Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Amos 5:27
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name [is] The God of hosts.
Therefore – (And) this being so, such having been their way from the beginning until now, will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus Syria was the most powerful enemy by whom God had heretofore chastened them 2Ki 13:7. From Syria He had recently, for the time, delivered them, and had given Damascus into their hands 2Ki 14:25, 2Ki 14:28. That day of grace had been wasted, and they were still rebellious. Now God would bring against them a mightier enemy. Damascus, the scene of their triumph, should be their pathway to captivity. God would cause them to go into captivity, not to Damascus, from where they might have easily returned, but beyond it, as He did, into the cities of the Medes. But Israel had, up to the time of Amos and beyond it, no enemy, no war, beyond Damascus. Jehu had probably paid tribute to Shalmanubar king of Assyria, to strengthen himself . The Assyrian monarch had warred against Israels enemies, and seemingly received some check from them (see the note above at Amo 1:3).
Against Israel he had shown no hostility. But for the conspiracy of one yet to be born in private life, one of the captains of Israel who by murder, became its sovereign, it might have continued on in its own land. The Assyrian monarchs needed tribute, not slaves; nor did they employ Israel as slaves. Exile was but a wholesale imprisonment of the nation in a large but safe prison-house. Had they been still, they were more profitable to Assyria, as tributaries in their own land. There was no temptation to remove them, when Amos prophesied. The temptation came with political intrigues which had not then commenced. The then Assyrian monarch, Shamasiva, defeated their enemies the Syrians, united with and aiding the Babylonians ; they had then had no share in the opposition to Assyria, but lay safe in their mountain-fastness.
It has been said , Although the kingdom of Israel had, through Jeroboam, recovercd its old borders, yet careless insolence, luxury, unrighteousness, must bring the destruction of the kingdom which the prophet foretells. The prophet does but dimly forebode the superior power of Assyria. Solomon had declared the truth, Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people Pro 14:34. But there are many sorts of decay. Decay does not involve the transportation of a people. Nay, decay would not bring it, but the contrary. A mere luxurious people rots on its own soil, and would be left to rot there. It was the little remnant of energy, political cabaling, warlike spirit, in Israel, which brought its ruin from man. Idolatry, insolence, luxury, unrighteousness, bring down the displeasure of God, not of man. Yet Amos foretold, that God would bring the destruction through man.
They were, too, no worse than their neighbors, nor so bad; not so bad as the Assyrians themselves, except that, God having revealed Himself to them, they had more light. The sin then, the punishment the mode of punishment, belong to the divine revelation. Such sins and worse have existed in Christian nations. They were in part sins directly against God. God reserves to Himself, how and when He will punish. He has annexed no such visible laws of punishment to a nations sins that man could, of his own wisdom or observation of Gods ways, foresee it. They through whom Itc willed to inflict it, and whom Amos pointed out, were not provoked by those sins. There was no connection between Israels present sins, and Assyrias future vengeance. No Eastern despot cares for the oppressions of his subjects, so that his own tribute is collected. See the whole range of Muslim rule now. As far too as we know, neither Assyria nor any other power had hitherto punished rebellious nations by transporting them ; and certainly Israel had not yet rebelled, or meditated rebellion. He only who controls the rebellious wills of people, and through their self-will works out His own all-wise Will and mans punishment, could know the future of Israel and Assyria, and how through the pride of Assyria He would bring down the pride of Samaria.
It has been well said by a thoughtful observer of the worlds history, Whosoever attempts to prophesy, not being inspired, is a fool. We English know our own sins, many and grievous; we know of a vast reign of violence, murder, blasphemy, theft, uncleanness, covetousness, dishonest dealing, unrighteousness, and of the breach of every commandment of God: we know well now of an instrument in Gods Hands, not far off; like the Assyrian, but within two hours of our coast; armaments have been collected; a harbor is being formed; our own coast openly examined; iron-sheeted vessels prepared; night-signals provided; some of our own alienated population organized; with a view to our invasion. We recognize the likelihood of the invasion, fortify our coast, arm, not as a profession, but for security. Our preparations testify, how widespread is our expectation. No one scarcely doubts that it will be.
Yet who dare predict the issue? Will God permit that scourge to come? Will he prevail? What would be the extent of our sufferings or loss? How would our commerce or our Empire be impaired? Would it be dismembered? Since no man can affirm anything as to this which is close at hand, since none of us would dare to affirm in Gods Name, in regard to any one stage of all this future, that this or that would or would not happen, then let people have at least the modesty of the magicians of Egypt, and seeing in Gods prophets those absolute predictions of a future, such as their own wisdom, under circumstances far more favorable, could not dare to make, own; This is the finger of God Exo 8:19. Not we alone. We see all Europe shaken; we see powers of all sorts, heaving to and fro; we see the Turkish power ready to dissolve, stayed up, like a dead man, only by un-Christian jealousies of Christians. Some things we may partially guess at.
But with all our means of knowing what passes everywhere, with all our knowledge of the internal impulses of nations, hearing, as we do, almost every pulse which beats in the great European system, knowing the diseases which, here and there, threaten convulsion or dissolution, no one dare stake his human wisdom on any absolute prediction, like these of the shepherd of Tekoa as to Damascus (see the note above at Amo 1:5. pp. 160, 161) and Israel. To say the like in Gods Name, unless inspired, we should know to be blasphemy. God Himself set the alternative before men. Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled; who among them that can declare this, and show former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is truth Isa 43:9.
Stephen, in quoting this prophecy, substitutes, Babylon for Damascus, as indeed the cities of the Medes were further than Babylon. Perhaps he set the name, in order to remind them, that as God had brought Abraham out of the land of the Chaldeans Act 7:4, leaving the idols which his fathers had served Jos 24:14, to serve God only, so they, serving idols, were carried back, from where Abraham had come, forfeiting, with the faith of Abraham, the promises made to Abraham; aliens and outcasts.
Saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts – The Lord of the heavenly hosts for whose worship they forsook God; the Lord of the hosts on earth, whose ministry He employs to punish those who rebel against Him , For He hath many hosts to execute His judgments, the hosts of the Assyrians, the Medes and Persians, the Greeks and Romans. All creatures in heaven and in earth are, as He says of the holy Angels, ministers of His, that do His pleasure Psa 103:21.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 27. Will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus] That is, into Assyria, the way to which, from Judea, was by Damascus.
But St. Stephen says, Ac 7:43, beyond Babylon; because the Holy Spirit that was in him chose to extend the meaning of the original text to that great and final captivity of the Jews in general, when Zedekiah, their last king, and the people of Judea, were carried into Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Media; see 2Kg 17:7; 2Kg 17:24. This captivity happened after the time of Amos.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Therefore, for all your idolatry and other sins in which you have obstinately continued,
will I cause you to go into captivity; you shall certainly be subdued and captivated; and this shall be done so that my hand shall appear evidently in it.
Beyond Damascus, into Assyria, and into parts beyond Damascus: it is not certain into what corners of the world they were sent, but probably to those parts that lay about the Caspian Sea, more remote from their own country than ever to hope they may get back again. Or thus, You shall be carried into a captivity more grievous by Shalmaneser, than was the captivity of those whom Tiglathpileser led captive when he slew Resin, took Damascus, and wasted Israel in the days of Pekah, when some Israelites were carried captives; but this shall be a more grievous captivity.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27. beyond DamascusIn Ac7:43 it is “beyond Babylon,” which includesbeyond Damascus. In Amos’ time, Damascus was the object ofIsrael’s fear because of the Syrian wars. Babylon was not yet namedas the place of their captivity. Stephen supplies this name. Theirplace of exile was in fact, as he states, “beyondBabylon,” in Halah and Habor by the river Gozan, and in thecities of the Medes (2Ki 17:6;compare here Amo 1:5; Amo 4:3;Amo 6:14). The road to Assyrialay through “Damascus.” It is therefore specified, that notmerely shall they be carried captives to Damascus, as they had beenby Syrian kings (2Ki 10:32;2Ki 10:33; 2Ki 13:7),but, beyond that, to a region whence a return was not so possible asfrom Damascus. They were led captive by Satan into idolatry,therefore God caused them to go captive among idolaters. Compare2Ki 15:29; 2Ki 16:9;Isa 8:4, whence it appearsTiglath-pileser attacked Israel and Damascus at the same time atAhaz’ request (Am 3:11).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,…. The chief city of Syria; and which, as Aben Ezra says, lay to the east of the land of Israel, and was a very strong and fortified place: and Syria being in alliance with Israel, the Israelites might think of fleeing thither for refuge, in the time of their distress; but they are here told that they should be taken captive, and be carried to places far more remote than that: Stephen says, “beyond Babylon”; as they were, for they were carried into Media, to Halah and Habor by the river of Gozan, to the cities of the Medes; their way to which lay through Syria and Babylon;
[See comments on Ac 7:43];
saith the Lord, whose name [is] the God of hosts; and therefore is able to do what he threatens; and it might be depended upon it would be certainly done, as it is clear, beyond all contradiction, it has been done; see 2Ki 17:6.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Here the Prophet at last denounces exile on the Israelites as though he had said that God would not suffer them any longer to contaminate the Holy Land, which had been given them as an heritage, on the condition that they acknowledged him as the only true God. God had now, for a long time, borne with the Israelites though they had never ceased to pollute his land with superstitions. He comes now to cleanse it. I will cause you, he says, to migrate beyond Damascus; for they thought that enemies were driven, by means of that fortress, from the whole country, and they took shelter there as in a quiet nest. The expression would have otherwise no meaning, and this is what interpreters have not noticed. They say, “I will cause you to migrate beyond Damascus” (40) that is, to a far country; but why did the Prophet mention Damascus? This reason ought to be observed. It was because the Israelites thought that all the attacks of enemies would be prevented by having the city Damascus as their defense, which they supposed was impregnable. “That fortress,” the Lord says, “will not prevent me from taking you away, and removing you as far as the Assyrians.” We now see what the Prophet means, and why he expressly added the name of Damascus.
It follows, The God of hosts is his name (41) Here the Prophet confirms his threatening, lest hypocrites should think that he did not speak in earnest: for we know how readily they flattered themselves; and when the Lord fulminated, they remained secure. Hence the Prophet, that he might strike terror, says, that the speaker is the God of hosts, as though he said, “Ye cannot hope to escape the vengeance which God now denounces on you; for his power is infinite, he is the Lord of hosts. See then that he is prepared to destroy you except ye timely repent.” This is the meaning. I will not now proceed farther.
(40) Here is another instance in which the meaning and not the words, is given by Stephen in Act 7:43. In this instance, the Septuagint is the same with the Hebrew text, “beyond Damascus;” but Stephen says, “beyond Babylon.” The same quarter is meant, though the name of the place is different. — Ed.
(41) There seems to be a peculiar propriety in introducing this sentence. The Israelites became the worshippers of the hosts of heaven; then the Prophet says, that Jehovah is the God of Hosts. What folly, then, it was to worship the hosts of heaven, and to forsake the God of them! — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Amo 5:27. Beyond Damascus The way into Assyria, whither the ten tribes were conveyed, was by Damascus. Amos does not expressly declare into what place the Israelites were to be removed; he only foretels that their banishment should be far remote; not at Damascus; whither they were carried by the kings of Syria, by whom they had before often been conquered and led captive. See Houbigant.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The prophet cannot but be himself affected with the miseries that he foresees coming upon the people: while, therefore, he demands of them attention to the doleful tidings, he laments in elegiac strains of woe the virgin of Israel fallen, as if she was already a dead corpse, since God had pronounced her doom.
1. Her ruin is irrecoverable. She is not only fallen, but fallen to rise no more, having never been a kingdom since the ten tribes were carried captive by Salmaneser. She is forsaken upon her land, both of God, her allies, and her own people; there is none to raise her up, either able or willing to help her; for those impenitent sinners whom God is determined to destroy, none can save.
2. The inhabitants shall be diminished, and brought very low. Before the final vengeance overtook them, a variety of calamities had reduced their numbers; so that the city which could formerly muster a thousand men, could on that invasion raise but a hundred; and the village which had a hundred inhabitants was reduced to ten: or these numbers only remained after the campaign, but one in ten escaping the ravages of war.
2nd, The blessings of obedience, and the miseries of sin, are topics upon which we should often dwell, that we may choose the one and avoid the other.
1. The sins of Israel are brought to their remembrance, that they might repent, and amend the evil of their ways. In general, God charges them with manifold transgressions and mighty sins; he knew them, however secretly committed, and now produces them for their conviction. Note; The sinner who is brought to a true knowledge of his state, stands amazed at the multitude of his transgressions, by thought, word, and deed committed against the divine Majesty; and is shocked at the flagrant enormities which cry for vengeance against him.
[1.] They were idolaters flying to Beth-el and Gilgal, where their idols were, instead of having recourse to God at his temple.
[2.] They practised the most flagrant injustice; ye turn judgment to wormwood, acting in direct opposition thereto, and leave off righteousness in the earth, having not the least regard for it, but trampling it under foot.
[3.] They were oppressors of the poor, not only plundering them of burdens of wheat, their very gleaning, or the fruit gotten by hard labour; but also trod them under foot. Imperious, insolent, and cruel to them, they afflicted the just, perhaps hated them because they were so, and took every opportunity to harass and torment them. They take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right; be the right of the cause never so clear, the bribe carries it against law and equity; and they who cannot bribe them, need not expect redress of the most flagrant injuries.
(4.) They were malicious persecutors of God’s faithful ministers and people. They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, the ministers and prophets, who openly preached against their iniquities; and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly; the conversation, yea, the very person of such is their abhorrence, as they are a constant and living reproof to their iniquities. And in those evil days, when the enmity of the wicked is so avowed, the prudent shall keep silence in that time. When a man will be made an offender for a word, it is as dangerous to complain, as fruitless to reprove. Note; Good men are often driven to unwilling silence, though it is a pain and grief to them.
2. Their punishment is foretold, except they repent. The head-quarters of their idolatry, Beth-el and Gilgal, shall come to nought, and the inhabitants go into captivity. A fire shall devour the house of Joseph; it shall consume the whole nation, and none of their idols at Beth-el shall be able to quench it; so little protection can any creature afford us in the day of wrath. Though by the fruits of oppression they reared magnificent abodes for themselves, they shall not be suffered to dwell in them, nor eat the fruits of the pleasant vineyards which they had planted, by death cut off, or by captivity removed far away. Note; What is not honestly got, is not likely to be long enjoyed.
3. To prevent this threatened vengeance, they are exhorted speedily to seek the Lord for pardon and grace, in order that their hearts and lives may be reformed and changed. Seek ye me, saith the Lord, my mercy and favour, and return to my worship and service, and yea shall live; notwithstanding all that is past, their guilt shall be forgiven, and their forfeited lives restored; they shall be suffered still to dwell in their own land; and, what is far better, as partakers of God’s grace, and, perseveringly cleaving to him through faith, shall live spiritually his people on earth, and eternally with him in heaven. But they must renounce their idolatries at Beth-el and Gilgal, for while these remained, no mercy could be hoped for: and what wretched vanities were these, compared with him whom they were exhorted to seek, and to whose favour they were invited; he maketh the seven stars, called the Pleiades, and Orion, another constellation, with all the heavenly hosts, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night, directing the constant revolutions of day and night; or able to turn the deepest night of distress into the day of exultation and joy; or the meridian brightness of prosperity into the darkness of most abject wretchedness; that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, as in the deluge, to punish an ungodly world; or, by exhalations from the great abyss of waters, replenishes the clouds, which drop down the rain to water the earth; the Lord is his name, Jehovah, the self-sufficient, all-sufficient God: that strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, enabling them to stand against their oppressors; yea, though vanquished before, raising them above their conquerors, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress, besiege and take it. However desperate, therefore, their national affairs might appear, if God became their friend, they might be easily retrieved: if then they would be delivered from danger, they must return to God, and the paths of duty. Seek good and not evil, putting away all your abominations, and desiring henceforward to know God’s holy will, and walk in all his holy ways; that ye may live, as God hath promised; and so the Lord God of Hosts shall be with you, as ye have spoken, as once they boasted he was, or as now they prayed he might be; and his gracious presence is better than life itself. Hate the evil, not only because it is so fatal to your souls, but because it is so offensive and odious to the holy God; and love the good, God himself, his people, his ways, his worship, delighting in the Lord, and in every good word and work which may advance his glory: and, particularly, what they had hitherto so neglected, establish judgment in the gate, that justice may be administered to all impartially, freely, speedily; it may be that the Lord God of Hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph; though reduced to a few, this conduct would be the means of restoring their prosperity; at least the remnant of the truly faithful souls should find favour and grace in the eyes of the Lord. Note; The way of duty is the path of safety, and God hath never yet failed those who seek him.
3rdly, The clause from Amo 5:16 to the conclusion of the chapter, declares what would be the case, if neither judgments, mercies, nor exhortations wrought upon them.
1. Such calamities were coming upon them, as would raise a bitter and universal mourning. Their streets should echo with wailing, and their highways resound with lamentations; even the husbandman and the vine-dresser shall leave their employments, to join the general cry, Alas! alas! while those, whose profession it had been to awaken the sorrows of others, shall now with no fictitious notes of woe pour forth their anguish, and raise the melancholy sound; for I will pass through thee, saith the Lord, with such fearful vengeance and desolations, as when of old the destroying angel passed through the land of Egypt.
2. The scoffers are particularly and severely rebuked. Many of the profane and ungodly mocked at the warnings given, and with daring insolence and hardened infidelity bid the day come, as if they neither believed nor feared it. Therefore woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord; it would come faster than they were aware; to what end is it for you? it would make them wish a thousand times that their impious speeches were unsaid; for the day of the Lord is darkness, and not light: a terrible day for them. And it is repeated, to affect them with a sense of their danger, even very dark, and no brightness in it, when the hopes with which these sinners, and all who are like them, flattered themselves, shall be lost in black unfathomable despair. No door of escape shall then be open; it shall be as if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him, such a multitude of dire calamities should surround them; or went into a house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him; for no place in a day of wrath can afford the impenitent sinner shelter or support. Perhaps some wished for these troublesome times which were threatened, hoping to make their own advantage of them; but, to their cost, they would find themselves dreadfully involved in the common calamity.
4thly, Amidst abounding ungodliness, they flattered themselves that the form of godliness which they observed would preserve them from ruin; but they are woefully mistaken.
1. Their sacrifices and services, so far from being pleasing to God, were his abomination; and their sacred songs grated harsh discord in his ears. Not only they were performed contrary to his institution, at Beth-el instead of Jerusalem; but also their allowed iniquity and barefaced hypocrisy made them doubly displeasing and loathsome in his sight. Note; (1.) Formality and hypocrisy are more odious to God than open profaneness; these shall receive greater damnation. (2.) Many flatter themselves that their duties and devotions will carry them to heaven, when their pride, and vain confidence in these things, only the more certainly lead them down to hell.
2. What God required of them was righteousness and judgment, without which no sacrifice could avail. Let judgment run down as waters, freely, copiously, without interruption; and righteousness as a mighty stream, bearing down before it ungodliness and wrong.
3. To idols, not to God, had their sacrifices been offered. Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years? No. The greatest part of the time none were offered; and, of the few sacrifices which they did bring, the golden calf had a chief share: so soon idolatry began, and had continued ever since among them. Ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch, little shrines or small images of this hated idol, probably the sun, in honour of whom they burnt their children in the fire; and Chiun, the same as Remphan, Act 7:43 representing also Moloch, or perhaps the planet Saturn; your images; the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves; the worship of the heavenly hope being the most ancient idolatry, which they had adopted, worshipping and serving the creature instead of the Creator.
4. For these things they are doomed to an ignominious captivity. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, into a more distant and strange land, even beyond Babylon, as Stephen quotes it, Act 7:43 and the infallible certainty of the prediction is confirmed by thus saith the Lord, whose name is the God of Hosts, almighty to execute, and true to accomplish, the threatenings of his word.
See commentary on Amo 5:25
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Amo 5:27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name [is] The God of hosts.
Ver. 27. Therefore will cause you ] Idolatry is a land desolating sin.
Beyond Damascus
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
beyond Damascus. In Act 7:43 beyond Babylon, which was of course “beyond Damascus”, and included it, showing what was in the Divine purpose in the words of Jehovah (Amo 5:27) by Amos. Moreover, the road to Assyria lay through Damascus. Compare 2Ki 15:29; 2Ki 16:9. Isa 8:4. Isa 3:12. May not the Holy Spirit quote and adapt His own words as He pleases?
saith = hath said.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
beyond: 2Ki 15:29, 2Ki 17:6, Act 7:43
whose: Amo 4:13
Reciprocal: Deu 28:32 – sons 1Ki 14:15 – shall scatter 2Ki 17:23 – as he had said 2Ki 25:21 – So Judah Isa 10:13 – I have removed Jer 15:14 – pass Jer 38:17 – the God of hosts Hos 9:15 – I will drive Hos 11:5 – but Amo 3:13 – the Lord Amo 5:16 – the Lord Amo 6:7 – shall they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Amo 5:27. Therefore means that God concluded to punish his people because of these idolatrous practices which they thought they could add to the ordinances of the divine law. Captivity beyond Damascus. That city was the capital of ancient Syria and it was located just north of Palestine. But the Jewish nation was destined to go into captivity under both the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires, which were located far away in the territory of the Euphrates, and that was literally beyond Damascus, The two empires were in. control in succession from one another, hut they were virtually in the same part of the world, hence the Jewish people all came finally to be held in captivity in the same general location according to the various prophecies.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Amo 5:27. Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is, &c. Ye shall be removed further from your own country, than when Hazael, king of Syria, carried away so many Israelites captives to Damascus, (see 2Ki 10:32-33,) and consequently shall have less hopes of returning home. The king of Assyria carried the ten tribes captive as far as Media, 2Ki 17:6. Therefore St. Stephen, in the passage above quoted, expressing rather the sense than the words, reads, I will carry you away beyond Babylon, Media being at a much greater distance than Babylon. Both readings imply, that the captivity of the ten tribes would be far worse than that of the two remaining, and likely to be of much longer duration.