Amos 6:14

14. But Better, R.V., “For.”

Behold, I will See on Amos 2:13.

Raise up As an agent to execute judgment (Habakkuk 1:6).

A nation See at the close of comment on Amos 2:16.

Jehovah the God of hosts The solemn address, the introduction of Jehovah as speaker, the divine title, all combine to add weight to the threat.

Afflict Literally, crush. Used frequently of foreign oppression (Exodus 3:9; Judges 4:3).

Entering in of Hemath R.V., “the entrance of Hamath.” On Hamath see Amos 6:2. The entrance of Hamath is a very indefinite geographical term, but it is generally identified with the mouth of the pass between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon, which was considered the starting point of the road to Hamath. This was the northern limit of the territory promised to Israel (Numbers 34:8), and to this point Jeroboam II extended his borders (2 Kings 14:25 f.).

River of the wilderness Better, R.V., “brook of the Arabah.” The Arabah (see Hastings’s Dictionary of the Bible, article “Arabah”) is, in a wider sense, the entire depression through which flows the Jordan and in which are located the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, and which extends to the Gulf of Akabah, the eastern arm of the Red Sea. In a narrower sense the term applies only to the part of the declension between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Akabah. Opinions differ concerning the identification of the brook of the Arabah. Evidently it marks the southern limit of Israel (not Judah), and is practically equivalent to sea of the Arabah in 2 Kings 14:25. The latter is undoubtedly identical with the Dead Sea (Deuteronomy 3:17), but by no stretch of the imagination can the Dead Sea be called a brook. The brook must be one flowing into the Dead Sea, but where? It has been identified with the Arnon, flowing into the Dead Sea about halfway down its eastern shore. Most commonly it has been identified with the wady el Ahsa, flowing into the Arabah from the southeast about three miles south of the Dead Sea, then turning northward and emptying into the latter. To this identification G.A. Smith objects, not without reason, on the ground that the wady was outside the territory of Israel; it marked the boundary line between Moab and Edom, not between Israel and another country. It could mark the southern border of Israel only if Jeroboam had conquered Moab, but evidence of such conquest is lacking. It seems more natural to look for the brook of the Arabah near the northern boundary of Moab. The Arnon meets this condition (Numbers 21:13). Some commentators believe the brook to be one of the streams flowing into the Dead Sea in its northeastern part, while they understand 2 Kings 14:25, to mean that Jeroboam extended the territory “as far as the Dead Sea.” In any case, Amos means to say that the entire territory, from its northern to its southern limits, will be wasted by an invader.

With this announcement of utter ruin closes the main part of the Book of Amos. The prophet endeavored to lead the people to repentance, but apparently all his efforts have failed. The leaders show no sign of contrition, and the people continue rebellious.