The quotation of ver. 12 agrees, almost verbatim, with the LXX. It follows them in their important deviation from the Hebrew text. Instead of, "In order that they may occupy the remnant of Edom," the LXX. read, ὅπως ἂν ἐκζητήσωσιν σἱ καταλοιποι τῶν ἀνθρώπων με (instead of με Luke has τὸν κύριον, which is found in the Cod. Alex. also, but has very likely come in from Luke). It is of very little consequence to determine in what manner the translation of the LXX. arose; whether they had a different reading, למען ידרשו שארית אדם, before them; or whether they merely read erroneously; or whether, according to Lightfoot (in his remarks on Acts xv. 16, 17), they intentionally thus altered the words; or whether it was their object to express the sense only generally and approximately (in the last two cases we should be obliged to suppose that, by a kind of play, and in order to represent, in an outward manner, the substantial agreement of the thought, they chose words exactly corresponding to the Hebrew text, with the exception of a change of a few letters,—a thing which frequently occurs in the Talmud, and even in Jeremiah when compared with the older prophets); only, we must set aside the idea of a really different reading,—a reading resting on the authority of good Manuscripts, inasmuch as such an idea would be irreconcilable with the deviations of the LXX. elsewhere, and with the unanimity of the Hebrew Manuscripts in the passage before us. The assertion of Olshausen, however, that, in the Hebrew form, the passage would not have been suitable for the purpose, and that therefore it is probable that, on this occasion, Greek must have been spoken in the assembly, does indeed deserve our attention.
Whether or not the latter was the case, we leave undecided. That it was probable, may be proved from other grounds, but it by no means follows from the reason stated by Olshausen. The passage was suited for the proof, as well according to the Hebrew text, as according to the Alexandrian version; for the latter is quite correct and faithful in so far as the sense is concerned. The occupying, in the sense in which it is used by Amos, has the seeking for its necessary supposition. For how, indeed, can spiritual possession, spiritual dominion by the people of the Lord exist, unless the Lord has been sought by those who are to be ruled over? Compare the declaration: "The isles shall wait for His law," Is. xlii. 4. The words, "And of all the heathen," following immediately after Edom, evidently prove that Amos mentions Edom, only by way of individualizing; and the Idumeans, especially, as a people, only because their former, specially violent hatred to the Covenant-people (compare i. 11) made their future humble submission more evidently a work of the omnipotence of God, and of His love watching over His people; and at the same time there may be a reference also to the former subjection by David. The LXX. have done nothing more, than at once to substitute for the particular, the general which comprehends this particular,—a particular which is, by Amos too, designated as a part of the general.[5]
Ver. 13. "Behold, days come, saith the Lord, and the ploughman reacheth to the reaper, and the treader of the wine-press to him that soweth seed. And the mountains drop must, and all the hills melt."
The fundamental thought in this passage is this:—Wheresoever the Lord is, there also is the fulness of His gifts.—The imagery in the first hemistich is taken from Lev. xxvi. 3-5: "If ye shall walk in My laws, and keep My commandments and do them; then I will give your rains in their seasons, and the land gives its produce, and the tree of the field gives its fruit. And your threshing reaches to the vintage, and the vintage reaches to the sowing time." After the Lord has purified His congregation by His judgments, then the joyful time of blessing, prophesied by His servant Moses, shall likewise come. Cocceius says: "One shall reap, the other shall immediately plough; one shall scatter the seeds in the ploughed field, while another shall, at the same time, tread the grapes,—a work is wont to be done at the last time of the year. There shall be continual work, and continual fruit, and a fruitfulness such as that in the land of the Troglodytes which Scaliger (Exercit. 249, 2) thus describes: 'Throughout the whole year there is sowing and reaping at the same time; at one place the seed is committed to the fields, and at another the wheat shoots up, at another it gets ears, at another it is reaped, at another it is collected, and brought to the threshing-places, and thence to the barn.'"—The second hemistich agrees with Joel iv. (iii.) 18 (which is certainly not accidental; compare the introduction to Joel): "At that time the mountains shall drop must, and the hills go with milk." From a comparison of this passage it appears that the melting of the hills can mean only their dissolving into rivers of milk, must, and honey, with an allusion to the description of the promised land in the Pentateuch (Exod. iii. 8) as a land flowing with milk and honey.
Ver. 14. "And I turn Myself to the captivity of My people Israel, and they build waste cities, and dwell, and plant vineyards, and drink their wine; and they make gardens and eat their fruit."
The captivity is a figure of misery. With reference to שבות שוב compare the remarks on Joel.
Ver. 15. "And I plant them in their land, and they shall no more he plucked up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God." Compare p. 227 seqq.
[ [1]] Hofmann, Schriftbeweis I. S. 312, objects: "If this were correct, Paul ought to have delivered that fornicator at Corinth (1 Cor. v. 5), or Hymeneus and Alexander (1 Tim. i. 20), not to Satan, but to the good angels." But the individuals mentioned were members of the Church of Christ, and they were delivered to Satan, not for their absolute destruction, but for their salvation: ἵνα τὸ πνεῦμα, (which of course was still in existence; and it is just the πνεῦμα that separates between the world and the Church, compare Ps. li. 13) σωθῇ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ Κυρίου, ἵνα παιδευθῶσι μὴ βλασφημεῖν. It is, as in the case of Job, a punishment with a view to purification, for which power is given to Satan, Heb. xii. 6. These passages, then, serve only to confirm the view which we have expressed.
[ [2]] The same is probably the case in vi. 14: "For behold I raise up against you, O house of Israel, saith the Lord God of Hosts, heathen people; and they shall afflict you from Hamath unto the river of the wilderness." The river of the wilderness can here be none other than the river of Egypt, which commonly appears as the boundary of the whole. Compare 1 Kings viii. 65; 2 Chron. vii. 8, where Solomon assembles the whole people from Hamath unto the river of Egypt; Josh. xv. 4, 47; 2 Kings xxiv. 7; Is. xxvii. 12. They who think of the boundary of the kingdom of the ten tribes only, are at a loss, and have recourse to uncertain conjectures.