Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Amos 1:2
And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.
Amo 1:2 . The Exordium
2. The Lord ] Jehovah, or, strictly, Yahwh, the personal name by which the supreme God was known to the Hebrews. The name whatever its primitive signification may have been was interpreted by them (see Exo 3:14) as signifying He that is (or He that will be), viz. not in an abstract sense, He that exists, but He that comes to be, i.e. He whose nature it is ever to express Himself anew, and to manifest Himself under fresh aspects to His worshippers, but who at the same time is determined only by Himself (“I will be that which I will be ”), and who is therefore self-consistent, true to His promises, and morally unchangeable [112] .
[112] See more fully an Essay by the present writer on the Tetragrammaton, in Studia Biblica, vol. i. (1885), p. 15 18; Schultz, Theol. of the O. T. ii. 138.
Jehovah will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem ] The words recur verbatim, Joel 3:(4) 16, and with a modification of the thought, Jer 25:30 (“Jehovah will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation ”). The temple on Zion is Jehovah’s earthly abode; and from it the manifestations of His power over Israel or the world are conceived as proceeding. By the use of the term roar, the prophet shews that he has the figure of a lion in his mind (see Amo 3:8; and cp. Hos 11:10; also Isa 31:4; Hos 13:7-8); and as the ‘roar’ ( sh’ag, not nham) is the loud cry with which the animal springs upon its prey, it is the sound of near destruction which the prophet hears pealing from Zion. In utter (lit. give) his voice the roar of Jehovah’s voice is compared further with the rolling thunder (cf. Psa 18:13; Psa 46:6; Psa 68:33; Joe 2:11; Isa 30:30): it was the Hebrew idea that in a thunderstorm Jehovah descended and rode through the heavens enveloped in a dark mass of cloud: the lightning-flashes were partings of the cloud, disclosing the brilliancy concealed within (Psa 18:9-13; Job 36:29-32; Job 37:2-5); and the thunder was His voice (comp. the common expression voices for thunder, Exo 9:23; Exo 9:28-29; Exo 9:33-34; Exo 19:16; Exo 20:18 ; 1Sa 12:17-18; Job 28:26; Job 38:25; and see also Psa 29:3-9).
and the pastures of the shepherds ] not habitations; for they are spoken of as ‘springing with young grass’ (Joe 2:22; cp. Psa 23:2), as ‘dropping’ (with fertility) Psa 65:12, and as being ‘dried up’ Jer 23:10: at most, if the text of Psa 74:20 be sound (see Cheyne and Kirkpatrick), n e ’th will be a word like homestead, including both the farm and the dwellings upon it. Even, however, if this be the case, habitations is a bad rendering, being much too general. The term is a pastoral one; and Amos, in using it, may have thought primarily of the pastures about his own native place, Tekoa.
shall mourn ] partly in consternation (Amo 8:8, Amo 9:5), as they hear the peal of Jehovah’s thunder, partly on account of the desolation, which (see the next clause) that thunder is conceived as producing. A land, when its vegetation is dried up, or destroyed (Jer 12:11), is said poetically to ‘mourn’: for mourn and be dried up, as here, in parallelism, see Jer 12:4; Jer 23:10; comp. mourn and languish (of the land, or its products) Isa 24:7; Isa 33:9; Joe 1:10.
the top of Carmel ] Jehovah’s judgment does not stop at Tekoa; it sweeps northwards, and embraces even the majestic, thickly-wooded headland of Carmel. Carmel in the Heb. usually with the art., the Carmel, i.e. the garden-land is the bold, bluff promontory, one of the most conspicuous of the natural features of Palestine, formed by a ridge of hills, some 18 miles long, and 1200 1600 feet high, stretching out far into the Mediterranean Sea, and forming the S. side of the Bay of Acre. It still bears the character which its name suggests. “Modern travellers delight to describe its ‘rocky dells with deep jungles of copse’ ‘its shrubberies thicker than any others in central Palestine’ (Stanley) ‘its impenetrable brushwood of oaks and other evergreens, tenanted in the wilder parts by a profusion of game and wild animals’ (Porter), but in other parts bright with hollyhocks, jasmine, and various flowering creepers” ( D.B [113][114] s.v.). The luxuriant forests of Carmel are often alluded to in the O.T.: ch. Amo 9:3 (as a hiding-place), Isa 35:2 (‘the majesty of Carmel’), Mic 7:14; and (poetically) as shaking off their leaves, or languishing, Isa 33:9, Nah 1:4.
[113] .B. Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, ed. 1, or (from A to J) ed. 2.
[114] Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, ed. 1, or (from A to J) ed. 2.
shall be dried up ] as the blood runs cold through terror, so Amos pictures the sap of plants and trees as ceasing to flow, when Jehovah’s thunder is heard pealing over the land. Cf. Nah 1:4. In Joe 3:16 the effects of His thunder are that “the heavens and the earth shake.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Lord will roar – Amos joins on his prophecy to the end of Joels, in order at once in its very opening to attest the oneness of their mission, and to prepare peoples minds to see, that his own prophecy was an expansion of those words, declaring the nearer and coming judgments of God. Those nearer judgments, however, of which he spake, were but the preludes of the judgments of the Great Day which Joel foretold, and of that last terrible voice of Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, of whom Jacob prophesies; He couched, He lay down as a lion, and as a young lion; who shall raise Him up? Gen 49:9. God is said to utter His awful voice from Zion and Jerusalem, because there He had set His Name, there He was present in His Church. It was, as it were, His own place, which He had hallowed by tokens of His presence, although the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. In the outset of his prophecy, Amos warned Israel, that there, not among themselves in their separated state, God dwelt. Jeremiah, in using these same words toward Judah, speaks not of Jerusalem, but of heaven; The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation Jer 25:30. The prophecy is to the ten tribes or to the pagan: God speaks out of the Church. He uttereth His Voice out of Jerusalem, as He saith, Out of Zion shall go forth, the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem Isa 2:3, where was the Temple and the worship of God, to shew that God was not in the cities of Israel, that is, in Dan and Bethel, where were the golden calves, nor in the royal cities of Samaria and Jezreel, but in the true religion which was then in Zion and Jerusalem.
And the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn – Perhaps, with a feeling for the home which he had loved and left, the prophets first thought amid the desolation which he predicts, was toward his own shepherd-haunts. The well-known Mount Carmel was far in the opposite direction in the tribe of Asher. Its name is derived from its richness and fertility, perhaps a land of vine and olive yards. In Jeromes time, it was thickly studded with olives, shrubs and vineyards. Its very summit of glad pasturcs.
It is one of the most striking natural features of Palestine. It ends a line of hills, 18 miles long, by a long bold headland reaching out far into the Mediterranean, and forming the south side of the Bay of Acco or Acre. Rising 1,200 feet above the sea , it stands out like some guardian of its native strand; yet withal, it was rich with every variety of beauty, flower, fruit, and tree. It is almost always called the Carmel, the rich garden-ground. From its neighborhood to the sea, heavy dews nightly supply it with an ever-renewed freshness, so that in mid-summer it is green and flowery . Travelers describe it, as quite green, its top covered with firs and oaks, lower down with olives and laurels, and everywhere excellently watered. There is not a flower, says Van de Velde , that I have seen in Galilee or on the plains along the coasts, that I do not find here again on Carmel. It is still the same fragrant lovely mountain as of old. : Its varied world of flowers attracts such a number of the rarer vari-colored insects that a collector might for a whole year be richly employed. It is a natural garden and repository of herbs.
Its pastures were rich, so as to equal those of Bashan. It gives rise to a number of crystal streams, the largest of which gushes from the spring of Elijah Jer 50:19; Nah 1:4. It had abundant supplies in itself. If it too became a desert, what else would be spared? If they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry? Luk 23:31. All, high and low, shall be stricken in one common desolation; all the whole land, fromm the pastures of the shepherds in the south to Mount Carmel in the North. And this, as soon as God had spoken. He spake, and it was made. So now, contrariwise, He uttercth His Voice, and Carmel hath languished. Its glory hath passed away, as in the twinkling of an eye. God hath spoken the word, and it is gone.
What depended on Gods gifts, abides; what depended on man, is gone. There remains a wild beauty still; but it is the beauty of natural luxuriance. All, says one who explored its depths , lies waste; all is a wilderness. The utmost fertility is here lost for man, useless to man. The vineyards of Carmel, where are they now? Behold the long rows of stones on the ground, the remains of the walls; they will tell you that here, where now with difficulty you force your way through the thick entangled copse, lay, in days of old, those incomparable vineyards to which Carmel owes its name.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Amo 1:2
The Lord will roar from Zion.
The stern voice of God
The prophet not only shows here, that God was the Author of his doctrine, but at the same time he distinguishes between the true God, and the idols, which the first Jeroboam made, when by this artifice he intended to withdraw the ten tribes from the house of David, and wholly to alienate them from the tribe of Judah: it was then that he set up the calves in Dan and Bethel. The prophet now shows that all these superstitions are condemned by the true God. Jehovah then will roar from Zion, He will utter His voice from Jerusalem. He, no doubt, wished here to terrify the Israelites, who thought they had peace with God. Since, then, they abused His long-suffering, Amos now says that they would find at length that He was not asleep. When God, then, shall long bear with your iniquities, He will at last rise up for judgment. By roaring is signified the terrible voice of God; but the prophet here speaks of Gods voice, rather than of what are called actual judgments really executed, that the Israelites might learn that the examples of punishments which God executes in the world happen not by chance or at random, but proceed from His threatenings; in short, the prophet intimates that all punishments which God inflicts on the ungodly and the despisers of His Word are only the executions of what the prophets proclaimed, in order that men, should there be any hope of their repentance, might anticipate the destruction which they hear to be nigh. The prophet commends very highly the truth of what God teaches, by saying that it is not what vanishes, but what is accomplished; for when He destroys nations and kingdoms, it comes to pass according to prophecies. (John Calvin.)
The penalty of sin
I. The change which sin works in the relations between earth and heaven. The Lord will roar from Zion. The figure is that of a lion ready for its prey. Can this be He of whose tenderness Moses spoke? (Deu 32:9-14.) What had wrought such a change between God and His people? Years of wandering, and rebellion, and sin can alone explain this change. Contrast between the friendship and the enmity of God a fruitful means to awaken the sinner and save His own people from wandering (Isa 40:11).
II. The place from which danger should come–Zion and Jerusalem. These were the centres of the old national worship–places that God had chosen to put His name there. In the palaces of Zion God had been known for a refuge. Sin turned the sources of peace and prosperity into the seat of their mightiest enemy.
III. The time of the prophecy of woe. An era of hope. Prosperity had returned (2Ki 14:25). The prophecy burst upon them like thunder out of a blue sky, or as if one, in full tide of health, should see his own funeral procession pass. However dazzling the prosperity to which sin may have raised men, its time of most luxuriant growth is often the hour of its blasting. The Judge standeth at the door.
IV. The visitation was to touch them on the side where they would most feel it–temporal prosperity. The habitations of the shepherds shall mourn–poetic personification of the ruin that should come to that class of which Amos had so recently been a member. Carmel–the place of surpassing fertility–abounding in rich pastures, olives, and vines. God takes what men prize most if haply their heart may be softened by His visitation. Application
(1) The concurrence of testimony among all Divine messengers to the certainty of vengeance due for wrong. Only false prophets can utter the smooth things which sinners would fain hear.
(2) The change in Gods dealings with men wrought by sin. (J. Telford, B. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 2. The Lord will roar from Zion] It is a pity that our translators had not followed the hemistich form of the Hebrew: –
Jehovah from Zion shall roar,
And from Jerusalem shall give forth his voice;
And the pleasant dwellings of the shepherds shall mourn,
And the top of mount Carmel shall wither.
Carmel was a very fruitful mountain in the tribe of Judah, Jos 15:56; Isa 35:2.
This introduction was natural in the mouth of a herdsman who was familiar with the roaring of lions, the bellowing of bulls, and the lowing of kine. The roaring of the lion in the forest is one of the most terrific sounds in nature; when near, it strikes terror into the heart of both man and beast.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He; Amos.
The Lord; the Almighty and Eternal, whom you of the ten tribes have forsaken, and thereby have provoked to displeasure.
Will roar: the prophet, alluding to what was dreadful, dangerous, and most rousing to shepherds, the roaring of a hungry lion that comes out of his den for prey, doth express the danger of Israel, and would awaken them to a sense of it, that they might prevent it by repentance, before the Lord tears them in pieces as a lion tears his prey.
From Zion; either the temple, in opposition to Jeroboams idolatrous chapels; or intimating their defection and sin in leaving Zion for Dan and Beth-el.
Utter his voice: this explains and confirms the former metaphorical expression of Gods wrath.
From Jerusalem; the city God had chosen, where he dwelt, the seat of Gods instituted worship in the matters of religion, and the royal seat of the kingdom as God had settled it, from which in both respects the ten tribes had revolted. This whole paragraph you have Joe 3:16, which see; and Jer 25:30.
The habitations of the shepherds: where the shepherds found convenient pasturage they pitched their tents, or built them cottages, and dwelt therein, that they might attend the care of their flocks, for which they also made folds; and this was the delight and wealth of these men: now by allusion to these Amos expresseth all the wealth, greatness, and delightfulness of the kingdom of Israel. Princes are, in the Greek dialect, shepherds of the people, people are the flock, towns and cities are the habitations of both; and so the Scripture useth the expression, Jer 2:8; 3:15; Eze 34:2,7-9; Na 3:18, which see.
Shall mourn; be made desolate, and reduced to a sad, mournful, and lamentable state, in which men shall see nothing but matter of sadness and tears.
Carmel; there were two places of this name, and though distant from each other, yet both very fruitful, and much used by shepherds; the one was in the northern parts of Canaan, whither Elijah resorted; the other in Judah, the southern parts of Canaan: now this was nearer Tekoa, better known to Amos, and therefore some think this to be here intended; but the other was in Israel, which is here threatened, and therefore fitter to be the emblem of the ten tribes, and meant here, say others: whichever you choose, it is no hard thing to accommodate it to the prophets purpose of Carmel: see Nah 1:4.
Shall wither; either blasted, or else dried up with drought, and turned into barrenness. So the whole kingdoms of the people threatened, and of the ten tribes, though as fruitful and pleasant as Carmel, should be made horrid and desolate as a dry and barren wilderness. See Joe 1:12,17.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. will roaras a lion (Joe3:16). Whereas Jehovah is there represented roaring in Israel’sbehalf, here He roars against her (compare Psa 18:13;Jer 25:30).
from Zion . . . Jerusalemtheseat of the theocracy, from which ye have revolted; not from Dan andBeth-el, the seat of your idolatrous worship of the calves.
habitations . . .mournpoetical personification. Their inhabitants shallmourn, imparting a sadness to the very habitations.
Carmelthe mountainpromontory north of Israel, in Asher, abounding in rich pastures,olives, and vines. The name is the symbol of fertility. WhenCarmel itself “withers,” how utter the desolation! (Son 7:5;Isa 33:9; Isa 35:2;Jer 50:19; Nah 1:4).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he said,…. That is, the Prophet Amos, before described; he, being under divine inspiration, said as follows:
the Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; not from Samaria, nor from Dan and Bethel, but from Zion and Jerusalem, where the temple of the Lord stood; and out of the holy of holies in it, where was the seat of the divine Majesty; and his voice being compared to the roaring of a lion, denotes his wrath and vengeance; and is expressive of some terrible threatening prophecy he would send from hence, by one or other of his prophets; perhaps Amos may mean himself; and who, having been a shepherd or herdsman in the wilderness, had often heard the terrible roaring of the lion, to which he compares his prophecy concerning the judgments of God on nations. Some think reference is had to the earthquake, as Aben Ezra; and which might be attended with thunder and lightning, the voice of God:
and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn; that is, the huts or cottages they dwell in, erected for the more convenient care of their flocks; these, by a figure, are said to mourn, because exposed to the violent heat of the sun in this time of drought; or because forsaken by the shepherds; or it may design the shepherds themselves that dwelled in them, that should mourn because there was no pasture for their flocks, the grass being dried up, and withered away: and indeed it may be rendered, “the pastures of the shepherds shall mourn” s; being destroyed by the drought, as the cattle upon them are said to mourn and groan, Joe 1:18;
and the top of Carmel shall wither; a fruitful mountain in the land of Israel; there were two of this name, one in the tribe of Judah, near which Nabal dwelt, 1Sa 25:2; another in the tribe of Asher, near to Ptolemais or Aco; some think the former is meant, as being nearer Tekoa, and more known to Amos; others the latter, because Israel or the ten tribes are prophesied against; though Carmel may be taken for any and all fruitful places in the land; and the top or chief of it withering may signify the destruction of everything pleasant and useful. Some think Amos speaks figuratively in the language of a herdsman or shepherd, as artificers and mechanics do in their own way t; and so by “shepherds” he means kings and princes; and, by their “habitations”, their kingdoms, cities, towns, and palaces; and, by “Carmel”, their wealth, riches, and precious things, which should all be destroyed; and to this agrees the Targum,
“the habitations of kings shall become desolate, and the strength of their fortresses shall be made a desert.”
s “pascua pastorum”, Vatablus, Piscator, Grotius, Burkius. t “Navita de ventis, de tauris narrat arator, Enumerat miles vulnera, pastor oves”. Propert. I. 2. Eleg. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He employs here the same words which we explained yesterday in the Lecture on Joel; but for another purpose. By saying, ‘Jehovah from Zion shall roar,’ Joel intended to set forth the power of God, who had been for a time silent, as though he was not able to repel his enemies. As God was then despised by the ungodly, Joel declares that he had power, by which he could instantly break down and destroy all his enemies and defend his Church and chosen people. But now Amos, as he addresses the Israelites, does here defend the pure worship of God from all contempt and declares to the Israelites, that how much soever they wearied themselves in their superstitions they still worshipped their own devices; for God repudiated all the religion they thought they had. There is, then, to be understood an implied or indirect contrast between mount Zion and the temples which the first Jeroboam built in Dan and Bethel. The Israelites imagined that they worshipped the God of their father Abraham; and there were in those places greater displays ( pompae — pomps) than at Jerusalem. But the Prophet Amos pours contempt on all these fictitious forms of worship; as though he said, “Ye indeed boast that the God of Abraham is honored and worshipped by you; but ye are degenerate, ye are covenant breakers, ye are perfidious towards God; he dwells not with you, for the sanctuaries, which you have made for yourselves, are nothing but brothels; God has chosen no habitation for himself, except mount Zion; there is his perpetual rest: Roar then will Jehovah from Zion.”
We now see what the Prophet had in view: for he not only shows here, that God was the author of his doctrine, but at the same time distinguishes between the true God and the idols, which the first Jeroboam made, when by this artifice he intended to withdraw the ten tribes from the house of David and wholly to alienate them from the tribe of Judah: it was then that he set up the calves in Dan and Bethel. The Prophet now shows that all these superstitions are condemned by the true God: Jehovah then shall roar from Zion, he will utter his voice from Jerusalem. He no doubt wished here to terrify the Israelites, who thought they had peace with God. Since, then, they abused his long-suffering, Amos now says that they would find at length that he was not asleep. “When God then shall long bear with your iniquities, he will at last rise up for judgment.”
By roaring is signified, as we said yesterday, the terrible voice of God; but the Prophet here speaks of God’s voice, rather than of what are called actual judgments really executed, that the Israelites might learn that the examples of punishments which God executes in the world happen not by chance, or at random, but proceed from his threatening; in short, the Prophet intimates that all punishments which God inflicts on the ungodly and the despisers of his word, are only the executions of what the Prophets proclaimed, in order that men, should there be any hope of their repentance, might anticipate the destruction which they hear to be nigh. The Prophet then commends here very highly the truth of what God teaches, by saying that it is not what vanishes, but what is accomplished; for when he destroys nations and kingdoms, it comes to pass according to prophecies: God then shall utter his voice from Jerusalem
Then it follows, And mourn shall the habitations of shepherds אבל, abel, means to mourn, and also to be laid waste, and to perish. Either sense will well suit this place. If we read, mourn, etc. , then we must render the following thus, and ashamed shall be the head, or top, of Carmel. But if we read, perish, etc. , then the verb בש besh must be translated, wither; and as we know that there were rich pastures on Carmel, I prefer this second rendering: wither then shall the top of Carmel; and the first clause must be taken thus, and perish shall the habitations of shepherds
As to what is intended, we understand the Prophet’s meaning to be, that whatever was pleasant and valuable in the kingdom of Israel would now shortly perish, because God would utter his voice from Zion The meaning then is this, — “Ye now lie secure, but God will soon, and even suddenly, put forth his power to destroy you; and this he will do, because he denounces on you destruction now by me, and will raise up other Prophets to be heralds of his vengeance: this will God execute by foreign and heathen nations; but yet your destruction will be according to these threatening which ye now count as nothing. Ye indeed think them to be empty words; but God will at length show that what he declares will be fully accomplished.”
With respect to Carmel, there were two mountains of this name; but as they were both very fertile, there is no need to take much trouble to inquire of which Carmel the Prophet speaks. Sufficient is what has been said, — that such a judgment is denounced on the kingdom of Israel as would consume all its fatness; for as we shall hereafter see, and the same thing has been already stated by the Prophet Hosea, there was great fertility as to pastures in that kingdom.
We must, at the same time, observe, that the Prophet, who was a shepherd, speaks according to his own character, and the manner of life which he followed. Another might have said, ‘Mourn shall the whole country, tremble shall the palaces,’ or something like this; but the Prophet speaks of mount Carmel, and of the habitations of shepherds, for he was a shepherd. His doctrine no doubt was despised, and many profane men probably said, “What! he thinks that he is still with his cows and with his sheep; he boasts that he is God’s prophet, and yet he is ever engrossed by his stalls and his sheepfolds.” It is then by no means improbable, but that he was thus derided by scornful men: but he purposely intended to blunt their petulance, by mingling with what he said as a Prophets those kinds of expressions which savored of his occupation as a shepherd. Let us now proceed —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) Roar.The prolonged thunder-peal, or lions roar, of the Divine voice, reverberates from the theocratic metropolis of Zion, to the luxuriant slopes of the noble Carmel, which forms the southern promontory of the Bay of Acre. The pastures of the Shepherds remind us of Psalms 23, and refers us to the prophets own home in the wilderness of Tekoah. The same expression head (or top) of Carmel occurs in 1Ki. 18:42, and in Amo. 9:3. Compare the modern name Ras-el-Kerum. The whole country from south to north is summoned to listen to the Divine voice.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. Preface. A verse by itself, containing a general announcement of judgment. It is but loosely connected with its context; hence it has been claimed that Amos borrowed it from Joel. This cannot be, since Joel is later than Amos. The more recent commentators regard the verse a late interpolation in Amos, dependent on Joe 3:16. Proof of this is lacking; it is equally possible that the passage in Joel is dependent on Amos, especially since the thought of the former is an expansion and exaggeration of that of the latter. Harper advances six reasons against the authenticity of the verse, but not one of them carries conviction. As a preparation for the more detailed delineation of judgment, which is the substance of the book, the verse is not inappropriate. A Judaean prophet would naturally consider Zion the center of Jehovah’s activity; Carmel, which feels the heaviest blow, is a locality in the north, whither Amos was sent.
Roar The figure is that of a lion roaring as he leaps upon his prey; therefore a herald of imminent destruction.
Utter his voice Thunder (Psa 18:13; Psa 46:6, etc.), proclaiming the breaking forth of a destructive tempest. Both phrases express the idea of God’s manifestation in awful judgment (compare Jer 25:30).
Zion Jerusalem The earthly habitation of Jehovah, from which his manifestations proceed.
2 b calls attention to the consequences of the divine manifestation.
Habitations R.V., “pastures” (Joe 2:22; Psa 23:2). A pastoral term, equivalent to homestead, including both land and dwellings.
Mourn Partly in consternation (Amo 8:8; Amo 9:5) when they hear the roar of Jehovah, partly in grief over the destruction wrought and impending.
Top of Carmel In Hebrew with the article, “the Carmel,” that is, “the garden land.” A mountain ridge in Israel, about twelve miles long, varying in height from five hundred to eighteen hundred feet, running from southeast to northwest, and projecting into the Mediterranean. It is famous because of the events described in 1 Kings 18. Its name was given to it on account of its beauty and fertility (Amo 9:3), which in a measure it still retains. Its top is filled with luxuriant growth of every kind.
Wither Or, dry up. No more vivid picture of destruction could be painted (Isa 33:9; Nah 1:4). “As the blood runs cold through terror, so Amos pictures the sap of the plants and trees as ceasing to flow when Jehovah’s thunder is heard pealing over the land” (compare Joe 3:16).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Amo 1:2. The Lord will roar Some commentators have observed that the prophet Amos makes use of comparisons taken from lions and other animals, because he himself had been conversant in forests and among different animals. Instead of habitations, we may read pleasant pastures.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Amo 1:2 And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither.
Ver. 2. And he said, The Lord will roar ] This is spoken for the terror of the wicked, as the like was, Joe 3:16 , for the comfort of the godly. See Trapp on “ Joe 3:16 “ The word, as Moses, saves the Israelite, slays the Egyptian; and is as the fragrance of precious ointment, of which Oecumenius tells us that it refresheth the dove but killeth the beetle, Columbam vegetat, scarabaeum necat. See 2Co 2:16 . See Trapp on “ 2Co 2:16 “ The prophet here tells idolatrous Israel to their teeth that God will no longer deal fairly with them, as a shepherd, but fiercely, as a lion; he will not only roar upon them, but rend the caul of their hearts; as the lion, together with his roar, lays his paws upon the prey; and that ye may know that these are not hobgolbin terms, devised on purpose to frighten silly people, and that I shoot not popguns at you.
The habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
he said. Thus writing the words down.
The LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4. This title is not the usual one in this book.
roar = roar as a. lion, or thunder. It is always, when predicated of the Lord, connected with the end of Gentile dominion. Compare Jer 25:30, Joe 3:16.
utter = give out.
habitations = pastures.
shepherds. Not the same word as in Amo 1:1, but the usual word (raah = tenders).
top of Carmel. Mount Carmel in the north, thus embracing the whole land; now Jebel Kurmul; not Carmel in Judah (south of Hebron); now el Kurmul. Compare 1Sa 25:2. Isa 33:9.
wither = be dried up.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
roar
“Roar,” etc. Cf. Isa 42:13; Jer 25:30-33; Hos 11:10; Hos 11:11; Joe 3:16. It will be found that wherever the phrase occurs it is connected with the destruction of Gentile dominion (see “Times of the Gentiles,” Luk 21:24. (See Scofield “Rev 16:19”) and the blessing of Israel in the kingdom. Without a doubt a near fulfilment upon Syria occurred 2Ki 14:28 but the expression, “the Lord will roar,” looks forward to a vaster fulfilment. See Scofield “Joe 1:4”.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
The Lord: Amo 3:7, Amo 3:8, Pro 20:2, Isa 42:13, Jer 25:30, Hos 13:8, Joe 2:11, Joe 3:16
the habitations: Amo 4:7, Amo 4:8, Isa 33:9, Jer 12:4, Jer 14:2, Joe 1:9-13, Joe 1:16-18
Carmel: 1Sa 25:2, Isa 35:2, Jer 50:19, Nah 1:4
Reciprocal: 1Ki 18:19 – mount Carmel Isa 66:6 – a voice of the Lord Jer 12:14 – against Jer 28:8 – prophesied Hos 4:3 – the land Hos 11:10 – he shall roar like Hos 13:7 – General Amo 3:4 – a lion 1Pe 5:8 – as Rev 10:3 – loud
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
See the comments on Joel 3:16 for the various meanings of roar. In the present case it signifies the intensity of the Lords feelings against the wrongs of the heathen nations, as well as those of some of His own people. Jerusalem is named as the place from which the voice of the Lord will sound, because that was the capital of his kingdom on earth. Carmel shall wither implies that it would be a remarkable event for such a place to fail. I shall quote what Funk and Wagnalls Standard Bible Dictionary says: “It [Carmel) was also famed in literary composition for natural beauty, Together with Sharon, Lebanon, and Bashan it is one of the points of Pales-tine which especially show Gods favor to Israel in bestowing such a country upon it. Its devastation is, therefore, a sign of the decided displeasure of Jehovah.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Amo 1:2. The Lord will roar from Zion This and the next clause occur, Joe 3:16, and a similar one, Jer 25:30, where see the notes. The meaning is, that God would soon spread terror, like beasts of prey when they roar, chap. Amo 3:8 : or, that he would soon display his power in executing judgment. And utter his voice from Jerusalem The city God had chosen, where he dwelt; the seat of his instituted worship, and the royal seat of the kingdom, as God had settled it, but from which, in both respects, the ten tribes had revolted. The habitations of the shepherds shall mourn The shepherds were wont to pitch their tents where they found pasturage, and to dwell therein, that they might attend their flocks. But it is here foretold, that the pasture-ground should wither and become barren, through a drought which would take place, and of which the prophet speaks, chap. Amo 4:7-8. Carmel was a mountainous tract of ground, which ran through the two tribes of Issachar and Zebulon. It is often described as one of the most fruitful places in all Judea: see Isa 33:9; Isa 35:2 : upon which account the word is sometimes taken appellatively, and translated a fruitful field.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1:2 And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top {d} of Carmel shall wither.
(d) Whatever is fruitful and pleasant in Israel, will shortly perish.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
B. Theme 1:2
This verse summarizes the message that Amos received from the Lord. Amos reported that Yahweh roared from Zion, as a lion roars before it devours its prey or as thunder precedes a severe storm (cf. Amo 3:4; Amo 3:8; Jer 25:30; Hos 5:14; Hos 11:10; Hos 13:7). Yahweh was about to judge. "Yahweh" is the first word in the Hebrew sentence-usually a verb comes first-and so is emphatic by position. The Lord spoke from Zion (Jerusalem, also emphatic by position) because that is where He manifested Himself in a localized sense to the Israelites of Amos’ day. In Israel, the primary worship centers were Dan and Bethel (1 Kings 12-13). All the land would mourn, from the shepherds’ pastures in the lowland to the summit of Mt. Carmel (a merism), because the Lord would dry up the land. This was one of the promises of judgment if God’s people proved unfaithful to His covenant with them, the Mosaic Covenant (Deu 28:20-24; cf. Lev 26:22; Deu 32:24). "Yahweh" was God’s covenant name, and it connotes holiness and power (cf. Exo 3:5; Exo 19:10-25). However, since oracles announcing judgment on neighbor nations, as well as on Israel, follow, the extent of God’s judgment would go beyond Israel’s territory and Israel’s covenant (cf. Isa 24:4-6; Isa 26:20-21). The mention of Mt. Carmel, nevertheless, fixes the primary site in Israel. Most of this book records messages of judgment against Israel. The theme of the book is practical righteousness (cf. James).