(i. e. the Second,) king of Israel. His prophecies may have been delivered between 790 and 780 years A. C. Though born in Tekoa, a place about eleven miles south of Jerusalem, it seems to have been his chief employment as a religious teacher to admonish and warn the kingdom of Israel. From Ch. vii. 14, we learn that he was not educated in the regular school of the prophets, but that while engaged in a humble occupation he heard a call from God, that he should assume the office of a prophet. Notwithstanding what has been said by some writers of the rusticity of Amos, it is not easy to perceive that he is inferior to the other prophets in method, perspicuity, or elegance. He, indeed, draws many images from pastoral life, and manifests a tender sympathy for the poor and the oppressed. But in these respects he is not, in a great degree, distinguished from other prophets. His prominent characteristic is what the poet Campbell calls the circumstantial distinctness of his graphic touches. See iii. 12. v. 18, 19, 24, vi. He paints rather than describes. On the whole, it is not too high praise, which Bishop Lowth bestows upon Amos, when he says, that he is nearly equal to the very first prophets in elevation of sentiments, and loftiness of spirit, and scarcely inferior to any in splendor of diction, and beauty of composition. Ch. I. 2. - roareth, i. e. God will soon spread terror, like beasts of prey, when they roar.

3.

three, and four : i. e. repeated, numerous.

- thrashing-wain; i. e. a machine, having iron serrated wheels, or, perhaps, cylinders with sharp pieces of iron in them. This machine being drawn by oxen over the bundles of grain, the grain was at once beat out from the ears, and the straw cut in pieces for the food of animals. See Jahn's Archæology, § 64. Comp. 2 Kings, xiii. 7.

II. 7. to dishonor my holy name ; i. e. by giving the heathen occasion to utter the reproach, What sort of God must that people have, which is guilty of such abominable practices? Ezek. xxxvi. 20. 8. – lay themselves down ; i. e. they recline at idolatrous banquets, and that, too, on the garments of the poor, taken in pledge, which by law should be returned before sunset. Ex. xxii. 25, 26.

III. 3. Can two, &c. i. e. Can I, on my part, continue to be with, or to favor you, unless you, on your part, give a cordial obedience to my laws. Or, the meaning may be, " As a journey, in which two engage, naturally supposes a settled meeting, so the denouncing of God's designs by his prophets shows, that he has made himself known to them."

4.

- roar.

"Naturalists assert that, when the lion sees his prey, he roars before he rushes on it; and that at this roaring many animals show great fear. See verse 8. He likewise roars over his prey. The sense seems to be, As the lion roareth on account of his prey, so by my prophets I cry aloud against you, because ye are the objects of my vengeance. See verse 8."

9. in the palaces; i.

e. "the flat roofs of the palaces, the usual place of publishing events. Matt. x. 27."

12.

corners of their sofas. The corner of a sofa was esteemed the most comfortable and honorable place.

15.

summer-house, &c. It appears that the wealthy had two houses, one for summer, the other for winter. See Jer. xxxvi. 22.

IV. 1. kine of Bashan. It seems to be doubtful whether the prophet intends dissipated women, or effeminate men. The vices charged upon them, in this verse, and the apparent connexion of the passage with verse 4, &c. are circumstances that favor the latter supposition. On the former supposition, master will denote a husband, or keeper, and castle, verse 3, a harem. On the latter supposition master will denote the king, and the passage will be similar to iii. 12, and Hosea vii. 3-7.

V. 6. Israel. I adopt the reading, supported by the Sept., the Arab. and the parallelism of the sense.

8.

12.

calleth up the waters: i. e. to punish men by inundations.

in the gate: i. e. defeat him unjustly in the court of justice. 16. skilful in lamentation. A class of persons, whose business it was to sing mournful songs at funerals, existed not only in Judea, but in other ancient countries. See Homer's Iliad, xxiv. 720, &c. Horace, Ars Poet. 431, &c.

18.

ask for the day of Jehovah: with hypocritical presumption, or impious derision.

20. darkness. In the Scriptures darkness is often used to denote calamity, and light to denote prosperity.

-

25, 26. sacrifices; i. e. I bore with you, led you, and fed you in the wilderness forty years without sacrifices, how then can ye imagine them to be substitutes for moral virtue? Especially since ye divide your outward homage between me, and false gods.

26. of your Moloch. A god of the Ammonites, who was regarded as an evil principle, and worshipped with human sacrifices. — Chiun is supposed to represent the planet Saturn, which was worshipped in the East, as an evil principle.

VI. 3. Woe to those, who suppose the day of divine judgment to be distant, and constantly practise injustice and oppression in courts of justice.

VII. 1.

king's mowing: i. e. what was cut for the use of the

horses of the king.

set a plumb-line: i. e. I will execute full punishment.

sanctuary: i. e. for calf-worship.

17. - polluted land: i. e. foreign land, which on account of idolatry, was regarded by the Jews as impure, in comparison with their See Ezek. iv. 13.

own.

VIII. 11. the words of Jehovah: This refers not so much to instruction in duty, as to counsel, which might extricate them from their miserable situation, and which they now disregarded, when their prophets gave it.

IX. 13. - draw near, &c. i. e. The harvest shall be so abundant, that it shall scarcely be gathered in, before it is again time to plough.

NOTES ON HOSEA.

THE only knowledge, which we have of the life of Hosea, is that which is contained in the doubtful title of his book, viz. that he was the son of a certain Beeri, and coëval with Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and with Jeroboam II. king of Israel. From the contents of the book it is probable that he did not exercise his office until after the death of Jeroboam, when the kingdom of Israel was in a state of great distraction and anarchy; i. e. from about 783 to 740 years before Christ.

So far as language is concerned, Hosea is by far the most difficult of the prophets. He is sententious, concise, and abrupt. He often omits the connective particles, and it is sometimes impossible to discover the connexion of his thoughts. He is more remarkable for the copiousness of his figures, than for his skilful use of them. In the general character of his imagery he is at greater variance with the taste of the western world than any of the pro

phets. There are not wanting, however, in his poetry, passages of great tenderness, beauty, and even sublimity.

Ch. I. 4. Jezreel. This word denotes, according to the connexion, God will scatter, or, God will plant. It seems to be used in the former sense in this verse, and in the latter, in Ch. ii. 22. - blood of Jezreel, i. e. shed in Jezreel by the kings of Israel, who had a palace in that city. See 1 Kings xxi. 13. 2 Kings ix. 15, 24. x. 7.

II. 8.

- wrought for Baal: i. e. for ornaments of images of Baal, or furniture or dress for his worship.

13. Baals: i. e. images of Baal.

14.

to the desert: i. e. From the distant countries, to which she is led captive, I will safely conduct her home through the desert. The language seems to be borrowed from the former deliverance of the Jews from Egyptian slavery, when Moses and Aaron persuaded the Israelites to go into the desert, &c.

15. valley of Achor: i. e. of trouble, or confusion. The valley of Achor, though a scene of confusion and trouble, was yet the door, or beginning, of hope to the Israelites under Joshua, and from thence they were soon led to the possession of the promised land. See Josh. vii. 24, 25, 26. viii. 1, &c. So after exile and suffering the Jews should unexpectedly be delivered from their distresses, finding, as it were, another valley of Achor.

16. Baal. This term in its common use denoted nothing more than lord or master, and therefore was usually applied to the husband by the wife. But it should not be used any more, because it had been applied to a false God. Such should be the detestation of idolatry.

21. I will hear the heavens; i. e. when they ask, as it were, that they may send their rain on the earth. - the earth; i. e. when it supplicates, as it were, for rain.

22. the corn, &c. i. e. when they wish, as it were, to supply the wants of man. Jezreel: i. e. all nature shall hear and minister to the people, whom God shall plant, i. e. cause to increase and flourish, in their own land.

23.

-

I will plant. The original word has an allusion to the name Jezreel, i. e. God will plant.

-

III. 1. love a woman, i. e. the wife, who had forsaken the prophet, and become an adulteress. It is immaterial, whether we understand Gomer of the preceding chapter to be intended, or not. raisin cakes; i. e. such as were used in the worship of idols.

2.-bought. "The price, which he is here said to buy her with, seems not as a dowry, whereby he should first purchase her for a wife, but such a portion, as though, through the power he had over her, he might for her ill deserts have quite put her away for ever, or (if he had been so minded) have by rigor taken her, and shut her close up, and used all severity and hardship toward her, he did notwithstanding allow her, to maintain her not in luxury, but in a competent manner, so as she could not but be sensible at once both of his displeasure in cutting her so short, and of his great kindness in allowing her so much, who deserved nothing, till upon her bethinking herself, for which he allowed her a good time, he should again receive her to the privileges of a wife; which reception might be well looked on as a new marriage, and his allowance to her as a buying of her; though not so much a purchasing to himself a right in her, as a buying or hiring her to be honest, and fit to be received again by him." — Pococke.

3.

See wait for me wait my pleasure, be devoted to me. Jer. iii. 2. so will I also wait for thee. i. e. I will not marry another, and finally separate myself from thee, but will wait the issue of thy probation, and be prepared to receive thee to all the privileges of a wife.

"The prophet's being bid yet to love that woman, and his dealing with her, so as not quite to reject her, but yet to restrain her to a shorter allowance, and requiring her to abide for him many days, without enjoyment of such favors from him as formerly she had enjoyed, but as one sequestered from her former courses, and from the company both of himself and any other, till he should see fit again to receive her into greater favor, is plainly answered by God's not clean neglecting Israel, but still sustaining her, yet so as that she should be brought to a lower condition than formerly, and not live in that height of dignity and jollity as formerly she had done, but be deprived of all those glories and pomps in respect both to her civil and ecclesiastical state, wherein she formerly prided herself, and as she had not those visible tokens of his presence among them, nor a public profession of his service, so neither the use of such idol services and feasts, wherein she formerly delighted and revelled." - Pococke.

4. - ephod: a part of the high priest's ornaments. See Ex. xxviii. 4. Lev. viii. 7. Some suppose that ephod, in this place, denotes an image. teraphim: a sort of household gods, from which the superstitious sought answers respecting doubtful affairs.