Комментарий к Амос 9:7

Are you not like the children of the Cushites to Me—Why should I refrain from exacting retribution upon you since you do not return to Me? Have you not come from the sons of Noah like the other nations? Like the Cushites whom you resemble, as the matter is stated: (Jer. 13:22) “Will a Cushite change his skin…? So will you be able to improve.”

The final prophecy begins in this pasuk and goes until the end of Sefer Amos. And it has two parts to it. The first "you are unto Me like the Cushite" and the second "behold days are coming". I have six questions.

Did I not—Was it not out of My goodness, the beginning of My choosing you, My taking you out of the land of Egypt? Now what is that to Me? The Philistines, too, I took out of Caphtor in such a manner when the Caphtorites came upon the Avvites, as the matter is stated (Deut. 2:23) “And the Avvites who lived in open towns up to Gaza etc.” They vanquished also the people of Gaza and the remaining lords of the Philistines under them, and I took them out of their hands, and, even so, I did not make them My people.

The first questions is on the words "Did I not take Israel up from the land of Egypt and the Philistines from Caftor and Aram from Kir" If the purpose of this statement is to tell about the kindness that Gd did for Israel when He took them from Egypt and then mentions that He acted similarly for the other nations, does this decrease the degree of kindness for Israel.

and Aram from Kir—And so am I destined to bring Aram up from Kir, where Sennacherib will exile them, and, at the end of days, when the kingdom of Assyria will terminate, they will go out.

THe second question is about that the Philistines and Caftor are brothers which we know from the geneology of the seventy nations in Breishit 10:14 and Jeremiah 47:4 mentions the PHilistins and Caftor in the same verse. If they are indeed one nation, how did Hashem take the Philistines out of Caftor as if the Caftors had exiled the PHilistines there.

The third questions about Aram and Kir. When this prophecy was given, Aram had not yet been exiled because they were exiled in the days Achaz by the king of Assyria to Kir (Kings 2 16:9), so this was in fact a prophecy about the exile of Aram as well. And the Philistine exile was during Tzidkiyahu days more than 130 years later so how come it is told in past tense like it already happened.

The fourth question, "Behold Gd's Eyes are on the sinful kingdom and I will destroy them" if this is about the Kingdom of Efraim, like the commentaries say, why is told right afterwards "but I will not destroy the house of Jacob" when the kingdom of Efraim was from the house of Jacob. Doesn't one phrase contridict the other.

The fifth quesion "I will shake the house of Israel among the nations like one shakes a sieve and not a pebble falls to the ground" makes it seem like not one will be lost or dead. And immediately after it is contradicted by saying "and all the sinners in My nation will die".

The sixth question "the sinners of My nation will die" is followed by "I will restore the fallen sukkah of Dovid" is switching from telling about bad and teling about good. How can they take place at the same time. I will now explain everything according to these questions.

The overarching theme of the prophecy is to tell us that the children of Israel are all from the seed of Jacob and are servants of Gd and His aquirement and children of His house and therefore He took them from Egypt to be His servants and has not done this to other nations to attach Himself to any other nation from the nations of the world and to single out His actions towards them. Therefore when a nation corrupts its ways it brings total destruction. This was not done to Israel that even though they sinned, He did reject them completely but rather brought them to a wandering exile for many years. And then the end of the exile is mentioned and the time of the ingathering of the exiles that throughout the many wanderings the sinners and the rebellious died. And afterwards, He will restore the fallen sukkah of Dovid and gather the scattered of Israel and Judah from the four corners of the land and appoint on them a king from house of Dovid and they will inherit the remainder of Edom and the nations that had destroyed them. And they will be blessed wth the produce of the land as they had previously and be returned to their land with no further exiles until the end of the world like these pesukim explain.

"Are you not like the Kushim... until the end o the sefer. The commentaries explain this prophecy as a rebuke to the kings of Israel. But I see that there are inconsistencies in their explanations. I will choose and explain in a different way sometimes using the commentaries and sometimes not. But always first quoting the commentries. And in my opnion, this prophecy is actually is a comfort to Bnei Israel and Bnei Judah against the bad tidings that are delivered above. The meaning of Bnei Cushim is that Hashem tells His nation that they are like the Cush son of Ham who was cursed to be slaves to their masters eternally and likewise Israel is slaves to Me eternally which was decided when I took you from Egypt and acquired you with My Strong Hand. And if you say that I also took out the PHilistines and Aram and other nations that had ruled them for extended times and did not make them My servants, well the Philistines dwell in Azah and the Avim and Caftorim came to them and destoryed them like it says Devarim 2:23 prior to the Exodus and this is a parable to the past. The prophet gives a parable in the future of Aaram using the future tense, since Aram was exiled by the king o Assyria and they came out of the exile. And if this is the normal way of the world that one nation has power over another and rules it for a time and afterwards is released from that nations hand. therefore what significance does Israle have to Hashem. therfore in the next pasuk, Hashem answers the question about PHilistines and Aram and says that "behold Hashem's Eyes are on on this sinful kingdom" and this is not about the kingsom of Efraim but rather to differentiate Israel from the nations that are distinguished by Hahsme's love to them and His guarding them in an extra way. Meaning that typically a nation sins beore Him and He destroys them utterly, because Gd's Eyes are on a sinful kingdom that corrupts its ways and Hashem takes notices and destoys it from the earth. Do we knot see that many nations that are mentioned in the Torah and in the books of Divrei Hayamim taht are about the nations who were destoyed without a trace but Israel is not that way that rather despite having sinned, "I will not destory the house of Jacob..." That een though they rebelled against Me I will restore your descendants like it says in Medrash Tanchuma (Nitzavim 1:1) "don't rejoice my enemeis on me" whenever Gd sees ways of sinners they have no way to stand against Him like with the generations of the flood and the peopel of Sodom and Egypt and Babylon and the rest about them Dovid Hamelech says in Tehillim "there fell the doers of sin, they fall and were unable to rise" But Israel if they fall they rise Rav Chanina bar Papa says that Hashem never destoryed a nation and then changed His Mind but Israel I will not destroy meaning it will be an eternal nation enduring through Godly Eternity and this not done to other nations

and he brings a proof of this from the time of the ingathering that Israel will be wandering in the desert of the nations that it says "I led them from nation to nation, kingdom to kingdom" and despite this all they weren't able, rather the sinners and rebellious among them died ndd the rest of the nation merited redeption. This explains pasuk 9 "behold I am commanding and the house of Israel will be shaken among the nations..." Just like in a sieve, the grain is scattered and moves from side to side without rest, so too you will wander. But despite all this you won't be completely destroyed, which is the meaning of the "pebble will not fall to the ground". The commentaries explain that the pebble is the righteous men and the dust that falls out is the wicked ones. And Rashi writes that the pasuk says that not a pebble will fall from the orce of the movement. But to me it seems that the meaning is that the word "tzarur" (which the commentaries translate as pebble meaning tzadik) is from the meaning of the word to "bind" and gather like the word is used in Deutoronomy 14:25 and Exodus 12:36 and like the word "tzur" from the same root means a siege because the enemy "gathers" around the city. So here it alludes to the ingathering of Israel, because the prophet said "only I will not utterly destroy the house of Israel" meaning that when a small item is in a sieve but it is attached to other items, it will not fall and be lost. The next pasuk (Amos 9:10) but the wicked will die because of the same movement and upheaval. Each man will die from his sin. And this is the meaning of "by the sword, will perish the sins of my nation". The wicked gave up hope from the troubles and said that the bad wasnt coming in an accerlated and "supernatural" way and was rather a happenstance but not as a result of our wayward deeds. This is all speaking about the birth pangs of the Messiah and the ingathering of exiles. Which is in line with the navi Ezekiel 20: 39 that the sinners will be cleansed from you and also similar to the Abarbenel commentary on Hosea.

And it's also possible to explain the phrase "I command and the house of Israel will be shaken..." about the total exile (not just the birth pangs/ingathering) that Gd will not destroy Israel because of sin but rather will shake out them among the exile and the sinners wll fall. And afterwards (Amos 9:11) "on that day" meaning to say at that time that is auspcious towards Me for the redemption, "I will raise up the fallen sukkah of Dovid..." An alternative meaning of "on that day" is that at that time when the sinners will be finished because of the movement of the exile, I will raise the fallen sukkah of Dovid. And if you say it will not be raised as Amos said earlier "fallen and will not rise is the virgin daughter or Israel" this means, she will not rise on her own and will not have a king from the shvatim. But now, Gd will raise the sukkah of Dovid that fell in the days of Jerobam and will appoint a king from the house of Dovid Hamelech on His people. And the "fall" of the house of Dovid began during the first Temple era with the splitting of the 10 tribes into a separate kingdom. ANd during the second Temple there was no king from the house of David. Rather the Hasmoneans and Herod's house were the rulers. Therefore the prophet Amos says "I will mend its breaches" the breaches are the kings that the ten tribes set up for themsleves during the first Temple era. And regarding the second Temple "I will rebuild its ruins" ruins indicate a total destruction (as opposed to breaches) because during that era there was no Davidic rule on any of the tribes. And then the pasuk continues "I will build it like the days of yore" as strong and grounded as it was in the past. And I already explained earlier in this pasuk a different and correct explain that the word "et' in "et sukkat" is used similarly to the word "et" in Shemot 1:1 where it means "with". That along "with" the rebuilding of Dovid's sukah, Gd will also raise the fallen, who refer to the tribes of Israel (called fallen by Amos above) . And sukkat Dovid therefore refers to the tribes of Judah. And about both groups the prophet says "I will repair their breaches" about the house of Dovid, I will rebuilt the ruins, beacuse the 10 tribes will be restored to Davidic rule. And the sukkah in this case refers to Jerusalem which will be complete like the days of yore (Psalms 76:3)