The prophet sees, in three visions, evils coming upon Israel: he is accused of treason by the false priest of Bethel.
In three visions manie miseries are reueled, which shal come vpon both the kingdomes. 10. A false priest of Bethel accusing the prophet of sedition, and endeuouring to chase him away, 14. is by him forewarned of miseries to his familie, and death to himself.
1These things the Lord God shewed to me: and behold the locust was formed in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter rain, and lo, it was the latter rain after the king’s mowing.Queste sono le visioni mandate a me dal Signore Dio: Ecco il facitore delle locuste nel principio, in cui la pioggia serotina facea spuntare i germogli, ed ecco la pioggia serotina dopo la segatura del re.THESE thinges hath our Lord God shewed to me: and loe the former of the locust in the beginning of thinges that spring of the later rayne, and behold the later rayne after the kings mowing.Hæc ostendit mihi Dominus Deus: et ecce fictor locustæ in principio germinantium serotini imbris, et ecce serotinus post tonsionem regis. 2And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, I said: O Lord God, be merciful, I beseech thee: who shall raise up Jacob, for he is very little?Or quando la (locusta) ebbe finito di mangiare l'erba de' campi, io dissi: Signore Dio, abbi, ti prego, misericordia: chi rialzerà Giacobbe, che è si stenuato?And it came to passe: after it had finished to eate the grasse of the land, I sayd: O Lord God be propicious I beseech thee: who shal rayse vp Iacob, because he is a litle one?Et factum est, cum consummasset comedere herbam terræ, dixi: Domine Deus, propitius esto, obsecro; quis suscitabit Jacob, quia parvulus est ? 3The Lord had pity upon this: It shall not be, said the Lord.Il Signore ebbe pietà di questo, e disse il Signore: Non sarà.Our Lord hath had pitie vpon this: It shal not be, sayth our Lord.Misertus est Dominus super hoc: Non erit, dixit Dominus. 4These things the Lord God shewed to me: and behold the Lord called for judgment unto fire, and it devoured the great deep, and ate up a part at the same time.E il Signore Dio mi fece vedere anche questo: Io vedeva il Signore Dio, che chiamava la vendetta a dar di mano al fuoco, e questo asciugò un grande abisso, e consumava insieme una parte;These thinges hath our Lord God called iudgement vnto c fyre, and it deuoured the great depth and it did eate a part together.Hæc ostendit mihi Dominus Deus: et ecce vocabat judicium ad ignem Dominus Deus; et devoravit abyssum multam, et comedit simul partem. 5And I said: O Lord God, cease, I beseech thee, who shall raise up Jacob, for he is a little one?Ed io dissi: Signore Dio, placati, te ne prego: chi rialzerà Giacobbe, che è si stenuato?And I sayd: Lord God be quiet I besech thee: who shal rayse vp Iacob, because he is a litle one?Et dixi: Domine Deus, quiesce, obsecro; quis suscitabit Jacob, quia parvulus est ?
6The Lord had pity upon this. Yea this also shall not be, said the Lord God.Il Signore ebbe pietà di questo, e disse, il Signore Dio: Neppur questo sarà.Our Lord had pitie vpon this: Yea this also shal not be, sayth our Lord God.Misertus est Dominus super hoc: Sed et istud non erit, dixit Dominus Deus. 7These things the Lord shewed to me: and behold the Lord was standing upon a plastered wall, and in his hand a mason’s trowel.Il Signore mandò a me questa visione: Io vedeva il Signore, che stava sopra una muraglia da arricciare, ed avea in mano la mestola da muratore.These thinges hath our Lord shewed to me: and loe our Lord standing vpon a wal plastered, and in his hand a masons truel.Hæc ostendit mihi Dominus: et ecce Dominus stans super murum litum, et in manu ejus trulla cæmentarii. 8And the Lord said to me: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A mason’s trowel. And the Lord said: Behold, I will lay down the trowel in the midst of my people Israel. I will plaster them over no more.E il Signore disse a me: Che è quello, che tu vedi, o Amos? E io dissi: Una mestola da muratore. E il Signore disse: Ecco, che io getterò la mestola in mezzo al mio popolo d'Israele, né più la adoprerò per arricciare le sue mura.And our Lord sayd to me:? What seest thou Amos? And I sayd: A masons truel. And our Lord sayd: Behold I wil lay downe the truel in the middes of my people Israel: I wil adde no more to plaster it ouer.Et dixit Dominus ad me: Quid tu vides, Amos ? Et dixi: Trullam cæmentarii. Et dixit Dominus: Ecce ego ponam trullam in medio populi mei Israël; / non adjiciam ultra superinducere eum. 9And the high places of the idol shall be thrown down, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste: and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.E i luoghi eccelsi dell'idolo saranno atterrati, e i luoghi santi d'Israel e saran desolati, e darò di mano alla spada contro la casa di Geroboam.And the excelses of the idol shal be throwen dowen, and the sancrifications of Israel shal be made desolate: and I wil rise vpon the house of Ieroboam with the sword.Et demolientur excelsa idoli, / et sanctificationes Israël desolabuntur, / et consurgam super domum Jeroboam in gladio. 10And Amasias the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying: Amos hath rebelled against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words.Ma Amasia sacerdote di Bethel mandò a dire a Geroboam re di Israele: Amos fa ribellione contro di te in mezzo al popolo d'Israele: la gente non può sopportare tutte le cose? ch'ei dice:And Amasias the priest of Bethel sent to Ieroboam the king of Israel, saying: Amos hath rebelled against thee in the middes of the house of Israel: the land wil not be able to susteyne al his wordes.Et misit Amasias, sacerdos Bethel, ad Jeroboam, regem Israël, dicens: Rebellavit contra te Amos in medio domus Israël; non poterit terra sustinere universos sermones ejus.
11For thus saith Amos: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall be carried away captive out of their own land.Perocché Amos dice così: Geroboam perirà di spada, e Israele se n'anderà schiavo dal suo paese.For thus saith Amos: Ieroboam shal dye by the sword, and Israel shal depart captiue out of their land.Hæc enim dicit Amos: In gladio morietur Jeroboam, et Israël captivus migrabit de terra sua. 12And Amasias said to Amos: Thou seer, go, flee away into the land of Juda: and eat bread there, and prophesy there.E Amasia disse ad Amos: O veggente, partiti, fuggi nel paese di Giuda, ed ivi mangia il tuo pane, ed ivi profeterai.And Amasias sayd to Amos: Thou that seest, goe, flee into the land of Iuda: & eate bread there, and thou shalt prophecie there.Et dixit Amasias ad Amos: Qui vides, gradere: fuge in terram Juda, et comede ibi panem, et prophetabis ibi. 13But prophesy not again any more in Bethel: because it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is the house of the kingdom.Ma non profeterai mai più a Bethel, perchè è il luogo santo del re, e la sede del regno.And in Bethel thou shalt adde no more to prophecie: because it is the sanctification of the king, and it is the house of the kingdom.Et in Bethel non adjicies ultra ut prophetes, quia sanctificatio regis est, et domus regni est. 14And Amos answered and said to Amasias: I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet: but I am a herdsman plucking wild figs.E Amos rispose ad Amasia: Io non sono profeta, né figliuolo di profeta, ma sono custode di armenti, e bruco i sicomori.And Amos answered, and sayd to Amasias: I am not a prophete, and I am not the sonne of a prophet: but an heardsman am I plucking sycomores.Responditque Amos, et dixit ad Amasiam: Non sum propheta, et non sum filius prophetæ: sed armentarius ego sum vellicans sycomoros. 15And the Lord took me when I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me: Go, prophesy to my people Israel.E il Signore mi prese mentr'io seguiva l'armento, e il Signore mi disse: Va, profetizza al popol mio d'Israele.And our Lord tooke me when I folowed the flocke, and our Lord sayd to me: Goe, prophecie to my people Israel.Et tulit me Dominus cum sequerer gregem, et dixit Dominus ad me: Vade, propheta ad populum meum Israël. 16And now hear thou the word of the Lord: Thou sayest, thou shalt not prophesy against Israel, and thou shalt not drop thy word upon the house of the idol.Or ascolta tu adesso la parola del Signore. Tu dici a me: Non profeterai sopra Israele, e non getterai oracoli sulla casa dell'idolo.And now heare the word of our Lord: Thou sayest: Thou shalt not prophecie vpon Israel, and thou shalt not distil vpon the house of the idol.Et nunc audi verbum Domini: Tu dicis: Non prophetabis super Israël, / et non stillabis super domum idoli.
17Therefore thus saith the Lord: Thy wife shall play the harlot in the city, and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be measured by a line: and thou shalt die in a polluted land, and Israel shall go into captivity out of their land.Per onesto il Signore dice così: La tua moglie sarà disonorata nella città, e i tuoi figliuoli, e le tue figlie periranno di spada, e la tua terra sarà spartita a misura, e tu in una terra profana morrai, e Israele se n'anderà schiavo fuori del suo paese.Therfore thus saith our Lord: Thy wife shal fornicate in the citie, and thy sonnes, and thy daughters shal fal by the sword, & thy ground shal be measured with a corde: and thou shalt dye in a polluted land, and Israel shal depart captiue out of their land.Propter hoc hæc dicit Dominus: / Uxor tua in civitate fornicabitur, / et filii tui et filiæ tuæ in gladio cadent, / et humus tua funiculo metietur: / et tu in terra polluta morieris, / et Israël captivus migrabit de terra sua.
7:1
Challoner
The locust, etc. These judgments by locusts and fire, which by the prophet's intercession were moderated, signify the former invasions of the Assyrians under Phul and Theglathphalassar, before the utter desolation of Israel by Salmanasar. (Challoner)
Worthington
Locusts denoted the Assyrian invaders, 4 Kings xviii. (Worthington)
St. Jerome
Formed. Literally, "the maker of the locust, in the beginning of the herbs shooting," etc., (Haydock) in spring. (St. Jerome)
Calmet
They pasture in our January: yet the grass of autumn may be meant. The king took the best which grows in summer. (Calmet)
Calmet
Septuagint, "and lo, a swarm of locusts coming in the morning; and lo, one bruchus, Gog, the king," (Haydock) or "against king Gog." (Calmet)
Haydock
Aquila has, "of the king of Gaza." He probably left the original term, (St. Jerome) gizze. (Haydock)
Theodoret
The invasion of the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Scythians is insinuated. (Theodoret)
Pezron
The latter came the year after the earthquake, Amos 1:(Pezron.)
Calmet
This was the first vision of Amos. (Calmet)
Menochius
He saw the first and last inroads of the Assyrians, as well as the prosperity of Jeroboam. (Menochius)
7:2
Haydock
When. Septuagint, "If it shall eat up," etc. (Haydock)
Calmet
Little. After Jeroboam II, the kingdom fell to decay, when Manahem called in the Assyrians. (Calmet)
7:3
The. Septuagint, "Repent, O Lord, on this head, and this shall," etc.
Haydock
Not be: the grass shall not be totally devoured. (Haydock)
Worthington
The king of the Assyrians invaded Juda in vain, 4 Kings xix. (Worthington)
7:4
Haydock
Part of the land, if the prophet had not interposed; (ver. 6.; Calmet) or rather civil wars desolated a great part of the kingdom, before the Lord was appeased. (Haydock)
Worthington
The fire foreshewed the captivity of the two tribes, 4 Kings xxiv. (Worthington)
7:6
Haydock
The. Septuagint, as ver. 3. (Haydock)
Calmet
We read not of locusts being sent, ver. 1. But fire of war certainly raged before the final catastrophe of Jehu's family, when Sellum slew Zacharias, 4 Kings 15:8. (Calmet)
7:7
Haydock
Plastered. Hebrew, "wall, made by a plumb-line, with a plumb-line in his hand." (Protestants) (Haydock)
Pliny
But Septuagint, Syriac, etc., seem more literal, (Calmet) "on a wall of adamant, and a diamond in his hand." Hebrew anac, (Haydock) whence a diamond was called anactites, (Orpheus) or anachites. (Pliny, [Natural History?] 37:4.)
Saturn had a scythe of adamant, and walls of this kind were deemed impervious even to the inhabitants of heaven. Thus Virgil describes the gates of hell: Porta adversa ingens solidoque adamante columnae, Vis ut nulla virum non ipsi exscindere ferro Coelicolae valeant. --
Aeneid vi
(Aeneid vi.)
Calmet
God appearing on such a wall, intimated that the separation between him and his people was complete. (Calmet)
Horace
Hic murus aheneus esto. (Horace, 1:ep. 1.)
7:8
Haydock
Plaster. Septuagint, "I will no more pass over it," the adamantine wall. I will hide their faults no longer. (Haydock)
Worthington
This third vision alluded to the distress of the ten tribes, 4 Kings 15:20. (Worthington)
7:9
Calmet
Idol. Hebrew, "Isaac." (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "laughter." (Haydock)
Haydock
Isaac had resided for some time at Bersabee, which was a place frequented by idolaters, Amos 5:5., and 8:14. Josias overthrew (4 Kings 23:8.; Calmet) the profane "altars." (Haydock)
Sword. His son Zacharias was slain after six months reign, ver. 6, 11.
7:10
Calmet
Words. Nothing could be more unfounded. Amos had indeed denounced many judgments; but he was not wanting in respect to the king. (Calmet)
7:11
Challoner
Sword. The prophet did not say this, but that the Lord would rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword; which was verified when Zacharias, the son and successor of Jeroboam, was slain by the sword, 4 Kings 15:10. (Challoner)
Worthington
The false prophet was therefore guilty of a lie. They accuse the preachers of truth as traitors. (Worthington)
Haydock
Thus many missionary priests have been traduced in England. (Haydock)
7:12
Haydock
Seer. This was the ancient title of prophets; (1 Kings 9:9.; Calmet) but it is here used contumeliously. (Haydock)
Calmet
We know not whether Amasias acted by the king's order or not. He was less afraid of the predictions than of losing his employment. (Calmet)
7:13
Kimchi
Sanctuary, or "palace." (Kimchi)
Calmet
The kings resided commonly in Samaria; but they came hither to practise their religion, and had a palace. (Calmet)
Haydock
The king's choice was all that Amasias regarded, as many seem still to do, without examining whether the religion be true or false! Will the king screen them from the indignation of the just Judge at the hour of death? (Haydock)
7:14
Challoner
I am not a prophet. That is, I am not a prophet by education: nor is prophesying my calling or profession: but I am a herdsman, whom God was pleased to send hither to prophesy to Israel. (Challoner)
He speaks with the like humility as [John] the baptist, John 1:21., and Luke 7:26. It seems the prophets usually left their trade, and applied to meditation, Zacharias 8:5. Septuagint, "I was not a prophet, nor," etc.
Calmet
Plucking. Septuagint (Theodotion), "pricking." (Calmet)
This was requisite to make the fruit ripen in four days' time. (Pliny, [Natural History?] 13:7., and 16:27.
Wild fig-trees have three sorts of fruits. The flies which proceed from some of them, prick the sweet figs, and make them ripen. (Tournefort 1:let. 8.)
Amos probably conveyed such wild figs to be near those of the garden, while at other times he fed his cattle.
7:16
St. Jerome
Drop; menaces, Ezechiel 20:46. Septuagint, "thou shalt not disturb (Calmet) or threaten the house of Jacob." (St. Jerome)
Challoner
Idol; the calf, worshipped in Bethel. (Challoner)
Haydock
Hebrew, "Isaac," as [in] ver. 9. (Haydock)
7:17
St. Jerome
Play. Symmachus has better, "shall be treated as a harlot." A "husband would rather hear that his wife had been slain than defiled." (St. Jerome)
Line, and divided among strangers.
Calmet
Land, out of Palestine. All other countries were deemed unclean. Amasias was probably exiled, or led captive by Theglathphalassar, as Salmanasar did not come till sixty-two years after the death of Jeroboam. We know no more of the history of Amasias. The martyrologies say he slew Amos. (Calmet)
St. Jerome
His name means "rigid," and he was a true image of a heretic. "All that he possesses shall fall to the share of devils." (St. Jerome)
7:1
The locust, etc.... These judgments by locusts and fire, which, by the prophet’s intercession, were moderated, signify the former invasions of the Assyrians under Phul and Theglathphalasar, before the utter desolation of Israel by Salmanasar.
7:11
Jeroboam shall die by the sword.... The prophet did not say this; but that the Lord would rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword: which was verified, when Zacharias, the son and successor of Jeroboam, was slain by the sword. 4 Kings 15.10.
7:14
I am not a prophet.... That is, I am not a prophet by education: nor is prophesying my calling or profession: but I am a herdsman, whom God was pleased to send hither to prophesy to Israel.
7:16
The house of the idol.... Viz., of the calf worshipped in Bethel.
7:1
Locustes svvarming in multitude signified the Assirian •••ld•ars inuading the tenne tribes, as is recorded 4. Reg. 18.
7:3
Salmanasar king of Assirians hauing subdued the tenne tribes, inuaded the kingdom of Iuda, & besieged Ierusalem but his armie was miraculously destroyed. 4. Reg. 19.
7:7
This third vision signified the calamities vvhich the ten tribes suffered shortly after in the reigne of Manahem. 4. Reg. 15 v. 20.
7:9
c This second vision of sire signified the captiuitie of the two tribes caried into Babylon. 4. Reg. 24. & 25.
7:10
False prophets not induring the vvhol some preaching of true pastores falsely accuse them of rebellion, treason, and sedition.
7:11
In this also the false prophetlyed, for Amos sayd not: Ieroboam shal dye by the svvord: but that God would rise vpon the house of Ieroboam vvith the svvord. v. 9. fulfilled vvhen Zacharias the sonne of Ieroboam was slaine by Sellum. 4. Reg. 15 v 10.
7:14
•yedu••tion.
7:1
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 53.8
… 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. He sees now the maker of the grasshopper,
7:7
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 53.8
… 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. He sees now the maker of the grasshopper, now the Lord, standing upon a wall
7:12
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 40.1
… Jeremiah is sent from Jerusalem to the Euphrates (a river in Mesopotamia), and leaves his girdle to be marred in the Chaldæan camp, among the Assyrians hostile to his people. Ezekiel is told to eat bread made of mingled seeds and sprinkled with the dung of men and cattle. He has to see his wife die without shedding a tear. Amos is driven from Samaria.
Theodoret of Cyrus † AD 458 Dialogues. The “Eranistes” or “Polymorphus” of the Blessed Theodoretus, Bishop of Cyrus 3
Orth. —And again when we hear Amaziah saying to the prophet Amos, “Oh thou seer go flee away into the land of Judah,”
7:13
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 217
LVI. The intentional homicide, who has afterwards repented, will be excommunicated from the sacrament
7:14
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 41
… This Spirit, for He is most wise and most loving, if He takes possession of a shepherd makes him a Psalmist, subduing evil spirits by his song, and proclaims him King; if he possess a goatherd and scraper of sycamore fruit,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 5.15
15. As for me, “I am not a prophet nor the son of a prophet,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 48
… yet we know they had many examples of these things in the former times, and from fathers of no note had seen illustrious children. For so David was the son of a certain mean husbandman, Jesse; and Amos, the child of a goatherd, and himself a goatherd;
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 24
… And therefore also he added, to take down his pride, “If ye will hearken, ye and your king,” ( ibid. 14 .) such and such good things shall be yours; “but if ye will not hearken, then the reverse of all.” Amos also said, “I was no prophet, nor the son of a prophet, but only a herdsman, a gatherer of sycamore fruit. And God took me.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 14.9
… “Let a man examine himself and so let him come.” For it is not ecclesiastical rank that makes a man a Christian. The centurion Cornelius was still a heathen when he was cleansed by the gift of the Holy Spirit. Daniel was but a child when he judged the elders. Amos was stripping mulberry bushes when, in a moment, he was made a prophet.
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 53.8
… These believers rising by gradual and regular gradations from one to fifteen form the steps to which there is a mystical allusion in the “psalms of degrees.” Amos, although he is only “an herdman” from the country, “a gatherer of sycomore fruit,”
7:1
fected, because without Him nothing is made. Whenever therefore you deviate from good, you separate yourself from the Word, because He Himself is good: and therefore you become nothing, because you are without the Word, without whom nothing was made." And a little later: "If therefore I was nothing, when I was without you, as nothing I was, and like an idol which is nothing, which indeed has ears, and does not hear; has nostrils, and does not smell, has eyes, and does not see." Thus Ezekiel concerning Tyre the sinner says, chapter XXVIII: "You are brought to nothing, and you shall not be forever." And concerning her proud king, chapter XXVIII, 19: "You are made nothing, and you shall not be forever." And the Apostle, Galatians VI, 3: "If anyone, 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 delights in creatures, and sets them against and prefers them to the Creator: but creatures, if 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 compared with my being, they should rather be said not to be, than to be. Consequently creatures, just as they do not have true being, so neither do they have true good, but only a shadow of good: for being and good are convertible; therefore such and so much as being is, such and so much is good, which is the intimate property of being. Hence Christ: "Why, He says, do you call me good? No one is good but God alone," Luke chapter 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, as also 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 one true predicament of substance and all things, in respect to which our predicaments, and all things contained in them, are only shadows, nay nothing. What I have said of good, 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," Romans chapter XVI, 27; "alone powerful," I Timothy chapter VI, 15; "alone immortal," ibid. verse 16; "alone Lord," Isaiah chapter XXXVII, 20; "alone good, alone excellent, alone just," II Maccabees chapter I, 24; "alone holy," Apocalypse chapter XV, 4; "alone glorious," I Corinthians chapter 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 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 tall shadows fall from mountains; hence he himself admires and pursues these shadows like Aesop's dog, who, seeing the shadow of meat in water, attacked it (since it appeared larger than the meat in the water), and thus lost the meat, nor obtained the shadow. Come, O man, may the day of your eternal brightness dawn, and may the shadows of this origin, vanity and mortality decline. Come, O Lord, drive out our darkness, illuminate our eyes, that we may not gaze upon shadows of honors, riches and delights, and whatever like illusions on earth strike the keen sight of our mind, but upon the very true honors, riches and delights, which in the heavens, for those loving you, you have 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 lie, vanity, iniquity, labor, weariness, affliction, idol, nothing and nothingness. For it truly has all these in itself, nay it is really sin. Again און aven by crasis is און on, that is pain, namely sin in itself contracts and produces all pain. Moreover און omen by elision is אין or אין, that is en or ain, that is not, or negation of being and all good. For this is sin, as I have already shown. Aven therefore is not of good, that is, sin is the son, nay and the father of pain. 15. A nation,—the Assyrians, who shall lay waste Samaria, and the Chaldeans, who shall lay waste Jerusalem, and thus all of Canaan; for the northern boundary of this is Hamath, the southern boundary is the torrent of Egypt, that is a rivulet 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 nation only the Assyrians; for they think that here the matter concerns only the destruction of Samaria and the ten tribes, and that there is an allusion to the strength and power of Jeroboam king of Israel, under whom Amos prophesied. For with these words he crushes his spirits and forces, concerning which it is said in IV Kings XIV, 28: "Now the rest of the words of Jeroboam, and his strength, how he fought, and how he restored Damascus and Hamath to Juda in Israel, are not these written, etc.?" And verse 25: "He restored the borders of Israel, from the entrance of Hamath even to 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 even to the sea of the wilderness, nay even further even to the river of Egypt, and then they shall see how weak their firmness was, how empty their strength, how vain and fearful their presumption, when their virtue shall pass into weakness, their glory into shame, their boasting into groans and lamentations. Both opinions are to be reconciled thus, so 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 at verse 2. Amos sees first a locust devouring the land of Israel. Second, he sends fire upon it, but deprecating both plagues by his prayers he turns them aside. He sees third, God laying down the trowel of his care and providence, by which he was accustomed to coat and preserve the wall of Israel, and thence Israel falling into destruction. Again, at verse 10, Amaziah accuses Amos before Jeroboam, as if seditious, and persuades him not to prophesy in Bethel; but to return to Jerusalem. To whom Amos responds that he is not a prophet, but a herdsman, yet commanded by God to prophesy in Bethel: when Amaziah wishes to prevent this, he threatens him from God with the defilement of his wife, the death of his children, plunder, exile, and to all Israel captivity and destruction. 1. The Lord God showed me this: and behold, a maker of locusts in the beginning of the springing up of the latter rain, and behold the latter rain after the king's mowing. 2. And it came to pass: when he had made an end of eating the grass of the earth, I said: Lord God, be merciful, I beseech thee: who shall raise up Jacob, for he is small? 3. The Lord had mercy upon this: It shall not be, said the Lord. 4. The Lord God showed me this: and behold, the Lord called for judgment by fire, the Lord God: and it devoured the great deep, and ate up a part. 5. And I said: Lord God, cease, I beseech thee: who shall raise up Jacob, for he is small? 6. The Lord had mercy upon this: But this also shall not be, said the Lord God. 7. The Lord showed me this: and behold, the Lord standing upon a wall made with a plumb-line, and in his hand a plumb-line of a mason. 8. And the Lord said to me: What seest thou, Amos? And I said: A plumb-line of a mason. And the Lord said: Behold I will set a plumb-line in the midst of my people Israel: I will not add to pass by them any more. 9. And the high places of the idol shall be destroyed, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be desolate: and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. 10. And Amasias the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying: Amos hath rebelled against thee in the midst of the house of Israel: the land is not able to bear all his words. 11. For thus saith Amos: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall be led away captive out of their land. 12. And Amasias said to Amos: Thou that seest, go, flee into the land of Juda; and eat bread there, and prophesy there. 13. And prophesy not any more in Bethel: because it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the house of the kingdom. 14. And Amos answered, and said to Amasias: I am not a prophet, and I am not the son of a prophet; but I am a herdsman, plucking sycamores. 15. And the Lord took me when I followed the flock; and the Lord said to me: Go, prophesy to my people Israel. 16. And now hear the word of the Lord: Thou sayest: Thou shalt not prophesy against Israel, and thou shalt not drop thy word upon the house of the idol. 17. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city: and thy sons and thy daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be divided by line: and thou shalt die in a polluted land, and Israel shall be led away captive out of their land. 1. Behold the Maker of Locusts. — "Maker," that is, a potter, a fashioner and former of locusts: for this is what the Hebrew יוצר iotser signifies. Others read with different pointing יצר ietser, that is, a figment, a formation. Whence the Chaldean translator rendered it: Behold the creation of locusts; the Septuagint: Behold the offspring of locusts; the Zurich Bible: Behold a swarm of locusts, as if to say: I saw God as it were a fashioner, forming and making a vast swarm of locusts, and that very swarm already formed and produced by him invading the land of Israel. Arias alone translated it: Forming exactors. Moreover, the Hebrew גבי gobe signifies locusts, because they lift and exalt their feet, from the root גבה gaba, that is, he exalted: gobe therefore, as if to say, Humpbacked (and as the Italians say, gobi) in their legs. Now gobim in the plural, in the construct state has gobe. For this is as it were a construct genitive, namely, "locusts in the beginning," that is, locusts of the beginning, that is, of the first time of germination; for then locusts, devouring the earth, herbs and sprouts, in which they delight wonderfully, inflict great damage to fields and plains. Note: The Prophets received and heard the oracles of God not only through words, namely through internal speech, but sometimes also they saw ideas, or certain forms presented to their eyes, or rather to their imagination, through which, as it were through symbols, they were taught by God concerning the future events of things. For these forms signified and symbolically represented future or hidden things. Thus Jeremiah, cap. I, 11 and 13, saw a rod watching, and a pot kindled, through which Nabuchodonosor was signified, who was about to strike as a rod, and was about to burn Jerusalem as a kindled pot. Thus Ezechiel, cap. I, saw a chariot of cherubim, as it were the glorious throne of the judge and avenger of God. Thus Isaias, cap. VII, 20, saw a sharp razor, which represented the Assyrians, who were about to scrape the land of Israel as a razor. In like manner Amos here saw a certain potter and moulder, who would fashion and form swarms of locusts, as a potter fashions vessels or animals from clay. Now this potter is God, who is the creator and moulder of all animals and things: for this is what the Hebrew יצר iotser signifies. Here therefore he produces swarms of locusts, that is, innumerable soldiers of the Assyrians, and leads them forth in troops, so that they might devour and lay waste the land of the ten tribes. For the locust has the appearance of an armed soldier, willing to leap upon the enemy. Similar locusts Joel saw, cap. I, 4 and 5, John, Apocal. cap. IX, 1 and 2, where I have said much concerning them, which therefore I shall not repeat here. Moreover, Lyran, Clarius, Vatablus and Arias take the locusts here properly, as if God were threatening Israel with famine and sterility, from the corruption of grain about to come from locusts; this is not improbable: yet under these they rather understand symbolically the Assyrians, who devoured the people, that is, killed or captivated them. Whence the Prophet, groaning over his destruction, says verse 2: "Lord God, be merciful, I beseech thee: who shall raise up Jacob, for he is small?" that is, reduced to fewness. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoretus, Remigius, Rupertus, Haymo, Dionysius and others throughout. Morally, note that the potter signifies God directing his art and care in forming locusts, just as a potter applies all his thought and industry in devising and fashioning a potter's vessel. For in these little animals the art and power of God shine forth: "Nor in anything more than in these is all nature," says Pliny lib. VI, cap. II. Namely the locust, the bee, the fly, etc., if you consider their nature, organs and all their members, is a great and wonderful work and artifice of God: but if you consider their use, it is much greater. For God, as a wonderful artificer, fashions and forms locusts and flies in such a way that through them he tames the most powerful tyrants and kings (as he did Pharaoh) and inflicts the gravest punishments upon them. This is what he says through Jeremiah cap. XVIII, 11: "Behold I frame against you an evil, and devise against you a device:" I frame, that is, I devise and form so aptly, that the evil and punishment corresponds exactly to your guilt, and equals it in its own way and measure: just as a judge devises a punishment for the crime of a robber that is fitting and proportionate. See Tertullian, lib. II Against Marcion, cap. XXIV. Let farmers know, let citizens know, when hail strikes the grapes, when blight blasts the crops, when thunder and lightning scorch the fields, when locusts, caterpillars, beetles, etc., devour the sown fields, that these are sent by God: for God is the maker and moulder of all these things. Wherefore fire, hail, snow, ice, the spirit of storms do his word, so that at his nod they strike sinners. And so mortals should not be indignant at these storms and creatures, as foolish dogs do, who pursue and bite the stone by which they were struck, not the man throwing it: but they should turn their eyes to the creator and avenger, who fashions and forms them: from him let them beg forgiveness and pardon of their sins with humble confession. For he who himself resists and murmurs against it, provokes his greater wrath upon himself: "For when he denies that he is struck by his own guilt, what else does he do than accuse the justice of him who strikes?" says St. Gregory lib. XXXII Moral. cap. V. Let him therefore consider that saying of St. Paul Rom. IX, 20: "Doth the thing formed say to him that formed it: Why hast thou made me thus?" In the beginning of the germinating of the late rain,—that is, in the beginning of spring, when all things are accustomed to germinate through the late rain, that is, the spring rain. In Hebrew it is: In the beginning when the late rain, namely the spring rain, would ascend, which first brings forth and causes the sprouts to grow. For the morning rain to the Hebrews is that which rains in the morning, that is, at the time of sowing, in October, so that it waters the seeds, loosens them and roots them in the earth. The late rain is that which rains late, that is, at the time of the ears and harvest, in spring, so that it fills the ears with grain, makes them fertile and ripens them. Or rather he explains this late rain when he adds: "And behold the late rain after the shearing of the king," that is to say, I understand by the late rain that which, after the first grass and luxuriant herbage had been sheared for hay to feed the king's horses, rained down and caused the sheared grass to sprout again and grow again, and to become stalks and ears. The sense is, that is to say, God formed these locusts, that is, the Assyrians, and sent them forth into the land of Israel at the spring time, that is, at that time when the affairs of Israel began to recover from disasters, to flourish, to prosper and to grow into a great harvest, so much so that the Israelites dared to rebel against the king of the Assyrians, so powerful a monarch. Thus St. Jerome. Moreover, the late rain in Hebrew is לקש lekesh, which properly signifies the late rain: for this is what מלקש malcosh signifies, as all the Hebrews acknowledge, which descends from the same root, indeed it is the same as lekesh. Pagninus, however, translates lekesh as: Late grass: the Zurich Bible: Grass growing again and sprouting anew: by which Vatable understands autumn hay, or aftermath, namely the grass which in meadows, after those have been mown with a scythe, is accustomed to grow up, and is especially suitable for sheep, just as conversely spring hay is suitable for horses, that is to say, this locust flew into the autumn hay, on which sheep are accustomed to feed, and having eaten it caused great famine and disaster to the sheep. Others, as Clarius, better understand by the late grass, not autumn grass, but spring grass: namely that which after the first luxuriance and abundance of grass, cut back for the food of the king's horses, soon sprouted again and grew into ears and stalks: and thus this version comes to the same thing as ours. For the sense is, that is to say, God formed locusts in the beginning of germination, which after the mowing made for fodder for the king's horses, again sprouted in stalks by the late rain; and then that locust, invading it, ate it up by the roots. Allegorically St. Cyril in Zechariah chapter X, and St. Jerome in Job XXVIII, the morning rain was the old law given through Moses, by which seeds cast by the fathers of the law of nature germinated: but the late rain is the new law given through Christ, by which the seeds of the old law germinating ripened, and were brought to perfection. And behold the late rain after the shearing of the king.—Thus it should be read with the Romans; not, after the shearing of the flock, as some read it: and thus they explain it, that is to say, these locusts were born at that time in the usual manner, when the late rain raining down, the crops (which they devour) grew up, and when likewise sheep are accustomed to be sheared, namely at the spring equinox, "at which sheep feel neither cold, if you take away the wool, nor heat, if you have not yet sheared them," says Columella book VII, chapter IV. But it should be read, after the shearing of the king, not of the flock. For this is what the Hebrew אחר גזי המלך achar ghizzi ammelech signifies. Secondly, the Septuagint reading for ג an affine letter, namely ג, that is, for גזי ghizzi, גוג gog, translate: And behold a locust, one Gog king, or, as the Complutensian edition, into Gog the king; for for אחר achar, that is, after, they read אחד achad, that is, one, and lekesh, which they had previously translated as late rain, equally as Our version and others here trans- tunt, bruchus: perhaps for lekese, they read לקק lekee, that is ligurio, which licks and laps everything, such as is the bruchus. The Septuagint therefore seems to have compared the innumerable multitude of bruchus to the nation of Gog, most savage, which is described as about to lay waste the land of Judea, says St. Jerome. The Septuagint is followed by the Arabic Antiochene, which translates: The Lord showed me, and (that) he himself coming with the young (small) locusts, arriving, running. And this is that which went into the land of Og king of Basan, to eat his grass. And more closely the Arabic Alexandrine: A locust gathered together, and boils up (bubbles up) from the first valley at the beginning of winter, and fire comes at the end of summer: and he is Gog the king. Third, Aquila for ghizzi reading wrongly גזה aza, that is Gaza, translates: Behold the late one after the king of Gaza. Fourth, St. Jerome in his Commentary translates: Behold after the late one the shearer (or shearing) of the king, and thus explains it: "The Lord showed, he says, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians with an infinite multitude of army, like a locust devouring all things, was about to come at the beginning of the late rain, when all things are green, and promise abundance of all things. But these locusts, which flew about in early spring, were followed by an innumerable bruchus, which came after the late rain, and was called the shearer, or shearing of the king, because it laid waste all things. This shearer Isaiah, chapter VII, 20, calls a sharp razor, and immediately explains it and calls the king of the Assyrians: therefore the razor and shearer of the king is the army of the Chaldeans, which in the manner of a bruchus laid waste all things." The locust therefore is Sennacherib with his forces: after whom follows the bruchus, that is Nabuchodonosor with his, who laid waste what was left by Sennacherib. Thus also Theodoret, Remigius, Haymo, Albert and Hugh. Otherwise Rupert and Ribera: The locust, they say, is Shalmaneser, who laid waste the ten tribes: the bruchus is Sennacherib, who afflicted the two tribes; but, when King Hezekiah prayed, his camps were cut down by an angel. But all these things properly pertain to the ten, not to the two tribes, is gathered first, from the fact that in Bethel, which was of the ten tribes, Amos prophesied. Whence, verse 13, he is ordered by Amaziah to depart thence, and to go to the two tribes. Second, because verse 9, in the third plague he threatens the king Jeroboam and Israel with destruction: therefore the first or second plague cannot be referred to Sennacherib, who afflicted the two tribes after the destruction of Jeroboam and Israel. Third, because God, appeased by the prayers of Amos, suspended and remitted these two former plagues which he had intended. But it is established that the disaster from Shalmaneser and Nabuchodonosor was actually inflicted on the Jews, not suspended, and that it was complete and final; for Shalmaneser overthrew the ten tribes, Nabuchodonosor overthrew and carried away the two. Finally, in the Hebrew and Latin codices it is not found: And behold after the late one the shearer of the king, as St. Jerome read, but conversely to after is transposed, and it is said: And behold the late one after the shearing of the king. Which ver- do not admit the sense of St. Jerome, but exclude it: for they signify that the late rain did not before, but after the grass was shorn and mown by the servants of the king for his horses, cause it to sprout again, and then a locust flew into it, so that it might feed on it, in that sense which I now subjoin. I say therefore that these things pertain only to the ten tribes: for three disasters inflicted on them by the Assyrians, succeeding one another in order, he foresaw and predicted here by as many visions, the Prophet. Whence he repeats three times: "The Lord showed me this." The first, which he describes here, was inflicted by Pul, who was the first of the kings of the Assyrians to invade Israel. To him therefore the individual parts of this prophecy and vision correspond equally. The Prophet narrates them concisely, or rather wraps them up. Receive them explained and adapted. Amos saw first, grass first sprouting and flourishing: that signified the things of Israel flourishing. Second, he saw it shorn and mown by the king: this is Benhadad king of Syria, who greatly afflicted Israel, and shorn and mown his riches. Third: "He saw the late one after the shearing of the king," that is he saw the grass mown by king Benhadad, by the late rain, that is the following, sprout again and flourish. This happened in the time of Amos through Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel, who by his strength and arms restored the afflicted things of Israel, as is plain from IV Kings, XIV, 25. Then fourth, Amos saw locusts formed by God fly into the sprouting grass and feed on it. This happened through Pul king of the Assyrians, who invaded the kingdom of Israel restored and reestablished by Jeroboam, with a great army, while Manahem was reigning in Israel, toward the end of the reign of Ozias king of Judah. Fifth, Amos foreseeing this irruption of locusts, that is of the Assyrians, prays to God that he would turn away this disaster from Israel; he prays and obtains it: "For the Lord had mercy upon this, saying: It shall not be." That this happened thus is plain: for Manahem, by imposing a tribute of fifty shekels on each head, gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, which being received, Pul "returned, and did not stay in the land," as is said in IV Kings XV, 20. Thus according to Castro as to the matter, although not so explicitly in the manner, nor so adequately.
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2. And it came to pass: when (the locust) had finished eating the grass of the earth. ("When it had finished," that is, had begun to finish: for there is signified an action begun, not completed. Thus it is said in Luke, chapter II, 21: "After the eight days were completed (that is, had begun to be completed)," that is, on the eighth day. The sense is, as if to say: When in the vision I had seen a swarm of locusts begin to devour the land of Israel, so that it seemed it would devour it entirely, and I had understood from God that by this was signified that the army of Phul and the Assyrians would completely plunder and lay waste the land of Israel) I said (I, Amos, foreseeing such devastation of Israel and groaning): Lord God, be merciful, I beseech thee (have mercy on Israel about to be so afflicted and crushed, and turn away its plundering and such great destruction. He adds the reason): Who shall raise up Jacob, because he is little? — "Little," namely first, in number, that is, few; second, in strength, because weak and infirm; third, in wealth, because poor and miserable. The sense is: Who shall raise up Jacob, that is, Israel, if thou permittest Phul to crush him, exhaust him and strike him down? as if to say: Unless thou turnest away, O Lord, these devastations of Phul, the people of Israel shall be so struck down and diminished by him, shall become so little, that is, few and small, that it cannot be restored, but shall perish and be destroyed. Thus St. Jerome. He says, "he is little," not that he already was: for already Israel had grown again through the forces and arms of Jeroboam; but "is" is put for "will be." Yet he says "is" because in the symbol of locusts devouring the land, Amos already saw him little, that is, certainly to be plundered and crushed.
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3. The Lord had mercy, and said: It shall not be — this plague of locusts which thou hast seen, as if to say: I, moved by thy prayers and those of other Prophets, revoke this plague threatened by me, and will cause it to be that the locust shall not come, that is, Phul, who would lay waste the land of Israel. Thus it came to pass: for the impending devastation was turned aside and redeemed by Manahem king of Israel by giving Phul a thousand talents of silver, as I said above. Here is true that saying of Themistocles in Plutarch's Apophthegms: "We would have perished, children, had we not perished." For the lost man, fleeing to God, obtains from him salvation and all good, as Themistocles obtained it, an exile and fugitive from Xerxes king of the Persians, recently his enemy, when imploring his aid, he was adorned and enriched by him with great gifts. Thus here the destruction of Israel foreseen by the Prophet moved him to ardent prayers, by which he reconciled that mercy and aid and gifts of God.
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4. This the Lord showed me. (This is the second showing of God, and a vision of the Prophet, in which he saw God the judge sending fire into the land of Israel, which first consumed the abyss, that is a great mass of waters; then it would have consumed in like manner the chosen portion of the land and all the rest, had not Amos by his prayers stood in the way of and restrained the wrath and fire of God. This is indeed what he says): And behold, the Lord called judgment to fire. — The Arabic: He called in justice fire; the Syriac: He called to judge in fire, by fire. So also the Septuagint. It is a prosopopoeia; for God here attributes to judgment the person as it were of a judge, or a lictor, as if to say: God judgment, that is the sentence of his condemnation and vengeance as a just avenger sends to fire, as it were to torment, so that namely he might kindle fire, and by it consume the land of Israel, and devour the great abyss; the Zurich version, the deep abyss; Pagninus, the great chasm, that is the immensity of people, houses and wealth; and the portion, that is the chosen and hereditary portion. Whence also the Chaldean translates, the inheritance, as if to say: God repeatedly corrected the Israelites with various punishments; but when he saw them not repenting, he finally decreed to reduce the matter to fire and to burn up the hardened ones. Thus Emmanuel, Mariana and others. Secondly, the Hebrew לריב larib can thus be translated with the Zurich and Arias versions: And behold calling to contention, or to quarrel in fire the Lord, as if to say: God judicially cited, and called to his court the land of Israel, provoking to fire; and he brought suit against them, so that he might make her guilty of fire, and condemn her to burning. Thirdly, Vatablus translates: And behold the Lord called to litigate with fire, as if to say: The Lord called to himself the angels, ministers of his justice, so that by his judgment those condemned might be punished with fire, that is with great burning, consuming the great abyss, that is a great region of the land and the portion, namely of royal meadows. You will ask, what was this judgment of fire? Lyranus and Vatablus answer that God sent into the land of Israel fire properly so called, or, as others say, a great heat of the sun, which would dry up the abyss, that is the Sea of Galilee, and scorch and destroy a great part of fruits and produce. Such was the burning which occurred under King Phaethon in the time of Moses, as Eusebius notes in the Chronicle, concerning which the Poets feign and fable much. Hear Cicero, book II of the Offices: "To Phaethon," he says, "the Sun said he would do whatever he should wish; he wished to be lifted into his father's chariot; he was lifted up; and he, before he was established, was burned up by a thunderbolt. How much better it would have been that in this the father's promise not be kept!" Hence Phaethon is called ἀπὸ τοῦ φάους, that is from light, and αἴθω, that is I burn, says Servius on that passage of the Aeneid V: The horses of Phaethon now bore Aurora with light. And Ovid, in book II of the Metamorphoses, narrating the fable at length says: Then indeed Phaethon from all parts beholds the world ablaze, nor does he endure such great heat: / And soon is snatched away by the will of the flying horses. / Then they believe that by blood called to the upper bodies / The peoples of the Ethiopians drew their black color. / Then Libya became dry, its moisture seized by heat. / The Euphrates also burned, the Babylonian Orontes burned. / The Alpheus seethes, the banks of the Spercheides burn; / And what the Tagus carries in its own stream, flows in fires of gold. And below he depicts Jupiter striking Phaethon with lightning thus: He thunders, and from his ear poised the thunderbolt / He sent at the charioteer, and equally of life and wheels / He stripped him, and checked the fierce fires with fires. / But Phaethon with flame devouring his ruddy hair / Rolls headlong, and through the long air / Is borne. This is what his father had foretold to him: Phaethon, you seek punishment as a reward. Secondly, Arias understands by fire a plague, which he says God sent upon Israel, which consumed the abyss, that is a great multitude of people, and the portion of the nobles and princes. Thirdly, St. Jerome, Remigius, Rupertus, Hugo and Ribera hold that after the calamity of the ten tribes prefigured in the first vision of Amos, the second vision of Amos prefigures the calamity of the two tribes, and the destruction and burning of Jerusalem to be inflicted by Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans. For in the preceding chapter, verses 1 and 12, Amos signified that he prophesies not only against Samaria and the ten tribes, but also against Zion and the two tribes. For these devoured the abyss, that is, an immense multitude of people and riches, which was at Jerusalem (for it itself was as it were an abyss and ocean of men) and a part, that is, the temple: for this was a part and inheritance of God, equally as of the holy city. But this exposition is opposed first, because in this chapter Amos prophesies directly against the ten tribes, not against the two, as I showed in verse 1. Secondly, because Amos by his prayers averted this calamity: but it is certain that he did not avert the destruction of Jerusalem. For this happened in fact, and was actually inflicted upon the city. You will say: Amos by his prayers obtained that this destruction should be repaired, namely that the Jews returning from Babylon after 70 years should restore Jerusalem. I answer: That is not sufficient. For God, moved by the prayers of Amos, said: "But neither shall this be;" which words signify not the restoration of the plague, but its complete cessation and revocation, as if to say: This plague threatened by me shall not come to pass, I will hold it back, the fire which I have threatened, I will not send. Fourthly therefore and truly, God exercised this judgment of fire upon Israel through Tiglath-Pileser king of the Assyrians, who after Pul like a fire with great ardor and ferocity invaded the Israelites, and devoured the great abyss, that is, the innumerable multitude of people, namely the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh situated in a lower place beyond the Jordan, as it were in an abyss, moreover that notable part of Israel situated this side of the Jordan, namely the tribes of Naphtali, Asher and Zebulun, he carried away into Assyria, IV Kings XV, 29, who would have carried away all the rest equally, and overthrown Samaria with the kingdom of Israel, had not God, moved by the prayers of Amos, restrained his ardor, and preserved the remnants of Israel. Thus from Castro. Mystically, Christ the judge will call judgment to fire, that is, fire to judgment by hypallage, so that fire as it were a lictor may assist him on the day of judgment, and seize the damned from him and wrap them in Tartarus, according to that Psalm XCVI, 3: "Fire shall go before him, and shall burn his enemies round about." And Psalm XLIX, 3: "Fire shall burn before him, and a mighty tempest shall be round about him." Hear St. Gregory, book XXXIII of the Morals: Judgment, he says, is called to fire, when the sentence of justice tends to the punishment of eternal burning. And it devours the great abyss, because it burns up the wicked and incomprehensible minds of men, which now hide themselves from men even under the signs of miracles. But a part of the house of the Lord is eaten, because Gehenna devours also those who now glory in themselves as being of the number of the elect in holy deeds.
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7. The Lord showed me this. — This is the third vision of this chapter, in which the Prophet sees God as it were a mason standing with a trowel in his hand, with which he was accustomed to coat and plaster the wall of Israel, now wearied by the crimes of Israel, laying down the trowel, to signify that he is laying aside and rejecting the care and protection of Israel, which he was accustomed to coat and strengthen with his aid and defense as with walls, by means of his trowel and mortar, on account of the same idolatry and crimes; and thus he is handing him over and delivering him to the Assyrians, who will lay him waste with sword and flame. Thus St. Jerome, Remigius, Haymo, Hugo, Lyranus, Ribera, Fernandius in the vision of cap. XXXII, and others. Where note that it is a sign of the greatest wrath and punishment of God, when he himself departs from the commonwealth or from any soul, abandons and forsakes it: for by this very fact he delivers it to enemies, since it cannot resist them without the aid of God. Upon a wall plastered, — and therefore beautiful in appearance and firm in strength. Hence also the Aquila, says St. Jerome, translated σταγματουρα, that is, a coating, or an anointing, or a plastering, by which a wall is coated, that is, anointed, plastered, plastered over by a mason with a trowel. Theodotion translated τηκόμενον, that is, wasting away. Hence also Rupertus thinks that Amos here predicts the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and the Romans. But this is opposed by what follows: "And they shall destroy the high places of the idol." For in the time of Titus, the Jews did not worship idols. Therefore Amos speaks of the destruction of Samaria, to happen about fifty years later under Hosea, in the sixth year of Hezekiah king of Judah. Note: A plastered wall is one which is coated and plastered with mortar, not only that it may be more elegant, but also and more so, that it may remain firmer against storms and tempests. For walls poorly plastered are shattered by storms, crack, and finally fall into ruin, according to that in Ezech. XIII, 11: "Say to them that daub without tempering, that it shall fall: for there shall be a violent shower." A trowel is the instrument by which masons place stones in a building, and draw mortar from a vessel, and throw it on the wall and plaster it. A wall therefore plastered with the trowel of God signifies Israel, while he was being coated and plastered by God, that is, covered, strengthened and protected, having stood whole and unconquered against all the assaults of enemies. Furthermore the trowel in the hand of God standing over, that is, beside, near (for thus it is said in Luke IV, 38: "Standing over [that is, beside] her, he commanded the fever") the wall, signifies the watchful and unceasing care and providence of God in guarding Israel. For just as a mason stands by a wall with a trowel, from which rain has knocked off the mortar, so that he may repair with the trowel all the damage and ruin inflicted: so likewise God has stood by Israel from of old until now; but now offended, and as it were despairing of the restoration of so ruined a wall, that is, Israel, he lays down and casts away the trowel of his care and protection, and allows it to fall into destruction. Whence he says: "I will not add to pass over it again," to plaster over, to plaster and coat it. In Hebrew: I will not add that I may pass through it, namely by plastering, repairing and strengthening it, as if to say I will not pass through it unpunished, but I will punish and kill it. Thus he says in cap. VIII, 2: "I will not add to pass through it again." For God by his clemency, forgiveness and grace, as it were coats and covers sins with mortar, according to that in Psalm. XXXI, 1: "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;"; in Hebrew: Blessed are those forgiven of transgression, and covered, or covered with sin. But when God lays down the mortar and trowel, he allows sins with sinners to remain as it were open and gaping, so that they may be exposed to rains and storms, that is, to divine vengeance from enemies, by whom they are cast down and driven to ruin. Thus here God laying down the trowel of Israel, by this very fact delivered him to the Assyrians. There is signified therefore by this laying down of the trowel, the final abandonment of Israel and slaughter, and the extreme destruction to be inflicted upon him by Salmanasar in the sixth year of Hezekiah king of Judah. Whence symbolically Clarius understands by the trowel and mortar the scourges and disasters inflicted upon Israel by God, that he might repent, and stand firm and upright in the faith and worship of God. These God now lays down, because he has determined to abandon him completely as hardened and impenitent, and to deliver and hand him over to the hostile sword and flame. Secondly, for the trowel the Hebrew אנך anac, which is found only here, the Rabbis and modern Hebraists translate as a plumb-line of lead or tin, or a rule and square, by which builders are accustomed to build, so that the structure and walls may be straight, equal and well-proportioned. Thus R. David, Lyra, Pagninus, Arias, Vatablus. Whence they translate: Behold the Lord standing upon a wall of a plumb-line, and in his hand a plumb-line; or, as the Zurich Bible: Behold the Lord stood upon a wall made to a rule, and he had a rule in his hand. Which can be understood in the same sense which I have already given concerning the trowel, as if to say: The Lord places, that is, removes, the plumb-line by which he was accustomed to build and restore the wall of Israel, that is, the Lord removes the care of the commonwealth and kingdom of Israel, and allows it to fall into ruin. Others, however, such as Vatablus and Arias, understand by the plumb-line the judgment of God and the measure of just vengeance, as if he were to say: God, in place of the circle and curvature of supreme mercy, has applied to Israel the plumb-line of his justice, so that he may punish him justly for his crimes, so that henceforth he may not spare him mercifully, but may chastise him justly. Whence the Chaldean translates: Behold the Lord stood upon a wall of judgment, and before him was judgment. And the Lord said: What do you see, Amos? And I answered: Judgment. The Lord therefore said to me: Behold I will exercise judgment in the midst of my people Israel, I will no longer add to forgive them. Thirdly, Symmachus, the Syriac, and the Septuagint translate the Hebrew anac for trowel as adamant. For they say: And he stood upon a wall of adamant, and in his hand was adamant. And the Lord said to me: Behold I place adamant in the midst of my people Israel. For the Hebrew anac some derive from the root נחה nacha, that is, he struck, so that anach is the same as a striker, which namely strikes and breaks all other things, and is struck and broken by no other, such as adamant is. Hence adamant is a symbol of hard judgment and rigid, irrevocable and inevitable vengeance; equally as the plumb-line, of which I have already spoken. The same thing is signified by the iron pan which Ezekiel saw in chapter IV, 3, namely the firm decree of God to overthrow Jerusalem. For he opposes this here to Israel hardened and obdurate in its crimes. Whence the Arabic of Alexandria translates: He showed as it were a man standing upon a fortress of adamantine stone, and in his hand a stone from it; and I cast this stone in the midst of my people Israel, and I will no longer add to seek him, and mockery shall perish. Wherefore it is strange that the Arabic of Antioch translates adamant as law, and gives a contrary sense. For thus it translates: And behold he himself the wall standing upon those who look. And the Lord said to me: What is this which you have seen? And I said: It is law. And the Lord said to me: Behold I confirm the law in the midst of the people Israel, and I will not add to turn away from it. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Even if the mind, equally as the wall of Israel and Samaria, be most hard and adamantine, I nevertheless, as adamant far harder and stronger, will break and crush it. Therefore adamant signifies that God's omnipotence is opposed to any power, even adamantine, and vengeance stronger than any adamant, according to that in Zechariah VII, 12: "And they made their heart as adamant, that they might not hear the law and the words, etc.: and there was great indignation from the Lord of hosts, etc. And I scattered them through all kingdoms which they knew not: and the land was desolate." Thus Fernandius in vision XXXIII. In a similar manner Ezekiel, cap. III, 7, when he heard from God: "The house of Israel is hard of forehead, and hard of heart," hears immediately: "Behold I have made your face stronger than their faces, and your forehead harder than their foreheads: I have made your face as adamant and as flint." For a hard knot a hard wedge must be sought, and an adamantine mind and face must be struck with an adamantine hammer. Thus Theodoret. Again, adamant signifies the rigid Assyrians, inflexible to mercy and cruel; for God imposed these upon Israel as adamantine hammers, that they might crush him. Thus Ovid, in book IV of the Metamorphoses, says the gates of hell are closed with adamant, or, as Virgil in the VI Aeneid, with adamantine columns, and Statius in book VII closes the royal gates of Mars with adamant; and Horace gives Mars an adamantine breastplate, that is, invincible and conquering all things. See what I have said concerning adamant in Ezekiel III, 9. Hear St. Jerome here from Xenocrates: "The diamond," he says, "is a stone of its own name, which we can call unconquerable, because, first, it yields to no material, not even to iron. For if it be placed upon an anvil and struck with a heavy blow of a hammer, the anvil and hammer receive a wound before the diamond is worn away. Second, Since fire tames all things and consumes all metals, it renders the diamond harder, so that not even the smallest corner is blunted by excessive heat. Third, I have seen a diamond in gold the size of a millet seed, and while the gold nearby is consumed by long use and excessive age, the diamond alone is not worn away. Fourth, No file can diminish it, but on the contrary it wears the file, and whatever it wears it furrows with lines. Fifth, This hardest and unconquerable stone is dissolved by the blood of goats alone, and cast into warm blood it loses its strength (yet others deny this, as I said on Ezech. III). Sixth, It is moreover small and unsightly, having a rusty color and the splendor of crystal. Seventh, Four kinds of diamond are described: the first is Indian; the second, Arabian; the third, Macedonian; the fourth, Cypriot, possessing more or less hardness according to the quality of the regions. Eighth, It is also said to detect poisons in the manner of amber, and to resist evil arts." Then applying these things symbolically to Christ: "Such," he says, "is the Lord and Savior, who, being in the form of God, did not count it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, etc., becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Of whom Isaiah writes cap. LIII: There is no beauty in him, nor comeliness; we have seen him, and there was no sightliness: despised and the last of men, a man of sorrows, and knowing how to bear infirmity. He stands upon an adamantine wall, that is upon his Saints and Apostles, to whom he gave it that they themselves also be called diamonds, and say, overcome by none: Who shall separate us from the charity of Christ? tribulation? or distress? or persecution? or hunger? or nakedness? or danger? or the sword? I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the charity of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Peter also, who was the strongest diamond, the gates of hell did not prevail against him (for this reason the Roman Pontiffs wear a cross of diamond, that they may be reminded of the cross of Christ and of St. Peter, and of the adamantine strength of both, and that they may imitate it). This man and Lord who stands upon an adamantine wall has in his hand a diamond, because unless held by the hand of God and protected by his aid, he loses all his strength, God saying— the more he is beaten by temptations, the stronger he becomes, and he rejoices among scourges for the name of the Savior. And since he cannot be overcome by any, he is dissolved by the heat of deadly lust alone. For this is said to be the nature of the blood of goats and of the goat itself, that it is most hot toward lust, and what fire cannot tame, its blood alone dissolves. The Lord therefore places such a diamond in the midst of his people Israel, etc., that he may strike down and overturn all the mysteries of heretics and the house of Jeroboam, who first separated the people of God, with the sword." Thus far St. Jerome, whom Viegas followed in cap. XIX Apoc. Comment. I, sect. II: "The diamond," he says, "is Christ in the hand of the Father; the adamantine wall is the Church, upon which Christ is. The Father therefore sent Christ as a diamond in the midst of nations and princes, whom yet no power was ever able to break; this unconquerable strength he himself communicated to the adamantine wall, that is to his Church, saying to St. Peter the head of the Church: 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church,' Matth. XVI, 18."
7:9
9. And they shall demolish (passive and active, that is, they shall be destroyed and the Assyrians shall destroy, the high places of the idol. — "High places," understand the temples and altars dedicated to idols, in which they sacrificed to them. Hebrew: high places of Isaac; Isaac, that is, of Israel, or of the people of Israel, who were descended from Isaac and Jacob, thus Vatablus; or, as Clarius and R. David say, the high places of Isaac are called thus because in them, in imitation and remembrance of Isaac immolated by his father Abraham, they would immolate their sons to idols, such as Moloch, and burn them. Better the Septuagint, Arabic and Syriac translate the high places of Isaac as altars of laughter, or of derision (for Isaac in Hebrew signifies laughter, and received its name from laughter: because being born he brought great laughter and joy to his sterile parents), that is, ridiculous and to be derided, that is, high places of the idol, as Our translator rendered it; for idols in Hebrew are called aven, that is, vain things, trifling, ludicrous; and elilim, that is, little gods, or gods that are trifling and ridiculous. Thus Jeremiah, cap. X, 15, calls an idol "a work worthy of laughter." And cap. LI, 18: "Vain, he says, are the works (carved images of idols) and worthy of laughter." For what is more ridiculous than to esteem and worship as a god, as a divinity, which knows all things, creates and governs all, a lifeless idol formed from wood, bronze or gold by the hand of man? See Baruch throughout cap. VI. Otherwise Theodoret; for he thinks that altars are called altars of laughter because idolaters at them devoted themselves to banquets, merriment, laughter, songs and games, according to that passage in Exodus XXXII, 6: "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." And the sanctuaries of Israel shall be desolated. — "Sanctuaries," in Hebrew מקדשי micdesce, that is, holy places, namely temples dedicated to golden calves in Dan and Bethel and other cities: for what he called before high places of the idol from the object, he here calls sanctuaries of Israel from the subject. Thus Lyra, Vatablus, Arias and others; although the Septuagint translates it as sacrifices; the Chaldean as sacred things. Remigius, Hugo and a Castro understand the idols themselves, namely the golden calves themselves. But the Hebrew micdesce properly signifies sanctuaries, that is, temples. It signifies therefore that the Assyrians would burn the temples of the calves and idols of Israel, in which he had provoked God to anger and jealousy. And I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. — As if to say, I will slay the descendants of Jeroboam, and cut off his royal line. Jeroboam here is not the son of Nebat, the author of the kingdom, schism and idolatry; but another of the same name, son of Joash, grandson of Jehu, father of Zacharias. That this happened thus is evident; for Zacharias, son of Jeroboam, was slain by Shallum, who transferred the kingdom from his family to his own, IV Kings XV, 13, as God had threatened to Jehu his great-grandfather, IV Kings X, 30. Thus St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert, Lyra and others. Wherefore less correctly, and too broadly, Theodoret understands by the house of Jeroboam the whole kingdom of Israel, as if to say, I will cut off the kingdom of Israel with its king Hosea through Shalmaneser, in the sixth year of Hezekiah king of Judah. For Hosea, the last king of Israel, was not of the house and line of Jeroboam. For this had already been cut off in the last king descended from it, Zacharias.
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10. And Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam. — Amaziah, the high priest of idols, namely of the golden calves in Bethel, fearing lest the people of Israel, struck by the oracles and threats of Amos, would cast away idols and embrace the worship of the true God, and thus the offerings and victims customarily offered to the calves would cease to be made to him, and he himself would be deprived of his priesthood, perhaps even of his life, as a false priest and false prophet, for this reason accuses the prophet Amos before King Jeroboam, as a seditious man and disturber of the kingdom, as if he were one who strove to draw the people away from Jeroboam and to lead and recall them to the scepter of Judah. Thus do heretics and politicians today in England, Holland, Bohemia, etc., who persecute Catholics and priests, and accuse and slander them before magistrates, and prosecute them for treason, as if they strove under the pretext of religion to overturn kings and princes from their thrones, and to induce other Catholic kings and princes, and to incite the people to this. "He has rebelled, they say, against you," this new "Amos;" and in the Septuagint, συστροφάς, that is, congregations and conspiracies he makes against you: for they esteem all congregations for the word of God, and for the sacrifice of the Mass, to be conspiracies against the magistrate and the political state.
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11. For thus says Amos: Jeroboam shall die by the sword. — The false prophet lies. For Amos had not said: "Jeroboam shall die by the sword;" but, "I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword," namely by killing, not Jeroboam himself, but his son Zacharias, as I said in verse 9.
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12. And Amaziah said to Amos. — When Amaziah the false prophet saw that the king Jeroboam was not moved by his accusations against Amos, and that he held and revered him as a Prophet, he attacks Amos himself, persuading him with mild speech and flattery to leave Bethel and go into Judah: Do not, he says, do me this injury, since I am not injurious to you; do not invade my parish and diocese, I do not invade yours; do not draw away my people from me, I do not draw away yours. I am a priest and prophet in Israel and Bethel: you are a Jew from the city of Thecua in Judah; go therefore to your Thecuites, act as a prophet in Judah; you have nothing to do with my Bethelites. This is what follows: You who see (that is, O seer, O prophet Amos), flee into the land of Judah, — that is to say, I as a friend advise you as a friend to flee, because in Bethel and Israel, as a city and region of idols, the king himself and all the other idolaters are preparing snares for you and plotting your death. But in Judah you will be safe, and you will be held in esteem and honor, as a Prophet of the Lord. Eat (therefore) bread there, — that is, there exercise the office of preaching, and from it obtain sustenance and profit, as I obtain in Bethel, that is to say, live quietly and comfortably there from your prophecy, and allow me likewise to live peacefully and splendidly in Bethel from my priesthood, offerings and sacrifices of idols; nor do you snatch this rich morsel from my jaws. Thus St. Jerome, Remigius and Lyra. Arias adds, that is to say, Flee into the land of Judah, so that you may have bread there, and escape the famine which you have prophesied will come upon Israel.
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13. And in Bethel you shall not add further to prophesy, because it is a sanctuary (in Hebrew מקדש micdase, that is, a sanctuary) of the king, and it is a house of the kingdom, — that is to say, Bethel is a holy place dedicated to the golden calves, in which the king has his palace, equally as a temple and basilica, in which he worships them, which is as it were a sacred house and shrine of the whole kingdom, to which all the Israelites from the whole kingdom of the ten tribes flock for the sake of prayer and sacrifice. Bethel therefore is a sacred place, which the king has set apart and sanctified for his idols and himself. If therefore he and the people see you prophesying against it and its gods, it is plainly to be feared lest he seize and kill you. Wherefore take care of yourself, and depart from Bethel into Judah. Thus Remigius, Albert and Arias. Note: temples built by kings in a palace, or near a palace, or elsewhere, for the whole kingdom at royal expense and magnificence, were called basilicas, that is to say, Royal, namely houses and shrines; for βασιλεύς in Greek is king. Thus Constantine in Rome converted his palace the Lateran into a temple, and from this was called the Lateran basilica and the Constantinian. Secondly, Bethel was a sanctuary of the king, because by Jeroboam son of Nebat, the first king of Israel, golden calves were erected in Bethel, and a temple was erected for them, III Kings XII, 32. Thus Lyra and Arias. Otherwise St. Jerome; for by the king he understands a god, namely Baal, or Jupiter, who is "king of men and gods," that is to say, Bethel is sacred and dedicated to the king, that is, to Baal, lest therefore you bring in the God of Judah, as a stranger and contrary one, by preaching into it.
7:14
14. And Amos answered, etc.: I am not a prophet — The Septuagint: I was not a prophet, namely by art, institution and profession of mine, as if to say, It is not my office to prophesy, but to feed herds: the Lord, however, snatched me away from them, that I might prophesy these things to you and announce them, which being accomplished, I shall return again to my herds. For other prophets, or preachers, were from boyhood either by God, or by parents, or by other prophets and preachers instructed and taught to prophesy, that is to preach. But Amos had been instructed by no one, had attended no such schools; but from the herds he was suddenly snatched away by God, and made a Prophet: thus St. Jerome, Albert and Arias. Otherwise St. Gregory, lib. II of the Morals, cap. XL, Remigius and Hugh: for they think that at the time when Amos said these things, the spirit of prophecy departed from him, so that Amos truly said: "I am not a prophet," that is now I do not have, I do not feel the spirit of prophecy. For this spirit seized, taught, and moved the prophets to prophesy at intervals: for it was not permanent and stable, but transient and departing. But this is not the matter here: for Amaziah did not demand of Amos that he cease at this moment, but that henceforth he should never again prophesy in Bethel against the golden calves. The former sense therefore is the genuine one, to which add secondly: "I am not a prophet," as if to say, I do not live by the art of prophesying, I do not seek gain, as you do, Amaziah, because I live from my herds. Thus Sanchez. Thirdly, others, as if to say: "I am not a prophet," in dress and appearance, because I retain my rustic garment as a rustic. For prophets had their own dress, namely sackcloth and haircloth, Zach. cap. XIII, 4. But I am a herdsman, — namely a shepherd of oxen, camels, mules, horses and similar larger animals. For these are called herds because they are fit for the work of arms, says Festus: or, as Valla says, from ploughing, as if aramenta, and thence by crasis armenta. Whence Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion translate βουκόλος, that is, as Arias says, as if to say "Plucking," that is plucking out and gathering leaves of sycamores, and stripping them of their foliage, that I may feed my cattle with their leaves. Thus Remigius, Albert and Hugh. Three, says Servius in I Aeneid., are the kinds of leaf-strippers: "The leaf-stripper, who cuts down trees, and he who makes bundles from leaves in winter time, to be offered to animals for pasture; and he who with his hands plucks off vine leaves, so that the heat of the sun may make the grape more ripe." Secondly, "plucking," that is plucking and gathering the very fruits of sycamores, namely the sycamores themselves, that I may eat of them. Thus Pagninus and the Zurich Bible. Whence some translate the Hebrew בולם boles as collector, gatherer of sycamores, as if boles by metathesis is the same as סובל sobel, that is bearing, carrying. Here Aquila translated, κνίζων συκομόρους, that is scrutinizing sycamores; Symmachus, ἔχων συκαμίνους, that is sycamines, or sycamores. Thirdly and properly, "plucking," that is cutting and scraping sycamores with iron nails, and, as Hesychius says, pricking, so that they may ripen: for sycamores, because they are hard and very bitter, are accustomed to be cut and scraped, so that they may be penetrated by the sun, ripen and become sweet, as testified by Theophrastus, Athenaeus and Dioscorides, lib. I, cap. CXLIV; otherwise they are corrupted by gnats, says St. Jerome, and this for this reason, that both my oxen, says Vatablus, and I myself may eat of them, as if to say, I do not prophesy in hope of bread and gain, as you do, O Amaziah, but content with wild sycamores I live. These suffice me for sustenance; wherefore I do not covet the tables and purses of others, as you do. cowherd; whence the Bucolics are called the rural poems of shepherds among Virgil. For this properly signifies the Hebrew נקר boker, from the root בקר bacar, that is, ox, as if to say, keeper of oxen. Second, the Septuagint translates it αἰπόλος, that is, goatherd, or shepherd of goats; St. Jerome, opilio, that is, shepherd of sheep, as the Arabic version translated it, which adds, and farmer. For soon Amos says: "And the Lord took me when I followed the flock," in Hebrew הצון hatson, that is, sheep, or goats. For flock properly means sheep, goats, swine, and similar smaller animals. Thus St. Cyril, Preface to Amos: "Amos, he says, was a shepherd, educated in pastoral customs and practices." And Nazianzen, oration 25: "What does Amos say: was he not a goatherd, and did he pluck myrtle, when that office was delegated to the Prophet?" Hence it is clear that Amos was both a cowherd, and a goatherd, and a shepherd. Nor is this surprising: for cattle and cows are accustomed to be mixed with goats and sheep, and to go with them to the fields for pasture. Whence Ovid, IV Metamorphoses: A thousand flocks for him, and as many herds through the grass / Were feeding. And Virgil, III Georgics: This suffices for herds; the other part of care remains, / To drive the woolly flocks and shaggy goats. Moreover, the name of Amos aptly corresponds to his office: for the root עמס amas signifies to burden: hence Amos, says St. Jerome, epistle to Paulinus, is the same as burdened, namely with flocks; or burdening and unburdening, namely oxen and herds. Morally, learn here that God chooses the weak and foolish things of the world, that in them He may show His wisdom and power, and through them confound the wise and mighty of the world. Thus He chose poor, rude and vile Apostles, through whom He subdued the whole world to His faith. Thus St. John the Baptist, following the humility and words of Amos, denied that he was a prophet, saying he was merely a voice: "I, he says, am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord," Matt. III, 3. Wherefore he merited to be called by Christ more than a prophet, a burning and shining lamp, greater than men, equal to angels, nay an angel, Matt. XI, 9, 10, 11. Beautifully St. Augustine, sermon 59 On the Words of the Lord: "Come, he says, you poor man, you have nothing, you know nothing? follow me, an empty vessel must be brought to so abundant a fountain." And St. Jerome: Because, he says, Amos humbled himself saying: I am not a prophet, but a herdsman, hence he merited forthwith to be endowed with the prophetic spirit against Amaziah himself, to whom he freely hurled harsh punishments from God. Here that saying of Psalm VIII, 3 is true: "Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings (rustics and rude ones like infants) Thou hast perfected praise because of Thy enemies, that Thou mayest destroy the enemy and the avenger." Plucking sycamores. — Thus both Theodotion and the Septuagint. This can be understood in three ways. First, Sycamore. — Sycamore, or inversely morosycus, or in the feminine sycomorea, is called from σῦκον, that is, fig, and μορέα, that is, mulberry, because this tree is similar to the fig in fruit, but to the mulberry in leaves; or from μωρός by omega, that is, foolish, as if to say, foolish fig, because it is of insipid and foolish taste. By Pliny in book XIII, VII, it is called "Egyptian fig," because in Egypt alone it is found, he himself says, but he is mistaken. For, to pass over other things, this tree was frequent in Judea, as is clear from this place and others: for mention of it is frequent in Scripture. Moreover, sycamore, from Galen, Dioscorides, Theophrastus, Celsus, Pliny, Ruellius describes thus in book I On Plants LXXIX: "It is a very large tree, similar to a fig, with abundant juice, with leaves very close to those of a mulberry. The fruit, from the character of its taste, bearing the name of sluggish, produces three or four a year, and bears them not on branches as the fig, but on the trunk itself, similar to the wild fig, and sweeter than medlars, that is, the first fruits on the fig, without seeds inside. Nor do they ripen otherwise than by scraping with iron nails, with great profit from them in Caria and Rhodes, and in places altogether little fertile in wheat, they satisfy peoples in scarcity of grain in place of bread and wheat. So abundant and copious is the fertility of this fruit." The fruit is indeed friendly to the belly, but provides the least nourishment. In Hebrew it is called שקם sekem, in the plural sekamim: hence the Septuagint and Theodo- turn συκάμινος, and the Latins sycaminus. Moreover St. Jerome holds that by sekem in this place Amos does not signify sycamores, but mulberries which grow on brambles: "To us, he says (because the solitude in which Amos of Thecue dwelt produces no tree of this kind), it seems rather to mean brambles, which bear mulberries, and console the hunger and want of shepherds." Yet all others, and indeed St. Jerome himself elsewhere throughout, translate the Hebrew sekem as mulberry or sycamore. It appears therefore that Thecue in the time of Amos abounded in sycamores, but lacked them either cut down or dried up in the time of St. Jerome. Thus the nature and fertility of regions perish and are changed by various mutations of time, or by failure of cultivation. Once Lebanon abounded in cedars, now it is almost lacking in them. Once Judea was a land flowing with milk and honey, now it is stony and barren. Asia Minor was once a paradise, now under the Turk it lies uncultivated and squalid in many places; indeed it has become a common saying: Wherever the Turk sets foot, there he brings sterility, inasmuch as farmers flee on account of his tyranny. Moreover, the sycamore or sycaminus of Syria was described to me thus at Rome by the Most Illustrious Lord Sergius Risius, Archbishop of Damascus, an eyewitness: This tree, he says, is frequent in Syria, large and broad, but of moderate height, like a walnut tree not very tall, yet unlike in leaves and bark. For it has small and round leaves; a smooth bark and almost polished, tending to a white color: it bears very many fruits indeed, but very small ones, which resemble a medlar in form and size, and tend toward redness: they are sweet, but not so much as figs. This tree is called gemmayz, unworthy to be held among other trees in vineyards or gardens, because producing ungrateful and unpleasant fruits, it uselessly occupies with its size land fertile for better produce: wherefore it usually stands in streets or by the way, commonly exposed, so that anyone may gather from its fruits, as if cast off and of no beauty, taste or value, as much as he wishes. Hence it has become a proverb, so that of a tree, equally as of a useless man, or one dwelling not in a place befitting him, it is said: "It is like gemmayz in a garden;" a bramble among oaks; a goose among swans. For this reason those who gather its fruits are held to be thin, poor and vile. Wherefore this humble man, holy and chosen by God, the Prophet, willingly confesses his poverty, humble condition and state, saying that he is of the number and order of those who gather sycamores and live by them; so that from this may shine forth the wonderful goodness and magnificence of God the best and greatest, who chose the ignoble and weak things of the world, that he might confound the glorious and strong, which raised him from the lowest to the highest, and made him from a shepherd and cowherd an illustrious Prophet. From what has been said it is clear first, that the sycamore is a different tree from the caprifig: for Dioscorides and Ruellius distinguish them in the words already cited; yet that one is similar to this. Whence Theophylactus and Euthymius, Luke cap. XIX, 1, read the caprifig for the sycamore. Second, that sycamore in the penultimate syllable is written both with o micron and with o mega, and therefore has in verse a common quantity, that is both short and long: short, because the mulberry tree is written by most Greeks with o micron; long, both because μῶρος, that is foolish, is written with ω mega; and because the mulberry tree in Greek is also written with ω mega in the Lexicons of Hesychius, Henry Stephanus, John Scapula, equally as by St. Luke XIX, 1; whence the Poet: And horns and on hard brambles clinging mulberries. And it is clear from the etymology; for the tree mulberry was called by antiphrasis, as if by no means μῶρος, that is foolish; for, as Pliny says lib. XVI, XXV, the mulberry tree is the most prudent of trees, because it does not allow itself to be harmed by cold: whence it sends forth its bud only when the cold is completely past; but when it begins to bud, the budding bursts forth so much that it accomplishes it in one night even with a crackling sound. Others wish the sycamore to be called from fig and mulberry, because if you pluck one fruit from it, immediately another springs forth without delay: for it is of such fertility that it bears fruit seven times in one year. But this etymology is Latin, and does not fit the Greek μόρος, or μώρος. Symbolically, the sycamore is the cross of Christ, and his doctrine, which appears foolish to the gentiles and earthly men: for the sycamore corresponds to the tree of knowledge of good and evil forbidden to Adam: for this was thought by many to have been שקם, that is fig. Thus Theophylactus and Bede in Luke cap. XIX, 1. Moreover Amos and holy men ought to pluck this sycamore, that is the cross, and the doctrine of the cross, that is to scrape it with the mind and meditation, and to weigh it deeply, to ruminate and penetrate it; the more they do this, the more they penetrate and taste its sweetness and hidden mysteries; especially when they at the same time pluck the kindred sycamores, that is they weigh and minutely inspect the bodies of martyrs plucked by tyrants, that is scraped with scrapers, combs, knives, torn and lacerated. Zachaeus is a symbol of this matter, desiring to see Christ, he climbed into a sycamore tree, Luke cap. XIX, 1, as Ambrose notes there.
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16. Thou shalt not prophesy any more at Bethel, — that is to say, Do not, O Amos, prophet, any longer prophesy in and against Bethel, which once was Bethel, that is the house of God, but now has been made by our kings into Bethaven (as you, O Amos, call it), that is the house of idols, namely of golden calves. Note: The word to prophesy is frequent among the Prophets, and metaphorically signifies to pour forth gradually, whether words or things, and these either good and beneficial, or evil and punishing. For a teacher and preacher, when dealing with the rude or hardened, ought to pour forth gradually, not to pour out his discourse all at once. For if he pours it out, he will lose them: if he pours it forth gradually, he will gradually imbue and soften them. That common saying is true: A drop wears away a stone, not by force, but by falling often: / Thus a man becomes learned, not by force, but by studying often. Moses knew this, who, teaching the rude and hardened Hebrews, Deuteronomy chapter XXXII, 2, says: "Let my doctrine drop as rain, let my speech flow as dew, as showers upon the grass, and as drops upon the herbage." Wise schoolmasters imitate this, who teach boys gradually and slowly: for just as vessels of narrow mouth are filled gradually by dropping, but receive little or nothing of the liquid by pouring, so also the minds of boys. To this pertains the memorable example of St. Isidore of Seville, Archbishop, who flourished in the time of St. Gregory the Great, Roman Pontiff, and was the brother of St. Leander (to whom St. Gregory dedicated his books of Morals), and succeeded him in the Archbishopric of Seville. For he in his youth, being applied by his parents to studies, since with a slower mind he made little progress in them, although he labored greatly in them, thought to abandon them and devote himself to something else. And as he stood thinking this beside a well, he saw and considered in its rim, although of stone, the furrows which the ropes of buckets, by their long drawing, had gradually made in the stone. Applying this to himself: If ropes, he said, by long use can excavate stone, why cannot I by long study soften the hardness of my mind, and imprint upon it knowledge and learning? Having therefore resumed his books with great courage, by continuous reading and meditation he made such progress in them that he became the most learned man of his age in sacred as well as profane letters, and indeed in languages, Latin, Greek and Hebrew, nor had he an equal in that age; to whom therefore Spain and learning, and seminaries, in which St. Ildefonsus, St. Braulius, and other holy and learned Prelates, were both educated and instructed, owes much. Thus his Life has it with Father Ribadeneira and others, on the 4th of April. Secondly, the word drop signifies the threats and present punishments which the Prophets threaten against the wicked Israelites, to be only a drop if compared with the punishments of hell, where there is rain and a torrent, indeed an ocean of fire burning with pitch and sulphur, which continually burns, rolls and re-rolls the damned, according to that passage Job chapter XXVI, 14: "Behold, these things are said in part of his ways, but how small a drop of his word shall we hear, and who shall be able to behold the thunder of his greatness?" Here therefore are a drop and a hiss, in hell there will be a sea and the thunder of God's wrath. 17. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Thy wife shall be a harlot in the city, — that is to say, Because thou, O Amaziah, for the sake of gain and profit drivest the people to spiritual fornication, that is to idolatry, and resistest me as I fight against it, therefore justly and fittingly art thou punished with this ignominy and disgrace, that thou mayest see, although raging and gnashing thy teeth, thy wife in the city, thou being left behind, committing fornication and adultery, either with her lovers, as Arias wishes, or with thy enemies, namely the Assyrians, by whom the city being captured she will be violated. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius and Hugh. Whence St. Jerome from Symmachus translates πορνευθήσεται, that is shall endure fornication. This is the first punishment of Amaziah, concerning which St. Jerome says: "Great, he says, and incredible is the shame, when a husband in the midst of the city cannot prevent injury to his wife. There is not so great sorrow in a daughter violated, as in a wife defiled: for a husband more willingly hears that his wife is killed, than that she is defiled." The second is the slaughter of his children: "Thy sons, he says, and thy daughters shall fall by the sword." The third is spoliation and deprivation of honors: "Thy land, he says, shall be measured with a line," that is to say, the Assyrians and Cutheans, invading and occupying Samaria and Bethel, shall measure and divide thy estates and fields among themselves with lines. For formerly they used lines instead of measuring rods to measure and divide the land. Hence a line, in Scripture, signifies a hereditary lot, or the portion which falls to each in the division of an inheritance by lot, as in Psalm XV, 6: "The lines are fallen unto me in goodly places," which in its manner, in the latter hemistich, it explains, saying: "For my inheritance is goodly to me." Deut. cap. XXXII, 9: "Jacob is the line of his inheritance," that is to say, the Jacobites, or Israelites are the lot and inheritance of the Lord. Joshua cap. XVII, 5: "The lines (that is, the lots) of Manasseh fell ten." And vers. 14: "Thou hast given me a possession and a line of one." And cap. XIX, vers. 9: "In the possession and line of Juda." And vers. 29: "Of the line of Achziba." The fourth is: "Thou in a polluted land (by idolatry, infidelity and crimes, namely in Assyria, to which thou art led captive) shalt die." The fifth: not only thou, but also all "Israel," whom thou deceivest, and drivest into idolatry and crimes, "shall go into captivity from his land" into Assyria. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Theodoret, Remigius, Rupert, Haymo, Hugh and others.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 4 « Ilaec ostendit mihi Dominus Deus : et ecce, fictor locustae in. principio germinantium serotini imbris ; et ecce, serotinus post tonsionem regis » ; — cur visiones has propheta referat, Ps. Ruf. ita declarat : « postquam excitatum iri gentem denuntiavit, quae eis esset allatura perniciem, ne ipsa iudicii brevitas non satis auditorem moveret, explicandis quas viderat imaginibus immoratur et per earum occasionem, quam sedulo pro eis precaretur ostendit, ne quis eum vel insultantis, vel nihil dolentis animo annuntiare illas calamitates putaret ». Cernit Deum agmina locustarum fingentem « eisque numeros excedentibus id negotii delegantem, ut omnes segetum fibras et cuncta germina quasi indefessis morsibus pascerentur » (Ps. Ruf.) ; quod ait in principio ad augmentum cladis valet (Ps. Ruf.) ; nam locusta venit, « quando cuncta virent et parturit omnis ager et diversarum arborum flores in sui generis poma rumpuntur » (Hier.) tempore imbris serotini, qui verno tempore exspectatur, ut fructus ad maturitatem adducat ; « significat ergo tempus quo omnia germinant et omnium rerum abundantiam arbores et segetes pollicentur » (Rib.), quando quam maxime est fatalis locustarum incursus; si enim post imbrem serotinum gramina depascuntur, spes omnis concidit, cum aestatis ardore mox subsequente nihil iam ab arido solo exspectari possit. Serotinus autem imber cadit post tonsionem regis, postquam herba prima in usum praesepis regii est demessa. De tali iure vel usu sacrae literae tacent, nisi eius rei vestigium 3 Reg. 18, 5 deprehendere posse tibi videaris : « dixit Achab ad Abdiam : vade in terram ad universos fontes aquarum et in cunctas valles, si forte possimus invenire herbam et salvare equos et mulos et non penitus iumenta intereant » ; verba tamen latina ita interpretantur Mar. Men. Tir. Calm. Schegg et illud ius regium iam S. Ephr. in textu nostro asseri censet. Cernit igitur vates in visione locustarum agmina omnia devastantia et quasi per aliquod tempus in eo aspectu attonitus haeret. Sed intelligens * hoc symbolo terrae vastationem populique afflictionem praesignari a iusto criminum ultore immittendam, Dei miserentis gratiam implorat :
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v. 2 « et factum est, cum consummasset comedere herbam terrae, dixi : Domine Deus, propitius esto, obsecro ; quis suscitabit lacob, quia parvulus est » ?1— « Si per tuam indignationem ad tantam exiguitatem, quantam hae pollicentur figurae, gens nostra perveniet, quis eam poterit ulterius suscitare, quam tali vastatione confeceris » (Ps. Ruf.)? Quo efficacius moveat misericordiam, regnum Israel nomine /acob patriarchae Deo dilecti et tot promissionibus ornati designat ; non illos, sed ipsum Iacob feriri in posteris, qui olim tot labores et molestias hauserit et nunc in prole eadem debeat experiri ; deinde regnum iam exiguum, debilitatum, multis partibus spoliatum et attritum exhibet, a quo manum ultricem cohibeat (cf. Sanct.) ; quid enim magis iram punientis coercet et sedat, quam debilis et exigua conditio puniendi ? Et revera, vates non frustra precatur;
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v. 3 « misertus est Dominus super hoc : non erit, dixit Dominus » ; — vel hebr. poenituit Dominum i. e. bénigne consilium mutavit, ab infligenda poena destitit. Ad haec varia notanda sunt. Et primo quidem V/po serotinum a S. Hier. quasi vpn explicari, verum ab aliis rectius intelligi serotinum gramen, herbam seriorem, cordum ; id iam innuunt Syrus, Chald. et sequuntur Pagninus, Vatablus (cf. apud Rib. et Lap.), Mar. Men. Calm. et recentiores : unde sensus quidem in priore membro non multum mutatur : ecce, formans locustas in principio ascensus (germinationis) herbae posterioris, et ecce cordum post detonsiones regis; Chald. eadem sic exprimit : « et ecce germinatio parva postquam detonsa fuit farrago regis »; unde elucet idem ius regium asseri. Textus graecus : figoUxos el; oy 6 BasOexX; ex paucarum literarum permutatione declaratur ; legebant enim p" pro vp; 1^ pro "IN, et demum 233 pro *73. Ipse S. Hier. ultimum membrum vertit : ecce post serotinum tonsor (sive tonsura) regis, et tonsorem hunc intelligit exercitum Chaldaeorum ; locustam vero Sennacherib explicat ; neque desunt, qui simili modo imagine locustarum invasionem Assyriorum cernunt expressam (cf. Cyr. Theod. Theod. M. Rup. Alb. Barh. Rib. Lap.) vel qui rem explicatius ita proponunt : vidit Ámos herbam primo germinantem et luxuriantem, quae significabat res Israelis florentes ; vidit eam tonderi et demeti a rege i. e. a Benhadad rege Syriae, qui valde afflixit regnum Israel ; vidit serotinum post tonsionem regis i. e. vidit herbam a rege Benhadad demessam per imbrem serotinum subsequentem repullulare et reflorescere, id quod tempore leroboam factum est ; vidit demum in herbam repullulantem involare locustas i. e. Assyrios sub rege Phul, qui magno exercitu invasit Israel, attamen non destruxit, verum acceptis mille talentis argenti est. reversus et non est moratus in terra 4 Reg. 49, 90 (cf. Lap. Men. Tir. Gord.) ; etiam S. Ephr. regem Phul, quem Phulbeloch nominat, hic delineatum esse censet. Haec de Phul explicatio id commodi habet, quod promissio Dei « non erit » scil. plaga illa, aliqua saltem ratione constat. Qui de Assyriis exponunt, poenam rogante propheta solum differri in aliud tempus, non condonari censent (cf. Alb. Sanct.), vel id solum effici volunt ab intercessione prophetae, ut [sraelitae non penitus pereant, sed simul cum [Iudaeis ad instaurationem admittantur (cf. Sa) ; qui Sennacherib depingi volunt, iam eo errant, quia non de regno Iuda, sed de Israel h. 1. sermo est ; « non erit » ad unius urbis lerusalem liberationem referunt (cf. Rup.). Verum v. 3 poenam non tantum differri vel minui, sed penitus remitti, ita ut non immittatur, ipsa Dei promissione non erit quae verbis vestitur : misertus est Dominus super hoc, clare indicatur ; nam tali loquendi modo edicitur, toti visioni symbolicae causam et argumentum subtrahi vel simpliciter id non futurum esse, quod propheta iam in visione factum et completum aspexerat. Quare omnem eiusmodi explanationem de eventu, qui postmodum contigerit, ab hoc loco exsulare debere omnino censeo. Cui poenarum generi locustae quasi portentum et praesagium praelaturae fuissent, nisi Amos intercessisset, vel quid futurum fuisset sine obsecratione prophetae, quis audeat determinare ? Sed si plagam locustarum intelligis, non refragor. Quis suscitabit, ita ctiam LXX et Syrus ; legerunt ergo Cp ; text. hebr. quem sequitur Chald. ewe fert ' i. e. qualis consistet lucob, quomodo poterit perma- 1. Sed aliqui codices apud de Rossi ferunt Dp; cf. supplementa p. 87. Houbig. quoque nere ? — De varia lectione in codicibus latinis et apud interpretes veteres vide notationes Lucae Brugensis ad h. 1. Post aliquod tempus impietate populi non solum perdurante verum eliam crescente aliud idque durius iudicium criminosis impendere Deus significat
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v. 4 « haec ostendit mihi Dominus Deus : et ecce vocabat iudicium ad. ignem Dominus Deus, et devoravit abyssum multam et comedit simul partem » ; — hebr. ecce vocans ad disceptandum in igne i. e. ut puniret igne, uti etiam S. Hier. versionem suam intelligi vult: « vocat, ut faciat in igne iudicium . . . venit ignis ad iudicium » ; ignem vero cernit propheta in visione tam vehementem, ut abyssum magnam i. e. ipsum mare (cf. Gen. 4, 2; "1, 14. Is. 54, 10) exsiccaret et partem, hereditatem Dei, i. e. terram Israel vastaret; est enim pon pars, sors populo Dei attributa et possessio cf. Deut. 40, 9; 14, 271; 18, 1 et 32, 9 pars Domini populus eius, lacob funiculus hereditatis eius. Symbolo ignis durior poena exprimitur; aliqui aestum et ariditatem noxiam frugesque enecantem intelligunt (cf. ler. 14, 1; et supra 4, 9 — Mar.), alii ineursus hostiles (cf. Hier. Rup. Rib. Sa). Sed cum hanc quoque poenam efficaciter deprecaretur propheta, frustra quaesieris, qua re illud symbolum implendum futurum fuisset sine prophetae obsecratione. Propheta enim hac visione sibi obiecta denuo Deum misericordem adit supplicatione
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v. 5 « et dizi : Domine Deus quiesce, obsecro ; quis suscitabit lacob, quia parvulus est » * — cf. v. 2. Neque frustra intercedit;
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v. 6 « misertus est Dominus super hoc : sed et istud. non erit, dixit Dominus Deus » ; — cf. v. 3; verba plane edicunt, poenam illam non tantum differri vel mitigari, sed remitti, ita ut id quod sub alia conditione futurum esse prophetae ostensum sit, iam simpliciter non contingat ;«id enim indicatur locutione: poenituit Deum i. e. consilium mutat, desistit ab incepto vel concepto consilio ; id aperte asseritur emphatica affirmatione : etiam hoc non erit (hebr.), qua Deus altera vice se ad preces prophetae condescendere significat, propheta autem, ut Deus poenam cohibeat, tollat, ab ea desistat, omnino efflagitat. Aser et Zabulon abduxit in Assyriam ac Samariam cum regno Israel evertisset, nisi Dominus flexus precibus Amos eius ardorem inhibuisset » (Men. sim. Lap. Tir. Gord.) ; alii plazam in Israel tamquam in abyssum magnam et in luda tamquam partem devolvendam exponunt (cf. Darh.). — Cum LXX v. 3 et 6 habeant yezavor,oov, xupu, graeci interpretes xat voUvo oüx &ovat ita accipiunt, ut oratio prophetae a Domino respuatur (cf. Cyr. Theod.). — II. — ALTERA SECTIO : DUAE VISIONES DE RUINA FUTURA 7, 7 - 8, 1&4. a) Visio de trulla caementarii et persecutio prophetae 7, 7 - 47. Bis averterat propheta indignationem Dei manumque iam ad puniendum extentam ; at cum populi emendatio adhortationem prophetae eiusque supplicationem non sequeretur, iustitia Dei et sanctitas multipliciter offensa iustae ultionis iura repetere debuit: sed « quia non facit Dominus Deus verbum, nisi revelaverit secretum suum ad servos suos prophetas » (3, 7), v. "1 « Haec ostendit mihi Dominus : et ecce, Dominus stans super murum litum et in manu etus trulla caementarii ;
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v. 8 et dizit Dominus ad me : quid tu vides, Amos? et diri : trullam caementarii. Et dixit Dominus : ecce ego ponam trullam in medio populi mei Israel, non adiiciam ultra. superinducere eum » ; — rem bene proponit S. Hier. : « Dominus itaque cernitur stans supra murum s/annatum sive litum et in manu eius s/annatio sive trulla caementarii, qua solent superinduci parietes et non solum pulchritudinem accipere, sed et fortitudinem contra iniuriam imbrium et creberrimas tempestates. Legimus in Ezechiele (13, 13 seq.) Dominum comminantem, quod tempestate et grandine consurgente nequaquam linat nec vestiat parietem Israel, sed dimittat eum pluviis dissipari. Unde et nunc dicit ille, de quo scriptum est : structor maceriae vocabitur, ipse angularis lapis, aedificator domus, quod deponat trullam in medio populi sui Israel et cessare faciat atque torpere, ut nequaquam ultra superinducat eum et suo vestiat ac tueatur auxilio ». Sensum, uti infra declarabitur, optime assecutus est S. Hier. ; solum versus finem est in hebr. non addam ultra parcere ei, condonare, ignoscere, transire (cf. Mich. 1, 18. Prov. 19, 11). Stat Dominus super murum s(annatum, i. e. qui non solum firmiter est exstructus, verum etiam s/anno inductus i. e. plumbo, cui argentum admiscebatur, qua re murus et firmior reddebatur et praecipue pulchrior ac splendidissimus. Ita Deus populum suum et valide protexit et multis beneficiis exornavit ; est igitur murus fortis ac splendens reipublicae a Deo protectae et ornatae symbolum (cf. Rib. Lap.). Deus tale stannum in manu tenens exhibetur, tamquam is qui solus et protectionem et ornatum praestat. Quaestione proposita attentio vatis excitatur (cf. ler. 4, 11. 43). Comminatio in eo est, quod Dominus dicat se ponere stannum in medio populi, se iam desistere ab opere murum firmum ac splendidum reddendi, quare stannum collocat e manibus suis positum in medio populi, ut iam ipsi soli eius rei curam suscipiant et exerceant, si possint ; sed si Dominus non aedificaverit domum, in vanum laboraverunt qui aedificant illam ! Quare symboli propositi explicationem ipse subdit ; iam non parcam, eamque ulterius declarat
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v. 9 « et demolientur excelsa idoli et sanctificationes Israel desolabuntur et consurgam super domum [eroboam in gladio » ; — hebr. vastabuntur excelsa Isaac i. e. arae in locis elatioribus, quas populus ab Isaac oriundus (?) erexit et sanctuaria Israel in. desolationem erunt, sacraria et templa illa in Dan, Bethel, Galgala falso cultui dedicata (cf. 3, 14; 4, 4. 3 Reg. 12, 29) ; domus autem Ieroboam, regia familia, in qua tum sceptrum Israel erat, gladio exscindetur. Zacharias, leroboam filius, a Sellum percussus et interfectus est (& Reg. 15, 10), qua caede domus Ieroboam fegno est spoliata ; eam variae perturbationes in regno Israel subsequuntur, donec tandem ab Assyriis finis ei imponeretur. Vaticinio generaliori et remotiore tem - pore complendo specialius et propius imminens de gladio contra domum leroboam saeviente subiungit propheta intrepidus regnante et florente Ieroboam, ut altero impleto firmitas alterius magis animis imprimeretur. Solet Isaias quoque remotiori propius addere oraculum (cf. 14, 25; 20, 4 - 6). Vox *j3N hoc tantum loco in hebr. obvia varie redditur.L XX vertunt àózpya; ; eodem vox 'j2N in hebr. et arabico et syriaco vox peregrina ab Assyriis mutuata, apud quos metallum significat plumbum et ita crebris synonymis explicatur, ut simul lionem vel incrustationem murorum plumbo stannoque factam dicat, uti alias simili ratione sermo recurrit de muris aureis, argenteis, i. e. tali colore vel metallo vel metallorum quadam litione superinductis *. Qua de significatione conferenda sunt, quac Strassmaier S. I. in lexico acc. assyriaco s. v. anaku et anna n. 481. 531 collegit ; ex quorum locorum collatione ea quae dixi consequuntur. Unde patet S. Hier. rem rite explicasse in commentario, sed de frulla caementarii eatenus tantum sermonem posse institui, quatenus sfannatura illain vase quodam haberi et asservari dicitur ; murum autem litum proxime ad verum accedere. Veram significationem, üdhuc suspicatus esse videtur Aq., dum r&4vostv vertit ; v&vocotr; explicatur splendor ; sed lexica etiam praebent ye1xvoyuévz vasa cuprea stanno illita. Alii, uti Sanct. Lap. Fürst C. referunt cum editoribus priscis (cf. M. gr. 16 c, 2967, fragm. hexapl. ) 44. vertisse XAeígwceiv, quae vox ad litionem et inerustationem ommino facia est. Forte cum cod. barberin. 413vos:; ad Sym. interpretem referri debet (cf. cod. syr. hexapl. p. 927). Theod. *nxóusvov fortasse materiam plumbeam vel stanneam fusilem dicit, Hebr. excelsa Isaac recentiores explutit At restat tamen scrupulus, quem iam Rib. Sanct. iniecerunt, non esse credibile, cum alibi populus nunquam fuerit notatus eo nomine, nunc praeter consuetudinem novam hanc appellationem adhiberi. Quare haud spernenda erit efymologica LXX. versio fwgpoit 100 yéAoo; allaria risus i. e. vel irrisione et omni opprobriorum genere digna et afficienda contumeliis, vel « apud quae voluptatis fructum capiebant » (Theod. M.), ubi lasciva quadam hilaritate dissolvebantur. S. Hier. excelsa idoli ex textu graeco petiisse videtur, quem exponit de aris, quae risu et subsannatione dignae sunt. Narratio quae subsequitur populi contumaciam et contemptum verbi Dei in persona sacerdotis Bethel adumbrat, ad cuius mentem et exemplum certo certius multi ex populo conformabantur. Primo enim ope regis conatur prophetae silentium imponere eumque criminis laesae maiestatis accusatum auferre;
7:10
v. 410 «et misit Amasias sacerdos Bethel ad f[eroboam regem [Israel dicens : rebellavit contra te Amos in medio domus Ísrael ; non poterit terra sustinere universos sermones eius ;
7:11
v. 11 haec enim dicit Amos : in gladio morietur leroboam et Israel captivus migrabil de terra, sua » ; — Amasias, homo sane vafer, auget accusationem quantum potest, rem periculo plenam depingens : coniurationem fecit contra te (hebr.), eamque concitavit in medio regno quasi certus de successu et audacia elatus ; sermones prorsus abominabiles spargit, qui totius regni quietem et. securitatem funditus evertant et maximum quoddam incendium excitent. Tam valido usus prooemio iam certam ac definitam accusationem ex verbis prophetae depromptam ponit eamque ita componit, ut offensio regis et ira debeat commoveri ?, unde in gladio morie(ur leroboam, dum Amos nomine Dei tantum sit vaticinatus : consurgam super domum leroboam in gladio; ipsum enim Ieroboam esse gladio perimendum vel domestica seditione vel ab hoste externo Amos non praedixerat; de populi captivitate vide 2, 13-16; 4, 2. 3; 6, 'l. Quare praeeunte S. Hier. multi interpretes Amasiam mendacii et falsitatis arguunt. Optime designatur sacerdos Bethel, quippe qui timeat, ne falsi cultus sibi pereant fructus quotidiani, si populus dictis ac monitis Amos aures admoverit dociles (cf. Theod. Theod. M. Rib. Lap. Men.), unde sacerdos acerrimus exsistit veraereligionis et prophetae hostis et persecutor et quem primorum nemo ab officio prophetali cohibet, eum sacerdos omni conatu, dolo et fraude, amovere studet ; sunt etenim — nil novi sub sole — impii sacerdotes inimici religionis ac pietatis infensissimi. Apud regem Ieroboam vero accusatio ea non multum valuisse videtur. Amasias enim sua auctoritate tentat prophetae persuadere, ut terram Israel relinquat ; ergo rex criminatione ea non est incitatus , ut prophetam persequeretur. Censet quidem P$. Ruf.: « cum ad Ieroboam mandata misisset, non contentus finem excitati quasi certaminis praestolari, sed ut quocumque modo vir sanctus fugaretur exoptans, ad ipsum accessit »; at id improbabile videtur; nam cum accusationem apud regem faciat, etiam sperat illa se aliquid effecturum ; proinde censendus est exspectasse, donec certum haberet indicium, regem contra exspectationem nihil velle moliri adversus prophetam. Cur rex sacerdotis consilia neglexerit, Theod. M. reverentiam quam prophetae habebat et timorem « propter ea quae evenisse noverat sub prophetis nuperis Elia atque Elisaeo » assignat in causa fuisse ; at vix in rege impio (4 Reg. 14, 24) talem suspicari licet adfuisse reverentiam vel fidem ; superstitionem autem si dixeris timorem illum, ne scil. prophetae maledictis ipse statim malis oneraretur rex, fortasse rectius senties ; at quam maxime impio regi convenire videtur, ut propter Dei contemptum etiam eius prophetam contemnens aliquid in eum moliri sit dedignatus. Quare Amasias propriae utilitati consulens prophetam alia via removere studet
7:12
v. 19 «et dixit Amasias ad. Amos : qui vides, gradere, fuge in. terram Iuda et comede ibi panem et. prophetabis ibi » ; — hebr. videns n nomen est usitatum prophetae. Quo animo ita eum compellaverit, varie explicant ; ironice ei indidisse hoc nomen putat Theod. M.; cum contumelia quasi falso prophetae censet Cyr., verum cum reverentia opinatur Ps. Ruf. Rib. Forte media quadam via utens coniicere poteris, Amasiam nomen apud omnes commune quo Amos designabatur, usurpasse (uti fit) neque in reverentiam neque in contumeliam. Sed certe contemptum suum satis manifesto prodit Amasias dicens comede ibi panem i. e. « exerce artem tuam per quam tibi reperias cibos; ibi vaticinare in terra Iuda, ubi libenter audiuntur insani » (Ifier.) ; vel secundum S. Cyr. : «tantum non dicit : si quaestum turpem desideras et velut magicis voculis auribus demulcendis ad vitam sustentandam necessaria corrogare quaeris, relicta Samaria loquere tribui Iuda ». Cur propheta Domini non debeat prophetare in regno Israel, rationem prodit, qua simul absolutam illam a Domino defectionem manifestam facit
7:13
v. 13 « et in Bethel non adiicies ultra ut prophetes, quia sanctificatio regis est et domus regni est » ; — i. e. in terram Iuda secede ; haec est terra Domini ; ibi propheta Domini munere suo fungi potest ; Bethel vero sanctuarium est a rege institutum (cf. 3 Reg. 12, 28) ; ergo ibi sacerdotes et prophetae pariter a rege instituti obeant munera, non alii ; Bethel domus regni est i. e. sedes praecipua religionis hwic regno propriae ; sed « cuius regio, eius et religio », ergo in Bethel nullo modo licet contra regem et regnum Israel prophetare. Loquitur Amasias, quasi Dominus nullum ius, nullam partem iam haberet in Israel, sed omnia in uno rege divina et humana consisterent! Tanta perversitas, contumacia in Deum, separatio profundissima a vero cultu Dei et regno Iuda. Ita sentit sacerdos ; num maiorem populi partem ab ea mente alienam esse iure opinabimur ? Ea proin narratione propheta necessitatem divinae castigagationis et ruinae impendentis illustrat et comprobat. At propheta minis sacerdotis non cedit neque comminatione illa, rcgiam in se potestatem et iram esse animadversuram, movetur, sed voc«- tionem suam et missionem divinam, cui obedire debeat, intrepide profitetur et declarat
7:14
v. 14. « responditque Amos et dixit ad Amasiam : noa sum propheta et non sum filius prophetae, sed. armentarius ego sum, vellicans sycomoros ; v. A3 et tulit me Dominus cum sequerer gregem cl dixit Dominus ad me : vade, propheta ad populum meum Israel » ! — i. e. neque propria voluntate et electione neque educatione vel institutione — filii enim prophetarum vocabantur eorum discipuli, qui prophetae se erudiendos docendosque traderent — munus propheticum capessivi; nihil aderat in vita antcacta Amos, quo suo vel aliorum impulsu ad personam prophetae gerendam vel assumendam potuerit induci !. Id negatione praemissa iam positive declarat, vitae rationem, in ^o» dixerunt, qui proprie pastor caprarum appellatur (S. Hier.), et cum dicat, se a Domino assumptum esse a post gregem (hebr.) 1NY, quae vox pecora, oves et capras, non vero arfnenta significat, iure ?p2 sensu generaliori pastoris usurpatur. Humilem vitae conditionem, qua victum sibi comparaverit neque ad altiora capessenda animum intenderit, ulterius declarat : vellicans sycomoros « quidam ita edisserunt, ut sycamina velint appellari genus arborum, quae Palaestinae nascuntur in campestribus et agrestes afferunt ficus, quae si non vellicentür, amarissimas cariculas faciunt et a culicibus corrumpuntur » (/Eier.) ; referunt enim sycomori poma non maturescere aut esse apta esui, nisi ungue scalpantur aut ferro (cf. Theod. Sanct. Rib. Lap. Men. — Ges. s. v. 753), unde bene LXX xv(tov cuxagctva ?. Vocationem divinam apertissime sibi factam asseverat, qua praecise ad populum Israel mittebatur ; unde in hac responsione simul continetur, cur Àmasiae consilium nullatenus adoptare possit ; oportet enim magis Deo obedire quam hominibus (cf. Cyr. Rup.). Deinde sacerdoti cultus falsi et contemptori verbi Dei, qui regia potestate officium a Deo commissum impedire tentavit, poenam denuntiat :
7:16
V. 16 « et nunc audi verbum Domini ! tu dicis : non prophetabis super Israel et non stillabis super domum idoli ; v. 4"1 propter hoc haec dictt Dominus : uxor (ua in civitate fornicabitur, et filii tui et filiae tuac in gladio cadent, et humus tua funiculo metietur ; et tu in terra polluta morieris et Israel captivus migrabit de terra sua » ; — en exemplum, quomodo Deus in V. T. conatum punierit impediendi exercitium iurisdictionis spiritualis ! Stillare idem est ac prophetare, verba scil. e: oracula fundere ? (cf. Ez. 21, 2. Mich. 2, 6). Subtilius explicat S. Hier. : vel se esse prophctam talem, qualem Amasias censeat (Barh. Sanct.), vcl ncgari munus prcpheticum ex humilitate (Hier. Rup. Alb. Calm). 1. Uti teste S. Hier. habent Aq. Sym. Theod. et quinta editio. : « stillare prophetas idioma Scripturarum est, quod non totam Dei simul inferant iram, sed parvas stillas comminatione denuntient ». De domo idoli cf. v. 9 ; hebr. de domo Isaac ! ; LXX praebent £xt «àv ctxcv. "axo. Poena gravissima ita conformatur, ut omnium affectuum tormenta sentiat, « i. e. quae maritus, quae pater, quae clarus civis excipiat ; uxor enim tua non clandestina turpitudine polluetur, sed in medio urbis vincentium libidini subiacebit, et liberos tuos gladius te spectante, cui non liceat lugere, vastabit ; tuque simul dedecore et orbitate perculsus in terra polluta morieris, i. e. vel in ipsa Iudaeorum regione quam videlicet prius sacrilegia civium, deinceps vero facinora hostium polluerunt, vel certe in barbaris finibus » (Ps. Ruf.). Fornicabitur, « quod melius interpretatus est Sym. mepveu0,2e:x: : non. quod ipsa fornicetur, sed quod passivo genere sustineat fornicationem » (Hier. sim. Theod. Cyr.) ; humus tua i. e. terra ipsius funiculo ab hostibus dividitur et novos cultores recipit (S. Hier.) ; funiculus igitur mensorius intelligitur ad sortes vel hereditates mensurandas et dividendas (cf. Zach. 2, 2). Terram sceleribus habitatorum pollui, foedari, frequens est loquendi usus in s. literis (cf. Lev. 48, 23. Num. 35, 33. Ier. 3, 2) ; quare terra polluta regio esse videtur extraneorum et scelestorum, regio gentilium (cf. Theod. M. Sanct.), in qua Amasias captivus moriatur ; idque eo facilius ita interpretaberis, quia de captivi populi migratione statim mentio subiungitur. Ceterum ultimis verbis repetit vaticinium tisdem verbis, quibus Amasias retulerat v. 144 ; ut ostendat in edicto divino nihil mutari, neque se nuntium Dei propter comminationem ullo pacto aliter praedicare posse vel velle. Quando Amasias eas poenas dederit, dici nequit. Sed prorsus probabile est, eum tempore calamitatis a Theglathphalasar illatae supplicia illa exsolvisse (cf. 4 Reg. 15, 29). — In martyrologio romano Amos dicitur ab Amasia frequenter plagis affectus et demum neci traditus.
7:1
… The ancient term nābhi, from the time of Samuel, prevailed almost exclusively over rā'eh, as the editorial note I Sam. 9:9 states concerning Samuel, called nābhi and rā'eh (ibid. 3:20 and 9:11). In Am. 7:1-15 these three expressions appear synonymous. …
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1 and 2 (3 and 4) Book of Kings
… The content of R. also finds frequent verification in other historical books, and in the prophetic ones (cf. among many cases: Hos. 7, 7; 8, 4 = II Reg. 15, 10, 14, 25; Hos. 5, 13; 7, 11; 8, 9; 12, 2 = II Reg. 15, 17-20; Am. 7, 10; 4, 1-6 = II Reg. 14, 23-29; It. 7, 1-12 = II Reg. 16, 5; It. 36, 1-37, 38 = II Reg. 18, 13-19, 37, etc.). …
Amasias (Heb. ʿAṭṭāṣa «Yahweh Fortifies»; Septuagint: ʿAṭṭāṣa)
… The prophet foretold for him grave divine punishments upon his family and death in a foreign land (Am. 7:10-17).
… The priests, for their own interests, are the guardians of this fatal disorder (cf. Am. 7:10-17: A. Neher [v. bibl.], pp. 20-33; Hos. 4:4-10; 5).
… The beginning of the prophetic mission is the vocation on the part of God, sudden, which gives a new face to the existence of the one called (Ex. 3:7-4:18; Am. 7:10-15; Is. 6; Jer. 1:4-9; 20:7-18; Ex. 2-3; etc.). …
7:14
… And therefore it is a strident contradiction to derive from the same source the true prophets who energetically combat them (Am. 7:14; Ezek. 13) and these false prophets who are their counterfeit.
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.