Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_400.lzh/6_479.TXT

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shone upon the king's face, and the leprosy immedi-
ately seized him; and, at a place before the city called
Eroge, half part of a mountain towards the west was
broken and rolled four furlongs towards the eastern
part, and there stood, and stopped up the ways, and
the king's gardens; but this cannot be true, as Theo-
doret observes; since, according to this account,
Amos must begin to prophesy in the 50th year of Uz-
ziah; for he reigned 52 years, and he began his reign
in the 27th year of Jeroboam, 2 Kings xv. 1. who
reigned 41 years, 2 Kings xiv. 23. so that Uzziah and
he were cotemporary fourteen years only, and Jeroboam
must have been dead 36 years when it was the 50th
of Uzziah; whereas they are here represented as cotem-
porary when Amos began to prophesy, which was but
two years before the earthquake; so that this earth-
quake must be in the former and not the latter part
of Uzziah's reign, and consequently not when he was
stricken with the leprosy.
Ver. 2. And he said, &c.] That is, the Prophet
Amos, before described; he, being under divine inspi-
ration, said as follows: the Lord will roar from Zion,
and utter his voice from Jerusalem; not from Samaria,
nor from Dan and Beth-el, but from Zion and Jerusa-
lem, where the temple of the Lord stood; and out of
the holy of holies in it, where was the seat of the di-
vine Majesty; and his voice being compared to the
roaring of a. lion, denotes his wrath and vengeance;
and is expressive of some terrible threatening prophecy
he would send from hence, by one or other of his pro-
phets; perhaps Amos may mean himself; and who,
having been a shepherd or herdsman in the wilderness,
had often heard the terrible roaring of the lion, to
which he compares his prophecy concerning the judg-
ments of God on nations. Some think reference is had
to the earthquake, as Aben Ezra; and which might be
attended with thunder and lightning, the voice of God:
and the habitations of the shepherds shah mourn; that
is, the huts or cottages. they dwell in, erected for the
more convenient care of their flocks; these, by a figure,
are said to mourn, because exposed to the violent heat
of the sun in this time of drought; or because forsaken
by the shepherds; or it may design the shepherds
themselves that dwelled in them, that should mourn
because there was no pasture for their flocks, the
grass being dried up, and withered away: and indeed
it may be rendered, the pastures of the shepherds shall
mourn '; being destroyed by the drought, as the cattle
upon them are said to mourn and groan, Joel i. 18:
and the top of Carreel shall wither; a fruitful mountain
in the land of Israel; there were two of this name,
one in the tribe of Judah, near which Nabal dwelt,
1 Sam. xxv. 2. another in the tribe of Asher, near to
Ptolemais or Aco; some think the former is meant,
as being nearer Tekoa, and more known to Amos;
others the latter, because Israel or the ten tribes are
prophesied against; though Carmel may be taken for
any and all fruitful places in the land; and the top or
chief of it withering may signify the destruction of
every thing pleasant and useful. Some think Amos
speaks figuratively in the language of a herdsman or
shepherd, as artSricers and mechanics do in their own
way t; and so by shepherds he means kings and princes;
and, by their habitations, their kingdoms, cities,
towns, and palaces; and, by Carreel, their wealth,
riches, and precious things, which should all be de-
stroyed; and to this agrees the Targum," the habita-
"tions of kings shall become desolate, and the strength
"of their fortresses shall be made a desert."
Ver. 3. Thus saith the Lord, &c.] Lest it should
be thought that the words that Amos spoke were his
own, and he spake them of himself, this and the fol-
lowing prophecies are prefaced in this manner; and
he begins with the nations near to the people of Israel
and Judah, who had greatly afflicted them, and for
that reason would be punished; which is foretold, to
let Israel see that those judgments on them did not
come by chance; and test they should promise them-
selves impunity from the prosperity of these sinful na-
tions; and to awaken them to a sense of their sin and
danger, who might expect the visitation of God for
their transgressions; as also to take off all offence at
the prophet, who began not with them, but with their
enemies: for three transgressions of Damascus, and for
four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof;
Damascus was an ancient city; it was in the times of
Abraham, Gen. xv. 2. It was the metropolis of Syria,
Isa. vii. 8. and so Pliny calls it, Damascus of Syria {}.
Of the situation of this place, and the delightfulness
of it, see the note on Jer. xlix. 25. and of its founder,
and the signification of its name, see the note on Acts
ix. 2. to which may be added, that though Justin"
says it had its name from Damascus, a king of it before
Abraham and Israel, whom he also makes kings of it;
and Josephus {x} would have Uz the son of Aram the
founder of it, to which Bochart {y} agrees; yet the Ara-
bic writers ascribe the building of it to others; for the
Arabs have a tradition, as Schultens" savs, that there
were Canaanites anciently in Syria; for they talk of
Dimashc the son of Canaan, who built the famous
city of Damascus, and so it should seem to be called
after his name; and Abulpharagius {a} says, that Murkus
or Murphus, as others call him, king of Palestine,
built the city of Damascus twenty years before the
birth of Abraham: from this place many things have
their names, which continue with us to this day, as
the damask rose, and the damascene plum, trans-
planted from the gardens that were about it, for which
it was famous; and very probably the invention of
the silk and linen called damasks owes its rise from
hence. It is here put for the whole country of Syria,
and the inhabitants of it, for whose numerous trans-
gressions, signified by three and four, the Lord would
not turn away his fury from them, justly raised by
their sins; or the decree which he had passed in his
own mind, and now made a declaration of, he would
not revoke; or not inflict the punishment they had
deserved, and he had threatened. The sense is, that

{s} \^Myerh twan\^ "pascua pastorum", Vatablus, Piscator, Grotius,
Burkius.
{t} "Navita de ventis, de tauris narrat arator, Enumerat miles
vulnera, pastor oves", Propert. L. 2. Eleg. 1.
{u} Nat. Hist. I. 36. c. 8.
{w} E Trogo, 1. 36. c. 2.
{x} Antiqu. 1. 1. c. 6. sect. 4.
{y} Phaleg. 1. 2. c. 8.
{z} Apud Universal History, vol. 2. p. 280.
{a} Hist. Dynast. p. 13.