---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Amos 6"
description: "CHAPTER 6   :-. DENUNCIATION OF
BOTH THE SISTER
NATIONS (ESPECIALLY
THEIR NOBLES)
FOR WANTON
SECURITY—ZION,
AS WELL AS SAMARIA:
THREAT OF THE EXILE:
RUIN"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/amos/6"
---

CHAPTER 6

. DENUNCIATION OF
BOTH THE SISTER
NATIONS (ESPECIALLY
THEIR NOBLES)
FOR WANTON
SECURITY—ZION,
AS WELL AS SAMARIA:
THREAT OF THE EXILE:
RUIN OF THEIR
PALACES AND SLAUGHTER
OF THE PEOPLE:
THEIR PERVERSE
INJUSTICE.

**1. named chief of the nations**—that
is, you nobles, so eminent in influence, that your names are
celebrated among the chief nations [LUDOVICUS
DE DIEU].
*Hebrew,* "Men designated by name among the first-fruits of
the nations," that is, men of note in Israel, the people chosen
by God as first of the nations (; compare [Numbers 24:20](../../../kjv/numbers/24/20))
[PISCATOR].
**to whom . . . Israel
came**—that is, the princes to whom the Israelites used to repair
for the decision of controversies, recognizing their authority
[MAURER]. I prefer to
refer "which" to the antecedent "Zion" and
"Samaria"; these were esteemed "chief"
strongholds among the heathen nations "to whom . . . Israel
came" when it entered Canaan; [Numbers 24:20](../../../kjv/numbers/24/20) accords with this.

**2. Calneh**—on the east bank of
the Tigris. Once powerful, but recently subjugated by Assyria (; about 794 B.C.).
**Hameth**—subjugated by
Jeroboam II ([2 Kings 14:25](../../../kjv/2-kings/14/25)). Also
by Assyria subsequently ([2 Kings 14:25](../../../kjv/2-kings/14/25)). Compare [Amos 6:14](../../../kjv/amos/6/14).
**Gath**—subjugated by
Uzziah ([2 Chronicles 26:6](../../../kjv/2-chronicles/26/6)).
**be they better**—no.
Their so recent subjugation renders it needless for Me to tell you
they *are* not. And yet they *once were;* still they could
not defend themselves against the enemy. How vain, then, *your*
secure confidence in the strength of Mounts Zion and Samaria! He
takes cities respectively east, north, south, and west of Israel
(compare [Nahum 3:8](../../../kjv/nahum/3/8)).

**3.** Ye persuade yourselves that
"the evil day" foretold by the prophets is "far off,"
though they declare it near ([Ezekiel 12:22](../../../kjv/ezekiel/12/22);
[Ezekiel 12:27](../../../kjv/ezekiel/12/27)). Ye in your
imagination put it far off, and therefore bring near *violent
oppression,* suffering it to *sit enthroned,* as it were,
among you ([Psalms 94:20](../../../kjv/psalms/94/20)). The
notion of judgment being far off has always been an incentive to the
sinner's recklessness of living ([Ecclesiastes 8:12](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/8/12);
[Ecclesiastes 8:13](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/8/13); [Matthew 24:48](../../../kjv/matthew/24/48)).
Yet that very recklessness brings near the evil day which he puts far
off. "Ye bring on fever by your intemperance, and yet would put
it far off" [CALVIN].

**4.** (See ).
**beds of ivory**—that is,
adorned, or inlaid, with ivory ().
**stretch themselves**—in
luxurious self-indulgence.
**lambs out of the flock**—picked
out as the choicest, for their owners' selfish gratification.

**5. chant**—literally, "mark
distinct sounds and tones."
**viol**—the lyre, or lute.
**invent . . . instruments . .
. like David**—They fancy they equal David in musical skill
([1 Chronicles 23:5](../../../kjv/1-chronicles/23/5); [Nehemiah 12:36](../../../kjv/nehemiah/12/36)).
They defend their luxurious passion for music by his example:
forgetting that *he* pursued this study when at peace and free
from danger, and that for the praise of God; but *they* pursue
for their own self-gratification, and that when God is angry and ruin
is imminent.

**6. drink . . . in bowls**—in the
*large vessels* or basins in which wine was mixed; not satisfied
with the smaller *cups* from which it was ordinarily drunk,
after having been poured from the large mixer.
**chief ointments**—that
is, the most costly: not for health or cleanliness, but wanton
luxury.
**not grieved for the
affliction of Joseph**—literally, "the breach," that
is, the national wound or calamity ([Psalms 60:2](../../../kjv/psalms/60/2);
[Ezekiel 34:4](../../../kjv/ezekiel/34/4)) of the house of *Joseph*
([Amos 5:6](../../../kjv/amos/5/6)); resembling in this the
heartlessness of their forefathers, the sons of Jacob, towards
Joseph, "eating bread" while their brother lay in the pit,
and then selling him to Ishmaelites.

**7. Therefore . . . shall they go
captive with the first**—As they were first among the people in
rank ([Amos 6:1](../../../kjv/amos/6/1)), and anointed
themselves "with the chief ointments" ([Amos 6:1](../../../kjv/amos/6/1)), so shall they be among the foremost in going into
captivity.
**banquet**—literally, the
"merry-making shout of revellers"; from an *Arabic*
root, "to cry out." In the *Hebrew, marzeach;* here,
there is an allusion to *mizraqu,* "bowls" ([Amos 6:1](../../../kjv/amos/6/1)).
**them that stretched
themselves**—on luxurious couches ([Amos 6:1](../../../kjv/amos/6/1)).

**8. the excellency of Jacob**—
([Psalms 47:4](../../../kjv/psalms/47/4)). The *sanctuary*
which was the great glory of the covenant-people [VATABLUS],
([Ezekiel 24:21](../../../kjv/ezekiel/24/21)). The priesthood,
and kingdom, and dignity, conferred on them by God. These, saith God,
are of no account in My eyes towards averting punishment [CALVIN].
**hate his palaces**—as
being the storehouses of "robbery" ([Amos 3:10](../../../kjv/amos/3/10);
[Amos 3:15](../../../kjv/amos/3/15)). How sad a change from
God's *love* of Zion's gates ([Amos 3:15](../../../kjv/amos/3/15)) and palaces ([Psalms 48:3](../../../kjv/psalms/48/3);
[Psalms 48:13](../../../kjv/psalms/48/13)), owing to the people's
sin!
**the city**—collectively:
both Zion and Samaria ([Amos 6:1](../../../kjv/amos/6/1)).
**all that is
therein**—literally, "its fulness"; the *multitude*
of men and of riches in it (compare [Amos 6:1](../../../kjv/amos/6/1)).

**9.** If as many as *ten*
([Leviticus 26:26](../../../kjv/leviticus/26/26); [Zechariah 8:23](../../../kjv/zechariah/8/23))
remain in a house (a rare case, and only in the scattered villages,
as there will be scarcely a house in which the enemy will leave any),
they shall all, to a man, die of the plague, a frequent concomitant
of war in the East ([Jeremiah 24:10](../../../kjv/jeremiah/24/10);
[Jeremiah 44:13](../../../kjv/jeremiah/44/13); [Ezekiel 6:11](../../../kjv/ezekiel/6/11)).

**10. a man's uncle**—The nearest
relatives had the duty of burying the dead ([Genesis 25:9](../../../kjv/genesis/25/9);
[Genesis 35:29](../../../kjv/genesis/35/29); [Judges 16:31](../../../kjv/judges/16/31)).
No nearer relative was left of this man than an *uncle.*
**and he that burneth him**—the
uncle, who is *also* at the same time the one that burneth him
(one of the "ten," [Judges 16:31](../../../kjv/judges/16/31)). Burial was the usual Hebrew mode of disposing of their
dead. But in cases of necessity, as when the men of Jabesh-gilead
took the bodies of Saul and his three sons from the walls of
Beth-shan and burned them to save them from being insulted by the
Philistines, burning was practised. So in this case, to prevent
contagion.
**the bones**—that is, the
dead *body* ([Genesis 50:25](../../../kjv/genesis/50/25)).
Perhaps here there is an allusion in the phrase to the *emaciated*
condition of the body, which was little else but skin and bones.
**say unto him that is by the
sides of the house**—that is, to the only one left of the ten *in
the interior of the house* [MAURER]
(compare *Note,* see on [Genesis 50:25](../../../kjv/genesis/50/25)).
**Hold thy tongue . . . we may
not . . . mention . . . the Lord**—After receiving the reply,
that none is left besides the one addressed, when the man outside
fancies the man still surviving inside to be on the point, as was
customary, of expressing devout gratitude to God who spared him, the
man outside interrupts him, "Hold thy tongue! for there is not
now cause for mentioning with praise ([Genesis 50:25](../../../kjv/genesis/50/25)) the name of Jehovah"; for *thou* also must die;
as all the ten are to die to the last man ([Genesis 50:25](../../../kjv/genesis/50/25); compare [Amos 8:3](../../../kjv/amos/8/3)).
Formerly ye boasted in the name of Jehovah, as if ye were His
peculiar people; now ye shall be silent and shudder at His name, as
hostile to you, and as one from whom ye wish to be hidden ([Amos 8:3](../../../kjv/amos/8/3)), [CALVIN].

**11. commandeth, and he will
smite**—His word of command, when once given, cannot but be
fulfilled ([Isaiah 55:11](../../../kjv/isaiah/55/11)). His
mere word is enough to smite with destruction.
**great house . . . little
house**—He will spare none, great or small ([Isaiah 55:11](../../../kjv/isaiah/55/11)). JEROME
interprets "the great house" as Israel, and "the small
house" as Judah: the former being reduced to branches or ruins,
literally, "small drops"; the latter, though injured with
"clefts" or rents, which threaten its fall, yet still
permitted to stand.

**12.** In turning "judgment
(justice) into gall (poison), and . . . righteousness into hemlock"
(or wormwood, bitter and noxious), ye act as perversely as if one
were to make "horses run upon the rock" or to "plough
with oxen there" [MAURER].
As horses and oxen are useless on a rock, so ye are incapable of
fulfilling justice [GROTIUS].
Ye impede the course of God's benefits, because ye are as it were a
hard rock on which His favor cannot run. "Those that will not be
tilled as fields, shall be abandoned as rocks" [CALVIN].

**13. rejoice in a thing of
naught**—that is, in your vain and fleeting riches.
**Have we not taken to us
horns**—that is, acquired power, so as to conquer our neighbors
([2 Kings 14:25](../../../kjv/2-kings/14/25)). *Horns* are
the Hebrew symbol of *power,* being the instrument of strength
in many animals ([Psalms 75:10](../../../kjv/psalms/75/10)).

**14. from the entering in of
Hamath**—the point of entrance for an invading army (as Assyria)
into Israel from the north; specified here, as Hamath had been just
before subjugated by Jeroboam II (). Do not glory in your recently acquired city, for it shall
be the starting-point for the foe to afflict you. How sad the
contrast to the feast of Solomon attended by a congregation *from*
this same *Hamath,* the most northern boundary of Israel, *to*
the Nile, the *river of Egypt,* the most southern boundary!
**unto the river of the
wilderness**—that is, to Kedron, which empties itself into the
north bay of the Dead Sea below Jericho (), the southern boundary of the ten tribes (, "from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the
plain") [MAURER]. *To
the river Nile,* which skirts the Arabian wilderness and separates
Egypt from Canaan [GROTIUS].
If this verse includes Judah, as well as Israel (compare , "Zion" and "Samaria"), GROTIUS'
view is correct; and it agrees with .

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