14 For see, I will send against you a nation, O Israel, says the Lord, the God of armies, ruling you cruelly from the way into Hamath as far as the stream of the Arabah.
So Solomon and all Israel with him, a very great meeting, (for the people had come together from the way into Hamath to the river of Egypt,) kept the feast at that time before the Lord our God, for two weeks, even fourteen days.
He got back the old limits of Israel from the way into Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, as the Lord had said by his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet of Gath-hepher.
See, I will send you a nation from far away, O people of Israel, says the Lord; a strong nation and an old nation, a nation whose language is strange to you, so that you may not get the sense of their words. Their arrows give certain death, they are all men of war. They will take all the produce of your fields, which would have been food for your sons and your daughters: they will take your flocks and your herds: they will take all your vines and your fig-trees: and with the sword they will make waste your walled towns in which you put your faith.
And your limit on the north will be the line from the Great Sea to Mount Hor: And from Mount Hor the line will go in the direction of Hamath; the farthest point of it will be at Zedad:
In the days of Pekah, king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, came and took Ijon and Abel-beth-maacah and Janoah and Kedesh and Hazor and Gilead and Galilee and all the land of Naphtali; and he took the people away to Assyria.
In that day will the Lord take away the hair of the head and of the feet, as well as the hair of the face, with a blade got for a price from the other side of the River; even with the king of Assyria.
For before the child is able to say, Father, or, Mother, the wealth of Damascus and the goods of Samaria will be taken away by the king of Assyria. And the Lord said again to me, Because this people will have nothing to do with the softly-flowing waters of Shiloah, and have fear of Rezin and Remaliah's son; For this cause the Lord is sending on them the waters of the River, deep and strong, even the king of Assyria and all his glory: and it will come up through all its streams, overflowing all its edges: And it will come on into Judah; rushing on and overflowing, till the waters are up to the neck; *** and his outstretched wings will be covering the land from side to side: for God is with us.
And this is to be the limit of the land: on the north side, from the Great Sea, in the direction of Hethlon, as far as the way into Hamath; To Zedad, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the limit of Damascus and the limit of Hazar-hatticon, which is on the limit of Hauran. And this is the limit from the sea in the direction of Hazar-enon; and the limit of Damascus is to the north, and on the north is the limit of Hamath. This is the north side.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Amos 6
Commentary on Amos 6 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 6
In this chapter we have,
Amo 6:1-7
The first words of the chapter are the contents of these verses; but they sound very strangely, and contrary to the sentiments of a vain world: Woe to those that are at ease! We are ready to say, Happy are those that are at ease, that neither feel any trouble nor fear any, that lie soft and warm, and lay nothing to heart; and wise we think are those that do so, that bathe themselves in the delights of sense and care not how the world goes. Those are looked upon as doing well for themselves that do well for their bodies and make much of them; but against them this woe is denounced, and we are here told what their ease is, and what the woe is.
Amo 6:8-14
In the former part of the chapter we had these secure Israelites loading themselves with pleasures, as if they could never be made merry enough; here we have God loading them with punishments, as if they could never be made miserable enough. And observe,