Amos 4:1 Kommentar

In this chapter, I. The oppressors in Israel are threatened for their oppression of the poor (Amo 4:1-3). II. The idolaters in Israel, being joined to idols, are given up to their own heart's lusts (Amo 4:4, Amo 4:5). III. All the sins of Israel are aggravated from their incorrigibleness in them, and their refusal to return and reform, notwithstanding the various rebukes of Providence which they had been under (Amo 4:6-11). IV. They are invited yet at length to humble themselves before God, since it is impossible for them to make their part good against him (Amo 4:12, Amo 4:13).

It is here foretold, in the name of God, that oppressors shall be humbled and idolaters shall be hardened. I. That proud oppressors shall be humbled for their oppressions: for he that does wrong shall receive according to the wrong that he has done. Now observe, 1. How their sin is described, Amo 4:1. They are compared to the kine of Bashan, which were a breed of cattle very large and strong, especially if, though bred there, they were fed upon the mountain of Samaria, where the pastures were extraordinarily fat. Amos had been a herdsman, and he speaks in a dialect of his calling, comparing the rich and great men, that lived in luxury and wantonness, to the kine of Bashan, which were wanton and unruly, would not be kept within the bounds of their own pasture, But broke through the hedges, broke down all the fences, and trespassed upon the neighboring grounds; and not only so, but pushed and gored the smaller cattle that were not a match for them. Those that had their summer-houses upon the mountains of Samaria when they went thither for fresh air were as mischievous as the kine upon the mountains of Bashan and as injurious to those about them. (1.) They oppress the poor and needy themselves; they crush them, to squeeze something to themselves out of them. They took advantage of their poverty, and necessity, and inability to help themselves, to make them poorer and more necessitous than they were. They made use of their power as judges and magistrates for the invading of men's rights and properties, the poor not excepted; for they made no conscience of robbing even the hospital. (2.) They are in confederacy with those that do so. They say to their masters (to the masters of the poor, that abuse them and violently take from them what they have, when they ought to relieve them), "Bring, and let us drink; let us feast with you upon the gains of our oppression, and then we will protect you, and stand by you in it, and reject the appeals of the poor against you." Note, What is got by extortion is commonly made use of as provisions for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof; and therefore men are tyrants to the poor because they are slaves to their appetites. Bring, and let us drink, is the language of those that crush the needy, as if the tears of the oppressed, mingled with their wine, made it drink the better. And by their associations for drinking and reveling, and an excess of riot, they strengthen their combinations for persecution and oppression, and harden the hearts of one another in it. 2. How their punishment is described, Amo 4:2, Amo 4:3. God will take them away with hooks, and their posterity with fish-hooks; he will send the Assyrian army upon them, that shall make a prey of them, shall not only enclose the body of the nation in their net, but shall angle for particular persons, and take them prisoners and captives as with hooks and fish-hooks, shall draw them out of their own land as fish are drawn out of the water, which is their element, them and their children with them, or, They in their day shall be drawn out by one victorious enemy, and their posterity in their day by another, so that by a succession of destroying judgments they shall at length be wholly extirpated. These kine of Bashan thought they could no more be drawn out with a hook and a cord than the Leviathan can, Job 41:1, Job 41:2. But God will make them know that he has a hook for their nose and a bridle for their jaws, Isa 37:29. The enemy shall take them away as easily as the fisherman takes away the little fish, and shall make it their sport and recreation. When the enemy has made himself master of Samaria, then, (1.) Some shall attempt to escape by flight: You shall go out at the breaches made in the wall of the city, every cow at that which is before her, to shift for her own safety, and make the best of her way; and now the unruly kine of Bashan are tamed, and are themselves crushed, as they crushed the poor and needy. Note, Those to whom God has given a good pasture, if they are wanton in it, will justly be turned out of it; and those who will not be kept within the hedge of God's precept forfeit the benefit of the hedge of God's protection, and will be forced in vain to flee through the breaches they have themselves fearfully made in that hedge. (2.) Others shall think to shelter themselves, or at least their best effects, in the palace, because it is a castle well fortified and a garrison well manned: You shall throw yourselves (so some read it), or throw them (that is, your posterity, your children, or whatever is dear to you), into the palace, where the enemy will find it ready to be seized. Note, What is got by oppression cannot long be enjoyed with satisfaction. 3. How their sentence to this punishment is ratified: The Lord God has sworn it by his holiness. He had often said it, and they regarded it not; they thought God and his prophets did but jest with them; therefore he swears it in his wrath, and what he has sworn he will not revoke. He swears by his holiness, that attribute of his which is so much his glory, and which is so much glorified in the punishment of wicked people; for, as sure as God is a holy God, those that plough iniquity and sow wickedness shall reap the same. II. That obstinate idolaters shall be hardened in their idolatries (Amo 4:4, Amo 4:5): Come to Bethel, and transgress. It is spoken ironically: "Do so; take your course; multiply your transgressions by multiplying your sacrifices, for this liketh you; but what will you do in the end hereof?" Here we see, 1. How intent they were upon the service of their idols, and how willing they were to be at cost upon them; they brought their sacrifices, and their tithes, and their free-will offerings, hoping that therein they should be accepted of God, but it was all an abomination to him. The profuseness of idolaters in the service of their false gods may shame our strait-handedness in the service of the true and living God. 2. How they mimicked God's institutions. They had their daily sacrifice at the altar of Bethel, as God had at his altar; they had their thank-offerings as God had, only they allowed leaven in them, which God had forbidden, because their priests did not like to have the bread to heavy and tasteless as it would be if it had not leaven in it, for something to ferment it. Holy bread would not serve them, unless it were pleasant bread. 3. How well pleased they were with these services themselves: This liketh you, O you children of Israel! So you love. What was their own invention they were fond of and wedded to, and thought it must be pleasing to God because it was agreeable to their own fancy. 4. How they upbraided with it: "Come to Bethel, to Gilgal; bring the sacrifices and tithes yourselves; proclaim and publish to the nation the free-offerings, pressing them to bring in abundance of such; go on in this way;" that is, (1.) "It is plain that you are resolved to do it, whatever God and conscience say to the contrary." (2.) "Your prophets shall let you alone in it, and not admonish you as they have done, for it is to no purpose. Let no man strive nor rebuke his neighbour." (3.) "Your foolish hearts shall be more and more darkened and besotted, and you shall be quite given up to these strong delusions, to believe a lie." (4.) "What will you get by it? Come to Bethel and multiply your sacrifices, and see what the better you will be, what returns you will have to your sacrifices, what stead they will stand you in in the day of distress. You shall be ashamed of Bethel your confidence," Jer 48:13. (5.) "Come, and transgress, come, and multiply your transgression, that you may fill up the measure of your iniquity and be ripened for ruin." Thus Christ said to Judas, What thou doest do quickly; and to the Jews, Fill you up the measure of your fathers, Mat 23:32.

INTRODUCTION TO AMOS 4 In this chapter, the great ones, or the people of Israel, are threatened with calamities for their oppression of the poor, Amo 4:1; and in an ironic manner are reproved for their idolatry, Amo 4:4; then follows an enumeration of several judgments that had been upon them, yet had had no effect on them, to bring them to repentance, nor even mercies, Amo 4:6; and notwithstanding all this, in a wonderful gracious manner, they are called upon to prepare to meet their God, who is described by his power, greatness, and goodness, Amo 4:12.

Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan,.... Or "cows of Bashan" (n); a country beyond Jordan, inhabited by the tribes of Gad and Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh, very fruitful of pasturage, and where abundance of fat cattle were brought up; to whom persons of distinction, and of the first rank, are here compared. Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret them of the wives of the king, princes, ministers of state, and great men; and so it may be thought that Amos, a herdsman, in his rustic manner, compliments the court ladies with this epithet, for their plumpness, wantonness, and petulancy. Though it may be the princes and great men themselves may be rather intended, and be so called for their effeminacy, and perhaps with some regard to the calves they worshipped; and chiefly because being fat and flourishing, and abounding with wealth and riches, they became wanton and mischievous; like fat cattle, broke down their fences, and would be under no restraint of the laws of God and man; entered into their neighbours' fields, seized on their property, and spoiled them of it. So the Targum paraphrases it, "ye rich of substance.'' In like manner the principal men among the Jews, in the times of Christ, are called bulls of Bashan, Psa 22:12; that are in the mountains of Samaria; like cattle grazing on a mountain; the metaphor is still continued: Samaria was the principal city of Ephraim, the metropolis of the ten tribes, Isa 7:9; situated on a mountain; Mr. Maundrell (o) says, upon a long mount, of an oval figure, having first a fruitful valley, and then a ring of hills running about it. Here the kings of Israel had their palace, and kept their court, and where their princes and nobles resided. Ahab is said to be king of Samaria, Kg1 21:1; which oppress the poor, which crush the needy; by laying heavy taxes upon them; exacting more of them than they are able to pay; lessening their wages for work done, or withholding it from them; or by taking from them that little they have, and so reducing them to the utmost extremity, and refusing to do them justice in courts of judicature: which say to their masters, bring, and let us drink; Kimchi, who interprets these words of the wives of great men, supposes their husbands are here addressed, who are, and acknowledged to be, their masters or lords; see Pe1 3:6; whom they call upon to bring them money taken from the poor, or for which they have sold them, that they may have wherewith to eat and drink, fare sumptuously, and live in a grand manner, feasting themselves and their visitors: or these are the words of inferior officers to superior ones, desiring they might have leave to pillage the poor, that so they might live in a more gay and splendid manner, and in rioting and drunkenness, in chambering and wantonness. So the Targum, "give us power, that we may spoil it.'' Or rather these words are directed to the masters of the poor, who had power over them, had them in their clutches, in whose debt they were; or they had something against them, and therefore these corrupt judges, and wicked magistrates, desire they might be brought before them; who for a bribe would give the cause against them, right or wrong, so long as they got something to feast themselves with; or they are spoken by the rich, to the masters of the poor, to whom they had sold them, to bring them the purchase money, that they might indulge and gratify their sensual appetites; see Amo 2:6. (n) "vaccae Basan", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Vatablus, Drusius, Mercerus, Grotius, Cocceius. (o) Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 59. Ed. 7.

(Chapter 4, Verse 1 onwards) Hear this word, you fat cows of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, 'Bring us something to drink!' The Lord God has sworn by his holiness: behold, days are coming upon you when they will take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks. And you will go out through breaches, each one straight ahead, and you will be cast out into Harmon, declares the Lord. LXX: Hear this word, you cows of Bashan ((Or Bashanites)), who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, and crush the needy, who say to your lords: 'Give us something to drink.' The Lord has sworn by his holiness, behold, days are coming upon you when they will take you away with hooks, even those with you in pots, you pestilent merchants, and you will be thrown naked one against another, and cast upon the mountain of Remmon, says the Lord. For the fat cattle, the Seventy interpreted it as Basan's; Aquila and Theodotio interpreted the Hebrew word Basan itself (); we followed the interpretation of Symmachus, who says, 'the well-nourished cows,' that is, fatted cows, we have interpreted as fat cattle. However, he speaks to the leaders of Israel and the best men of the ten tribes, who were occupied with pleasures and rapine, that they may hear the word of God, and know that they are not plowmen's oxen, but fat cattle of the herd, or those nourished in the pastures of Basan, which are the most fertile places for herbs: and by this he signifies that they are prepared not for agriculture, but for sacrifice and eating. You fat cows of Samaria are on the mountain, and you humble ones are crushed. And you say to your lords, that is, to the shepherds through whom we understand the kings, 'Give us, and we will drink,' that is, command and we will destroy everything. But from what he said, 'Give us, and we will drink,' and he did not say, 'Give us, and we will eat,' he signifies their drunkenness in wine and luxury, which overthrow the state of the mind. Therefore, the Lord God swore in His sanctuary, either in Himself, or in the Son, or in the Temple, or in every one who is holy and called the Temple of God, that the day is coming not far off and after many ages, but now imminent, the day of captivity and distress, in which the cows will be led with hooks, and the remains of them in boiling pots, for which it is also written in Hebrew and by Aquila, 'in the bowls of the fisherman.' Furthermore, those shields that are called Sannoth in Hebrew, Aquila interpreted as clypeos; Symmachus and the LXX [interpret as] weapons; only Theodotion [interprets as] dorata, which we have followed and interpreted as contos or hastas. However, this signifies that they are captured in battle, and are carried and taken away by the right of victory; still preserving the metaphor of cows that he had begun, so that just as he had said the cows were fat, he states that their flesh should be carried in contis velscutis. And just as a boiling pot wraps up small fish, so the cows of Basan are to be oppressed with no order of captivity. And what follows: And through the openings you will go out one against another, can be explained thus: The way of captivity is open to you, and when your pots are burned up, you will go out one against another, according to the Hebrew idiom, which for that which we mutually or reciprocally, woman and woman, that is, one against another, call. And he said, 'You will be cast into the places of Armenia, which are called Armona.' Finally, Symmachus interpreted it as follows: 'And you will be cast into Armenia, in place of which the Septuagint has the mountain of Remma, Aquila [has] the mountain of Armona, Theodotion [has] the mountain of Mona; but the fifth edition has translated it as the lofty mountain.' But the word of the Lord which commands the cows of Bashan to listen, according to the begun tropology, commands the heretics, who serve their belly and throat, and are rightly called very fat cows or disgraceful cows. For Basan, in fact, translates to 'shame,' which if we want to say means 'confusion,' we will interpret it more as Babylon than Basan. These fat cows, or rather dishonorable and dry ones, are located on the mountain of Samaria, which is also referred to in Hosea: Take away your calf, Samaria. And again in the same [book], Because your calf has led you astray, Samaria (Hos. VIII, 5, 6): and therefore on the mountain of Samaria, because they are always lifted up in pride and promise themselves lofty things. Samaria is also called a custodian, not because they guard the words of the Lord, but because they boast of being guardians of his precepts. They falsely accuse the needy and crush the poor. By the needy and poor, understand the ecclesiastical man who is content with the simplicity of truth and does not seek the wealth of heretical arguments or the brilliance of eloquence. These cows say to their masters: Bring us and let us drink. We can call their masters or leaders of perverse doctrines, Valentine, and Marcion, and Arius, and Eunomius, or those who support their wrongly invented teachings through multiple books. These Basanite cows say: Bring us, and let us drink. For if they do not give them, they do not have what they devour, indeed what they drink to become drunk. But in order that we may know that waters and cups signify doctrine, the Lord speaks to the Samaritan woman: Everyone who drinks from this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will not thirst forever (John 4:13). Therefore, those who drink from the waters of the Samaritan, that is, of heretics, will always be thirsty and will not be able to refresh the heat of their dry throats, as Isaiah proclaims: As one dreams of drinking when thirsty, and when he arises, he is still thirsty, and his soul has hoped in vain; so will all the nations that fight against Jerusalem (Isaiah 29:8). For truly, he who drinks from the waters of heretics, and fights against the Church of God in Jerusalem, drinks in his dreams and his soul is deceived by empty images. And when he considers himself satisfied, then he will have the beginning of thirst. Hence it is said to the religious man: Drink the waters from your vessels, and let your own waters flow from the fountains of wells, and let them be for you alone (Prov. 5:15). And the Lord your God swears in his sanctuary against the fattened cows and the feasts that serve them, whether he swears by his saints, that the days of judgment and punishment will come upon them, to carry them in their arms, and to cast those who are with them into stewpots, or to carry them as well. And let those cows themselves be pestilent merchants, or let those who come to carry them be thrown out naked, seeing each other: let them be cast upon Mount Remman, says the Lord God. For we must say, according to the Septuagint, so that we do not seem to have proposed them in vain. When the day of judgment and vengeance comes against the heretics, then they will be taken away in arms, that is, with their weapons with which they fought against the Church; or, having been conquered by the armor of God and overcome by His warriors, they will be thrown into boiling pots to be burned and cooked, who were previously pestilent merchants; for they engaged in this trade in order to deliver those whom they had deceived to death. These are the ones of whom it is said: the sons of Heli, the sons of pestilence (1 Samuel II), who sat in the chair of pestilence (alternatively, pestilences). And when they have been sifted and burned, they will go out naked, having nothing of what they had previously presumed. And they will see their shame, and they will be cast upon the mountain of Remman, which is translated as sublimity, so that they may be crushed in their pride. Some interpret Remman as the sight of someone, that is, the vision of someone. For they could not see everything; but they promised themselves knowledge of a certain part, so that they might be projected into it, because they believed they knew it. We can, according to the letter, understand that when the days of captivity come upon the cows of Samaria, they will prevail over them in battle, and oppress them with their weapons, and in the encounter compel the defeated to go to fortified cities, which will be compared to boiling pots: just as Jerusalem, having its people shut in and besieged, is likened to a boiling pot full of meat; so the cities of Samaria will be compared to boiling pots, which will force the shut-in people to leave due to famine and plague, and to go into captivity seeing each other mutually, and be transferred to the mountains of Armenia, which are adjacent to Media and Persia.

Israel reproved for their oppression, Amo 4:1-3; idolatry, Amo 4:4, Amo 4:5; and for their impenitence under the chastising hand of God, Amo 4:6-11. The omniscience and uncontrollable power of God, Amo 4:12, Amo 4:13.

Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan - Such an address was quite natural from the herdsman of Tekoa. Bashan was famous for the fertility of its soil, and its flocks and herds; and the prophet here represents the iniquitous, opulent, idle, lazy drones, whether men or women, under the idea of fatted bullocks, which were shortly to be led out to the slaughter.

DENUNCIATION OF ISRAEL'S NOBLES FOR OPPRESSION; AND OF THE WHOLE NATION FOR IDOLATRY; AND FOR THEIR BEING UNREFORMED EVEN BY GOD'S JUDGMENTS: THEREFORE THEY MUST PREPARE FOR THE LAST AND WORST JUDGMENT OF ALL. (Amo 4:1-13) kine of Bashan--fat and wanton cattle such as the rich pasture of Bashan (east of Jordan, between Hermon and Gilead) was famed for (Deu 32:14; Psa 22:12; Eze 39:18). Figurative for those luxurious nobles mentioned, Amo 3:9-10, Amo 3:12, Amo 3:15. The feminine, kine, or cows, not bulls, expresses their effeminacy. This accounts for masculine forms in the Hebrew being intermixed with feminine; the latter being figurative, the former the real persons meant. say to their masters--that is to their king, with whom the princes indulged in potations (Hos 7:5), and whom here they importune for more wine. "Bring" is singular, in the Hebrew implying that one "master" alone is meant.

The Impenitence of Israel - Amo 4:1-13 The voluptuous and wanton women of Samaria will be overtaken by a shameful captivity (Amo 4:1-3). Let the Israelites only continue their idolatry with zeal (Amo 4:4, Amo 4:5), the Lord has already visited them with many punishments without their having turned to Him (Amo 4:6-11); and therefore He must inflict still further chastisements, to see whether they will not at length learn to fear Him as their God (Amo 4:12, Amo 4:13).

"Hear this word, ye cows of Bashan, that are upon the mountain of Samaria, that oppress there the humble and crush the poor, that say to their lords, Bring hither, that we may drink. Amo 4:2. The Lord Jehovah hath sworn by His holiness: behold, days come upon you, that they drag you away with hooks, and your last one with fish-hooks. Amo 4:3. And ye will go out through breaches in the wall, every one before him, and be cast away to Harmon, is the saying of Jehovah." The commencement of this chapter is closely connected, so far as the contents are concerned, with the chapter immediately preceding. The prophet having there predicted, that when the kingdom was conquered by its enemies, the voluptuous grandees would perish, with the exception of a very few who would hardly succeed in saving their lives, turns now to the voluptuous women of Samaria, to predict in their case a shameful transportation into exile. The introduction, "Hear this word," does not point therefore to a new prophecy, but simply to a fresh stage in the prophecy, so that we cannot even agree with Ewald in taking Amo 4:1-3 as the conclusion of the previous prophecy (Amo 3:1-15). The cows of Bashan are well-fed, fat cows, βόες εὔτροφοι, vaccae pingues (Symm., Jer.), as Bashan had fat pastures, and for that reason the tribes that were richest in flocks and herds had asked for it as their inheritance (Numbers 32). The fuller definitions which follow show very clearly that by the cows of Bashan, Amos meant the rich, voluptuous, and violent inhabitants of Samaria. It is doubtful, however, whether he meant the rich and wanton wives of the great, as most of the modern commentators follow Theodor., Theodoret, and others, in assuming; or "the rulers of Israel, and all the leading men of the ten tribes, who spent their time in pleasure and robbery" (Jerome); or "those rich, luxurious, and lascivious inhabitants of the palace of whom he had spoken in Amo 3:9-10" (Maurer), as the Chald., Luther, Calvin, and others suppose, and whom he calls cows, not oxen, to denote their effeminacy and their unbridled licentiousness. In support of the latter opinion we might adduce not only Hos 10:11, where Ephraim is compared to a young heifer, but also the circumstance that from Amo 3:4 onwards the prophecy refers to the Israelites as a whole. But neither of these arguments proves very much. The simile in Hos 10:11 applies to Ephraim as a kingdom of people, and the natural personification as a woman prepares the way for the comparison to an ‛eglâh; whereas voluptuous and tyrannical grandees would be more likely to be compared to the bulls of Bashan (Psa 22:13). And so, again, the transition in Hos 10:4 to the Israelites as a whole furnishes no help in determining more precisely who are addressed in Hos 10:1-3. By the cows of Bashan, therefore, we understand the voluptuous women of Samaria, after the analogy of Isa 3:16. and Isa 32:9-13, more especially because it is only by forcing the last clause of Isa 32:1 that it can be understood as referring to men. שׁמעוּ for שׁמענה, because the verb stands first (compare Isa 32:11). The mountain of Samaria is mentioned in the place of the city built upon the mountain (see at Amo 3:9). The sin of these women consisted in the tyrannical oppression of the poor, whilst they asked their lords, i.e., their husbands, to procure them the means of debauchery. For עשׁק and רצץ, compare Deu 28:33 and Sa1 12:3-4, where the two words are already connected. הביאה stands in the singular, because every wife speaks in this way to her husband. The announcement of the punishment for such conduct is introduced with a solemn oath, to make an impression, if possible, upon the hardened hearts. Jehovah swears by His holiness, i.e., as the Holy One, who cannot tolerate unrighteousness. כּי (for) before הנּה introduces the oath. Hitzig takes ונשּׂא as a niphal, as in the similar formula in Kg2 20:17; but he takes it as a passive used impersonally with an accusative, after Gen 35:26 and other passages (though not Exo 13:7). But as נשּׂא unquestionably occurs as a piel in Kg1 9:11, it is more natural to take the same form as a piel in this instance also, and whilst interpreting it impersonally, to think of the enemy as understood. Tsinnōth = tsinnı̄m, Pro 22:5; Job 5:5, צנּה = צּן, thorns, hence hooks; so also sı̄rōth = sı̄rı̄m, thorns, Isa 34:13; Hos 2:8. Dūgâh, fishery; hence sı̄rōth dūgâh, fish-hooks. 'Achărı̄th does not mean posterity, or the young brood that has grown up under the instruction and example of the parents (Hitzig), but simply "the end," the opposite of rē'shı̄th, the beginning. It is "end," however, in different senses. Here it signifies the remnant (Chaldee), i.e., those who remain and are not dragged away with tsinnōth; so that the thought expressed is "all, even to the very last" (compare Hengstenberg, Christology, i. p. 368). אחריתכן has a feminine suffix, whereas masculine suffixes were used before (אתכם, עליכם); the universal gender, out of which the feminine was first formed. The figure is not taken from animals, into whose noses hooks and rings are inserted to tame them, or from large fishes that are let down into the water again by nose-hooks; for the technical terms applied to these hooks are חח, חוח, and חכּה (cf. Eze 29:4; Job 41:1-2); but from the catching of fishes, that are drawn out of the fish-pond with hooks. Thus shall the voluptuous, wanton women be violently torn away or carried off from the midst of the superfluity and debauchery in which they lived as in their proper element. פּרצים תּצאנה, to go out of rents in the wall, יצא being construed, as it frequently is, with the accusative of the place; we should say, "though rents in the wall," i.e., through breaches made in the wall at the taking of the city, not out at the gates, because they had been destroyed or choked up with rubbish at the storming of the city. "Every one before her," i.e., without looking round to the right or to the left (cf. Jos 6:5, Jos 6:20). The words והשּׁלכתּנה ההרמונה are difficult, on account of the ἁπ. λεγ. ההרמונה, and have not yet been satisfactorily explained. The form השׁלכתּנה for השׁלכתּן is probably chosen simply for the purpose of obtaining a resemblance in sound to תּצאנה, and is sustained by אתּנה for אתּן in Gen 31:6 and Eze 13:11. השׁליך is applied to thrusting into exile, as in Deu 29:27. The ἁπ. λεγ. ההרמונה with ה htiw loc. appears to indicate the place to which they were to be carried away or cast out. But the hiphil השׁלכתּנה does not suit this, and consequently nearly all the earlier translators have rendered it as a passive, ἀποῤῥι-φήσεσθε (lxx), projiciemini (Jerome); so also the Syr. and Chald. ויגלון יתהון, "men will carry them away captive." One Hebrew codex actually gives the hophal. And to this reading we must adhere; for the hiphil furnishes no sense at all, since the intransitive or reflective meaning, to plunge, or cast one's self, cannot be sustained, and is not supported at all by the passages quoted by Hitzig, viz., Kg2 10:25 and Job 27:22; and still less does haharmōnâh denote the object cast away by the women when they go into captivity. (Note: The Masoretic pointing probably originated in the idea that harmōnâh, corresponding to the talmudic harmânâ', signifies royal power or dominion, and so Rashi interprets it: "ye will cast away the authority, i.e., the almost regal authority, or that pride and arrogance with which you bear yourselves to-day" (Ros.). This explanation would be admissible, if it were not that the use of a word which never occurs again in the old Hebrew for a thing so frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, rendered it very improbable. At any rate, it is more admissible than the different conjectures of the most recent commentators. Thus Hitzig, for example (Comm. ed. 3), would resolve haharmōnâh into hâhâr and mōnâh = meōnâh ("and ye will plunge headlong to the mountain as a place of refuge"). The objections to this are, (1) that hishlı̄kh does not mean to plunge headlong; (2) the improbability of meōnâh being contracted into mōnâh, when Amos has meōnâh in Amo 3:4; and lastly, the fact that meōnâh means simply a dwelling, not a place of refuge. Ewald would read hâhâr rimmōnâh after the lxx, and renders it, "ye will cast Rimmonah to the mountain," understanding by Rimmonah a female deity of the Syrians. But antiquity knows nothing of any such female deity; and from the reference to a deity called Rimmon in Kg2 5:18, you cannot possibly infer the existence of a goddess Rimmonah. The explanation given by Schlottmann (Hiob, p. 132) and Paul Btticher (Rudimenta mythologiae semit. 1848, p. 10) - namely, that harmōnâh as the Phoenician goddess Chusarthis, called by the Greeks Ἁρμονία - is still more untenable, since Ἁρμονία is no more derived from the talmudic harmân than this is from the Sanscrit pramāna (Btticher, l.c. p. 40); on the contrary, harmân signifies loftiness, from the Semitic root הרם, to be high, and it cannot be shown that there was a goddess called Harman or Harmonia in the Phoenician worship. Lastly, the fanciful idea of Btticher, that harmōnâh is contracted from hâhar rimmōnâh, and that the meaning is, "and then ye throw, i.e., remove, the mountain (your Samaria) to Rimmon, that ancient place of refuge for expelled tribes" (Jdg 20:45.), needs no refutation.) The literal meaning of harmōnâh or harmōn still remains uncertain. According to the etymology of הרם, to be high, it apparently denotes a high land: at the same time, it can neither be taken as an appellative, as Hesselberg and Maurer suppose, "the high land;" nor in the sense of 'armōn, a citadel or palace, as Kimchi and Gesenius maintain. The former interpretation is open to the objection, that we cannot possibly imagine why Amos should have formed a word of his own, and one which never occurs again in the Hebrew language, to express the simple idea of a mountain or high land; and the second to this objection, that "the citadel" would require something to designate it as a citadel or fortress in the land of the enemy. The unusual word certainly points to the name of a land or district, though we have no means of determining it more precisely. (Note: Even the early translators have simply rendered haharmōnâh according to the most uncertain conjectures. Thus lxx, εἰς τὸὄρος τὸ Ῥομμάν (al. Ῥεμμάν); Aq., mons Armona; Theod., mons Mona; the Quinta: excelsus mons (according to Jerome); and Theodoret attributes to Theodot. ὑψηλὸν ὄρος. The Chaldee paraphrases it thus: להלאה מן טוּרי הרמיני, "far beyond the mountains of Armenia." Symmachus also had Armenia, according to the statement of Theodoret and Jerome. But this explanation is probably merely an inference drawn from Kg2 17:23, and cannot be justified, as Bochart supposes, on the ground that mōnâh or mōn is identical with minnı̄.)