Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He prophesies that Israel will be given as prey to the Assyrians and to God, as to a roaring lion and a fowler. Second, at verse 9, he summons the Philistines and Egyptians to see the crimes and resulting slaughter of Israel, which will be so great that from it barely two or three, and those wretched and sick, will escape; but both he himself, and his idols and altars, and palaces and ivory houses will be destroyed.
Vulgate Text: Amos 3:1-15
1. Hear the word that the Lord has spoken against you, O sons of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying: 2. Only you have I known out of all the families of the earth; therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities. 3. Will two walk together unless they have agreed? 4. Will a lion roar in the forest unless he has prey? Will a lion's cub give voice from his den unless he has caught something? 5. Will a bird fall into a snare on the ground without a fowler? Will a snare be lifted from the ground before it has caught something? 6. If the trumpet sounds in the city, will the people not be terrified? If there is evil in the city, has the Lord not done it? 7. For the Lord God does nothing unless He has revealed His secret to His servants the Prophets. 8. The lion will roar — who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken — who will not prophesy? 9. Make it heard in the halls of Ashdod, and in the halls of the land of Egypt; and say: Assemble upon the mountains of Samaria, and see the madness
great in its midst, and those suffering oppression in its inner chambers. 10. And they do not know how to do right, says the Lord, storing up iniquity and plunder in their houses. 11. Therefore thus says the Lord God: The land will be afflicted and encircled; and your strength will be stripped from you, and your houses will be plundered. 12. Thus says the Lord: Just as if a shepherd rescues from the mouth of a lion two legs, or the tip of an ear; so will the sons of Israel be rescued, who dwell in Samaria on the edge of a bed, and on a Damascus couch. 13. Hear, and bear witness against the house of Jacob, says the Lord God of hosts. 14. For on the day when I begin to visit the transgressions of Israel, I will visit him, and the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar will be cut off, and will fall to the ground. 15. And I will strike the winter house together with the summer house; and the ivory houses will perish, and many dwellings will be destroyed, says the Lord.
Verse 1: 1. SONS OF ISRAEL.
1. SONS OF ISRAEL. — St. Jerome, Remigius, Hugo, Lyranus, and others understand by 'sons of Israel' all twelve tribes, and consequently also Judah, because it follows: "Against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt." But from the following verse 12 and 14, it is clear that the Prophet is speaking properly about Israel, that is Samaria and the ten tribes, yet in such a way that he soon broadens and extends the discourse also to Judah, meaning: You, O Israelites, and indeed you too, O Judah, and all whom God brought out of Egypt, who are related both in blood and in crime, and will be alike in punishment and slaughter, hear from my mouth the wrath, threats, and burden that God imposes upon you. So Theodoret, Albert, Arias, and others.
1. Hear this word, you fat cows who are on the mountain of Samaria: who oppress the needy and crush the poor; who say to your lords: Bring, and let us drink. 2. The Lord God has sworn by His holiness: Behold, the days will come upon you, and they will lift you up on
Verse 2: 2. ONLY YOU HAVE I KNOWN OUT OF ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH — meaning: You, O Israelites, alone...
2. ONLY YOU HAVE I KNOWN OUT OF ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH — meaning: You, O Israelites, alone out of all nations I chose, as the Chaldean translates, as My people, as My intimates and friends, indeed as sons, so that I might nourish, protect, advance, and exalt you as a father. Understand, with the Chaldean, Vatablus, and others: Why then did you desert Me for golden calves? Therefore I will visit (punish) upon you all your iniquities.
Second, 'I knew,' that is, I cared and care for you and your affairs through a special providence, by which I gave you the law, conferred so many miracles and blessings, proposed punishments and rewards, ruled and directed you — indeed, I still rule and direct you — and therefore I send prosperity to those who do well and obey Me, but adversity to those who do evil, so that I may chastise you as a father, and by that restraint, as by a bridle, rein you in and lead you back along the path of virtue to Me, while I seem not to know, that is, not to care about and to neglect the other nations in comparison with you, and to let them, as strangers to Me, follow the desires of their hearts, intending to punish them in the future with the sharpest and eternal punishment. For it is a great sign of a truly fatherly spirit, concerned for the welfare of his children, to apply the cautery to the sick, the goad to the sluggish, or the whip to the straying, says Sanchez.
Verse 3: 3. WILL TWO WALK TOGETHER UNLESS THEY HAVE AGREED? — The Septuagint: Unless they have known each...
3. WILL TWO WALK TOGETHER UNLESS THEY HAVE AGREED? — The Septuagint: Unless they have known each other; Aquila: Unless they have agreed among themselves. You ask, to what purpose is this said, and what does this proverb signify, and the five that follow up to verse 6, and who are these two walking together? First, Theodoret, Remigius, and a Castro in his paraphrase answer that these two are God and the Assyrians, meaning: God and the Assyrians walk together and proceed toward your destruction, O Israelites: for it is God who sends the Assyrians against you to punish your crimes. They consider the same to be signified by the following five proverbs: for they think all of them aim to signify that enemies are sent only when God avenges, just as two do not walk together unless they have first agreed, and just as a lion does not roar unless it has caught prey, and just as a fowler does not remove a snare unless he has caught a bird, and so on with the rest: for none of these things happens unless the condition is met; so nothing happens in disasters and destructions unless God wills and punishes. They prove this because God, concluding these proverbs and indicating their aim and meaning, adds at verse 6: "If there is evil in the city, has the Lord not done it?" as if to say: These two walk together and in equal step — the Lord and evil, or divinity and providence, God and vengeance, namely the chastisement of the impious; because there is no God without providence, no divinity without vengeance on the impious; nor is any vengeance upon them exercised without God and His divinity. This sense is sublime and suited to morals.
Second, Arias considers these two to be Judah and Israel, that is, the two tribes and the ten; and again, to be Nebuchadnezzar and Shalmaneser, meaning: Judah and Israel seem divided from each other by schism, but nevertheless they agree in idolatry and crime, and walk together to worship the same idols. Therefore Nebuchadnezzar and Shalmaneser will likewise walk against them: the former to punish and destroy Judah, the latter Israel. For God will send and direct both toward the same destruction of each.
Third, Hugo, Lyranus, and Vatablus understand these two walking together as God and the Prophet, e.g. Amos, meaning, as Vatablus says: "Just as two people never set out together for some business unless they have first agreed between themselves about it: so the Prophets, through whom I have proclaimed that I will visit your iniquities, as I have already said, will not come to you to announce these things unless they fully agree with Me, that they may warn you of this. For by this simile he wished to show the excellence of prophecy, and that there is a great agreement between God and the Prophets. Hence shortly after, at verse 7, he declares himself with these words: For the Lord God does nothing unless He has revealed His secret to His servants the Prophets."
Fourth, and more fittingly and more genuinely, Rupert, Clarius, and Ribera consider these two walking together to be God and the people of Israel, meaning: I, God, walked together with Israel when he was formerly pious and obedient, when namely I led him out of Egypt, as it were holding him by the hand, and through the desert brought him into Canaan: because then he agreed with Me, allowed himself to be guided by Me, and willingly followed My lead and law. But now, having abandoned Me, he walks with foreign gods. Wherefore I likewise will not walk with him, because he agrees with idols, not with Me; but rather I will advance against him as an enemy, as I threatened in Leviticus XXVI, 24; namely, I will walk with him as an executioner walks with a criminal whom he leads to the gallows; as a lion walks with the prey it has torn apart; as a fowler with the bird he has caught; as a hunter equipped with a snare with the beast he has ensnared. For I will roar against him as against My prey, and through Amos and other Prophets I will proclaim and threaten certain and inevitable destruction upon him through the Assyrians.
That this exposition may be explained and proved, suppose that, just as in fables and apologues (e.g. Aesop's) there are three parts, namely the mythos, promythion, and epimythion, that is the fable, the prefable, and the postfable: the prefable is the prelude and, as it were, prologue, indicating against whom and for what purpose the fable is told; the postfable is the epilogue of the fable, signifying what we ought to learn from it and what fruit to draw: so likewise in proverbs, riddles, and parables there are three parts, namely the parable itself, the pre-parable and the post-parable. The pre-parable is the prologue of the parable itself, indicating its end and aim, such as Luke XIV, 7: "And He spoke a parable also to those who were invited, noting how they chose the first places," meaning: Christ's aim in the following parable, which concerns the invited, is to censure the ambitious who seek the first seats and first places at table. The post-parable is the conclusion of the parable, signifying its use and fruit, such as the same verse 11: "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."
With this supposed, I say that the sense of these six proverbs or parables must be sought from the pre-parable, or prologue that immediately preceded; and from the post-parable that is immediately appended afterward. Now the prologue here is: "Hear the word that the Lord has spoken against you, O sons of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying: Only you have I known out of all the families of the earth;" and especially what immediately follows and directly precedes these proverbs, namely: "Therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities," meaning: I will punish your crimes against Me, because although I brought you out of Egypt and continually walked with you as a father, you nevertheless, proudly and ungratefully turning your backs on Me, despising Me, walked with idols and golden calves. The post-parable is verse 6: "If there is evil in the city, has the Lord not done it? For the Lord God does nothing unless He has revealed His secret to His servants the Prophets. The lion will roar — who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken — who will not prophesy?" meaning: As I said in the pre-parable, so in the post-parable I say and repeat that it is I, not another, who threaten evils and disasters upon you through the Prophets, and will soon in reality inflict them through the Assyrians, so that I may roar against you and rage, like a lion upon its prey, because you have advanced against Me as enemies, walking with idols, who are My sworn enemies. Behold, here we see clearly that both the prologue and the conclusion of the parable signify, that these parables aim to indicate that God once walked with Israel as a father with a son, because he duly agreed with Him: but now after his apostasy, schism, and idolatry, He will take away from him that friendly presence and fatherly care and help, and will advance against him, and through His Prophets will threaten him with slaughter and destruction, and will soon inflict it through the Assyrians. This then is the aim and sense of these six proverbs and parables.
Where note: God here signifies two things in the post-parable: first, that no evil is sent upon a city, e.g. Samaria, except by God; second, that He Himself does not inflict that very evil upon it unless He first forewarns it through the Prophets, so that it may correct its life and escape the evil; and so that it may know that the evil, when it befalls it, comes from no other source than from God the Avenger, who threatened it through the Prophets.
For the Prophet here wishes to win credibility and authority, as well as certainty, for his prophecy and threats which he will level from God against Israel: authority, by saying that God will not do anything evil to Samaria unless He has first revealed it to him and announced it through him: certainty, by saying that these threatening oracles of his have been revealed to him by God, and are the threats and words of God Himself, who is the first truth, and can neither be deceived nor deceive. Let the Israelites therefore believe that these are not mere verbal and empty threats, but real and efficacious, as coming from God angered and raging like a lion. Wherefore here the Prophet does not constitute himself as another or a secondary figure from God, but as it were the same as God, namely as the mouth and trumpet of God, which blares and roars against Israel, who is the other or secondary figure from God. The two walking together here, therefore, are God threatening through the Prophet, and Israel receiving these threats of God. Now according to this, the remaining five proverbs are to be explained and applied one by one. The second therefore is what follows: "Will a lion roar?" etc. So St. Jerome, Emmanuel, Mariana, and others.
Allegorically St. Jerome says: Two, namely Gentiles and Jews, cannot walk together unless they have agreed in one faith and one head, Christ. But if they are separated by discord, immediately the roaring lion and treacherous devil will attack and capture them. Tropologically, Rupert says: God cannot walk with a sinner if the sinner defends his sin. "We two," he says, "are I who accuse or correct — God — and Israel who is corrected; namely, we do not agree, because corrected Israel does not listen to Me, God, who corrects him. In this our minds disagree: because I accuse, he defends himself." And St. Augustine, on Psalm LXXV: "As long as," he says, "you do not confess your sins, you in a certain way quarrel with God. For how do you not litigate with Him, you who praise what displeases Him? It is the voice of the Psalmist saying: Begin with confession to the Lord. What does this mean: Begin with confession to the Lord? Begin to be joined to God. How? So that what displeases Him may displease you. Your evil life displeases Him: if it pleases you, you are separated from Him; if it displeases you, through confession you are joined to Him."
Verse 4: 4. WILL A LION ROAR IN THE FOREST UNLESS HE HAS PREY? — The lion is God, the prey is Israel, the...
4. WILL A LION ROAR IN THE FOREST UNLESS HE HAS PREY? — The lion is God, the prey is Israel, the roaring is the threats of the Prophets threatening Israel with destruction by the Assyrians at God's command, meaning: Just as a hungry lion roars when he has prey in his claws or even in his sight — he roars, I say, to rouse his anger and courage to attack the beast he wishes to seize; or if he has caught it, to protect it against wolves, bears, and other beasts and men, lest it be snatched from him — so God roars, is indignant, and threatens through me and other Prophets against you, O Israelites, whom He already attacks through the Assyrians, whom He already holds as if captured in His hand, and destines for imminent destruction and captivity. For just as a lion never roars without catching, tearing, and devouring his prey, so God does not threaten the obstinate with punishments without immediately inflicting them, and slaying and slaughtering them, as He will slaughter you, O Israelites, through Shalmaneser. Note from Aristotle, Pliny, and others about to be cited: The lion is accustomed to roar twice: first, when he is hungry and seeks and sees prey; second, when he catches it: for then partly from anger, lest it be snatched from him, partly from hunger and greed, gnashing and growling, he roars. For the lion is gluttonous and gorges itself, so that it swallows whole parts and bones before crushing them with its teeth. Hence it so stuffs itself that when full it does not hunger for two or three days, nor does it ordinarily eat except on alternate days, namely once every two days, as Aristotle teaches in Book VIII of History of Animals, chapter V, Pliny in Book VIII, chapter XVI, and Aelian in Book IV of History of Animals, chapter XXXIII. Hence also from this gorging, its breath is heavy and stinks: "The lion's breath is a noxious poison," says Pliny in Book XI, chapter XXXIII. In a similar way God roared both before the destruction of Israel by threatening through the Prophets, and in the destruction itself by striking Israel through the Assyrians, not permitting the Egyptians or others to snatch them from Him.
Yet the Prophet seems here to speak more of the lion's roaring before catching prey: for God here compares His threatening prophecies issued through Amos, Hosea, and others concerning the future and imminent destruction to the roaring of a lion. Add that the roaring of the lion is greater and more terrible when it sees an enemy, in order to attack and seize it, than when it catches and devours it. Moreover, it is said to 'have' it then, both because it has it before its eyes, and because it has it in certain hope. There follows the third proverb, similar to the second:
WILL A LION'S CUB GIVE VOICE FROM HIS DEN UNLESS HE HAS CAUGHT SOMETHING? — The Tigurina: Does a lion's cub raise his voice coming forth from his lair, when he has caught no prey? By this repetition the Prophet establishes God's power and the certainty of His oracle, meaning: If prey cannot be saved from a lion and from a roaring lion's cub, which of you, O Israelites, will escape the hands of an angry God? He adds the cubs to the lion because, being unruly and with always-growling stomachs, they roar all the more when hungry, according to Psalm CIV, 2: "The young lions roar to seize prey and seek their food from God." Hence in Scripture the wrath of God, as well as the fierce attack of enemies, is compared to the roaring of young lions, as in Isaiah XXXI, 4: "Just as if a lion roars, and a young lion over its prey, etc.: so the Lord will come down to fight."
Verse 5: 5. WILL A BIRD FALL INTO A SNARE ON THE GROUND WITHOUT A FOWLER — who set the snare for the bird?...
5. WILL A BIRD FALL INTO A SNARE ON THE GROUND WITHOUT A FOWLER — who set the snare for the bird? Meaning: No. Just as therefore a bird is not caught by a snare except by a fowler, so you too will be caught by the Assyrians, with no one else bringing this about than God, who set the Assyrians as a snare for you. The Hebrew mokes means an ensnarer, namely a fowler, as the Septuagint, our Translator, and others render it. It can secondly, with Vatablus, be rendered as 'stumbling-block,' meaning: Just as a bird does not fall into a snare without a stumbling-block, that is, without being caught and strangled by it, so neither will you fall into the hands of God and the Assyrians without being caught and strangled by them. But because that is signified by the next parable, here, for there to be a gradation, our Translator and the Septuagint more simply translate 'without a fowler.' There follows therefore the fourth proverb connected to the third:
WILL A SNARE BE LIFTED FROM THE GROUND BEFORE
IT HAS CAUGHT SOMETHING? — meaning: Just as a snare is not removed by a hunter until he has ensnared and caught a bird or beast in it, so neither will I remove my spread net, namely the Assyrians, from Samaria, until they have captured and devastated it, but like a fowler I will continually attend to and direct them, as My snares, and will not cease until they catch and slay you. He cuts off all the escapes of the impious and unbelieving, who either dismissed or evaded these oracles of His, saying: These are the usual threats of the Prophets, but threats only, just as parents show the rod to children, not to strike them, but to frighten them with threats: the Assyrian will come, will show himself before Samaria, but will not dare to attack so powerful and fortified a city: so he will return home leaving us untouched and unharmed. These escapes and these delusions about the threats and sacred oracles God here cuts down, and announces with certainty that the Assyrian will not depart from Samaria until he captures it, just as a hunter does not remove his snare until he has caught a bird in it. Note that the threats of Prophets and preachers are here compared to the roar of a lion, the net of a fowler, and the blast of a trumpet, verse 6. Nicetas truly says in the Life of Alexius Comnenus: "No one can escape the snares and nets of divine providence," just as Pharaoh, Diocletian, Maximian, Julian the Apostate, the emperor Valens, and others like them could not escape them. David threatens the Jews with a similar snare, Psalm LXVIII, 23: "Let their table become a snare before them, and a retribution, and a stumbling-block." This is the hunt of divine justice: for just as princes hunt boars and wolves, so God's vengeance hunts tyrants and the impious. So concerning Zedekiah God says, Ezekiel XII, 13: "I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My seine," by the Chaldeans. There follows the fifth proverb:
Verse 6: 6. IF THE TRUMPET SOUNDS IN THE CITY, WILL THE PEOPLE NOT BE TERRIFIED? — meaning: Just as when the...
6. IF THE TRUMPET SOUNDS IN THE CITY, WILL THE PEOPLE NOT BE TERRIFIED? — meaning: Just as when the trumpet sounds in time of war, and the battle-call resounds, signifying that the enemy is at hand, that arms and battle-lines must be prepared, it cannot but happen that the people are stricken with fear of the enemy and of disaster, and with terror at the blast of war; so much more should you, O Israelites, tremble and be stricken at these words of mine, with which from God I sound the battle-call, and proclaim and threaten enemy, fire, and flame against you. The blast of the trumpet, therefore, is prophecy: the one blasting is God: the trumpet is the mouth of the Prophet: the enemy is the Assyrian: the city is Samaria: the people are the Israelites, to be stricken and terrified with fear.
IF THERE IS EVIL IN THE CITY, HAS THE LORD NOT DONE IT? — This is the post-parable, or the conclusion and application of the preceding parables, meaning: The five parables that I have just recounted signify that evil, that is, affliction and extreme disaster, will be brought upon Samaria through the Assyrians, not by anyone other than by the God from whom they apostatized and whom they provoked, by preferring golden calves to Him. When therefore this disaster comes upon you, O Israelites, know for certain that I am the one inflicting it upon you: for I alone proclaim and threaten it to you through the Prophets, because I alone will inflict it upon you, not Baal, not Chemosh, not any other of the empty gods. Hence, explaining further, He adds: "For the Lord does nothing," etc.
Morally, learn here that God is the author of all plunder, conflagrations, slaughter, and calamities, both public and private, that are inflicted on the impious and on sinners — for God, the governor of the universe, is the judge and avenger of all. Rightly Plutarch says in his Moralia: "Just as some rivers suddenly hide themselves underground, yet are still borne to where they tend: so the wrath of the gods, though hidden, nevertheless sometimes brings the guilty to extreme calamities," even when they do not think that "God the avenger is behind them." And Horace: Rarely has punishment, though lame of foot, Failed to catch the criminal who runs ahead. And Jeremiah, Lamentations III, 37: "Who is he who has spoken and it came to pass, when the Lord has not commanded? From the mouth of the Most High do not both evil and good proceed? Why does a living man complain, a man for his sins?" see what was said there. And chapter XVIII, 11: "Behold, I am fashioning evil against you." And Isaiah chapter XLV, 7: "I am the Lord, and there is no other, forming light and creating darkness; making peace and creating evil." See St. Basil, homily That God is Not the Author of Evils, where he shows that properly nothing is evil except sin, whose author is the created will, not God: but the other evils, those of punishment as they are called, are goods, not evils, especially because through them God kills sin and makes justice live, or rather causes man to die to sin in order to live to justice. "For as much as," he says, "our outward man is corrupted, so much is the inward man renewed. Therefore He does not kill one and give life to another; but the same one He gives life to through the things by which He kills. Therefore the flesh is struck so that the soul may be healed. Sin is destroyed so that justice may live."
Verse 7: 7. FOR THE LORD GOD DOES NOTHING UNLESS HE HAS REVEALED HIS SECRET TO HIS SERVANTS THE PROPHETS.
7. FOR THE LORD GOD DOES NOTHING UNLESS HE HAS REVEALED HIS SECRET TO HIS SERVANTS THE PROPHETS. — The word 'for' can be taken as 'nevertheless,' but it is more effective to take it properly as a causal particle for what preceded, meaning: There is no evil in the city that the Lord has not done; because He first reveals to the Prophets all the evils that will befall the city, and through them threatens that He will soon inflict them upon the city: therefore when they are soon inflicted upon the city, it is He, not another, who inflicts them upon the city as judge and avenger, as He had threatened. Furthermore, God will not bring this disaster upon the city of Samaria unless you, O Samaritans, have been forewarned through the Prophets, and this for two reasons. The first is, lest you be able to claim that you were never rebuked. The second is, so that you may be certain that this is inflicted upon you for your crimes, and that God, the avenger of those crimes, is its author: by which the Prophet declares both the dignity and the necessity of his office, namely prophecy, as received from God, so that he himself might be as it were God's ambassador to Israel, and among them a messenger, intermediary, and mediator; and also the merciful counsel of God, as I will soon show.
Wherefore note: "Word" metonymically signifies a thing, namely the disaster signified and predicted by the word. Hence immediately afterward he calls the same thing "His secret," and, as Theodotion renders it, His counsel, namely His hidden decree concerning the infliction of this disaster. The Septuagint translates it as paideia, that is instruction, or rather, as St. Jerome translates, His correction: by which is signified that the threats and blows of God do not proceed from hatred, but from fatherly love toward men. For just as a father rebukes and chastises the son whom he loves, in order to instruct him, so also God does with the sinner. Wherefore He inflicts this chastisement unwillingly and as if compelled, and therefore, so that men may escape it by repenting, He first threatens and announces it through Prophets and preachers, all of which signifies the wonderful mercy of God, says St. Jerome. So before the flood He forewarned sinners through Noah, who for this reason built the ark over a hundred years, so that for a hundred years men inquiring about the reason for this construction might be warned of the impending flood, and by repenting might avert and escape it, just as the Ninevites forewarned by Jonah escaped destruction. So through Moses He inflicted no plague on Egypt without first forewarning Pharaoh and the Egyptians of it through the same Moses, as is clear from Exodus chapters VII, VIII, and IX. So the disasters through the Syrians, Ammonites, Midianites, and Philistines narrated in the books of Judges, He did not bring upon the Hebrews without forewarning them through Joshua, chapter XXI, and through Deborah, Judges IV, 4, and other Prophets. So He did not inflict the destruction through Titus and the Romans on the Jews without forewarning them through Christ, Luke chapter XIX, 42, and the Apostles. So He will not bring the final disaster upon the world without first sending Prophets and Angels, who sounding with seven trumpets will proclaim it throughout the whole world, Apocalypse chapter XVI, 1.
Verse 8: 8. THE LION WILL ROAR — WHO WILL NOT FEAR? (meaning: How much more should God, roaring and...
8. THE LION WILL ROAR — WHO WILL NOT FEAR? (meaning: How much more should God, roaring and threatening, be feared by all? Hence partly explaining, partly drawing the conclusion, he adds): THE LORD GOD HAS SPOKEN — WHO WILL NOT PROPHESY? — For this proposition is partly a parallel explanation and partly an inference and conclusion of the former, meaning: If when a lion roars, all fear; then much more, when God rages, must all fear; and especially we Prophets, who are the first to hear this roaring of God speaking within us, and are struck with fear of Him; and therefore, trembling, we cannot be silent, but we prophesy and cry out to all, that they should take heed and look to themselves, lest they become His prey and be torn apart by Him, especially because He speaks and roars within us so that by prophesying we may bring forth and express the same roar to others, meaning: Since God sends us as Prophets and commands us to prophesy, we cannot be silent. So St. Jerome, Emmanuel, Mariana, and others. He removes another escape, or rather reproach, of the unbelieving Israelites. For they continually taunted the Prophets, saying that by always prophesying gloomy things to Israel, they seemed to rejoice in its disaster and insult it. Amos responds that he prophesies these things unwillingly, and is compelled by God, and cannot resist Him. For when God speaks, commands, and sends a Prophet, who will not prophesy? Who dares to be silent, who dares to refuse God's command? For God is like a roaring lion, who tears apart the disobedient Prophet just as He tears apart the rebellious people: as through a lion He tore apart that Prophet who was disobedient in a small matter, namely that he had eaten food in Bethel against God's command, deceived though he was by another prophet who claimed that God had revoked His command, III Kings chapter XIII, 24. The sense therefore is, meaning: My threats are not mine, but God's: my roaring is not mine, but God's: for God roars like a lion in our mind, and thence in our mouth, to strike you with terror: do not therefore impute these gloomy oracles to us. For when God speaks through our mind and mouth, we dare not and cannot be silent. Again, if a lion, trembling and roaring from hunger or from having its cubs seized, rushes from the forest into the city, who seeing it from afar would not cry out to all: Flee! A raging lion threatens — look to yourselves! Why then should not I, Amos, seeing God angered rushing upon Samaria to destroy it, cry out to all to take heed? This is what God said to Ezekiel, chapter III, verse 27: "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel, etc.; if when I say to the wicked: You shall surely die, you do not warn him, etc., I will require his blood at your hand."
Similar was the response of St. Aphraates the hermit. For when he, having left his hermitage, was resisting the raging Arians and rebuking the emperor Valens for Arianism and the persecution of the orthodox, and Valens objected to him: Why do you, a monk, who profess the solitary life, leaving silence and quiet, enter the city and the forum? — he answered: If a virgin, hidden in her chamber, were to see someone throwing torches into the house, would she not rush out of the house and cry: Fire! Fire! — to save herself and her household from it? Do not therefore blame me for having left my quiet; but blame yourself for having cast this flame into the house of God, and not me, who am trying to extinguish it, and therefore cry out to all to beware of you and your heresy, with which as with fire you are trying to set the Church of God ablaze. So Theodoret reports in the Philotheos, chapter VIII. In a similar way Amos responds to the Israelites who complain against him: Why do you threaten us? You are a herdsman, not a Prophet!
Why do you lash us? Go to your pastures, whip your oxen! — he responds: "The lion will roar — who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken — who will not prophesy?" This is what Jeremiah answered the Jews in the same situation, chapter XX, 8: "The word of the Lord," he says, "has become to me a reproach and derision all day long." And shortly after: "And it was in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones; and I was weary, unable to bear it." And chapter VI, 10: "To whom shall I speak? And whom shall I adjure to listen? Behold, their ears are uncircumcised, etc. Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord, I am weary of holding it in."
WHO WILL NOT FEAR? — St. Augustine truly says in his Sentences, number 77: "All things that are feared can be reasonably avoided: God is to be feared in such a way that one flees from Him to Him," namely from Him angered to Him merciful and gentle.
Verse 9: 9. MAKE IT HEARD IN THE HALLS OF ASHDOD.
9. MAKE IT HEARD IN THE HALLS OF ASHDOD. — God summons the neighboring nations, namely the Ashdodites and the Egyptians, into Samaria. First, so that having seen their crimes and punishment, they may be witnesses, both of the manifold and remarkable benefits conferred by God on the Israelites, in the exodus from Egypt, in the desert, and in Canaan; and also of the vengeance soon to be exercised by the same God upon the same people, as ungrateful. Second, so that the Israelites may grieve all the more, seeing themselves exposed to the reproach and mockery of hostile nations, and that enemies see and laugh at their disasters and rejoice over their slaughter and destruction, according to Psalm CXXXVI, 7: "Remember, O Lord, the sons of Edom, on the day of the destruction of Jerusalem, who say: Raze it, raze it to its foundations." Moreover, by this device and stratagem God endeavors to recall the Israelites to Himself, by setting before their eyes the infamy and reproaches they will have to endure from the nations, if they continue in apostasy, and are therefore devastated by God through the Assyrians.
By Ashdodites, understand the rest of the Philistines. It is a synecdoche. So St. Jerome, Rupert, Hugo, Lyranus, Arias, and others. St. Jerome marvels, and rightly, that in the Septuagint instead of 'Ashdodites' one reads 'Assyrians': it seems to be a copyist's error.
UPON THE MOUNTAINS OF SAMARIA. — These mountains overlook Samaria, which was a city built by King Omri on Mount Shemer, and from which both the city and from it, as the capital, the entire region was called Samaria. Herod of Ascalon later named it Sebaste, that is 'Augusta,' in honor of Augustus Caesar: just as there is now Augusta Vindelicorum, Augusta Trevirorum, etc. For Herod, rebuilding it from its foundations, surrounded it with a very strong wall for twenty stadia, and in its center dedicated to Augustus Caesar a very large temple, a stadia and a half in size, adorned in every way most richly, and called it Sebaste. So Josephus, Book IV of Antiquities, chapter X, and from him Adrichomius in his account of Samaria.
AND SEE THE GREAT MADNESS IN ITS MIDST. — In Hebrew mehumot, that is tumults and enormous disturbances, as the Chaldean translates. Hence the Septuagint translates 'wonders,' namely things which the Philistines and Egyptians were about to marvel at, summoned by God to this spectacle. Now by tumults, Arias understands the tumults of the citizens of Samaria, when it was captured by the Assyrians, and the citizens fleeing in groups trampled each other, and were crushed by the pressing Assyrians. Better to take these of guilt than of punishment. Hence our Translator renders it as "madness," namely in worshipping the golden calves, says St. Jerome, Rupert, Hugo, and Lyranus; or madness, that is, mad tumults and seditions, by which they slaughtered one another. So Theodoret. Hence Vatablus translates, many destructions; for this is what the Hebrew mehumot signifies. Hence there also follows, "and those suffering oppression," or, as Vatablus has it, those oppressed through violence and false accusation — supply and repeat: see.
Tropologically, the madnesses are the fabrications of heretics, says St. Jerome, "since each one invents what he wishes, and worships his own fabrication: as Marcion invents a good and idle God; as Valentinus invents thirty aeons, and the last one Christ, whom he calls ektroma, that is 'abortion'; as Basilides, who calls the almighty God by the monstrous name Abraxas, and says that according to Greek letters and the number of the year's course, it is contained in the circuit of the sun." Such today are the tenets of Calvin and Luther: that man lacks free will, that good works merit nothing, that faith alone justifies, that all works of the Saints are contaminated by concupiscence and sin, that God is the author of all works both evil and good, that Christ on the cross virtually despaired and endured the punishments of the damned, that vows of chastity made to God are impossible and need not be kept, that God commanded an impossible law. Are not these the ravings of madmen, than which this age has seen nothing more insane?
Verse 10: 10. STORING UP INIQUITY — that is, unjust riches, namely acquired through violence, false...
10. STORING UP INIQUITY — that is, unjust riches, namely acquired through violence, false accusation, theft, etc. Hence Vatablus translates: These are the ones who store up plunder and spoil in their palaces, gathering riches by fair means and foul, as the saying goes. AND PLUNDER — the Septuagint has: and misery; the Syriac: and oppression, anguish. Hence they seem to take these words as referring to the punishment of Samaria, whereas they should rather be taken as referring to its guilt, as I said.
Verse 11: 11. THEREFORE THUS SAYS THE LORD (punishing your plunder and crimes): THE LAND WILL BE AFFLICTED...
11. THEREFORE THUS SAYS THE LORD (punishing your plunder and crimes): THE LAND WILL BE AFFLICTED AND ENCIRCLED (that is, it will be surrounded by siege and besieged on all sides by the Assyrians) — so that no one may escape. The Tigurina translates: You will be in straits, and that on every side in the land. Explaining this, Vatablus says: The enemy will come and will encamp around this land, so that no one can escape. The Prophet speaks here as if thunderstruck by the greatness of the future tribulation and slaughter, which he beheld as if present by prophetic spirit: therefore he uses concise expressions and passes over and implies much in silence, to strike wonder and terror into his hearers. It is remarkable that the Septuagint takes these words as concerning Tyre, because the Hebrew tsor signifies straits and a narrow rock, and from this Tyre built upon a rock. For they translate: Tyre, and your land around you will be desolate. But the subject here is the disaster of Samaria, not of Tyre. Better therefore Symmachus translates tsor as distress, that is siege; and Theodotion as strength.
YOUR STRENGTH WILL BE STRIPPED FROM YOU — the Tigurina: He will cast down your strength from you, and your palaces will be plundered; Vatablus: The enemy will take away your riches, in which your military strength consists, meaning: The Assyrians will seize your riches, which you have amassed through violence, deceit, and false accusation.
Verse 12: 12. JUST AS IF A SHEPHERD RESCUES FROM THE MOUTH OF A LION TWO LEGS, etc.
12. JUST AS IF A SHEPHERD RESCUES FROM THE MOUTH OF A LION TWO LEGS, etc. — By the shepherd, understand God; by the lion, the enemy; by the legs and the tip of the ear, the small number of Israelites to be preserved from the enemy, meaning: Just as a shepherd snatches from a lion that is seizing and tearing apart a sheep or ox some part of it, but a small and useless part for eating, e.g. two legs, which the lion does not care about; so some Israelites, but few, and those weak, poor, and worthless, will be rescued from this slaughter and captivity of theirs, namely those whom the Assyrians will despise and leave behind in Samaria as the refuse and dregs of the people to cultivate the fields and vineyards. So Theodoret, Clarius, Arias, and Vatablus. Behold, Amos, being a shepherd, frequently draws his similes from pastoral life familiar to him.
Differently, indeed contrarily, St. Jerome considers these words to be spoken ironically and sarcastically, meaning: The Israelites, trusting in the strength of Samaria and the help of Damascus, that is, of the Syrians, think that they will rescue and extricate themselves from the hands of the Assyrians, just as a shepherd with the help of dogs snatches and rescues two legs from the mouth of a lion, etc.; but they err and are deceived. But the former sense, as it is more common, so it is simpler and truer: for God, after commending His justice, here commends His mercy, and tempers the former with it, meaning: Not all will utterly perish; for some will be preserved, though few. Moreover, by legs and bones He signifies that they will be rescued from the common slaughter naked and stripped, with barely their lives saved.
Again, Theodoret considers that these two legs are rescued by the shepherd in order to prove to the owner that the animal was torn apart by a lion, not sold or stolen by him. Symbolically, Rupert notes that the two legs and the tip of the ear are preserved for the purpose of establishing what kind of animal was devoured, whether a sheep, an ox, or a horse: so likewise from the small remnants of the Jews, it can be gathered what they themselves were like before their sin and before Christ, and those very remnants confirm the faith of Christians, while they carry around for us the testimony of the Law and the Prophets, from which we recognize Christ as the author of salvation, and demonstrate the same to the Gentiles through the books and monuments of the Jews, the enemies of our faith.
Tropologically, St. Jerome applies these words to teachers and preachers: "In the leg," he says, "the way of teachings is shown; in the ear, the sacraments of words. Hence the Apostles are commanded to go without sandals and without any skin of a dead animal, Matthew chapter X. And to believers it is said: He who has ears to hear, let him hear," Luke VIII. In the destruction of the whole body, therefore, the ear must be rescued, by which we hear the admonitions of salvation; and the legs, by which we walk and live in and according to them. Hence Stephen of Canterbury in his Sylva allegorically takes the two legs as continence of mind and body, and the tip of the ear as perseverance in obedience. But he restricts and applies the legs to Prelates: "For thus," he says, "although there are many Prelates, the greater part will perish and be consumed by the lion, namely the devil, and small remnants will be saved through that shepherd who says: I am the good shepherd."
ON THE EDGE OF A BED — that is, on the side or corner of a bed. For the four regions of the world are so called as its four sides. For in Hebrew it is pea mitta, that is in the corner, side, or extremity of the bed: for in the corner the body is supported on both sides; hence one rests better and more fully in it. Here applies that saying of Thomas a Kempis: "In all things I sought rest, and found it not, except in a little corner with a little book." Moreover, the word plaga is taken from the Greeks: for they call sides and transverse corners plagia. Again, plaga and plagulae are called tapetes in Greek, stragula in Latin. Hence Varro in On the Life of the Roman People: "With ivory beds and embossed coverlets." And Livy, Book IX on the Macedonian War: "The origin of foreign luxury," he says, "was brought to the city from the Asian army: they were the first to bring to Rome bronze beds, precious bed-covers, little tapestries, and other textiles, etc." Nor is this far from the Hebrew pea, that is corner, extremity: for coverlets are angular, and marked at the corners and distinguished with patches. The sense is, meaning: Few Israelites, as I said, dwelling in Samaria and resting there securely as in a soft bed-cover or corner, will be rescued from the destruction of the Assyrians. He calls Samaria the edge or corner of a bed, because like a bed it was elevated and mountainous, as well as soft, luxurious, wealthy, and therefore cultivated and populous, so that it seemed to be the corner and citadel of the ten tribes. Hence they rested there confidently as in a bed, not fearing the Assyrians. So St. Jerome and others. Add that by 'edge' can be understood the climate, situation, and region of Samaria: for the Hebrews call this pea, that is a corner of the earth. Again, properly Samaria was situated in a corner with respect to Judea and the mountains overlooking the city of Samaria, as is clear from its chorographic map, which Adrichomius presents after page 24.
First, the Chaldean translates and explains it thus: Those who dwell in Samaria will be rescued, relying on the strength of power and on Damascus, meaning: Those will be rescued who trust in the fortification of Samaria and in the help of the Damascenes and Syrians, in which they likewise rest and sleep securely as on a couch. Second, Lyranus understands by 'the edge of the bed' Jerusalem, in which was the temple, in which God rested as on a bed, meaning: Few from Israel will be saved, namely those who fled to Jerusalem under the wings of God and King Hezekiah, or to Damascus under the wings of the Syrians. Third, Vatablus explains, meaning: Few will escape the Assyrian disaster, namely only those who hid behind a bed in a corner; or the sick, who lying in beds will move the Assyrians by their infirmity to spare them, meaning: The Assyrians will spare only the wretched, who will be so poor that two or three will be forced to rest in a bed, or not so much in a bed as in a part and corner of a bed.
Fourth, the Septuagint, instead of 'on the edge of the bed and on a Damascus couch,' translates 'against the tribe and in Damascus,' "so that according to the tropological sense we may refer the tribe (for the Hebrew mitta means bed; but if you read it with different pointing as matte, it means rod and tribe) to Judah, and Damascus to the calling of the Gentiles, from which one flock of the Lord was made: whose sheep the ferocity of lions often tears apart, and from whose jaws barely two legs or the tip of an ear is snatched," says St. Jerome.
Fifth, P. Prado, probably at Ezekiel XXIV, 40, takes these words as referring to dining couches, meaning: Those who dwell (recline) "in Samaria on the edge of a bed," that is, those who have the first places for reclining on couches and coverlets among the guests. For instead of 'edge' the Hebrew has 'in the corner of the bed,' that is at the head, in the primary place. Of whom he again says in chapter VI, 4: "You who sleep (recline) on ivory beds and stretch yourselves upon your couches."
Of all these the third explanation seems the most genuine, both because the words 'edge' or 'corner of the bed' and 'couch' signify that these things pertain to the poor and the sick — for they lie in cots and corners — and because they are rightly compared with the two legs and the tip of the ear snatched from the lion; otherwise the Prophet's simile and its force and point would not hold, unless you apply the two legs and the tip of the ear to these. The sense therefore of this entire verse is this: Just as a shepherd rescues and preserves from a sheep or calf devoured by a lion two legs or the tip of an ear, neglected by the lion now sated with flesh, as being bony and tasteless, in order to bring them to the master, to demonstrate that the calf was not stolen by him but torn apart by a lion: so from all of Samaria, as from a political body, two or three, that is only a few, will be snatched from its disaster, and those worthless and useless, namely the poor, wasted by leanness, so that they seem to have nothing but bone in their legs; and the sick, who lie two or three on the sides of the same bed and cot, whether in Samaria or in Damascus. So a Castro. Wherefore perhaps for this reason the Translator for the Hebrew pea, meaning corner, rendered it plaga, which means both 'side' and 'wound' and 'disease,' to suggest that they lie on the side of the bed because of a wound and illness, meaning: Those will be saved who because of the wound of injury and disease lie in plaga, that is, on the side and corner of a little bed. Properly, plagae or plagulae are seams or patches which are woven or sewn onto tapestries, coverings, blankets, beds, and garments; precious ones (such as golden and jeweled images on chasubles) by the rich for adornment and splendor; coarse and cheap ones by the poor out of necessity. For to torn blankets, beds, and garments the poor sew on pieces, namely patches, to mend the tear, especially at the corners: for there they break more easily from friction against walls and other things. The plaga of the bed, therefore, is the corner of a poor man's bed, mended with patches, and, as St. Francis used to say, 'patched up.' For the poor have beds that are not whole, but cobbled together with patches both large and small like patchwork quilts. Therefore to sleep on the plaga of a bed is the same as sleeping on a patchwork quilt, or rather on the patch and side of a quilt, so that on the other side of the bed another person sleeps, or several. The sense therefore is, meaning: In the destruction of Samaria only the poor and wretched will be saved, who sleep crowded together in patchwork quilts because of their poverty.
AND ON A DAMASCUS COUCH. — Just as he calls Samaria a bed, so he calls Damascus a couch: because the Israelites, harassed by the Assyrians, wretched and afflicted, fled to Damascus and there rested securely like the sick in a bed, and refreshed themselves. Damascus therefore was like a bed for those afflicted, weary, and sick; so St. Jerome, Rupert, Remigius, Hugo, and others. "So that just as one who is weary is refreshed in a little bed, so they might strengthen their broken strength by the help of a neighboring nation (Damascus)," says St. Jerome.
Wrongly, more recent scholars, such as R. David, Pagninus, and others, take the Hebrew dammesceq, that is 'of Damascus,' not as a proper noun but as a common noun, as if composed of de and mescec; now mescec signifies a shin or leg. Hence they translate 'on the leg,' that is the foot or frame of the bed; or, as Arias has it, on a movable and rocking bed, so that by its rocking sleep may be induced for the sick person, just as mothers rock the cradles of infants so that by this motion they may fall asleep. Hence he himself explains, meaning: The Assyrians will spare only those who, lying in beds from grave and prolonged illness, will not be able to move themselves or turn from one side to the other, but like children will need to be moved and turned by others. Wrongly, I say: for in Hebrew it is not mescec, but dammescec, which signifies nothing other than Damascus, as the Septuagint, the Chaldean, our Translator, and others render it. Add that de in Hebrew is not an article, nor is it customarily prefixed to nouns.
Tropologically, the bed of the miser is mammon, the bed of the proud man is honor, the bed of the glutton is a lavish table, the bed of the lustful is the couch and shamelessness, the bed of the slothful is torpor and sleep. For "as a door turns on its hinge, so the sluggard on his bed," Proverbs chapter XXVI, 14. These beds have various corners and soft coverlets, which each person fashions, seeks, and fits to himself.
Verse 13: 13. HEAR — you, O peoples, says St.
13. HEAR — you, O peoples, says St. Jerome, or rather you, O Prophets, the disaster which not I, but God through my mouth, destines for the house of Jacob, that is the descendants of Jacob or Israel, namely the ten tribes and their altars and shrines in which they worship the golden calves in Dan and Bethel. So Albert, Hugo, Arias, and Vatablus. Hence the Septuagint has: Priests, hear. But St. Jerome rightly notes: "I think," he says, "the Septuagint put the very word, which some, not understanding, read as kohanim, that is priests, instead of ares. For our Translator and others refer ares to the preceding verse and translate it as 'bed'; but the Septuagint refer it here and retain it as a proper noun.
AND BEAR WITNESS — that is, calling God to witness and invoking Him as a witness, proclaim and announce to them their imminent destruction, unless they repent from their idols and crimes.
13. HEAR — you, O peoples, says St. Jerome, or rather you, O Prophets, the destruction which not I but God through my mouth destines for the house of Jacob, that is, the descendants of Jacob or Israel, namely the ten tribes and their altars and shrines in which they worship the golden calves at Dan and Bethel. So say Albertus, Hugo, Arias, and Vatablus. Hence the Septuagint has: Priests, hear. But St. Jerome rightly notes: "I think," he says, "that the Septuagint placed the very word which some, not understanding, read as כהנים instead of ערש arese, that is, priests. For our translator and others refer 'ares' to the preceding verse and translate it as 'couch'; but the Septuagint refers it here and retains it as a proper noun.
AND BEAR WITNESS — that is, by calling God to witness and invoking Him as witness, proclaim and announce to them the impending destruction, unless they repent from their idols and crimes.
13. AND I WILL STRIKE THE WINTER HOUSE TOGETHER WITH THE SUMMER HOUSE. — So also Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. But the Septuagint translates: the turreted house, because it had little doors through windows and, as it were, pinnacles to repel the severity of the cold, says St. Jerome, who thinks that by this is signified that the luxurious Israelites "were of such great wealth that they had double houses, winter and summer ones, of which some (winter ones) faced the North, others (summer ones) the South, so that according to the variety of seasons they might provide against cold and heat and the temperature of the sky." Thus in Jeremiah 36:22, Joakim is said to have been in the winter house in the ninth month. So in Belgium, summer houses in country estates built for pleasure, because of the luxury indulged in them, God destroyed and razed through these wars.
Mystically the same St. Jerome says: "The winter house was the kingdom of Israel, in which there was coldness of religion and worship of God, and various whirlwinds of winds and a fierce storm: and the summer house was Judah and Jerusalem, in which the temple stood, and burnt offerings were offered morning and evening, and the warmth of religion flourished."
AND THE IVORY HOUSES SHALL PERISH. — "We read that Ahab king of Israel flowed in such great luxuries that he made himself a house of ivory," 3 Kings 22:39, says St. Jerome, not that he made it from solid ivory — for where would he have had so much ivory? — but that he encrusted it with ivory; for this is called an ivory house, as Pliny attests in Book 16, Chapter 43. See Sanchez.
Verse 15: 15. AND I WILL STRIKE THE WINTER HOUSE TOGETHER WITH THE SUMMER HOUSE.
15. AND I WILL STRIKE THE WINTER HOUSE TOGETHER WITH THE SUMMER HOUSE. — So also Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. But the Septuagint translates: The turreted house, because it has little doors at the windows, and as it were turrets for repelling the severity of the cold, says St. Jerome, who thinks this signifies that the luxurious Israelites "were of such great wealth that they had double houses, winter and summer ones, of which some (the winter ones) faced north, and others (the summer ones) south, so that according to the variety of seasons they might provide for the moderation of cold, heat, and climate." So Jeremiah XXXVI, 22, Jehoiakim is said to have been in the winter house in the ninth month. Thus in Belgium, God through these wars has destroyed and razed the summer houses in the country estates built for luxury, on account of the debauchery committed in them.
Mystically the same St. Jerome says: "The winter house was the kingdom of Israel, in which there was cold of religion and the worship of God, and various whirlwinds and fierce storms: and the summer house was Judah and Jerusalem, in which was the temple, and holocausts were offered morning and evening, and the warmth of religion flourished."
AND THE IVORY HOUSES WILL PERISH. — "We read that Ahab, king of Israel, abounded in such luxury that he built himself an ivory house," III Kings XXII, 39, says St. Jerome, not that he made it of solid ivory — for where would he have had so much ivory? — but that he inlaid it with ivory; for this is called an ivory house, as Pliny testifies in Book XVI, chapter XLIII. See Sanchez.
God threatens the Israelites that the Assyrians will lift them up on poles, and their remnants in boiling cauldrons. Then, on account of their impure and sacrilegious sacrifices, He says He struck them with six plagues, namely famine, drought, scorching wind, blight, caterpillar, and pestilence; and finally nearly overthrew them like Sodom, yet they were made no better by these plagues, nor did they return to their senses. Wherefore He threatens them with the most dire and extreme punishments and adds: Prepare to meet your God, who creates the mountains, the winds, the clouds, etc.