And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.
Ver. 9. And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate] The Edomites also came of Isaac; but by a synecdoche a the Israelites only are here, and Amos 7:16, to be understood. Like as elsewhere Heber is put for the Israelites only, Numbers 24:24, and Joseph for Ephraim, Revelation 7:8. Some think that the high places of Isaac are here mentioned to show that they were erected by the people in an apish imitation, either of Beersheba, where Isaac worshipped, or of Mount Moriah, where Isaac should have been offered: and that Isaac is here written with sin, and not tsadi, to show that God held himself not adored, but derided by those high places of derision, or those ridiculous altars, which therefore he threateneth to desolate and lay waste.
And I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword] As a prelude to the utter extermination of all by the Assyrians. See this fulfilled, 2 Kings 15:10; 2 Kings 17:5,6; Jeroboam was very prosperous and victorious; yet designed to destruction. It is said of wicked men, that foenea quadam felicitate temporaliter floreant, they flourish today as grass, and tomorrow are cast into the oven, Matthew 6:30 : and as the metal whereof men make glass is nearest melting when it shineth brightest, so are graceless persons nearest destruction when at greatest lustre. The Turks, observing that few of their viziers die in their beds, have this proverb among them, that the greatest man is but as a statue of glass.
a A figure by which a more comprehensive term is used for a less comprehensive or vica versa; as whole for part or part for whole, genus for species or species for genus, etc. ŒD