And a man's uncle, &c.— And a man's near kinsman—or he that burns him. The prophet describes here a pestilence which was to ravage Israel. "If there remain ten men in a house, they shall die one after another, and perform, as far as possible, the last duties to each other successively; and as they die they shall be burned in the house without any other ceremony, and their bones shall be borne to the grave of their forefathers." In those times, as appears from several places of Scripture, the dead bodies of the Hebrews were burned. But after the captivity, the custom of interring, and sometimes of embalming, was resumed again. See Calmet. Houbigant renders the last clause, For it availeth not to call upon the name of the Lord; as he is determined upon a total desolation of great and small; Amos 6:11 where the expression is proverbial; though some understand by the great house, the kingdom of Israel; and by the little one, that of Judah. But the whole prophesy evidently respects the kingdom of Samaria only.
The latter part of Amos 6:11 may be read, He will smite the great house with ruins, and the smaller house with breaches.