PROPHETS. 



27} 



book is written under the shadow of a threatened and 

 impending invasion from Assyria. To cite a few 

 among many passages, calamity and exile are thus 

 threatened in v. 2, 5, 27 ; vi. 7, 10 j vii. 16, 17 ; ix. 9. 

 Syria, Amuion, etc., are included in the threat, i. 5, 

 15, etc. In i. 5, vi. 2, 14, Assyria is pretty distinctly 

 pointed out as the power that will carry these peoples 

 into exile, though it is not directly named. 



So much for the historical .situation contemporary 

 with the uttering of these prophecies. A very different 

 situation, belonging to an earlier date, is recalled by 

 the prophet in chapters i., ii. , and iv. 6-11. What- 

 ever else may be referred to in the first two chapters, 

 the following points are clear : Damascus is named 

 fir.-t in the list of threatened nations, the names of 

 Hazael and Benhadad being also mentioned, i. 3-5. 

 The sin especially charged is the "threshing" of 

 Gilead (cf. 2 Kings x. 32-33 ; xiii. 7). Animon and 

 Moab are included among the tlireatened nations (i. 1 3- 

 15; ii. 1-3), the sin of Ainmon being that "they 

 ripped up the pregnant women of Gilcad, that they 

 might enlarge their border" (cf. 2 Kings viii. 12; 

 xiii. 21, and the Moabite stone). Gaza, Ashdod, Ash- 

 kelon. and Ekron are mentioned (but not (rath), i- 6-!S, 

 the offence charged being this very peculiar one, that 

 "they caused to go into exile an entire : exile-hand, 

 shutting [them] up to Edom." Tyro is included, 

 charged with two offences, namely, " their shutting up 

 an entire exile-band to Edom," and that "they re- 

 inembcrcd not a brethren's covenant," i. 9, 10. Edom 

 directly follows Philistia and Phoenicia in this list, with 

 the charge that he " pursued his brother with the 

 sword," and was implacable in his cruelty, i. 11. 12. 

 In connection with these phrases of brotherhood, as 

 used of Tyre and Edom, note that the charge against 

 Moab i.s his burning the bones of the king of Edom 

 to lime, ii. 1. 



The situation thus outlined is peculiar enough to fix 

 our attention. Apparently, the two Israelite kingdoms 

 have their interests in common ; Israel has been in 

 brotherly relations of some sort with Phoenicia and 

 with Edom ; Israel atid Edom have suffered grievously 

 from the hostile attacks of Moab, Ammon, and Syria 

 the Syria of Ilazaol and Bcnhadad ; a change has 

 come, in which Phoenicia and Edom prove false to the 

 brotherly relations, Kdom committing hitter hostilities, 

 and Phoenicia and Philistia somehow less directly sup- 

 porting the hostile acts " shutting up an entire exile- 

 band to Ivlom, '' whatever that may mean. Evidently. 

 these are not the particulars given in the historical 

 books, of Hazacl's career, and his great attempt upon 

 Jerusalem; but just as evidently, it is likely that these 

 may be additional particular! of those transactions. 

 As long as Edom. 1'huenieia, and northern Israel 

 quietly paid their tribute to tin; Assyrian, they had so 

 much, at least, in common, distinguishing them from 

 Hazael and his confederates, who were in the habit of 

 making revolts. When Hazael at last made his march 

 from Gath upon Jerusalem, defeating the great army 

 that opposed him, he necessarily sent a crowd of fugi- 

 tives flying for safety to the neighboring countries. It 

 would be very much like the Edomites, at such a 

 crisis, to break loose from their friendliness, and treat 

 with hostility both the fugitives who came among 

 them, and other men of Tsraelitish blood. _ It would 

 not be unlike the Phoenicians and Philistines to aid 

 them in this, or to seek to make gain from them and 

 the Syrians, by affording them a market for their cap- 

 tives and their spoils. Thus understood, the ; 

 lars fit so well as to render it probable that this is the 

 trim explanation of them. 



Our versions render the verbs in Amos iv. 6-11 in 

 the present-perfect tense, as if the situation there de- 

 scribed was contemporary with the prophet, thus mak- 

 ing the passage dillieiilt to reconcile with all else that 

 is said in the book as to the contemporaneous situation. 

 The verbs should rather be translated by our simple 

 past, f. fj.: 



' Anil also I, for my part, give you cleanness of teeth in 



all your cities, 



And lack of bread in all your places; 

 Yet ye returned not unto me, saitli Jehovah." 



This and the following verses thus allude to notable 

 calamities that God had brought upon the people at 

 some past time not here specified. They mention a 

 calamity of drouth, verses 7, 8, a calamity of blasting 

 and of locusts, verse 9, and then follows : 



" I sent among you pestilence in the way of Egypt; 



I killed your chosen youths with the sword, 



With the captivity of yonr horses, 



And I brought np the stench of your encampments even 



into your nostrils; 

 Yet ye returned not unto me, saith Jehovah. 



" I made overthrow among yon, 

 Like God's overthrowing So'dom Hnd Gomorrah, 

 And ye were as a brand plucked from n burning, 

 Yet ye returned not unto me, saith Jehovah." 



It is barely possible that the "way of Egypt" may 

 here mean "after the manner of Egypt," put that is 

 an unnatural translation. By its most simple and 

 natural meaning the phrase is geographical, and we have 

 here a mention of a signal overthrow of the forces of 

 Israel in the region lying toward Egypt. Either the 

 destruction in battle was preceded oy a pestilence in 

 tin; camp, or it is itself called a pestilence. At once 

 we recall to mind that, according to the historical 

 books. Hazacl was on his way from Gath to Jerusalem, 

 and, therefore, somewhere "in the way of Egypt" 

 when Jehovah "delivered a very great host into their 

 hand," and also that there is no other recorded defeat 

 of Israel that corresponds to this description in Auios. 

 It is not a necessary part of the view now presented, 

 but is in itself likely that "the very great host" in 

 question was composed of the allied armies of Israel 

 and Judah. and that it was after this defeat that Je- 

 hoahaz had left only fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and 

 10,000 footmen (2 Kings xiii. 7). There may be a 

 connection between the disproportionately small num- 

 ber of horses left to Jehoahaz and the fact described in 

 Amos in the noticeable phrase, "with the captivity of 

 your horses." 



It seems to be true, therefore, as we should have 

 expected to find it, that the career of Hazael was still 

 remembered with especial distinctness in the times 

 when Amos prophesied, and that several additional 

 particulars in regard to it are preserved to us in the 

 allusions made by this prophet. 



Tlie Book of Obadldli. This book speaks of an 

 event in the past in which Edom wronged Judah, of 

 punishment already incurred for the wrong, and ol' M f, 

 greater punishment in the future. The points men- 

 tioned in regard to the wrong to Judah are that 

 strangers took his army captive ; that they came into 

 the vicinity of his gates (possibly, that they entered) ; 

 that they cast lots upon Jerusalem, verse 1 1 ; that they 

 "drank" upon the holy mountain, verse 16 ; that there 

 was "the exilo-band of this army to the sons of 

 Israel" among the " Canaanites as farasZarcphath," 

 and "the exile-band of Jerusalem which is in Scpha- 

 rad," verse 20. Nothing is said about Jerusalem be- 

 ing destroyed or even captured, nor about the land 

 being made desolate, nor about the nation in general 

 going into exile. In these respects there is a sharp dif- 

 ference between Obadiah and the passages in Ps. 

 exxxvii. ; Kzek. xxv. and xxxv. ; Lam. iv., and, indi- 

 rectly, Jcr. xlix. In other words, the event here de- 

 scribed has not very much in common with the de- 

 struction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Tho 

 Sirticulars agree at least equally well with those of 

 azael's expedition. Further, the rcsemblai.ces be- 

 tween this event and that referred to in Amos are 

 striking. We have the same stress laid upon the fact 

 that Edom was in brotherly relations with Judah, and 

 was false to these, verses 10, 12. In verse 14 we have 



