פירוש על עמוס 3:21

Only you did I love Heb. יָדַעְתִּי, lit., I knew. I loved you, but you rebelled against Me; therefore,... But our Sages expounded on it in a different manner in Tractate Avodah Zarah (4a).

Will two walk together—Concerning what you say to the prophets, “Do not prophesy,” do the prophets prophesy from their own mind unless they were commanded? Are things done in any way but in their customary fashion?

unless they agree—Unless they made an appointment to go together to such and such a place.

Will a lion roar in the forest if he has no prey—When a lion lays hold of its prey, it customarily roars, and it does not roar unless it has taken [prey]. Similarly, Scripture states: (Isa. 5:29) “He will roar like the lion cubs, and he will growl and lay hold of prey.” Similarly, (ibid. 31:4) “As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey.”

Will a bird fall on a net upon the ground unless it has a snare—in the net which has fallen upon it?

Will a net ascend from the ground—from the place it was laid unless a bird was caught in it? When it wishes to escape, it pulls up the net and lifts it from its place a little, and at that time it is caught.

Will a shophar be sounded—For the lookout sees troops approaching the city and sounds the shophar to warn the people. These are but words of allegory and similitude, [to be explained as follows:]

[4] Will a lion roar—That is Nebuchadnezzar. Another explanation: The prophets compare the holy spirit that comes upon them from the roar of a lion, as he states below: (verse 8) “A lion has roared; who will not fear?” And here he explains the allegory. Did the Holy One, blessed be He, bring the holy spirit into the mouths of the prophets to [prophesy] evil unless retribution was decreed by Him? That is the prey. Will the Holy One, blessed be He, let out a cry to speak harshly unless He has taken you with the snare of iniquity? Will a bird fall on a net that the net will not snare it? I.e, is it possible that you commit sins and it will not be a snare to you? Will a net ascend etc.? Similarly, will your iniquities ascend on high and not take you? Will a shophar be sounded in the city?... So should you quake before the words of the prophets who look out for you to deliver you from the evil, that it not come, and when the evil comes to you, should you not know that the Holy One, blessed be He, does it to you because you did not take heed of His prophets?

For the Lord God does nothing unless He has revealed His secret—That secret to His servants, the prophets.

A lion has roared; who will not fear?—So has the Holy One, blessed be He, spoken to the prophets to prophesy. Who will not prophesy?

Announce—You Philistines and Egyptians, announce this and say in your palaces that they gather on the mountains of Samaria, to see from atop the mountains into the midst of the city, their evil way.

Make it heard in the palaces.... Now the prophet returns to telling us of the punishment of the kings of Israel specifically according to their since. And since he says "Gd speaks who can not prophecy" it was a call to the prophets to listen and not withhold their prophecy from fear of the people but rather make the word of Gd known in the palaces of Ashdod, in the land of the Philistines. And in the palaces of Egypt meaning tell the leadersa nd kings who dwell in palaces to gather against the Mountain of Shomron to destroy it. This refers to the mountains of Shomron and those around it. Meaning that Gd gave them permission to enter the land and wreak judgement against them. And to see great upheavals in it, referring to the upheavals of the enemeis that come against it and this is the inhabitants of Shomron who would fight and steal from their enemies. And when the pasuk says "they are incapable of doing right" it means that the inhabitants of Shomron were filled with violeance and lawlessness and didn't act according to the straight and narrow and rather filled their palaces with violence and lawlessness. This is what most commentaries explain these pesukim as. But I have a different explanation because the destruction of the 10 tribes did not orccur through Egypt and Ashdod, but rather through the king of Assyria

And therefore I will explain these pesukim in one of two ways. The first way is that this doesn't speak of the enemies coming rather that it will be heard in the palaces of Ashdod that if they are in bands of theives and rebels and the palaces of Egypt that are filled with idols and adultery. It will be said to them to gather on Mt Shomron to see their deeds and their idols and they will without a doubt see the great upheavals in it from these sins and lying, murdering, stealing, adultry and they will see that they are also involved in these as it says "the land is filled with violence" (10) and the inhabitants of Shomron will know that the upheavals have only come as a result of them committing violence and lawlessness in their palaces and the sinners in Ashdod and Egypt will be shocked from the violence in Shomron that all the bad that occured to them and it will be like the pasuk in Jeremiah (2:10) "Just cross over to the isles of the Kittim and look, Send to Kedar and observe carefully; See if aught like this has ever happened:" This is the first explanation for these pesukim. THe second one is...Ashdod is mentioned because the word Ashdod has the word "shod" in it and Egypt because Mitzrayim has the word "tzara" and "metzor" the preophet says let it be heard in their palaces that the Israelites will hear about the "shod" destruction coming to them and the times of "tzara" trouble. And it says about these enemies that htye will gather on Har Shomron to see the upheavals and then they will know that the inhabitantso f Shomron are deserving of these and that Hasehm has decreed this measure for measure on the palaces of Shomron because they were involved in "shod" they will be punished with "shod"

right Heb. נְכֹחָה, meaning ‘straight.’

violence and plunder—I.e, money of plunder.

An adversary, even round about the land—The adversary is prepared to come, and he will come around this land.

As the shepherd saves—I.e, he saves little.

about the nation and tribes and what will be with them, Gd says "just like the shephard saves from the lion only two hindlegs or a piece of an ear, meaning the shephard is only able to rescue the ear piece as a witness that the lion. Similar to the piece needed as witness in (Shemot 22:12). And that matter that only a small piece is saved from the lion and he wasn't able to consume it, to that extent the Israelites who live in Shomron will be saved. Not the warriors and mighty men but rather the sick ones who are bedridden from their illness in the corner of the bed. And from the trouble of the enemy there will remain a small corner of the bed. The meaning of those "dameshek arish" (the piece of the couch) according to the Radak is the prophet repeating himself in different words. The word "damashek" means "corner" and "arish" is a "bed" as you see in other pesukim in the Torah (Yeshaya 33:4). And the two phrases used for the corner of the bed refer to the sick man who is lying in the corner of the bed unable to move (peat hamitah) and the sick man who can't rest because of his pain who is "mesheck" moving and rolling around from side to side of the bed (damashek arish). Rashi says this is referring to what is says about the end of the King of Aram in King Yehoyachaz ben Yehu and Jerobam ben Joash when they were rescued only a remnant (Malachim 2 14:27) and Hashem did not say to destroy the name of Israel and to save them through Jeroban ben Joash." and Hashem return the borders of Israel. THis is the meaning of the corner of the bed. The corner of the bedi n the corner of the house is the strength of the house and therefore refers to the stregnth of Jerobams reign and Amos lived and prophesized during this time. And he prophesized that they would end up reliant on the King of Aram like they were in the days of the King Pekach ben Remalliyahu who joined with them. This is the meanin of "demeshek arish" that their main source of reliance was on Damascus/demeshek.

the cartilage of an ear Heb. בְּדַל. [from Jonathan]

And our Rabbis explain in Seder Olam, Rabbi Nehorai in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua say this is the 10 tribes who relied on Chizkiyahu the king of Judah and remained among them during the days of Assyria conquest. The meaninf of the corner of the bed means that only 1 in 8 Israelites remained and the rest of the remnant was in Damascus (arish demeshek) that is says "I will exile them from here to Damascus" and we see from this that even though the word "damashek" is written with letter "sin" and usually has a "shin" when meaning Damascus I am writing according to the words of our rabbis that even in the correct writings that we have in Spain it has a "sin"

so will the children of Israel... be saved I.e, very few people.

in the corner of a bed or in the corner of a couch Heb. בִּפְאַת מִטָּה וּבִדְמֶשֶׁק עֶרֶשׂ. Jonathan renders: with the strength of rule and trusting in Damascus. I say that the interpretation of the Targum is as follows: Since, in the days of Jehoahaz son of Jehu it is written. (II Kings 13:7) “For the king of Aram had destroyed them,” and Jeroboam his grandson saved them partially, as it is said. (ibid. 14:27) “And the Lord did not speak to eradicate the name of Israel from under the heavens, and He saved them through Jeroboam the son of Joash.” (ibid. verse 25) “He restored the boundary of Israel.” And that is the meaning of ‘in the corner of a bed.’ The corner of a house is the strongest part of the house. Therefore, he translates. ‘with the strength of rule’ of Jeroboam, and Amos prophesied in the days of Jeroboam. He further prophesied that they would eventually rely on the kings of Aram, and so they did in the days of Pekah son of Remaliah. This is the meaning of וּבִדְמֶשֶׁק עֶרֶשׂ, and their couch will be Damascus. Their rest and trust will be on Damascus. And our Sages said in Seder Olam (ch. 22) Rabbi Nehorai said in the name of Rabbi Joshua: These are the ten tribes, which relied on Hezekiah, and on Judah, and escaped with them.

in the corner of a bed—This teaches us that only one eighth of them was left. And the rest of the couch -where was it? In Damascus, to fulfill what is stated: (below 5:27) “And I will exile you beyond Damascus.” And I heard in the name of Rabbi Menahem of blessed memory, that he explained. This is one eighth, since it is not stated. “the corner of;” but “in the corner of a bed,” in part of it, in one of the two ends of a corner. That is an eighth of the bed, for it has four corners, and two ends of each corner. [This is Rabbi Menahem’s explanation of Seder Olam ch. 22. This is probably Rabbi Menahem ben Helbo, the author of Pithronim.] Another explanation I found in the words of Rabbi Meir of blessed memory, as follows: In the corner of a bed—Because of the sin of Ahaziah son of Ahab, who sent to inquire “of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this illness” (I Kings 1:2). and in Damascus is the couch—Ben-hadad, king of Aram, sent to inquire of the God of Israel (ibid. ch. 8).

the winter house with the summer house—Since they were delicate, the wealthy people would build for themselves two houses, one for the winter and one for the summer.

ivory houses—Which are paneled with ivory. [from Jonathan]