The desolation of Israel for their pride and luxury.
For the auarice, and luxurie of both kingdomes, 7. they shal be caried into captiuitie.
1Woe to you that are wealthy in Sion, and to you that have confidence in the mountain of Samaria: ye great men, heads of the people, that go in with state into the house of Israel.Guai a voi, che in Sion nuotate nell'abbondanza, e a voi, che vivete senza timori sul monte di Samaria; a voi ottimati capi di popoli, che entrate con fasto nelle adunanze di Israele?VVO TO you that are rich in Sion, and haue confidence in the mountaine of Samaria: ye great men, heads of the peoples, going stately into the house of Israel.Væ qui opulenti estis in Sion, / et confiditis in monte Samariæ: / optimates capita populorum, / ingredientes pompatice domum Israël ! 2Pass ye over to Chalane, and see, and go from thence into Emath the great: and go down into Geth of the Philistines, and to all the best kingdoms of these: if their border be larger than your border.Andate a Chalanne, e considerate, e di là passate ad Emath la grande, e scendete a Geth de' Palestini, e ai regni migliori dipendenti da queste città. Han elleno più spaziosi confini de' vostri?Passe ye into Chalane, and see, & goe ye thence into Emath the great: and descend into Geth of the Palestines, and to al the best kingdoms of these: if their border be larger then your border.Transite in Chalane, et videte, / et ite inde in Emath magnam, / et descendite in Geth Palæstinorum, / et ad optima quæque regna horum: / si latior terminus eorum termino vestro est. 3You that are separated unto the evil day: and that approach to the throne of iniquity;Voi però siete serbati al giorno cattivo, e vi appressate al trono dell'iniquità.You that are seperated vnto the euil day: and approch to the throne of iniquitie.Qui separati estis in diem malum, / et appropinquatis solio iniquitatis; 4You that sleep upon beds of ivory, and are wanton on your couches: that eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the herd;Voi, che dormite in letti d'avorio, e vi sdraiate ne' vostri soffici letti; voi che mangiate gli agnelli più grassi, e i vitelli scelti da tutto l'armento.You that sleepe in beds of iuorie, and play the wantons in your couches: that eate the lambe out of the flocke, and calues out of the middes of the heard.qui dormitis in lectis eburneis, / et lascivitis in stratis vestris; / qui comeditis agnum de grege, / et vitulos de medio armenti; 5You that sing to the sound of the psaltery: they have thought themselves to have instruments of music like David;Voi, che cantate al suono del saltero: egli hanno stimato di avere gli strumenti di musica come Davidde.You that sing to the voice of the psalter: as Dauid they haue thought themselues to haue the instruments of song.qui canitis ad vocem psalterii, / sicut David putaverunt se habere vasa cantici,
6That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best ointments: and they are not concerned for the affliction of Joseph.Eglino bevendo il vino in ampie ciotole, spirando ottimi unguenti, veruna compassione non hanno dell'afflizione di Giuseppe.That drinke wine in phials, and are annoynted with the best oyntment: and they suffered nothing vpon the contrition of Ioseph.bibentes vinum in phialis, / et optimo unguento delibuti, / et nihil patiebantur super contritione Joseph. 7Wherefore now they shall go captive at the head of them that go into captivity: and the faction of the luxurious ones shall be taken away.Per questo anderanno adesso alla testa degli altri nella trasmigrazione, e sarà dispersa la combriccola de' lascivi.Wherfore now they shal goe in the head of them, that goe in transmigration: and the faction of the wantons shal be taken away.Quapropter nunc migrabunt in capite transmigrantium, / et auferetur factio lascivientium. 8The Lord God hath sworn by his own soul, saith the Lord the God of hosts: I detest the pride of Jacob, and I hate his houses, and I will deliver up the city with the inhabitants thereof.Il Signore Dio ha giurato per se medesimo, il Signore Dio degli eserciti ha detto: Io detesto la superbia di Giacobbe, e odio i suoi palazzi, e darò in potere di altri la città co' suoi abitatori:The Lord God hath sworne by his soule, saith our Lord the God of hostes: I detest the pride of Iacob, and I hate his houses, and I wil deliuer vp the citie with the inhabitants therof.Juravit Dominus Deus in anima sua, / dicit Dominus Deus exercituum: / Detestor ego superbiam Jacob, / et domos ejus odi, / et tradam civitatem cum habitatoribus suis. 9And if there remain ten men in one house, they also shall die.Che se dieci uomini restassero in una casa, periranno anche questi.And if there shal be left tenne men in one house, they also shal dye.Quod si reliqui fuerint decem viri in domo una, / et ipsi morientur. 10And a man’s kinsman shall take him up, and shall burn him, that he may carry the bones out of the house; and he shall say to him that is in the inner rooms of the house: Is there yet any with thee?E un parente li prenderà l'un dopo l'altro, e gli abbrucerà, e porterà fuori della casa le ossa, e dirà a colui, che è nel fondo della casa: l'ha egli ancora qualcheduno con te?And his kinsman shal take him vp, and shal burne him, that he may carie the bones out of the house: and he shal say to him, that is in the inner parts of the house: Is there yet with thee?Et tollet eum propinquus suus, et comburet eum, / ut efferat ossa de domo; / et dicet ei, qui in penetralibus domus est: / Numquid adhuc est penes te ?
11And he shall answer: There is an end. And he shall say to him: Hold thy peace, and mention not the name of the Lord.E quegli risponderà: E finito: e quegli dirà a lui: Taci, e non far menzione del nome del Signore;And he shal answer: There is an end. And he shal say to him: Hold thy peace, & remember not the name of our Lord.Et respondebit: Finis est. / Et dicet ei: Tace, / et non recorderis nominis Domini. 12For behold the Lord hath commanded, and he will strike the greater house with breaches, and the lesser house with clefts.Perocché ecco che il Signore lo ha decretato, ed ei manderà rovine alla casa grande, e fessure alla casa minore.Because loe our Lord hath commanded, and he wil strike the greater house with ruins, and the lesser house with clefts.Quia ecce Dominus mandabit, / et percutiet domum majorem ruinis, / et domum minorem scissionibus. 13Can horses run upon the rocks, or can any one plough with buffles? for you have turned judgment into bitterness, and the fruit of justice into wormwood.Posson forse correre i cavalli sulle pietre, o si può egli arare co' bufali? Or voi il giudizio avete cangiato in oppressione, e il frutto della giustizia in assenzio.Why can horses runne vpon rockes, or can there be ploughing with buffles? because you haue turned iudgement into bitternes, and the fruite of iustice into worme wood?Numquid currere queunt in petris equi, / aut arari potest in bubalis ? / quoniam convertistis in amaritudinem judicium, / et fructum justitiæ in absinthium. 14You that rejoice in a thing of nought: you that say: Have we not taken unto us horns by our own strength?Voi fondate la vostra allegrezza sul nulla, e dite: Non è ella stata la nostra fortezza, che ci ha renduti potenti?Which reioyce in thinges of naught: which say: Why haue not we taken vnto vs hornes in our owne strength?Qui lætamini in nihilo; qui dicitis: / Numquid non in fortitudine nostra assumpsimus nobis cornua ? 15But behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel, saith the Lord the God of hosts; and they shall destroy you from the entrance of Emath, even to the torrent of the desert.Ecco che io, o casa d'Israele, moverò contro di voi una nazione, dice il Signore Dio degli eserciti: e questa vi struggerà dalle gole di Emath fino al torrente del deserto.For behold I wil rayse vp from you ô house of Israel, saith our Lord the God of hostes, a nation: and they shal destroy you from the entrance of Emath, euen to the torrent of the desert.Ecce enim suscitabo super vos, domus Israël, / dicit Dominus Deus exercituum, gentem, / et conteret vos ab introitu Emath usque ad torrentem deserti.
6:1
Calmet
Wealthy. Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic, "despisers of Sion." Hebrew also, "who hate Sion." The prophecy wholly regards Israel. (Calmet)
Worthington
It is a great crime for the rich to neglect the poor; but still more so, when wealthy clergymen shew no compassion for the spiritual or corporal wants of their neighbours. (Worthington)
State. Hebrew, "to whom the house of Israel comes" for judgment.
6:2
Haydock
Chalane. Ctesiphon (Calmet) was built on its ruins, Genesis 10:10. (Haydock)
Why do you imitate these cities? or, has their greatness protected them? Phul probably took Chalane, and Jeroboam II the other cities, ver. 15., and 4 Kings 14:25. At that time there was no appearance of the kingdom being destroyed; yet Amos composes a funeral canticle, to shew the certainty of the event.
6:3
Haydock
Separated. Hebrew, "remove the evil day," as if it would not overtake you, Ezechiel 12:22. Septuagint, "who are praying (Calmet) or coming (Grabe) to the evil day, approaching and touching false sabbaths." (Haydock)
Haydock
They pray to be delivered, while they continue (Calmet) their false worship. (Haydock)
6:4
Calmet
Ivory, with which the beds for eating were adorned, ver. 7. (Calmet)
Haydock
Wanton. Hebrew, "stretch themselves out upon their," etc. (Haydock)
6:5
Calmet
David. They think they excel him in music; but he consecrated his talent to a better purpose. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "they deemed them stable, and not fugitive things." (Haydock)
Calmet
They have placed their chief good in such pleasures. (Theodoret) (Calmet)
6:6
In bowels. Septuagint, "refined," (Haydock) or cleared of the dregs.
6:7
Luxurious. Hebrew, "the feast of those who stretch themselves out, shall," etc. Septuagint, "the neighing shall be removed from Ephraim." His lusts shall be punished, Jeremias 5:8.
Calmet
Some translate [the] Hebrew, "the mourning of those who stretch themselves on their beds is at hand." Others, "their funeral feast is distant." None shall bewail their death. So ambiguous is the original. (Calmet)
6:8
Worthington
Jacob. God loved the humility of the patriarch, and hated the pride of his posterity. (Worthington)
6:9
Die. Their numbers will not protect them from the plague.
6:10
Calmet
Burn. After the captivity, it was more common to bury or to embalm the dead. (Calmet)
6:11
Theodoret
Lord. He has done it. Do not repine. (Theodoret; St. Cyril)
Calmet
Hebrew, "Be silent, and not to remember the," etc. He will offer comfort. (Calmet)
St. Jerome
Still, none will return to the Lord. (St. Jerome)
6:12
Grotius
Clefts. All shall perish, (Calmet) both Israel and Juda. (Chaldean) (Grotius)
But he speaks only of the former.
6:13
Calmet
Buffles, which cannot be tamed. Hebrew, "with oxen." We must understand, on rocks. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "Shall they be silent when they are with females?" (Haydock)
Worthington
To turn the works of justice into sins, is no less unnatural than to plough with wild buffles. (Worthington)
6:14
Naught: in your idols, which are nothing, (1 Corinthians 8:4.) or in your own strength, fortifications, or allies.
Calmet
Horns: glory and power. (Calmet)
Horace
Parata tollo cornua. (Horace, epod. 6.)
6:15
Nation; the Assyrians.
St. Jerome
Desert, commonly called Bezor, (Calmet) between Damietta and Rhinocorura. (St. Jerome)
Calmet
The whole territory of Israel, reaching so far, (ver. 2.) shall be laid waste. (Calmet)
6:1
It is a fowle & odious fault vvhen rich men neglect the poore, but most detestable vvhen the rich in S••n, welthie clergie men, haue not compassion on them that vvant, either spiritual or temporal helpe.
Concordance Iac 5.
6:8
Iere. ••.
VVheras Iacob by humilitie, patience, & manie other vertues, became great in Gods •auour: novv his progenie by pride and delicacie become hateful to God in respect of these sinnes, & are therfore afflicted, and miserably slaine, and caried captiues.
6:13
To turne the vvorkes of iudgement and iustice, into sinnes, vvhich are bitter and vngratful, is as contrarie to order, as it is contrarie to the course of nature, that horses should •unne vpon craggierockes or wild bulles be brought to dravv the plough.
6:1
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 22
… Wherefore now they shall be captives, among the first of the nobles who are carried away; and the house of evil-doers shall be removed, and the neighing of horses shall be taken away from Ephraim.’
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.15
… who eat the kids from the flocks of the goats, and sucking calves from the flocks of the heifers, while they chant to the sound of the viol; as if they thought they should continue long, and were not fleeting; who drink their refined wines, and anoint themselves with the costliest ointments.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.35
… Thus, in the Gospel of John, the woman of Samaria, when conversing with the Lord at the well, says, “No doubt Thou art greater,” etc.; and again, “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; but ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Accordingly, He who said, “Woe unto them that trust in the mountain of Samaria,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On Christian Doctrine 4.7
… that chant to the sound of the viol. They thought that they had instruments of music like David; drinking wine in bowls, and anointing themselves with the costliest ointment: and they were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.”
6:4
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.19
… Look also, I pray you, at those who stretch themselves upon beds of ivory, whom the divine Amos fitly upbraids, who anoint themselves with the chief ointments, and chant to the sound of instruments of music, and attach themselves to transitory things as though they were stable, but have not grieved nor had compassion for the affliction of Joseph;
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Colossians 1
… xxv. 35 .); and all the like words: but the other shall hear the contrary; “Wicked and slothful servant” ( Matt. xxv. 26 .); and again, “Woe unto them that luxuriate upon their couches, and sleep upon beds of ivory, and drink the refined wine, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments; they counted upon these things as staying, and not as fleeting.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 57.11
… The Jews generally laugh when they hear our version of this passage of Isaiah, “Blessed is he that hath seed in Zion and servants in Jerusalem.” In Amos also after a description of self-indulgence
6:6
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 18.9
… And again, He accuses others, saying, That in their luxury, and gluttony, and enjoyment of great security, when they beheld the Jews carried away into captivity, they did not grieve, nor partake of their sadness. And hear what He says, reproaching them: “They suffered nothing in the affliction of Joseph:”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 48
… God forbid they should be: for neither do I desire it. Nevertheless, although they be clear of these, not even so are our costly feasts freed from blame. Hear, at all events, how even apart from these things the prophet finds fault with them, thus speaking, “Woe to them that drink wine racked off, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 75
… Them that exult over persons, justly chastised by Himself, He punishes. And yet they are justly chastised; but thou shouldest not rejoice over them. So the prophet having brought many accusations, added this also, saying, “They felt nothing for the affliction of Joseph;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 10
… For this is cruelty, inhumanity, and arrogance. Tell me what was ever more iniquitous than the Jews. But nevertheless while God punished them, and that justly, yea, very justly, yet He approved of those who had compassion on them, and those who rejoiced over them He punished. (
6:11
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 53.8
… For who can adequately speak of the three transgressions and the four of Damascus, of Gaza, of Tyre, of Idumæa, of Moab, of the children of Ammon, and in the seventh and eighth place of Judah and of Israel? He speaks to the fat kine that are in the mountain of Samaria, and bears witness that the great house and the little house shall fall.
6:12
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 Register of the Epistles of St. Gregory the Great 1.6
… For I, my good man, have, as it were, lost my children, since through earthly cares I have lost works of righteousness. Therefore call me not Noemi, that is fair; but call me Mara, for I am full of bitterness ( Ruth i. 20 ). But as to your saying that I ought not to have written, “That you should plough with bubali
6:13
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 2
Amos vi. 13 . We turn righteousness into wormwood.
6:14
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 2
Amos vi. 14 . “We have taken us horns by our own strength.” These are the boasts of heretics. But
6:1
nunt. Or certainly the Hebrews derived hasschaanannim from the root אין ain, and by crasis en, that is not, nothing, so that the letter scin is not radical, but servile, having the same force as אשר ascer, that is who, as if hasscaanannim were annihilating, that is making nothing, who do not esteem and make nothing of their neighbors and How many Heliogabali are there today, how many spider-catchers, who pursue nothing but wealth and honors, that is, spider-webs! 27. AND I WILL CAUSE YOU TO MIGRATE BEYOND DAMASCUS, — into Assyria: for the ten tribes were led away by the Assyrians from Samaria, as is evident from IV Kings XVII, 6. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Hugo, Arias and others. You will say: How does St. Stephen, Acts VII, 43, citing this passage, say: "And I will transfer you beyond Babylon?" for Babylon is one thing, Damascus another. Oecumenius and Cajetan respond to this, that Damascus here is taken not for a city, but for a region and the dominion of Damascus, which extended as far as Babylon. But this does not seem true; because the Babylonian monarchs ruled widely all around Babylon, not the Damascenes. Again, St. Stephen does not say: I will transfer you to Babylon, but beyond Babylon; but the Damascenes never ruled beyond Babylon. I respond therefore that St. Stephen cites Amos not as to the words, but as to the sense and the matter. For in fact the ten tribes, led beyond Damascus into Babylon, were also led beyond Babylon into Media, Persia and other regions and scattered. For Salmanasar "carried Israel away into the Assyrians, and placed them in Hala and in Habor, by the river Gozan in the cities of the Medes," IV Kings XVII, 6. Whence Tobias, cap. I, 16, visited his fellow captives in Rages, a city of the Medes. Josephus teaches the same in lib. IX Antiq. cap. ult., and lib. XI, cap. V. Thus St. Jerome, Bede, Rupert, Ribera, a Castro and others. Moreover, St. Stephen said this of himself, not from the Septuagint; for the Septuagint here have as our text: Beyond Damascus, not beyond Babylon. God rebukes the nobles who reveled in luxury from the plunder of the poor on couches, drank wine in bowls, etc., and suffered nothing for the affliction of Joseph (the people). Wherefore, verse 8, He swears by His soul that He will utterly destroy and slay them. 1. Woe to you who are wealthy in Zion, and trust in the mount of Samaria: ye nobles, the heads of the people, entering pompously into the house of Israel! 2. Pass over to Chalane, and see, and go thence to Emath the great: and come down to Geth of the Philistines, and to all the best kingdoms of these: if their border be larger than your border. 3. You that are separated unto the evil day: and that approach to the throne of iniquity. 4. You that sleep upon beds of ivory, and are wanton on your couches: that eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the herd. 5. You that sing to the sound of the psaltery, and think you that you have instruments of music like David. 6. That drink wine in bowls, and are anointed with the best ointments: and they are not concerned for the affliction of Joseph. 7. Therefore now they shall go into captivity at the head of them that go into captivity: and the faction of the wanton shall be removed. 8. The Lord God hath sworn by His soul, saith the Lord the God of hosts: I abhor the pride of Jacob, and I hate his houses, and I will deliver up the city with all that is in it. 9. And if there remain ten men in one house, they also shall die. 10. And a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth him, to carry out the bones out of the house; and he shall say to him that is in the innermost parts of the house: Is there yet any one with thee? And he shall answer: No one. And he shall say: Hold thy peace, that thou mayest not make mention of the name of the Lord. 11. For behold the Lord will command, and He will strike the greater house with breaches, and the lesser house with clefts. 12. Can horses run upon the rocks, or can one plough with oxen, that you have turned judgment into gall, and the fruit of justice into wormwood? 13. You that rejoice in nothing: you that say: Have we not taken to ourselves horns by our own strength? 14. For behold I will raise up against you, O house of Israel, saith the Lord the God of hosts, a nation: and they shall crush you from the entrance of Emath unto the torrent of the desert. 1. WOE TO YOU WHO ARE WEALTHY IN ZION! — Hence Arias thinks the Prophet here turns his discourse away from Israel to Judah: for here was the inhabitant of Zion and Jerusalem. Whence he himself translates thus: Woe to the wealthy in Zion, and (that is, as) trusting in the mount of Samaria! as if to say, The same woe threatens the Zionites as I have hitherto directed against the Samaritans. For the word and, when it joins and connects two similar things, is a note of comparison, and has the same force as like, as is evident in Proverbs, in nearly every verse. On the other hand, Theodoret from the Septuagint thinks the discourse here is addressed to the Samaritans alone. For thus the Septuagint translates: Woe to those who despise Sion, that is the Samaritans, who despise the temple of God in Sion, so that they may exalt their own temples in Dan and Bethel! But truly a middle path must be taken here, so that we may join both together. For the Prophet here directly and primarily proceeds, as he began, to speak to the Samaritans; secondarily, however, he also addresses the Sionites and the Jews. For this is clearly signified when he says: Woe to you that are wealthy in Sion, and that trust in the mount of Samaria! And because in verses 6 and 8 he calls them Joseph and Jacob, by which names the Samaritans are properly signified. Finally, clearly in verse 43: "Behold," he says, "I will raise up over you, O house of Israel," etc. Properly therefore Israel, that is the Samaritans, these things concern, yet concomitantly also to the Jews, who were the brothers of Israel both in wickedness and in blood, and therefore brothers likewise destined to be in punishment and destruction, the Prophet extends his threats, so that he may turn them away from the idolatry of Israel through its impending ruin and devastation. Whence the Chaldean, in verse 12, thus has it: A great kingdom shall strike Israel with a strong blow, and a lesser kingdom Juda with a lighter plague. Thus St. Jerome, Remigius, Hugo, Lyran and Vatablus. Note: For wealthy in Hebrew it is השאננים hassçaanannim, that is fertile, rich, abounding, secure. Whence St. Justin Against Tryphon translates: Woe to you who abound in delights in Sion! Pagninus: Woe to the quiet in Sion! Vatablus: Woe to the tranquil, that is living a life in the utmost leisure! For the root שאן sçaan appears to be compounded from שא אין sçe en, that is who nothing, namely fear, care for nothing, do nothing. Again, those to whom nothing is lacking, but in the utmost peace and abundance of things live a secure, tranquil, idle and delicate life. Whence R. David translates: Woe to the rich who are quiet, who trust that nothing evil shall befall them! Sçaanan therefore is a rich man who rests securely and deliciously in his riches. Others: Woe to the insolent! for from riches and delights men become insolent, like calves wantoning in pastures. This the Septuagint, the Syriac and the Arabic appear to have regarded, which translate: Woe to those who despise! for the insolent indeed put on pride and despise others. Or certainly the Hebrew hassçaanannim they derived from the root אין ain, and through crasis en, that is not, nothing, so that the letter scin is not radical, but servile, having the same force as אשר ascer, that is who, as if hassçaanannim were annihilating, that is making nothing, who do not esteem and make nothing of their neighbors and brothers. For this the Greek ἐξουδενοῦσεν hints at, which is likewise derived from οὐδεν, that is none, nothing, as if to say: Who annul others, count them as nothing, hold them for naught. Unless someone should suspect that the Septuagint, for the double nun, read the letter teth, whose character is as it were a double nun, I suppose for השאננים hassçaanannim, read השאטים hassçoatim, that is despising. For the root שאט sçaat properly signifies to despise, to scorn, to contemn, to plunder. To this Christ alluded in Luke VI, 24, saying: "Woe to you that are rich, for you have your consolation! woe to you that are filled, for you shall hunger!" CHIEFS. — In Hebrew נקובי nekube, that is perforated, that is named, famous, celebrated, whom we commonly say run through the tongues and mouths of men, such as are the chiefs and princes.
6:2
THE HEADS OF THE PEOPLES. — The Hebrew ראשית rescit signifies beginning, first fruits, first things, that is, leaders and heads of nations, that is, of peoples, namely of the ten tribes of Israel, as if to say: To you, O nobles, who are the heads of Israel, my discourse is directed. Thus St. Jerome. Or of the nations, that is, of the gentiles, because Israel was eminent among them, and its nobles, as a people chosen by God, and as it were God's firstborn. Whence Arias translates: Most noted first fruits of the nations; the Zurich Bible: Most celebrated first fruits of the nations. Secondly, others refer these not to the nobles, but to the mountains of Sion and Samaria, as if to say: Woe to the wealthy dwelling in the mountains of Sion and Samaria! which mountains were named and famous from of old, namely from the beginning of the nations, as Pagninus translates, or, as Vatablus, from the first fruits of the nations, as if to say: These mountains were named by the most noble nations; for in Sion and in Samaria dwelt the Chanaanites, Amorrhites, Jebusites, and other nations up to seven in number, celebrated for antiquity and strength, as if to say: I God gave you, O Hebrews, these renowned mountains, and drove out for you the former inhabitants, strong and celebrated, why therefore have you abused them against me with pride and ingratitude to luxury, wantonness and idolatry? The following passages favor this sense, where he compares and prefers Sion and Samaria to Chalanne, Emath, Geth, and other notable cities of the nations. Thirdly, the Chaldean translates: Woe to the wealthy, etc., who impose the name of the sons of the nations upon their sons! as if here the Jews are censured, in that they impose gentile names upon their sons, the names of neighboring nations, namely of the Egyptians, Tyrians, Moabites, etc., with whom they entered into commerce and treaties. Let Christians note this, who prefer to give gentile rather than Christian names to their sons. Fourthly, the Syriac translates: They are separated (designated) among the heads of the nations; the Arabic of Antioch: They fed with the heads of peoples; the Arabic of Alexandria: They loved the heads of peoples; heads, that is, the first dignities and offices. Fifthly, the Septuagint newly translates in the Complutensian codex: I have gathered the principalities, or the princes of the nations, as if to say: I have removed the Chanaanite princes from Sion and Samaria, that I might set you, O nobles of the Hebrews, in their place. Whence in the Roman codex, and in Justin Against Trypho, is read: The Israelites gathered the first fruits, or the principalities, that is, the princes of the nations, and they themselves entered, supply in their place and rank: perhaps for נקובי nekube, they read נקבתי nakabti, that is, I pierced, I transfixed with the sword, I killed; or נקמתי nakamti, that is, I avenged, I punished; for which the Septuagint translates, I have gathered, because here the discourse is about the mountains of Sion and Samaria bearing vines, in whose vintage these wealthy princes luxuriated, as if to say: I will gather you as you gathered the vineyards of Samaria, and in them indulged yourselves to wine and belly: And you trust in the mountain of Samaria. Thus the Hebrew, Syriac and others commonly. Wherefore the Arabic wrongly translates: Who trust in the stars of heaven. ENTERING POMPOUSLY INTO THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. — He calls house the assembly, congregation, or the people of Israel gathered together. For pompously in Hebrew is לחם lachem, that is to themselves, or among themselves. For they proceeded with such a retinue and pomp, planted their feet with such arrogance and ostentation, with such zeal through servants moved the crowd aside, and occupied the streets with themselves alone, so that, despising others, they seemed to themselves to enter and proceed alone; as we see even today certain powerful men, and certain matrons even of common rank, proceeding so pompously with such a train, that they themselves alone appear to be pomp, indeed peacocks and puppets. Hence he called them the heads of the nations, because they imitated and displayed the arrogance of the gentile princes whom they had succeeded, especially in their gait. Thus Remigius, Rupertus and St. Jerome, who also adds: "That the body might display the swelling of the mind, and they might seem to be like the litters of processions," concerning which Cicero thus prescribes, book I of the Offices: "We must beware lest we use too soft a slowness in our gait, so that we might seem to be like the litters of processions." Recent translators render it: And the house of Israel entered unto them; thus Pagninus, the Zurich Bible, Vatablus. Again the Chaldean: Upon which the house of Israel leans; or, and they think that the house of Israel is joined to them; the Arabic: They entered with the part (sect) of Israel; the Syriac: They took captive for themselves the sons of Israel. But our Version, as it is clearer and simpler, so it is more genuine and more forceful. For Isaiah censures the same vice of pompous gait among the Israelites and Israelitish women, chapter III, 16: "Because, he says, the daughters of Sion are lifted up, and have walked with stretched out necks, and wanton glances of their eyes, clapping their hands, and walking with a mincing pace: the Lord will make bald the crown of the daughters of Sion," etc. See the remarks there. Solon used to say that great care must be taken in one's gait. For from the gait the mind is discerned: a hasty gait reveals a hasty person, an excessively slow one reveals an idle person, a pompous one reveals an arrogant person. Thus Laertius book I, chapter IV. Indeed the Wise Man, Ecclesiasticus XIX, 27, assigns three indices of the mind, clothing, laughter and gait: "The apparel of the body, he says, and the laughter of the teeth, and the gait of a man declare concerning him." Wherefore Maximus of Tyre, oration 4, thus depicts virtue: "Beautiful, he says, in appearance, quiet in gait, musical in speech, placid and clement in eyes." 2. PASS OVER (Arias wrongly translated, you shall pass over) INTO CHALANE, — that is into Babylon as captives, and into Antioch, and into Geth the city of the Palestines. For nowhere do we read that the Jews were led away to Antioch or Geth. But Chalane was a celebrated and powerful city near Babylon, founded by Nimrod, Genesis X, 10: which later, enlarged by the Parthians, to drain Babylon and Seleucia, was called Ctesiphon, and became the capital of the kingdom. See Pliny book VI, chapter XXVI. The sense is, as if to say, Pass over, O Hebrews, into Chalane, Hamath and Geth, the greatest and most powerful cities, and you will see that they themselves are not greater, more fertile and better in their territories and region than yours, which you possess from my gift. Consider therefore how, by spurning me and worshipping idols, and heaping sin upon sin, you are ungrateful and inhuman toward me, who gave you this land, than which none is more fertile or more excellent. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Lyra, Vatablus and others. INTO GREAT HAMATH. — Hamath, which is also called Hemath, Amath, Hammath, in Hebrew Chamath, was a powerful city, thus named, says Josephus in Antiquities I, chapter VII, from its founder Amath or Amathaeus, who in Hebrew is called Chamati, and was the son of Canaan, son of Ham, Genesis X, 18. Moreover there was a twofold Hamath, says St. Jerome, Ribera and others: one greater, which is here called Great, and was called Antioch by its founder Antiochus, and was the capital of Syria; the other smaller, which was called Epiphania by Antiochus Epiphanes, and Reblata, near Emesa, where Zedekiah was blinded by Nebuchadnezzar, IV Kings XXV, 6. Whence Ortelius places Epiphania between Apamea and Palmyra, toward Mesopotamia in his Theatre of the World. "Great Hamath," says St. Jerome, "which is now called Antioch. But he calls it great to distinguish it from lesser Hamath, which is called Epiphania. Whence even to this day for those traveling through Mesopotamia the first stopping place is called Emmas, indeed with a corrupted name, but retaining the vestiges of the ancient name: whose region is called Reblata, in which in the presence of Nebuchadnezzar the sons of the king of Judah Zedekiah were killed, and his eyes were blinded." And in the Hebrew Places: "Hamath," he says, "a city of Damascus, which the king of the Assyrians attacked, etc. We have spoken of this also above, that it seemed to us this should be Epiphania near Emesa, which even to this day in the Syrian language is thus called." Note that he says, "it seemed to us"; therefore he does not assert this with certainty, but doubtfully and by conjecture. This opinion is favored by the fact that there still exists a notable city by the name Hamath, between Tripoli and Aleppo, as I learned in Rome from the Most Reverend Lord Archbishop of Damascus, a Maronite, and from others who recently traversed Syria, which indeed Hamath is situated in almost the same place where ancient Epiphania was, as is evident from cosmographical tables. Secondly, others on the contrary more probably judge that Scripture places only one Hamath, namely Antioch, situated beyond Lebanon, at the river Orontes in Syria of Damascus (whence it never names lesser Hamath), in which St. Peter first placed his chair, and the disciples were first called Christians. This was called great by Amos, wishing to show from its magnitude the magnitude of Jerusalem and Samaria, not in respect to another lesser one, but because it was very spacious, so much so that Strabo, book XVI, relates that it was a tetrapolis, that is, it encompassed within its bounds four cities: the first, he says, Antigonus, son of Philip, had built; the second, a multitude of inhabitants; the third, Seleucus Callinicus; the fourth, Antiochus Epiphanes, from whom Epiphania, just as also Antioch, was named. Whence it is clear that the same city is now called Antioch, now Epiphania, now Reblata. Hence Aquila here translates it Epiphania. So also Josephus, I Antiquities VII, and by Castro here. Indeed, St. Jerome in the Hebrew Places seems to say that great Rabbath, that is Antioch, is Epiphania, although he speaks concisely and confusedly. According to this opinion, all things which in Scripture are said of Hamath are to be understood of Antioch. Antioch therefore was the boundary of the Holy Land to the north; whence its length in Scripture is reckoned from the entrance of Hamath (Antioch) as far as the torrent, or stream of Egypt. Hence the explorers of the Holy Land sent by Moses reached as far as there, Numbers XIII, 22. Moreover, Thou king of Hamath, sending gifts, sought and obtained peace from David, II Kings VIII, 9; but Solomon attacked Hamath, that is Antioch, and having driven out the Canaanites from there restored it and fortified it strongly, II Paralipomenon VIII, 3. The Syrians then obtained it; but Jeroboam king of Israel in the time of Amaziah king of Judah, stirred up by the words of the prophet Jonah, recovered the same and restored it to Israel. Then Sennacherib attacked it, IV Kings XVIII, 24. Hence its mention is frequent in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Zechariah. Nebuchadnezzar held it, and remained in it while his camps besieged Jerusalem, IV Kings XXIII, 33, and chapter XXV, 21. Afterwards occupied by Alexander the Great, and illustrated by Antiochus and made the seat of the kingdom, it was called Antioch. There Jonathan Maccabeus encamped against Demetrius, I Maccabees XII, 25. Finally the Romans, and then the Saracens made it their own, as it still lies subject to the Turks. Andrew Masius objects to this opinion, a most diligent investigator of the places of the Holy Land, writing on Joshua XIX, 35, that Hamath is placed by Zechariah, cap. IX, 2, and Jeremiah, cap. XLIX, 23, within the dominion and boundaries of Damascus; but Antioch is placed by Ptolemy two and a half degrees higher, and Epiphania one and a half degrees higher than Damascus; so far does the dominion and kingdom of Damascus not appear to have extended: therefore Hamath does not appear to be Antioch, nor Epiphania, but some third city after Sephanim below the source of the Jordan. For there Riblah is placed (which is said to have been in Hamath, Jeremiah XXXIX, 5), Numbers XXXIV, 11, and it was near to Naphtali, to whom Hamath fell as their lot, Joshua XIX, 35. Ortelius favors this opinion, who in the ancient description of Canaan places Chamath, or Hamath near Lebanon and Sephanim, between Tyre and Caesarea Philippi: Adrichomius does the same in his Description of the Holy Land. This seems very probable; for this Hamath was in the tribe of Naphtali, whose lot does not appear to have extended as far as Antioch. Whence Marinus in his Lexicon places Hamath of Naphtali as distinct from the common and usual Hamath, and says that the Kenites were descended from it, as is clear from I Paralipomenon II, 55, where it is said: "These are the Kenites, who came from Caleb the father," in Hebrew, from Chamath or Hamath. But Masius's reasoning does not fully convince; for the dominion of Damascus, as well as of Israel, originally extended very far indeed, namely as far as the Euphrates, as is evident from Joshua XIV and Deuteronomy XI, 24. Indeed there are those who think that the boundaries of Damascus extended as far as Babylon, and therefore for what Amos says, V, 27: "I will cause you to migrate beyond Damascus," St. Stephen, Acts VII, when he cites the words of Amos, says: "I will transfer you beyond Babylon." For Damascus was the head and mistress of all Syria. The reasoning of Marinus presses more strongly, that the lot of Naphtali does not appear to have extended as far as Antioch. For thus it would have far exceeded the lots of the other tribes. Again, that from Stephen, in the book On Cities, it is clear that many cities (easily ten) were called Antiochs, but four Epiphanias, in different provinces. Therefore likewise there appear to have been several Hamaths. Finally, it presses most strongly that in Joshua I, 4, and Deuteronomy XI, 24, for Hamath, Lebanon is placed as the boundary of the Holy Land, indeed, as the Septuagint translates it, Anti-Lebanon, from which proceeding further Antioch is distant by a journey of five days. Who would believe that the boundaries of Israel extended so far beyond Lebanon, indeed of a single tribe of Naphtali? for to this Hamath is attributed in Joshua XIX, 35. Wherefore no geographer of the Holy Land places Antioch in its description as if it were its boundary, but Lebanon, and near to it Hamath, as is evident from the maps of Adrichomius, Ortelius and others.
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Hamath therefore, which is set as the boundary of the Holy Land to the north, was near Lebanon, and not far from Damascus, to which on the opposite side to the south, the boundary of the same Holy Land is set as the desert, namely of Arabia, through which the Hebrews passed coming from Egypt into Chanaan, and precisely the torrent of Rhinocolura: just as to the east the boundary of the same is set as the Euphrates; to the west the Mediterranean sea. This third opinion therefore of the geographers is very probable. But whatever be the case with it, all agree here that by Hamath in Amos is understood great Antioch on the Orontes, an illustrious and powerful city of Syria, which was also called Epidaphnis, from the suburban and nearby spring of Daphnes, renowned for laurels and pleasantness. This was called in Hebrew Chamath and Chamma, that is sun, because it shone forth as it were like the sun among the cities of the East, as it afterwards shone forth in Christianity, when St. Peter placed his Pontifical chair there first. AND TO THE BEST KINGDOMS OF THESE. — The Septuagint, and to the best, namely cities, of these kingdoms, as if to say, Go and survey the best cities of Syria, and you will see that Samaria and Sion excel them. Whence Arias, Pagninus and Vatablus translate: Are the kingdoms of these better than your kingdoms? Mystically, Israel are the faithful and saints; these have wider boundaries than other nations, and the best ones: because not by the narrow limits of a short time, and a point of earth, as the impious and worldly do, but by the immense spaces of eternity and heaven do they measure their hopes and the bounds of their happiness, so that they can confidently say to the impious: "If your boundary is wider than our boundary." And that passage from Zacharias, chapter IV, 10: "Who" of you "despised the days of small things" of this momentary age? And that passage from Job XXIV, 24: "They are lifted up for a little while, and shall not stand, and shall be brought low as all things, and shall be taken away." And that passage from Psalm XXXVI, 35: "I have seen the wicked man greatly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon. And I passed by, and lo he was not: and I sought him, and his place was not found." But let the impious oppose to the pious and saints that passage from Baruch III, 24: "O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast the place of his possession! It is great, and hath no end; it is high and immense." But let them themselves, groaning, bewail their lot, because they have foolishly preferred small things to great, brief things to eternal, earthly things to heavenly, and let them say that passage from Wisdom V, 8: "What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow, and like a post that runneth on, and like a ship," etc. How wise is he who with Magdalen hears that word of Christ: "Mary hath chosen the better part, which shall not be taken away from her for ever." 3. WHO ARE SEPARATED FOR THE DAY OF EVIL, — namely of captivity and destruction, as if to say, By God on account of your crimes, as if anathemas separated, and you are devoted to slaughter and destruction. Secondly, more forcefully the Hebrew menaddim, you translate actively, separating yourselves for the day of evil, as if to say, You yourselves separate and devote yourselves to destruction, while you despise the threats of the Prophets, and willingly rush into crimes, on account of which you shall be slaughtered by God like sheep; whence the Septuagint translates: coming, or who come to the day of evil. Thus St. Jerome, Albert, Hugh and others. Thirdly, the Chaldean, Clarius, Vatablus and the Rabbis translate, separating the day of evil, that is who separate from you, and strive to put away the day of destruction, which the Prophets threaten, so that you may sin more freely, saying that they are deceived, or speak of future and distant ages. Whence the Zurich Bible translates: Who put off into the distance the day of evil; Pagninus: Who think the day of evil distant. For, as Aristotle says in the second book of the Rhetoric, chapter V, "things that are distant are not feared; for all know that they will die, but because they do not think that this is near, therefore they take no care."
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AND YOU APPROACH THE THRONE OF INIQUITY. — The throne of iniquity, which will bring upon the Israelites an evil day, is the kingdom, tyranny and throne of the empire of the Assyrians, by which they will judge the Israelites, that is, will avenge, capture and punish them, as if they were subordinate judges and avengers appointed by God, to avenge idolatry and other crimes committed against God; as if to say, By your continual crimes you summon the Assyrians, and you hasten your own destruction. Thus tropologically, sinners who heap sin upon sin approach the throne of Lucifer and hell. So St. Jerome, Albert, Hugh, Lyra and St. Augustine, book IV On Christian Doctrine, chapter VII, where from this passage of Amos he shows how great is the eloquence, force and power of speech in Holy Scripture. Secondly, the Chaldean, the Rabbis, Pagninus, Clarius and Vatablus already cited thus translate and expound by antithesis: You separate and remove from yourselves the evil day of destruction, but the throne of violence and injustice (by which you judge unjustly, and oppress and despoil the poor) you bring near, as if to say, You wish to remove punishment from yourselves, and meanwhile you approach guilt, when you cannot remove punishment from yourselves unless you first remove guilt. Thirdly, others expound thus morally: You separate from yourselves the evil day, namely the day of labor, and therefore you summon the throne of iniquity, as if to say, You do not wish to labor, you are idle and lazy, and therefore you wish to enrich yourselves from iniquity, injustice and the plunder of the poor, so that you may live idly and luxuriously in their goods, as follows:
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4. WHO SLEEP UPON BEDS OF IVORY, AND ARE WANTON UPON YOUR COUCHES. — St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Hugh, Lyra and St. Augustine, book IV On Christian Doctrine, chapter VII, refer this to the wantonness of lust, as if to say, Woe to you, wanton and lustful ones! whence for "are wanton," Vatablus and Pagninus translate: Stretching themselves indecorously upon their couches; the Chaldean: Who immerse themselves in their couches. Secondly and more aptly to the luxury of dining halls and tables, namely to precious tapestries and coverings, with which they adorned bedrooms and dining couches, and to precious beds and couches, upon which reclining softly after the manner of the nation they reclined at table, this is referred by R. David, Arias, a Castro and Prado in Ezekiel chapter XXIII, 41. For the nobles and judges of Israel are here censured, in that from the plunder of the poor they flowed with luxury, and prepared splendid and sumptuous banquets. Whence follows: "Who eat lamb from the flock, and calves from the midst of the herd. Who sing to the voice of the psaltery, etc., drinking wine in bowls." For feasts and songs are provided for the dining hall and table, not for the bedroom and venery. Wherefore the Septuagint here translates: Who abound in delights upon your couches. From the Hebrew thus you would translate: Who lie upon beds of ivory, and overflow upon your couches, as if to say: Who adorn your couches with proud and superfluous apparatus and ornament. Again, you furnish tables with superfluous dishes and delicacies, and with these you distend your bellies, which is the sin of luxury and gluttony, equally as of wantonness. Whence Our translator renders "are wanton"; for just as well-fed calves are petulant and wanton, leaping about, butting, running with raised tail, so also well-fattened banqueters are petulant, and as it were dissolute, are wanton in indecorous words and gestures. Whence the Apostle, Ephesians V, 18: "Do not, he says, be drunk with wine, in which is luxury," in Greek ἀσωτία, that is, wantonness, such as is exercised in dances, choirs, psalteries, etc. Likewise in precious ointments, garlands, baths, both preceding the banquet and accompanying and following it. Both senses here suit this passage, and the latter is subordinate to the former, and ends in it: for from tables one goes to couches, from gluttony to venery: for the belly seething with unmixed wine foams over into lust. Furthermore, dining couches were called lecti from the herbs and straw which were read, from which they were formerly made, says Varro. These same were called tori from twisted herbs, which were placed under the shoulders of those reclining, says Isidore, book II of Etymologies, and Servius in that passage of book V of the Aeneid: "As next he sat upon the verdant couch of grass." Hence triclinium was named from three couches, upon which the ancients banqueted. Moreover, that triclinia were made, spread, and adorned with ivory, gold and silver, is taught by that passage in the book of Esther, chapter I, 6, in the banquet of Ahasuerus: "Moreover beds of gold and silver were placed upon a pavement of emerald and Parian stone." The same is taught by Pliny, book XXXIII, chapter XI, and Varro, book VIII, and Horace, book II, satires VI, when he thus sings: "Where cloth dyed in red dye shone upon couches of ivory." WHO EAT LAMB FROM THE FLOCK, — selected from the flock, so as to be fatter and better than the rest. AND CALVES FROM THE MIDST OF THE HERD — selected, fat and fattened. In Hebrew: And a calf from the midst of the fattening place, that is, from the place of fattening, in which calves are fattened and made fat. That place for larger calves is pasture; whence Our translator, I Kings XXVIII, 24, renders "a pasture calf." But for tender calves it is a stable, in which, as being a dark and quiet place (for both quiet and darkness contribute to digestion, rumination and fattening of animals), they are fattened and made fat with milk, especially maternal milk.
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5. WHO SING TO THE VOICE OF THE PSALTERY. — The Septuagint, ἐπικρατοῦντες, that is, prevailing (St. Jerome read ἐπικρέκοντες, that is, making a clattering sound) to the voice of instruments; in Hebrew הפרטים happoretim, that is, those who particularize to the mouth of the harp, that is, those who sing their own and particular songs, and vary them according to the varied harmony of the harp: thus Pagninus and Vatablus; or, as R. David, de Castro, those who cut the voice with various incisions, diminutions, tones, inflections and modulations, and vary it like a nightingale trilling. He censures the excessive softness and luxuries of music in the banquets of the nobles of Israel, who used this music of theirs under the pretext of the example of David. Whence he adds: AS DAVID THEY THOUGHT THEMSELVES TO HAVE VESSELS OF SONG, — that is, musical instruments, as if to say: They excuse the luxury of their banquet music by the example of David; but wrongly; for he employed it for the praises of God, and it was grave; but they abuse it in a soft and wanton manner for gluttony and luxury. Thus St. Jerome. It is remarkable that the Septuagint translates: As standing they thought, and not as fleeing, as if to say: They thought these luxuries would be stable, when they are fleeting and evanescent. This is a golden maxim, which St. Chrysostom urges and exaggerates, homily I on Genesis: "And these things," he says, "although they learned them by experience, they thought them as standing and abiding, and not as fleeing, that is, flying away, and not even remaining for a moment. For all human things are such, and carnal things, scarcely arrived before they have flown away: such a thing are luxuries; and such a thing are human glory and power; such a thing are riches; such a thing is all the prosperity of this life, having nothing firm, nothing subsisting, nothing fixed; but rather than the flowing of rivers it passes by, and leaves naked and alone those who long for it. But spiritual things are firm, immovable, not subject to change, extending themselves to every age. How great therefore would be the madness to exchange unstable things with immovable ones, temporal things with those which will endure forever, perpetually abiding things with those which fly away; and those things which will bring us there grave punishment, with those which in the future age bring the highest happiness?" Note: The ancient Hebrews and Gentiles in banquets employed music of voices and instruments for the recreation of the guests, which, if moderate and honest, is praised by Ecclesiasticus cap. XXXII, 5, 7, 8; for speaking of the master of the banquet, or moderator of the feast: "Do not hinder," he says, "music. A little gem of carbuncle in the setting of gold, and (thus it is, thus it adorns the feast)," that is, the harmony, "of musicians at the feast of wine. As in the working of gold (in a golden ring, for example) the mark," that is, the seal and tool, "is of emerald: so the number," that is, the numerous harmony, "of musicians in pleasant and moderate wine." And cap. XL, 20: "Wine and music gladden the heart: and above both the love of wisdom. Pipes and psaltery make sweet melody, and above both a sweet tongue." The same custom existed in the time of Christ; hence in Luke XV, 25, the elder son "heard a symphony and a chorus," by which the father was celebrating a feast on account of the return of his younger son. But the Prophets at times censure this music, either on account of excess, or on account of intemperance, or because they sang dishonest or mocking songs: or because they devoted themselves so much to it that they neglected the care of the commonwealth and justice, indeed adorned and furnished it from the plunder of the poor. Thus Isaiah, cap. V, 11: "Woe," he says, "to you that rise up in the morning to follow drunkenness, etc. Harp, and lyre, and timbrel, and pipe, and wine in your feasts;" that you may become drunk more pleasantly and fully. Psalm LXVIII, 13: "In me they sang who drank wine," that is, in me they composed songs: I was their song, their laughter and their fable. Wherefore the Apostle admonishes Christians concerning their agape and eucharistic feast: "Be not," he says, "drunk with wine, in which is luxury: but be filled with the Holy Ghost, speaking to yourselves in hymns and spiritual canticles," Ephes. V, 18. The same custom existed among the Gentiles. Hence Athenaeus, lib. XIV On the Feasts of the Wise, teaches that it was sanctioned by law and the custom of the ancestors that hymns of the gods should be sung in feasts, and this with a common voice, all singing a paean, as Clement says lib. II Pædag. IV. Indeed, the lyre was even handed to the guests, which they passed around alternately and crosswise according to the toasts: whence on account of this oblique and transverse circulation of the lyre, those songs were called σκολια, that is, oblique, concerning which Athenaeus lib. VIII and lib. XV. 6. DRINKING WINE IN BOWLS. — The Septuagint: wine that has been strained. For this is drunk by the wealthy in bowls of gold or glass, as being excellent and clear; Zurich version: Those who drink wine in dishes; Vatable: in broad and large vessels, as if to say, wine-drinkers, who drain huge bowls and mixing-vessels. AND ANOINTED WITH THE BEST OINTMENT. — Chaldean: They are anointed with the excellence of precious ointments; in Hebrew it is, the head of ointments, that is the chief aroma and ointment, for example balsam, concerning which Juvenal, Satire II: Fragrant opobalsamum breathes upon the hairy neck. For from the head it flowed down upon the face and neck. The ancients in banquets used ointments, both for pleasure and for health; because the brain, being by nature cold and congealed, they dissolve and refresh by its fragrant odor, warmth and smoothness, as Plutarch says from Aristotle, in the book On Isis, and Massarius in Athenaeus: "O happy man, do you not know that our senses which are in the brain are aroused by sweet odors, and become purer and more pleasant, as Alexis says: Good odors bring the greatest part of health to the brain." Hence that passage in Psalm CIII, 15: "That he may make his face cheerful with oil." And Psalm XXII, 5: "Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil." Thus Mary Magdalene poured ointment upon the head of Christ reclining, Matt. cap. XXVI, 7. And Christ, Matt. cap. VI, 17: "But thou, he says, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face," as if to say: That thy fasting may be hidden and concealed, apply the anointing and washing that were wont to be used at banquets, as if thou wert coming forth from one. Finally Ecclesiastes, cap. IX, 8: "At all times, he says, let thy garments be white, and let oil not fail from thy head," as if to say: Indulge in baths and banquets: for white garments and oil are symbols of baths and drinking parties, because those coming forth from baths were clothed in white garments, which the Romans called dinner-garments, because they reclined at table with them at dinner. Thus Philo, in the book On the Rustic Life, relates that the Jews were wont to celebrate feasts and banquets in white garments. Horace relates the same of the Romans, lib. II, satire II: Let him celebrate banquets, birthdays, and other festival days in white garments. For the same reasons they crowned the heads of banqueters with garlands of roses, myrtles, and other fragrant flowers and herbs, both for this reason, that the brain, being strengthened by them, would be less harmed by wine, and would more resist drunkenness. Thus Ovid, Fasti, lib. V: The temples are bound with delicate garlands, / And the splendid table lies hidden beneath scattered rose. For the rose, prodigal of its odor, evaporates most swiftly: for it emits a flow of odor, and hence rose is called by the Greeks ῥοδον, as if to say, flowing odor, says Plutarch lib. III Sympos. cap. III, who also adds: "Whence it happens that it also withers most swiftly: for it has a natural power of cooling; showing something fiery in appearance. For on its surface a thin heat effervesces, being driven out by cold." This heat is the cause of the diffused odor. Whence the voluptuaries say, Wisdom cap. II, 7: "Let us fill ourselves with precious wine and ointments, and let not the flower of our time pass by us. Let us crown ourselves with roses before they wither." See Plutarch III Sympos. problem I, Athenaeus, lib. V, Pliny, lib. XXI, cap. III. Rightly does this Prophet censure excessive indulgence in these delights: because they soften manly spirits, and drive them to deceit, rapine and other crimes. Wherefore Epaminondas, leader of the Thebans, when invited to dinner by someone, upon finding a wonderful display of delicacies, provisions and ointments, suddenly withdrew, saying: "I thought thou wert making a sacrifice, not indulging in luxury." Thus Brossanus, lib. II, cap. II. And Cicero against Piso, concerning Gabinius: "The hair was combed, and the fringes of the curls were wet." And Tibullus, lib. III, eleg. VI: Long since the temples have been moistened with Syrian nard. Hence it appears that the Hebrews, equally as the Romans, went about with uncovered head; otherwise indeed it would have been unseemly to anoint it. Thus Sanchez.
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AND THEY WERE NOT GRIEVED FOR THE AFFLICTION OF JOSEPH. — Tigurina: Neither were they grieved that Joseph, that is the kingdom of Israel, is worn away, as if to say, They did not sympathize with the calamity and poverty of many of their fellow countrymen among the ten tribes, which here are called Joseph from their king and patriarch as their father: namely, these nobles of Israel, enriching themselves from the plunder of the poor, feasting and reveling, did not care for the troubles of the people, both private and public, and especially did not strive to turn away and remove from them that impending judgment of God and destruction by the Assyrians, through sound counsels, through penance and amendment of life, through prayers, through pious and holy laws. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Lyra, Emmanuel, Mariana and Vatable. St. Augustine adds, in book IV of On Christian Doctrine, chapter VII, that Joseph is here put for any brother and neighbor: because among brothers, he says, Joseph is celebrated, either in the evils which he hangs over, or in the goods which he repays. Morally, it is here suggested that cruelty is the proper and genuine daughter of pleasure, according to that in Proverbs XII, 10: "The just knoweth the souls of his beasts: but the bowels of the wicked are cruel." Thus the Sodomites became cruel from their delights, according to that in Ezekiel XVI, 49: "Behold this was the iniquity of Sodom, etc., pride, fulness of bread, and abundance, and the idleness of her, and of her daughters: and (hence) they did not put out their hand to the needy and to the poor;" because they thought that what they expended upon themselves would be taken from their belly, that is from the gulf of pleasures. On the contrary, the mark and virtue of the pious and the Saints is mercy. Whence the Saint is called in Hebrew חסיד chasid, that is merciful, and almsgiving is wont to be called justice, that is holiness, as in Psalm CXI, verse 9: "He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor, his justice (that is mercy, almsgiving) remaineth for ever and ever." See St. Chrysostom, discourse I On Lazarus. Thus we see that which Amos here deplores still sometimes happens, namely that nobles and magistrates who seek their own, indulge their own inclinations, study their own advantages, expend the treasury in banquets, pass their days in feasts, neglect the affairs of the poor and the people, have justice for sale, sell justice for bribes, oppress the poor, and, to say it in a word, destroy the commonwealth, nay, betray it to the enemy, if he should wish to buy it. Thus once concerning Rome flowing with luxury Jugurtha said, as Brossus relates in book I, chapter I: "O city for sale, and soon to perish, if it find a buyer!" For, as Pythagoras says in Laertius, book VII, chapter I, into cities first delights creep in, then satiety, then violence, finally destruction. Wherefore the Wise Man, Proverbs chapter XXXI, 4: "Give not, he says, to kings, O Lemuel, give not to kings wine: because there is no secret where drunkenness reigneth. And lest perhaps they drink, and forget the judgments, and change the cause of the children of the poor." And Ecclesiastes chapter X, 16: "Woe to thee, O land, whose king is a child, and whose princes eat in the morning. Blessed is the land whose king is noble, and whose princes eat in due season for refreshment, and not for riotousness." For those devoted to this lose both temperance and chastity as well as reputation, shorten their life, and hasten their death. 7. THEREFORE NOW SHALL THEY GO INTO CAPTIVITY AT THE HEAD OF THEM THAT GO INTO CAPTIVITY, — that is to say, The nobles of Israel shall be taken first by the Assyrians; they themselves, like the he-goats leading the flock, shall lead the column of captives going into Assyria. Thus St. Jerome.
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AND THE FACTION OF THE WANTON SHALL BE TAKEN AWAY. — By faction he calls the assembly of the nobles, who in crime, namely in robberies, banquets, luxury and wantonness, feasting and drinking together conspired, as if to say: They themselves institute factions and drinking parties: but I God will dissolve and scatter them. The Septuagint translates it as: neighing: And the neighing, they say, shall be taken away from Ephraim. It is a metaphor from horses: for just as horses well fed and fattened with oats neigh and become wanton, so also these nobles. In Hebrew it is מירזח mirzach, which properly signifies a funeral banquet at the funeral rites of the dead, as if to say: Your banquets are funereal: because from the robberies of the poor whom you make lean, and thus kill, you institute them. Whence the Zurich Bible translates: Then shall the banquet of the luxurious depart; the Syriac: Joy shall be taken away from their princes; the Arabic: Variety (ornament and variegated garments) shall be taken away from the horsemen; Vatablus and Pagninus: Then shall mourning draw near to those who stretch themselves, that is to those who were accustomed to stretch themselves on beds of ivory, as he said in verse 4. For the Hebrew סור sur signifies both to depart and to approach; for the Hebrews use a simple verb for all compounds, because they lack them. Note here politically, that in order that the faction and rebellion of the nation be removed, the nobles must be removed: for these are the heads and leaders of the faction. Tarquinius Superbus knew this well, who gave no letters to his son through a messenger of doubtful reliability; but, when he was brought into a garden, he struck off the highest heads of poppies with a stick: when this was reported, his son understood what his father wished, namely that he be commanded to cut down, that is, either to kill or to exile, the heads and nobles of the Gabians resisting him. Thus Livy relates it, decade I, book II; Valerius Maximus, book VII, chapter IV; Pliny, book XLVII, chapter IV. And the same was advised by Thrasybulus, tyrant of the Milesians, to Periander, tyrant of the Corinthians, who had asked him through a messenger what needed to be done in order to reign securely? For he answered by deed itself: for when the messenger was brought into a ripe harvest, he struck off the highest ears of grain with a stick: from which Periander understood that the heads of the nobles must be removed, if he wished to seize tyranny. Thus Aristotle relates it in book III of the Politics, chapter IX, and book V, chapter X, and Laertius in his life of Periander. "Shall you alone dwell in the midst of the land?" See the things said there.
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8. THE LORD GOD HATH SWORN BY HIS SOUL, — by his soul and his life, saying: "As I live," that is I swear by my life.
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I DETEST THE PRIDE OF JACOB (Israel), AND I HATE HIS HOUSES. — "Houses," namely magnificent and proud ones, which they build from usuries and robberies, when his fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob dwelt in huts and tents, as exiles and pilgrims in the land, and citizens of heaven. Whence in Hebrew it is ארמנות armanoth, that is, palaces. Thus the Chaldean. Thus God detests the proud houses of King Joakim, Jer. cap. XXII, 13, saying: "Woe to him that buildeth his house in injustice, and his chambers not in judgment! Who saith: I will build me a wide house, and spacious chambers; who openeth him windows, and maketh cedar work, and painteth with vermilion." Hence threatening him with punishment, vers. 19: "With the burial, saith he, of an ass shall he be buried, rotten and cast forth without the gates of Jerusalem." And Isaiah, cap. V, 8: "Woe to you that join house to house, and lay field to field, even till there be no more room!" AND I WILL DELIVER THE CITY WITH THE INHABITANTS THEREOF. — In Hebrew: I will deliver the city and its fullness, that is, I will deliver Samaria and its inhabitants to the Assyrians. For these are called its fullness, because they fill and replenish it by their number and multitude. That by the city Samaria is to be understood is proved by Theodoret from the fact that he speaks of the ten tribes: for he calls these Ephraim, Jacob and Joseph; and their head and metropolis was Samaria. Thus also St. Jerome, Remigius, Hugo, who however secondly, by the city understand Jerusalem, which was the head of Jacob, that is of the twelve, and afterwards of two tribes. They think therefore the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and then by Titus and the Romans is here denoted. You will reconcile both expositions, if with Lyran you say that by the city synecdochically here are taken any cities whatsoever of the Hebrews. Moreover the Prophet speaks directly of Samaria and the ten tribes, indirectly and concomitantly of Jerusalem and the Jews, as I said at the beginning of the chapter. 9. BUT IF THERE REMAIN TEN MEN IN ONE HOUSE, THEY ALSO SHALL DIE, that is to say, If any Israelites in some house hidden shall escape the hands of the Assyrians, or shall be left by them as poor, vile or sick, these also in the same house shall die by plague or famine. 10. AND HE SHALL TAKE HIM (that is each one of them (thus the Septuagint), who namely have died of plague and famine) HIS KINSMAN (Pagninus and Vatablus, uncle) — in order to burn the corpse of his nephew or kinsman, and bury the remaining bones. For these were the just funeral rites which kinsmen paid to their deceased relatives, both among the Hebrews and among the Romans. AND SHALL BURN HIM. — In Hebrew umesarepho, that is and burning him: for saraph whether written with samech or with sin (for these two letters are equivalent), signifies to burn. Whence angels are called Seraphim, that is, burning ones: because they burn with the love of God, and kindle others. Hence the Zurich Bible translates it, gravedigger: for it was his office to care for the corpse, and according to the custom of the nation to burn and bury it. And the Chaldean: He shall take him from the fire, his kinsman, to carry him out. Therefore the later Rabbis foolishly, whom Pagninus and Vatablus follow, translate, his uncle. Moreover that the corpses of dead Israelites were burned is evident from what he subjoins: "that he may carry out the bones" remaining from the burning of the corpse: from which it is evident that Israelites, to avoid the stench of corpses, putrefaction, decay and plague, lest namely those should bring plague to the living, burned them. The same the Romans did, as those know who have seen Rome: for in Rome in ancient sepulchers we see everywhere great earthen urns, in which the ashes of burned corpses were preserved. That the Greeks also cremated the corpses of the dead is taught by Thucydides, lib. II, and Lucian, lib. De Luctu: "The Greek, he says, burns, the Persian buries."
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Moreover there were diverse opinions of the wise men on this matter. For, as Servius says in book XI of the Aeneid: "Heraclitus, who wishes all things to consist of fire, says that bodies ought to be resolved into fire: but Thales, who affirms that all things are procreated from moisture, says that bodies ought to be buried, so that they can be resolved into moisture." Again Varro, in the book On Burial: "Heraclides of Pontus, he says, is wiser, who commanded that they be burned, than Democritus, who commanded that they be preserved in honey (as if they were about to rise again and live once more): if the common people had followed him, I would perish if we could buy a cup of mead for a hundred denarii." Furthermore Servius, in book III of the Aeneid, teaches that the Romans used cremation of the dead: "The Romans, he says, did the opposite, burning corpses, so that immediately the soul might return to universality, that is to its own nature." And Ovid in book I of the Tristia, elegy IV: This spirit, first to be thinned into empty air, / Will go, and leave the bones on the warm pyre. And Silius Italicus, book X in the funeral of Paulus, where he also assigns the cause: Thus speaks the Libyan: and with flames crackling on all sides, / The soul exulting escaped into the ethereal breezes. Quintilian gives another cause, in declamation X: "They said, he says, that the soul, having the impetus and permanence of fiery vigor, does not take it from our fire, but from that by which the stars fly, and by which the sacred axes are frequented, comes from there; whence we believe the author of all things and the mind and spirit come, and it does not perish, nor is dissolved, nor is affected by any fate of mortality; but whenever it has broken through the prison of the human breast, and having been relieved of mortal limbs, has purified itself with light fire, it seeks a dwelling among the stars." The Christians abolished this cremation, both so that they might conform themselves more to God's sentence pronounced upon Adam and his posterity, Genesis III: "Thou art dust, and into dust thou shalt return;" and so that they might follow nature, which of its own accord resolves the bodies of the dead into their elements; and especially so that they might instill faith and hope of resurrection into the survivors. For this reason they committed corpses to the earth as if into a deposit, which God will reclaim on the day of resurrection, so that He might raise them up and vivify them. That the faithful Jews and true worshippers of God did the same is evident from Genesis L, 3 and 25; Joshua VIII, 29; III Kings XIII, 22; Tobias I, 22; Joshua XXIX, 43. I except the funerals of kings, which were burned with public ceremony and aromatics for the sake of honor. But the Israelites also burned the bones of commoners, either because the idolatrous people followed the rite of idolatrous nations: or because in common plague and pestilence, they strove to check it and purify it with fire, lest it spread to the survivors. They therefore burned corpses with decay and plague. After cremation they performed the gathering of bones: for relatives and friends collected the bones of the cremated, and placed them with great care and ceremony in a bronze, golden, silver or marble urn. Virgil teaches this, Aeneid VI: And the bones collected he covered in a bronze urn. Indeed they even carried back to their homeland the bones of their spouses, brothers, sons, parents, if they had died elsewhere. Whence Ovid, about to die in Scythia, thus commands concerning his bones, book III of the Tristia, elegy III: Yet let my bones be carried back in a small urn: / Thus even dead I shall not be an exile. Tibullus describes the rite of this gathering of bones in book III, elegy II. First he teaches that the bones were collected by friends and relatives: dressed in black garments. Moreover he says they first washed their hands, when he says: And pious hands sprinkled with liquid beforehand. Third, they poured milk and wine into the collected bones, and then ventilated them in linen, so that the moisture of the poured wine might be drawn out. He adds: And first let them sprinkle the collected bones with aged wine: / Then also they prepare to pour white milk (so that they might be fitted to the milky circle, to which the Romans believed the souls of heroes were led after death, as Cicero testifies in the Dream of Scipio): After this let them remove the moisture with linen winds, / And place them dry in a marble house. Fourth, they put perfumes and aromatics into the bones, and finally tears: There the rich merchandise that Panchaia sends, / And the Arabs send, rich and Assyria. / And our tears, mindful, are poured into the same. / Thus I wish to be composed into bones. Fifth, mothers and female relatives collected the bones first in their lap before placing them in the urn. Tibullus teaches this, book I, elegy III: Refrain, dark death, I pray: my mother is not here, / Who might gather the burned bones into her sad lap. And Seneca, Consolation to Helvia, chapter XI: "Just now into that same lap from which you had sent forth three grandsons, you received the bones of three grandsons." Moreover the bones of Augustus, says Suetonius in his Life, chapter C, were gathered by the foremost of the equestrian order, clothed in tunics and ungirt, and with bare feet. This last honor was given to Augustus: for we do not read that the collectors of other bones were barefoot. This is how the Gentiles treat the Gentiles! What then shall Christians do with the bones and relics of Christians, indeed of saints and martyrs? With what honor shall they treat them?
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AND HE SHALL SAY (namely the kinsman, who like a gravedigger or embalmer from the house of the dead carried forth the bones of his relatives for burial: "he shall say," I say, when he shall have returned from the burial) TO HIM WHO DWELLS IN THE INNERMOST PARTS (that is the inhabitant) OF THE HOUSE (of the dead, mourning his deceased): Is there yet anyone with you (any dead person whose bones I may carry out and bury)? And he shall answer (the inhabitant of the house): It is finished, — that is to say, All the dead have been carried out, no one remains except me, who mourn my bereavement and solitude. Whence the Syriac translator renders it, and he shall say to him: There is none, because they have perished; for the reason that they would not make remembrance in the name of the Lord. 11. AND HE SHALL SAY TO HIM: BE SILENT, AND MAKE NO REMEMBRANCE OF THE NAME OF THE LORD. — You will ask, who shall say this? whether the inhabitant of the house, or the kinsman the gravedigger? And why? First, the Chaldean: The kinsman, he says, shall say to the inhabitant of the house lamenting his dead: Be silent, do not weep; for your dead was justly punished by God with death, because he did not worship God, and being forgetful of God's name, he did not invoke Him. For thus he translates: Refrain (from tears and laments), because while your dead kinsman enjoyed life, he did not pour forth prayers in the name of the Lord. Second, St. Jerome and Vatable: They were accustomed, he says, in laments and sorrows, for example in funerals, to name and invoke the name of the Lord; but the Israelites were so addicted to idols, that they were unwilling even at a funeral to name and invoke the true God. Third, Lyran, Sanchez and Ribera judge these to be the words of the inhabitant of the house, who from impatience says to the kinsman consoling him, and urging him to invoke God's aid: Do not reopen to me the name of the Lord, for he himself is the author of all these funerals and all these evils. Thus from impatience the impious rave, when, if they were wise, they would have recourse to God in tribulation, and place all their refuge in Him. Indeed the Gentiles in affliction cursed their gods, as if their authors, just as even now the Chinese and Japanese do, who scourge their gods. Thus Aeneas on account of his dead wife, in the Aeneid II: Whom did I not accuse in my madness, both men and gods? For Seneca wisely declaims in book VIII: "The gods," he says, "are worshipped more diligently when angry." Thus Job was wise, exercised by God with so many scourges, when he said in chapter XXIII, 3: "Who will grant me that I might know and find Him, and come even to His throne?" Fourth, others judge it to be said from desperation, that is to say, Do not name God to me, and do not urge me to invoke Him: for we have perished, it is all over with us, nor can salvation itself, if He should will it, save us. Fifth, Ruffinus judges it to be said from an omen and terror. For they were so struck down by evils inflicted by God, that they did not even dare to name God, fearing lest, if they should even name Him, they might receive a new calamity from Him and as it were a new thunderbolt. Whence the Arabic translator renders it: Be silent, so that you do not name in the name (the name) of the Lord. Sixth, Arias and Castro judge these to be the words of Amos, who concludes these extreme calamities with this epiphoneme, that is to say, The kinsman shall say to the inhabitant of the house mourning the funerals of his dead: Be silent, do not weep: "And do not make remembrance," that is, for then it will not be permitted to make remembrance, "of the name of the Lord." For then such calamity and affliction will overwhelm all, that it will not please, nor be permitted to name and invoke God. Thus it often happens by the just judgment of God to sinners, who pass their life in delights, and defer repentance until death, so that in death they are oppressed by so many cares, pains and anguishes, that they forget God and their own salvation.
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Almost all these senses are probable: the second, third and fourth, however, are clearer. Moreover, Pagninus translated it differently: We are accustomed to commemorate the name of the Lord, that is to say, the gravedigger will comfort the inhabitant of the house by saying: Do not weep, but according to custom invoke the name of the Lord. 12. BECAUSE BEHOLD THE LORD HAS COMMANDED (that is, ordained, disposed, decreed, and as He has decreed, so also will He execute it, and) WILL STRIKE THE GREATER HOUSE WITH RUINS, AND THE LESSER HOUSE WITH CLEFTS. — The word "because" rightly coheres with the third sense already given by Lyran. But it can be referred more generally to all the preceding things, that is to say, Such great disasters and devastations threaten both Zion and Samaria, which I have recounted from verse 1 up to this point, because the Lord, just avenger of His injuries, "will strike the greater house," that is, the kingdom of the ten tribes and Samaria, "with ruins," that is, with complete destruction and perpetual captivity, so that the kingdom of Israel may utterly fall and perish like a potsherd broken by a fall, which cannot be repaired and restored. But the "lesser house," that is, the kingdom of Zion and Judah, "He will strike with clefts," that is, He will remove ruptures and clefts from it; namely by killing part of it, by captivating part of it; but He will heal and restore these clefts through Ezra and Nehemiah, when, with Cyrus assenting, He will send the captives back from Babylon into Judea. Thus St. Jerome, the Chaldean, Remigius, Rupertus, Hugo, Lyran, Ribera and others. Whence the Chaldean translated: And He will strike the great kingdom with a strong blow, but the lesser kingdom with a lighter plague. Note: For ruins, Pagninus and Vatablus translate fissures, or cracks, as if God here threatens Samaria with an earthquake, by which both great and small houses are to be split, and cracks are to be made. In Hebrew it is רסיסין resisin, which Marinus, Forster and a Castro translate as drippings, or distillations, which cause cracks and fissures in a house, according to that passage in the Song of Songs, chapter V, 2: "My head is full of dew, and my locks with distillations," that is, distillations, and from the drops of the nights. The sense is, says a Castro, that is to say, God through the Assyrians will strike and overturn all the houses of Samaria, both the greater ones, which consist of many inhabitants, killing them individually, and the lesser ones, which can resist less, breaking them all at once and together. But the first sense already given, as it is more common, so it is truer and more certain. Whence the Hebrew resisin signifies not only drippings and distillations, but also strong fractures and contusions: for thus the Septuagint, the Chaldean and Our translation render it. For רסיסין resisin alludes through samech to רציצין retsitsin through tsade, which properly signifies fractures and contusions, by the consensus of all Hebrews. Add here that it is not a matter of Samaria alone and the ten tribes, but also of the two, that is, of all twelve tribes' destruction. For this is signified by those words in verse 15: "And He will crush you from the entrance of Hamath even to the torrent of the desert." For here the boundary and limit is set not of ten, but of twelve tribes, and therefore of the whole promised land, as I said in verse 2. Thus St. Jerome. Moreover, he adds the cause of such destruction of both peoples, their crimes, namely that they perverted and subverted justice and the nature and order of things: therefore by the law of retaliation they deserve that both themselves also be subverted and perish. He therefore says: 13. CAN HORSES RUN UPON ROCKS, OR CAN ONE PLOUGH WITH WILD OXEN? — In Hebrew it is: Can horses run upon rock? can a ploughman plough with oxen? namely with wild and untamed beasts, such as wild oxen, aurochs, bisons; whence Our translation renders it, with wild oxen. For with other oxen, tame and domestic, both ploughing is done, as with horses. Moreover wild oxen in the time of Amos, especially in Judaea, were wild and untamed, so that they would shake off the yoke and plough. Whence Martial, book I: To him the fierce buffalo and bison yielded. Now indeed in Italy we see them tamed to such a degree that they become draft animals, and admit the yoke for running, and serve for ploughs. The sense is, as if to say: Just as it is impossible for horses to run upon rocks, and for untamed wild oxen to plough and take up the yoke: so it is impossible for you to run in the way of the commandments of the Lord, which appears to you hard and rocky; or to take up the yoke of the law of God: because you are like untamed wild oxen, shaking off every yoke. Thus liberty perishes through liberty. For he who refuses to serve God, to whom to serve is to reign, shall serve his lusts, and his stubborn will and the devil, which is the gravest servitude. Wherefore Christ, rejecting the Jews as impatient of the yoke of the Gospel, like wild oxen, chose the gentiles as tame and domesticated oxen, and said to them: "Take my yoke upon you;" who therefore, ploughing up the earth of the infidels with the ploughshare of Gospel doctrine and life, have wrought fruit unto the kingdom of God, and have gathered a great harvest of souls. Thus Rupertus, who thinks that Amos here predicts the rejection of the Jews, as it were wild oxen: and the election of the gentiles, as it were tame oxen. Secondly, recent interpreters commonly repeat to in petris, and thus easily adapt this to any oxen in this manner: Can horses run upon rock? can a ploughman plough with oxen upon rock? as if to say: You, O Israelites, act as if someone were to incite a horse to run upon a cliff, or a wild ox or ox to plough upon rock, that is, you do everything in inverted and perverse order. For just as these things are contrary to nature, so you act in ways contrary to nature, reason and God: because judgment, that is justice, which is consonant with nature, God and reason, is sweet and pleasing, you have turned into the wormwood and bitterness of sin, which is dissonant with nature, God and reason, bitter and abominable. Thus Pagninus and Vatablus. Again, "just as horses are not accustomed to run upon rocks, nor farmers to plough in rocky places, since no fruit is to be hoped for from them; so from your so impenitent life, happiness shall by no means be hoped for," says Clarius. Whence the Syriac version renders it: Do horses run upon rock, or do they draw a plough, or a ploughshare upon it? Moreover it is contrary to the nature of a horse, says Palacius, "to run upon a cliff, and it is contrary to the nature of an ox to plough upon the same cliff; likewise it is contrary to the nature of a judge to run and plough upon injustice. For if an ox or horse should wish to run or plough upon rock, they will break their legs, and lacerate their breasts." This proverb therefore signifies three things: first, that the Israelites labour perversely in their unjust and wicked life; secondly, that they undertake useless and troublesome labour, and attempt an impossible thing. Thus the Poet says: You plough the shores with oxen to no profit. Thirdly, that this labour will be not only useless to them, but also harmful and destructive. This sense is easy and plain, and very consonant with Hebrew. A similar proverb is: "You apply a greave to the forehead, a helmet to the shin." To this pertains the exposition of Sanchez, who thinks it to be an amplification from the impossible. For when we see something unexpected or very absurd being done, we say that nothing in the nature of things would henceforth be impossible to do, as if to say: When I see that Israel has made the sweetest God bitter, and turned Him into gall and wormwood, which seemed impossible, I say that the nature of things is now inverted, so that henceforth horses will run upon rocks, wild oxen will plough, which I had hitherto believed to be impossible. Thus Ovid, seeing himself betrayed by an intimate friend, which he thought impossible, says that nothing is now to be judged impossible. For thus he sings in book I of the Tristia, elegy VII: The earth shall bear stars, the sky shall be cleft by a plough, / The wave shall give flames, and fire shall give waters. / All things shall go contrary to the laws of nature, / And no part of the world shall keep its own path. / All things shall now happen, things which I denied could happen; / And there is nothing about which faith should not be held. / I prophesy this, because I have been deceived by him, / Whom I thought would bring help to wretched me. And that shepherd, seeing the nymph Nisa, beautiful, married to stupid Mopsus, in Virgil, eclogue VIII: Nisa is given to Mopsus: what should we not hope for, lovers? / Griffins shall now be joined with horses, and in the age to come / Timid does shall come to the drinking places with hounds. This exposition seems apt and plausible. Third, St. Jerome, whom Remigius, Albert and Hugh follow, holds that Israel is compared to ruins, Judah to divisions, because a divided house can be repaired, but ruins must be rebuilt and cannot be restored: the ruins of Israel are compared to horses, which cannot run on rocks; the divisions of Judah are compared to wild oxen, which are wild cattle, and so untamed that they do not accept the yoke upon their necks, and on account of their ferocity are unwilling to plow, as if to say: You, O Israelites, are more foolish, harder and worse than horses and oxen. "For since these cannot change their nature, you have changed the nature of God, so as to make the sweet bitter, and to turn His fruit of justice into wormwood, which is the bitterest herb." This exposition places the change of nature and the opposition not in the Israelites and their customs, but in God, namely that the Israelites, by provoking God's nature through their crimes, which is clemency itself, have as it were changed it into severity and the most bitter vengeance. Fourth, Rufinus: It is certain, he says, that neither does the wild ox bear yokes, nor does the horse willingly go over rocks; but you, who rejoiced that you had cast off yokes and broken bridles, seemed to yourselves to be horses in luxury, in virtue and liberty like wild oxen, you proved by deeds what you drank in by hope, that is, that you are subject to no powers. Since this falls out entirely to the contrary, and you go at the will of enemies and through the roughest paths, and endure heavy labors with broken neck, you must confess that you are neither horses nor oxen, nor have you prepared anything of protection and strength for your possessions. The sense of Rufinus therefore is this: O Israelites, you boast that you are free, like lustful and unbridled horses, which run not on rocks but in fields wherever they wish; and like untamed oxen, which shake off the yoke of the plow. But I have imposed upon your neck the yoke of captivity through the Assyrians, and I force you to go and run over rocks and cliffs, like slaves to Babylon. Therefore you are not unbridled horses, but bridled; not untamed oxen, but tamed and muzzled. But this exposition supplies and adds much that is not in the text. Wherefore the first and second exposition are more plain and genuine. Fifth, the Septuagint take all these things of horses, not of oxen. For they translate: If they shall run on rocks, shall horses be silent to females? For the Hebrew iacharos means both to plow, as our translator rendered it, and to be silent, as the Septuagint translate it. Again, they seem to have read hannekelim, that is to females, for babbekarim, that is in oxen; for in both cases the Hebrew letters are similar. They allude to what in verse 7 they translated: The neighing of horses shall be taken away from Ephraim, for which our translator rendered: "The neighing of those who rage in lust shall be taken away." Moreover, the sense of the Septuagint version is given by Theodoret thus: Just as horses to mares which they have seen do not keep silent, but neigh; so the Assyrian enemies against you, O Israelites, with the swiftest onset and clamor, as it were neighing at their prey, shall rush in and rage. Tropologically St. Jerome, by horses understands demons, who fear men, rage against women, that is soft and effeminate men: "When," he says, "they see a manly spirit and one strengthened by God's fortitude, they do not dare approach; but when they see an effeminate mind enervated by ointments and delights, and turned to womanly softness, immediately they rage, and cannot restrain themselves, and are eager for lust." Whence the Arabic translator renders: Those who make horses run excessively in weariness, so that they are silent (rest) from females. YOU HAVE TURNED JUDGMENT INTO BITTERNESS, AND THE FRUIT OF JUSTICE INTO WORMWOOD. — Judgment and justice can first be taken here properly, as if to say: You pervert laws and justice in judgments, absolving the guilty rich for bribes, and condemning the innocent poor: for this was rebuked in chapter IV, 1; second, generally for that which is equitable and just, as if to say: For what is equitable you do what is inequitable, for what is just you do what is unjust and impious, for what is honorable you do what is dishonorable, namely for virtue vices and crimes. Moreover, he applies this same thing more precisely to Israel, as if to say: It is not, O Israelites, that you should think your cities to be impregnable by the enemy, just as rocks are not arable by horses and buffalo: because when you have changed the nature of things by your wickedness, and have turned the most sweet God into gall; in like manner he himself will change the nature of your soil and place, and will make it so that the horses of the enemy can run upon your rocks and subdue them, and buffalo can plow in them. This exposition seems fitting and plausible. Third, St. Jerome, whom Remigius, Albert and Hugh follow, judges that Israel is compared to ruins, Judah to divisions, because a divided house can be repaired, but ruins must be rebuilt and cannot be restored: the ruins of Israel are compared to horses, which cannot run upon rocks; the divisions of Judah are compared to buffalo, which are wild oxen, and so untamed that they do not receive the yoke upon their necks, and on account of their savagery are unwilling to plow, as if to say: You, O Israelites, are more foolish, harder and worse than horses and buffalo. "For since these cannot change their nature, you have changed the nature of God, so as to make the sweet bitter, and to turn his fruit of justice into wormwood, which is a most bitter herb." This exposition places the change of nature and repugnance not in the Israelites and their customs, but in God, namely that the Israelites, by provoking God's nature with their wickedness, which is clemency itself, have as it were changed it into severity and most bitter vengeance. Fourth, Rufinus: It is certain, he says, that neither does the buffalo bear yokes, nor does the horse willingly go over rocks; but you, who rejoiced in having cast off yokes and broken bridles, seemed to yourselves to be horses in luxury, in virtue and the liberty of buffalo, proved by deeds what you had grasped in hopes, that is, that you were subject to no powers. Since this falls out entirely to the contrary, and you go at the will of enemies, and through very rough roads, and endure heavy labors with broken neck, you must confess that you are neither horses nor buffalo, nor have you prepared anything of protection and strength to compare with your wealth. The sense of Rufinus therefore is this: O Israelites, you boasted that you were free, like wanton and unbridled horses, which run not on rocks, but in fields wherever they wish; and untamed buffalo, which shake off the yoke of the plow. But I have imposed upon your neck the yoke of captivity through the Assyrians, and I force you to go and run over rocks and cliffs, as slaves into Babylon. Therefore you are not unbridled horses, but bridled; not untamed buffalo, but tamed and muzzled. But this exposition supplies and adds much that is not in the text. Wherefore the first and second exposition are more plain and genuine.
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Fifth, the Septuagint takes all these things concerning horses, not concerning buffalo. For they translate: If they shall pursue on rocks, shall horses be silent to females? For the Hebrew iacharos signifies both to plow, as our translator rendered it, and to be silent, as the Septuagint translates it. Again, they for babbekarim, that is in oxen, Moreover, the Septuagint version gives this sense through Theodoret: Just as horses to mares which they have seen do not remain silent, but neigh; so the Assyrian enemies upon you, O Israelites, with most swift assault and clamor, as if neighing toward prey, will rush and rage. Tropologically, St. Jerome, by horses understands demons, who fear men, rage against women, that is soft and effeminate men: "When," he says, "they see a manly spirit and one strengthened by God's fortitude, they do not dare approach; but when they see an effeminate mind enervated by ointments and delights, and turned to womanly softness, immediately they rage, and cannot restrain themselves, and are eager for lust." Whence the Arabic translator renders: Who make horses run excessively in weariness, so that they are silent (rest) from females. YOU HAVE TURNED JUDGMENT INTO BITTERNESS, AND THE FRUIT OF JUSTICE INTO WORMWOOD. — Judgment and justice first, here can be taken properly, as if to say: You pervert laws and justice in judgments, absolving the guilty rich for bribes, and condemning the innocent poor: for he censured this in chapter IV, 1; second, generally for that which is fair and just, as if to say: For what is fair you do what is unfair, for what is just you do what is unjust and impious, for what is honorable what is dishonorable, namely for virtue vices and crimes. 14. WHO REJOICE IN NOTHING. — In Hebrew, in no word, that is in no thing, in nothing, in that which is not something, as Pagninus translated it. But Symmachus, in vain, that is without reason and cause, as if to say: You who exult in your idols, which are things of nothing, or in vain and fleeting riches and pleasures, and especially in the power of this world and your strength and might, saying:
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HAVE WE NOT TAKEN UNTO US HORNS IN OUR OWN STRENGTH? — that is, forces, courage and strength, by which we defend the commonwealth and invade enemies. Thus the proud arrogate to themselves the forces which they received from God, or rather which they do not possess. More humbly and truly the Psalmist, Psalm XLIII, 6: "In thee," he says, "we shall push down our enemies with the horn, and in thy name we shall despise them that rise up against us," against us. It is a metaphor taken from bulls, whose boldness and strength are in their horns. Whence Martial, comparing a rhinoceros to a bull in the Amphitheatre, thus speaks: For so heavily with double horn he lifted the bear, / That the bull tosses the piles placed upon the stars. Thus Horace says wine adds horns, that is, courage and strength to the timid and poor. For in book III, ode XXI, addressing an amphora: Thou, he says, bringest back hope to anxious minds / And strength, and addest horns to the poor. Thus Plautus says: "Thou seekest a horned beast," that is, thou provokest one spirited and ready to avenge. And Moses, Deuteronomy cap. XXXIII, 17, concerning Joseph says: "His horns are the horns of the rhinoceros: with them he shall push the nations even to the ends of the earth." Moreover, because riches give courage and strength, and are as it were the horns of the rich; hence through horns some with the Chaldean here understand substance and riches. Tropologically, the sinner rejoices in nothing, that is in frivolous and evanescent things. Hence sin is called nothing: first, because it itself is a thing of nothing, that is vain and of no value or moment; second, because its pleasure quickly passes and vanishes; whence the Psalmist, Psalm LXXV, 6: "And all the men of riches found nothing in their hands;"; third, because sin leads the sinner to nothing, that is to destruction and death, both present and eternal; fourth, sin is nothing in the genus of morals and virtue, which is moral good; for sin is not good, but moral evil; fifth, because sin is a privation of good: but privation is not a positive being, but a negative one, namely nothing; sixth, because sin deprives of God, who is all things and the maker of all things, without whom nothing was made: since therefore sin and the sinner are without God, it follows that it is nothing in the genus of morals. Hear St. Augustine in the Soliloquies cap. III and IV: "Death is nothing: for through it we tend to nothingness, while we do not fear to make ourselves nothing through sin. And justly indeed this, O Lord: for we receive what is worthy of our deeds, while we come to nothingness like water flowing away; because without thee nothing was made, and we making ourselves nothing, have become nothing: because without thee we are nothing, through whom all things were made, without whom nothing was made. Woe to me, wretched one, annihilated so many times! because thou art the Word through whom all things were made, and I without thee, without whom nothing was made." And cap. V: "I have become wretched, and have been reduced to nothing, and knew it not; because thou art truth, and I was not with thee. Iniquities have led me to nothing: because thou art the Word through whom all things were made, without whom nothing was made: and therefore without thee I have become nothing, because it is nothing that leads to nothing. Whatever things were made through the Word, are very good. Why are they good? because all things were made through the Word, and without him nothing was made, because nothing good is without the highest good; but evil is where that good is not which is indeed nothing: because evil is nothing other than privation of light. Evil therefore is nothing, because it was not made; but how is evil, if it was not made? Because evil is a privation of good, through which good was made: to be therefore without the Word is evil; which being is not, because without him nothing is. To be separated therefore from the Word, is to be without way, without truth, without life; and therefore without him nothing, and therefore evil; because it is separated from the Word, through whom all things were made very good. But to be separated from the Word through whom all things were made, is nothing other than to fail, and to pass from what is made to defect, because without him is nothing. Whenever therefore thou deviates from good, thou separates thyself from the Word, because he himself is good: and therefore thou becomest nothing, because thou art without the Word, without whom nothing was made." And shortly after: "If therefore I was nothing, when I was without thee, I was as it were nothing, and like an idol which is nothing, which indeed has ears, and hears not; has nostrils, and smells not, has eyes, and sees not." Thus Ezekiel concerning Tyre the sinner says, cap. XXVIII: "Thou hast been brought to nothing, and thou shalt not be for ever." And concerning her proud king, cap. XXVIII, 19: "Thou hast been made nothing, and thou shalt not be for ever." And the Apostle, Galatians VI, 3: "If any one," he says, "thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself." Seventh, properly and physically sin is nothing, because it adheres to and rejoices in creatures, and sets them against and prefers them to the Creator: creatures, however, if they are compared with the Creator, are shadows of things, not true things, and therefore are nothing. For God's essence and name is: "I am who am," that is to say, I alone am God, who alone have true, full, solid, eternal and immense being; creatures, however, participate from me only a shadow of this true being, because their being is so meager, diminished, brief, fleeting, unstable and perishable, that if it is compared with my being, they ought rather to be said not to be, than to be. Consequently, creatures, just as they do not have true being, so neither do they have true goodness, but only a shadow of goodness: for being and goodness are convertible; therefore, such and so great as being is, such and so great is goodness, which is the innermost property of being. Hence Christ: "Why," He says, "dost thou call me good? None is good but God alone," Luke cap. XVIII, 19, that is to say, You think me to be a mere man, not God; do not therefore call me good, because true goodness, just as true being, belongs not to man, but to God alone. Hence also the philosophers teach that God is in no predicament; because predicaments are a series of created things only. God, therefore, transcending all these things, alone constitutes the one true predicament of substance and of all things, in respect to which our predicaments, and all things contained in them, are only shadows, nay, nothing. What I have said of goodness, the same I say of truth, wisdom, power, justice, holiness and other attributes. For these have true being in God, in creatures only a shadow of being. Wherefore God in Scripture is called "alone wise," Rom. cap. XVI, 27; "alone powerful," I Timoth. cap. VI, 15; "alone immortal," ibidem vers. 16; "alone Lord," Isaiah cap. XXXVII, 20; "alone good, alone excellent, alone just," II Maccabees cap. I, 24; "alone pious," Apoc. cap. XV, 4; "alone glorious," I Corinth. cap. I, 17, because He alone has true, full, uncreated and immense wisdom, power, goodness, etc. The sinner, therefore, because he delights in creatures, not in the Creator, hence delights in a shadow, in nothing, not in true being: but because these shadows appear great to the blind man in the continual darkness of this life, just as, when the sun hangs low, great and lofty shadows fall from the mountains; hence he himself admires these shadows and boasts like Aesop's dog, who, seeing the shadow of meat in the water, seized it (since it appeared larger than the meat in the water), and thus lost the meat, nor obtained the shadow. Come, O Lord, let Thy day of eternal brightness dawn, and let the shadows of this darkness, vanity and mortality be inclined away. Come, O Lord, drive away our darkness, illuminate our eyes, that we may not gaze upon the shadows of goods, riches and delights, which like illusions on earth strike the gaze of our mind, but upon the very true honors, riches and delights, which in the heavens, for those loving Thee, Thou hast hidden and prepared from eternity, with fixed gaze may we behold, love and seek. Amen. Note: Sin in Hebrew is called און aven, which signifies many things, namely, falsehood, vanity, iniquity, labor, weariness, affliction, idol, nothing and nothingness. For sin truly has all these in itself, nay, sin really is all these; namely, sin in itself contracts and produces all sorrow. Moreover און aven by crasis is און on, that is, pain, or אין ain, that is, not, or the negation of being and all good. This therefore is sin, as I have already shown. Aven therefore is not, that is, sin is the son, nay, and the father of sorrow. 15. NATION,—The Assyrians, who shall lay waste Samaria, and the Chaldeans, who shall lay waste Jerusalem, and thus all Canaan; for the northern boundary of this is Hamath, the southern is the torrent of Egypt, that is, a stream derived from the Nile coming from the desert, which divides Judea from Egypt, and flows into the sea between Rhinocolura and Pelusium. Whence elsewhere it is often called the torrent of Egypt, sometimes the torrent of the desert, sometimes the turbid river, that is, the Nile, which originates from it and flows forth. Thus St. Jerome, Remigius, Rupertus, Hugo, Lyran and Arias. Others, however, such as Theodoret, Vatablus, a Castro, understand by nations only the Assyrians; for they think that here only the destruction of Samaria and the ten tribes is treated, and allusion is made to the strength and power of Jeroboam, king of Israel, under whom Amos prophesied. For with these words he crushes their spirits and forces, of which it is said IV Kings XIV, 28: "Now the rest of the words of Jeroboam, and all his might, how he fought, and how he recovered Damascus and Hamath to Juda in Israel, are they not written," etc.? And vers. 25: "He restored the coasts of Israel from the entering in of Hamath unto the sea of the wilderness." To this presumption and strength of Jeroboam and Israel, God opposes Himself through Amos, saying in the same words, but in antistrophe: Behold, I will bring the Assyrians who shall lay waste Israel, from Hamath unto the sea of the wilderness, nay, even further unto the torrent of Egypt; and then they shall see how weak their firmness was, how vain their strength, how vain and futile their presumption, when their virtue shall pass into weakness, their glory into shame, their boasting into weeping and lamentation. Both opinions are to be reconciled thus, that we may say the Prophet deals primarily against Samaria and the ten tribes, secondarily against Jerusalem and the Jews, as I showed at the beginning of the chapter. What Hamath is, I have said vers. 2.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 2 « transite in Chalane et videte et ite inde in. Emath magnam et descendite in. Geth Palaesthinorum et ad optima quaeque regna horum, si latior terminus eorum termino vestro est » ; — enumeratio a remotioribus ad viciniora et proxime adiacentia procedit. Chalane (Gen. 10, 10) urbs in Sinear, quam aliqui Nipur (Niffer) esse volunt! ; Emath, urbs ad Orontem, quae postmodum Epiphania vocabatur; Geth, vel Gath una ex praecipuis civitatibus Philisthinorum ; urbes has florentes supponi?, veteres interpretes fere agnoscunt (cf. Ps. Ruf. Cyr. Theod. Theod. M. Rup. Alb. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Men. Mar. Tir. Gord.) et recentiorum multi (cf. Schegg, Keil). Regnum igitur potentissimum in Sinear fundatum, regnum Syrorum et dominationem Philisthinorum ut animo considerent, vates monet ; quare? estne latior terminus eorum termino vestro, num meliores regnis istis (hebr.)? ne igitur ingrati sint erga Deum (cf. Cyr.). Deus enim populo suo bene providit ; terra fertili et regno inter alia gentium regna satis conspicuo exornavit. Apte Alb. monet, simili ratione a Ieremia populum amandari, ut aliorum exemplo se esse ingratos discant : «transite ad insules Cethim et videte, et in Cedar mittite... si mutavit gens deos suos ». | explicationem iam Ep/r. et Cali. proponunt; eas scil. urbes iam esse devictas captasque, « qui ea regna easque arces ruere vidistis, an futurum speratis, ut validiores vobis sint resistendo vires, illisne meliores estis? aut regibus eas defendentibus fortiores » ? Eam explanationem recentiorum quoque aliqui sequuntur. Sed in ipso textu nullum adest ruinae illarum urbium vestigium, neque ex rerum gestarum historia certum quid proferri potest, quo excidium demonstretur. Dr. Bickell versum hunc pro glossa seriori habendum esse vult (cf. carmina vet. test. metrice — supplementum et Schrader Keil. u. d. À. T. p. 443); eius rationes ultimo loco expositae sunt hae: a) versum hunc non aptari ad metrum, quod 6, 1 - 7 stichis heptasyllabis constet ; b) nexum grammaticalem interrumpi, qui sit inter v. 1 et 3 ; c) sensum nullo modo apparere convenientem. At haec tamen rem non evincunt ; nam a) potest versus adhibitis paucis emendationibus ex versione graeca legi ut complectens quinque stichos trochaicos octosvllabos ; b) nexus grammaticalis minime interrumpitur ; nàm participium in v. 3 DQ'122n non referendum est (ut mire censet Dichell) ad suflixum in 25225, verum facillime refertur ad imperativos éransite, ite, descendite ; c) sensum supra dedi ; nequi dici potest, alienum esse a serie rerum et cogitationum id, quod Deus dicatur aliis minora beneficia temporalia praestitisse. Ea vero difficultas tollitur etiam facilius in explicatione, quam Schegg proponit quaeque versu 3 valide commendatur, quippe qui ex hebr. dicit illos omne periculum longe abesse censere. Versum Schrader quoque eiicit ; at ea solum ratione, quia tempore Ámos urbes illae nondum destructae erant; verum textus supponit illas florere. Illis confidentibus et ingratis media in opulentia et securitate sortem et poenam denuntiat
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v. 3 «qui separati estis in diem malum et appropinquatis solio iniquitatis » ; — i. e. « quibus tempus ultionis impendet, cui vos estis ita dicati, ut videamini ad hoc prorsus electi » (Ps. Ruf.) et statim post interminationem rationem subiungit : quia ad sedem iniquitatis quam proxime accedunt, illam circumcingunt i. e. iniquitati in medio populo quasi thronum et sedem erexerunt, cui ipsi fideliter assistunt, praesertim impia iudicia exercentes et pauperes opprimentes (cf. Ps. Ruf. Sanct.). Aliis placet etiam in hoc membro poenae declarationem cernere: solio Assyrii servi et captivi mox appropinquabitis (cf. Aib. Rib. Mar. Sa, Tir.) ; sed solio appropinquare eo sensu est plane inauditum et id quod rei caput est, servitutis scil. et captivitatis notio suppleri debet. Propheta pergit in enarrandis causis, cur illis vae dicat ; ad oppressionem et iniustitiam adiungunt luxuriem, ebrietatem . .v.
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4 « qui dormitis in lectis eburneis et lascivitis in stratis vestris, qui comeditis agnum de grege et vitulos de medio armenti ;
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v. 5 qui canitis ad. vocem psalterii ; sicut David putaverunt se habere vasa cantici,
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v. 6 bibentes vinum in phialis, et optimo unguento delibuti ; et nihil patiebantur super. contritione loseph » ; — « cum haec passuri sitis, nunc dormitis in lectis eburneis et lascivitis in stratis mollibus, ut somno libidinem copuletis » (Hier.); alii de molliore cubatione in conviviis verba explicant et sane hebr. 232 accumbere, cubare potest significare ; cubandi vero modum describit delicatum, mollem, voluptuosum, quo sese distendunt super strata sua ; ad quod sequentia spectant : « qui comeditis non ad repellendam famem et, ad sustentandum corpus humanum, sed ad delicias atque luxuriam, ut quidquid in gregibus et in armentis ! tenerum atque pingue est, vestrae gulae paretis ; quibus non sufficit libido . . . , nisi et tibiarum et psalterii et lyrae canticis aures vestras mulceatis, ut quod David fecit in cultum Dei levitarum ordines et organorum reperiens varietates, vos ad voluptatem et luxuriam conferatis » (Hier.). Hebr. ut David excogitant sibi vasa cantici i. e. instrumenta musica ; ex his unum nominatur : garrientes ? ad rationem nablii i. e. temulente modulantes et ineptas cantilenas effutientes ad sonum citharae ; nablium scil. ex Iosephi descriptione citharae genus est, duodecim ? chordis instructum, quod digitis, non plectro carpatur. Certe simul cum instrumentis varii modi intelliguntur ; immo hos modos canendi et ludendi praecipue sibi excogitare et ad voluptatem invenire dicuntur heluones illi. Ad rei sacrae irrisionem illud sicut David. referri videtur ; ita rem concipit Ps. Ruf : « hisque flagitiis etiam contumelias antiquitatis adiungitis, dicentes videlicet, ea vos habere organa, quae David beatissimo ,suppetiverint; neque miseri consideratis tantum inter studia, quantum inter merita vestra atque illius interesse. . David enim laudes creatoris legesque virtutis et remedia perturbationis sacro carmine personabat; vos vero e contrario incentiva luxuriae cum iniuria creatoris concrepatis . . ». Cum hebr. p»Y2 phiala ubique in sacris literis sit vas, quo spargitur sanguis victimarum, vel phiala, patera sacrifica* et illi extalibus phialis vini (hebr.) biberé dicantur, rei sacrae profa- 1. Hebr. de medio stabulo, scil. saginario ; pi" S. Hier. etiam Mal. 3, 20 armentum transtulit ; alias *'v3 oiv vertit vitulus pascualis (4 Reg. 98, 24) vel saginatus (ler. 46, 91). natio et abusus videtur accusari. Demum se ungunt primitiis oleorum (hebr.) i. e. optimis et exquisitis, in signum laetitiae et deliciarum gratia. Dum vero ita vitam genialem vivunt, nullo modo tanguntur contritione, ruina, confractione, excidio et interitu miserrimo populi ; animos enim habent obduratos, suis cupiditatibus plane immersos. Quid enim ad tales homines aliorum miseria, vel regni Dei damnum et rerum omnium divinarum collapsus ? nihil dolere, nihil angi de contritione loseph proverbiali ratione dici et usurpari censet Sanct. ex narratione illa Gen. 37, 25 : « miserunt eum in cisternam veterem . .. et sedentes ut comederent panem ; de his ergo proprie dici posset bibentes vinum nihil patiebantur super contritionem loseph ; et hoc ipsum per metaphoram proverbiali forma dici posset de omnibus, qui molliter et delicate vivunt neque de fratrum suorum incommodis laborant », vel etiam refert ad Gen. 40, 14. 23. — Principum et ducum ingluviem et animos eorum sine affectione bene delineat, quod monet S. Hier., Ezechiel (34, 3, 4). Quapropter stuporis, duritiei, voluptatis poenas dabunt
6:7
v. 1 « quapropter nunc migrabunt in capite transmigrantium et auferetur. factio lascivientium » ; — hebr. et recedit convivium (?) iubilus (?) lascivientium !. Bene notat S. Hier. : « vos qui primi estis divitiis, primi captivitatis sustinebitis iugum, secundum illud quod in Ezechiele scriptum est: « a sanctuario meo incipite » (Ez. 9, 6) ; et auferetur, inquit, factio lascivientium, qui in capiendis voluptatibus unum habuere consensum et comessationes exercuere et symbola, hi pariter auferentur, ut quorum una fuit luxuria, una sit poena » ; neque abs re advertit Sanct. etiam hic in thecuano armentario et rustico propheta aliquod rhetoricum inveniri artificium, « ad verbum enim qui unguentorum capite delibuti sunt (v. 6), iidem in capite migrabunt transmigrantium ». suspensis duobus prioribus membris circuitus tertio finiantur. Iam vero quod his omnibus adiicitur et nihil patiebantur super contritione Ioseph, sive continuatim dicatur ut unum sit membrum, sive decentius suspendatur et nihil patiebantur, et post hanc distinctionem inferatur super contritione loseph atque sit bimembris circuitus, miro decore non dictum est nihil patiebantur super contritione fratris, sed positus est pro fratre loseph, ut quicumque frater proprio significaretur eius nomine, cuius ex fratribus fama praeclara est, vel in malis quae pendit, vel in bonis quae rependit. Iste certe tropus ubi Ioseph quemcumque fratrem facit intelligi, nescio utrum illa, quam didicimus et docuimus arte tradatur. Quam sit tamen pulcher, et quemadmodum afficiat legentes atque intelligentes, non opus est cuiquam dici, si ipse non sentit ». Habes specimen, quanta cum sedulitate S. doctor minores etiam illas dicendi figuras, collocationem verborum, sententiarum nexum atque structuram expenderit, laudaverit et ad artis rhetoricae praecepta accommodata esse omnia cum magna prophetae laude demonstraverit.
6:8
v. 8 « lIuravit Dominus Deus in anima sua, dicit Dominus Deus exercituum : detestor ego superbiam lacob et domos eius odi et tradam civitatem cum habitatoribus suis » ; — hebr. civitatem et. plenitudinem eius; sensum reddidit Hier. Iurisiurandi sacramento declaratur iudicium imminens iam nulla ratione posse averti, esse proinde illius vaticinium omnino absolutum ; Deus enim volens ostendere immobilitatem consilii sui interponit iusiurandum, ut per duas res immobiles, quibus impossibile est mentiri Deum, certissimum habeant rerum futurarum terrorem (cf. Hebr. 6, 1'1. 18). Deus iurat per animam suam i. e. per se ', per vitam suam, uti alias vivo ego (Sanct. Men.), vel asseverat ex intimo affectu (Alb.) ; « more nostro dictum, quibus loquebatur, intellige : ut. quoniam nihil pretiosius anima nostra aut dulcius aestimamus, ille quoque... maiestatem et vitam suam animae appellatione signaverit » (Ps. Ruf.). Superbiam i. e. illa in quibus falsam fiduciam et securitatem collocant omnemque eorum pompam (v. 4 — cf. Schegg), eorum palatia (hebr.) iniustis exactionibus aedificata et pauperum oppressione et iustitiae violatione locupletata (5, 11) Dominus abominatur. Cur /acob mentio fiat, Rib. explicat : « habet nescio quid latentis emphasis hoc in loco nomen Iacob, quoniam sanctus patriarcha semper Iacob dictus cum in humili fortuna versaretur, donec humilitate et obedientia sua nomen magnae dignitatis accepit... subindicat ergo turpissimam esse superbiam et omni supplicio dignam in illius filiis, qui cum esset parvus, humilitate magnus effectus est ». Bello erunt puniendi, hostibus tradentur. At tale erit iudicium, ut qui belli pericula et hostium insectationem evaserint, peste abripiantur ;
Minis prolatis additur maxima quae fieri potest confirmatio et asseveratio ex iureiurando Dei (cf. Alb. Sanct.)
6:9
V. 9 « quod si reliqui fuerint decem viri in domo una, et tpsi morientur » ; — i. e. si cladem communem fugientes decem in una se abdiderint domo, velsi ex una stirpe vel familia potenti decem superfuerint (Sanct.), isti in ipsis latibulis mortem obibunt; « decem nominat ideo, quia supra (9, 3) mille deduxit ad centum et centum ad decem et ne credatur, quod illis decem parcere velit » (Aib.) ; id certe innuit, stragem fore beflo et peste communissimam et paucos superstites (cf. 3, 19). et non recorderis nominis Domini » ; — hebr. et tollit eum propinquus eius et pollinctor.' eius, ut efferat ossa de domo i. e. propinquus qui curam gerit corporis concremandi et sepeliendi — tempore belli et pestis corpora etiam apud Israelitas cremabantur et ossa dein sepeliebantur ; in poenam criminum etiam combustio statuebatur cf. 1 Reg. 31, 12. 13. Lev. 20, 14; 21, 9 — «hic qui in penetralibus esse dicitur et quem alloquitur propinquus, aut est aliquis, qui de decem viris superstes fuerat, aut quem exploratorem miserat, qui intima scrutaretur domus penetralia et tabida atque foetentia cadavera foras efferret; hunc igitur rogavit propinquus, cum iam aliquot cadavera protulerit, an aliquid praeterea supersit, quod in abdito domus secessu puteat ; quae vox eius est, qui ex gravi fortuna duroque conflictu magnam esse hominum cladem suspicatur. Et respondet superesse adhuc neminem, aut mortuum quem producat et cremet, aut vivum qui in illis latebris mortem effugerit; quasi dicat iam actum esse prorsus de civibus » (Sanct.). Et dicet ei, non idem ille, qui modo dixerat : finis est, sed, ut rite veteres et plerique recentiorum (e contra Hitz.) explicant, is dicit, qui quaestionem posuerat, (ace; quo sensu vero dicatur et non recorderis... interpretes non consentiunt. Censent nempe alii, significari animum incredulum, qui ne malorum pondere quidem et, necessitate compulsus nomen 1. Ita. scil. 394D?3 - nn comburens, lpolliuctor ; cf. Houbig. Vocem de combustione Domini velit confiteri (Hier. Rup. Alb.); alii, animi desperantis esse verba(Gord. Schegg); alii, ab illo dici, qui timeat, ne commemorato nomine Domini Dominus ad ulteriorem plagam infligendam provocetur et eius quasi admoneatur (Ps. Ruf. Hitz.) ; alii e contra censent, verba esse adhortantis, ne alter in blasphemias malorum pondere pressus prorumpat (Cyr. Sanct. Sa); alii demum in iis animum cernunt exprimi atque depingi impatientem et Deo indignantem tamquam malorum illorum auctori ; « ne mihi Dominum nomines, nolo eius nomen audire, qui nos tot calamitatibus affecit » (Rib. Men. Tir.) ; mitius id Calm. interpretatur : « ne Deum exorando labores, ut te his malis liberet ; te quippe non audiet ». Iam difficile est esse arbitrum inter tot sententias. Certe cumulus quidam malorum etextrema miseria designatur, quare illi a vero minime aberrare videntur, qui verba desperantium vel nova pericula timentium ibi audiunt ; ipsum scil. nomen Domini, quod populo in salutis signum et electionis pignus est promulgatum (Ex. 6, 3), iam iis videtur omen malorum et propter eximiam iniquitatem Jahve, qui est, Deus fidelissimus, qui promissis stat immutabilis, iis iam non est nisi malorum auctor quem horrent et a cuius nominis invocatione tamquam a malo omine et malorum praesagio abstinent ; quia est Deus foederis, quod foede violarunt, ideo eum invocare Deum foederis, idem fere est quam eum ad maiorem vindictam provocare vel ad eius memoriam violationem foederis reducere. Fore autem talem rerum omnium ruinam vates confirmat :
6:12
v. 19 « quia ecce Dominus mandabit et percutiet domum maiorem ruinis et! domum minorem scissionibus » ; — i. e. domum magnam rupturis, minorem fissuris (Fos.), integram reipublicae conditionem evertet, palatia et casulas, divites et pauperes percutiet ( Theod.) ; multi duo regna Israel et Iuda significari volunt (Iier. Ps. Ruf. Cyr. Alb. Rib. Lap. Men. Tir.), S. Ephr. vero regnum Israel et Syriam ; Caln. modum loquendi proverbialem agnoscit ; certe verba stragem communem et. universalem dicunt; sed domo maiore et minore regnum Israel et Iuda exprimi, nullo exemplo simili suaderi potest. Talis autem strages prorsus necessario iis infligitur, quia contra rerum naturam et ordinem omnia perverterunt id perpetrantes, quod fieri non posse et naturae repugnare censeri debeat; ita enim horrorem criminum exaggerat
6:13
v. 13 «.mwumquid currere queunt. in. petris. equi aut arari potest in bubalis ? quoniam convertistis in amaritudinem iudicium et fructum iustitiae in absinthium » ; — i. c. « numquid possunt immutari rerum naturae, ut equi currant per petras et rupes more avium, aut bubali i. e. boves silvestres (atque indomiti) iugum recipiant et arent ? hoc dico, quoniam vos rerum naturas quodammodo immutatis ; populum Dei decebat, haec quae Deo dulcia sunt, vertistis in amaritudinem, in peccata Deo amara et pro fructu iustitiae, quem ferre debuistis cum eius semina a Deo accepissetis, tulistis absinthiüm, i. e. olera amarissima » (Rib.) ; vel uti naturae repugnat, equos incitari ad cursum in locis petrosis, ita repugnat eorum agendi modus ; est enim quasi quaestio indignabundi : num iam omnia susque :deque vertenda sunt? quia vos normam veri et iusti plane invertitis (cf. Sa, Mar. Lap. Calm.)? ludicium i. e. iura: et iustitiam in iudiciis et generatim id quod rectum et iustum et debitum est ; id n venenum vertunt scil. iura omnia violantes, alios opprimentes ; et ex tali radice non iustitiae fructus dulcis enascitur verum absinthium, sibi aliisque durum excidium praeparant. malunt cum S. Hier. non boves, sed bubalos feros et indomitos intelligere (Ps. Ruf. Alb. Rup. Rib. Sa, Men. Calm. Schegg) ; verum estne *p3 bos bubalus ? — [d quod LXX habent si zagacuo/sovtat iv 0rjatau ; facile, uti iam notat Lap., ex hebr. mutatione parva literarum explicatur; est enim V^! tacere et pro Porro declaratur, quantopere rerum ordinem pervertant
6:14
v. 14 «qu laetamini in nihilo, qui dicitis : numquid non in fortitudine nostra assumpsimus nobis cornua » ? — illud nihilum non tam sunt idola (Hier. Alb. Sa), sed potius id, quo statim ipsi suam laetitiam et superbam iactantiam' produnt, fortitudo (Ps. Ruf. Cyr. Lap.), qua sibi ipsi potentiam comparaverint. Cornua vires dicunt et potentiam, quibus inimici repelluntur et ventilantur ; nonne ipsi nobis nostra virtute victorias comparavimus et aliis sumus terrori? quae iactatio temporibus Ieroboam et prosperis rerum eo tempore successibus omnino congrua est. At quo magis superbiunt, eo certius et clarius propheta interitum annuntiat ; quare denuo, uti v. 12, iisdem verbis (^3372) vaticinium vertit idque forma etiam magis determinata profert
6:15
v. 15 « ecce enim suscitabo super vos domus Israel, dicit Dominus Deus exercituum, gentem et conteret vos ab introitu Emath usque ad torrentem deserti » ; — cf. 9, 19 - 16; 3, 11 - 15; 5, 1 - 3. 9. 11. 16 et seq. 21; minas hisce locis prolatas quasi in unum colligit et ita vaticinio claro et determinato finem imponit huic parti designans Dei instrumentum ad exercendam vindictam. Ab introitu Emath usque ad. mare solitudinis 4 Reg 14, 25 regnum Israel a leroboam restitutum auctumque continebatur i. e. usque ad mare mortuum ; probabile est eosdem terminos etiam hoc loco describi (cf. Theod. Theod. M. Sanct. Calm. Schegg, Keil), quamvis, ubi accurate torrens deserti quaerendus sit, non est una omnium sententia. S. Hier. ab Emath usque ad Rhinocoruram explanat? et duo regna Israel et Iuda comprehendi vult (sim. Ps. Ruf. Rib. Lap.) ; alii torrentem medium inter Moab et Edom intelligunt, qui hodie Wady el Ahsy di- citur (cf. Hitz. Keil, Trochon — vide Is. 15, 1) ; alii rem in medio relinquentes unum aliquem ex multis torrentibus esse dicunt, qui ex regione transiordanica in mare mortuum influat (Schegg.). Ita paucis sed validis verbis propheta regnum Israel excidio devoveri ait eo tempore, quo quam maxime floret ; sicuti Isaias ultimo anno Oziae, sub quo regnum Iuda refloruit, idem regnum vastationi fore obnoxium vidit (Is. 6 cp.). Prophetarum enim est specie illa externa non decipi, verum splendore proculcato omnibus id unum inculcare, quod res florentissimae concident, nisi pietate et fidelitate in Deum fulciantur. Concludit S. Ephr. hoc caput : «sic certe (Dominus) baculo suo cornua, capita inimicorum suorum, qui suis viribus confidunt, confringet ; dicit vero, populum qui auxilio Dei gentes olim suffoderat et profligaverat, iam vice versa a gentibus iri contritum, quia propter peccata eos ope sua destituit ». Anc. — Etiam haec pars tribus sectionibus, sed inaequalibus, constituitur. Duae enim priores visiones, quibus poena locustarum et ignis exhibetur, id habent commune, ut Dominus precibus prophetae exoratus a castigatione infligenda desistat. Hisce igitur primam sectionem constare censemus (11, 1-6). Subsequuntur aliae duae visiones, quae iudicium imminens quod iam non averti possit symbolice adumbrant ; post utramque visionem vates aliqua interponit, quibus et poenae infligendae necessitas magis declaratur et poena ipsa accuratius determinatur. Ita priorem visionem de trulla caementarii subsequitur narratio de persecutione et accusatione in prophetam mota et denuntiatio poenae in persecutorem ferendae ; post alteram de uncino pomorum visionem vates longiore oratione et scelera iniustitiae perstringit et poenae gravitatem proponit (1, 1-8, 14). Ea sane apte alteram sectionem constituunt. Ultimum autem caput id singulare habet, ut prophetae in visione symbolica excidium templi hierosolymitani et ruina totius theocratiae proinde etiam regni luda ostendatur. Sed simul declaratur, fore instaurationem gloriosam collapsi tabernaculi David et regnum universale, perpetuum, uberrima benedictione insignitum (cp. 9). Ita cap. 9 satis ab antecedentibus discernitur et cum veteris theocratiae sortem et instaurationem messianicam complectatur, toti vaticinio apte finem imponit, ostendens fastigium illud et perfectionis culmen, ad quod tota V., T. institutio est ordinata. |. — PRIMA SECTIO : PROPHETAE INTERCESSIO PRO POPULO 7, 1-6. ' Inter praecipua, quibus propheticum munus insigne erat, illud imprimis recenseri debet, quod prophetae, uti Dei mandata, promissiones, minas ad populum deferebant, ita populi afflicti culpisque obnoxii causam apud Deum agebant intercessione et obsecrationibus. Tangebantur enim misericordia populi et eo, quo apud Deum favore fruebantur, ad gratiam Dei pro miseris implorandam et ad efflagitanda pro iis bona utebantur, veri scil. et potentes advocati populi. Quod enim Ieremias de se profitetur : « recordare quod steterim in conspectu tuo, ut loquerer pro eis bona ct averterem indignationem tuam ab eis », non exiguam muneris prophetici et partem et dignitatem continet ; prophetarum nempe erat opponere murum pro domo Israel et stare in die proelii ; unde in rebus angustis ad prophetas tamquam apud Deum intercessores et mediatores et rex et populus confugit (Is. 31, 2 — et de hoc officio prophetali vide Ier. 14, 13,18, 20. Ez. 9, 8. Hab. 1, 12) ; quod si Deus exacerbatus propter sceleraetad certam poenam infligendam omnino determinatus, hanc pro populo intercessionem et obsecrationem quandoque prophetis interdicit (cf. Ier. "1, 46 ; 14, 44 ; 14, 11) vel frustra eam adhiberi statuit (cf. Ez. 44, 14 - 20), hoc ipso, quantum eorum deprecatio valeat, comprobatur. Eodem intercessionis munere Amos quoque functus est, neque frustra. Bis enim castigationem, quam Deus iamiam erat devoluturus in populum infidelem, suis precibus avertit. Quando id factum fuerit, ipse non refert ; verum ex ipsa rei natura sat facile colligitur, id evenisse initio muneris, antequam populi interitum iam certo instare eumque averti nulla ratione posse vaticinari debuerit. Ipse visionibus eruditur divinitus ment eius immissis et symbolis rerum exhibitis. Haec cum in animo eius fiunt et a Deo effici intelliguntur, simul pro ipso propheta pignora sunt divini commercii et certissima divinae missionis documenta et solatia in rerum difficultate suavissima, quibus prophetae animus erigeretur et confortaretur. In eo quod visiones omnes in extremam libri partem post vaticinia edita reservatae sunt atque collectae, facile dixeris ipsum prophetam res inter se similes ordine hoc disposuisse. Eadem formula (71, 1. 4. 1; 8, 1) visiones a Deo sibi immissas clare docet :
6:2
… Kalnèh) of Am. 6:2, and the Calano (Heb. …
Geth (Hebrew Gath, Akkadian Gimtu, "Winepress")
… had an elite corps of six hundred Gittite warriors (2 Sam. 15:18). Hazael, king of Syria, occupied G. (2 Kings 12:18), for the Philistines; Uzziah tore down its walls (2 Chron. 16:6; cf. 2 Kings 18:8). G. then depended on Ashdod or Azotus (v.). Am. 6:2 gives it as an example of a fallen city, nor does it appear in the oracles of the other prophets against the Philistine cities.
… rather there were disputes over borders (cf. 1 Kings 15:27; 16:15); indeed in time the Israelites took the offensive: King Uzziah (8th century) dismantled the cities of Gath and Jabneh and built fortresses in the Philistine region (2 Chron. 26:6 ff.; cf. Amos 6:2), and Hezekiah struck the P. as far as Gaza and throughout all their border (1 Kings 18:8). By the Assyrians the P. too were made tributary; their cities fell into the hands of the …
6:4
… excavations: thus, for example, the excavations of Tell el-Heleifi (v. ASIONGABER) near the Gulf of 'Aqabah show Solomon's efforts to create a commercial port for himself (I Kings 9:26); the ivory objects found in Samaria confirm I Kings 22:39 and Am. 3:15; 6:4; the letters of Lachish (18 documents, largely fragments, written on potsherds) illustrate certain accounts in the book of Jer. The archaeological confirmation of such secondary elements …
… Kar is the male lamb fairly developed, not yet a ram, considered a choice food (Deut. 32, 14; Am. 6, 4), coveted booty (I Sam. 15, 9), and is the tribute paid by Moab (Is. 16, 1; II Reg. 3, 4: Meša). …
6:10
… Exceptional and due to foreign influences was embalming (cf. for Joseph: Gen. 50, 25) and cremation, due to contingent circumstances (cf. for Saul and his sons: I Sam. 31, 11-13; for a grave pestilence: Am. 6, 10).
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.