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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Amos 5:10 - 5:10
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“They hate the monitor in the gate, and abhor him that speaketh uprightly. Amo 5:11. Therefore, because ye tread upon the poor, and take the distribution of corn from him, ye have built houses of square stones, and will not dwell therein; planted pleasant vineyards, and will not drink their wine. Amo 5:12. For I know how many are your transgressions, and how great your sins; oppressing the righteous, taking atonement money; and ye bow down the poor in the gate.” However natural it may seem to take מוֹכִיחַ and דֹּבֵר תָּמִים in Amo 5:10 as referring to prophets, who charge the ungodly with their acts of unrighteousness, as Jerome does, this explanation is precluded not only by bassha‛ar (in the gate), since the gate was not the meeting-place of the people where the prophets were accustomed to stand, but the place where courts of judgment were held, and all the public affairs of the community discussed (see at Deu 21:19); but also by the first half of Amo 5:11, which presupposes judicial proceedings. Mōkhı̄ăch is not merely the judge who puts down unjust accusers, but any one who lifts up his voice in a court of justice against acts of injustice (as in Isa 29:21). דֹּבֵר תָּמִים, he who says what is blameless, i.e., what is right and true: this is to be taken generally, and not to be restricted to the accused who seeks to defend his innocence. תִּעֵב is a stronger expression than שָׂנֵא. The punishment for this unjust oppression of the poor will be the withdrawal of their possessions. The ἁπ. λεγ. bōshēs is a dialectically different form for בוֹסֵס, from בוּס, to trample down (Rashi, Kimchi), analogous to the interchange of שִׁרְיוֹן and סִרְיוֹן, a coat of mail, although as a rule שׁ passes into ס, and not ס into שׁ. For the derivation from בוֹשׁ, according to which בושׁס would stand for בושׁשׁ (Hitzig and Tuch on Genesis p. 85), is opposed both to the construction with עַל, and also to the circumstance that בּוֹשֵׁשׁ means to delay (Exo 32:1; Jdg 5:28); and the derivation suggested by Hitzig from an Arabic verb, signifying to carry one's self haughtily towards others, is a mere loophole. Taking a gift of corn from the poor refers to unjust extortion on the part of the judge, who will only do justice to a poor man when he is paid for it. The main clause, which was introduced with lâkhēn, is continued with בָּתֵּי גָזִית: “thus have ye built houses of square stones, and shall not dwell therein;” for “ye shall not dwell in the houses of square stones which ye have built.” The threat is taken from Deu 28:30, Deu 28:39, and sets before them the plundering of the land and the banishment of the people. Houses built of square stones are splendid buildings (see Isa 9:9). The reason for this threat is given in Amo 5:12, where reference is made to the multitude and magnitude of the sins, of which injustice in the administration of justice is again held up as the chief sin. The participles צֹרְרֵי and לֹקְחֵי are attached to the suffixes of פִּשְׁעֵיכֶם and חַטֹּאתֵיכֶם: your sins, who oppress the righteous, attack him, and take atonement money, contrary to the express command of the law in Num 35:31, to take no kōpher for the soul of a murderer. The judges allowed the rich murderer to purchase exemption from capital punishment by the payment of atonement money, whilst they bowed down the right of the poor. Observe the transition from the participle to the third person fem., by which the prophet turns away with disgust from these ungodly judges. Bowing down the poor is a concise expression for bowing down the right of the poor: compare Amo 2:7 and the warnings against this sin (Exo 23:6; Deu 16:19).