Amos 2:3 - Exposition

The judge; shophet, probably here a synonym for "king" (comp. Micah 5:1 ). it implies the chief magistrate, like the Carthaginian sufes, which is the same word. There is no ground for deducing, as Hitzig and Ewald do, from the use of this form that Moab had no king at this time. The country was conquered by the Chaldeans, and thenceforward sank into insignificance ( Jeremiah 48:1-47 .; Ezekiel 25:8-11 ).