Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
Yet. My former benefits to you heighten your ingratitude.
Destroyed I the Amorite before them. Joshua 8:1-35, preceded Amos in this phrase, "I brought you into the land of the Amorite ... and I destroyed them before you," the most powerful of all the Canaanite nations, and therefore put for them all (Genesis 15:16; Genesis 48:22; Deuteronomy 1:20; Joshua 7:7).
Whose height was like the height of the cedars - (Numbers 13:22; Numbers 13:32-33, "All the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature"). The sons of Anak (meaning long-necked) were among the Amorites at Hebron. Their King Og was of the remnant of the Rephaim (from Rapha, tall). Intermixture with these gave their height of stature to the Amorites, these name means commanding-speaking with authority. Compare the Arabian Emir (Pusey).
Yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath - i:e., I destroyed him utterly (Job 18:16; Ezekiel 17:9, "Shall he not pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither?" Malachi 4:1). God, who had made the Amorite majestic as the cedar and strong as the oak, cut him down "root and branch," leaving him as a fallen tree, no fruit above, no root, as the hope of recovery of life, beneath.