Amos 5:3. The city that went out by a thousand— "The city which was able to furnish out a thousand men for war, shall have only a hundred of them left. Only one in ten of them shall escape the sword, and other chances of war." This was the exhausted state of Israel, when Salmaneser attacked and took Samaria, and carried them into captivity. read more
3. went out by a thousand—that is, "the city from which there used to go out a thousand" equipped for war. "City" is put for "the inhabitants of the city," as in Amos 4:8. shall leave . . . hundred—shall have only a hundred left, the rest being destroyed by sword and pestilence (Amos 4:8- :). read more
A description of certain judgment 5:1-3 read more
3. The third message on injustice 5:1-17The structure of this message is chiastic, which focuses attention and emphasis on the middle part.A A description of certain judgment Amos 5:1-3B A call for individual repentance Amos 5:4-6C An accusation of legal injustice Amos 5:7D A portrayal of sovereign Yahweh Amos 5:8-9C’ An accusation of legal injustice Amos 5:10-13B’ A call for individual repentance Amos 5:14-15A’ A description of certain judgment Amos 5:16-17Another structural feature stresses... read more
Israelite cities that had sent 1,000 soldiers against Israel’s enemy saw only 100 survive, and smaller towns that sent out only 100 soldiers saw only 10 come home alive. No nation could survive such devastating defeat in war. read more
The Third Address1-6. A lament, a warning, and an invitation. 7, 10-20. Denunciation of injustice and oppression, with threats of pestilence and judgment. 21-27. A repudiation of their attempt to please God by mere ritual.1, 2. Lamentation] a technical term for mournful poetry consisting of short lines of unequal length: here, for instance (Amos 5:2), the dirge consists of four lines, the first and third having three accents, the second and fourth two. Virgin] because, though often defeated,... read more
(3) Shall leave an hundred.—i.e., shall have an hundred only as a remnant of the thousand who went forth to war. The great cities were to be decimated in the coming struggle with Assyria. read more
The Works of God Amos 5:8 The text brings the works of God and the name of God into one focus, and makes use of both as an argument with man to raise himself from the low and unworthy pretences of religion to Him Who sits high above the magnificence of all material forms, yet deigns to listen to the whisper of a kneeling child. I. Seek Him because He is Immutable. This is declared by 'the seven stars and Orion,' and by all the constellations among which the Pleiades are set. It is a... read more
2. FOR WORSHIP, JUSTICEAmos 5:1-27In the next of these groups of oracles Amos continues his attack on the national ritual, and now contrasts it with the service of God in public life-the relief of the poor, the discharge of justice. But he does not begin with this. The group opens with an elegy, which bewails the nation as already fallen. It is always difficult to mark where the style of a prophet passes from rhythmical prose into what we may justly call a metrical form. But in this short wail,... read more
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Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Amos 5:3
"For thus saith the Lord, Jehovah: The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, to the house of Israel."Military defeat and the near-total destruction of Israel's reservoir of fighting men are sternly indicated by this. This portion of Amos' lament continues in the stylized 3 + 2 metre; and, "Some scholars have imagined that Amos actually put on the garb of a professional mourner and sang this song in Samaria and... read more