Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_500.lzh/6_513.TXT

Text File | 1994-09-09 | 7KB | 129 lines

"inclining. to an oc,n'e,. shadowed by a fiesh-colour.
" In the inside it resembles the common figs, except-
" ing that it has a blackis!l colouting with yellow spots.
"This sort of'tree is pretty common in Egypt; the
"people for the greater part live upon its frui t, and think
"themselves well regaled when they have a piece of
· ' bread, a couple of sycamore figs, and a pitcher filled
"with water from the NileY This account in several
things agrees with what Pliny {p} and Soilhas {q} relate of
this tree and its fruit; very likely there might be many
of tllese trees in Judea; there seem to have been great
nutnbers bf them in Solomon's time, 1 Kings x. 27. and
perhaps it was one of these that Zaccheus climbed, in
order to see Christ, Luke xix. 4. for this sort. of trees
delight in vales and plains, sudl as were the plains of
Jericho; and iu the Talmud {r} we read of sycamore-trees
in Jericho; and or' the men of Jericho allowing the
branches of them to be cut down for sacred uses.
These also grew in lower Galilee, but not in upper
Galilee; and that they were frequent in the land of
Israel appears from the rules the Misnic doctors {} give
about the planting, and cutting' them down; and
in the opeuing of these trees, trod making incisions in
them, and in gathering the fruit of them, Amos might
be concerned. Kimctli anti Ben Melech say the word
signifies to mix, and that his business was to mix these
together with other fruit. Aben Ezra observes, that
in the Arabic language it signifies to dry; and then tits
work was, after he had gutbared them, to lay them a
drying. Some render the word a searcher {} of them;
as if his employment was to look out for them, and
seek thenl where they were to be got: however, be
this as it will, tlle prophet suggests that he had been
used to a low life, and to mean fare, with which he was
contented, and did not take up this business of pro-
phesying for bread, and could return to his former
employtnent without any regret, to get a maintenance,
if so was the will of God. The Targutn gives it a
different sense, "for I am a master of cattle, and have
"sycamores in tile tietds;" and so Jarchi, Kimchi,
an:i Ben Metcob, represent him as suggesting that he
was rich, and had no need of bread to be given him, or
to prophesy tbr that.
'Vet. lb. And the Lord took me as I followed the.flock,
&c.] Or .from behind it {}; a description of a shepherd,
such an one Amos was, and in this employ when the
Lord called him, and took him to be a prophet; he
did not seek after it, nor did he take this honour to
himself; by which it appears that Ills mission was
divine, and that he did not enter on this work with
lucrative views: thus God took David in a like state of
life, and made him king of Israel; and Elisha from
the plough, and made him a prophet: and Christ
several of his disciples from being tishermen, and made
them fishers of m,<n, or ministers of the word; an,t so
their call appeared more clear an,l manifest. And the
Lord said unto me; in a vision or dream by night; or
'by an articulate voice he heard; or by au itnpulse upon
his spirit, which comes from the spirit of God:go,
prophcsy unto my people Israd ; for so they were by
profession, and notwithstanding their apostacy; as vet
they were not tallied Lo-ammi; to these the prophet
was bid toga out of theland of Judea, where he was a
herdsman, and prophesy in the name of the Lord to
them; wherefore what he did was in obedience to the
cam,hand of God, and he did but his duty; and what
he in this and the preceding verse declares, is a suffi-
cient vindication of himself, his character, and conduct;
and having done this, he has something to say to the
priest, as follows.
Vet. 16. Now thercfor.e hear thou the word of the
Lord, &c.] Which I have frotn him concerning thee,
anl which he has pronounced upon thee and thy thmily:
thou sayest, prophesy not against Israel; when God has
bid me prophesy: and drop not thy word against the
house of Isaac; say nothing against it, though in ever
so soft and gentle a manner: it designs the same thing
as beibre, only in ditferent words; and is a prohibition
of the prophet to prophesy against the ten tribes that
descended from Isaac, in the line of Jacob. So the
Targutn paraphrases it, "thou shalt not teach against
"the house of Isaac ;" or deliver out any prophecy or
doctrine that is against them, or tlu'eatens them with
any calamity. Jarchi says the phrase is expressive of
prophecy; see Deut. xxxii.
Vet. 17. Tlterefore thus saith the Lord, &c.] For
withstanding the prophet of the Lord, and forbidding
him to speak in his name against the idolatry of Israel,
as well as for his own idolatry: thy wife shall be an
harlot in the city: either of Beth-el or Samaria; either
through force, being ravished by the soldiers upon
taking and plundering the city; so Theodoret and
others: or rather of choice; either, through poverty, to
get bread, or through a vicious inclination, and that
in a public manner: the meaning is, that she should
be a common strumpet; Which must be a great afflic-
tion to him, and a just punishment for his idolatry, or
spiritual adultery'; this must be before the siege and
taking of Samaria, since by that time the priest's wife
would be too old to be used as a harlot: and thy sons
and thy daughters shall fall by the sword; either of
Shallurn, who smote Zachariah the son of Jeroboam
with the sworcl, before the people, and very probably
many of his friends with him, among whom this thmily
was; or of Menahem, who slew Shallurn, and de-
stroyed many places that opened not to him, with their
inhabitants, and ripped up the women with-child; or
in the after-invasions by Pal, Tiglath-pileser, and Sal-
maneset, o. Kings xv. 10, 14, 16, 19, c2.9. and xvii. 5,
6: and thy land shall be divided by line; either the
whole land of Israel be lived in, or t!".e land that was
in the possession of this priest, and was his own pro-
perty; this should be measure, d with a line, and be
parted among foreigners, that should iu-a.% the land,
and subdue it; a just punishment of the sins he had
been guilty of, in getting large possessions in an ill
manner: and thou shall die
his own land, reckoned holy, but in a tteathen land,

{p} Nat. Hist. I. 13. c. 7.
{q} Polyhistor. c. 45.
{r} T. Bab Pesachim, fol. 56. 1. & 57. 1. & Menachot, fol. 71. 1.
{s} Misn. Shvath, c. 9. sect. 2. & Bava Bathra, c. 2. sect. 7.
{t} \^olzb\^ "disquirens", Montanus, Vatablus; "perquirens", Junius &
Tremellius, Piscator; "quaerens", Cocceius, Barkius. So R. Sol. Urbin
Ohel Moed, fol. 31. 2.
{u} \^Nau yrxam\^ "de post pecus", Montanus; "de post gregem", Vatablus;
"a post gregem", Liveleus.