Amos 6:1 - Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

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Bible Comments

The Fourth Address

1-3. False security of Judah and Israel.

4-6. Carelessness and luxury.

7-11. Captivity, siege, death, ruin.

12, 13. Preposterous errors.

14. The coming of the avenger.

1, 2. Render, 'Woe to the easy-going in Zion and to the secure in the mountain of Samaria! Make the round of the foremost nations and come to them, O house of Israel. Pass over to Calneh and see, and from thence go to Hamath Rabbah: then, etc. Are you better than these kingdoms? or is your border,' etc., that you should be so favoured. The site of Calneh is uncertain. Hamath is the well-known city on the Orontes. 3. They refused to think of the coming retribution; they enthroned violence in their midst.

4. Reclining at meals was a custom introduced from the farther East: contrast 1 Samuel 20:24. The grandees now 'stretched themselves,' etc.: cp. Spenser's 'Poured out in loosnesse on the grassy ground'; luxury and idleness are implied. Eat the lambs, etc.] To a frugal shepherd the feeding up of beasts for food seemed shameful extravagance: 'Seldom the nomads eat other flesh than the meat of their sacrifices; but it be some beast that will not thrive, or is likely to die on their hands' (Doughty).

Related Commentaries of Amos 6:1

Amos 6:1-14

1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!

2 Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?

3 Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seata of violence to come near;

4 That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretchb themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;

5 That chantc to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David;

6 That drink wined in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

7 Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.

8 The Lord GOD hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.

9 And it shall come to pass, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die.

10 And a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house, Is there yet any with thee? and he shall say, No. Then shall he say, Hold thy tongue: for we may not make mention of the name of the LORD.

11 For, behold, the LORD commandeth, and he will smite the great house with breaches,e and the little house with clefts.

12 Shall horses run upon the rock? will one plow there with oxen? for ye have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into hemlock:

13 Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought, which say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?

14 But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath unto the riverf of the wilderness.