The Miserable Fate of these Rulers. Yahweh solemnly declares (Amos 6:8) that the pride (mg.) of Jacob, the vainglory which has displaced true glory, has become an abomination to Him. There follows a difficult section, Amos 6:9 f., which does not suit the context very well and may have been added by a scribe. It seems to describe the horrors of a siege or plague. So terrible is the scourge that in a house where there are ten men none may escape (Amos 6:9). A kinsman (mg.), whose privilege it is to burn sacred spices in honour of the dead (cf. Jeremiah 34:5; 2 Chronicles 16:14), visits the house with some friends to carry away the bones (Amos 6:10). Calling to a friend who has penetrated farther into the house, he asks: Have you any more there? and receives the answer No. Then he says Hush! Yahweh is angry and has brought a terrible punishment. Let us beware of even mentioning His name. The mere mention of it might excite Him to even greater wrath. Amos 6:11 is more in the line of thought of Amos 6:8. Yahweh commands destruction. The great houses of the rich will be reduced to fragments; the smaller houses of the poor, which can hardly escape the blow altogether, will suffer rents (for word, cf. Isaiah 22:9). The unnatural perversity of Israel must bring an inevitable punishment (Amos 6:12). Do horses run upon rocks, or does one plough (the rocks) with oxen? (but see below) No. Why, then, does Israel do something equally perverse, turning right into poison and the fruits of righteousness into wormwood? Why, again, is she so perverse (Amos 6:13) as to boast of a power (karnayim, cf. Jeremiah 48:25) that is worthless, a thing of naught? To punish her, Yahweh is bringing against her a nation (Assyria) which will make her suffer (Amos 6:14) from her furthest northern limit to the wâ dy of the Arabah (cf. 2 Kings 14:25) or the brook of the willows (reading hâ --ד râ bî m, cf. Isaiah 15:7) in the S., probably the Wâ di el-Achsâ.
Amos 6:10. even he that burneth him: the Hebrews did not burn the dead, unless they were criminals or enemies (Joshua 7:25; 1 Samuel 31:12). The reference must, therefore, be to the burning of spices (Jeremiah 34:5; 2 Chronicles 16:5); but even this is rather forced. Ehrlich thinks that u-mĕ? sâ repho is to be read u-mĕ? sappero, and the one who removes him (sâ phar = Ar. safara, to sweep a house). Others emend the first three words of Heb. more radically. Marti either, and a family of scant number shall be left, or and the remnant of his (i.e. Jacob's) family are few. He would read further, the dead (mç thî m) for the bones.
Amos 6:12. Read with Michaelis, -' im-yç hsâ rç sh babbâḳ?â r yâ m, or is the sea ploughed with oxen? though we should expect hay-yâ m.
Amos 6:13. It has been suggested that the words translated a thing of nought and horns may be proper names (cf. Marti): Who rejoice because of Lodebar, who say, - Have we not captured Karnaim by our might?-' In that case the reference is to two towns (cf. 2 Samuel 9:4 f; 2 Samuel 17:27 1Ma 5:26, Genesis 14:5) on the E. of the Jordan which may recently have been taken by the Israelites. Ehrlich interprets only the second expression as a proper name. The Israelites rejoiced greatly over the recovery of a town (Karnaim) which was of no importance.