Chapter Four
1–3. Denunciation of Samaritan women and the proclamation of punishment for them. 4–5. Denunciation of the people of Israel. 6–11. Israel’s neglect of divine admonition. 12–13. The coming of the judgment of God.
Amos 4:1. Hear this word, you well-fed cows of Bashan, who are on the hill of Samaria, you who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, “Bring us drinks! “This word,” that is, what the prophet proclaims further in v. 2–3. “Cows of Bashan”: Bashan, the ancient kingdom of Og, constituted the northern part of the territory beyond the Jordan, which fell to half the tribe of Manasseh (Num 21:33; Deut 3:10-13). Bashan was renowned for its oaks (Isa 2:13; Ezek 27:6; Zech 11:2), rich pastures, and livestock (Deut 32:14; Ezek 39:18). In the Vulgate, the word “Bashan” is translated pinguis, meaning fat. By “cows of Bashan,” as is evident from what follows, the prophet means the wealthy and noble women of Samaria, who enjoyed a life of ease, the means for which were obtained by their husbands through the oppression of the poor and needy. “Speaking to their husbands”: that is, to their own husbands.
Amos 4:2. The Lord God has sworn by his holiness that behold, days are coming upon you when they will drag you away with hooks, and your remnant with fishing implements. Instead of the words “the Lord God has sworn by his holiness,” the LXX has “by his holy ones,” that is, by Angels: the LXX deviated from the original, wishing to convey the thought more clearly. In v. 2, the prophet proclaims the coming punishment for the Samaritan women, which will consist in this: from underneath the ruins of their houses, they will be dragged away with hooks (bezinnoth) and implements (besiroth). The Hebrew zinah is an hapax legomenon, and therefore it is unclear what instrument it designates. Aquila translates bezinnoth as “shields,” Theodotion as “spears,” the LXX as “weapons” (Slavonic: “in arms”); others translate it as “hooks” (Synodal, Nowack), “nets” (Yungerov). The Hebrew besiroth dugah (implements) is commonly understood as referring to fishing implements. The image of fishing, as an image of complete destruction from which no one escapes, also appears among other sacred writers (Hab 1:14-15; Jer 16:16). The implements mentioned by the prophet were indeed used by the Assyrians in their wars. The LXX derived besiroth from sir, kettle or pot, and translated it as “pot”; the following words dugah uperazim the LXX translated as “burning miseries”; from this arose the unclear reading in Slavonic: “they will cast into hearths, consumed by burning destroyers.” “And your remnant,” Hebrew veacharithchem, the LXX “and those with you,” Slavonic: “and those who are with you”: the discourse concerns not the children of the Samaritan women (Yungerov), since acharith does not mean “offspring,” but the remnant of women who survived the first plague.
Amos 4:3. And you will go out through the breaches in the walls, each one as she happens, and will cast away all the furnishings of your mansions, says the Lord. “And you will cast away all the furnishings of your mansions”: the translation is conjectural. In the Hebrew the expression in question is read as: vehischlachthcnah haharmonah. In the Russian text, vehischlachthenah is taken as an active form, and haharmonah is considered a complement and is translated in the sense of “furnishings of mansions.” But haharmonah is a hapax legomenon, and its meaning is disputed. Scholars have assigned it the meanings: mansion (Gesenius), place of execution (Dederleyn), harems (Pavsky). Ancient translators and modern commentators commonly understand haharmonah as a proper name of a locality, and render it: “to Mount Remman” (LXX, Slavonic: “to Mount Rimmon”), “into Armenia” (Symmachus), Armon (the blessed Jerome), Hadad-Rimmon (Hitzig, Smend; at Hadad-Rimmon was the sensual worship of Adonis), Mount Harmon (Orelli), Armón (Yungerov), and others. But if we understand haharmonah in the sense of a place name, then the verb vehischlacht-henah cannot be assigned an active meaning; therefore, the verb is vocalized differently (Hophal form) and translated as “you will be cast out.” Given the variety of translations, the meaning of the place in question becomes doubtful; but in ancient witnesses there is more ground for considering haharmonah the name of some locality to which, according to the prophet’s word, the Samaritan women will be led.
Amos 4:4. Go to Bethel and sin, go to Gilgal and multiply transgressions; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days. From v. 4, the prophet addresses himself already to the whole people and points out to them the uselessness and senselessness of the service at Bethel and Gilgal. The speech of the prophet has an ironic character. “Bring your sacrifices every morning (laboker),—your tithes every three days” (lischloscheth jamim): labokef and lischloscheth jamim, modern commentators (Wellhausen, Nowack) understand as an indication of the practice that existed in Bethel; worshippers on the day after their arrival, in the morning (laboker, in the morning, not “every morning”), would bring sacrifices, and on the third day (lischloscheth jamim on the third day, not “every three days”) would render their tithes. The prophet, as it were, says: do as you do, this will not be of benefit. Others see the ironic character of the prophet’s words in this: that by custom, sacrifices were brought only at the great yearly festivals (1 Sam 1), and tithes were given every three years (Deut 14:28); the prophet thus mocks the unwise and fruitless zeal of the Israelites (Nowack, Yungerov).
Amos 4:5. Offer a sacrifice of leavened bread in thanksgiving, proclaim your voluntary offerings and spread word of them, for this is what you love, O children of Israel, says the Lord God. “Offer a sacrifice of leavened bread in thanksgiving,” in Hebrew vekatter mechamez thodah, burn from the leavened a sacrifice of thanksgiving. According to the law (Lev 7:12), unleavened bread was offered in a thanksgiving sacrifice; although, according to (Lev 7:13), leavened bread was also added to it, but the latter was not designated for the altar. Therefore, the prophet’s invitation to burn leavened bread is not entirely clear. Maintaining the ironic tone of the prophet’s speech, some commentators (Harper) discern in his words an invitation to the Israelites to display their zeal for worship in some extraordinary or extraordinary manner—burn even leavened bread. The LXX apparently took the Hebrew vekatter as vekaru (vocalization), read mechamez as bachuz and translated it as “outside” (εξω), and the word thodah (thanksgiving sacrifice) they took as thorah (law); from this in the Slavonic text: “and they read outside the law.” The deviation of the LXX, and the difficulty of reconciling v. 5 with (Lev 7:12), leads Hoonacker to suppose a corruption of the text, and he renders the beginning of the verse: “proclaim (vekiru bachuz) a thanksgiving sacrifice.”
Amos 4:6. And I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your settlements; but you did not turn to me, says the Lord. From v. 6, the prophet points to the calamities in the past by which the Lord wished to turn Israel, and first of all mentions famine. “And I gave you cleanness of teeth,” literally, cleanness of teeth, nikjon schinnaim. The rarely used word nikjon (cleanness) and commonly having a moral sense (Gen 20:5; Ps 26:6) was rendered variously by ancient translators: toothache (LXX and Aquila—γομφιασμὸς), a setting of teeth (Jerome—stupor). The figurative expression “gave you cleanness of teeth” points to famine, when there is nothing to eat, so that “not even a crumb of food catches between the teeth” (the blessed Theodoret).
Amos 4:7. And I withheld rain from you three months before harvest; I sent rain on one city, and sent no rain on another city; one field was watered by rain, and another field, deprived of rain, dried up. Amos 4:8. And two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water, and could not drink enough; yet you did not turn to me, says the Lord. The famine of which the prophet speaks was caused by the absence of the late rain, which comes three months before harvest. This absence of rain created a second calamity—lack of water to drink. Since this absence of rain was not universal, in it, according to the prophet’s thought, the Israelites should have recognized the punishing hand of God. But they did not take the lesson to heart.
Amos 4:9. I smote you with blight and mildew; the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards, and your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured,—yet you did not turn to me, says the Lord. The prophet points to other calamities that befell Israel: the loss of harvests from diseases and of orchards from locusts. Blight—from Hebrew schiddaphon, literally, blackness, blackening of grain from the east wind (Slavonic: “I smote you with withering”); mildew—from Hebrew irakon, yellowness, yellowing of grain (Deut 28:22; 1 Sam 8:32), which occurs from the wind that blows in November (Slavonic: “and with paleness”).
Amos 4:10. I sent plague among you like the plague of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, carrying away your horses, and the stench of your camps rose up to your nostrils; yet you did not turn to me, says the Lord. After these calamities failed to achieve their purpose, the Lord smote Israel with new, more severe ones, afflicting the people directly. “A plague like the Egyptian plague,” that is, like the one that afflicted Egypt at the time of the Hebrews’ exodus (Exod 9:3-5), or in a general sense—like the epidemic plagues that occur in Egypt. The LXX translated the Hebrew bedderech miziraim (like the Egyptian plague) literally; from this in the Slavonic: “I sent upon you death on the Egyptian way.” “And the stench of your camps rose up to your nostrils”: the cause of the stench was the multitude of corpses. The LXX read the Hebrew beasch (stench) as baesch (ἐν πυρί) “in fire,” and beapechem (“in your nostrils”) as beapi (εν τη οργη μου) “in my wrath”; from this in the Slavonic: “and I led forth your forces in fire in my wrath.” The translation of the LXX gives a thought more suited to the context of the speech. Probably in v. 11, the prophet has in view the unfortunate wars with the Syrians (2 Sam 8:12).
Amos 4:11. I brought destruction upon you, as God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the fire,—yet you did not turn to me, says the Lord. The prophet speaks of the calamities of earthquakes, perhaps the one of which he mentions in (Amos 1:1) of his book.
Amos 4:12. Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel; and because I will do thus to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel, Since the punishments have not instructed the people and have not turned it, now the most severe calamity will befall it, and the prophet invites the people to prepare to meet the coming Judge.
Amos 4:13. For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to mankind what his thought is, turning the morning darkness into gloom, and treading upon the high places of the earth,—the Lord, God of hosts, is his name. To show the inevitability of the judgment of God, the prophet sets forth the almightiness and omniscience of God. Instead of the words “declares to mankind what his thought is” (mah-secho), in the Slavonic from the Greek “revealing to men his Christ”: the LXX read the Hebrew mah-secho as maschiach and translated it as “his Christ.” The mention of the Messiah-Christ in v. 13 does not correspond to the context of the speech. Therefore, the blessed Theodoret found it necessary to understand the word “Christ” as referring to Cyrus. But even in such a meaning, the word “Christ” would disrupt the flow of the speech, for the prophet speaks of the wrath of God, while Cyrus was an instrument not of wrath but of comfort (Isa 45:1). Together with the blessed Jerome, it is better to see in the text of the LXX an error.