Amos 2:8

And they laid [themselves] down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar,.... That is, the clothes they took in pledge of poor people, which they should have restored before sun setting, Exodus

And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.

The Jews of old did not, as we, sit upright at their feasts, and meals, but in a posture of greater ease did lean, or lie on one side; so here they lay themselves down, i.e. put themselves in a feasting posture, upon clothes laid to pledge, of which the law had expressly said none should detain files all night, Deuteronomy 14 12,13. By every altar: impudent sinners, who dare thus before the altar, where they suppose that God is present, bring their crying, inexcusable oppressions; and feast in sacred places, on sacred viands, with bloody minds and oppressive practices; and seek mercy from God when they show, no mercy to the poor! They drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god; to complete their wickedness, they offer their drink offerings in wine which they bought with the fines and pecuniary mulcts laid on the innocent and guiltless, and thus rejoice in their violence, whilst God hates robbery for a burnt-offering.

Amos 2:8 And they lay [themselves] down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned [in] the house of their god.Ver. 8. And they lay themselves down upon clothes] i.e. table carpets, or bed coverlets, laid under those that sit at a meal; whether on the ground, with their legs gathered under then, (as the Turkish basbaws do to this day, and the Trojans of old, stratoque super discumbitur ostro), or at beds or tables, leaning on the left elbow, Esther 1:6 John 13:23. Et cubito remanete presso. Laid to pledge] These should have been restored, and not detained beyond the time prescribed, Deuteronomy 24:12-13 Exodus 22:26-27. By every altar] It was their fashion to feast in their idol temples, 1 Corinthians 8:10; 1 Corinthians 10:21. See Horat. Od. xxxvii, lib. 1. And this in imitation belike of God’ s people, who were commanded to feast before the Lord, in the place that he should choose to place his name in. See Deuteronomy 14:23; Deuteronomy 14:26 1 Samuel 1:3-4, &c. And here paucis verbis multiplex scelus arguit, saith Gualther, in few words he accuseth them of much wickedness. And they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god] A god they have of their own devising, a wooden god, and such as, if he had but a pair of horns clapped on his head, might make an excellent devil, as the Mayor of Doncaster told the wise men of Cockram, in Queen Mary’ s days, that came to complain of the carver for making them an ugly crucifix. Next, they "drink wine in the house" of their god, besides their drink offerings (which David’ s soul hated, Psalms 16:4), they had their drunken compotations in their idol temples, as now they say in the Isle of Sardinia, after mass done they fall to drinking and dancing in the midst of the church; singing in the mean time songs too immodest for an alehouse. Lastly, They drink the wine of the condemned] Or of such as they have fined or mulcted for not coming along with them to the idol temples. Diodati rendereth it, the wine of the amercements, that is bought with such money as they have unjustly fined and condemned the innocent in. There are those who here understood that wine that was wont to be given to malefactors led to execution, Proverbs 31:6, to cheer them up; but these wretches drank it off from them. The former sense is the better.

(8) Rapacity and cruelty follow on pride, selfishness, and lust. With this verse compare the provisions of the Mosaic law (Exodus 22:25). Render, And upon garments received in pledge they stretch themselves, and for “condemned” adopt the marginal translation mulcted. The money that had been wrung from those who could not pay, or, who have been sold into slavery, is spent in rioting and feasting. The LXX. read this passage very differently, but the Masoretic text is justified by the translations of the Targum, Aquila, Symmachus, and Jerome. In the house of their god.—Probably here, as in the previous verse, we are to understand the high places of syncretic, or heathenish, Jehovah worship as referred to. “They drank the wine of the amerced. Where? ‘In the house of their God.’ What hardheartedness to the wilfully forgotten poor is compensated by a little church-going! (Pusey.)

Verse 8. See Clarke on Amos 2:6.

8. The self-indulgence, practised by the worldly-minded Israelites in the name of religion, and at the expense of the poor. upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar] R.V. beside every altar upon clothes taken in pledge. To be understood in connexion with the last clause: the carnally-minded Israelites visit their sanctuaries for the purposes indicated in Amos 2:7; they lay themselves down there, with their partners in sin (Hosea 4:14), beside the altars; and to aggravate their offence they repose, not on their own garments, but on garments which they have taken in pledge from men poorer than themselves, and which, in contravention of the Law, Exodus 22:26 f., they have neglected to return before nightfall. The large square outer garment, or cloak, called the salmah, thrown round the person by day, was used as a covering at night; and hence the provision that, if a poor man (whose sole covering it probably would be) were obliged to pawn it, it should be restored to him for the night. every altar] Not only at Beth-el (Amos 3:14), Gilgal, and Dan (Amos 3:4 f., Amos 8:14), but also, no doubt, at local sanctuaries in many other parts of the land: comp. Hosea 8:11; Hosea 10:1-2; Hosea 10:8; Hosea 12:11. drink the wine of the condemned] R.V. drink the wine of such as have been fined: the fines which they have received—if not, as the context suggests, unjustly extorted—from persons brought before them for some offence, are spent by them in the purchase of wine, to be consumed at a sacrificial feast in their temples. The peace-or thank-offering was followed by a sacred meal, in which the worshippers partook of such parts of the sacrificial victim as were not presented upon the altar or did not become the perquisite of the priest; and at such meals wine would naturally be drunk: cf. (in the same connexion) “to eat and drink,” Exodus 24:11; Exodus 32:6; Numbers 25:2; Judges 9:27 (“in the house of their god”); also 1 Samuel 1:24; 1 Samuel 10:3. For fined cf. Exodus 21:22, Deuteronomy 22:19 (A. V., R.V. amerce), Proverbs 17:26 (see R.V. marg.). god] or gods, the Hebrew being ambiguous (as is sometimes the case with this word). It is not certain whether the practices referred to were carried on in sanctuaries nominally dedicated to Jehovah, but desecrated by the admixture of heathen rites (as the temple at Jerusalem was in Manasseh’s day), or in sanctuaries avowedly consecrated to Baal (2 Kings 10:21 ff; 2 Kings 11:18) or other Canaanitish deities.

They lay themselves down - They condensed sin. By a sort of economy in the toil of sinning, they blended many sins in one; idolatry, sensuality, cruelty, and, in all, the express breach of God’s commandments.