Amos 2:13 Kommentar

In this chapter, I. God, by the prophet, proceeds in a like controversy with Moab as before with other nations (Amo 2:1-3). II. He shows what quarrel he had with Judah (Amo 2:4, Amo 2:5). III. He at length begins his charge against Israel, to which all that goes before is but an introduction. Observe, 1. The sins they are charged with - injustice, oppression, whoredom (Amo 2:6-8). 2. The aggravations of those sins - the temporal and spiritual mercies God had bestowed upon them, for which they had made him such ungrateful returns (Amo 2:9-12). 3. God's complaint of them for their sins (Amo 2:13) and his threatenings of their ruin, and their utter inability to prevent it (Amo 2:14-16).

INTRODUCTION TO AMOS 2 In this chapter the prophet foretells the calamities that should come upon the Moabites for their transgressions, Amo 2:1; and the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem for their iniquities, Amo 2:4; also the judgments of God that should come upon Israel the ten tribes for their sins, which sins are enumerated; their oppression of the poor, their lewdness and idolatry, Amo 2:6; and which are aggravated by the blessings of goodness bestowed upon them, both temporal and spiritual, Amo 2:9; wherefore they are threatened with ruin, which would be inevitable, notwithstanding their swiftness, strength, and courage, and their skill in shooting arrows, and riding horses, Amo 2:13.

Behold, I are pressed under you,.... With the weight of their sins, with which they had made him to serve, and had wearied him; his patience was quite wore out, he could bear them no longer: as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves; as a cart in harvest time, in which the sheaves of corn are carried home; when one sheaf is laid upon another, till they can lay no more, and the cart is loaded and overloaded with them, and ready to break, or be pressed into the earth with them: thus. Jehovah represents himself as loaded and burdened with the sins of these people, and therefore would visit for them, and inflict deserved punishment. Some render it actively, "behold, I press" (z), or "am about to press your place, as a cart full of sheaves presseth" (a); the horse or horses which draw it, especially the last; or the ground it goes upon; or as a cart stuck with iron spikes, and loaded with stones, being drawn over a corn floor, presses the full sheaves, and beats out the grain, which was their way of pressing it: so the Lord signifies he would afflict and distress this people, bring them into strait circumstances, by a close siege, and other judgments, which should ruin and destroy them; and which was first begun by Tiglathpileser king of Assyria, and finished by Shalmaneser, who carried away the ten tribes captive. So the Targum, "behold, I bring distress upon you, and it shall straiten you in your place, as a cart is straitened which is loaded with sheaves.'' (z) "angustabo", Vatablus; "coarctans", Montanus; "arcto", Mercerus; "premo, coarctabo, angustiis afficiam", Drusius; "pressurus sum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Tarnovius; "arctaturus sum", Liveleus. (a) "coarctares", Montanus; "premit", Junius & Tremellius; Piscator, Tarnovius.

(Verse 13 onwards) Behold, I will roar underneath you, like a heavily loaded wagon roars with hay, and the fleet warrior shall perish, and the strong shall not retain his strength, and the mighty shall not save his soul, and the archer shall not stand, and the swift-footed one shall not be saved, and the rider of the horse shall not save his soul, and the strong of heart among the strong ones, shall flee naked on that day, says the Lord. LXX: Therefore, behold, I will roll under you like a wagon full of straw is rolled, and the swift one shall perish in flight, and the strong one shall not retain his strength, and the warrior shall not save his soul, and the archer shall not endure, and the swift-footed one shall not be able to be saved, and the horseman shall not save his soul, and his heart shall be found among the mighty, and the naked one shall flee on that day, says the Lord. With me granting benefits to you, and leading you out of the land of Egypt, and destroying the Amorite before your face, so that you could possess his land, and raising up prophets from your sons, and Nazarites from your young men, you made my Nazarites drink wine, and said to the prophets: Do not prophesy. Therefore, just as a cart is burdened with a load of straw or hay, and it screeches and makes a loud noise from afar, so I, unable to bear your sins any longer, and handing you over to the fire like straw, will cry out and say: The quick will perish in flight, whom the Hebrews understand to be Jeroboam the son of Nabath, who had previously fled to Egypt (1 Kings 11). But here we will not take the princes themselves, but their houses and offspring. And the strong will not retain his strength: strong is interpreted as Basan, who was very ready for war (3 Kings 15). And the mighty will not save his soul: they understand this as referring to Amri (or Omri) here. And the one holding a bow will not stand or sustain: they think this refers to Jehu son of Namsi (or Nemsi), who struck King Joram of Israel with an arrow (4 Kings 9). And he who is swift on his feet will not be saved: Manahen they understand, who vainly hastening directed gifts to the king of the Assyrians (2 Kings 15): And the rider of the horse will not save his life: this Phacee, the son of Romelia, they interpret, who united with Aram, that is, Syria, devastated many things under the reign of Achaz, king of Judah. And with a strong heart, he will flee naked among the strong on that day, says the Lord (Ibid.). Only Osee, who was the last king of the ten tribes, and who attempted to bring back the errant people to the worship of God (2 Kings 18), will go out as if naked from the fire. Moreover, he calls them naked because under him the ten tribes were captured. This is what the Hebrews assert, and as it has been handed down to us, we have faithfully explained it to our people. But now let us return to our own matter. God threatens to roll a cart over them, burdened with hay or straw, so that because they do not have grain to store in granaries, their hay and straw will be consumed by fire. This is the hay of which the prophet says: Let it become like the hay of buildings, which withers before it is uprooted (Ps. 128:6). And: All flesh is grass (Isaiah 40:6). But that straw is what the prophet mourns lamentably for when it catches fire, saying: Woe is me! for I have become like one who gathers straw in the harvest, and like grape clusters in the vintage, when there is no bunch to eat the firstfruit. Woe is me! my soul (added in some versions), for the kind-hearted person has perished from the earth, and there is no one who does what is right among humanity: all are judged by blood (Micah 7:1), and so on. This is hay and straw, of which the Apostle speaks: Each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire. And the rolling cart, that is what we read about in Isaiah: Moab shall be trampled down as straw is trampled in the dung-pit. And in another place: I will make you like a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff. And after you have broken the mountains and hills, the swift flight shall cease, as Paul says: Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. And in another place: You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth (Gal. 5:7) ? And about himself, fearing, he said: Not that I have now received, or am already perfected; but I pursue, if I may apprehend, in which also I am apprehended by Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:12) . He did all these things, lest the flight from the swift be in vain: wherefore when he had now reached the end, and had received the reward of victory, he said securely: I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; as to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me in that day; and not only to me, but to them also that love his coming (2 Tim. 4:7, 8) . If we flee with quickness, sin will not be able to apprehend us; but if malice binds our feet, we will speak with the prophet to God: Where shall I go from your spirit, and where shall I flee from your face (Ps. 138:7)? The Apostle speaks about wicked runners: It is not of the one who wills, nor of the one who runs, but of the one who has mercy of God (Rom. 9:16) . It follows: And the strong will not obtain his strength: not because he is strong, but because he boasts of being strong. Whether one trusts in their own strength and not in God's mercy, according to what is written: 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart' (1 Corinthians 2:19): not that true wisdom can perish, and the understanding of truth be rejected; but that the wisdom of those who consider themselves wise and trust in their own erudition may perish. Likewise, the strong or warrior who does not save his own soul is the one who does not possess the full armor of the Apostle: having a shield, but not faith; girded with a belt, but not in truth; clad in armor, but not in righteousness; wielding a sword, but not for salvation (Ephesians 6). A warrior of this sort does not sanctify battle, nor can he wage war in the name of the Lord, fighting against truth for the sake of lies. Such a warrior cannot say: Blessed be the Lord my God, who teaches my hands to fight and my fingers to war. My mercy and my refuge (Ps. CXLIII, 1). The heretics also have archers who, in vain, try to draw the bow, they cannot withstand the arrow of the Lord, as spoken by Isaiah: But I said, 'I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity' (Isa. XLIX, 2). These are the archers, of whom David also sings: Look, the sinners have bent their bow, they have prepared their arrows in the quiver, to shoot at the upright in heart in the darkness (Ps. X, 2). And the swift (he says) will not be saved by his feet, who runs through the testimonies of the Scriptures because of the sharpness of his wit, and tries to oppress the truth with the eloquence of speakers or with the sophisms of the dialecticians, and is hindered in it and falls, because he trusts not in God but in his own feet. The horse also will not save his own soul, who disregards the saying through the prophet: The horse is a deceitful hope for salvation (Ps. 32:17). And he does not know that it is written: All who mounted horses have slumbered (Ps. 75:7). This one will not save his own soul; but perishing, he will hear: Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will call upon the name of the Lord our God. They are impeded and have fallen; but we have risen and have been raised up (Ps. 19:8-9). A strong man, even with a courageous heart, will flee when naked among the brave. This place can be interpreted in two ways: either he is able to escape because he has stripped himself of the old man and the garments of sins, and he is burdened by no weight, or on the contrary, he is naked and has lost the clothing of Christ, of which it is said in the Apostle: Put on Christ Jesus (Rom. XIII, 14) . And in another place: For if we are clothed, we shall not be found naked (II Cor. V, 3); his strength will be of no use to him; but on the day of battle and struggle, he will flee from those who pursue him, and not being able to resist the enemies without armor, he will show them his back.

He sometimes compares himself with deep condescension, on account of our infirmity, to objects without sense, as he says by the prophet, “Behold, I will shriek over you as a cart creaks when laden with hay.” For since the life of the carnal is hay (as it is written, all flesh is hay), in that the Lord endures the life of the carnal he declares that he carries hay as a cart. And to creak under the weight of the hay is for him to bear with murmuring the burdens and iniquities of sinners. When therefore he applies to himself very unlike resemblances, we must carefully observe that some things of this kind are sometimes spoken of concerning God, on account of the effect of his doings, but sometimes to indicate the substance of his majesty.

The prophet goes on to declare the judgments of God against Moab, Amo 2:1-3; against Judah, Amo 2:4, Amo 2:5; and then against Israel, the particular object of his mission. He enumerates some of their sins, Amo 2:6-8, aggravated by God's distinguishing regard to Israel, Amo 2:9-12; and they are in consequence threatened with dreadful punishments, Amo 2:13-16. See Kg2 15:19; Kg2 17:6.

Behold, I am pressed under you - The marginal reading is better: "Behold, I will press your place, as a cart full of sheaves presseth." I will bring over you the wheel of destruction; and it shall grind your place - your city and temple, as the wheel of a cart laden with sheaves presses down the ground, gravel, and stones over which it rolls.

CHARGES AGAINST MOAB, JUDAH, AND LASTLY ISRAEL, THE CHIEF SUBJECT OF AMOS' PROPHECIES. (Amos 2:1-16) burned . . . bones of . . . king of Edom into lime--When Jehoram of Israel, Jehoshaphat of Judah, and the king of Edom, combined against Mesha king of Moab, the latter failing in battle to break through to the king of Edom, took the oldest son of the latter and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall (Kg2 3:27) [MICHAELIS]. Thus, "king of Edom" is taken as the heir to the throne of Edom. But "his son" is rather the king of Moab's own son, whom the father offered to Molech [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 9.3]. Thus the reference here in Amos is not to that fact, but to the revenge which probably the king of Moab took on the king of Edom, when the forces of Israel and Judah had retired after their successful campaign against Moab, leaving Edom without allies. The Hebrew tradition is that Moab in revenge tore from their grave and burned the bones of the king of Edom, the ally of Jehoram and Jehoshaphat, who was already buried. Probably the "burning of the bones" means, "he burned the king of Edom alive, reducing his very bones to lime" [MAURER].

I am pressed under you--so CALVIN (Compare Isa 1:14). The Margin translates actively, "I will depress your place," that is, "I will make it narrow," a metaphor for afflicting a people; the opposite of enlarging, that is, relieving (Psa 4:1; Pro 4:12). MAURER translates, "I will press you down" (not as Margin, "your place"; so the Hebrew, Job 40:12; or Amo 2:7 in Hebrew text). Amos, as a shepherd, appropriately draws his similes from rustic scenes.

Moab. - Amo 2:1. "Thus saith Jehovah: for three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I shall not reverse it, because it has burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime, Amo 2:2. I send fire into Moab, and it will devour the palaces of Kirioth, and Moab will perish in the tumult, in the war-cry, in the trumpet-blast. Amo 2:3. And I cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and all its princes do I strangle with it, saith Jehovah." The burning of the bones of the king of Edom is not burning while he was still alive, but the burning of the corpse into lime, i.e., so completely that the bones turned into powder like lime (D. Kimchi), to cool his wrath still further upon the dead man (cf. Kg2 23:16). This is the only thing blamed, not his having put him to death. No record has been preserved of this event in the historical books of the Old Testament; but it was no doubt connected with the war referred to in 2 Kings 3, which Joram of Israel and Jehoshaphat of Judah waged against the Moabites in company with the king of Edom; so that the Jewish tradition found in Jerome, viz., that after this war the Moabites dug up the bones of the king of Edom from the grace, and heaped insults upon them by burning them to ashes, is apparently not without foundation. As Amos in the case of all the other nations has mentioned only crimes that were committed against the covenant nation, the one with which the Moabites are charged must have been in some way associated with either Israel or Judah, that is to say, it must have been committed upon a king of Edom, who was a vassal of Judah, and therefore not very long after this war, since the Edomites shook off their dependence upon Judah in less than ten years from that time (Kg2 8:20). As a punishment for this, Moab was to be laid waste by the fire of war, and Keriyoth with its palaces to be burned down. הקּריּות is not an appellative noun (τῶν πόλεων αὐτῆς, lxx), but a proper name of one of the chief cities of Moab (cf. Jer 48:24, Jer 48:41), the ruins of which have been discovered by Burckhardt (Syr. p. 630) and Seetzen (ii. p. 342, cf. iv. p. 384) in the decayed town of Kereyat or Krrit. The application of the term מת to Moab is to be explained on the supposition that the nation is personified. שׁאון signifies war tumult, and בּתרוּעה is explained as in Amo 1:14 by בּקול שׁופר, blast of the trumpets, the signal for the assault or for the commencement of the battle. The judge with all the princes shall be cut off miqqirbâh, i.e., out of the land of Moab. The feminine suffix refers to Moab as a land or kingdom, and not to Keriyoth. From the fact that the shōphēt is mentioned instead of the king, it has been concluded by some that Moab had no king at that time, but had only a shōphēt as its ruler; and they have sought to account for this on the ground that Moab was at that time subject to the kingdom of the ten tribes (Hitzig and Ewald). But there is no notice in the history of anything of the kind, and it cannot possibly be inferred from the fact that Jeroboam restored the ancient boundaries of the kingdom as far as the Dead Sea (Kg2 14:25). Shōphēt is analogous to tōmēkh shēbhet in Amo 1:5, and is probably nothing more than a rhetorical expression applied to the מלך, who is so called in the threat against Ammon, and simply used for the sake of variety. The threatening prophecies concerning all the nations and kingdoms mentioned from Amo 1:6 onwards were fulfilled by the Chaldeans, who conquered all these kingdoms, and carried the people themselves into captivity. For fuller remarks upon this point, see at Jeremiah 48 and Eze 25:8.

This base contempt of their covenant mercies the Lord would visit with a severe punishment. Amo 2:13. "Behold, I will press you down, as the cart presses that is filled with sheaves. Amo 2:14. And the flight will be lost to the swift, and the strong one will not fortify his strength, and the hero will not deliver his soul. Amo 2:15. And the carrier of the bow will not stand, and the swift-footed will not deliver, and the rider of the horse will not save his soul. Amo 2:16. And the courageous one among the heroes will flee away naked in that day, is the saying of Jehovah." The Lord threatens as a punishment a severe oppression, which no one will be able to escape. The allusion is to the force of war, under which even the bravest and most able heroes will succumb. העיק, from עוּק, Aramaean for צוּק, to press, construed with tachath, in the sense of κατὰ, downwards, to press down upon a person, i.e., to press him down (Winer, Ges., Ewald). This meaning is established by עקה in Psa 55:4, and by מוּעקה in Psa 66:11; so that there is no necessity to resort to the Arabic, as Hitzig does, or to alterations of the text, or to follow Baur, who gives the word the meaning, "to feel one's self pressed under another," for which there is no foundation in the language, and which does not even yield a suitable sense. The comparison instituted here to the pressure of a cart filled with sheaves, does not warrant the conclusion that Jehovah must answer to the cart; the simile is not to be carried out to this extent. The object to תּעיק is wanting, but may easily be supplied from the thought, namely, the ground over which the cart is driven. The להּ attached to המלאה belongs to the latitude allowed in ordinary speech, and gives to מלאה the reflective meaning, which is full in itself, has quite filled itself (cf. Ewald, 315, a). In Amo 2:14-16 the effects of this pressure are individualized. No one will escape from it. אבד מנוס, flight is lost to the swift, i.e., the swift will not find time enough to flee. The allusion to heroes and bearers of the bow shows that the pressure is caused by war. קל בּרגליו belong together: "He who is light in his feet." The swift-footed will no more save his life than the rider upon a horse. נפשׁו .esroh in Amo 2:15 belongs to both clauses. אמּץ לבּו, the strong in his heart, i.e., the hearty, courageous. ערום, naked, i.e., so as to leave behind him his garment, by which the enemy seizes him, like the young man in Mar 14:52. This threat, which implies that the kingdom will be destroyed, is carried out still further in the prophet's following addresses.