Amos 1:15

Amo 1:15 And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith the LORD.

Ver. 15. And their king shall go into captivity] Where he may find as little favour as Zedekiah did with Nebuchadnezzar, Valerian with Sapores the Persian, Bajazet with Tamerlane the Scythian; and not so much as Gilimer, king of Vandals, with Belisarius, of whom he requested (and obtained) these three things, a loaf, a spunge, and a harp; a loaf to relieve him, a spunge to wipe his weeping eyes, and a harp to cheer him up in his captivity.

He and his princes together] Lords and lowlies shall fare alike; the sword spares neither. And in hell potentes potenter torquebuntur, mighty men shall be mightily tormented.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:15 their king: The Hebrew term malkam may be a reference to the Ammonite god Molech. In ancient times, people believed that a conquered nation’s god or gods went into exile together with them (see 5:26-27; 1 Sam 5:1-2; Isa 46:1).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

their king . . . princes--or else, "their Molech (the idol of Ammon) and his priests" [GROTIUS and Septuagint]. Isa 43:28 so uses "princes" for "priests." So Amo 5:26, "your Molech"; and Jer 49:3, Margin. English Version, however, is perhaps preferable both here and in Jer 49:3; see on Jer 49:3.

Next: Amos Chapter 2

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 15. Their king shall go into captivity] Probably מלכם malcham should be Milcom, who was a chief god of the Ammonites; and the following words, he and his princes, may refer to the body of his priesthood. See 1Kg 11:33, and the notes there. All these countries were subdued by Nebuchadnezzar.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He finally adds, And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together As מלכם, melcam, was an idol of the people, some regard it here as a proper name; but he says, מלכם הוא ושריו, melcam eva ushariu, ‘their king, he and his princes;’ hence the Prophet, no doubt, names the king of Ammon, for he joins with him his princes. He says then that the ruin of the kingdom would be such, that the king himself would be led captive by the Assyrians. This prediction was no doubt fulfilled, though there is no history of it extant.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(15) Their king.—Not as Syrian and Vulg. read the original, Malcam or Milcom, i.e., Moloch. E.V. is supported by LXX., Targ., and context of the passage. So far we find the prophet denouncing the sin which trifles with blood, covenants, and ancient agreements, and recognising the responsibilities of race; but closer inspection shows in this, and in Amos 2, that the prophet condemns all violations of those natural laws and rights of which he regards Jehovah as custodian and executor.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. And their king shall go into captivity, &c.] into exile (Amo_1:5). The verse is borrowed by Jeremiah, with slight changes, in his prophecy against the Ammonites (Jer_49:3), “For their king shall go into exile, his priests and his princes together”—where the addition of ‘priests’ makes it probable that for malcâm ‘their king,’ we should read, with most of the ancient versions, Milcom, the name of the national God of the Ammonites (1Ki_11:5, &c.).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And their king shall go into captivity,.... Not only the common people that are left of the sword shall be carried captive, but their king also. This was, Baalis their last king, who was accessary to the murder of Gedaliah, Jer 40:14; whom the king of Babylon had set over the remnant of the Jews left in Judea; which might provoke him to send Nebuzaradan his general against him, who put his country to fire and sword, destroyed his chief city Rabbah, and carried him and his nobles into captivity. Some understand this of Milchom, or Mo, the god of the children of Ammon, who should be so far from saving them, that he himself should be taken and carried off; it being usual with the conquerors to carry away with them the gods of the nations they conquered; see Jer 48:7. So Ptolemy Euergetes king of Egypt, having conquered Callinicus king of Syria, carried captive into Egypt the gods he then took, Dan 11:8; and it was usual with the Romans to carry the gods of the nations captive which they conquered, and to carry them in their triumphs as such; so Marcellus was blamed for rendering the city of Rome envied and hated by other nations, because not men only, but the gods also, were carried in pomp as captives: and of Paulus Aemylius it is said, that the first day of his triumph was scarce sufficient for the passing along of the captive statues, pictures, and colosses, which were drawn on two hundred and fifty chariots (k):

he and his princes together, saith the Lord: which is repeated, and especially the last words added, for the confirmation of it. The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, read, "their priests and their princes", as in Jer 49:3. This was fulfilled five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, as Josephus (l) relates.

(k) Vid. Plutarch. in Vita Marcelli & Aemylii. (l) Antiqu. l. 10. c. 9. sect. 7. Vid. Judith i. 12.

Next: Amos Chapter 2

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And their king - The king was commonly, in those nations, the center of their energy. When “he and his princes” were “gone into captivity,” there was no one to make head against the conqueror, and renew revolts. Hence, as a first step in the subdual, the reigning head and those who shared his counsels were removed. Ammon then, savage as it was in act, was no ill-organized horde. On the contrary, barren and waste as all that country now is, it must once have been highly cultivated by a settled and laborious people. The abundance of its ruins attests the industry and habits of the population. “The whole of the country,” says Burckhardt , “must have been extremely well cultivated, to have afforded subsistence to the inhabitants of so many towns.” “The low hills are, for the most part, crowned with ruins.” Of the “thirty ruined or deserted places, which including Amman,” have been even lately “counted east of Assalt” (the village which probably represents Ramoth-Gilead, “about 16 miles west of Philadelphia that is, Amman) several are in Ammonitis. Little as the country has been explored, ruins of large and important towns have been found south-southeast. and south of Amman .

Two hours southeast of Amman, Buckingham relates , “an elevation opened a new view before us, in the same direction. On a little lower level, was a still more extensive track of cultivated plain than that even which we had already passed - Throughout its whole extent were seen ruined towns in every direction, both before, behind, and on each side of us; generally seated on small eminences; all at a short distance from each other; and all, as far as we had yet seen, bearing evident marks of former opulency and consideration. There was not a tree in sight as far as the eye could reach; but my guide, who had been over every part of it, assured me that the whole of the plain was covered with the finest soil, and capable of being made the most productive grain-land in the world - For a space of more than thirty miles there did not appear to me a single interruption of hill, rock or wood, to impede immediate tillage.

The great plain of Esdraelon, so justly celebrated for its extent and fertility, is inferior in both to this plain of Belkah. Like Esdraelon, it appears to have been once the seat of an active and numerous population; but in the former the monuments of the dead only remain, while here the habitations of the living are equally mingled with the tombs of the departed, all thickly strewn over every part of the soil from which they drew their sustenance.” Nor does the crown, of a “talent of gold weight, with precious stones” 2Sa 12:30, belong to an uncivilized people. Such hordes too depend on the will and guidance of their single Skeikh or head. This was a hereditary kingdom 2Sa 10:1. The kings of Ammon had their constitutional advisers. These were they who gave the evil and destructive counsel to insult the ambassadors of David. Evil kings have evermore evil counselors. It is ever the curse of such kings to have their own evil, reflected, anticipated, fomented, enacted by bad advisers around them. “Hand in hand the wicked shall not be unpunished” Pro 11:21. They link together, but to drag one another into a common destruction. Together they had counseled against God; “king and princes together,” they should go into captivity.

There is also doubtless, in the word Malcham, a subordinate allusion to the god whom they worshiped under the title Molech or Malchom. Certainly Jeremiah “seems” so to have understood it. For, having said of Moab, “Chemosh shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together” Jer 48:7, he says as to Ammon, in the self-same formula and almost in the words of Amos ; “Malcham shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together.” Zephaniah Zep 1:5 also speaks of the idol under the same name Malcham, “their king.” Yet since Ammon had kings before this time, and just before their subdual by Nebuchadnezzar, and king Baalis Jer 40:14 was a murderer, it is hardly likely that Jeremiah too should not have included him in the sentence of his people, of whose sins he was a mainspring. Probably, then, Amos and Jeremiah foretell, in a comprehensive way, the powerlessness of all their stays, human and idolatrous. All in which they trusted should not only fail them, but should be carried captive from them.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Melchom, the god or idol of the Ammonites, otherwise called Moloch, and Melech; which, in Hebrew, signifies a king, or Melchom their king. (Challoner) --- He assumed the title of "their king," Judges xi. 14., and Jeremias xlix. 3. (Haydock) --- Blind people, who could not see the vanity of such impotent gods! (Calmet) --- Both he. Septuagint, "and their priests." (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Their king; or Milchore, or Moloch, the idol of the Ammonites, so it signifieth, as well as king. I suppose the prophet may intend both, their god as well as their king shall be carried captive, as was customary with conquerors, 1Sa 5:2; Isa 46:2.

He: this repeats and confirms the threat, whether it refer to the idol or the king.

His princes; either nobles and ministers of state, who attend and serve the king, or the priests and ministers of the idol; here both may be included, and the utter overthrow of their affairs in religion and state be signified and foretold.

Saith the Lord: this, as elsewhere, doth ratify and insure all; it shall so be, for God hath spoken it.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Their king; Septuagint, oiJ basileiv aujthv. So Keil, Trochon, and others consider that the King of the Ammonites is meant. The Vulgate, with Aquila, Symmachus, the Syriac, and Jerome, retrains the word Melchous, or Melcham, which is the same as Molech, their god. This interpretation is favoured by passages in Jeremiah, of which one is evidently quoted from Amos, "For Malcam shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together"; (Jer_49:3) and the other (Jer_48:7) is similar, with the substitution of "Chemosh," the god of Moab, for "Maleam." That the localized deity should share the fortunes of his worshippers is quite in accordance with the ideas of the time. (comp. Isa_46:1, Isa_46:2) Probably Amos meant to include both notions their "Malcam," whether king or god. should be carried into captivity, accompanied by the princes, all the chiefs, military and sacerdotal, so that no one should he left to head a future revolt.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.