7<\/strong>. The sentence. These nobles will indeed retain their preeminence, but it will be at the head of a procession of exiles.<\/p>\n Therefore now<\/em> ] i.e. as soon as the threatened disaster has arrived.<\/p>\n shall they<\/em> go into exile at the head of them<\/strong> that<\/em> go into exile<\/strong> ] heading the procession.<\/p>\n banquet<\/em> ] revelry<\/strong> (R.V.). The word appears to denote properly a loud cry<\/em> (though no corresponding root with this meaning is known in the Semitic languages [178] ), here of the cry of revelry, in Jer 16:5<\/span> of the cry of grief (A.V., R.V., inadequately “mourning”) [179] . In the original there is an assonance between the word rendered “stretched out,” and that rendered “pass away,” the latter being formed by the first two letters of the former, which thus, as it were, ominously suggests it ( w<\/em> e<\/em> sr mirza s<\/em> e<\/em> rm<\/em>).<\/p>\n [178] See Fleischer in Levy’s Neu-Hebr. Wrterbuch<\/em>, iii.317 f.<\/p>\n [179] Hra‘<\/em> may have the same double application: contrast Isa 15:4<\/span>, Mic 4:9<\/span>, with Zep 3:14<\/span>, Zec 9:9<\/span>, &c.<\/p>\n Therefore now (that is, shortly) shall they go captive with the first (at the head) of those who go captive – <\/B>They had sought eminence; they should have it. Jerome: Ye who are first in riches, shall, the first, endure the yoke of captivity, as it is in Ezekiel, begin from My sanctuary Eze 9:6<\/span>, that is, from the destruction of the Temple which is holy. For mighty men shall be mightily tormented (Wisdom Eze 6:6<\/span>); and, to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more Luk 12:48<\/span>.<\/P> And the banquet – <\/B>Probably, the screech. The root, <\/span> radsach<\/I>, whose consonants contain most of those of our screech, signifies the loud sharp cry, which the mind cannot control, either in revelry or distress. Here it is probably, the drunken scream, or reckless cry of revelry, whose senseless shrillness is more piercing, in its way, than the scream of distress, of which Jeremiah Jer 16:5<\/span> uses it. For it is the scream of the death of the soul. Amos seems to have purposely joined together similar harsh sibilants or guttural sounds in order the more to express the harshness of that scream of luxurious self-indulgence. <\/span> <\/span> mr<\/I>e<\/I><\/SUP>zach<\/I> s<\/I>e<\/I><\/SUP>ruchym<\/I>, the screech of the outstretched. Of this he says, it shall depart, and forever. In that very day all his thoughts perish Psa 146:4<\/span>. It shall depart; but by what should it be replaced to those to whom it was their god and their all? On earth, by siege, pestilence, death or captivity: after death, by hell to the unrepentant.<\/P> <\/p>\n Verse 7<\/span>. With the first that go captive<\/B><\/I>] The house of Israel<\/I> shall be carried into captivity before<\/I> the house of Judah<\/I>.<\/P> <\/p>\n Therefore; <\/B>for this sin of unseasonable feasting added to all former sins; much like that Isa 22:14<\/span>. <\/P> Now shall they go captive, <\/B>who ruled others, and whose character you have Amo 6:1-3<\/span>, &c., who put far from them the evil day, &c., these shall certainly be carried captive. <\/P> With the first that go captive; <\/B>and as they deserve by their sins, so shall they be carried away the first of any; Gods hand in punishing them shall be as eminent as their hand was in sinning. <\/P> The banquet, <\/B>the feastings of voluptuous ones, shall cease. <\/P> That stretched themselves:<\/B> see Amo 6:4<\/span>. <\/P> Shall be removed; <\/B>God will send the Assyrians to take away the banquet, and to bring in a bill, a reckoning, for these secure sinners, who shall be removed too, as well as their banquet is; they shall go into captivity, and there in sorrows dearly pay for all their luxury, inhumanity, and security. <\/P> <\/p>\n 7. Therefore . . . shall they gocaptive with the first<\/B>As they were first among the people inrank (Am 6:1<\/span>), and anointedthemselves “with the chief ointments” (Am6:6<\/span>), so shall they be among the foremost in going intocaptivity. <\/P> banquet<\/B>literally, the”merry-making shout of revellers”; from an Arabic<\/I>root, “to cry out.” In the Hebrew, marzeach;<\/I> here,there is an allusion to mizraqu,<\/I> “bowls” (Am6:6<\/span>). <\/P> them that stretchedthemselves<\/B>on luxurious couches (Am6:4<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive<\/strong>,…. That is, these men, who were the first and chief in the nation, who would not believe the day of Israel’s captivity would ever come; or, however, had very distant apprehensions of it; but indulged and gratified their several senses of tasting, hearing, smelling, in a carnal way, and had no sympathy with and compassion upon their afflicted brethren; these should be the first the enemy should lay hold upon, and carry captive; as we find the royal family, the princes and nobles, the courtiers and chief tradesmen, were the first that were carried captive of the Jews, in Jeconiah’s captivity, 2Ki 24:12<\/span>;<\/p>\n and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed<\/strong>; that stretched themselves upon couches, Am 6:4<\/span>; they shall have no more banquets or feasting bouts to attend to, by stretching themselves out, and lying upon couches at their ease; these shall be taken from them; and be glad of bread and water in an enemy’s country, without a couch to recline upon. Some understand this of a funeral banquet, as in<\/p>\n Jer 16:5<\/span>; and so the sense is, that when they die, they shall not have that honour done to their memory, as to have a funeral feast provided for those that attend their burial, as was customary. Kimchi interprets it, “the mourning [of such] shall draw nigh” b; and according to his father, Joseph Kimchi, the word in the Arabic language signifies to lift up the voice, either in mourning or joy; and so may signify, that as all feasts, and the joy that attends them, should be removed, which is the sense of the Targum, instead of that, mourning should take place; or they should be deprived of the common ceremony at death of mourning men and women.<\/p>\n b “ad veniet”, Munster; “appropinquabit”, Mercerus; “veniet”, Calvin. So R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 84. 2.<\/p>\n Announcement of Punishment. – Amo 6:7<\/span>. “Therefore will they now go into captivity at the head of the captives, and the shouting of the revellers will depart.” <\/em> Because these revellers do not trouble themselves about the ruin of Israel, they will now be obliged to wander into captivity at the head of the people (cf. 1Ki 21:9<\/span>), when the approaching shebher <\/em> occurs. is chosen with direct reference to , as Jerome has observed: “Ye who are first<\/em> in riches will be the first<\/em> to bear the yoke of captivity.” S e ruchm <\/em> also points back to Amo 6:4<\/span>, “those who are stretched upon their couches” – that is, the revellers; and it forms a play upon words with mirzach <\/em>. signifies a loud cry, here a joyous cry, in Jer 16:5<\/span> a cry of lamentation.<\/p>\n Further Reasons For Israel’s Punishment, v. 7-14<\/strong><\/p>\n Verse 7 prophesies <\/strong>that “they”, the luxurious, at case in Zion, rulers should be led away first into captivity. And their banquets and festivals should be caused to cease. These carousing, half inebriated, merry-making, big-bowl-wine-drinkers among Israel’s chief civil and religious rulers should be the first to taste captivity pains, as their sins “found them out,” Num 32:23<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 8 again affirms <\/strong>that the Lord God of hosts, the Almighty, has declared an oath that he abhorred the self-exalted excellency (pride) of Jacob, in the prosperity He had sent, and hated his palaces, residents of Israel’s ruling kings and princes; This was the basis of His decreed judgment on all her cities and people, Psa 47:4<\/span>; Eze 24:21<\/span>. See also Jer 51:14<\/span>; Heb 6:13<\/span>; Heb 6:17<\/span>. The palaces of the rulers had come to be storehouses of robbery, Amo 3:10<\/span>; Amo 3:15<\/span>. How sad a change, from God’s love of Zion’s gates, when the people walked in paths of holy and Divine obedience, Psa 87:2<\/span>; Psa 48:3<\/span>; Psa 48:13<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 9 announces <\/strong>the extent of the destruction in households. Even if ten men escape the battle, captivity, and immediate destruction of the invading armies, a rare case, they shall all ten die, Amo 5:3<\/span>. Perhaps this alludes to plagues of diseases, infections, and starvation that followed such wars in the Mideastern countries, Jer 24:10<\/span>; Jer 44:13<\/span>; Eze 6:11<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 10 describes <\/strong>the burial of the final ones who die under these circumstances. The uncle or nearest relative left alive was to burn the corpses of the dead ones, as prescribed by law, Gen 25:9<\/span>; as they inquired if there were any other in the house, but avoid use of the name of the Lord, Jos 23:7<\/span>; Rev 6:16<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 11<\/strong> restates or reaffirms that the message of Amos is of Divine inspiration, progressively given of the Lord, commanding him to deliver it to Israel and Judah, Psa 119:160<\/span>; 2Ti 3:16-17<\/span>; 2Pe 1:20-21<\/span>. Once given it must be fulfilled, Isa 55:11<\/span>. God will smite (judge with firmness) both the “great house”, (Israel, the northern kingdom) and the “little house” (Judah, the southern kingdom), the former with breaches or ruins and the latter with clefts or rents, that threaten her fall, but permit her to stand for a little longer. This smiting was by earthquake, pestilence, and sword.<\/p>\n Verse 12 inquires <\/strong>of them whether horses may race on rocks, or oxen may plow on them. The answer is “not successfully,” not with ease or pride. So were they incapable of justice now. They had perverted just judgment into the bitterness of gall, a thing <\/p>\n obnoxious, and to be despised, and had twisted the fruit of righteousness into hemlock, moral, ethical, and spiritual poison. The idea is that justice and righteousness are sweet, like good fruit of the ground, but evil and injustice, of which they were grossly guilty, is bitter, poisonous, injurious and deathly, Deu 29:18<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 13 presses charges <\/strong>against them as evil doers for “rejoicing in a thing of naught,” thing improper, in your vain power, crumbling empire, and vanishing riches. They boasted of having accumulated to themselves armed or conquering power, expressed in “horns”, like fighting goats or rams, a symbol of power which they had “taken to themselves,” as in 2Ki 14:25<\/span>; Psa 75:10<\/span>; Deu 33:17<\/span>.<\/p>\n Verse 14 warns <\/strong>with clarity that God would raise up a nation, probably Assyria, against the house of Israel, the whole nation. It will afflict or crush them from Hemath, point of entrance from Syria, to the north, to the river of the wilderness, the Kedron river which empties into the Dead Sea, just south of Jericho, southern border of Israel, 2Ki 14:25<\/span>; 2Ch 28:15<\/span>, or to the Nile river if it includes Judah, 1Ki 8:65<\/span>. The afflicting armies are to be a devastating affliction over all the promised land, that Israel and Judah had controlled ; It was as a result of their hardened, obstinate, idolatrous wrongs, as forewarned Deu 28:15-62<\/span>.<\/p>\n We now then understand the full meaning of the Prophet; and hence he says, They shall emigrate at the head of the emigrants, that is, “when there shall be an emigration, they shall be the first in order of time. I have hitherto indulgently spared you; but as I see that you have abused my forbearance, ye shall certainly be the forerunners of others; for ye shall go first into captivity. And my rigor shall begin with you, because I see that I have hitherto lost all my labor in attempting, kindly and paternally to call you to repentance. Ye shall now then migrate at the head of the emigrants <\/p>\n And come shall the mourning of those who extend themselves, סרוחים, saruchim (43); that is, “Ye indeed lie down, (as he had said before,) ye extend yourselves on your couches; but mourning shall come to you. Ye think that you can escape punishment, when ye repose quietly on your beds; but though your chambers be closed, though ye move not a finger, yet mourning shall come to you.” We now see the connection between the words, mourning and resting in idleness and indulgence. The word סרח, sarech, means indeed properly to recumb; and hence some render the passage, “Mourning shall rest on you:” but the more received meaning is, Mourning shall come on you while recumbing. Though then they stretched out themselves on their beds, that they might pleasantly and softly recumb and rest themselves, yet mourning would come to them, that is, would enter into their chambers. <\/p>\n (43) The words are וסר מרזה סרוחים, usar merezach saruchim, — an instance of striking alliteration. But Calvin’s rendering, though amounting in its general import to the same thing, is certainly not the correct one. סר never means to come, but the reverse, to depart. To decline, to turn aside or away, or to depart, is its common signification. Then מרזה is properly shouting, either for grief or for joy; here evidently for the latter; and it may be rendered here mirth; so the clause may be thus translated — <\/p>\n And depart shall the mirth of the recumbents, or, of those who stretch themselves. <\/p>\n Dr. Henderson’s version is the following: — <\/p>\n And the shouting company of those that recline shall depart. <\/p>\n The translation of Symmachus is, “Taken away shall be the company of the voluptuous, ἑταιρεία τρυφητων ” The idea of “banquet” for the word here used, is what the Rabbins have given to it. — Ed. <\/p>\n CRITICAL NOTES.]<\/strong> <\/p>\n Amo. 6:7<\/span><\/strong>. Head<\/strong>] Chiefs in transgression must be first<\/em> in the procession to captivity. Banquet<\/strong>] Lit. making merry with shouts. <\/p>\n Amo. 6:8<\/span><\/strong>. Sworn<\/strong>] Like ch. Amo. 4:2<\/span>, except that it is by himself<\/em> instead of by his holiness<\/em>, but the sense is the same, for the nephesh<\/em> of Jehovah, i.e.<\/em> his inmost self or being, is his holiness [Keil<\/em>]. <\/p>\n Amo. 6:9<\/span><\/strong>. Ten<\/strong>] A rare case (ch. Amo. 5:3<\/span>). <\/p>\n Amo. 6:10<\/span><\/strong>. Uncle<\/strong>] Any relative who had to bury the dead (Gen. 25:9<\/span> : Jdg. 16:31<\/span>). Burn<\/strong>.] in case of necessity. Bones<\/strong>] i.e.<\/em> the dead body (Gen. 50:25<\/span>; Exo. 13:19<\/span>). Say<\/strong>] Ask one discovered if he is the only survivor. Hold<\/strong>] The burier bids the survivor be silent, lest by invocation God should make him a victim of death. All hope from God has utterly gone. <\/p>\n Amo. 6:11<\/span><\/strong>.] Smite<\/strong>] by earthquake, or by pestilence and sword during siege; every house, great and small. <\/p>\n HOMILETICS<\/em><\/p>\n NATIONAL RETRIBUTION UPON SINFUL INDULGENCE.Amo. 6:7-11<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n The punishment is now threatened. Their mighty sins would bring heavy retribution. Those pre-eminent in crime would be pre-eminent in captivity. The nation must suffer by pestilence and plague. The ruin will be universal, and religious privileges would not avert it.<\/p>\n I. National captivity<\/strong>. Those who live in luxury often lose their liberty, and the most dignified are reduced to servitude. <\/p>\n 1. Disgraceful captivity<\/em>. The chief in rank were chief in sin, and first to go into captivity. Their disgrace was most conspicuous. Those who delight only in the pleasures of sense shall be removed from them. Those who think themselves secure, and put the evil day from them, will find it nearer than they imagine. The banquets of luxury and wantonness will be removed, and men who give themselves to mirth when God calls them to mourn will not go unpunished in their sin (Isa. 22:14<\/span>). <\/p>\n 2. Mournful captivity<\/em>. The shouting of wine-bibbers would cease. Feasting would end in weeping, and desolation would spread throughout the land. Carnal ease and sinful excess often end in hopeless misery. <\/p>\n II. National rejection<\/strong>. The cities and kingdom with all their wealth would be delivered into the hands of the enemy. <\/p>\n 1. National glory abhorred<\/em>. I abhor the excellency of Jacob. The house of God, rightly valued and properly used, was their glory and defence. Their priesthood, temple, and religious privileges raised them above other nations. But these were polluted and despised. God was dishonoured by idolatry and provoked to anger. The strength of the city and splendour of the palaces availed not. The glory departed. When God abhors he will soon abandon. External services are mere mockery. When national glory rivals God, and men blessed with distinguished excellency take pleasure in things base and inferior, God will reject them. Therefore will I deliver up the city, with all that is therein. <\/p>\n 2. Dreadful mortality abounded<\/em>. The inmates of some houses would be entirely swept away. Ten men in one house shall die. Few if any domestics were left to bury the dead. The uncle or distant relatives must bury or burn them. Gods arrows were so piercing, and his anger so fierce, that relatives and survivors were agreed to keep solemn silence under the rod. Pestilence overtook those who escaped the sword. Hopeless despair seized men. Cut off from God, there was no help in man. They had to submit to appointed doom. <\/p>\n 3. Universal destruction prevailed<\/em>. <\/p>\n (1) Destruction of the population<\/em>. In the multitude of the people is the strength of the prince, and God Almighty cut off that strength. <\/p>\n (2) Destruction of the capital<\/em>. The city or chief cities of the kingdom would be destroyed. They would therefore be robbed of defence, open to danger, and become an object of pity and contempt. Like a city that is broken down, and without walls. <\/p>\n (3) Destruction most terrible<\/em>. He will smite the great house with breaches, &c. The mighty and the mean have sinned and must be punished. God will smite not some, but all families and societies. Princes palaces are not above<\/em>, the poor mans cottage is not beneath<\/em> the judgment of God. <\/p>\n (4) Destruction most certain<\/em>. God hath sworn<\/em> by himself (Amo. 6:7<\/span>). Sensuality produces stupidity. God seeks to rouse men by an oath to end the controversy. The Lord commandeth<\/em>. We should see Gods hand and purpose in great distress. He makes it effectual and irresistible. When nations are ripe for judgment foreign armies are only Divine instruments. How hopeless the condition of those who harden themselves under Divine chastisements, and whose ruin God has sworn to accomplish!<\/p>\n HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES<\/em><\/p>\n Mark the gradation of consequences in the whole paragraph. First the chiefs are punished. Then the people, influenced by their example, are drawn into captivity. The present generation are carried off by death, appointed ordinances are taken away, and the rod of God smites families great and small. The Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown (Nah. 1:14<\/span>; Jer. 47:6<\/span>).<\/p>\n Amo. 6:10<\/span>. What a sad condition when men tremble at the name of God! What an exhibition of power upon an evil conscience, when men flee from instead of turning to God. Ten righteous men would have saved Sodom, but here all were destroyed.<\/p>\n He who has obstinately abused the intellectual powers given him by God to cavil against Gods truth, will be forsaken by him at the last, and will not be able to utter his name [Wordsworth<\/em>].<\/p>\n ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 3<\/p>\n Amo. 6:7<\/span>. Banquet<\/em>.<\/p>\n So comes a reckoning when the banquets oer, Amo. 6:9<\/span>. Die<\/em>. How terrible the features of this plague! The entire sweeping away of all the inmates of some houses. A solemn spectacle for others to witness, displaying the fierceness and power of Gods anger. In the great plague of Marseilles, 1720, and in that of the village of Eyam, 1666, we have similar scenes. In 1813, says one, such was the violence with which the plague raged at Malta, such the certain destruction which attended the slightest contact with the infected, that at last every better feeling of the heart was extinguished in a desire of self-preservation, and nobody could be procured to perform the melancholy offices which make up the funeral train of sickness and death.<\/p>\n Amo. 6:11<\/span>. Great and small<\/em>.<\/p>\n With equal pace impartial fate (7) Therefore<\/em> (as a punishment for this self-indulgence) they shall go into captivity at the head of the captives, and the shout of the loungers<\/em> (rioting in their banquets) shall cease.<\/em> All their loud merriment will come to a sorry end.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/strong> The Destruction of the Kingdom Foretold<\/p>\n v. 7. Therefore now shall they,<\/strong> those who indulged themselves in this manner while their country was getting ready for dissolution, go captive with the first that go captive,<\/strong> this being said in bitter irony concerning the position of the rulers in the procession of captives, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves,<\/strong> reclining in careless ease, shall be removed,<\/strong> so that they could no more indulge in feasts and drinking-bouts. <\/p>\n v. 8. The Lord God hath sworn by Himself, saith the Lord God of hosts,<\/strong> a most solemn oath, I abhor the excellency of Jacob,<\/strong> the pride which they exhibited regarding their prosperity and power, and hate his palaces,<\/strong> as one evidence of such pride; therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein,<\/strong> both houses and men being delivered into the hands of the enemy to be destroyed. Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
The dreadful reckoning, and men smile no more. [Guy<\/em>.]<\/p>\n
Knocks at the palace<\/em> as the cottage<\/em> gate. [Horace<\/em>.]<\/p>\nFuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n