Amos 8:14

They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) Thy God, O Dan, liveth.—Translate, By the life of thy God, O Dan, and by the life of the way of Beersheba. On such forms of oath, see Note on Amos 6:8. The “way of Beersheba” was the ritual practised at Beersheba, another mode of designating the deity himself (probably Baal).[18] So LXX. Similarly the “sin of Samaria” means the golden calf that was worshipped there (Hosea 8:5). The supposition of Hitzig and Duhm (followed by W. R. Smith) that it refere to the Asherah worship (2Kings 13:6) is not so probable.

[18] From chap. 5:5 we infer that Beersheba, lying far south on the borders of Judah (twenty-five geographical miles south of Hebron), was a famous religious centre, so that inhabitants of the northern kingdom were in the habit of “crossing the frontier” in order to pay their vows, or enquire at this high place.

Benson Commentary

Amos 8:14. They that swear by the sin of Samaria — That is, by the calf which Jeroboam set up as an object of worship at Beth-el, not far from Samaria, committing a great sin in so doing, and making Israel to sin. Swearing, according to the sense in which the word is here taken, is a solemn invocation of the name of God, and an appeal to him; and, as such, is a proper part of divine worship, (see Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 10:20,) and therefore ought not to be given to idols. And say, Thy God — Or, As thy God, O Dan, liveth — That is, who say in the way of an oath, As the god who is worshipped in Dan liveth: at Dan was placed another of Jeroboam’s calves. And, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth — The LXX. render it, the god of Beer-sheba liveth; expressing the sense rather than the words of the original. The way or manner signifies the same with the way of worship; so that the people swore by the religion of Beer-sheba, or the manner of worship used there, which they looked upon as sacred. Thus the Papists swear by the mass: but they who thus give that honour to idols which is due to God alone, will find the God whom they thus affront is made their enemy. And they shall fall, &c. — And the gods they serve cannot raise them up; so that without better help they shall never rise again.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

8:11-14 Here was a token of God's highest displeasure. At any time, and most in a time of trouble, a famine of the word of God is the heaviest judgment. To many this is no affliction, yet some will feel it very much, and will travel far to hear a good sermon; they feel the loss of the mercies others foolishly sin away. But when God visits a backsliding church, their own plans and endeavours to find out a way of salvation, will stand them in no stead. And the most amiable and zealous would perish, for want of the water of life, which Christ only can bestow. Let us value our advantages, seek to profit by them, and fear sinning them away.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Who swear - Literally, "the swearing," they who habitually swear. He assigns, at the end, the ground of all this misery, the forsaking of God. God had commanded that all appeals by oath should be made to Himself, who alone governs the world, to whom alone His creatures owe obedience, who alone revenges. "Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve Him and swear by His Name" Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 10:20. On the other hand Joshua warned them, "Neither make mention of the name of their gods nor cause to swear by them nor serve them" Joshua 23:7. But these "sware by the sin of Samaria," probably "the calf at Bethel," which was near Samaria and the center of their idolatry, from where Hosea calls it "thy calf." "Thy calf, O Samaria, hath cast thee off. The calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces" Hosea 8:5-6. He calls it "the guilt of Samaria," as the source of all their guilt, as it is said of the princes of Judah using this same word, "they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served idols, and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass" 2 Chronicles 24:18. "And say, thy god, O Dan! liveth," that is, as surely as thy god liveth! by the life of thy god! as they who worshiped God said, "as the Lord liveth!" It was a direct substitution of the creature for the Creator, an ascribing to it the attribute of God; "as the Father hath life in Himself" John 5:26. It was an appeal to it, as the Avenger of false-swearing, as though it were the moral Governor of the world.

The manner of Beersheba liveth! - Literally, "the way." This may be, either the religion and worship of the idol there, as Paul says, "I persecuted this way unto the death" (Acts 22:4, add Acts 9:2; Acts 19:9, Acts 19:23), from where Muhammed learned to speak of his imposture, as "the way of God." Or it might mean the actual "way to Beersheba," and may signify all the idolatrous places of worship in the way there. They seem to have made the way there one long avenue of idols, culminating in it. For Josiah, in his great destruction of idolatry, "gathered all the priests from the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places, where the priests sacrificed from Gebah to Beersheba" 2 Kings 23:8; only, this may perhaps simply describe the whole territory of Judah from north to south. Anyhow, Beersheba stands for the god worshiped there, as, "whoso sware by the Temple, sware," our Lord tells us, "by it and by Him that dwelleth therein" Matthew 23:21.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14. swear by the sin of Samaria—namely, the calves (De 9:21; Ho 4:15). "Swear by" means to worship (Ps 63:11).

The manner—that is, as "the way" is used (Ps 139:24; Ac 9:2), the mode of worship.

Thy god, O Dan—the other golden calf at Dan (1Ki 22:26-30).

liveth … liveth—rather, "May thy god … live … may the manner … live." Or, "As (surely as) thy god, O Dan, liveth." This is their formula when they swear; not "May Jehovah live!" or, "As Jehovah liveth!"

Matthew Poole's Commentary

They that swear by; who now do, as formerly they have done, trust in, sacrifice to, and swear by; who are obstinate idolaters, and trust to those lies.

The sin, that which was the sin, the occasion of the sin,

of Samaria, the calves at Dan and Beth-el.

And say, think, profess, and swear too,

Thy god, O Dan, liveth; the idol at Dan is the true and living God.

The manner of, the idols at, Beer-sheba, to which the zealous, mad, and bigoted idolaters in Israel made their pilgrimages.

They shall fall, be consumed by famine, sword, and captivity,

and never rise up again; never return out of captivity, nor recover of this consumption.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

They that swear by the sin of Samaria,.... The calf at Bethel, which was near Samaria, and which the Samaritans worshipped; and was set up by their kings, and the worship of it encouraged by their example, and which is called the calf of Samaria, Hosea 8:5; the making of it was the effect of sin, and the occasion of leading into it, and ought to have been had in detestation and abhorrence, as sin should; and yet by this the Israelites swore, as they had used to do by the living God; so setting up this idol on an equality with him:

and say, thy God, O Dan, liveth; the other calf, which was set up in Dan; and to this they gave the epithet of the bring God, which only belonged to the God of Israel:

and the manner of Beersheba liveth; or, "the way of Beersheba" (r); the long journey or pilgrimage of those at Beersheba; who chose to go to Dan, rather than Bethel, to worship; imagining they showed greater devotion and religion, by going from one extreme part of the land to the other, for the sake of it. Dan was on the northern border of the land of Judea, about four miles from Paneas, as you go to Tyre (s); and Beersheba was on the southern border of the land, twenty miles from Hebron (t); and the distance of these two places was about one hundred and sixty miles (u). And by this religious peregrination men swore; or rather by the God of Beersheba, as the Septuagint render it; though the phrase may only intend the religion of Beersheba, the manner of worship there, it being a place where idolatry was practised; see Amos 5:5. The Targum is,

"the fear (that is, the deity) which is in Daniel 54eth, and firm are the laws of Beersheba;''

even they shall fall, and never rise up again; that is, these idolatrous persons, that swear by the idols in the above places, shall fall into calamity, ruin, and destruction, by and for their sins, and never recover out of it; which was fulfilled in the captivity of the ten tribes, from whence they have never returned to this day.

(r) "via Beersebah", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Vatablus, Mercerus, Tigurine version; "iter, peregrinatio", Drusius; "Bersabanum iter", Castalio. (s) Hieronymus de locis Heb. fol. 92. H. (t) Ibid. fol. 89. F. (u) Ib. Epist. ad Dardanura, fol. 22. I.

Geneva Study Bible

They that swear by the sin {i} of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, {k} The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again.

(i) For the idolaters used to swear by their idols, which here he calls their sin: and the papists yet swear by theirs.

(k) That is, the common manner of worshipping, and the service or religion used there.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. They that swear …; even they shall fall] better, Who swear (connecting with Amos 8:13) …; and they shall fall &c.

swear by the Guilt of Samaria] Men swear by that which they revere: the Israelite was commanded to swear by Jehovah (Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 10:20); and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 4:2; Jeremiah 12:16) promises a blessing upon those who swear by Him faithfully. Idolatrous Israelites swore by “not-gods” (Jeremiah 5:7), or by Baal (Jeremiah 12:16), or Milcom (Zephaniah 1:5), &c. The ‘Guilt of Samaria’ is probably the calf at Beth-el, which Hosea alludes to ironically as unworthy of the Israelites’ regard (Hosea 8:5-6, Hosea 10:5): the golden calf which Aaron made is called “your sin” (Deuteronomy 9:21). Others suppose that the reference is to the Ashérah which was made by Ahab in Samaria, and which still stood there, at least in the days of Jehoahaz (2 Kings 13:6)[193]. The Ashérah (cf. Exodus 34:13, R.V. marg.) was a post or pole, regarded seemingly as the representative of the sacred tree, planted in the ground beside an altar, and venerated as a sacred symbol (see further W. R. Smith, Relig. of the Semites, p. 171 ff. (ed. 2, p. 187 ff.); D.B[194][195], s.v.; or the writer’s Commentary on Deuteronomy 16:21).

[193] So W. R. Smith, Proph., p. 140. Stade and Oort even suppose that guilt (אשמת) is an error for Ashérah (אשרת).

[194] .B. … Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, ed. 1, or (from A to J) ed. 2.

[195] … Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, ed. 1, or (from A to J) ed. 2.

and say, (As) thy God, O Dan, liveth] The formula of an oath: cf. the common (As) Jehovah liveth (1 Samuel 14:39 &c.). Here the reference is to the calf set up by Jeroboam I. (1 Kings 12:29) at Dan, in the far North of Israel (now Tel el-Ḳaḍi), near the foot of Hermon, and not far from the principal source of the Jordan.

and, (As) the way of Beer-sheba liveth] For Beer-sheba, see on Amos 5:5. The expression is an unusual one; and it has been doubted whether the text is correct. But probably the reference is to the road taken by the pilgrims to Beer-sheba, which must have been a clearly-marked, much frequented route[196] and which, being regarded by the worshippers as unalterable and permanent, might not unnaturally form the object appealed to in an oath. “Strange as it may appear to us to speak of the life of the lifeless, this often happens among the Semites. To-day Arabs “swear wa hyât, ‘by the life of,’ even of things inanimate; ‘By the life of this fire, or of this coffee’ ” (Doughty, Arabia Deserta, i. 269). And as Amos here tells us that the Israelite pilgrims swore by the way to Beer-sheba, so do the Moslems affirm their oaths by the sacred way to Mecca[197]” (G. A. Smith, p. 186). Others understand ‘way’ in the sense of usage, cult. Although therefore it remains possible that the title of a deity, “thy …,” lies concealed under what is now read as ‘way,’ there seems to be no imperative necessity for questioning the correctness of the text.

[196] Comp. the Derb el Haj, or the route from Damascus to Mecca, a broad, clearly-marked track in the wilderness (Tristram, Moab, p. 170; P.E.F. Qu. St., 1895, p. 229).

[197] Baur, p. 424, who quotes Rückert’s translation of Ḥariri, i. 189 f., “By the pilgrimage, and the height of Mina, where the pious host stone Satan.”

shall fall, &c.] Cf. Amos 5:2.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - They who trusted in idols shall find no help in them. They who swear by. Those who reverence and worship, as Deuteronomy 6:13; Deuteronomy 10:20. The sin of Samaria. The golden calf at Bethel (comp. Deuteronomy 9:21; Hosea 8:5, 6). Septuagint, κατὰ τοῦ ἱλασμοῦ Σαμαρείας, "by the propitiation of Samaria." Thy god, O Dan, liveth; i.e. as thy god liveth, by the life of thy god. This was the other calf erected at Dan, near the source of the Jordan, in the extreme north (1 Kings 12:29). The manner of Beersheba liveth; Septuagint, Ζῆ ὁ θεός σου βηρσαβεέ, "Thy god, O Beersheba, lives." Some commentators, ancient and modern, think that the actual road which led to Beersheba is here meant, and would translate, "As the way to Beersheba liveth," "By the life of the way to Beersheba," as Mohammedans swear by the pilgrimage to Mecca. But it is best to take the word rendered "manner" in the sense of "way," as ὁδὸς is used in Acts (Acts 9:2; Acts 19:9, 23) for mode of worship, or form of religion, the ritual, or use of the service there. (For Beersheba, see note on Amos 5:5.) From Dan to Beersheba is just a hundred and forty-four miles. They shall fall, etc. This was partially fulfilled by the destruction of the kingdom of Israel and the deportation of its inhabitants; and its truth to this day is demonstrated by the fate of the Jews who will not receive Jesus as the promised Messiah.



Amos 8:14

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"In that day will the fair virgins and the young men faint for thirst. Amos 8:14. They who swear by the guilt of Samaria, and say, By the life of thy God, O Dan! and by the life of the way to Beersheba; and will fall, and not rise again." Those who now stand in all the fullest and freshest vigour of life, will succumb to this hunger and thirst. The virgins and young men are individualized, as comprising that portion of the nation which possessed the vigorous fulness of youth. עלף, to be enveloped in night, to sink into a swoon, hithp. to hide one's self, to faint away. הנּשׁבּעים refers to the young men and virgins; and inasmuch as they represent the most vigorous portion of the nation, to the nation as a whole. If the strongest succumb to the thirst, how much more the weak! 'Ashmath Shōmerōn, the guilt of Samaria, is the golden calf at Bethel, the principal idol of the kingdom of Israel, which is named after the capital Samaria (compare Deuteronomy 9:21, "the sin of Israel"), not the Asherah which was still standing in Samaria in the reign of Jehoahaz (2 Kings 13:6); for apart from the question whether it was there in the time of Jeroboam, this is at variance with the second clause, in which the manner of their swearing is given, - namely, by the life of the god at Dan, that is to say, the golden calf that was there; so that the guilt of Samaria can only have been the golden calf at Bethel, the national sanctuary of the ten tribes (cf. Amos 4:4; Amos 5:5). The way to Beersheba is mentioned, instead of the worship, for the sake of which the pilgrimage to Beersheba was made. This worship, again, was not a purely heathen worship, but an idolatrous worship of Jehovah (see Amos 5:5). The fulfilment of these threats commenced with the destruction of the kingdom of Israel, and the carrying away of the ten tribes into exile in Assyria, and continues to this day in the case of that portion of the Israelitish nation which is still looking for the Messiah, the prophet promised by Moses, and looking in vain, because they will not hearken to the preaching of the gospel concerning the Messiah, who appeared as Jesus.