previous history would lead them to desire this time, and their subsequent life proved the spirit in which they did so.
1. The day may be desired in a wrong spirit. Israel applied the glowing descriptions of future times in a carnal sense. They expected a temporal Messiah, and knew neither their own character nor the nature of the day coming. They were not prepared for it, and what should have been a blessing turned out to be a woe to the nation. Darkness and not light. Men desire the day(a) In a spirit of contempt. The Israelites sarcastically might wish for the day (Isa. 5:19; Jer. 17:15). Who cares for the day? let it come. (b) In a spirit of delusion. They desired some change, and thought the next would be for the better. The prophet seeks to undeceive them. Self-deluded sinners will find out their mistake at last. (c) In a spirit of folly. To what end is it for you? What will it profit you? Are you ready for it? Many would be glad to leave this world who are not fit for the next. They have but little reason to desire what will be darkness and not light to them.
2. The day may be desired in a right spirit. Some are ready for the day, delighting themselves in God and his service. They are preparing for death and waiting for the coming of Christ. In the common events and mysterious providences of life they pray not in scorn, Let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it. Woe to him who desires when he should dread the day of the Lord! Blessed is that servant who is ready and waiting, and whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
DEATH NOT ALWAYS DESIRABLE.Amo. 5:18
We may apply this to the day of death. Often in trouble and disappointment men express a wish that God would take away their life, supposing that it is better for them to die than to live. We cannot be sure of the sincerity of their desire; and they may not be sure of it themselves. Under the pressure of present feeling, they imagine death would be welcome, and perhaps if it actually came they would decline its aid. If they would not they ought. For their fleeing from trouble is as if a man did flee from a lion and a boar met him, &c. Let me beg these sons of sorrow to inquireWhether the event they long for will be a real remedy for their complaints. Are they sure that death will be annihilation? perfectly sure that there is nothing beyond the grave? Can they prove that there is no future? or that in this state there is only happiness and no misery? Judas hanged himself, went to his own place, which was worse than his former condition, with all the horrors of its remorse. If Scripture be true all are not happy at death; none are then happy without a title to heaven and a meetness for it. Have you this title? this meetness? Do you love holiness? Without this could you be happy in a holy place? in a holy state? in holy employments, &c.? Is the Redeemer precious to your souls? Nothing can make us happy but what relieves our wants, fulfils our desires, and satisfies our hope. Without holiness no man can see the Lord.
How absurd, then, to wish to leave this world for another, before you are sure the exchange will be for your advantage. For advantage it cannot be if you die unpardoned and unrenewed. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord. Out of him, out of refuge, and the avenger of blood is upon you. Out of him, you are out of the Ark and exposed to the Deluge. The day of your death is not better than the day of your birth. Your privations and distresses here are only the beginnings of sorrow, a drop to the ocean compared with hell. And once gone from time, no return. Therefore instead of wishing this important period ended, be thankful that it is prolonged, even in a vale of tears; account that the long-suffering of God is your salvation, for he is not willing that any should perish.
Remember also that disappointment and sorrow, which make you impatient, may prove the greatest blessing; the valley of Achor a door of hope. God does not afflict willingly. He renders earth desolate to induce you to seek a better country. Away, then, with every thought of desperation. Arise and go unto your Father, waiting to receive graciously and love freely. If tempted to despair, cry, Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me. Come unto me, all ye that labour, &c. The Athenian said, I should have been lost, if I had not been lost. In affliction Manasseh found his fathers God, We often pity those who have seen better days. But if they forgot God in prosperity, and in their adversity have thrown themselves into his armsthese are the best days they ever saw. This will be your case, suffering friend, if you seek God and commit your cause to him. He will turn the shadow of death into the morning, and you shall join the multitude who sayIt is good for me that I have been afflicted [Jay].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Amo. 5:16. It costs men nothing to own God as a Creator, the Cause of causes, the Orderer of all things by certain fixed laws. It satisfies certain intellects so to own him. What man, a sinner, shrinks from, is that God is Lord, the absolute disposer and master of his sinful self [Pusey].
Woe, woe, going up from every street of a metropolis, in one unmitigated, unchanging, ever-repeated monotony of grief. Such were the present fruits of sin. Yet what a mere shadow of the inward grief is its outward utterance [Ib.].
Amo. 5:17. If there were joy in any place it would be in the vineyards; vineyards are places of mirth and refreshing, grapes make the wine, which makes glad the heart of man. Therefore when he threatens, that in all vineyards there shall be wailing, it is as much as if he said, There shall be sorrow in those places where usually the greatest joy is found, or there shall be sorrow in every place. Joy shall dislodge and give place to sorrow, for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord [Caryl].
Amo. 5:17-18. I. The certainty of the day. Saith the Lord. II. The method of its approach. I will pass through. III. The consequences of its arrival. Darkness and not light.
Amo. 5:18. To what end is it for you? Self-examination would teachthat they would gain nothing in the daythat it should be delayed, rather than desired, if not prepared for itthat the evil spirit in which it is longed for should be eradicated, and that men should seriously consider their ways and submit to God.
Amo. 5:19. The path of light would prove a path of increased dangerthe place of confidence, expected shelter and repose, would become the place of pain and wounding unto death [Ryan]. From both lion and bear there might be escape by flight. When the man had leaned his hand trustfully on the wall of his own house, and the serpent bit him, there was no escape. He had fled from death to death, from peril to destruction [Pusey].
Amo. 5:20. Shall not? He appeals to their own consciences, Is it not so, as I have said? Mens consciences are truer than their intellects. However they may employ the subtlety of their intellect to dull their conscience, they feel, in their heart of hearts, that there is a Judge, that guilt is punished, that they are guilty. The soul is a witness to its own deathlessness, its own accountableness, and its own punishableness [Pusey].
The godly will have some light in trouble (though temptation hide it from them, Isa. 50:10), and may sometimes attain to some measure of allowance (Psa. 112:4); and may certainly expect that there will be a clear and comfortable issue from their troubles (Mic. 7:8); yet it is terrible to think how dreadful a day of vengeance will be to the wicked, how grieving and perplexing their miseries will be, and how destitute of present comfort and future hope they are [Hutcheson].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 5
Amo. 5:16-20. Ill-gotten gains are a dangerous and uncertain possession. God can easily take them away, and turn our joy into mourning. That which is dyed with many dippings is in the grain, and can very hardly be washed out [Jer. Taylor]. Men do not love to be brought into contact with realities, or be reminded of coming days of darkness. There is an unwelcome message to the conscience, Art thou ready to meet this solemnthis hastening season? If you regard death as a friend, prepare to entertain it; if an enemy, prepare to overcome it.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(16) Therefore.Probably a pause occurs here, for once more the words of the prophet assume a more mournful tone. Therefore points back to the transgressions condemned in Amo. 5:11-13. On the Divine name Lord of hosts, see note on Hos. 12:5, and Oehler, Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, 194-8. It is a grand phrase to denote the antithesis. between the Portion of Jacob, and all heathen deities.
The streets are the open wide squares near the gates, and the highways are more properly the narrow alleys of the crowded cities of the Easu. The word for wailing (mispd) denotes properly the beating of the breast, the Oriental symptom of grief. The calling of the husbandman from his agricultural pursuits to lamentation is an indication that the disaster was universal. Those skilled in wailing were generally, and are still, women who tear their hair and dress, throw dust over the head, and utter the monotonous wail and piercing cry of distress. The last clause should properly be inverted, And wailing to such as are skilful of lamentation. (Ecc. 12:5; Jer. 9:17-19.
Pass through thee.Properly through the midst of thee. Whenever Jehovah is said to pass through a land or a city, heavy punishment is intended. (Comp. Exo. 12:12.) The reference to the vineyards adds to the terror of the picture.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
A Closing Lamentation ( Amo 5:16-17 ).
Having previously opened with a lamentation, Amos closes with a lamentation by YHWH, for he is well aware that on the whole his words would not be heeded. (As always happens the few would respond and find fullness of life, and the majority would harden their hearts). In His lamentation YHWH envisages a whole country in mourning, both town and country, both expert mourner, and novice, both in the streets and in the vineyards, and it would be because He Himself would have passed through their country in severe and awful judgment (described briefly in 2Ki 15:29; 2Ki 17:5; 2Ki 18:9-10 read in the light of Lev 26:24-33; Deu 28:47-58).
Amo 5:16-17
‘Therefore thus says YHWH, the God of hosts, the Lord,’
“Wailing will be in all the broad ways,
And they will say in all the streets, Alas! Alas!,
And they will call the husbandman to mourning,
And such as are skilful in lamentation to wailing.
And in all vineyards will be wailing,
For I will pass through the midst of you,
Says YHWH.”
As the people listened to the preaching and prophesying of Amos, and looked around at the prosperity and security which their nation was enjoying, we can understand why they found it very easy to dismiss his words as those of ‘a fanatic’. They did not then realise that within forty years of the commencement of Amos’s ministry, and thus within the lifetime of many of his hearers, Samaria would lay in ruins, their whole land would be devastated and in mourning, and the cream of the people would be in exile. All that they looked around at would be gone. But YHWH realised it, and He warned them of the lamentations that were coming.
The picture is one of unrelieved gloom. The streets of the cities filled with mourning, and the people of the cities, and the men working in the fields and in the vineyards and olive groves in the countryside, uniting with the professional mourners in bewailing both their own fate and the dead who lay around them. The whole land will be filled with lamentation. For the vineyards, which were usually places of joy and rejoicing, to be wailing was an indication of how bad things would be (see the similar picture in Isa 16:10). And all because YHWH will have ‘passed through the midst of them’ (compare Exo 12:12). And this was not just some vision of a future possibility, it was the unbreakable, unfailing ‘word of YHWH’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Amo 5:16. Therefore the Lord, &c. Certainly the Lord of Hosts hath said, &c. Houbigant. The latter part of the verse may be read, And the husbandman shall call the professed mourners to lamentation and wailing.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Amo 5:16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing [shall be] in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
Ver. 16. Therefore the Lord God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus ] Therefore? wherefore? because neither promises of mercy nor menaces of misery will work upon you, stand forth, and hear your doom, your sentence of condemnation; and it beginneth, as is usual, In nomine Dei: In the name of God, neither can you say, as that martyr did, when wrongfully sentenced, ye begin in a wrong name. To assure the matter, the prophet here heapeth up three majestic names of God; that they might tremble and turn, considering the greatness of him with whom they here have to do, being “glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders,” Exo 15:11 .
Wailing shall be in all streets, &c.
“ Luctus ubique, pavor, et plurima morris imago ”( Virg.).
And they shall say in all the highways, Alas, alas
And they shall call the husbandman to mourning
And such as are skilful of lamentation
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Amo 5:16-17
16Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, the Lord,
There is wailing in all the plazas,
And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’
They also call the farmer to mourning
And professional mourners to lamentation.
17And in all the vineyards there is wailing,
Because I will pass through the midst of you, says the LORD.
Amo 5:16 Therefore This relates to Amo 5:10-13. It does not relate to the repeated admonition to repent, begun in Amo 5:4-6 (key word, seek).
There is wailing in all the plazas. . .Alas! Alas’ The prophet began the funeral dirge in Amo 5:1; now judgment has come and everybody is wailing. Plazas would be parallel to gates or markets. Even the term streets (BDB 299) can mean plaza or market (e.g., 1Ki 20:34).
farmer I believe farmer is the referent to the poor. It was not the poor as in modern, western cultures, but the small farmer on ancestral land (given by YHWH) who were being exploited. The Mosaic stipulations of the Sabbath Year and the Jubilee Year were being ignored and land was permanently taken.
professional mourners Near Eastern people are very expressive in their mourning rites. There were trained people available to help in this cultural grieving process (cf. 2Ch 35:25; Jer 9:17). See James M. Freeman, Manners and Customs of the Bible, pp. 283-284.
Amo 5:17 I will pass through the midst of you This same phrase is used in Exo 12:12 for the Death Angel passing through Egypt in judgment on the night of Passover. God’s coming could be for blessing or judgment (cf. Amo 5:18). Israel viewed it as a certain blessing, but Amos revealed that it would be for judgment. What an ironic, tragic reversal (cf. Amo 5:18-20)! All humans made in God’s image sense their need for Him (cf. Amo 5:14 b). He wants to be with us, but our actions necessitate judgment, not fellowship!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the LORD”. One of the 134 places where the Sopherirm say they altered “Jehovah” (App-4.) of the primitive test to “Adenai” (App-4. See App-32.
streets = open places.
skilful of lamentation: i.e. the professional mourners. Compare 2Ch 35:25. Eze 12:5. Jer 9:17.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
a Dark Day for Hypocrites
Amo 5:16-27
Mighty sins had been committed, and mighty judgments were at hand. The oppression of the poor, Amo 5:11; the erection of elegant dwellings from unrighteous exactions, Amo 5:11; the acceptance of bribes to betray the needy, Amo 5:12 all these must be reckoned with. But if the guilty nation would not seek God and establish judgment in the gate, where magistrates sat to dispense justice, the streets would be filled with wailing, and the husbandmen and vine-dressers would be equally affected by the widespread desolation as the dwellers in the cities.
Moreover, bad as Israels present condition was, it would become infinitely worse, as though a man fleeing from a lion rushed into the arms of a bear, or, taking refuge in a house, was stung by a serpent that lay hid in a cranny of the wall. Of what avail are religious rites, when the heart is alienated from God, Amo 5:21, etc.? Let us heed well the exhortation of Amo 5:23-24. The martyr Stephen quoted Amo 5:25-27, which accuse the people of carrying about little shrines and pocket-idols, to serve as amulets averting disaster, Act 7:43. But they might as well have built a bank of sand to arrest an overflowing flood! The one thing which is going to help us is repentance toward God and faith in our Savior Jesus Christ.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
the Lord: Amo 5:27, Amo 3:13
Wailing: Amo 8:10, Isa 15:2-5, Isa 15:8, Isa 22:12, Jer 4:31, Jer 9:10, Jer 9:18-20, Joe 1:8, Joe 1:11, Joe 1:14, Mic 1:8, Mic 2:4, Rev 18:10, Rev 18:15, Rev 18:16, Rev 18:19
such: Jer 9:17-19
Reciprocal: Job 3:8 – who are ready Isa 24:11 – all joy Jer 30:5 – a voice Jer 50:16 – the sower Eze 6:11 – Alas Eze 27:2 – General Eze 30:3 – a cloudy Hos 4:3 – the land Joe 1:15 – Alas Amo 5:1 – I take
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Amo 5:16. When the people see the presence of the Assyrian forces, they will make the wailing here stated. They will even call for a public demonstration of regret over the sad condition Of their country.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Amo 5:16-17. Therefore the Lord saith thus The prophet, foreseeing their obstinacy, proceeds in denouncing judgments against them: and the word therefore, which introduces his threatenings, is to be referred to the twelfth verse, and not to the verses immediately foregoing. As if he had said, It is on account of your evil deeds, and because you will not be persuaded to hate the evil and love the good, that the Lord saith thus. Wailing shall be in all streets, and in all the highways There shall be a general lamentation of all orders and degrees of men; of the citizens, for the loss of their wealth and substance, plundered by the conquerors; of the husbandmen and vine-dressers, for the loss of the fruits of the earth, destroyed or eaten up by the enemies army. And such as are skilful of lamentation Let those, whose profession it is to make lamentation at funerals, join in this public mourning, to make it more solemn. And in all vineyards shall be wailing Where there used to be shouting and rejoicing, when the summer-fruits were gathered in. For I will pass through thee, saith the Lord To punish all everywhere: I will act like an enemy that invades and destroys a country as he marches through it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
5:16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing [shall be] in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the {i} husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
(i) So that people of all types will have reason to lament because of the great plagues.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Another description of certain judgment 5:16-17
This message concludes by returning to a further description of conditions when Yahweh would judge Israel (cf. Amo 5:1-3). The sovereign Yahweh of armies, Israel’s master, announced wailing in all the open plazas of the Israelite towns and in their streets. There would be many funerals. Everyone would bewail the conditions of divine judgment, not just the professional mourners but even the poor farmers who would have to bury their oppressors. The vineyards, often places of joy and merriment, would be full of mourning, as would the streets. Yahweh promised to pass through the midst of His people, not to bless them but to blast them with punishment. Earlier God had passed through Egypt with similar devastating results (cf. Exo 11:4-7; Exo 12:12-13).