Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Amos 7:17
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.
17. Thy wife shall be a harlot &c.] As before (Amo 6:8), the vision of a captured city rises before him: Amaziah’s wife will be treated as a harlot by the victorious conquerors (cf. Isa 13:16; Zec 14:2); his children, daughters as well as sons, will perish by the sword; his lands will be distributed to new occupants; he himself will die in a foreign land; finally, Israel itself will go into exile. “ In the city heightens the disgrace for the principal lady in the place” (Wellh.).
divided by (measuring-) line ] Cf. Mic 2:4 (end); Jer 6:12; and see 2Ki 17:24.
in an unclean land ] A foreign land is regarded as ‘unclean,’ because Jehovah could not be properly worshipped in it (cf. 1Sa 26:19 end): no presence of Jehovah sanctified it; there were no sanctuaries in it dedicated to Him; consequently, even food eaten in it was ‘unclean’ likewise, for it was not hallowed by part of it being brought into His house, and offered to Him. See Hos 9:3-4 (R.V. marg.); Eze 4:13, with Cheyne’s and Davidson’s notes respectively; also O.T.J.C [187][188] , pp. 249 f.
[187] .T.J.C. W. Robertson Smith, The Old Testament in the Jewish Church, ed. 2, 1892.
[188] W. Robertson Smith, The Old Testament in the Jewish Church, ed. 2, 1892.
and Israel shall surely go into exile away from his land ] Amos repeats exactly the words placed in his mouth by Amaziah in Amo 7:11.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thy wife shall be a harlot – These were, and still are, among the horrors of war. His own sentence comes last, when he had seen the rest, unable to hinder it. Against his and her own will, she should suffer this. Jerome: Great is the grief, and incredible the disgrace, when the husband, in the midst of the city and in the presence of all, cannot hinder the wrong done to his wife , for the husband had rather hear that his wife had been slain, than defiled. What he adds thy daughters (as well as his sons) shall fall by the sword, is an unwonted barbarity, and not part of the Assyrian customs, who carried off women in great numbers, as wives for their soldiery .
Perhaps Amos mentions the unwonted cruelty, that the event might bring home the more to the minds of the people the prophecies which relate to themselves. When this had been fulfilled before his eyes , Amaziah himself, who now gloried in the authority of the priesthood, was to be led into captivity, die in a land polluted by idols, yet not before be saw the people whom he had deceived, enslaved and captive. Amos closes by repeating emphatically the exact words, which Amaziah had alleged in his message to Jeroboam; and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land. He had not said it before in these precise words. Now he says it, without reserve of their repentance, as though he would say, Thou hast pronounced thine own sentence; thou hast hardened thyself against the word of God; thou hardenest thy people against the word of God; it remains then that it should fall on thee and thy people. Rup.: How and when the prophecy against Amaziah was fulfilled, Scripture does not relate. He lies hid amid the mass of miseries . Scripture hath no leisure to relate all which befalls those of the viler sort The majesty of Holy Scripture does not lower itself to linger on baser persons, whom God had rejected.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 17. Thy wife shall be a harlot] As this was the word of the Lord, so it was fulfilled; but as we have no farther account of this idolatrous priest, so we cannot tell in what circumstances these threatenings were executed.
1. His wife was to be a public prostitute; she was probably such already privately in the temple, as the wife of an idolatrous priest.
2. His sons and daughters were to fall by the sword
. 3. Their inheritance was to be taken by strangers.
4. And himself was to die a captive in a heathen land.
Israel shall surely go into captivity] He now declares fully what he had not declared before, though Amaziah had made it a subject of accusation. This particular was probably revealed at this instant, as well as those which concerned Amaziah and his family.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Therefore; because thou hast so directly and strenuously opposed the Lord.
Thy wife shall be a harlot, which to a man of sense is a great affliction.
A harlot; a common whore. In the city; a notorious one, that plays not the adulteress in secret at home, but so that all take notice of it, and brand her for it.
Thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword; which in all likelihood doth intimate their slaughter by Shallum when he slew Zachariah, Jeroboams son, with whom no doubt but his friends fell, among which this family was; or else by the sword of Menahem, who slew Shallum.
Thy land shall be divided by line; thy estate, which no doubt was large, shall be shared among the soldiers and courtiers of Menahem.
And thou shalt die; thy dishonour by a lewd wife, thy childless solitariness, and thy poverty, shall come on thee ere thou die; it is probable he fled to save his life.
In a polluted land; among the heathen, where thou mayst be sure my word was true. Israel, the ten tribes,
shall surely go into captivity forth of his land: see Amo 7:11.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. Thy wife shall be an harlot inthe citythat is, shall be forced by the enemy, while thou artlooking on, unable to prevent her dishonor (Isa 13:16;Lam 5:11). The words, “saithTHE LORDare in striking opposition to “Thou sayest” (Am7:16).
divided by lineamongthe foe.
a polluted landIsraelregarded every foreign land as that which really her own land wasnow, “polluted” (Isa 24:5;Jer 2:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore thus saith the Lord,…. For withstanding the prophet of the Lord, and forbidding him to speak in his name against the idolatry of Israel, as well as for his own idolatry:
thy wife shall be an harlot in the city: either of Bethel or Samaria; either through force, being ravished by the soldiers upon taking and plundering the city; so Theodoret and others: or rather of choice; either, through poverty, to get bread, or through a vicious inclination, and that in a public manner: the meaning is, that she should be a common strumpet; which must be a great affliction to him, and a just punishment for his idolatry, or spiritual adultery; this must be before the siege and taking of Samaria, since by that time the priest’s wife would be too old to be used as a harlot:
and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword; either of Shallum, who smote Zachariah the son of Jeroboam with the sword, before the people, and very probably many of his friends with him, among whom this family was; or of Menahem, who slew Shallum, and destroyed many places that opened not to him, with their inhabitants, and ripped up the women with child; or in the after invasions by Pul, Tiglathpileser, and Shalmaneser, 2Ki 15:10;
and thy land shall be divided by line; either the whole land of Israel be lived in, or the land that was in the possession of this priest, and was his own property; this should be measured with a line, and be parted among foreigners, that should invade the land, and subdue it; a just punishment of the sins he had been guilty of, in getting large possessions in an ill manner:
and thou shall die in a polluted land; not in his own land, reckoned holy, but in a Heathen land, which was accounted defiled, because the inhabitants of it were uncircumcised and idolaters, and he was no better; perhaps the land of Assyria, whither he might with others be carried captive; or some other land he was forced to flee into:
and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land; as he had before prophesied, and here confirms it; and which was fulfilled in the times of Hoshea king of Israel, by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, 2Ki 17:6.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Now follows a denunciation, Therefore thus saith Jehovah This לכן, lacen, therefore, shows that Amaziah suffered punishment, not only because he had corrupted God’s worship, because he had deceived the people by his impostures and because he had made gain by the disguise of religion; but because he had insolently dared to oppose the authority of God, and to turn aside the Prophet from his office, both by hidden crafts and by open violence. Inasmuch then as he had attempted to do this, Amos now declares that punishment awaited him. We hence see that destruction is doubly increased, when we set up a hard and iron neck against God, who would have us to be pliant, and when he reproves us, requires from us at least this modesty — that we confess that we have sinned. But when we evade, or when we proceed still outward, this issue will at last follow — that God will execute double vengeance on account of our obstinacy. Therefore then Jehovah saith: and O! that this were deeply engraven on the hearts of men; there would not then be so much rebellion at this day prevailing in the world. But we see how daring men are; for as soon as the Lord severely reproves them, they murmur; and then, if they have any authority they stretch every nerve to take away from God his own rights, and from his servants their liberty. At the same time, when we observe the ungodly to be so blind, that they perceive not the vengeance, such as the Prophet here denounces, to be nigh them, and dread it not, it behooves us duly to weigh what the Prophet here declares and that is, that perverse men, as I have already said, do gain this only by their obstinacy — that they more and more inflame God’s displeasure.
With respect to the kind of punishment he was to suffer, it is said, Thy wife in the city shall be wanton: it is so literally; but the Prophet speaks not here of voluntary wantonness. He then intimates that Amaziah could not escape punishment, but that his wife would be made a prostitute, when the enemies occupied the land of Israel. We indeed know that it was a common thing for conquerors to abuse women: and well would it be, were the practice abolished at this day. Besides, it was deemed lawful in that age for the conqueror to take to himself not only the daughter but also the wife of another. This then is the reason why the Prophet says, Thy wife shall be a prostitute. But he says, in the city; which was far more grievous, than if the wife of Amaziah had been led to a distance, and suffered that reproach in an unknown country: it would have less wounded the mind of Amaziah, if the enemies had taken away his wife, and this disgrace had continued unknown to him, it being done in a distant land. But when his wife was publicly and before the eyes of all constrained to submit to this baseness and turpitude, it was much more hard to be endured, and occasioned much greater grief. We hence see that the punishment was much increased by this circumstance, which the Prophet states when he says, Thy wife shall in the city be a prostitute.
Then it follows, Thy sons and thy daughters shall by the sword fall It is a second punishment, when he declares, that the sons and also the daughters of the ungodly priest would be slain by the enemies. It was indeed probable, that some also of the common people had suffered the same evils; but God no doubt punished the willfulness and madness of Amaziah for having dared to resist admonitions as well as threatening.
But he also adds, Thy land shall be divided by a line He means by this statement, that there should be none to succeed Amaziah; but that whatever land he possessed should become a prey to the enemies. Thy land then shall be divided by a line. It may at the same time be, that Amos speaks here generally of the land of Israel; and this seems to me probable. I indeed allow that neither by Amaziah nor by the other priests was the law of God kept; but we yet know that there was some affinity between the lawful priesthood, and the spurious priesthood which the first Jeroboam had introduced. Hence I conjecture that Amaziah had no possessions, it being lawful for priests to have only gardens and pastures for their cattle; but they cultivated no lands. I am therefore disposed to extend to the whole people what is said of the land of one man; and this opinion is confirmed by what immediately follows.
But thou shalt die in a polluted land. He called that the land of Amaziah in which he and the rest of the people dwelt; but he calls the land into which he, with all the rest, were to be driven, a polluted land. If any one objects and says that this punishment did not apply to one man, the ready answer is this, — that God meant that an especial mark should be imprinted on his common judgment, that Amaziah might know, that he had as it were accelerated God’s vengeance, which yet he intended to turn aside, when he sent away, as we have seen, the Prophet Amos into the land of Judah.
It follows at last, Israel by migrating shall migrate from his own land We here see that the Prophet proclaimed no private threatening, either to Amaziah himself or to his wife or to his children, but extended his discourse to the whole people: the fact at the same time remains unchanged that God intended to punish the perverseness of that ungodly man, while executing his vengeance on the whole people. Now follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) Harlot.This doom on Amaziahs wife is to be regarded as the hideous consequence of war. She shall be ravished. By the polluted land we are to understand Assyria, or the land of exile; for food eaten in any other land than Canaan, the land of Jehovah, was regarded as unclean (see W. R. Smith, O.T. in Jewish Church, pp. 235-8). We hear no more of Amaziah, nor do we know how or where he met his doom.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Amo 7:17. In a polluted land By a polluted land is meant a heathen country far from the land of Israel; for the Hebrews considered every other country as polluted in comparison with theirs. History has not preserved to us enough of the life of Amaziah to give a minute account of the accomplishment of this prophesy in his person. It has been said, that Amos was put to death by him. See the introductory note.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The prophet before spoke what he heard from God in words; here he relates what was revealed to him in vision; and both confirming the same event, the ruin of a rebellious people. We have,
1. The judgment of grasshoppers or locusts, which are removed at the prophet’s intercession. They were formed in the vision by God’s hand, and commissioned to devour the after-grass, after the first mowings. Some understand this figuratively of the Assyrian army, which, under Pul their king, plundered the country, 2Ki 15:19 after it had begun to revive a little under Jeroboam, 2Ki 13:25 from the ravages it had before suffered; see 2Ki 3:22. Affected with the melancholy scene, the prophet becomes an earnest advocate for this miserable land: then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee: sin was the cause of all their sufferings, and the removal of that was the great object of the prophet’s prayer. Cease, I beseech thee, the unequal controversy, which must else quickly consume that sinful people, unable to stand before God’s judgments: and he enforces his plea by their relation to him as the seed of Jacob; the low estate of misery to which they were already reduced; and the absolute despair into which they must fall, unless he was pleased graciously to pity, pardon, and save them. By whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. The Lord heard and was intreated; he repented for this; removed this afflictive dispensation of his providence at the prophet’s instance. It shall not be, saith the Lord; either the locusts, or the Assyrian army, shall not be permitted utterly to destroy the land; see 2Ki 15:19-20. Note; (1.) While we declare to sinners the judgments that they provoke, every pious prophet cannot but be an earnest advocate to avert them, so far is he from desiring the woeful day. (2.) Sin is the cause of every human misery; and the pardon of that is to be sought in the first place, in order to open the door for every other mercy. (3.) The low and afflicted state of the church at any time is a powerful argument to plead for present help. (4.) Powerfully effectual, and mightily availing, is the fervent prayer of a righteous man. Such advocates with God are the greatest blessings to their country.
2. Another judgment by fire succeeds, and this also is extinguished at the prophet’s prayer. The Lord God called to contend by fire, and, ready at his commands, the elements obey him: it devoured the great deep; it seemed to dry up the ocean; and did eat up a part of the earth; which may refer either to some remarkable visitation of lightning, consuming part of their country; or to the intense heat of the sun, occasioning a drought through the land, and consuming them by famine; or figuratively describes the devastations of the Assyrian army under Tiglath-Pileser, 2Ki 15:29 and the captivity of a part of the land. Hereupon the prophet repeats his former request, and again succeeds in preventing their final ruin. Note; (1.) God hath many arrows in his quiver; and when one judgment does not humble a sinful soul, he will send another. (2.) God is not unwilling to multiply his pardons, if we are not weary in waiting upon him with our prayers.
3. In a third vision their final ruin is predicted; for reprieves are not pardons; and they whom neither mercies nor judgments effectually work upon, may expect to be at last utterly abandoned of God. And he shewed me, and behold the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumb-line: the Jewish state was like a wall of adamant, strong, and raised by the divine architect straight and regular; and now he came, with a plumb-line in his hand, to discover their crookedness, who had so departed from the line of duty and his pure worship. On the proof, therefore, of their incorrigible perverseness, he now resolves to pass by them no more; and therefore the prophet may no more intercede for them. Their doom is fixed; their high places shall be destroyed; their idol-temples demolished; notwithstanding the holy progenitors from whom they descended, which they might flatter themselves would be their protection; and the house of Jeroboam, the great author of their apostacy from God, shall be cut off; as was shortly after accomplished by Shallum; 2Ki 15:10. Note; (1.) No outward privileges will protect apostates from ruin. (2.) Walls of adamant are no defence against God’s judgments. (3.) In all God’s visitations he acts with strictest justice; so that they who suffer have not the shadow of complaint. (4.) Though God bears long with impenitent sinners, he will not bear always: vengeance, though slow, is sure.
2nd, From the kindness which the prophet had shewn by his intercession in behalf of the land, and the manifest design of all the judgments threatened, which was to lead them to repentance, one might have expected that the most grateful returns would have been made to their affectionate friend and faithful reprover; but let not the best of men be surprised at the basest ingratitude which they meet with.
1. Amaziah, the priest of Beth-el, or prince, the chief ruler perhaps both in ecclesiastical and civil affairs, could not bear the threatenings of the prophet, and therefore transmits to court an accusation against him as a traitor against the nation; as one that sowed sedition among the people, and spirited them up to murder the king: so that, if timely care was not taken, the land would not be able to bear all his words: either they would breed a revolt, or the country was so exasperated against him, that he would insinuate as if nothing could be a more popular act than to silence or punish him. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of their own land; which was partly false and partly true. Israel’s ruin indeed the prophet foretold; but Amaziah suppresses the circumstances of Amos’s intercession, and his declarations that their repentance would prevent the judgment. As for Jeroboam’s death, the prophet said no such thing: the threatening was against his house, not himself; but this was easily perverted. Note; (1.) Apostate priests are the bitterest persecutors of the true prophets. (2.) It is a common method with designing men to represent the faithful as seditious, and troublers of the land, though in fact they are the best friends of it. (3.) They who bear testimony for God against men’s sins, may expect to meet with the most malicious insinuations against them, and to have their words often tortured to a meaning of which they never dreamed.
2. Amaziah endeavours to drive Amos out of the country. What answer he received from court is not said; it should seem, not one so favourable as he expected; and therefore, to be rid of him at any rate, by pretending regard for his safety, which he insinuates would be in danger, he advises him to quit Beth-el, and fly to Judah, where he would be better received and rewarded; judging from his own case that Amos prophesied for bread, which at Beth-el he would never get: besides, the place was improper; it was the king’s chapel, and court, where his plain speaking could not fail of being disagreeable, court-preaching requiring soft words, and smooth prophesies; nor could he think of making converts there, where the torrent ran so strong against him, and would the more endanger his safety the more he attempted to oppose it. Note; (1.) False and faithless prophets measure the faithful by themselves, and think their only motive to be that filthy lucre and worldly esteem which they adore. (2.) A zealous, active minister is a burthensome stone in the eyes of the lazy and negligent, especially when he happens to be in a very public situation, where his conduct more glaringly reflects on theirs; and therefore by fair means or foul they will strive to get rid of him.
3. Amos answers this wicked priest with the steadiness which becomes his office, and as one not to be intimidated by danger from the discharge of his duty. As for himself, he was not descended from a prophet, nor bred up in the schools of the prophets; but was an herdsman, and a gatherer of sycamore-fruit, to serve his family or cattle; and from this employment the Lord called him to go and prophesy unto Israel. His divine mission, therefore, authorized him; he dared not desert his post, since he was sent thither of God; and, as he had been accustomed to hard fare, he was the better prepared to meet with any hardships in the course of his ministry; though they who dared oppose and oppress him should suffer for it; and Amaziah, who had forbad him to prophesy, among the first. His wife will be an harlot, and her wickedness will reflect infamy on him: his children shall fall by the sword of an enemy, and his eyes shall behold it; his estate shall be divided among the conquerors, and himself survive these miseries to die a wretched captive in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land, as he would see fatally verified. Note; (1.) God often chooses weak and unlikely instruments; but whom he sends he will qualify for their office. (2.) Persecutors of God’s prophets shall shortly meet their fearful doom. (3.) God’s word will surely take place, whatever opposition sinners may make against it.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Amo 7:17 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.
Ver. 17. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Thy wife, &c.] Thou shalt be sure of thy share in the common calamity, which thou wilt not hear of; but thou shalt hear and be ashamed, &c., Isa 26:11 . So little is gotten by thwarting with God, and seeking to frustrate his counsel. With these froward pieces God will show himself froward, Psa 16:4 ; and if they walk contrary to him, he will also walk as cross to them, Lev 26:21 ; he will tame such sturdy rebels as he did Pharaoh, and that way raise him a name; all they shall get by him is but more weight of punishment: as when Jehoiakim had burnt Jeremiah’s roll of curses, all that he gained was that the roll was renewed, “and there were added besides thereunto many like words,” Jer 36:32 . See the like, Jer 20:2 1Ki 13:4 ; 1Ki 22:25 Act 5:38-39 . The counsel of God (saith Gregory) while shunned is executed; the wisdom of man may wriggle, but cannot escape.
Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city
Or, thy wife shall be an harlot
And thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword
Thy land shall be divided by line
And thou shalt die in a polluted land
And Israel shall surely
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
thus saith the LORD. See note on Amo 1:3,
be an harlot: i.e. become a victim to the lust of the invader.
land = soil. Hebrew adamah.
divided, &c.: i e. partitioned.
in a polluted land = on polluted (i e. heathen) soil,
forth of = from upon.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Thy wife: Isa 13:16, Jer 20:6, Jer 28:12, Jer 28:16, Jer 29:21, Jer 29:25, Jer 29:31, Jer 29:32, Lam 5:11, Hos 4:13, Hos 4:14, Zec 14:2
thy land: Psa 78:55
die: 2Ki 17:6, Eze 4:13, Hos 9:3
and Israel: Amo 7:11, Lev 26:33-39, Jer 36:27-32
Reciprocal: Jos 22:19 – unclean 1Ki 22:25 – Behold 2Ki 2:24 – cursed them Psa 16:6 – The lines Isa 9:14 – will cut Isa 22:18 – surely Jer 14:15 – Sword and famine shall not Eze 13:2 – Hear Hos 5:9 – Ephraim Hos 9:13 – shall Amo 5:5 – and Bethel
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Amo 7:17. Amos was not intimidated by the criticism of Amaziah but gave him the final paragraph of his pre-dictions. Not only was the nation to suffer the captivity but his own family was to be disgraced. Divided by line means the land would be measured off into lots and taken possession of by the enemy.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
7:17 Therefore thus saith the LORD; {i} Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line; and thou shalt die in a polluted land: and Israel shall surely go into captivity forth of his land.
(i) In this way God used to approve the authority of his Prophets, by his plagues and judgments against those who were malicious enemies as in Jer 28:12-17 29:21-26, as this day he does against those that persecute the ministers of his Gospel.