Amos 3:9

Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt,.... This is spoken to the prophets, to publish and declare in all the courts of the Philistines and Egyptians, and among all

Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof.

Publish; you prophets whom I have sent to threaten the sins of my people Israel, now invite strangers to come and observe what just cause I have to do what I threaten. In the palaces at Ashdod; one of the principal cities of the Philistines, ; let those that are in the court at Ashdod, and have a mind to travel a while out of their own land, let them know what strange sights they may see in their neighbour land. And in the palaces in the land of Egypt; let the young noblemen of Egypt come too, yea, let as many as will come. Assemble yourselves; by an appointment (if it may be) let them meet together, and make their observations, and then judge between their doings and their sufferings, my judgments and the causes of them. Upon the mountains of Samaria; either the whole kingdom of Samaria or the ten tribes, or else it may denote the great men and cities of Samaria; let Egyptians and Philistines in their travels up and down over the kingdom of Israel associate themselves with the great men, and converse in the cities. Behold; take an exact view of all done by them and in them. The great tumults; the seditious counsels and rebellious conspiracies, begun amongst them on the death of Jeroboam the Second, and continued one after another for many years, like madmen, bent on ruining one another, to the undoing of all: besides all former violences of Baasha, Zimri, Omri, and Jehu, who took the kingdom out of the hands of their masters; those of Shallum, Menahem, Pekah, and Hoshea, acted in the times Amos pointeth at. The oppressed; multitudes of oppressed ones in those times, when the usurpers took it to be their interest to crush all they feared or suspected. In the midst thereof; Samaria, the chief city of the kingdom, and in other cities; yea, rather through the whole kingdom of Samaria.

Amos 3:9 Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof.Ver. 9. Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, &c.] That is, in the courts of the Philistine princes, and of the Egyptian kings, who are here attested and invited, to judge between God and his vineyard, to pass an impartial sentence, and to say whether Israel’ s sins deserved not all the judgments that God by his prophets had denounced, yea, and greater too. Holy Ezra acknowledgeth as much, Ezra 9:13. But because that many were ready to say, as those in Jeremiah, "Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee (saith the Lord), because thou sayest, I have not sinned," Jeremiah 2:35. Yea, thy sworn enemies shall give true evidence against thee, and judge of the justice of my proceedings with thee, that I may be justified, and every mouth stopped. Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria] That therehence ye may be eyewitnesses, and have a full prospect of their lewdness; which will be to you a pleasant spectacle; that out of their tragedies you may frame comedies. Samaria was a city set upon a hill; and as itself, so its wickedness, could not be hidden. Carnal people are very inquisitive into the miscarriages of professors; and ready to search more narrowly thereinto than Laban did into Jacob’ s stuff. What a jeer made Ammianus Marcellinus of the pride and luxury of some of the primitive bishops! Averroes, of the Papists’ breaden god! the Turks, of the Papists’ Asinus palmaris! the Jews, of their clipping the crucifix, and weeping over it in the pulpit! as also the swearing that is so common among Protestants, together with that mad conceit of some, that he that cannot swear with a grace, wanteth his tropes and figures befitting a gentleman! This and such like unchristian practices made learned Lineker, when he read Christ’ s Sermon in the Mount, cry out, Certainly, either this is not Gospel, or we are but bad gospellers ( Profecto aut hoc non est Evangelium; aut nos non sumus Evangelici). It is a lamentable thing, that it should be commonly reported that there be such abominations found in the Church as are hardly heard of among the heathens, 1 Corinthians 5:1. “ pudet haec opprobria nobis, Et dici potuisse, et non potuisse refelli. ” Why should it be told in Gath, or published in the palaces of Ashdod? 2 Samuel 1:20; why should Egyptians condemn Israelites, as the Scythians once did the Greeks, and the heathen Indians now do the beastly Spaniards that tyrannize over them? Why should there be any successors to those heretics mentioned by Bellarmine, and called Christianocategori, accusers of Christians; because by their unchristian conversation they delivered up Christ and his people to be buffeted and spat on by their enemies?

(9) In the palaces.—Rather, on the palaces, i.e., on their roofs in such conspicuous places that the population, high and low, would hear the summons. Mountains of Samaria.—In the high ground around the city, from which can be observed all that is passing in the metropolis. Foreign people, even Philistines and Egyptians, are gathered to witness the evils of the doomed realm. The marginal rendering “oppressions” should be adopted. This is shown by the parallelism.

Verse 9. Publish in the palaces] The housetops or flat roofs were the places from which public declarations were made. See on Isaiah 21:1, and on Matthew 10:27. See whether in those places there be not tumults, oppressions, and rapine sufficient to excite my wrath against them.

9–10. The heathen themselves are invited to bear witness whether the sins of Samaria do not deserve judgement. Publish &c.] proclaim it (lit. make it to be heard) over the palaces in Ashdod, &c., i.e. on their flat roofs, whence all can hear (cf. Matthew 10:27): the nobles of Ashdod (Amos 1:8) and Egypt are to be invited to come and judge for themselves of the moral condition of Samaria. The persons addressed may be the prophets; or, more probably, those, whoever they might be, capable of bearing the message; cf. Isaiah 40:1; Isaiah 57:14; Isaiah 62:11; Jeremiah 5:1; Jeremiah 5:10; Jeremiah 5:20, &c. the mountains of Samaria] i.e. surrounding Samaria. Samaria, the hill which Omri fortified and made his capital (1 Kings 16:24), and which, in the days of its prosperity, must have presented to the eye an imposing ‘crown’ (Isaiah 28:1) of battlements, is a fine rounded eminence, standing in the centre of a magnificent amphitheatre of mountains, with the Mediterranean visible through a gap in the distance. Upon these mountains the prophet pictures the inhabitants of the palaces of Ashdod and Egypt assembled, for the purpose of looking down into the Israelite capital and observing the malpractices rampant within her. the great tumults] or confusions, disorders, the result of a state in which might rules over right. Cf. Ezekiel 22:5 (of Jerusalem). the oppressed] rather, oppression, as Job 35:9. Cf. Jeremiah 6:6; Ezekiel 22:7; Ezekiel 22:12; Ezekiel 22:29.

Publish - “ye,” they are the words of God, commissioning His prophets In (on) the palaces of Ashdod - , that is, on the flat roofs of their high buidings, from where all can hear And in (on) the

9, 10. Summons of the surrounding nations. Amos 3:9 connects with Amos 3:2. The prophet, having presented his credentials, continues his message of denunciation and judgment.