Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Amos sees first a locust devouring the land of Israel. Second, fire is sent into it, but by deprecating both plagues with his prayers he averts them. He sees third, God setting aside the trowel of His care and providence, with which He used to plaster and preserve the wall of Israel, and thence Israel rushing into destruction. Again, at verse 10, Amaziah accuses Amos before Jeroboam, as seditious, and urges 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: since Amaziah wishes to prevent this, from God he threatens him with the violation of his wife, the slaughter of his children, plundering, exile, and for all Israel captivity and destruction.
Vulgate Text: Amos 7:1-17
1. These things the Lord God showed me: and behold the maker of a locust in the beginning of the sprouting of the latter rain, and behold the latter growth after the king's mowing. 2. And it came to pass: when it had finished eating the grass of the earth, I said: Lord God, be merciful, I beseech You: who will raise up Jacob, for he is small? 3. The Lord had mercy upon this: It shall not be, said the Lord. 4. These things the Lord God showed me: and behold the Lord God called for judgment by fire: and it devoured a great abyss, and consumed a portion as well. 5. And I said: Lord God, cease, I beseech You: who will 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. These things the Lord showed me: and behold the Lord standing upon a plastered wall, and in His hand a mason's trowel. 8. And the Lord said to me: What do you see, Amos? And I said: A mason's trowel. And the Lord said: Behold I will set a trowel in the midst of My people Israel: I will not continue to plaster over him any more. 9. And the high places of the idol shall be demolished, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be desolated: and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. 10. And Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying: Amos has rebelled against you in the midst of the house of Israel: the land cannot bear all his words. 11. For thus says Amos: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall go captive from its land. 12. And Amaziah said to Amos: You seer, go, flee into the land of Judah; and eat bread there, and prophesy there. 13. And in Bethel you shall no longer continue to prophesy: because it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the house of the kingdom. 14. And Amos answered and said to Amaziah: I am not a Prophet, and I am not the son of a Prophet; but I am a herdsman, one who tends sycamores, 15. And the Lord took me when I was following the flock; and the Lord said to me: Go, prophesy to My people Israel. 16. And now hear the word of the Lord: You say: You shall not prophesy against Israel, and you shall not drop words against the house of the idol. 17. Therefore thus says the Lord: Your wife shall be a harlot in the city: and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line: and you shall die in a polluted land, and Israel shall go captive from its land.
Verse 1: 1. Behold the Maker of the Locust.
1. Behold the Maker of the Locust. — "Maker," that is the potter, sculptor and former of locusts: for this is what the Hebrew 'iotser' means. Others read with different vowel points 'ietser', that is a formation, a molding. Hence the Chaldean translates: Behold the creation of locusts; the Septuagint: Behold the offspring of locusts; the Tigurine: Behold a swarm of locusts, as if to say: I saw God as a sculptor, forming and fashioning a great swarm of locusts, and the swarm already formed and produced by Him invading the land of Israel. Only Arias translates: Forming tax-collectors.
Furthermore, the Hebrew 'gobe' means locusts, because they elevate and raise their legs, from the root 'gaba', that is, he raised up: 'gobe' therefore means, as it were, humpbacked (and as the Italians say, 'gobi') in their legs. Now 'gobim' is the plural, which in the construct state has 'gobe'. For here it is like a genitive construction, namely, "locusts in the beginning," that is locusts of the beginning, that is of the first time of sprouting; for then the locusts, feeding on the earth's grass and shoots, in which they take great delight, cause immense damage to the fields and crops. Note: The Prophets received and heard God's oracles not only through words, that is through internal speech, but also sometimes saw certain ideas or images presented to their eyes, or rather to their imagination, through which, as through symbols, they were taught by God about future events. For these images signified and symbolically represented future or hidden things. Thus Jeremiah, chapter I, 11 and 13, saw a watching rod and a boiling pot, through which Nebuchadnezzar was signified, who as a rod was going to strike, and as a kindled pot was going to burn Jerusalem. Thus Ezekiel, chapter I, saw the cherubic chariot, as the glorious throne of God the Judge and Avenger. Thus Isaiah, chapter VII, 20, saw a sharp razor, which represented the Assyrians, who were going to shave the land of Israel like a razor. In the same way Amos here saw a certain maker and sculptor, who was forming and fashioning swarms of locusts, just as a potter forms vessels or animals from clay. Now this maker is God, who is the creator and fashioner of all animals and things: for this is what the Hebrew 'iotser' means. He therefore produces swarms of locusts, that is innumerable Assyrian soldiers, and leads them out by companies, to devour and devastate the land of the ten tribes. For the locust has the appearance of an armed soldier, wanting to leap upon the enemy. Joel saw similar locusts, chapter I, 4 and 5, and John, Apocalypse chapter IX, 1 and 2, where I said much about them, which therefore I will not repeat here. Moreover Lyra, Clarius, Vatablus and Arias take the locusts here literally, as though God were threatening Israel with famine and barrenness from the future consumption of grain by locusts; this is not improbable: under these, however, he rather symbolically understands the Assyrians, who consumed the people, that is killed or took them captive. Hence the Prophet, groaning at its destruction, says at verse 2: "Lord God, be merciful, I beseech You: who will raise up Jacob, for he is small?" that is, reduced to a small number. So say St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Rupert, Haymo, Dionysius and others throughout.
Morally, note that the word 'maker' signifies that God applies His art and care in forming locusts, just as a potter applies all his thought and industry in designing and fashioning a clay vessel. For in these tiny creatures the art and power of God shine forth: "In no creature more than in these is all of nature," says Pliny, book VI, chapter II. Indeed the locust, bee, fly, etc., if you consider their nature, organs, and all their members, it 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 artisan so forms and fashions locusts and flies that through them He tames tyrants and most powerful kings (such as Pharaoh) and inflicts the most severe punishments upon them. This is what He says through Jeremiah chapter XVIII, 11: "Behold I am fashioning evil against you, and devising a plan against you:" I fashion, that is I devise and form so aptly that the evil and punishment corresponds exactly to your fault, and matches it in its own way and measure: just as a judge devises a punishment fitting and proportionate to the crime of the robber. See Tertullian, book II Against Marcion, chapter XXIV. Let farmers know, then, let citizens know, when hail strikes the grapes, when blight blasts the crops, when thunder and lightning blast the fields, when locusts, caterpillars, beetles, etc., devour the sown fields, that these are sent by God: for God is the maker and fashioner of all these things. Wherefore fire, hail, snow, ice, and stormy winds do His bidding, that at His nod they may strike sinners. Therefore let mortals not be angry at these storms and creatures, as foolish dogs do, who chase and bite the stone thrown at them, not the man throwing it: but let them turn their eyes to the Creator and Avenger, who fashions and forms them: let them beg from Him pardon and forgiveness for their sins with humble confession. For he who complains and murmurs against Him provokes greater wrath upon himself: "For when one denies that he is struck by his own fault, what else does he do but accuse the justice of the one striking him?" says St. Gregory, book XXXII of the Morals, chapter V. Let him therefore consider that saying of St. Paul, Romans IX, 20: "Does the thing formed say to him who formed it: Why have you made me thus?"
In the beginning of the sprouting of the latter rain — that is in the beginning of spring, when all things usually sprout from the latter rain, that is the spring rain. In the Hebrew it is: In the beginning when the latter rain ascended, namely the spring rain, which first brings forth and causes the shoots to grow. For the early rain among the Hebrews is that which rains in the morning, that is at the time of sowing in October, so that it may water the seeds, loosen them and root them in the earth. The latter rain is that which rains late, that is at the time of the ears and harvest, raining in spring, so that it may fill the ears with grain, make them fruitful and ripen them. Or rather he explains this latter rain when he adds: "And behold the latter growth after the king's mowing," as if to say: By the latter rain I understand that which, after the first grass and gra-
luxuriant branches had been mown for hay, to feed the royal horses, it rained, causing the mown grass to sprout again and regrow, and develop into stalks and ears. The meaning is, as if to say: God fashioned and sent these locusts, that is the Assyrians, into the land of Israel in springtime, that is at that time when the affairs of Israel were beginning to recover from disasters, to flourish, prosper and grow into a great harvest, to such an extent that the Israelites dared to rebel against the Assyrian king, so powerful a monarch. So says St. Jerome. Moreover, the Hebrew for 'latter growth' is 'lekese', which properly signifies the latter rain: for this is what 'malcose' means, as all Hebrews acknowledge, which descends from the same root, indeed is the same as 'lekese'. Pagninus however translates 'lekese' as: Late grass: the Tigurine: Grass regrowing and sprouting again: by which Vatablus understands autumn hay, or late-cut grass, namely the grass which in meadows, after they have been mown with a scythe, usually grows back, and is especially suitable for sheep, just as conversely spring hay is suitable for horses, as if to say: This locust flew into the autumn hay, on which sheep usually feed, and having devoured it brought great famine and disaster upon the sheep. Others, like Clarius, better understand by the late grass, not autumn but spring grass: namely that which, after the first luxuriant abundance of grass was cut as fodder for the royal horses, soon sprouted again and grew into ears and stalks: and thus this version comes to the same thing as ours. For the meaning is, as if to say: God fashioned locusts at the beginning of the sprouting which, after the mowing done for fodder for the royal horses, had sprouted again by the latter rain into stalks; and then the locust invading it devoured it from the roots.
Allegorically, St. Cyril on Zechariah chapter X, and St. Jerome on Job XXVIII say: the early rain was the old law given through Moses, by which the seeds sown by the fathers of the law of nature germinated: but the latter rain is the new law given through Christ, by which the seeds of the old law that were germinating matured and were brought to perfection.
And behold the latter growth after the king's mowing. — It should be read thus with the Roman editions; not, 'after the shearer of the flock', as some read: and they explain it thus, as if to say: These locusts were born at that time, as was customary, when the crops (which they feed on) grew up with the falling of the latter rain, and when likewise sheep are usually shorn, namely around the vernal equinox, "when the sheep feel neither cold, if you have removed the wool, nor heat, if you have not yet shorn them," says Columella, book VII, chapter IV. But the correct reading is, 'after the king's mowing', not 'the flock's'. For this is what the Hebrew 'achar ghizzi ammelech' means. Second, the Septuagint, reading the similar letter for another, namely 'gog' instead of 'ghizzi', translate: And behold one locust-larva, Gog the king, or, as the Complutensian, against Gog the king; for instead of 'achar', that is 'after', they read 'achad', that is 'one', and 'lekese', which they had previously translated as 'latter growth', just as our version and others here trans-
late, as the locust-larva: perhaps for 'lekese', they read 'lekee', that is 'licker', which licks and laps everything, such as the locust-larva is. The Septuagint therefore seems to have compared the innumerable multitude of the locust-larva to the most savage nation of Gog, which is described as about to devastate the land of Judea, says St. Jerome. The Arabic of Antioch follows the Septuagint, translating: The Lord showed me, and (that) he himself coming with the young ones (small ones) of the locust, coming, running. And this is the one that went into the land of Og king of Bashan, to eat its grass. And more closely the Alexandrian Arabic: The locust has gathered and seethes (swarms) 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, wrongly reading 'aza', that is Gaza, for 'ghizzi', translates: Behold the latter growth after the king of Gaza. Fourth, St. Jerome in his Commentary translates: Behold after the latter rain the shearer (or shearing) of the king, and explains it thus: "The Lord showed, he says, Sennacherib king of the Assyrians with an infinite multitude of his army, like a locust shearing everything, was going to come at the beginning of the latter rain, when everything is green, and the abundance of all things is promised. But these locusts, which flew about in early spring, were followed by an innumerable locust-larva, which came after the latter rain, and was called the shearer or shearing of the king, because it devastated everything. Isaiah, chapter VII, 20, calls this shearer a sharp razor, and immediately explains it and calls it the king of the Assyrians: therefore the razor and the shearer of the king is the army of the Chaldeans, which like a locust-larva devastated everything." The locust therefore is Sennacherib with his armies: after whom follows the locust-larva, that is Nebuchadnezzar with his forces, who devastated what Sennacherib left. So also Theodoret, Remigius, Haymo, Albert and Hugh. Otherwise Rupert and Ribera: The locust, they say, is Shalmaneser, who devastated the ten tribes: the locust-larva is Sennacherib, who afflicted the two tribes; but, with King Hezekiah praying, his camps were destroyed by the angel.
But that all these things properly pertain to the ten tribes, not to the two, is gathered first from the fact that Amos was prophesying in Bethel, which belonged to the ten tribes. Hence, at verse 13, he is ordered by Amaziah to leave there and go to the two tribes. Second, because at verse 9, in the third plague he threatens 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 first two plagues that He had threatened. But it is established that the disaster from Shalmaneser and Nebuchadnezzar was actually inflicted on the Jews, and not suspended, and that it was complete and final; for Shalmaneser overthrew and carried away the ten tribes, Nebuchadnezzar the two. Finally, in the Hebrew and Latin codices it does not read: And behold after the latter rain the shearer of the king, as St. Jerome reads, but conversely the word 'after' is transposed, and it says: And behold the latter growth after the king's mowing. Which ver-
do not admit St. Jerome's meaning, but refute it: for they signify that the latter rain, not before, but after the grass had been mown and cut by the king's servants for his horses, caused it to sprout again, and then the locust flew into it to devour it, in the sense which I now subjoin.
I say therefore that these things pertain only to the ten tribes: for the Prophet foresaw and foretold three disasters inflicted upon them by the Assyrians, following one another in order, in as many visions. Hence he repeats three times: "These things the Lord showed me." The first, which he describes here, was inflicted by Phul, who was the first of the Assyrian kings to invade Israel. To this therefore the individual parts of this prophecy and vision correspond equally. The Prophet narrates them concisely, or rather compresses them. Receive them explained and applied. Amos saw first, the grass first sprouting and flourishing: this signified the flourishing affairs of Israel. Second, he saw it being mown and cut by a king: this is Benhadad king of Syria, who greatly afflicted Israel and mowed down and reaped its resources. Third: "He saw the latter growth after the king's mowing," that is, he saw the grass mowed down by King Benhadad sprouting again and reflourishing through the latter rain, that is the subsequent rain. This happened in the time of Amos through Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel, who by his strength and arms restored the afflicted affairs of Israel, as is clear from IV Kings XIV, 25. Then fourth, Amos saw locusts formed by God fly into the resprouted grass and devour it. This was done through Phul king of the Assyrians, who invaded with a great army the kingdom of Israel that had been restored and reestablished by Jeroboam, when Menahem was reigning in Israel, toward the end of the reign of Uzziah king of Judah. Fifth, Amos, foreseeing this irruption of locusts, that is of the Assyrians, prays God to avert this disaster from Israel; he prays and obtains it: "For the Lord had mercy upon this, and said: It shall not be." That this happened thus is clear: for Menahem, from a tax of fifty shekels imposed on each head, gave Phul a thousand talents of silver, and having received them, Phul "returned and did not stay in the land," as is said in IV Kings XV, 20. So says a Castro as to the substance, though not so explicitly in manner, nor so precisely.
1. These things the Lord God showed me: and behold a fruit hook. 2. And He said: What do you see, Amos? And I said: A fruit hook. And the Lord said to me: The end has come upon My people Israel: I will no longer pass over them. 3. And the hinges of the temple shall creak on that day, says the Lord God: many shall die, in every place silence shall be cast. 4. Hear this, you who crush the poor, and make the needy of the earth to fail, 5. saying: When will the new moon pass, that we may sell our wares; and the sabbath, that we may open the grain: that we may make the measure smaller, and increase the shekel, and set up deceitful scales, 6. that we may possess the needy for silver and the poor for sandals, and may sell the refuse of the grain? 7. The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: If I shall forget unto the end all their works. 8. Shall not the earth be moved for this, and every inhabitant thereof mourn: and it shall rise up wholly as a river, and shall be cast out, and shall flow down as the river of Egypt? 9. And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord God: the sun shall go down at midday, and I will make the earth dark in the day of light: 10. and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation: and I will bring sackcloth upon every back, and baldness upon every head: and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the latter end thereof as a bitter day. 11. Behold the days come, says the Lord: and I will send a famine into the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. 12. And they shall move from sea to sea, and from the north to the east: they shall go about seeking the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. 13. In that day the fair virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst. 14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say: Your god lives, O Dan, and the way of Beersheba lives: and they shall fall, and shall rise no more.
1. These things the Lord showed me — as if to say: After so many visions and threats, God added this one too, of the fruit hook, so that with so many threats, like repeated blows, He might soften and bend the hard hearts of the Hebrews. Thus of Pharaoh and the Egyptians whom God, when they were hardened, drowned in the Red Sea, the Psalmist says, Psalm XVII, 15: "He multiplied His lightnings, and troubled them."
Behold a fruit hook — in Hebrew 'kelub kaits', which the Chaldean, the Rabbis, Pagninus and the Tigurine translate as a basket, or hamper of summer fruit, that is of summer fruits, which ripen in summer and are gathered when ripe. The Syriac: behold a sign of the end; for he reads 'kets', that is 'end'. The Arabic translates as vessels of hunting, and then arrow of hunting, or of capture.
Our version translates better as "a fruit hook." First, because here it is about an instrument by which fruits are drawn and caught: and this is a hook, not a basket: for by the hook are signified the spears and weapons of the Assyrians. Second, because the Hebrew 'kelub' means a hunting instrument
Moses knew this, who when teaching the rude and hard-hearted Hebrews, said in Deuteronomy chapter XXXII, 2: "Let my teaching condense like rain, let my speech flow like dew, like showers upon grass, and like drops upon the green herbs." Wise schoolmasters imitate this, who teach children gradually and gently: for just as narrow-mouthed vessels are filled gradually by dripping, but draw in little or no liquid when poured upon, so too are the minds of children.
Here is relevant the memorable example of St. Isidore, Archbishop of Seville, who flourished in the time of St. Gregory the Great, Roman Pontiff, and was the brother of St. Leander (to whom St. Gregory dedicated the books of the Moralia), and whom he succeeded in the Archbishopric of Seville. For in his youth, when he had been set to his studies by his parents, since he made little progress due to his slower intellect, even though he applied himself with great effort, he thought of abandoning them and devoting himself to something else. While standing by a well, thinking these things, he saw and observed in its rim, though made of stone, the grooves which the ropes of the buckets, by their long pulling, had gradually made in the stone. Applying this to himself, he said: If ropes by long use can hollow out stone, why cannot I by long study soften the hardness of my mind, and impress knowledge and learning upon it? Therefore, taking up his books again with great courage, by continuous reading and meditation he progressed so much in them that he became the most learned man of his age in sacred as well as profane letters, and even in languages — Latin, Greek, and Hebrew — nor did that age have his equal; to whom therefore Spain owes both its learning and its seminaries, in which St. Ildefonsus, St. Braulius, and other holy and learned Prelates were both educated and instructed. So his Life relates, in Ribadeneira and others, on the 4th of April.
Second, the word "drop" signifies that the present threats and punishments which the Prophets direct against the wicked Israelites are merely a drop if compared with the punishments of hell, where there is a downpour and torrent, indeed an ocean of fire burning with pitch and sulfur, which perpetually burns, rolls, and re-rolls the damned, according to that passage in Job chapter XXVI, 14: "When we have scarcely heard a small drop of His speech, who can behold the thunder of His greatness?" Here therefore are drops and a whisper; in hell there will be a sea and thunder of God's wrath.
Verse 2: 2. And it came to pass: when (the locust) had finished eating the grass of the earth.
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 an action begun, not completed, is signified. Thus it is said in Luke chapter II, 21: "After eight days were completed (that is, began to be completed)," that is on the eighth day. The meaning is, as if to say: When in the vision I had seen the swarm of locusts begin to devour the land of Israel, so that it seemed it would completely devour it, and I understood from God that by this was signified that the army of Phul and the Assyrians would completely plunder and devastate the land of Israel) I said (I, Amos, foreseeing and groaning at such great future devastation of Israel): Lord God, be merciful, I beseech You (have mercy on Israel, about to be so afflicted and worn down, and avert such great plundering and slaughter from it. He adds the reason): Who will raise up Jacob, for he is small? — "Small," namely first in number, that is few; second in strength, because weak and powerless; third in resources, because poor
and wretched. The meaning is: Who will raise up Jacob, that is Israel, if You allow Phul to wear him down, exhaust and destroy him? as if to say: Unless You avert, O Lord, these slaughters of Phul, the people of Israel will be so cut down and diminished by him, will become so small, that is few and insignificant, that it cannot be restored, but will perish and be destroyed. So says St. Jerome. He says "he is small," not because he already was: for Israel had already recovered through the strength and arms of Jeroboam; but 'is' is put for 'will be.' He says 'is' however, because in the symbol of the locusts devouring the land, Amos already saw him as small, that is certainly about to be plundered and worn down.
Verse 3: 3. The Lord had mercy, and said: It shall not be — this plague of locusts that you have seen, as if...
3. The Lord had mercy, and said: It shall not be — this plague of locusts that you have seen, as if to say: I, entreated by your prayers and those of other Prophets, revoke this plague threatened by Me, and I will cause that the locust not come, that is Phul, who would devastate the land of Israel. So it happened: because Menahem king of Israel averted and redeemed the imminent devastation by giving Phul a thousand talents of silver, as I said above. Here the saying of Themistocles in Plutarch's Apophthegms is true: "We would have perished, boys, if we had not perished." For one who is lost, fleeing to God, obtains from Him salvation and every good, just as Themistocles, an exile and fugitive, obtained from Xerxes king of Persia, recently his enemy, when imploring his help, and was adorned and enriched by him with great gifts. So here the foreseen destruction of Israel moved the Prophet to ardent prayers, by which he obtained that pardon and the help and gifts of God.
Verse 4: 4. These things the Lord showed me.
4. These things the Lord showed me. (This is the second showing of God, and 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 a choice part of the land, and in the same way would have burned all the rest, had not Amos with his prayers stopped and suppressed the wrath and fire of God. For this is what he says): And behold the Lord God called for judgment by fire. — The Arabic: He called fire in justice; the Syriac: He called to judge by fire, through fire. So also the Septuagint. It is a personification; for God here gives to judgment the character of a judge or executioner, as if to say: God sends judgment, that is the sentence of His condemnation and vengeance, as a just avenger to the fire, as to a torment, namely to stir up fire and with it consume the land of Israel, and devour a great abyss; the Tigurine, a deep abyss; Pagninus, a great chasm, that is an immensity of people, houses and wealth; and a portion, that is a select and hereditary part. Hence the Chaldean translates as 'inheritance', as if to say: God repeatedly corrected the Israelites with various punishments; but when He saw that they did not repent, He finally decreed to bring the matter to fire
and to burn the obstinate. So say Emmanuel, Mariana and others.
Second, the Hebrew 'larib' can be translated thus with the Tigurine and Arias: And behold the Lord calling to a lawsuit, or to a dispute by fire, as if to say: God legally summoned and called to justice before His tribunal the land of Israel, provoking it to fire; and He brought a suit against it, to charge it with the crime of fire and condemn it to burning. Third, Vatablus translates: And behold the Lord was calling to litigate with fire, as if to say: The Lord was calling to Himself the angels, ministers of His justice, so that they might punish those condemned by His judgment with fire, that is with a great conflagration consume a great abyss, that is a large region and portion of the land, namely of the royal meadows.
You ask, what was this judgment of fire? Lyra and Vatablus respond that God sent into the land of Israel fire properly so called, or, as others say, an immense heat of the sun, which dried up the abyss, that is the Sea of Galilee, and scorched and destroyed a great part of the fruits and crops. Such was the conflagration that occurred under King Phaethon in the time of Moses, as Eusebius notes in his Chronicle, about which the poets invent and fable many things.
Hear Cicero, book II of the Offices: "To Phaethon, he says, his son, the Sun said he would do whatever he wished; he wished to be carried in his father's chariot; he was carried up; and before he could steady himself, he was consumed by a bolt of lightning. How much better it would have been if the father's promise had not been kept in this case?" Hence Phaethon is so called from the Greek 'phaos', that is 'light', and 'aitho', that is 'I burn', says Servius on Aeneid V: 'Phaethon's horses were already carrying the dawn with light.' And Ovid, Metamorphoses II, narrating the fable at length says: 'Then indeed Phaethon sees the world on fire from every quarter, and cannot endure such heat: and soon he is swept along by the will of the swift horses. Then they believe that the blood, summoned to the surface of their bodies, caused the peoples of Ethiopia to take on their dark color. Then Libya was made dry, its moisture seized by the heat. The Euphrates burned, and the Babylonian Orontes burned. The Alpheus seethed, the banks of the Spercheus burned; and the gold that Tagus carries in its river flows with fires.' And further on he depicts Jupiter striking Phaethon with a thunderbolt thus: 'He thundered, and hurled a bolt balanced from his right ear at the charioteer, and stripped him alike of life and wheels, and quenched those fires with fierce fires. But Phaethon, with his ruddy hair ravaged by flame, is hurled headlong, and is borne through the air in a long trail.' This is what his father had foretold him: 'Phaethon, you ask for punishment instead of a gift.'
Second, Arias understands by fire the pestilence, which he says God sent upon Israel, which consumed an abyss, that is a great multitude of the people, and a portion of the nobles and princes.
Third, St. Jerome, Remigius, Rupert, Hugh and Ribera hold that after the disaster to the ten tribes prefigured by the first vision of Amos, the second vision prefigures the disaster to 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 was prophesying not only against Samaria and the ten tribes, but also against Zion and the two tribes. For these devoured an abyss, that is an immense multitude of people and wealth, which was in Jerusalem (for Jerusalem itself was like an abyss and ocean of people) and a portion, that is the temple: for this was the portion and inheritance of God, and of the holy city. But against this interpretation stands first the fact that in this chapter Amos prophesies directly against the ten tribes, not against the two, as I showed at verse 1. Second, that Amos by praying averted this disaster with his prayers: but it is established that he did not avert the destruction of Jerusalem. For this in fact happened, and was actually inflicted on the city. You say: Amos by his prayers obtained that this destruction be repaired, namely that the Jews, returning from Babylon after 70 years, would restore Jerusalem. I respond: That is not sufficient. For God, moved by the prayers of Amos, said: "But this also shall not 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 will not happen, I will restrain it, I will not send the fire that I have threatened.
Therefore fourth and genuinely, God exercised this judgment of fire upon Israel through Tiglath-pileser king of the Assyrians, who after Phul, like a fire with immense heat and ferocity, invaded the Israelites, and carried away into Assyria a great abyss, that is an innumerable multitude of people, namely the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh situated in a lower position across the Jordan, as if in an abyss; moreover that notable portion of Israel situated on this side of the Jordan, namely the tribes of Naphtali, Asher and Zebulun, as recorded in IV Kings XV, 29; who would likewise have carried away all the remaining tribes 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. So says a Castro.
Mystically, Christ the Judge will call judgment to fire, that is fire to judgment by a figure of speech, so that fire as an executioner may assist Him on the day of judgment, and seize those condemned by Him and cast them into hell, according to Psalm XCVI, 3: "Fire shall go before Him, and shall burn His enemies round about." And Psalm XLIX, 3: "A fire shall burn in His sight, 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 to the punishment of eternal burning co-
extends. And it devours a great abyss, because it burns up the wicked and incomprehensible minds of men, which now hide themselves from men even under the miracles of signs. But a part of the Lord's house is consumed, because hell also devours those who now, as if in holy deeds, boast that they are of the number of the elect."
Verse 7: 7. These things the Lord showed me.
7. These things the Lord showed me. — This is the third vision of this chapter, in which the Prophet sees God standing like a mason with a trowel in His hand, with which He used to plaster and coat the wall of Israel, now weary of Israel's crimes, setting down the trowel, to signify that He is setting aside and abandoning His care and protection of Israel, with which He used to plaster and strengthen him with His laws, faith and worship as walls, which He used to coat and reinforce with His help and defense as with a trowel and mortar, on account of his idolatry and crimes; and thus resigning and delivering him to the Assyrians, who would devastate him with sword and flame. So say St. Jerome, Remigius, Haymo, Hugh, Lyra, Ribera, Fernandius in his Visions chapter XXXII, and others. Here note that it is a sign of God's greatest wrath and punishment when He Himself departs from a commonwealth or from anyone's soul, deserts it and abandons it: for by this very act He delivers it to its enemies, since without God's help it cannot resist them.
Upon a plastered wall — and therefore beautiful in appearance and strong in power. Hence also Aquila, says St. Jerome, translates it as 'stagnatura', that is plastering, or anointing, or coating, by which a wall is coated, that is anointed, smeared, encrusted by a mason with a trowel. Theodotion translates it as 'wasting away'. Hence Rupert also thinks that Amos here foretells the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and the Romans. But against this stands what follows: "And the high places of the idol shall be demolished." For in the time of Titus, the Jews did not worship idols. Amos therefore speaks of the destruction of Samaria, about fifty years later under Hoshea, in the sixth year of Hezekiah king of Judah.
Note: A plastered wall is one coated and encrusted with mortar, not only to be more elegant, but also and especially to remain stronger against rains and storms. For poorly plastered walls are shaken by storms, cracked, and finally fall into ruin, according to Ezekiel XIII, 11: "Say to those who plaster without proper mixture, that it will fall: for there shall be an overflowing rain." The trowel is the instrument by which builders arrange stones in construction, scoop mortar from a vessel, and cast and spread it on the wall. The wall therefore plastered by the trowel of God signifies Israel, that while it was being coated and encrusted by God, that is covered, strengthened and protected, it stood whole and unconquered against all assaults of enemies.
Moreover the trowel in the hand of God standing upon, 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 continual care and providence of God in protecting Israel. For just as a mason with a trowel stands by the wall, from which—
the mortar has fallen, he repairs all the damages and ruins with the applied trowel: 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 ruinous a wall, that is of Israel, He sets down and throws away the trowel of His care and protection, and allows him to fall into destruction. Hence He says: "I will no longer plaster over," coat with the trowel and encrust. In Hebrew: I will no longer pass over him, namely by coating, repairing and strengthening him, as if to say: I will not pass over him with impunity, but I will punish and destroy him. For thus He says in chapter VIII, 2: "I will no longer pass over him." For God by His clemency, pardon and grace, as with mortar coats and covers sins, according to Psalm XXXI, 1: "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;" in Hebrew: Blessed are those released from transgression, and covered or hidden from sin. But when God sets down the mortar and trowel, He lets sins with sinners remain as it were open and gaping, so that they lie exposed to the rain and storms, that is to divine vengeance from enemies, by whom they are cast down and driven to ruin. Thus here God, setting down the trowel of Israel, by this very act delivered him to the Assyrians. Therefore this setting down of the trowel signifies the final abandonment and slaughter of Israel, and the ultimate destruction to be inflicted upon it by Shalmaneser in the sixth year of Hezekiah king of Judah. Hence symbolically Clarius understands by the trowel and mortar the scourges and disasters inflicted upon Israel by God, so that he might repent, and stand upright in the faith and worship of God. These God now sets down, because He has determined to utterly abandon him as obstinate and impenitent, and to deliver and consign him to the enemy's sword and fire.
Second, for the trowel the Hebrew 'anac', which is found only here, the Rabbis and modern Hebraists translate as a lead or tin plumb line, or a rule and standard by which builders are accustomed to build, so that the structure and walls may be straight, level and proportionate. So say R. David, Lyra, Pagninus, Arias, Vatablus. Hence they translate: Behold the Lord standing upon a wall of the plumb line, and in His hand a plumb line; or, as the Tigurine: Behold the Lord stood upon a wall built to standard, and He had a standard in His hand. Which can be taken in the same sense that I already gave for the trowel, as if to say: The Lord sets, that is sets down, the plumb line by which He used to build and restore the wall of Israel, that is, the Lord sets down the care of the commonwealth and kingdom of Israel, and allows it to fall. Others however, such as Vatablus and Arias, by the plumb line understand the judgment of God and the measure of just vengeance, as if to say: God, instead of the circle and curve of supreme mercy, has applied to Israel the plumb line of His justice, so that He may punish him equally for his crimes, so that henceforth He will not mercifully spare him, but justly chastise him. Hence 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. Therefore the Lord said to me: Behold I will exercise judgment in the midst of My people Israel, I will no longer forgive them.
Third, Symmachus, the Syriac and the Septuagint translate the Hebrew 'anach' for the trowel as 'adamant'. For they say: And He stood upon a wall of adamant, and in His hand was an adamant. And the Lord said to me: Behold I set an adamant in the midst of My people Israel. For some derive the Hebrew 'anach' from the root 'nacha', that is 'he struck', so that 'anach' means the same as 'striker', that is one who strikes and breaks all other things, and is struck and broken by nothing else, such as the adamant is. Hence the adamant is a symbol of harsh judgment, and of rigid, irrevocable and inevitable vengeance; just as the plumb line, about which I have already spoken. The iron frying pan which Ezekiel saw in chapter IV, 3 signifies the same thing, namely God's firm decree to overthrow Jerusalem. For this He sets against Israel, obstinate and hardened in his sins. Hence the Alexandrian Arabic 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 into the midst of my people Israel, and I will not seek him any more, and the scoffing shall perish. Therefore it is surprising that the Antiochene Arabic translates 'law' instead of adamant, and gives the opposite meaning. For he translates thus: And behold the wall itself standing over those who look. And the Lord said to me: What is this that you have seen? And I said: It is the law. And the Lord said to me: Behold I confirm the law in the midst of the people of Israel, and I will not turn away from him.
The meaning therefore is, as if to say: Even if the spirit, and equally the wall of Israel and Samaria, be most hard and adamantine, yet I as an adamant far harder and stronger will break and crush it. The adamant therefore signifies that against any power, even adamantine, stands God's omnipotence, and a vengeance stronger than any adamant, according to Zechariah VII, 12: "And they made their heart as adamant, lest they should hear the law and the words, etc.: and great wrath came from the Lord of hosts, etc. And I scattered them through all the kingdoms that they know not: and the land was desolated." So says Fernandius in Vision XXXIII. In a similar way Ezekiel, chapter III, 7, when he had heard from God: "The house of Israel is impudent and hard of heart," immediately hears: "Behold I have made your face stronger than their faces, and your forehead harder than their foreheads: I have made your face like adamant and like flint." For a bad knot requires a bad wedge, and an adamantine mind and face must be struck with an adamantine hammer. So says Theodoret. Again, the adamant signifies the rigid, merciless and savage Assyrians; for God imposed these upon Israel as adamantine hammers, to crush him. Thus Ovid, Metamorphoses book IV, says the entrance to the underworld is closed with adamant, or, as Virgil, Aeneid VI, with adamantine pillars, and Statius, book VII, bars the royal doors of Mars with adamant; and Horace gives Mars an adamantine breastplate, that is invincible and conquering all things. See what I said about the adamant at Ezekiel III, 9.
Hear St. Jerome here from Xenocrates: "The adamant, he says, is a stone of its own name, which we may call the unconquerable, because, first, it yields to no material, not even to iron. For if it is placed on an anvil and struck with a heavy blow of a hammer, the anvil and hammer receive the wound before the adamant is crushed. Second, though fire tames all things and consumes all metals, it makes the adamant harder, so that the force of excessive heat does not blunt even the smallest corner. Third, I have also seen an adamant the size of a millet seed in gold, and though the neighboring gold is consumed by long use and excessive age, only the adamant is not worn away. Fourth, it cannot be diminished by any file, but on the contrary wears away the file, and grooves with lines whatever it rubs. Fifth, this hardest and most indomitable stone is dissolved by goat's blood alone, and placed in warm blood it loses its strength (this however others deny, as I said at Ezekiel III). Sixth, it is small and unattractive, having an iron-colored hue and the brilliance of crystal. Seventh, four kinds of adamant are described: the first is Indian; the second, Arabian; the third, Macedonian; the fourth, Cyprian, possessing more or less hardness according to the quality of the regions. Eighth, it is also said, in the manner of amber, to detect poisons and to resist the arts of sorcerers." Then applying these things symbolically to Christ: "Such, he says, is the Lord and Savior, who though He was in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal to God, but emptied Himself, etc., becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Of whom Isaiah writes in chapter LIII: He has no form nor beauty; we saw Him, and there was no comeliness: despised and the lowest of men, a man of sorrows, and knowing how to bear infirmity. He stands upon the adamantine wall, that is upon His Saints and Apostles, to whom He granted that they too should be called adamants, and conquered by none should say: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? tribulation? or distress? or persecution? or famine? or nakedness? or peril? or the sword? I am certain 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 love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Peter also, who was a most mighty adamant, the gates of hell did not prevail against him (for this reason the Roman Pontiffs wear a cross of adamant, to be reminded of the cross of Christ and of St. Peter, and of the adamantine fortitude of both, and to imitate it). This man and Lord who stands upon the adamantine wall has in His hand an adamant, because unless it is held by God's hand and fortified by His help, it loses all its strength, the Lord saying—"
the more he is struck by temptations, the stronger he becomes, and he rejoices among scourges for the name of the Savior. And though he can be conquered by no one, he is dissolved solely by the heat of deadly lust. For this is said to be the nature of goats' blood and of the goat himself, that he is exceedingly hot for lust, and what fire cannot tame, his blood alone dissolves. Therefore the Lord sets such an adamant in the midst of His people Israel, etc., so that it may strike with the sword and overthrow all the mysteries of heretics, and the house of Jeroboam, who was the first to separate the people of God." So far St. Jerome, whom Viegas followed in Apocalypse chapter XIX, Commentary I, section II: The adamant, he says, is Christ in the hand of the Father; the adamantine wall is the Church, upon which Christ stands. Therefore the Father sent Christ as an adamant into the midst of nations and princes, whom yet no power could ever break; and this invincible fortitude He communicated to the adamantine wall, that is to His Church, saying to St. Peter the head of the Church: "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church," Matthew XVI, 18.
Verse 9: 9. And (passively and actively, that is they shall be destroyed and the Assyrians shall destroy)...
9. And (passively and actively, that is they shall be destroyed and the Assyrians shall destroy) the high places of the idol shall be demolished. — "High places," understand the shrines and altars dedicated to idols, in which they sacrificed to them. In Hebrew: the high places of Isaac; Isaac, that is of Israel, or of the people of Israel, who descended from Isaac and Jacob, so says Vatablus; or, as Clarius and R. David say, they are called the high places of Isaac because in them, in imitation and memory of Isaac immolated by his father Abraham, they immolated and burned their sons to idols, such as Moloch. Better the Septuagint, Arabic and Syriac translate 'high places of Isaac' as altars of laughter or derision (for Isaac in Hebrew means laughter, and received his name from laughter: because being born he brought great laughter and joy to his sterile parents), that is ridiculous and laughable things, that is high places of the idol, as our version translates; for idols in Hebrew are called 'aven', that is vain, trivial, laughable things; and 'elilim', that is little gods, or petty and ridiculous gods. Thus Jeremiah, chapter X, 15, calls an idol "a work worthy of laughter." And chapter 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 a lifeless idol fashioned from wood, bronze or gold by the hand of man as a god, as a deity that knows, creates and governs all things? See Baruch chapter VI throughout. Theodoret thinks otherwise; for he holds that the altars are called altars of laughter because the idolaters at them indulged in feasts, merriment, laughter, songs and games, according to 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 'micdesce', that is sanctuaries, namely the temples consecrated to the golden calves in Dan and Bethel and other cities: for what he just before called the high places of the idol from the object, here he calls the sanctuaries of Israel from the subject. So say Lyra, Vatablus, Arias and others; although the Septuagint translate as 'sacrifices'; the Chaldean as 'sacred things'. Remigius, Hugh and a Castro understand the idols themselves, namely the golden calves themselves. But the Hebrew 'micdesce' properly means sanctuaries, that is temples. It therefore signifies that the Assyrians would burn the temples of the calves and idols of Israel, in which he had provoked God to wrath and jealousy.
And I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword. — as if to say: I will slaughter the descendants of Jeroboam and cut off his royal line. The Jeroboam here is not the son of Nebat, the author of the kingdom, schism and idolatry; but another of the same name, the son of Joash, grandson of Jehu, father of Zechariah. That this happened is clear; for Zechariah, son of Jeroboam, was killed by Shallum, who transferred the kingdom from his family to his own, IV Kings XV, 13, as God had threatened Jehu his great-grandfather, IV Kings X, 30. So say St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert, Lyra and others. Therefore less correctly, and too broadly, Theodoret understands by the house of Jeroboam the entire kingdom of Israel, as if to say: I will cut off the kingdom of Israel with its king Hoshea through Shalmaneser, in the sixth year of Hezekiah king of Judah. For Hoshea, the last king of Israel, was not from the house and lineage of Jeroboam. For this had already been cut off in Zechariah, the last king from that house.
Verse 10: 10. And Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam.
10. And Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam. — Amaziah, the high priest of idols, namely of the golden calves in Bethel, fearing that the people of Israel, struck by the oracles and threats of Amos, would reject the idols and embrace the worship of the true God, and thus the offerings and victims customarily offered to the calves would cease to come to him, and he himself would be deprived of his high priesthood, perhaps even of his life, as a false priest and false prophet, for this reason accuses the prophet Amos before King Jeroboam, as seditious and a disturber of the kingdom, as one who was trying to draw the people away from Jeroboam and 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, accuse and slander them before magistrates, and prosecute them for treason, as though under the pretext of religion they were contriving to overthrow kings and princes from their thrones and to install other Catholic kings and princes, and were stirring up the populace to this end. "He has rebelled, they say, against you," this new "Amos;" and in the Septuagint, he is making 'systrophas', that is gatherings and conspiracies against you: for they regard all gatherings for the word of God and for the sacrifice of the Mass as conspiracies against the magistracy and the political state.
Verse 11: 11. For thus says Amos: Jeroboam shall die by the sword.
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 killing, not Jeroboam himself, but his son Zechariah, as I said at verse 9.
Verse 12: 12. And Amaziah said to Amos.
12. And Amaziah said to Amos. — When Amaziah the false prophet saw that King Jeroboam was not moved by his accusations against Amos, and—
and that the king held and revered him as a Prophet, Amaziah approaches Amos himself, with gentle speech and flattery persuading him to leave Bethel and cross over into Judah: Do not, he says, do me this injury, since I am not doing you any injury; do not invade my parish and diocese, I am not invading yours; do not draw my people away from me, I am not drawing yours away. I am the high priest and prophet in Israel and Bethel: you are a Jew, from Tekoa, a city of Judah; go therefore to your Tekoites, play the prophet in Judah; you have nothing to do with my Bethelites. This is what follows:
You seer (that is, O seer, O prophet Amos), flee into the land of Judah — as if to say: I as a friend counsel you, a friend, to flee, because in Bethel and Israel, a city and region of idols, the king himself and all the other idolaters are setting traps for you and plotting your death. But in Judah you will be safe, and will be held in esteem and honor, as a Prophet of the Lord.
Eat bread there — that is, exercise there the ministry of preaching, and take sustenance and profit from it, as I do in Bethel, as if to say: Live quietly and well there from your prophecy, and let me likewise live peacefully and splendidly in Bethel from my priesthood, the offerings and victims of the idols; and do not snatch this morsel, so rich, from my jaws. So say St. Jerome, Remigius and Lyra. Arias adds, as if to say: Flee into the land of Judah, so that there you may have bread, and escape the famine which you have prophesied will come upon Israel.
Verse 13: 13. And in Bethel you shall no longer continue to prophesy, because it is the king's sanctuary (in...
13. And in Bethel you shall no longer continue to prophesy, because it is the king's sanctuary (in Hebrew 'micdase', that is sanctuary), and it is the house of the kingdom — as if to say: Bethel is a holy place dedicated to the golden calves, in which the king has his palace, as well as a temple and basilica in which he worships them, which is like the sacred house and shrine of the entire kingdom, to which all the Israelites from the whole realm of the ten tribes flock for prayer and sacrifice. Bethel therefore is a sacred place, which the king has set apart and sanctified for his idols and for himself. If therefore he and the people see you prophesying against it and its gods, it is certainly to be feared that he will seize and kill you. Therefore look out for yourself, and move from Bethel to Judah. So say Remigius, Albert and Arias. Note: temples built by kings in the palace, or next to the palace, or elsewhere, for the whole kingdom at royal expense and magnificence, were called basilicas, as if to say: Royal, namely houses and shrines; for 'basileus' in Greek is king. Thus Constantine in Rome converted his Lateran palace into a temple, and thence it was called the Lateran and Constantinian basilica.
Second, Bethel was the king's sanctuary, because by Jeroboam son of Nebat, the first king of Israel, golden calves were erected in Bethel, and a temple was built for them, III Kings XII, 32. So say Lyra and Arias.
St. Jerome interprets it otherwise; for by king he understands a god, namely Baal, or Jupiter, who is "king of men and gods," as if to say: Bethel is sacred and dedicated to the king, that is to Baal, so do not by preaching bring into it the God of Judah, as a foreign and opposing deity.
Verse 14: 14. And Amos answered, etc.: I am not a Prophet — the Septuagint: I was not a Prophet, namely by...
14. And Amos answered, etc.: I am not a Prophet — the Septuagint: I was not a Prophet, namely by art, training and profession, as if to say: My office is not to prophesy, but to tend herds: yet the Lord snatched me from them, to prophesy and announce these things to you, and when that is done, I will return again to my herds. For other prophets, or preachers, were trained and taught to prophesy, that is to preach, from boyhood either by God, or by their parents, or by other prophets and preachers. But Amos had been trained by no one, had attended no such schools; but was suddenly snatched from his herds by God and made a Prophet: so say St. Jerome, Albert and Arias.
St. Gregory thinks otherwise, book II of the Morals chapter XL, along with Remigius and Hugh: for they think that at the time Amos said these things, the spirit of prophecy had withdrawn from him, so that Amos truly said: "I am not a Prophet," that is, I do not now have, I do not feel the spirit of prophecy. For this spirit seized the prophets at intervals, taught and moved them to prophesy: for it was not permanent and stable, but passing and departing. But this is not the point here: for Amaziah was not asking Amos not to prophesy at this instant, but that henceforth he should never prophesy any more in Bethel against the golden calves. The first sense therefore is the genuine one, to which add second: "I am not a Prophet," as if to say: I do not live from the art of prophesying, I do not hunt for profit, as you do, Amaziah, because I live from my herds. So says Sanchez. Third, others say: "I am not a Prophet" in clothing and appearance, because I retain my rustic clothing as a rustic. For the prophets had their own distinctive garb, namely sackcloth and hairshirt, Zechariah chapter XIII, 4.
But I am a herdsman — namely a keeper of cattle, camels, mules, horses and similar larger animals. For these are called 'armenta' (herds), because they are suitable for the work of arms, says Festus: or, as Valla says, from plowing ('arando'), as if 'aramenta', and thence by contraction 'armenta'. Hence Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion translate 'boukolos', that is, as Arias says,
as if to say: "One who tends sycamores," that is by plucking he pulls out and gathers the leaves of sycamores, stripping them of their leaves, so that with their foliage I may feed my livestock. So say Remigius, Albert and Hugh. There are three kinds of leaf-gatherers, says Servius on Aeneid I: "The pruner, who cuts back trees, and who in winter makes bundles of foliage to offer to animals for food; and who plucks the leaves of vines with his hands, so that the sun's heat may ripen the grape more." Second, "one who tends," that is one who plucks and gathers the fruits themselves of the sycamores, namely the sycamore figs, to eat them. So say Pagninus and the Tigurine. Hence some translate the Hebrew 'boles' as carrier, collector of sycamores, as if 'boles' by metathesis is the same as 'sobel', that is carrying, conveying. Here Aquila translates, 'knizon sykomorous', that is 'probing sycamores'; Symmachus, 'echon sykaminous', that is sycamines, or sycamores. Third and properly, "one who tends," that is one who with iron nails incises and scores sycamore figs, and, as Hesychius says, pricks them, so that they may ripen: for sycamore figs, because they are quite hard and bitter, are usually incised and scored, so that the sun may penetrate them, they may ripen and become sweet, as Theophrastus, Athenaeus and Dioscorides attest, book I, chapter CXLIV; otherwise they are corrupted by gnats, says St. Jerome, and this so that both my cattle, says Vatablus, and I myself may eat them, as if to say: I do not prophesy in hope of bread and profit, as you do, O Amaziah, but I live content with rustic sycamores. These suffice for my sustenance; therefore I do not gape after other people's tables and purses, as you do.
a cowherd; hence Bucolics are called the rural poems of shepherds in Virgil. For this is what the Hebrew 'boker' properly means, from the root 'bacar', that is ox, as if to say: keeper of oxen. Second, the Septuagint translate 'aipolos', that is goatherd, or keeper of goats; St. Jerome translates as shepherd, that is keeper of sheep, as the Arabic translates, which adds: and farmer. For soon Amos says: "And the Lord took me when I was following the flock," in Hebrew 'hatson', that is sheep or goats. For a flock properly belongs to sheep, goats, pigs, and similar smaller animals. So St. Cyril, Preface to Amos: "Amos, he says, was a shepherd, raised in pastoral customs and ways." And Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 25: "What does Amos say: was he not a goatherd and was gathering mulberries, when the prophetic office was entrusted to him?" Hence it is clear that Amos was both a cowherd, and a goatherd, and a shepherd. Nor is this surprising: for goats and sheep are usually mingled with oxen and cows, and go with them to the fields to graze. Hence Ovid, Metamorphoses IV: 'A thousand flocks for him, and as many herds through the grass they pastured.' And Virgil, Georgics III: 'Enough of herds; the other part of care remains, to drive the woolly flocks and shaggy she-goats.'
Moreover, the name of Amos aptly corresponds to his office: for the root 'amas' means to load: hence Amos, says St. Jerome, letter to Paulinus, means the same as laden, namely with flocks; or loading and unloading, namely oxen and herds.
Morally, learn here that God chooses the weak and foolish things of the world, so that in them He may show His wisdom and power, and through them confound the wise and powerful of the world. Thus He chose poor, uneducated and lowly Apostles, through whom He subjected 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 a mere voice: "I am, he said, the Voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare the way of the Lord," Matthew III, 3. Therefore by Christ he merited to be called more than a Prophet, a burning and shining lamp, greater than men, equal to angels, indeed an angel, Matthew XI, 9, 10, 11.
St. Augustine says beautifully, 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 to be immediately gifted with the prophetic spirit against Amaziah himself, upon whom he freely threatened severe punishments from God. Here that saying of Psalm VIII, 3 is true: "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings (of rustics and unlearned men, like infants) You have perfected praise because of Your enemies, that You may destroy the enemy and the avenger."
One who tends sycamores. — So also Theodotion and the Septuagint. This can be understood in three ways. First,
Sycamores. — The sycamore, or inversely the 'morosycus', or in the feminine 'sycomorea', is so called from 'sykon', that is fig, and 'morea', that is mulberry, because this tree is similar to the fig in fruit, but to the mulberry in leaves; or from 'moros' with omega, that is foolish, as if to say: a foolish fig, because it is of an insipid and tasteless flavor. By Pliny, book XIII, VII, it is called "the Egyptian fig," because it is found only in Egypt, he says, but he is mistaken. For, to pass over other things, this tree was common in Judea, as is clear from this passage and others: for it is frequently mentioned in Scripture. Moreover, Ruellius, book I, On Plants, LXXIX, describes the sycamore from Galen, Dioscorides, Theophrastus, Celsus and Pliny thus: "It is a very large tree resembling the fig, with abundant sap, leaves very close to those of the mulberry. It produces fruits three or four times a year, named from the evidence of their tasteless flavor, and bears them not on the branches as the fig does, but on the trunk itself, similar to wild figs, sweeter than green figs, that is the first fruits on the fig tree, without interior seeds. They do not ripen except by scoring with iron nails, and where there is a great yield of them, in Caria and Rhodes, and in places scarcely productive of wheat, they satisfy the populace in place of bread and grain during times of dear provisions. So abundant and copious is the yield of its fruit." The fruit is indeed friendly to the stomach, but provides very little nourishment. In Hebrew it is called 'sekem', in the plural 'sekamim': hence the Septuagint and Theodo-
tion translate as 'sykaminos', and the Latins as 'sycaminus'. Moreover, St. Jerome holds that by 'sekem' in this passage of Amos is signified not the sycamore, but mulberries that grow on brambles: "To us, he says (because the wilderness in which Amos dwelt, Tekoa, produces no tree of this kind), it seems more likely that he means brambles, which produce mulberries and console the hunger and poverty of shepherds." But all others, and indeed St. Jerome himself elsewhere throughout, translate the Hebrew 'sekem' as mulberry or sycamore. It seems therefore that Tekoa abounded in sycamores in the time of Amos, but lacked them in the time of St. Jerome, either because they had been cut down or had withered. Thus the nature and fertility of regions perishes and changes through various changes of time, or through lack of cultivation. Once Lebanon abounded in cedars, now it almost lacks 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 there is a common saying: Wherever the Turk sets foot, there he brings sterility, since the farmers flee because of his tyranny.
Moreover, the sycamore or sycamine of Syria was described to me in Rome by the Most Illustrious Lord Sergius Risius, Archbishop of Damascus, an eyewitness: This tree, he said, is common in Syria, large and broad, but of moderate height, like a walnut tree not too tall, yet differing in leaves and bark. For it has small and round leaves; smooth and almost polished bark, tending to a white color: it bears very many fruits indeed, but quite small, which resemble the medlar in shape and size, and tend toward redness: they are sweet, but not as much as figs. This tree is called 'gemmayz', unworthy of being placed in vineyards or gardens among other trees, because producing unpleasant and insipid fruits, it uselessly occupies with its size land that would be fertile for better trees: therefore it usually stands in the streets for the most part, or by the road, open to everyone, so that anyone may gather from its fruits, which are considered worthless and of no beauty, flavor or value, as much as he wishes. Hence it has become a proverb, that of a tree, or equally of a useless person, or one not dwelling in a place that suits him, it is said: "It is like a 'gemmayz' in a garden;" a thorn among oaks; a goose among swans. For this reason those who gather its fruits are considered poor, needy and lowly. Therefore this humble, holy and God-chosen Prophet voluntarily confesses his own poverty and humble condition and status, saying that he is of the number and class of those who gather sycamores and live on them; so that from this may shine forth the wonderful goodness and magnificence of the best and greatest God, who chose the ignoble and weak things of the world to confound the glorious and the strong, which raised him from the lowest to the highest, and from a shepherd and cowherd made him an illustrious Prophet.
From what has been said it is clear first, that the sycamore is a different tree from the wild fig: for Dioscorides and Ruellius distinguish them in the words already cited; yet the former is similar to the latter. Hence Theophylactus and Euthymius, Luke chapter XIX, 1, read 'wild fig' instead of sycamore. Second, the penultimate of 'sycamorus' is written both with omicron and with omega, and therefore in verse it has a common syllable, that is both short and long: short, because the mulberry tree is written by most Greeks with omicron; long, both because 'moros', that is foolish, is written with omega; and because the mulberry tree in Greek is also written with omega in the lexicons of Hesychius, Henri Estienne, and Johannes Scapula, as well as by St. Luke XIX, 1; hence the Poet: 'And cornels and mulberries clinging in the rough brambles.'
And this is clear from the etymology; for the mulberry tree is called 'morus' by antiphrasis, as if it were the least 'moros', that is foolish; for, as Pliny says book XVI, XXV, the mulberry is the wisest of trees, because it does not allow itself to be harmed by cold: hence it does not put forth shoots until the cold has completely passed; but when it begins to germinate, its growth bursts forth so much that it completes it in a single night, even with a noise. Others hold that sycamore is named from fig and 'mora' (delay), because if you pluck one fruit from it, another immediately swells 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 'moros' or 'moros'.
Symbolically, the sycamore is the cross of Christ, and His doctrine, which to the nations and to earthly men seems foolish: for the sycamore corresponds to the tree of knowledge of good and evil forbidden to Adam: for this is held by many to have been a fig tree. So say Theophylactus and Bede on Luke chapter XIX, 1. Moreover, Amos and holy men ought to tend this sycamore, that is the cross and the doctrine of the cross, to score it, that is to probe it in mind and meditation, and deeply consider, ruminate and penetrate it; the more they do so, the more they penetrate and taste its sweetness and hidden mysteries; especially when at the same time they tend the related sycamores, that is consider and minutely inspect the bodies of the martyrs tended by tyrants, that is incised, torn and mangled by knives, combs and blades. As a symbol of this, Zacchaeus, desiring to see Christ, climbed into a sycamore tree, Luke chapter XIX, 1, as Ambrose notes there.
Verse 16: 16. You shall not drop words against the house of the idol — as if to say: Do not, O Amos, prophesy...
16. You shall not drop words against the house of the idol — as if to say: Do not, O Amos, prophesy any more in and against Bethel, which was once Beth-El, that is the house of God, but has now been made by our kings into Beth-Aven (as you, O Amos, call it), that is the house of the idol, namely of the golden calves. Note: The word 'to drop' or 'to distill' is frequent among the Prophets, and metaphorically means 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 unlearned or the stubborn, must distill, not pour forth his discourse. For if he pours it forth, he will waste it: if he distills it, he will gradually imbue and soften them. True is that popular saying: 'A drop hollows out a stone, not by force, but by often falling: / So a man becomes learned, not by force, but by often studying.'
Moses knew this, who teaching the unlearned and stubborn Hebrews says, Deuteronomy chapter XXXII, 2: "Let my doctrine grow as the rain, let my speech flow as the dew, as a shower upon the grass, and as drops upon the herbs." Wise schoolmasters imitate this, who teach boys gradually and slowly: for just as vessels with a narrow opening are filled gradually by dripping, but by pouring draw in little or no liquid, so also the minds of boys.
Here pertains the memorable example of St. Isidore, Archbishop of Seville, 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 in his youth, having been set to studies by his parents, since with a slower intellect he made little progress in them, although he applied himself with enormous effort, he thought of abandoning them and devoting himself to something else. And as he stood thinking this beside a well, he saw and considered on its rim, though made of stone, the grooves which the ropes of buckets, through their long drawing, had gradually made in the stone. Applying this to himself: If ropes, he said, by long use can hollow out stone, why cannot I by long study soften the hardness of my intellect, and impress knowledge and learning upon it? Therefore taking up his books again 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 secular letters, indeed even in languages — Latin, Greek and Hebrew — and had no equal in his time; to whom therefore Spain owes both its learning and its seminaries, in which St. Ildefonsus, St. Braulius, and other prelates, holy as well as learned, were raised and educated. So his Life has it in Ribadeneira and others, on the 4th of April.
Second, the word 'drop' signifies that the threats and present punishments which the Prophets threaten against the wicked Israelites are only a drop if compared with the punishments of hell, where there is a shower and a torrent, indeed an ocean of fire burning with pitch and sulfur, which perpetually burns, tosses and re-tosses the damned, according to Job chapter XXVI, 14: "When we have scarcely heard a small drop of His word, who can behold the thunder of His greatness?" Here therefore are a drop and a whisper; in hell there will be a sea and a thunder of God's wrath.
17. Therefore thus says the Lord: Your wife shall be a harlot in the city — as if to say: Because you, O Amaziah, for the sake of your gain and profits drive the people to spiritual fornication, that is to idolatry, and resist Me who oppose it, therefore you shall be fittingly and justly punished with this disgrace and ignominy, so that you will see, though raging and gnashing your teeth, your wife fornicating and committing adultery in the city when you are left behind, either with her lovers, as Arias says, or with your enemies, I think the Assyrians, by whom she will be violated when the city is captured. So say St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius and Hugh. Hence St. Jerome translates from Symmachus 'porneuthesetai', that is, she shall endure fornication.
This is the first punishment of Amaziah, about which St. Jerome says: "It is a great sorrow and incredible disgrace, when a husband in the middle of the city cannot prevent the violation of his wife. The pain of a violated daughter is not as great as that of a defiled wife: for a husband would rather hear that his wife has been killed than defiled." The second punishment is the slaughter of his children: "Your sons, he says, and your daughters shall fall by the sword." The third is the plundering and loss of honors: "Your land, he says, shall be measured by line," as if to say: The Assyrians and Cutheans, invading and occupying Samaria and Bethel, will measure and divide your estates and fields among themselves with measuring lines. For in ancient times they used lines instead of measuring rods to measure and divide the land. Hence 'line' in Scripture signifies a hereditary lot, or the portion that falls to each by lot in the division of an inheritance, as Psalm XV, 6: "The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places," which in his customary manner he explains in the latter half of the verse, saying: "Indeed my inheritance is excellent for me." Deuteronomy chapter XXXII, 9: "Jacob is the line of His inheritance," as if to say: The sons of Jacob, or the Israelites, are the lot and inheritance of the Lord. Joshua chapter XVII, 5: "Ten portions (that is lots) fell to Manasseh." And verse 14: "You have given me the possession of one lot and one line." And chapter XIX, verse 9: "In the possession and line of Judah." And verse 29: "From the line of Achzib." The fourth punishment is: "You shall die in a polluted land" (by idolatry, unfaithfulness and crimes, namely in Assyria, to which you will be led captive). The fifth: not only you, but also all "Israel," whom you deceive and drive to idolatry and crimes, "shall go captive from its land" into Assyria. So say St. Jerome, Cyril, Theodoret, Remigius, Rupert, Haymo, Hugh and others.
Amos sees a fruit hook, to signify that, just as fruits are plucked from a tree with a hook, so the Israelites would be plucked by the Assyrians and carried off to Assyria. He gives the reason, at verse 4, that they had oppressed the poor, and sold them grain too dearly and fraudulently, using deceitful measures. Hence, at verse 9, he predicts that their destruction will be so terrible that the sun will be darkened, and all will put on sackcloth and baldness. Finally, at verse 11, he threatens them with extreme famine both bodily and spiritual.
Verse 17: 17. THEREFORE THUS SAYS THE LORD: YOUR WIFE SHALL PLAY THE HARLOT IN THE CITY — that is, Because...
17. THEREFORE THUS SAYS THE LORD: YOUR WIFE SHALL PLAY THE HARLOT IN THE CITY — that is, Because you, O Amaziah, for the sake of your gain and profits, drive the people to spiritual fornication, that is, to idolatry, and resist me who oppose it, therefore fittingly and justly you will be punished with this disgrace and indignity, so that you will see, though raging and gnashing your teeth, your wife fornicating and committing adultery in the city after you have been abandoned — either with her lovers, as Arias holds, or with your enemies, namely the Assyrians, by whom she will be violated when the city is captured. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, and Hugo. Hence St. Jerome translates from Symmachus: πορνευθήσεται, that is, she will endure fornication.
This is the first punishment of Amaziah, concerning which St. Jerome says: "Great is the grief and incredible the disgrace, when a husband in the midst of the city cannot prevent the outrage done to his wife. The pain over a violated daughter is not as great as that over a defiled wife: for a husband would rather hear that his wife has been killed than that she has been defiled." The second punishment is the slaughter of his children: "Your sons, he says, and your daughters shall fall by the sword." The third is the despoiling and deprivation of honors: "Your land, he says, shall be measured with a line," that is, the Assyrians and Cuthaeans, invading and occupying Samaria and Bethel, will measure out and divide your estates and fields among themselves with measuring lines. For in ancient times they used lines instead of measuring rods for measuring and dividing land. Hence "line" in Scripture signifies an allotted inheritance, or the portion that falls to each person by lot in the division of an inheritance, as in Psalm XV, 6: "The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places," which, in his customary manner, the later hemistich explains, saying: "Indeed my heritage is beautiful to me." Deuteronomy chapter XXXII, 9: "Jacob is the line of His inheritance," that is, the descendants of Jacob, or the Israelites, are the Lord's lot and inheritance. Joshua chapter XVII, 5: "Ten portions (that is, lots) fell to Manasseh." And verse 14: "You have given me a possession of one lot and one line." And chapter XIX, verse 9: "In the possession and line of Judah." And verse 29: "From the line of Achzib." The fourth punishment is: "You in a polluted land (with idolatry, faithlessness, and crimes, namely in Assyria, to which you will be led captive) shall die." The fifth: not only you, but also all "Israel," whom you deceive and drive to idolatry and wickedness, "shall go captive from its land" into Assyria. So St. Jerome, Cyril, Theodoret, Remigius, Rupert, Haymo, Hugo, and others.