Amos 5:22

Though ye offer me burnt offerings, and your meat offerings, I will not accept [them],.... The daily burnt offerings, morning and night, and others which were wholly the Lord's; and the "minchah", or

Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Though ye offer me ... your meat offerings - flour, etc. Unbloody offerings.

Though ye, that have departed from my temple, law, and institutions, you of the ten tribes, offer me burnt-offerings; which was wholly burnt on the altar; no part due to any but God; of this these hypocrites had a high esteem, , because they accounted it an entire gift to God. And your meat-offerings; to your burnt-offering add the other, your meat-offering also, as ,2 Num 6:17. See 2:14. I will not accept them; it may be a meiosis, I will hate them, as . Neither will I regard the peace-offerings; your thank-offerings too, of which 7:15, your praises for your prosperity, are no better pleasing neither. Of your fat beasts: in these peace-offerings, though you bring the best, the fattest, yet you bring nothing but a beast, for you leave your hearts with your sins; and you have no warrant from God to do this, nay, you are prohibited, for you are to offer only at Jerusalem, and at the temple.

Amos 5:22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept [them]: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.Ver. 22. Though ye offer me burnt offerings, &c.] So long as ye stick in the bark, please yourselves in the external performance, rest in the work done, think to expiate your sins by your duties, and to set off with God for your bad deeds by your good, and to get a licence thereby to live as you list: "though ye offer me burnt offerings," which were wholly burnt in sacrifice to God, and so were ordinarily most acceptable. I will not accept them] Nor shall you be a button the better for them, but the worse. Isaiah 63:8, yea, though ye added wine, oil, and incense, that there might be a savour of rest in it. The very heathens could say, that God’ s favour is not to be gained by multitude of sacrifices, but by the integrity of those that offer them. Neither will I regard (or look at) the peace offerings of your fat beasts] Whether sheep or oxen, or another distinct creature bigger than an ox, called in the Arabic dialect gamus, as Aben Ezra affirmeth, the French call it buffie, and we the buffe, or wild ox: all would not do; God would neither see nor hear, as it followeth.

(21, 22) These verses closely resemble the condemnation which Isaiah pronounces (Amos 1:10-15) upon mere ritual, however punctilious, mere profession of orthodoxy, however exacting, which was not accompanied by righteousness and mercy, and was not the expression of inward penitence and purity. Will not smell in your . . .—A strong expression for “I take no delight in them.” That Baal worship, as well as the worship of the true God, was characterised by similar offerings and sacrificial terms is indicated by a Phœnician tablet inscribed with a code of sacrificial dues, discovered at Marseilles. The word rendered peace offering should be translated as in the margin. The word for “meat offering” is better interpreted “meal offerings,” since it consisted of vegetable products used in food, meal, oil, cakes, &c.

Verse 22. The peace-offerings of your fat beasts.] מריאיכם merieychem probably means buffaloes; and so Bochart.

22. The commonest and most popular kinds of sacrifice are particularized as rejected by Jehovah. The burnt- and peace-offerings are often mentioned in the historical books, and were frequently sacrificed together (Exodus 20:24; Exodus 32:6; Judges 20:26; Judges 21:4; 1 Samuel 10:8; 1 Samuel 13:9; 2 Samuel 6:17; 2 Samuel 24:25; 1 Kings 3:15; cf. Isaiah 1:11, where ‘the fat of fed beasts’ is an allusion to the peace-offering). The peace-offering, being the sacrifice most commonly offered, is also often called ‘sacrifice’ (lit. slaughtering) simply: Exodus 18:12; Deuteronomy 12:6; 1 Samuel 6:15 al.). meat offerings] meal-offerings, or cereal offerings. The word ‘meat’ has altered its meaning since the time when the A.V. was made, and is now restricted to flesh: so that the rendering ‘meat offering’ for offerings consisting exclusively of either parched corn or various preparations of flour (see Leviticus 2) has become altogether misleading. The Heb. word minḥ ?ah means properly a present or gift, especially one offered to a king or noble, to do him homage or secure his favour (Genesis 32:13; Genesis 43:11; 1 Samuel 10:27), and euphemistically for tribute, 2 Samuel 8:2; 2 Samuel 8:6 &c.: hence it is used sometimes in a general sense of gifts offered in sacrifice to God (Genesis 4:3-5; Numbers 16:15; 1 Samuel 2:17; 1 Samuel 2:29; 1 Samuel 26:19); in the priestly sections of the Pent., on the other hand, it is used exclusively in the narrower and technical sense of a ‘meal-offering.’ It seems therefore that the custom must have gradually grown up of designating animal sacrifices by their special names (burnt-offering, peace-offering &c.), while minḥ ?ah was more and more restricted to vegetable offerings alone. This double application of the term sometimes makes it uncertain whether ‘offering’ in general, or ‘meal-offering’ in particular, is denoted by it. Where, however, as here, it stands beside the names of two other species of sacrifice, it has the presumption of being used to denote a special kind likewise (cf. Joshua 22:23; Judges 13:23; 1 Kings 8:64). fat beasts] or fatlings, 2 Samuel 6:13, 1 Kings 1:9; 1 Kings 1:19; 1 Kings 1:25, and (in the same connexion) Isaiah 1:11 (where, on account of the word fat, with which it is joined, it is in the English version rendered fed beasts). In the ‘peace-offering’ the fat parts were those which were specially set apart to be “burnt” (ä÷èéø), i.e. consumed in sweet smoke (cf. on Amos 4:5), upon the altar (Leviticus 3:3-5; Leviticus 3:9-11; Leviticus 3:14-16).

21-25. The popular service is an abomination to Jehovah. The prophet represents Jehovah as out of sympathy with and even hostile to the popular worship. In what sense this is to be understood see on Hosea 6:6.