Amos 6:2

Pass ye unto Calneh, and see,.... What is become of that city, which was in the land of Shinar, an ancient city, as early as the days of Nimrod, and built by him, and was with others the beginning of

Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?

Pass ye unto Calneh; run over the history of that great and ancient city; as, Go to Shiloh, . It was built by Nimrod, , and after a long growth to power, wealth, and security, through near one thousand three hundred years, was at last ruined, as is probable, in the civil wars which ended in the utter ruin of Sardanapalus by Arbaces, and Pul-belochus, grandfather to Shalmaneser who captivated Israel; the story of which, fresh in the days of Amos, is thus referred unto for warning to Israel. And see; consider well what befell that city built on Euphrates, rich, delightful, and, as you, full of sin. Hamath; head of the Syrian kingdom, lately overthrown by Tiglath-pileser; a very fresh instance of God’ s just indignation against secure sinners, and a very fit warning to Israel. Gath; the chief city of the Philistines, a few years before wasted by the arms and cruelty of Hazael, ; by these examples learn to amend your ways, or expect to perish in them. Be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border? The reading this passage interrogatively renders it darker than if it were read assertively, Yet they were better, i.e. greater, than these kingdoms of Israel and Judah; and their borders, i.e. the bounds of those kingdoms, greater than these of Israel and Judah. But if you retain our version, it will amount to this; Are they, i.e. Israel and Judah, better, more just, thankful, and merciful than these kingdoms, that they should hope to escape? or is the border of these two kingdoms greater, that they should hope to stand by power?

Amos 6:2 Pass ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: [be they] better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?Ver. 2. Pass ye unto Calneh and see] Take a voyage to and a view of those most famous bordering cities, Calneh, or Seleucia, in Mesopotamia on the east (whereof see Genesis 10:10, the beginning of Nimrod’ s kingdom), Hamath the great, or Antiochia (now Aleppo, a famous market town), on the north. Then go down southward to Gath of the Philistines, which was of all the five satrapies potissima et potentissima, most strong and powerful, and is therefore called Methegammah, 2 Samuel 8:1 cf. 1 Chronicles 18:1, because, being a town of great strength, it was, as it were, the bridle, whereby the whole country about was kept in awe: it was afterwards known by the name of Diocaesarea. Away to these neighbouring cities, and see in them, as in so many telescopes, how much more God hath done for you than for them in every respect; the greater is your guilt, and the deeper will be your judgment in the end, for abuse of these rich mercies, of a fertile soil, a large empire, to security, oppression, and other detestable vices and villanies. Be they better than these kingdoms] sc. of Judah and Israel? which were certainly multis nominibus laudatissima, very fruitful and pleasant countries, Deuteronomy 8:7-9 Numbers 14:7-8, whatsoever Strabo spitefully reporteth to the contrary, being therein worse than Rabshakeh, Isaiah 36:17. Or their border grearer than your border] sc. Till the Babylonians, Syrians, and Assyrians took part of your country from you, and cooped you up, cut you short. And now that you are so straitened for room, doth not the Lord recompense you in multitudes of people? Judea was not over two hundred miles long and fifty miles broad, say geographers; and yet what large armies brought they into the field! Observe, then, saith the prophet, the great things that God hath done for you above other nations, and walk accordingly; or else take lessons out of their losses and damages, and know that the case will be your own: Aliorum perclitio vestra sitcantio: Learn by other men’ s harms to beware.

(2) The meaning is obscure. Kalneh, the Kalno of Isa 10:9, the Assyrian Kulunu (comp. Genesis 10:10), is here probably mentioned first because it is most easterly. It is identified by Kiepert with Holwân, but its position is uncertain, though generally regarded as lying in the neighbourhood of the Greek Ctesiphon, on the Tigris. Hamath is the ancient Hittite city in the valley of the Orontes, and it had felt the strong hand of Jeroboam II. (2 Kings 14:28). We have no reason for believing that at this period the Assyrian power had destroyed the importance of these places, though the prophet may have regarded that issue as imminent. Hamath the Great (or Rabba; comp. Joshua 11:8), according to the inscriptions, sustained defeats from Salmanassar II. about 850 B.C. It was finally overthrown by Sargon in 720 B.C., who in his own boastful language “swept over its land like a flood.” Gath, the home of Goliath, had probably lost its original importance. Uzziah destroyed it. Were Calno, Hamath, Gath, more important than Zion or Samaria? Then, says the prophet, do not expect in your opulence and self-satisfaction immunity from a worse doom.

Verse 2. Pass ye unto Calneh] This is, says Calmet, the Ctesiphon on the river Tigris. Hamath] The same as Emesa. Hamath was a city on the Orontes, in Syria. Gath] A well-known town, and head of one of the five seignories of the Philistines. Be they better] You have no more reason to expect exemption from the consequences of your sins than they had. They have been punished; so shall you. Why then will ye trust in their gods, that could not save their own cities?

2. Two diametrically opposed explanations of this verse have been given. (1) It has been regarded as continuing the argument of Amo 6:1, the cities named in it being referred to as examples of prosperity: Can you find, from Calneh and Hamath in the North of Syria to the Philistine border on the South, a single kingdom ‘better’ (i.e. more flourishing) than your own? Thus has Jehovah favoured you; and ye requite Him with indifference and neglect (Amos 6:3-6). Therefore (Amos 6:7) the sentence is, Ye shall be amongst the first to go into exile. The argument is similar to that of Amo 2:9-16, Amos 3:2 : Israel has been visited by Jehovah with unwonted favour; that however will not exempt it from punishment, if it acts in such a way as to merit punishment. So Ew., Hitz., Keil, W. R. Smith, Proph. p. 138, &c. (2) It has been taken as introductory to Amos 6:3-7, the places named in it being pointed to as examples of fallen greatness: if cities, till recently so flourishing, so far from being now ‘better,’ or more prosperous (Jeremiah 44:17), than Israel and Judah, have been overtaken by disaster, let Israel take warning betimes, and not rely too implicitly that its present good fortune will continue to attend it: the ground why such warning is needed follows then in Amos 6:3-6. So Baur, Pusey, Schrader, von Orelli, Wellhausen. In support of this view it may be urged that it is not very obvious why the places named—especially the distant Calneh—should be specially selected as examples of flourishing cities: the age was one in which the cities of Western Asia were liable at any moment to be roughly treated by the Assyrians (see below); and of Gath, in particular, it is observed that it is not mentioned among the Philistine cities enumerated either by Amos himself in Amos 1:7-8, or in Jeremiah 47, or Zephaniah 2:4-7, or Zechariah 9:5-7; and hence it has been inferred (G. A. Smith, Geogr. p. 194) that it must have been destroyed by the Assyrians about 750 b.c. But, on the whole, the former, which is also the general view, seems preferable. Hamath (see below) was taken by Sargon in 720; and the conquest of Calneh—at least, if it be the same as Calno—is alluded to as recent in 701 (Isaiah 10:9); and there is no sufficient reason for supposing (Schrad., Wellh.; cf. G. A. Smith, p. 173 n.) that the verse is an insertion in the original text of Amos made towards the end of the 8th cent. b.c. Calneh] The identification is uncertain. A Calneh is mentioned as an ancient Babylonian city in Genesis 10:10; and a Calno is alluded to in Isaiah 10:9 as a place conquered recently by the Assyrians. According to some, Calneh may be the place usually called Zirlaba or Zarilab, the characters of which, however, admit of being read ideographically as Kulunu, and which is mentioned by Sargon in b.c. 710 as one of his conquests (Schrader, K.A.T[166][167], pp. 96, 444).

Pass over to Calneh - He bids them behold, east, north, and west, survey three neighboring kingdoms, and see whether God had not, even in the gifts of this world, dealt better with Israel. Why then so requite Him?

Condemnation of the nobles, Amos 6:1-7.1. Woe — See on Amos 5:18. That are at ease — Margin, “secure.” In a bad sense, those who are recklessly at ease, who are insensible to the dangers lurking on every side (Isaiah 32:9).