Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Amos 9:3
And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
3. Two other examples of remote or inaccessible hiding-places, similarly contrasted; Carmel, rising abruptly out of the sea, and the depths of the ocean which it overhangs. Carmel was in two ways a hiding-place: (1) As usual in limestone formations, it abounds in caves said by some to be more than 2000 in number often of great length, with narrow entrances, and extremely tortuous. These caves are “so close to each other that a pursuer would not discern into which the fugitive had vanished; so serpentine within, that ‘ten steps apart,’ says a traveler [198] , ‘we could hear each others’ voices, but could not see each other’ ” (Pusey). (2) The summit of Carmel, about 1800 ft. above the sea, is thickly wooded (see the descriptions quoted on ch. Amo 1:2; and comp. Mic 7:14); in the first cent. a.d., according to Strabo (xvi. 2. 28), its forests were the retreat of robbers. Carmel, projecting into the sea, would be the last hiding-place in the land: if a fugitive found no safety there, he could seek it next only in the sea. But even the sea, as the next clause says, should afford no safety for these Israelites.
[198] Schulz, Leitung des Hchsten, v. 186; Paulus, Reisen, vii. 43.
the serpent ] In warm tropical regions, highly venomous marine serpents ( Hydropidae) are found in the sea (see particulars in Cantor, Zoological Transactions, ii. pp. 303 ff., referred to by Dr Pusey). They are not, however, known in the Mediterranean; and the reference is more probably to an imaginary monster, supposed by the Hebrews to have its home at the bottom of the ocean, and to be at the disposal of the Almighty.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He had contrasted heaven and hell, as places impossible for man to reach; as I David says, If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there: If l make my bed in hell, behold Thee Psa 139:8. Now, of places in a manner accessible, he contrasts Mount Carmel, which rises abruptly out of the sea, with depths of that ocean which it overhangs. Carmel was in two ways a hiding place.
1) Through its caves (some say 1,000 , some 2,000) with which it is perforated, whose entrance sometimes scarcely admits a single man; so close to each other, that a pursuer would not discern into which the fugitive had vanished; so serpentine within, that, 10 steps apart, says a traveler , we could hear each others voices, but could not see each other. : Carmel is perforated by a hundredfold greater or lesser clefts. Even in the garb of loveliness and richness, the majestic Mount, by its clefts, caves, and rocky battlements, excites in the wanderer who sees them for the first time, a feeling of mingled wonder and fear. A whole army of enemies, as of natures terrors, could hide themselves in these rock-clefts.
2) Its summit, about 1800 feet above the sea , is covered with pines and oaks, and lower down with olive and laurel trees . These forests furnished hiding places to robberhordes at the time of our Lord. In those caves, Elijah probably at times was hidden from the persecution of Ahab and Jezebel. It seems to be spoken of as his abode 1Ki 18:19, as also one resort of Elishas 2Ki 2:25; 2Ki 4:25. Carmel, as the western extremity of the land, projecting into the sea, was the last place which a fugitive would reach. If he found no safety there, there was none in his whole land. Nor was there by sea;
And though they be hid – (rather, hide themselves) from My sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent The sea too has its deadly serpents. Their classes are few; the individuals in those classes are much more numerous than those of the land-serpents . Their shoals have furnished to sailors tokens of approaching land . Their chief abode, as traced in modern times, is between the Tropics .
The ancients knew of them perhaps in the Persian gulf or perhaps the Red Sea . All are highly venomous and very ferocious. : The virulence of their venom is equal to that of the most pernicious land-serpents. All things, with their will or without it through animal instinct, as the serpent, or their savage passions, as the Assyrian, fulfill the will of God. As, at His command, the fish whom He had prepared, swallowed Jonah, for his preservation, so, at His command, the serpent should come forth from the recesses of the sea to the sinners greater suffering.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 3. Though they hide themselves] All these are metaphorical expressions, to show the impossibility of escape.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel; one high woody mountain, shelter and hiding-place for wild beasts, by a figure put for all the rest; if they think to be safe where wild beasts find a refuge, they are deceived,
I will search and take them out thence; I will, saith God, hunt them out, and take them.
Though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea: this is an irony like brutish atheists, they think to hide themselves in the bottom of the sea.
Thence will I command the serpent, crocodile or shark some sea monster, and he shall bite them; devour them. Miserable Israel, to whom nor sea, nor mountains, nor heaven, nor hell will afford a hiding-place!
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. Carmelwhere the forests,and, on the west side, the caves, furnished hiding-places (Amo 1:2;Jdg 6:2; 1Sa 13:6).
the seatheMediterranean, which flows at the foot of Mount Carmel; forming astrong antithesis to it.
command the serpentthesea-serpent, a term used for any great water monster (Isa27:1). The symbol of cruel and oppressive kings (Psa 74:13;Psa 74:14).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel,…. One of the highest mountains in the land of Israel; in the woods upon it, and caves in it:
I will search and take them out from thence: by directing their enemies where to find them: so the Targum,
“if they think to be hid in the tops of the towers of castles, thither will I command the searchers, and they shall search them:”
and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea; get into ships, going by sea to distant parts; or make their escape to isles upon the sea afar off, where they may think themselves safe:
thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them; the dragon that is in the sea, Isa 27:1; the great whale in the sea, or the leviathan, so Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech; and is that kind of whale which is called the “Zygaena”, as Bochart w thinks; and which he, from various writers, describes as very monstrous, horrible, and terrible, having five rows of teeth, and very numerous; and which not only devours other large fishes, but men swimming it meets with; and, having such teeth, with great propriety may be said to bite. It appears from hence that there are sea serpents, as well as land ones, to which the allusion is. Erich Pantoppidan, the present bishop of Bergen x, speaks of a “see ormen”, or sea snake, in the northern seas, which he describes as very monstrous and very terrible to seafaring men, being of seven or eight folds, each fold a fathom distant; nay, of the length of a cable, a hundred fathom, or six hundred English feet; yea, of one as thick as a pipe of wine, with twenty five folds. Some such terrible creature is here respected, though figuratively understood, and designs some crafty, powerful, and cruel enemy. The Targum paraphrases it, though hid
“in the isles of the sea, thither will I command the people strong like serpents, and they shall kill them;”
see Ps 139:9.
w Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 5. c. 13. p. 747. x Natural History of Norway, par. 2. p. 198, 199, 207.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Now as to what he says, I will command the serpent to bite them, some understand by נחש, nuchesh, not a serpent on hand, but the whale, or some other marine animal, as the leviathan, which is mentioned in Scripture; and we may learn from other parts of Scripture that “nachash” means not only a serpent, but also a whale or some animal living in the sea. In a word, God intimates, that he would be armed everywhere, whenever he should resolve to punish his adversaries, and that in all elements are means in readiness, by which he can destroy the wicked, who seek to escape from his hand.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) Serpent.On this expression, i.e., the waterserpent, comp. Isa. 27:1.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Amo 9:3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:
Ver. 3. And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel ] In densis silvis, inter spelaea ferarum. In the thick woods among the dens of the wild beasts. Lawful enough it is in some cases to hide, as David did often and Elias, and Christ, and Paul, 2Co 11:32-33 , and Athanasius, and various other saints. Tertullian was too rigid in condemning all kind of hiding in evil times. But to hide from God, who searcheth Jerusalem with lights, and to whom the darkness and the light are both alike, Psa 139:12 , to whom obscura clarent, muta respondent, silentium confitetur, this is base and bootless. Carmel shall not cover them, nor any other startinghole secure them from Divine justice. The poor Jews were pulled by the Romans out of privies and other underground places, where they had hid themselves, as Josephus writeth; and so were those Samaritans served by the Assyrians, who ferreted them out, and slaughtered them.
And though they be hid from my sight
In the bottom of the sea
Thence will I command the serpent
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
hide: Job 34:22, Jer 23:23, Jer 23:24
hid: Psa 139:9-11, Jer 16:16
the serpent: Isa 27:1
Reciprocal: Gen 3:8 – hid Gen 3:15 – enmity Exo 7:10 – it became Num 21:6 – General Deu 32:24 – serpents 2Sa 17:14 – appointed 2Sa 22:46 – out 1Ki 17:4 – I have commanded 1Ki 18:19 – mount Carmel 1Ki 20:30 – a wall Psa 21:8 – General Pro 23:32 – biteth Ecc 10:8 – a serpent Jer 8:17 – I will Jer 49:10 – his secret Eze 5:2 – I will draw Eze 8:8 – General Amo 3:12 – so shall Nah 3:11 – thou shalt be hid Luk 10:15 – which
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Amo 9:3. In seeking to escape the wrath of God it would be natural to hunt out places that were considered as a good place of seclusion, Carmel was thought of as such a spot because it was a high point and was situated at the top of a long range that was separated from the country in general. Nothing is actually hidden from the vision of the Lord, hence the phrase hid from my sight means to become invisible to the general view. Even though the victim of Gods wrath might seek refuge in such an apparently secret place, the Lord would find some kind of means to take him. Ordinary serpents do not live in the bottom of the sea, hence the statement means that some agency would be called upon to carry out the vengeance of God upon the evil servant of Him who was so displeased at the corruption of the divine law.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
9:3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the {c} serpent, and he shall bite them:
(c) He shows that God will declare himself as an enemy to them in all places, and that his elements and all his creatures will be enemies to destroy them.