Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary: Amos
Chapter 2
Ver. 1. Ashes. Some think that he alludes to 4 Kings iii. 27., or rather to some war, when the ashes of the dead were disturbed. (Calmet) --- Both these acts of inhumanity deserved severe punishment. (Worthington)
Ver. 2. Fire: war under Ozias. (Calmet) --- Carioth. Septuagint, "the cities." Carioth has this meaning, but it was also the name of a great city, Jeremias xlviii. 24. (Haydock)
Ver. 3. Judge, ruler, or head, shall be no more.
Ver. 4. Walked. After Solomon, scarcely a good prince appeared, till the days of Amos. Juda imitated the idolatry of Israel, hoping thus to find assistance. (Calmet) --- His crime was the more grievous, as they had the law. (Worthington)
Ver. 5. Fire. Under Joathan, Rasin, &c., invaded the country. Achaz increased the misery, by applying to the Assyrians. (Calmet)
Ver. 6. Just man. Joseph, (Rupert) or our Saviour, (Sanctius) or any other. The expression is proverbial, Ezechiel xiii. 19. (Calmet) --- Israel contemned the law, and adopted the abominations of all. (Worthington)
Ver. 7. Humble, provoking him to anger. --- Name. Such incests caused infidels to blaspheme, Leviticus xviii. 8. (Calmet) --- They must be punished with severity. (Worthington)
Ver. 8. Altar. Herein they offended doubly, (Exodus xxii. 26.) as they used the garments of others to hide their shameful actions, 4 Kings xxiii. 7. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "and tying up their garments with cords, they made veils touching the altar, and drank wine procured by calumnies," (Haydock) or "rapine," &c. (Chaldean) --- Condemned by them unjustly, though some think that a very delicious and intoxicating wine is meant, such as was given to people in grief, Proverbs xxxi. 6., and Mark xv. 23. Helena learnt in Egypt how to compose such wine. (Homer, Odyssey iv.) --- Feasting in temples on carpets was an ancient custom.
Ver. 9. Beneath. The Israelites seemed like locusts in comparison, Numbers xiii. 34.
Ver. 11. Nazarites. Some went secretly to Jerusalem for this purpose; or perhaps they performed these rites illegally at Bethel: for many parts of the law were observed, though not perfectly, chap. iv. 4. The Nazarites were in high estimation, Lamentations iv. 7. But the dissolute Israelites (Calmet) derided them as well as the prophets, (Haydock) and attempted to make them transgress. (Calmet)
Ver. 13. I will screek. Unable to bear any longer the enormous load of your sins, &c. The Spirit of God, as St. Jerome takes notice, accommodates itself to the education of the prophet, and inspires him with encouragements taken from country affairs. (Challoner) --- Septuagint, "I am overturned." Hebrew, "pressed." (Calmet)
Ver. 14. Swift. Jeroboam I. Other kings are described afterwards. (St. Jerome) --- In the latter times all was in confusion. (Calmet)
Bible Text & Cross-references:
The judgments with which God threatens Moab, Juda, and Israel for their sins, and their ingratitude.
1 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Moab, and for four, I will not convert him: because he hath burnt the bones of the king of Edom even to ashes.
2 And I will send a fire into Moab, and it shall devour the houses of Carioth: and Moab shall die with a noise, with the sound of the trumpet:
3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all his princes with him, saith the Lord.
4 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Juda, and for four, I will not convert him: because he hath cast away the law of the Lord, and hath not kept his commandments: for their idols have caused them to err, after which their fathers have walked.
5 And I will send a fire into Juda, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem.
6 Thus saith the Lord: For three crimes of Israel, and for four, I will not convert him: because he hath sold the just man for silver, and the poor man for a pair of shoes.
7 They bruise the heads of the poor upon the dust of the earth, and turn aside the way of the humble: and the son and his father have gone to the same young woman, to profane my holy name.
8 And they sat down upon garments laid to pledge by every altar: and drank the wine of the condemned in the house of their God.
9 *Yet I cast out the Amorrhite before their face: whose height was like the height of cedars, and who was strong as an oak: and I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots beneath.
10 *It is I that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and I led you forty years through the wilderness, that you might possess the land of the Amorrhite.
11 And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not so, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord?
12 And you will present wine to the Nazarites: and command the prophets, saying: Prophesy not.
13 Behold, I will screek under you, as a wain screeketh that is laden with hay.
14 And flight shall perish from the swift, and the valiant shall not possess his strength, neither shall the strong save his life.
15 And he that holdeth the bow shall not stand, and the swift of foot shall not escape, neither shall the rider of the horse save his life.
16 And the stout of heart among the valiant shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord.
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9: Numbers xxi. 24.; Deuteronomy ii. 24.
10: Exodus xiv. 22.; Deuteronomy viii. 24.
Chapter 3
Ver. 1. Family, including all the posterity of Jacob. (Worthington) --- He afterwards addresses the ten tribes in particular. (St. Jerome) (Calmet)
Ver. 2. Known, with love, (Haydock) and favoured with the law, &c. Above all, styling you my people, Exodus xix. 6., and Ezechiel xx. 5. (Calmet) --- Visit. That is, punish. (Challoner) --- I will treat you like my children, that I may spare you in eternity. (Calmet)
Ver. 3. Agreed? As they cannot do this well, so neither can man be acceptable to God, unless he keep his laws. (Worthington) --- The prophet here proves his mission, intimating that if he were not inspired, he would soon be open to detection. He had been banished from Bethel, chap. vii. By many similes, he shows that the event will prove the sincerity of his character, and that he cannot resist the holy spirit which is in him.
Ver. 4. Nothing? Thus, should I inveigh against your crimes, if there were no need?
Ver. 5. Somewhat? When the prophet speaks, has he no reason? God shews that he has sent him, by inflicting the punishments which he denounces.
Ver. 6. Afraid. Yet you can hear these terrible truths without consternation! Will you therefore escape? (Calmet) --- Evil. He speaks of the evil of punishments of war, famine, pestilence, desolation, &c., but not of the evil of sin, of which God is not the author. (Challoner) --- All evil of punishment is sent by God, either to reclaim sinners or to be the beginning of sorrows, if they die impenitent. (Worthington) --- You know that He rewards or punishes. If, therefore, what I foretell come to pass, do not blame me.
Ver. 7. Prophets. In vain then would you silence them, chap. ii. 12, and vii. 12. He always tends to the conclusion, ver. 8. (Calmet)
Ver. 9. Azotus. Septuagint, "Assyrians." --- Follies. Septuagint, "wonders." Let your greatest enemies know what crimes you commit against yourselves (Haydock) and others.
Ver. 11. About. As oxen tread out corn, going round a tree. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "Tyre even all around, thy land shall be a desert." Tsar means "Tyre and tribulation," according to St. Jerome's master. (Haydock)
Ver. 12. Ear: things of small value. Thus few even of the poor will escape the Assyrians. (Menochius) --- Damascus. Some render "couch side." But there is no proof of this being accurate. Jeroboam II subdued Damascus, and reigned in prosperity. Who would then have thought that Israel should so soon be removed into Media? (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "over-against the tribe of Juda, and in Damascus, priests hear," &c. They probably left hares, (Haydock) "couches," (Aquila) untranslated, and some person has substituted "priests." (St. Jerome) --- Only the miserable (Menochius) or fugitives escape the enemy. (Haydock)
Ver. 14. Bethel. Manahem seems to have sent one of the calves to engage Phul to come to his assistance, Osee x. 5., and 4 Kings xv. 19. Salmanasar had both, Osee viii. 5. Josias afterwards defiled the profane altars, 4 Kings xxiii. 15. --- Horns, made of brass, which the Assyrians carried off. (Calmet) --- The fairest possessions of sinners will at last perish. (Worthington)
Ver. 15. Winter. Septuagint, "winged house," to keep off cold, (St. Jerome) or to give air. (Calmet) --- Summer-house. The noblemen had such in cooler regions. (Menochius) --- The kings of Persia passed the summer at Ecbatana. (Xenophon, Cyrop. viii.) --- Palladius (i. 12.) orders that the summer apartments must look to the north. --- Ivory. Many ornaments of this nature appeared in them, (Calmet) whence Achab's palace was so called, 3 Kings xxii. 39. (Haydock)
Bible Text & Cross-references:
The evils that shall fall upon Israel for their sins.
1 Hear the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O ye children of Israel: concerning the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying:
2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities.
3 Shall two walk together, except they be agreed?
4 Will a lion roar in the forest, if he have no prey? will the lion's whelp cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?
5 Will the bird fall into the snare upon the earth, if there be no fowler? Shall the snare be taken up from the earth, before it hath taken somewhat?
6 Shall the trumpet sound in a city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done?
7 For the Lord God doth nothing without revealing his secret to his servants, the prophets.
8 The lion shall roar, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who shall not prophesy?
9 Publish it in the houses of Azotus, and in the houses of the land of Egypt, and say: Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the many follies in the midst thereof, and them that suffer oppression in the inner rooms thereof.
10 And they have not known to do the right thing, saith the Lord, storing up iniquity, and robberies in their houses.
11 Therefore, thus saith the Lord God: The land shall be in tribulation, and shall be compassed about: and thy strength shall be taken away from thee, and thy houses shall be spoiled.
12 Thus saith the Lord: As if a shepherd should get out of the lion's mouth two legs, or the tip of the ear: so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria, in a piece of a bed, and in the couch of Damascus.
13 Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord, the God of hosts:
14 That in the day when I shall begin to visit the transgressions of Israel, I will visit upon him, and upon the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altars shall be cut off, and shall fall to the ground.
15 And I will strike the winter-house with the summer-house: and the houses of ivory shall perish, and many houses shall be destroyed, saith the Lord.