The judgments with which God threatens Moab, Juda, and Israel for their sins, and their ingratitude.
God also threatneth Moab, 4. Iuda, 6. and Israel, 9. that for ingratitude, 12. and other sinnes, they shal be brought into captiuitie.
1Thus 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.Queste cose dice il Signore: Dopo le tre scelleraggini di Moab, e dopo le quattro noi richiamerò, perchè egli ha abbruciate le ossa del re di Edom, riducendolo in cenere.THVS sayth our Lord: Vpon three wickednesses of Moab and vpon foure I wil not conuert him: because he hath burnt the bones of Idumea euen to ashes.Hæc dicit Dominus: / Super tribus sceleribus Moab, / et super quatuor non convertam eum, / eo quod incenderit ossa regis Idumææ usque ad cinerem. 2And 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:Or io manderò fuoco contro di Moab, il quale divorerà le case di Carioth, e Moab perirà con fracasso, e al suono della tromba.And I wil send fyre into Moab, and it shal deuoure the houses of Carioth: and Moab shal dye in the sound, in the noyse of the trumpet:Et mittam ignem in Moab, / et devorabit ædes Carioth: / et morietur in sonitu Moab, in clangore tubæ. 3And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all his princes with him, saith the Lord.E sperderò di mezzo a lui il giudice, e ucciderò con esso tutti i suoi principi, dice il Signore.and I wil destroy the iudge out of the middes of him, and al his princes I wil kil with him, saith our Lord.Et disperdam judicem de medio ejus, / et omnes principes ejus interficiam cum eo, / dicit Dominus. 4Thus 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.Queste cose dice il Signore: Dopo le tre scelleraggini di Giuda, e dopo le quattro io nol richiamerò, perchè egli ha rigettata la legge del Signore, e non ha osservati i suoi comandamenti; perocché lo hanno sedotto i suoi idoli, dietro a' quali andarono i padri loro.Thus saith our Lord: Vpon three wickednesses of Iuda, & vpon foure I wil not conuert him: because he hath cast away the law of our Lord, and not kept his commandments: for their idols haue deceiued them, after which their fathers went.Hæc dicit Dominus: / Super tribus sceleribus Juda, / et super quatuor non convertam eum, / eo quod abjecerit legem Domini / et mandata ejus non custodierit: / deceperant enim eos idola sua, / post quæ abierant patres eorum. 5And I will send a fire into Juda, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem.Ed io manderò fuoco contro di Giuda, e divorerà le fabbriche di Gerusalemme.And I wil send fire into Iuda, and it shal deuoure the houses of Ierusalem.Et mittam ignem in Juda, / et devorabit ædes Jerusalem.
6Thus 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.Queste cose dice il Signore: Dopo le tre scelleraggini d'Israele, e dopo le quattro io nol richiamerò, perchè egli ha venduto a prezzo d'argento il giusto, e il povero per un paio di scarpe.Thus saith our Lord: Vpon three wickednesses of Israel, and vpon foure I wil not conuert him: because he hath sold the iust for siluer, and the poore for shoes.Hæc dicit Dominus: / Super tribus sceleribus Israël, / et super quatuor non convertam eum, / pro eo quod vendiderit pro argento justum, / et pauperem pro calceamentis. 7They 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.Schiacciano nella polvere della terra le teste de' poveri, e schivano di trattare co' piccoli. Il figliuolo, e il padre si accostarono alla stessa fanciulla, disonorando il mio santo nome.Which bruise the heades of the poore vpon the dust of the earth, and decline the way of the humble: and the sonne and his father haue gone to a young woman, that they might violate my holie name.Qui conterunt super pulverem terræ capita pauperum, / et viam humilium declinant: / et filius ac pater ejus ierunt ad puellam, / ut violarent nomen sanctum meum. 8And they sat down upon garments laid to pledge by every altar: and drank the wine of the condemned in the house of their God.E presso a qualunque de' loro altari si adagiavano sopra le vestimenta ricevute in pegno: e nella casa del loro Dio bevevano il vino di quelli, che avevano condannati.And vpon garments layd to pledge they did lye beside euerie altar: & the wine of the condemned they dranke in the house of their God.Et super vestimentis pignoratis accubuerunt juxta omne altare, / et vinum damnatorum bibebant in domo Dei sui. 9Yet 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.Ma fui pur io, che sterminai dinanzi a loro gli Amorrei, l'altezza de' quali agguagliava i cedri, e la fortezza era come di una quercia: io guastai nell'alto i suoi frutti, e al basso le sue radici.But I did cast out the Ammorrheit before their face: whose height the height of Cedars, & he strong as an oke: and I destroyed his fruite from aboue, & his rootes beneath.Ego autem exterminavi Amorrhæum a facie eorum, / cujus altitudo, cedrorum altitudo ejus, / et fortis ipse quasi quercus; / et contrivi fructum ejus desuper, / et radices ejus subter.
10It 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.Io son quegli, che vi trassi fuora dalla terra d'Egitto, e vi condussi pel deserto per quarant'anni, per darvi il possesso della terra degli Amorrei.It is I that made you come vp out of the Land of Aegypt, & I ledde you in the desert fourtie yeares, that you might possesse the Land of the Amorrheite.Ego sum qui ascendere vos feci de terra Ægypti, / et duxi vos in deserto quadraginta annis, / ut possideretis terram Amorrhæi. 11And 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?E de' vostri figliuoli scelsi i profeti, e della vostra gioventù i Nazarei. Non è egli così, o figliuoli d'Israele, dice il Signore?And I raysed vp of your sonnes to be prophets & of your yongmen Nazareites, is it not so ô children of Israel, saith our Lord?Et suscitavi de filiis vestris in prophetas, / et de juvenibus vestris nazaræos. / Numquid non ita est, filii Israël ? dicit Dominus. 12And you will present wine to the Nazarites: and command the prophets, saying: Prophesy not.E voi presenterete il vino a' Nazarei, e intimerete, e direte a' profeti: Non profetate.And you dranke wine to the Nazareites: and the prophets you commanded, saying: Prophecie not.Et propinabitis nazaræis vinum, / et prophetis mandabitis, dicentes: / Ne prophetetis. 13Behold, I will screak under you as a wain screaketh that is laden with hay.Ecco che io sotto di voi striderò, come stride un carro sotto il peso del fieno.Behold I wil screake vnder you, as a wayne screaketh loden with hay.Ecce ego stridebo subter vos, / sicut stridet plaustrum onustum fœno. 14And flight shall perish from the swift, and the valiant shall not possess his strength, neither shall the strong save his life.E l'uomo snello fuggire non potrà, e il forte non conserverà sua fortezza, e il valoroso non salverà la sua vita.And flight shal perish from the swift, and the valient shal not obteyne his strength, and the strong shal not saue his life.Et peribit fuga a veloce, / et fortis non obtinebit virtutem suam, / et robustus non salvabit animam suam: 15And 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.E quelli, che maneggiano l'arco, non si reggeranno su' piedi, e il cavaliere sul suo cavallo non potrà mettersi in salvo:And he that holdeth the bow shal not stand, and the swift of his feete shal not be saued, and the rider of the horse shal not saue his life.et tenens arcum non stabit, / et velox pedibus suis non salvabitur, / et ascensor equi non salvabit animam suam:
16And the stout of heart among the valiant shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord.E il più franco di cuore tra i campioni si fuggirà ignudo in quel giorno, dice il Signore.and the stoute of hart among the valients shal flee naked in that day, sayth our Lord.et robustus corde inter fortes nudus fugiet in illa die, / dicit Dominus.
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Calmet
Ashes. Some think that he alludes to 4 Kings 3:27., or rather to some war, the ashes of the dead were disturbed. (Calmet)
Worthington
Both these acts of inhumanity deserved severe punishment. (Worthington)
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Calmet
Fire: war under Ozias. (Calmet)
Haydock
Carioth. Septuagint, "the cities." Carioth has this meaning, but is was also the name of a great city, Jeremias 48:24. (Haydock)
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Judge, ruler, or head, shall be no more.
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Calmet
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)
Worthington
His crime was the more grievous, as they had the law. (Worthington)
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2:6
Calmet
Just man. Joseph, (Rupert) or our Saviour, (Sanctius) or any other. The expression is proverbial, Ezechiel 13:19. (Calmet)
Worthington
Israel contemned the law, and adopted the abominations of all. (Worthington)
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Humble, provoking him to anger.
Calmet
Name. Such incests caused infidels to blaspheme, Leviticus 18:8. (Calmet)
Worthington
They must be punished with severity. (Worthington)
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Calmet
Altar. Herein they offended doubly, (Exodus 22:26.) as they used the garments of others to hide their shameful actions, 4 Kings 23:7. (Calmet)
Septuagint, "and tying up their garments with cords, they made veils touching the altar, and drank wine procured by calumnies," (Haydock) or "rapine," etc. (Chaldean)
Homer
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 31:6., and Mark 15:23. Helena learnt in Egypt how to compose such wine. (Homer, Odyssey iv.)
Feasting in temples on carpets was an ancient custom.
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Beneath. The Israelites seemed like locusts in comparison, Numbers 13:34.
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Calmet
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 4:4. The Nazarites were in high estimation, Lamentations 4:7. But the dissolute Israelites (Calmet) derided them as well as the prophets, (Haydock) and attempted to make them transgress. (Calmet)
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Challoner
I will screek. Unable to bear any longer the enormous load of your sins, etc. 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)
Calmet
Septuagint, "I am overturned." Hebrew, "pressed." (Calmet)
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St. Jerome
Swift. Jeroboam 1:Other kings are described afterwards. (St. Jerome)
Calmet
In the latter times all was in confusion. (Calmet)
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I will screak.... Unable to bear any longer the enormous load of your sins, etc. The spirit of God, as St. Jerome takes notice, accommodates himself to the education of the prophet and inspires him with comparisons taken from country affairs.
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Besides other sinnes of the Moabites, their crueltie, in dravving the bones of the king of Idumea out of the graue, as S. Ierom testifieth by tradition; and their king immolating his ovvne sonne, 4. Reg. 3. exceeded the rest, and therfore vvere at last more seuerely punished.
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The most heynous sinne in Iuda, vvas that hauing the lavv to instruct them, they contemned, and transgressed it.
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Israel much more contemned the same lavv of God, & committed the sinnes of al nations.
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Sonnes committed incest vvith their fathers vviues; & the fathers vvith their daughters in lavv, vvhich most detestable sinnes must nedes be seuerly punished.
puellam.
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.40
… This might no doubt have been well enough for another Christ, but would not have been suitable in One who was accomplishing prophecies. For it was written, “The righteous one did they sell for silver.”
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St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 160.3
… What ought to be my course? To quote the Scriptures, or to work out what they leave unsaid? In these laws it is not written that a father and son ought not to have the same concubine, but, in the prophet, it is thought deserving of the most extreme condemnation, “A man and his father” it is said “will go in unto the same maid.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.18
… Another has turned aside the way of the meek,
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 12.6
… there is none that doeth good, no, not one : and again, Cursing and stealing, and adultery, and murder are poured out upon the land . Their sons and their daughters they sacrificed unto devils . They used auguries, and enchantments, and divinations . And again, they fastened their garments with cords, and made hangings attached to the altar
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Treatise Concerning the Christian Priesthood 6.11
… “But you only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore will I punish you for your iniquities,” and again, “and I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Titus 2
… Does no one honor thee? thou oughtest to rejoice at it. For God will not lay to thy charge this, among other things, that thou hast enjoyed honor. Seest thou not that God upbraids Israel with this among other things, by his prophet, “I took of your sons for Prophets, and of your young men for sanctification”? (
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Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.18
… touch not the unclean thing; separate yourselves, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord.” (The apostle says further:) “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess,” —a precept which is suggested by the passage (of the prophet), where the seducers of the consecrated (Nazarites) to drunkenness are rebuked: “Ye gave wine to my holy ones to drink.”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Jovinianus 2.10
… Aaron and the other priests when about to enter the temple, refrained from all intoxicating drink for fear they should die. Whence we learn that they die who minister in the Church without sobriety. And hence it is a reproach against Israel:
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1. CONCERNING THREE CRIMES OF MOAB. — In chapter 1, he reproves four nations for four crimes, and threatens them with deserved punishment; now in this chapter he adds three other nations, namely Moab, Israel and Judah; and to each of these he objects the same number of crimes according to the same pattern, and threatens similar punishment. BECAUSE HE BURNED THE BONES OF THE KING OF IDUMAEA. — R. David, Clarius and Arias think this king was the son of the king of Idumaea, who was captured by Mesa king of Moab in a conflict at the time when Mesa was fighting against Josaphat king of Judah, and against the king of Edom and the king of Israel; whom finally Mesa, besieged by these three kings and reduced to extremity, slew in anger and desperation and offered to his gods, and burned him as a purification and expiation along with his bones, and reduced him to ashes, in the sight of the father besieging the city: which done, the father, namely the king of Edom, being indignant at the king of Israel because he had stirred him up to this war, in which his son was slain and burned before his eyes, broke the covenant and returned home, and they think this is signified by those words in IV Kings chapter III, 27: "And the king of Moab took his firstborn son, that was to reign in his stead, and offered him for a holocaust upon the wall," where "his son" they interpret as his son, namely of the king of Edom: for the Hebrew vau, which is the mark of the attached pronoun, signifies both "him" and "his." But the Septuagint, the Chaldean, the Hebrews, St. Jerome, Rufinus, Rupertus, Lyra, Abulensis, Burgensis, Cajetan, Vatable, Pagninus, and even Philo Biblius, an ancient Phoenician historian, cited by Eusebius in book IV of the Preparation for the Gospel, and Josephus in book IX of the Antiquities chapter III, relate that the king of Moab in IV Kings chapter III immolated his own son, that is his own, not another's, namely of the king of Edom. Why he did this, Abulensis in IV Kings chapter III and Pererius in volume III on Genesis chapter XXII, number 98, give various reasons. Therefore it is better that the Hebrews, St. Jerome, Rufinus, Remigius, Albert, Hugh, Lyra and Pererius in the place already cited, Ribera and a Castro, think this was the very king of Idumaea himself, who fought with Josaphat and Joram against the Moabites, and besieging them forced them into such desperation that the king of Moab immolated his own son to his gods, so that he might implore and obtain their aid in such great necessity. Wherefore the Moabites burned with such hatred against the king of Idumaea that they afterwards dug up, burned and reduced to ashes the bones of him when dead and buried. Some add that the Moabites made lime from these ashes and smeared their houses with it, so that they might testify to perpetual hatred against the king of Edom. Whence the Chaldean translates: Because he burned the bones of the king of Idumaea, and smeared his house with them as with lime. And the Hebrew לשיד iassid can be translated both as lime and as ashes. Whence also the Syriac translates: Because he burned the bones of the king of Idumaea even to lime or ash. At what precise time and year the Moabites did this, Holy Scripture does not relate, nor does Josephus; it suffices that from this place of Amos it is clear that it happened, and in the time of Amos it was a matter known and celebrated by all; for there were frequent wars between the king of Moab and Edom, on account of their proximity and borders; and in some one of these, Moab the victor inflicted this injury and ignominy upon the king of Edom. Moreover, God threatens here that he will punish the hatred and cruelty of the Moabites exercised upon the bones of the king of Edom, so as to show that he is not only the God of the Jews, but also of other nations, their creator, provider and avenger, so that as such he may be acknowledged, feared and worshipped by all. Moreover, it is inhuman and most shameful to exhume the dead and to insult their ashes, both because the honor of burial is the last duty of nature, which the piety of the living has decreed for the dead among almost all nations; and because this is to fight with the dead and to kill them again as it were; and because injury is done to the soul when its body is dishonored. Whence the Gentiles consecrated tombs, and often inscribed them: "To the spirits of the dead." Hence Cambyses was very ill regarded among all, as Herodotus testifies in book III, who dug up the corpse of Amasis king of Egypt already dead, and ordered it to be beaten with whips, plucked and pricked with goads. The cruel Sulla dug up the bones of C. Marius and scattered them; lest this be done to him by the law of retaliation, he ordered himself to be cremated after death. The Romans followed the same practice for the same reason, as Pliny teaches in book VII, chapter LIV. Indeed, the Scythians, despising all else, when Darius reproached them with fear or sloth, because they declined battle, answered that he would come to know the courage and strength of the Scythians when he came to the tombs of their parents; for they would fight for them even unto death. Thus Valerius in book V, chapter IV. For this reason God threatens the impious Jeroboam and other idolatrous kings of Israel, as it were with the ultimate punishment, that their bones shall be dug up from their tombs and cast out to dogs, Jer. cap. VIII, 1, and Baruch, cap. II, 24. Hence learn morally how great a wickedness it is to lacerate the reputation of the dead; for reputation is worth more than bones; dogs tear bones, detractors tear reputation; therefore detractors are canine, and crueler than dogs. Thus Sanchez. 2. I WILL SEND FIRE UPON MOAB, — through Nebuchadnezzar, who as the scourge of all nations in the hand of God, in the fifth year after Jerusalem was destroyed, struck and laid waste both the Moabites and the Ammonites, as Josephus testifies, lib. X Antiq. cap. XI. AND IT SHALL DEVOUR THE HOUSES OF CARIOTH. — Some take Carioth as a name, not a proper name, but an appellative, and translate it as cities; for קריה kiria in the singular is a city, hence carioth in the plural are called cities. Whence the Septuagint translates: It shall destroy the foundations of their cities; so also the Chaldean. Better, Our [Vulgate], the Zurich [Bible] and others take Carioth as the proper name of a city and the metropolis of Moab. Thus indeed Jeremiah takes it, cap. XLVIII, 21. Perhaps this city was called Carioth from its size, in that it contained many cities within itself, as Prague, Cracow, Liège, Paris, contain three or rather many cities within themselves. three and their parents from ancestral inheritance; the seventh, avarice (for avarice begets this), or the eradication of Israel are sloth and the slothful, who reduced to poverty by idleness, sell the just for silver, and the poor for shoes, as shall be said of them cap. II, 6. Each of these four crimes are four degrees of vice of each; namely the first is sin of the will; the second, of action; the third, of habit; the fourth, of boasting, as I said vers. 3, from St. Jerome and Rupert. All these God shall destroy on the day of judgment, and shall cast into the fire of hell, because they have persecuted the pious and broken the covenant of brothers, stirring up war between flesh and spirit, nay making it so that flesh imprisoned and oppressed spirit, to which as a brother, nay as a servant it ought to have obeyed and served. ( wrongly in St. Jerome in Nomin. Hebr. in Joshua is read, learning) sadness, says St. Jerome here; thirdly, through Tyre, pride and the proud: for Tyre was proud, standing out in the sea like a fortress; fourthly, through Edom, that is the bloodthirsty, anger and the angry, who break forth into words, blows and slaughter; fifthly, through Ammon, lust and the lustful: for Ammon was born from the incest of Lot with his daughter; sixthly, through Moab, of which cap. following, vers. 1, envy and the envious; for Moab is the same as from the father, because he himself was the son of his father from his daughter, and at the same time his grandson; and consequently Lot was to him both grandfather and father: thus the envious exclude brothers, and arrogate to themselves their place, wealth and name, just as grandsons not rarely exclude uncles and even brothers. On account of three and four crimes of Moab, vers. 1, and Judah, vers. 4, and Israel, vers. 6, he threatens destruction and ruin, and then proceeds to reproach Israel with ingratitude, in that although it received Canaan as a gift from God, with the Canaanites expelled, moreover Prophets and Nazarites, yet it ungratefully abused these against God and God's command. Whence threatening he adds, vers. 13: Behold I will make a creaking under you, etc.
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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 Idumea even to ashes. 2. And I will send a fire into Moab, and it shall devour the houses of Carioth: and Moab shall die in the tumult, in the cry, and in the sound of the trumpet: 3. And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof 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 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 for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes. 7. They that crush the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father have gone to the same maiden, to profane my holy name. 8. And they reclined upon garments taken in pledge beside every altar: and drank the wine of the condemned in the house of their God. 9. Yet I destroyed the Amorrhite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as an oak: and I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots beneath. 10. I am he that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the desert, 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 gave the Nazarites wine to drink: and you commanded the prophets, saying: Prophesy not. 13. Behold I will make it creak under you, as a cart creaketh that is laden with hay. 14. And flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain his strength, and the mighty shall not save his life. 15. And he that holdeth the bow shall not stand: and the swift of foot shall not be saved, and he that rideth the horse shall not save his life. 16. And the stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord. 1. For three crimes of Moab. — In cap. 1, he reproves four nations for four crimes, and hath threatened them with deserved punishment; now in this chapter he adds three other nations, namely Moab, Israel and Juda; and to each of them he objects the same number of crimes according to the same pattern, and threatens them with like punishment.
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BECAUSE HE BURNED THE BONES OF THE KING OF EDOM. — R. David, Clarius and Arias hold that this king was the son of the king of Edom, who was captured by Mesa king of Moab in the conflict at the time when Mesa was fighting against Josaphat king of Juda, and against the king of Edom and the king of Israel; whom finally Mesa, besieged by these three kings and brought to extremity, slew in anger and desperation and offered to his gods, and burned him as it were a purification and expiation together with his bones, and reduced him to ashes, in the sight of his father besieging the city: which done, the father, namely the king of Edom, being indignant at the king of Israel, because he had stirred him up to this war, in which his son was slain and burned before his eyes, broke the covenant and returned home, and they hold this to be signified by those words in IV Kings, chapter III, 27: "And the king of Moab took his firstborn son, that was to reign in his stead, and offered him for a holocaust upon the wall," where "his son" they interpret as his son, namely of the king of Edom: for the Hebrew vau, which is the mark of the attached pronoun, signifies both "him" and "his." But the Septuagint, the Chaldean, the Hebrews, St. Jerome, Rufinus, Rupertus, Lyra, Abulensis, Burgensis, Cajetan, Vatable, Pagninus, and indeed Philo Biblius, an ancient Phoenician historian, cited by Eusebius in book IV of the Preparation for the Gospel, and Josephus in book IX of the Antiquities, chapter III, relate that the king of Moab in IV Kings, chapter III, immolated his own son, that is his own, not another's, namely of the king of Edom. Why he did this, Abulensis in IV Kings, chapter III, and Pererius in volume III on Genesis, chapter XXII, number 98, give various reasons. Therefore it is better that the Hebrews, St. Jerome, Rufinus, Remigius, Albert, Hugh, Lyra and Pererius in the place already cited, Ribera and a Castro, hold that this was the very king of Edom himself, who fought with Josaphat and Joram against the Moabites, and besieging them forced them into such desperation, that the king of Moab immolated his own son to his gods, that he might implore and obtain their aid in such necessity. Wherefore the Moabites were inflamed with such hatred against the king of Edom, that they afterwards dug up his bones when dead and buried, burned them and reduced them to ashes. Some add that the Moabites made lime from these ashes, and smeared their houses with it, that they might testify an everlasting hatred against the king of Edom. Whence the Chaldean translates: Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom, and smeared his house with them as it were with lime. And the Hebrew לשיד iassid can be translated both as lime and as ashes. Whence also the Syriac translates: Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom even to lime, or ash. At what precise time and year the Moabites did this, Holy Scripture does not relate, nor Josephus; it suffices that from this place of Amos it is clear that it happened, and in the time of Amos it was a matter known and celebrated by all; for there were frequent wars between the king of Moab and Edom, on account of their proximity and borders; and in some one of these, Moab being victorious, inflicted this injury and ignominy upon the king of Edom. Moreover, God threatens here that He will punish the hatred and cruelty of the Moabites exercised upon the bones of the king of Edom, that He may show Himself to be not only the God of the Jews, but also of other nations, the Creator, Provider and Avenger, that as such He may be acknowledged, feared and worshipped by all. Moreover, it is inhuman and most shameful to exhume the dead, and to insult their ashes, both because the honor of burial is the last duty of nature, which the piety of the living has decreed for the dead among almost all nations; and because this is to fight with the dead, and as it were to kill them again; and because injury is done to the soul, when its body is dishonored. Whence the Gentiles consecrated tombs, and often inscribed them: "To the spirits of the dead." Hence Cambyses was held in very bad repute among all, as Herodotus testifies in book III, who dug up the corpse of Amasis king of Egypt already dead, and ordered it to be beaten with whips, plucked and punished with goads. The cruel Sulla scattered the bones of C. Marius after they were dug up; that this might not be done to him by the law of retaliation, he ordered himself to be cremated after death. The Romans followed the same practice for the same reason, as Pliny teaches in book VII, chapter LIV. Indeed, the Scythians, despising all else, when Darius reproached them with fear or sloth, because they declined battle, answered that he would come to know the courage and strength of the Scythians when he came to the tombs of their fathers; for they would fight for them even unto death. Thus Valerius in book V, chapter IV. For this reason God threatens the impious Jeroboam and other idolatrous kings of Israel, as it were the ultimate punishment, that their bones dug up from their tombs should be cast out to dogs, Jeremias, chapter VIII, 1, and Baruch, chapter II, 24.
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Hence learn morally how great a sin it is to lacerate the reputation of the dead; for reputation is worth more than bones; dogs tear bones, detractors tear reputation; therefore detractors are dogs, and crueler than dogs. Thus Sanchez. 2. I WILL SEND FIRE INTO MOAB, — through Nebuchadnezzar, who as a scourge of all nations in the hand of God, in the fifth year after Jerusalem was destroyed, struck and laid waste both the Moabites and the Ammonites, as Josephus testifies, lib. X Antiq. cap. XI. AND IT SHALL DEVOUR THE HOUSES OF CARIOTH. — Some take Carioth as a name, not a proper name, but a common noun, and translate it as cities; for קרין kiria in the singular is a city, hence carioth in the plural are called cities. Whence the Septuagint translates: He shall destroy the foundations of their cities; so also the Chaldean. Better, Our [Vulgate], the Zurich [Bible] and others take Carioth as the proper name of a city and the metropolis of Moab. For thus Jeremiah takes it in cap. XLVIII, 21. Perhaps this city was called Carioth from its size, in that it contained many cities within itself, as Prague, Cracow, Liège, Paris, contain three or rather many cities within themselves. AND MOAB SHALL DIE IN TUMULT. — Zurich [Bible], in roaring, that is to say, In the horrible din of the capture of the city of Carioth and the other Moabite cities, the Moabites shall be slain and shall die. Thus Vatablus. Whence explaining further he adds: In the clanging of the trumpet, that is to say, With trumpets clanging, with arms resounding and enemies shouting, the Moabites shall be struck down with great terror and horror. 4. Upon three wickednesses of Judah. — From the gentiles he passes to Judah (that is to the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin), who imitated the idolatry and wickednesses of the gentiles, indeed surpassed them, and therefore he threatens them with destruction through the same Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans. Tropologically St. Jerome: "The avaricious man, he says, worships gold, the glutton his belly, the lustful man a harlot and Beelphegor; the wanton woman, who though living in luxury is dead, worships venereal pleasures." These are the idols of Judah, that is, of the faithful and Christians. 6. Upon Three Wickednesses of Israel. — From Judah he passes to Israel, that is to the remaining ten tribes, whose head was Samaria, and he likewise accuses and punishes them for three, that is many, wickednesses and for four, that is the fourth, which is cruelty and oppression of the poor, namely, "in that they have sold the just for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes." R. Samuel Marochianus, treatise On the Coming of the Messiah, cap. VI, and from him Galatinus, lib. IV, cap. XXIV, and Arianus Finus, lib. VI Scourge of the Jews, cap. XLVII, hold that the fourth wickedness was that they sold Christ, who was just by excellence and by antonomasia, for thirty pieces of silver: the first, they say, wickedness was that they sold Joseph, Genesis XXXVII, 28, for which they were punished by Egyptian captivity; the second, that they despised David, and in him Christ, saying: "There is no part for us in David," and worshipped golden calves, for which they were punished by Assyrian captivity; the third, that they sacrificed their sons to Moloch and to idols, and killed the Prophets who reproved them, for which they were punished by Babylonian captivity; the fourth, that they sold and killed Christ, for which they were utterly destroyed and laid waste by Titus and the Romans with a desolation that endures forever. But it is objected that Christ was sold and killed not by Israel, as already led away into Assyria, but by Judah: wherefore this wickedness should rather be ascribed to Judah than to Israel. Add that in the time of Christ neither the Jews nor the Israelites worshipped idols, which the Prophet here in verse 4 accuses in Judah. Therefore he speaks literally of any just man and poor man, unjustly sold and oppressed by the Israelites; but because Christ excelled among these, whom the Prophets have as their aim, hence the aim of the Prophet seems finally to be directed also to Christ.
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First indeed the Prophets censure the crimes of their own age, then under these they censure similar crimes of posterity, especially to be committed in the time of Christ against Christ himself: for the Prophets wrote these oracles for all times. Whence also among the seven nations' crimes, Amos places this last, as it were the greatest: for such is the selling and killing of Christ; especially because we do not read that the Israelites, at any other time than that of Christ, sold the just man and the poor man truly and properly. Moreover this was a crime of both Israel and Judah, because after Samaria was laid waste by the Assyrians, the Israelites who survived the disaster fled to Jerusalem, and mingled with Judah coalesced into one nation. For from of old, namely from the patriarch Jacob, Israel and Judah, that is the ten tribes and two, were as it were brothers; wherefore crimes here ascribed to Israel pertain also to Judah. For the fourth crime of Damascus and the other nations, cruelty is here assigned; therefore the same seems to be assigned to Judah also; and when in the oracle of Judah, verse 4, it is not found there, it must be borrowed from the burden of Israel in this verse. This will be clearer in chapter III, 1, where St. Jerome and others throughout understand by the sons of Israel both the two and the ten tribes: yet Amos ascribes it rather to Israel than to Judah, because he himself was sent directly and properly by God to Israel, not to Judah, and he prophesied in Samaria and Bethel, not in Judaea and Jerusalem; whence in what follows he continues to prophesy against Israel. Therefore he places the burden of Israel last, and aggravates it, so that he may prophesy against it in continuous series. The sense therefore is, as if to say, The fourth and most grievous crime of Israel is: "That he sold for silver the just," that is the just of the just, namely the innocence of the poor, the cause and substance thereof, so that he might adjudicate it in judgment to the rich for money and gifts accepted from those who unjustly invaded them and their goods, and demanded from the judge that it be given to them. This selling therefore of the just, in the time of Amos, was not of the just themselves, as Remigius thought; for we read nowhere that they did this, but of their fields and wealth, namely by which, with gifts offered to the judge, they perverted judgment, and bought from him an unjust sentence, by which he adjudicated to them the goods of the poor. Thus the Chaldean, St. Jerome, Albert, Lyran, Clarius, Arias, Vatable, Ribera and a Castro. Properly indeed this fourth crime of Judah and Israel is: "That he sold," that is shall sell, "for silver," namely for thirty pieces of silver, "the just," namely Christ, who by antonomasia is the just one, because the Holy of Holies. For to Christ properly all these words pertain, and to no other; and to Christ, as to their aim and love, the Prophets are wont to fly suddenly upon the least occasion and similarity. There is therefore here a twofold sense, and that literal, or rather the former concerning any just men in the time of Amos literal, the latter concerning Christ allegorical. Finally the Arabic translates: Because they put against truth for silver and garments, as if to say, Because they sold truth and justice for silver and shoes, that is for the vilest price. AND THE POOR FOR SHOES. — In Hebrew it is the dual נעלים nahalahim, that is for two shoes, or for a pair of shoes. Wrongly R. Solomon, and from him Lyran, translates for closures, as if to say, The hedge by which the poor man enclosed his field, the rich man forced to be torn down; so that he might invade his field, and join it to his own, which was neighboring. For the Septuagint, the Chaldean and others throughout translate nahalahim as shoes. Remigius properly takes it thus, and thinks that the Israelites sold the poor into slavery to neighboring nations, or even to the Israelites themselves, and at the vilest price, namely for a pair of shoes. This crime is unjustly called plagiarism, by which namely a free man is seized and sold into bondage; which is therefore punished by divine law with death, Exodus XXI, 16: "He that shall steal a man, and sell him, being convicted of the crime, shall be put to death." But by civil law, namely by the Flavian law, it is punished with stripes and blows, from which the guilty party is called a plagiarist, and the crime plagiarism. But I have already refuted this, nor is it likely that a free man was sold by them at so vile a price, namely two shoes.
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Therefore others more rightly judge that the poor man is said here to be sold, because his right, cause and substance are sold. For thus we commonly say a man is sold, when in judgment or outside judgment his status or rights are sold. Thus St. Jerome, Clarius, Vatablus, Arias and others cited a little before. Note the saying, for shoes, that is, at a small and vile price. Thus it is still commonly said: I do not value him more than my shoes: I esteem him at the worth of old shoes; I will give this much for shoes. Thus St. Jerome. Thus Christ was sold by the Jews at a vile price, namely thirty pieces of silver, which some make equal to as many Brabantine florins; or, as others, half of them, namely fifteen Brabantine florins; a Brabantine florin contains four julios: fifteen florins therefore make sixty julios, namely five gold coins. Is not this a vile price, at which the Lord of all things was valued and sold? Less correctly does Theodoret thus expound it, as if to say, Judges, advocates and procurators so afflicted the poor pleading their cause, that since they had nothing to pay them as a fee, with sordid avarice and tyranny they stripped and seized their shoes. And Clarius, as if to say, A rich man, seizing the field of a poor man, forced him to renounce his right with his shoe removed, according to the custom of the Israelites, which is related in Ruth IV, 7. Finally the Arabic version translates: They made the poor man in place of shoes, that is, they valued him cheaply, did not esteem him more than old shoes, as is commonly said. 7. WHO CRUSH UPON THE DUST OF THE EARTH THE HEADS OF THE POOR,—as if to say, They oppress the poor in judgment, so that their cause falls; indeed even outside judgment they cast down and trample upon these same poor, just as a slave or beast is trampled, which is cast into dust, and there has its head and hair filled with mud and dust, so that it appears to be entirely dusty. Thus St. Jerome. Note the arrogance and cruelty of the rich toward the poor. For, as Fr. Pineda rightly observes, lib. VI De Rebus Salomon. cap. XX, num. 14, among the most insolent rich of Israel it was not an unusual thing to utterly ruin poor men they met for mockery, and to oppress them by treading upon them, and almost to suffocate them and wring out their life. Whence the Septuagint translates: They trampled upon the dust of the earth, and struck the beggar with fists on the head; but Vatablus and the Zurich Bible: They panted upon the dust of the earth over the head of the poor, as if to say, They desire to oppress the poor, whom they gladly see cast to the ground and filled with mud; the Chaldee: Who despise as the dust of the earth the head of beggars; others: Who absorb as the dust of the earth the head of the poor; for in Hebrew שאף (sçaaph) signifies to breathe, to draw in, to pant, to desire, to gape after, to absorb. Thus Pagninus, Marinus, Forster, and others in the Lexicons. AND THEY TURN ASIDE THE WAY OF THE HUMBLE,—as if to say, "The way," that is, the right, matter and cause of the poor in judgment, they subvert on account of bribes, and they transfer the letter and victory to the rich man who gives bribes. Thus Theodoret, Vatablus and Arias. Whence the Chaldee translates: And they pervert the right of the obscure. Secondly, more generally, as if to say, "The way," that is, the counsels, institutions and attempts of the poor they subvert, and force them to desist from their undertaking, and by their power and iniquity they shut off from them every access and way to good. Thirdly, more simply and more connected to what precedes: "The way of the humble," that is, the humble and poor wayfarers, so that it is a hypallage, "they turn aside," that is, they cast down and prostrate to the ground, and trample upon. For this aptly corresponds to the former hemistich, in which he said: "Who crush upon the dust of the earth the heads of the poor." For the Hebrews are accustomed, especially in rhythms and songs, to say in the latter hemistich the same or nearly the same thing as they said in the former. A similar case is Job XXIV, 3: "You have subverted the way of the poor, and have oppressed together the meek of the earth." Where see Fr. Pineda, who brings forward ten expositions of that passage as well as of this one. Otherwise St. Jerome, as if to say, "They are so elevated in pride that they are unwilling to walk or deal with the humble;" and Lyra, as if to say, When they meet a poor man on the way, from pride they force him to yield to them, and to turn aside from the way. Mystically Albertus, as if to say, They plunder the goods of the poor, and thus force them either through impatience or through want to turn aside from the way of virtue and justice to thefts and other crimes, so that they may procure sustenance for themselves. The first sense is the literal and genuine one: for way in Scripture often signifies a matter, business, right and cause. Let judges and advocates note these things, who oppress the poor, when by oath they are bound to protect them, indeed by their office they are obliged to conduct their cause freely. Let them hear the thunderbolt of God, Deuteronomy XXVII, 19: "Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, of the fatherless, and of the widow. And all the people shall say: Amen." Rightly does St. Ambrose say in a sermon: "It is justly said to an advocate: Restore what you have received, because you have acted against truth, you have aided iniquity, you have deceived the judge, you have oppressed a just cause, you have conquered by falsehood." Cassiodorus in Psalm LXXIII: "These," he says, "are jesters at banquets, harpies in extortions, foxes for deceiving, bulls for arrogance, minotaurs for consuming. These are they, if the rusty breath of anyone's purse should blow upon their nostrils, you will immediately see there the eyes of Argus, and the hands of Briareus, and the claws of the Sphinxes, and the perjuries of Laomedon, the cunning of Ulysses, the deceits of Sinon, the faith of Polymnestor, and the piety of the lazy Lion employed." And Alanus, in the book On the Conquest of Nature: "If anyone is armed with money, as with silver breastplates, he despises the impetuosity of the Tullian torrent, the lightning of Hectorean assault, the strength of Herculean virtue, the shifting wiles of Ulysses. For so greatly has the hunger for possessing burned, that the subtlety of dialectic is mute, the civility of rhetoric languishes, where the plurality of coins speaks. Money conquers, money reigns, money commands all things." These things concerning litigious, greedy and unjust pettifoggers: for true advocates are guardians of law, patrons of the poor, new Ivoes. AND THE SON AND HIS FATHER WENT IN UNTO THE DAMSEL (the same one, as the Septuagint has it. It denotes the incest of the Israelites, that the son should abuse the father's wife, that is the wife of his father, or rather the father should abuse the son's wife, that is the wife of his son, as St. Jerome, Remigius, Hugh and Lyran say, or certainly each should have the same damsel and harlot as a concubine: and thus) THEY DEFILED THE HOLY NAME OF GOD,— by exposing it to infamy and mockery among the gentiles, saying: Behold how foul and obscene are the Israelites; how foul therefore must their faith and religion be: and what manner of God is theirs, who tolerates these things and does not punish them! By their incest the Israelites gave occasion for this blasphemy.
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8. AND UPON GARMENTS TAKEN IN PLEDGE THEY RECLINED BESIDE EVERY ALTAR. — The Israelites, when about to dine or feast, did not sit at table, but reclined beside it, that is, lay upon couches, which were therefore called dining couches. Thus Christ reclined upon a couch in the house of Simon the Leper, when Mary Magdalene washed his feet with her tears from behind him. He therefore rebukes them because, sacrificing victims to the golden calves in Dan and Bethel, and then feasting beside the altar, they reclined upon couches and garments which they had violently extorted from the poor, especially those unwilling to eat these calves, as pledges for debts: or because, having sold these garments, they furnished the victim and feast from the price: whence, reclining upon them, they were reckoned to recline upon and feast upon the garments pledged by the poor; although God had commanded that a pledge be returned to the poor before nightfall, Deuteronomy XXIV, 12. Thus the Hebrews, and from them St. Jerome, Lyra and Vatablus. They sinned therefore in two ways: first, because they seized these garments from the poor; second, because they worshipped idols with them. Thus Sanchez. Otherwise the Septuagint, which by reclining understands lying with: The garments, they say, of theirs, binding with cords, περιπετάσματα, that is, veils, they made adhering to the altar, so that no one might see them there in the idol committing fornication and fornicating. For thus they worshipped Beelphegor by fornicating beside his idol and altar, as appears in Numbers XXV, 1. Thus the Septuagint is explained by St. Jerome and Theodoret. Whence the Syriac and Arabic versions translate: They bound their garments with cords, and made processions before my temple, and drank wine with sport in the house of their gods. Finally, Clarius thinks that by sleeping in these garments taken in pledge, they sought an oracle, just as the Greeks, sleeping in the skin of a ram sacrificed to Jupiter, sought his response, as Herodotus testifies, book VIII. Such were the lectisternia of the Gentiles in the temple of Serapis, Aesculapius, Podalyrius and others, upon which lying down they sought dreams, concerning which P. Delrio, Disquisitions on Magic, book IV, chapter III, Question VI. To this is added the explanation of Martin de Roa, book II Singularities, chapter IX, who by garments pledged understands sacred ones, by which they devoted and consecrated themselves to their gods. These garments, he says, were such as, being as it were a pledge of devotion or initiation, were consecrated to the gods; or which the initiated and devoted themselves, as a sign of that divinity to which they had dedicated themselves, wore. Thus Cicero says in the Philippics XIV: "Mars himself from the battle is accustomed to pledge the bravest man," that is, to claim him as his own, and devoted and obligated to himself. And Suetonius in Claudius, chapter X: "The first of the Caesars," he says, "pledged the faith of the soldier also by reward," that is, binding him to himself as by a pledge. And Seneca, book III On Benefits, chapter IV: "No one did not speak of a memory that would endure in his mind, no one did not profess himself given and devoted, and if he found any other more humble word by which he might pledge himself," that is, which might signify that he was consecrated or devoted to him. In a similar manner these garments were pledged to their gods, and through them they pledged and devoted themselves to their gods.
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Yet Roa adds that pledges here rather signify judicial ones, which by jurists are so called, into whose possession someone is sent by a judge: or which have been adjudicated and assigned to someone by some right, even if unjustly, as happened here. Therefore a garment pledged is nothing other than a garment of the condemned,
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like the wine also of the condemned, concerning which follows. AND THE WINE OF THE CONDEMNED (whom by calumny and violence they had condemned to plunder, or to death. Whence the Septuagint translates: They drank wine of calumnies; the Chaldean: They drank wine of rapine, namely that expressed from the oppression and trampling of the poor) THEY DRANK IN THE HOUSE OF THEIR GOD, — that is to say, The poor, especially the true worshippers of God, not sacrificing in Dan and Bethel, but in Jerusalem, they condemned by calumnies and false witnesses, and mulcted of their goods, from which they instituted banquets, and made themselves drunk in their idols, as if by this idolatry, calumny, rapine and drunkenness they were about to honor their gods, and offend the true God of the Jews. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Lyran and Vatable. Somewhat differently Father Prado in Ezekiel XXIII, 31: They drank, he says, the wine of the condemned, that is, generous wine, delicate, precious, such as is wont to be offered to the condemned by their relatives and friends, that they might bear the tortures more courageously, and the final agony of death; as if gluttony and drunkenness alone were here reproached to them. But the former sense is simpler, fuller and more forceful. A similar crime is reproached to the impious, Job cap. XXIV, 6: "They reap, he says, a field not their own, and they gather the vintage of him whom they have oppressed by violence," as Ahab did in the field of Naboth, III Kings XXI. Moreover, that it was customary of old to sacrifice to the gods from the goods of the condemned, Servius teaches in that passage of the Aeneid IV: At the same time he enjoins honor to the temples of the gods. "Enjoined, he says, are called, because the poverty of the ancients sacrificed from collection, or certainly from the goods of the condemned; whence also punishments are called." And St. Isidore, lib. VI, from Festus: "Supplications, he says, which are from the goods of the condemned are punishments." Hence also a sacred man, sacred goods, and sacred taken for accursed, because sacred things were made from the goods of the accursed. Hear again Isidore, and from him Martin of Roa, lib. II Singular. cap. IX: "Punishment is properly said not of one who is punished in any way whatsoever, but of one thus condemned that his goods are consecrated, and brought into public use. For punishments were called supplications, and punishment is said of one whose condemnation something is offered to God: whence also to supplicate." The wine therefore of the condemned is that which was obtained from the fine and punishment of the condemned; from which to sacrifice to the gods, and therefore also to banquet even after the sacrifice was completed, the ancients were wont. 9. But I destroyed the Amorrhean, — that is to say, I, under Joshua as leader, drove out the Amorrheans from Canaan, and six other nations its inhabitants, and gave it to you, O Israelites: do you therefore repay me thus? He recounts the benefits bestowed upon them, that he might more sharply reprove their ingratitude and apostasy. He names the Amorrheans before the others: because these surpassed the other Canaanites both in stature and strength, and in cruelty and wickedness: hence they were called Amorrheans in Hebrew, that is, speaking, or famous and celebrated by frequent discourse, says St. Jerome. Whence he adds: Whose height was as the height of cedars, his height, — that is to say, The Amorrheans were tall and lofty like the cedar, that is to say, They were giants. It is a hyperbole: and in Hebrew fashion the pronoun his is redundant. Similar is that passage of Virgil: Young men equal to their native firs and mountains. AND STRONG HIMSELF (the people of the Amorrheans) AS AN OAK. — Concerning which Seneca in Hercules Oetaeus: It groans with many a wound impressed, threatening, And breaks the wedges, the steel rebounds when struck; And the wound endures iron, and the trunk flees. Thus Lucan, lib. I, compares Pompey to an oak: for this is the symbol of strength, says Pierius hierog. 51. Thus also Philo, says St. Jerome, calls Esau δρύινον, that is, oaken, robust, as if cut from an oak: indeed Festus thinks robur, that is, oak, is derived from robur, that is, strength. The sense therefore is, says Ruffinus, that is to say, "A forest of nations long already in age prevailing, thus threatening with lofty summits, and leaning upon deep roots, I, as a diligent measurer of camps, cut down for destruction, lest they should feel even the slightest impediments of habitation. Whatever strength therefore there was, I cut down from the roots." AND I BROKE DOWN THE FRUIT THEREOF FROM ABOVE, AND THE ROOTS THEREOF FROM BENEATH, — that is to say, I utterly overthrew this people, like a cedar, whose branches above and roots below are cut down. For he persists in the metaphor and similitude of the cedar. Moreover, by branches and roots can be understood sons and fathers. For God, wishing to destroy the nation and stock so impious from the roots, had commanded Moses and Joshua that they slay all the Canaanites, even boys and infants, and thus abolish all their seed, Deuteronomy VII, 2; Joshua VI, 21; Wisdom XII, 11, where the Canaanites are called "a cursed seed." Thus Theodoret, Remigius and Arias. 11. AND I RAISED UP OF YOUR SONS INTO PROPHETS, — that is to say, I filled your sons with the spirit of prophecy, and made them Prophets, and by this means I exalted and honored both your sons and you in your sons. AND OF YOUR YOUNG MEN NAZARITES. — Repeat "I raised up." The Nazarites were as it were religious persons of the old law, who, that they might better devote themselves to God, abstained from wine by vow, and wore their hair uncut, and therefore were called Nazarites, that is, separated from the world, and devoted to God. Whence St. Gregory of Nazianzus, in his oration in praise of St. Basil, calls our religious Nazarites. See what is said Num. VI. Note here that the Nazarite state, that is the state of Religion, and the vocation to it, and the life in it, is a work of God, which can neither be undertaken except by God as author, nor retained except by Him as helper. Moreover, it is the same a great gift of God by which God honors families and blesses them, while He adopts their sons into Himself, as it were into His own family, and makes them as it were courtiers of His heavenly court, so that parents with good reason ought not to hinder and overturn this gift of God in their sons, unless they wish to be ungrateful to God and to resist Him; but rather ought to rejoice in it for themselves, and give thanks to God, and urge their sons to it, and offer them to God their creator, indeed return them, as St. Basil teaches in the Asceticon, St. Chrysostom in book III Against the Detractors of the monastic life, St. Ambrose in book I On Virgins, St. Bernard, epistle 111. See P. Platus, book III On the Good of the Religious State, chapter XXXV, and book II, chapters XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, and XIX. 12. AND YOU GAVE THEM WINE TO DRINK. — Thus all the Latin, Greek and Hebrew codices read in the past tense. Whence it appears to have crept into the Roman edition through a typographical error: You will give to drink and you will command, in the future. For He reproves their past crimes, namely that they gave wine to the Nazarites contrary to their vow and profession, and commanded the Prophets sent by God to prophesy, saying: "Do not prophesy," and thus to the Nazarites and Prophets, and to God Himself their giver, they were not only ungrateful, but also resisted hostilely. For which reason He, being angry with them, threatens them with vengeance and horrible destruction. Let those note this who invite and urge Clerics and Religious to violate their vows and institutes. Let them hear the thunderbolt of God which follows: "Behold I will make a noise," etc. From this place, says St. Jerome, "Tatianus, the leader of the Encratites, strives to establish his heresy, asserting that wine ought not to be drunk; since both by the law it is commanded that Nazarites do not drink wine; and now they are accused by the Prophet, who give wine to the Nazarites to drink." The same heresy was renewed six years before by some fanatic in Holland, teaching Christians to abstain from wine and meat, because one eating these things cannot keep chastity: but being driven out by the vintners and butchers, and scourged by the magistrate, and expelled into exile, he paid the penalty for his madness. 13. Behold I will make a noise under (some codices wrongly read over: for in Hebrew it is מן תחת tachat, that is, under; and in Greek ὑποκάτω, that is, beneath) you. — For "I will make a noise" in Hebrew is מעיק meic, which the Chaldean first translated actively: Behold I bring upon you distress, and will afflict you with distresses, in your place, as a wagon laden with sheaves is pressed with distresses; namely when the sheaves of hay or grain, being loose, are compressed and tightened by the driver, so that the wagon may hold many, and thus bear a just burden. But the Hebrew, Greek and Latin codices read, under you, not, over you, as I said. Secondly therefore, others translate thus: I make a coarctation, or compression under you, that is, I will coarct and straiten you on all sides, beneath and above, as the driver compresses and coarcts the sheaves in the wagon, both the lower and the upper, that is to say, I will multiply and compress distresses for you on all sides, as grain is compressed and densified in a wagon, especially the lower grain which is beneath, so that there may be room for others and more may be heaped upon them. Whence Emmanuel and Mariana from the Chaldean thus expound: I will make a noise, that is, I will press you with siege, as a wagon is pressed and coarctated full of sheaves. Hence also the Arabic Alexandrian version translates: I will leave you as a wagon rolling. Thirdly and best translates Our version, to which the Zurich version agrees, which thus reads: Behold I am pressed down exceedingly, and I make a noise under you, just as a wagon laden with sheaves presses and groans; which Vatablus explaining: God complains, he says, of the Israelites, because they burden Him with sins and crimes: hence it follows that God will also lead them into distresses, from which they cannot escape. And R. Abraham: There is not strength for me to bear you; but I groan under the burden, according to that of Isaiah, chapter I, 14: "I am weary bearing with you." And chapter XLIII, 24: "You have made me to serve with your sins, you have wearied me with your iniquities." Most excellently St. Jerome: "Therefore, he says, as a wagon is weighed down with the burden of straw or hay and cries out with creaking and sound far and wide; so I, no longer bearing your sins, and as it were threshing straw with fire, will cry out and say: Flight shall perish from the swift," etc. Hence the Syriac translates: Behold I am anxious (compressed) under you, as a wagon full of grain is compressed (straitened). And the Arabic Antiochian: I will turn aside lest I be your judge, in the manner in which a wagon full of reeds rolls.
2:14
The voice "I will grind" therefore signifies three things. First, God, as it were burdened by the weight of the sins of the Israelites, groaning under them; whence He says, "under you." Second, to be indignant and grind, and to threaten all dire things upon the impious with destruction; for the grinding is that which follows: "Flight will perish from the swift," etc. Third, "I will grind," that is, I will cause to grind, I will press, I will afflict you so that you grind. For the Hebrew meic is of the hiphil conjugation, and therefore plainly active. Whence the Chaldean and others translate it, I will straiten you, namely through Salmanasar and the Assyrians, who will besiege and lay waste Samaria. Wherefore Ribera rightly expounds it thus: "I will grind under you," that is, I will cause a great grinding to be heard in your land, a most troublesome sound to your ears; namely the clamor of enemies conquering and exulting, and the wailing of your citizens falling, wounded, captive. Therefore the grinding, is not so much the voice of God groaning under a burden, as of one indignant, avenging and punishing. For groaning in God is not a sign of a broken or weak spirit; but of one hostile, straining itself, and rousing itself to blows. For differently does he groan who bears a burden heavier than his strength can bear; differently the gladiator or woodcutter, who then groan when they strain themselves to firmness and effort: the one to strike an enemy, the other to fell an oak with an axe. But in God one sees both groaning and grinding from disgust, and from offense a sighing, by which the Lord rouses Himself to the longed-for blow, says Sanchez. Again "I will grind" signifies that God is here compared to a wagon, not so much insofar as He Himself presses and treads upon enemies like a laden wagon, as Aben-Ezra, Lyranus and Palacius think, but insofar as like a wagon laden with hay, which from the lightness of the hay now inclining to this side, now to that, is shaken, rumbles and grinds. Note here that the noise of enemies, of arms, of battles and of warlike devastation is rightly compared to the grinding of a wagon, which when laden with something light, namely hay or straw, grinds more than if it were laden with stones: for stones press more, bind, burden, and therefore firmly weigh down the wagon and impede its shaking and grinding: hay does the contrary in every respect. At the same time the pleasures of sinners are aptly compared to light and vile things, namely hay and straw, which immediately wither, dry up, are snatched away by the wind, consumed by fire: in like manner pleasures pass away, wither, and are consumed by the fire of hell. Again for hay in Hebrew is עמיר amir, that is a sheaf, that is sheaves, by which is signified the multitude of sins: "This is the hay, says St. Jerome, of which the Prophet speaks, Psalm CXXVIII: Let them be as the hay of the housetops,
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which before it is plucked up has withered. And: All flesh is hay: but straw is that, upon the burning of which the prophet Micah, cap. VII, bewails it saying: Woe is me! because I am become as one that gathers stubble in the harvest, etc. This is the hay and straw, of which also the Apostle speaks I Corinthians III: Wood, hay, stubble—each man's work shall be made manifest; for the day of the Lord shall declare it, because it shall be revealed in fire. Wherefore some in Vatablus thus translate: Behold I will cause to grind (you) under you, that is in your places, or I will cause you to grind, namely under the burden of tribulations. For meic signifies thus to press something, to straiten, to burden with so many weights and straits, that the pressed and oppressed thing groans and grinds under them like an excessively laden wagon. And "under you" or "beneath you"; to the Hebrews is the same as in your place, as is evident from Exodus XVI, 29, Habakkuk III, 16, and elsewhere. Thus St. Jerome, Remigius, Hugo, Lyranus and others. The Septuagint agrees, which translates: Behold I roll (straits and tribulations) under you (in your place) as a wagon full of straw is rolled; so that you cannot flee from them and escape them. Whence he adds: "And flight will perish from the swift," etc. Thus Theodoret. And St. Jerome: "To roll, he says, under them like a wagon God threatens, burdened with hay or straw, so that because they do not have grain to store in barns, their hay and straw shall be consumed by fire." In like manner Ovid said "grinding wagons," lib. III Trist. eleg. 12, and Virgil, lib. VIII Aeneid: And the fastenings of steel grind in the caverns.
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And IV Georgics: The bees grind in the womb and burst forth with broken ribs. And Aeneid lib. I: The hinge grinds on the bronze doors.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 2 « et mittam ignem in Moab et devorabit aedes Carioth et morietur in sonitu Moab, in clangore tubae ;
2:3
v. 3 et disperdam iudicem de medio eius et omnes principes eius interficiam cum eo, dicit Dominus » ; — Carioth ! una est ex praecipuis urbibus Moabitidis (cf. Ier. 48, 24. 41), cuius ruinas in viculo Kereyat agnoscunt (cf. Keil). Moab tumultu bellico interibit (cf. Is. 15, 1 et seq. Ier. 48. Ez. 28, 8). ludex dignitatis nomen est pro duce, summo principe cf. 1, 5 tenens sceptrum. Hebr. et morietur Moab in tumultu, in clamore, in voce tubae ?.
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v. 4 « Haec dicit Dominus : super tribus sceleribus Iuda, et super quattuor non convertam eum, eo quod abiecerit legem Domini et mandata eius non custodierit ; deceperunt enim eos idola sua, post quae abierant patres eorum ;
« Ecce et in isto nulla est distinctio gentilis et Iudaei. Sermo divinus, iudex aequus, nulli personae parcit .. .nec in poena disiungit, quos culpa coniunxit » (Rup.); « meminit vero tribus Iudae, quam praecipue poena dignam censet, propterea quod circa Dei templum habitans nihilo tamen minus irreligiosa erat » (Theod. M. sim. Alb.) ;
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v. 5 et mittam ignem in luda et devorabit aedes lerusalem » ; — hebr. eo quod aversati sunt legem Domini . . . et seduxerunt eos mendacia eorum i. e. idola, quae cum non exsistant ab hominibus finguntur, ex quibus 1. « Quod nomen est civitatis, licet Septuaginta urbium eius interpretati sint » Hier. vane et falso auxilium sibi promittunt cultores, quae igitur in exsistentia, potentia nihil sunt nisi mendacia et cultorum animos innumeris deceptionibus implicant ; simili ratione dii vocantur nihil, vanitates, abominationes, slercorei etc. Crimen capitale Iudaeorum est aversari legem tanta maiestatis promulgatione datam et multiplicem illam institutionem religiosam ac civilem non observare, qua in officio contineri debuerunt, ne ad gentium mores diffluerent ; apostasiae vero culmen est idololatria, fatali usu in Iuda inveteratum '. Quare violati foederis poenas dabunt congruas : regnum Iuda dissipabitur, regni ac theocratiae sedes igne delebitur. Haec. destructio externa interioris est indicium, sequela, poena. Instaurationem futuram, quae iam ex 2 Reg. 7, 14 etc. exspectanda est, infra indicat propheta 9, 41. : Ultimo demum loco post tot iudiciorum ac tonitruum praeambula, quae in omni regione circa regnum israeliticum fiunt, super ipsum hoc regnum reprehensio prophetica devolvitur ; devolvitur autem ultimo loco, quo post talem praeparationem magis percellantur, quo aliorum sceleribus praemissis Israelis scelus et supplicium a Deo decretum magis amplificetur (Sanct.), et quia vates in sceleribus Israel exagitandis diutius immorari vult (Alb. Mar.). Ita sibi viam parat ad proprium rei tractandae argumentum. Unde merito S. Hier. advertit : « idcirco ponit novissimum Israel, quoniam prope omnia quae sequuntur, ad ipsum scripta praediximus, ut sub uno textu sermo propheticus libri ordinem contineret » ;
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v. 6 « haec dicit Dominus : super tribus sceleribus Israel et super quattuor non convertam eum, pro eo quod vendiderit pro argento iustum el pauperem pro calceamentis » ; — iudices accusat denegatae ac violatae iustitiae ex turpi lucro et mercede; « iustum nunc non dicit hominem virtute ornatum, sed illum cui in litium controversia ius aequum reddendum erat » (Theod. M.), « qui iuste atque legitime de honore aut bonorum possessione certat, cui iura favent et aequitas, sed iudicum adversatur improbitas et largitionibus corrupta fides ; dicitur vendi ius- (um, cum tamen iudicia pretio vendantur, quia per metonymiam possessor pro re possessa ponitur » (Sanct.) ; similiter pro vilissima re, veluti pro binis calceis meliorem pauperis causam opprimunt, produnt, pessum dant (Sanct. Rib. Sa, Mar. Men. Calm.) ; perinde uti Deus de pseudoprophetis conqueritur: « violabant me ad populum meum propter pugillum hordei et fragmen panis » Ez. 13, 19. Lev. 25, 39. 4 Reg. 4, 1) vel in ius vocatur et creditoris arbitrio traditur. Consentiunt LXX £&vexev óxoónudtov: « istud facere soliti sunt propter quaesticulum levissimum, qui ipsis accipientibus ad comparanda calceamenta tantum prodesse queat » (Cyr.): — Similiter aliqui prius quoque membrum exponunt : hominem iustum et probum vendunt i. e. iudices talem propter minimam pecuniae summam, cui solvendae impar sit, creditori tamquam servum adiudicant i vf. [itz.). At prior expositio de corrupta iudicum fide omnino est retinenda. Ad foedam iustitiae violationem alia quoque scelera oppressionis et impurae libidinis accedunt : v. "1 « qui conterunt super pulverem terrae capita pauperum et. viam humilium declinant. Et filius ac d eius ierunt ad. puellam, ut violarent nomen sanctum meum » ; — i. e. pauperes plane abiiciunt et opprimunt ; non solum iudices, verum pd que possunt, pauperes quasi pedibus conculcant, capita eorum terrae allidunt i. e. summe eos vexant et affligunt! et eos in praecipitium agunt, viam quam ingrediuntur subvértentes et in avia ac devia inclinantes ? Foedum praeterea crimen incestus reprehenditur, quo omni pudore abiecto pater et filius eadem pellice vol meretrice uterentur ( LXX «2835 «7v a)? xacbicxny), qua turpitudine leges illas Lev. 18, 7. 20, 11 promulcatas impudenter violabant et crimen illud adeo in Ruben reprehensum (Gen. 35, 92 ; 49, 4) committebant (cf. Hier. Cyr. Ps. Ruf. Rup.). Tali vero spurcitia id effecerunt, ut. «vicini alienigenae haec audientes contra universorum Deum linguam efferrent, vel quod eiusmodi praeciperet vel quod talia committentem populum toleraret » ( Theod.). Hanc nominis Dei apud exteros infamiam ac blasphemiam nexu quodam . individuo crimini illi sociari vates innuit dicens ut violarent, simulque indicat, eos satis sibi conscios fuisse et esse, tali vitae turpitudine Dominum . apud vicinas gentes in contemptum vocari, quasi non melius suis providisset neque melioribus eos doctrinis instituisset. Nulla est enim ratio illud ut violarent ad merum eventum vel £xfactv revocandi ; e contra plane naturae hominum insitum est, ut peccantes sibi aliqua saltem ratione conscii sint, se simul Deo suaeque religioni ac fidei apud alios opprobrium creare ! ; quare vere id etiam velle dici possunt, praesertim ad accusationis vim et criminis enormitatem augendam. Accedunt alia
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v. 8 « et super vestimentis pignoratis accubuerunt iuxta omne altare et vinum damnatorum bibebant in domo Dei sui » ; — i. e. vestimentis, quae pignoris loco pauperibus eripuerant, tamquam stragulis utuntur, dum ad altaria in Dan et Bethel epulis sacrificialibus accumbunt ; vestimenta a pauperibus pignoris loco accepta per noctem retinere lege prohibitum erat Ex. 22, 25. Deut. 24, 12 ; iis vero uti tamquam rebus propriis iniustum est (cf. Sanct.); at oppressores illi et usurarii ad ipsas epulas sacrificiales illa adhibere non verebantur. Easdem epulas vino. damnatorum! i. e. vino quod pecuniis ac mulctis iniuste oppressorum comparaverant, foedare non dubitabant, atque adeo iustitiae violatae sensum exuerant, ut talia facerent impudenter /n domo Det sui i. e. in sanctuario Dan et Bethel erecto, ubi Dominum sub vitulorum symbolo colebant (cf. 3 Reg. 19, 98. 29). Ita de cultu Dei haec dici, etiam LXX suadent £v «à cix «c3 0:c39 a5-ov. et commendatur, quia si coram Deo talia fiant, reprehensio augetur ; sed quid refert, si coram idolis eiusmodi convivia celebrant (cf, Schegg)? Plerique tamen idola h. l. intelligunt. Quod si cui placet, sensus inde colligi potest non spernendus : vel tam nihili aestimant idola, ut rapinis et iniustitiis ea colant ; vel ad cetera crimina idololatriam adiungunt. « Tenet consuetudinem suam, ut ad exasperandum ingratorum facinus beneficia praemissa commemoret » (Ps. Ruf.); « per ingratitudinem exagzerat peccatum decem tribuum, primo ostendens beneficia praestita quattuor, duo corporalia et duo spiritualia, secundo ingratitudinem » (Alb.) ; unde
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v. 9 « ego autem exterminavi Amorrhaeum a facie eorum, cuius altitudo cedrorum altitudo eius et fortis ipse quasi quercus ; et contrivi fructum etus desuper et radices eius subter » ;, — tribum nominat ex canaaniticis robustissimam, quae in orientali Iordanis regione habitans duce Moyse est devicta campis eius tribubus Gad et Ruben et dimidiae tribui Manasse attributis ?; describit robur eorum usus exaggeratione illa, quam exploratores fere ad terrorem incutiendum adhibuerant (Num. 13, 33 — cf. Ps. 36, 335). Eo magis in iis prosternendis divina virtus eluxit, quare victoriae de eorum regibus Sehon et Og reportatae semper habebantur in praecipui beneficii loco ! ; illos stirpitus esse evulsos ait; « quoniam de arbore locutus est, persistit accommodate in metaphora et damnum eius usque ad radicem pertinuisse dicit et ita quoque fructum sublatum » (Cyr.) ; fructum et radicem velarboris truncum contrivit i. e. omnes, filios et parentes, usque ad internecionem delevit (cf. metaphoram apud Ez. 1*1, 9. Os. 9, 16. Iob 18, 16). Soli Amorrhaei commemorantur, « quia fortissimus erat Amorrhaeus,... et ideo saepe cum sermo esset de Chananaeorum terra, quam septem nationes occuparant, unus tamen nominatur Amorrhaeus Gen. 15, 16 » (Sanct. — cf. Ios. 10, 8; 24, 18. 3 Reg. 21, 26). Beneficia etiam priora atque maiora commemorat, eos alloquendo non sine affectu ; « quidni? cum eis etiam priscis temporibus beneficia contulissem » (Ps. Ruf.) ;
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v. 10 « ego sum qui ascendere vos feci de terra. Aegypti et duxi vos 1n deserto quadraginta annis, ut possideretis lerram. Amorrhaei » ;, — eius beneficii memoriam etiam Moyses iterato populo inculcat Deut. 8, 29; 9, 14 - 6; 29, 2- 8. — « Nec tamen praesentis vitae contulisse tantum instrumenta contentus, reddidi vos per spiritualia quoque ornamenta conspicuos » (Ps. Ruf.)
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v. 11 « et suscilavi de filiis vestris in prophetas et de iuvenibus vestris nazaraeos ; mumquid non ita est, filii Israel ? dicit Dominus » ; — i. e. non solum terram eis concessit, verum ut continuo in observatione mandatorum Dei continerentur, tales eis providit viros, qui a Deo missi et edocti viam legis eos docerent, et qui vitae suae exemplo et sanctitate eos de praesentis auxilii Dei potentia et de legis observandae officio admonerent, brevi, qui doctrina et exemplo, verbis et factis eos de divinis erudirent. Exstitisse scil. seriem prophetarum non interruptam a Moyse et deinceps, certum est ?.— Nazaraei votis atque observationibus ultra communia sese Deo eiusque servitio consecrabant ; quod tales viros Deus inter eos excitabat, argumento erat, Deum benevolentia et gratia sua illis praesto adesse (cf. Num. 6), et sanctioris vitae exemplum iis proponere et hac ipsa paucorum electione et consecratione universum populum tamquam Dei hereditatem agnosci. Bene advertunt Rib. Lap., nazaraeos fuisse quasi religiosos veteris legis, votis Deo consecratos et a rerum mundanarum commercio magis separatos. Et tales ex populi numero eligi a Deo et ad sanctiorem vitam vocari, inter maxima beneficia populo praestita Deus numerat et inter documenta divini favoris clarissima, quae ultro ab omnibus agnosci debeant ; subiungit enim numquid non ita est ? Verum ingrati illi neque sanctioris vitae exempla videre neque divinae legis adhortationem audire volebant; odio insano utrumque impedire et exstinguere tentarunt ;
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v. 12 « et propinabitis nazaraeis vinum et prophetis mandabitis dicentes : ne prophetetis » ! — i. e. ex hebr. propinabatis !, mandabatis de eo, quod facere consueverant; aegre enim ferentes Dei cultum a nazaraeis exhibitum illos ab hac consecratione recedere coegerunt ; « vos quidem in gratiam meam constanter iniurii fuistis, dum et homines vitae puriori,deditos, participare vinum coegistis nec non reliqua omnia a quibus secundum propositum suum abstinere volebant ; denique etiam prophetas, quominus opere suo fungerentur, prohibuistis « (Theod. M.). « Nazaraeis namque habentibus super se continentiae votum vinum propinare et voti reos facere, satis pro argumento est nullum velle habere sanctum, et prophetis mandare ut non prophetarent, hoc nimirum erat non solum loqui, sed etiam agere contra Spiritum Sanctum, qui loquebatur per os prophetarum » (Rup.). Multiplicem igitur Dei gratiam repudiabant. At quia coeleste beneficium spreverunt, etiam terrestre amittent (Ps. Ruf.). Unde
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v. 413 « ecce ego stridebo subter vos, sicut stridet plaustrum onustum foeno » ; — « sumit propheta, utpote rusticus et armentarius ex rure reque pastoritia similitudinem » (Sanct. sim. Rib. Men.) ; Deo scil. oneri sunt ac fastidio; « primo enim quando boni erant, gestavit eos Dominus in sinu suo, sicut nutrix infantem ; postea autem cum mali erant, cum labore portavit eos, sicut plaustrum onustum » (Alb.), vel, ut S. Hier. comparationem declarat : « sicut plaustrum stipulae vel foeni onere praegravatum stridore et sonitu longe exululat, sic ego peccata vestra ultra non sustinens et quasi stipulam tradens incendio, clamabo et dicam : peribit fuga.. ». Significat ergo Deus se quasi onere intolerabili gravari? et gemere et conqueri de pondere et iniquitate peccantium (cf. Cyr. Haimo, Lap. Mar. Men. Tir. Calm. Schegg), uti Is. 43, 24. Ier. 23, 33. Eodem modo hebr. textus est intelligendus : ecce ego pressus sum subter vos sicut premitur plaustrum plenum manipulis (cf. Calm. Schegg); pvo scil. hiphil acervatorum amplius sustinere nequeam... talibus impietatibus vestris propemodum oneratus, ut axis in plaustro, quod stipularum manipulis plenum est, clamorem edam multo maximum », dum Theod. et Theod. M. interpretentur : tantis vos onerabo suppliciis, ut lugeatis et gematis sicut plaustrum gravi onere pressum stridet, dum trahitur. Alii hebr. explicant ? vos opprimam, in vos pleno pondere incumbam (Keil) ; vel locum vestrum coarctabo, cingam (cf. Fürst L.) ; alii textum mutandum esse censent et rescribendum p'39D etc. i. e. quae subter vos sint concutiam (cf. Hitz.). At immerito. — Parumper alio vertunt comparationem Rib. Sanct. Sa : « quemadmodum stridet et longe lateque sonat plaustrum... ita ego in vobis et in terra vestra audiri faciam magnum stridorem et molestissimum auribus vestris sonum » (Rib.) et Rup. : « hoc est Dominum quasi plaustrum onustum stridere : causas excidii vel captivitatis illorum latere non sinere ». In hebr. *"2Y manipulus, merges ; S. Hier. de stipularum mani- Deus igitur onere illo gravatus illud excutiet i. e. manum suam protectricem ab eis avertet, eos iam non sustinebit ; quare omnes eorum conatus erunt irriti, nihil iam virtute vel fortitudine vel arte bellica valebunt : respublica concidet :
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v. 14 « et peribit fuga a veloce et fortis non obtinebit virtutem suam et robustus non salvabit animam suam,
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v. 13. et tenens arcum non stabit et velox pedibus suis non salvabitur et ascensor equi non salvabit animam suam,
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v. 16 et robustus corde inter fortes nudus fugiet in illa die, dicit Dominus » ; — distincta hac et longiore enumeratione per singula facta ad emphasim et animorum commotionem effert, ruinam a Deo intentatam humana ope averti vel impediri nullo modo posse ; perit fuga i. e. etiam velocissimus quisque fuga ex interitu non poterit se proripere ; neque virtus neque robur neque ullum armorum vel artis bellicae genus ruinam illam et interitum prohibebit, verum qui inter fortes ipsos robustus corde censetur i. e. fortium fortissimus armis spoliatus turpiter fugiet. Toti vaticinio quasi s?gillum et confirmatio additur dicit Dominus vel effatum Domini (hebr.) ; iterato Amos hanc esse divinam praedictionem, affirmationem, voluntatem effert ; ita firmum Dei decretum, quod nullo modo mutabitur vel retractabitur, indicat. Tribus orationibus haec pars commode potest dividi : cp. 3. cp. 4.- cp. 3-6. Atque in prima oratione Deus eos monet de sua electione olim facta, a qua tam turpiter desciverint, ut ipsae gentes eos debeant condemnare in iudicio : quare diram castigationem denuntiat. In altera oratione populi contumacia praecipue exagitatur, quam Deus variis poenis immissis frustra vincere conatus sit, quare ad extremam castigationem erit deveniendum. Eam in tertia oratione per modum planctus illustrat et viam delineat, qua excidium sibi parant ; illud excidium, diem Domini, fore horrendum ; principes auctores ruinae et scelerum fautores vehementer incusat et ruinam totius reipublicae, captivitatem, mortem vaticinatus Deum dicit gentem esse suscitaturum, ultionis suae in Israel ministram. — Quare ex una parte beneficia recenset a populo accepta et scelera eorum perstringit, quibus Deo vocanti et ad poenitentiam invitanti obstiterint, ex altera parte iudicium imminens vario modo depingit. I. — PRIMA OnATIO CP. 3 : DENUNTIATIO CASTIGATIONIS. Anc. — Dominus populum Israel sibi elegit, quare peccata non relinquet impunita ; instat iudicium a Deo auctore immissum, quod effugere non poterunt, quod merito expavescant (3, 1-8). Tale iudicium sibi attrahunt propter scelera et iniquitatem, quae ipsis gentibus iudicibus abominationi esse debent. Quare hoste adventante Samaria praedae ct vastationi, homines neci, altaria Bethel destructioni dabuntur (3, 9-15). Peculiari cura et providentia Deus populum suum cinxerat eumque prae reliquis gentibus singulari dignitate theocratiae exornaverat ; at hisce ornamentis eius culpa non minuitur, sed augetur, Deique ultio provocatur. Quare Deus ingratis beneficia praestita in memoriam revocat et quo maioribus emolumentis fruiti sint, eo etiam acerbiores scelerum poenas eos daturos esse minatur:
2:1
… Abel [op. cit. in bibl.], p. 280). Thus were fulfilled the prophecies against M. (Is. 15-16; Jer. 48; Ezek. 25:8-11; Zeph. 2:8-11), often cruel and inhuman (Am. 2:1).
2:2
… It is perhaps the homeland of Judas "Iscariot." - 2) A city in the territory of Moab (Am. 2:2; Jer. 46:24), perhaps identical with present-day Qarjat Falhah, 6 km northeast of Dibân, or with Hirbet el-Qurejjat, 6 km northwest of Dibân. …
2:4
… And they presuppose these precepts as known, when they inveigh against their violation: Am. 2:4-16; Hos. 4:6; 6:5-11; Is. 1:12; Jer. 6:19; Mic. 6:8; etc.
… In the minor prophets, even in the most ancient (Am. 2:4; 4:13; 5:8 ff.; 9:2, 5 ff.; Hos. 4:12; 9:10; 13:4), the same faith is found.
… Among the prophets the t. (usually in the singular) is moral and spiritual "teaching" (Am. 2, 4); "the t. of our God" encompasses the norms of morality in which true service of God consists (Is. 1, 10; 5, 24; 8, 16, 20; 30, 9). The prophet is called môrah ("teacher"), of …
2:8
… One must give prominence to the testimonies of the P. itself on the parts written by Moses; to the references of the most ancient prophets to laws and traditions as known, recognized, widespread (thus Hos. 8:12, which speaks of a great quantity of written Töröth; Amos 2:8, which clearly refers to Deut. 24:12; etc.). …
2:9
From the ethnological standpoint, some authors, basing themselves on Am. 2:9, which describes the A. as a "tall and robust race," and on the Egyptian paintings that represent them as bearded, with yellowish skin, blue eyes and red eyelashes, included them in …
In literature the metaphor "cedar of Lebanon" signifies power, beauty or inconsiderate pride (Zech. 11:1; Ezek. 31:2; 17:3, 22; Amos 2:9). With reference to the cedar of Lebanon the prevalence of the just is wished for (Ps. 91:13) or the pride of the wicked is condemned (Ps. 28:5; 36:35). The bridegroom in Cant. 5:15 …
The four cities became the type of perversity and of the ruin that follows it (Deut. 29:22; Sodom, Ex. 16:79; Sodom and Gomorrah Is. 1:9; 13:19; Jer. 23:14; 48:18; 50:40; Am. 2:9; Admah and Zeboiim Hos. 11:8). "A witness to so much wickedness remains a smoking wasteland and trees that bear unripe fruit, and, in memory of an unbelieving soul, a standing pillar …
2:10
… Meanwhile, it is known from Am. 2:10; 4:6-9; Hos. 5:10; 6:1 etc.; to speak of a "Deuteronomistic redactor" is to fall into a petitio principii. …
already Amos 2:10 ff.; Jer. 7:25 trace the institution of prophetism back to Moses [Hos. 12:14]). From ecstatic prophetism, evolving through Elijah and Elisha, one would arrive at Amos, who would introduce …
2:11
… Others, insisting, believe that St. Matthew alludes to the prophecies that present the Messiah as a nāsir (Nazirite [v. NAZIRITE], consecrated, sanctified, prince: cf. Judg. 13:5-7; 16:17; Am. 2:11-12; Gen. 49:26, etc.). …
… Iud., II, 15, 1). This latter case is regulated by the law of Num. 6, in which the abstinences recalled above are prescribed (cf. also Am. 2:11-12) and the rites are indicated (always considered a solemn cultic manifestation: cf. 1 Macc. 3:49) on the occasion of the completion of the time of the vow (Am. 2:13 ff.).
2:13
… the law of Num. 6, in which the abstinences recalled above are prescribed (cf. also Am. 2:11-12) and the rites are indicated (always considered a solemn cultic manifestation: cf. 1 Macc. 3:49) on the occasion of the completion of the time of the vow (Am. 2:13 ff.).
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.