ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף עמוס 6:1

The second prophecy begins with the pasuk "listen you cows of Bashan" and goes until "Gd showed me the locusts He was creating... (Amos 7:1). And it has 8 sections to it. The first is "listen cows of Bashan" (Amos 4:1). The second is "therefore I will do thus to you" (Amos 4:12). The third is "listen to this matter that I am bringing upon you as a dirge" (Amos 5:1). The fourth is "because thus said Gd to the house of Israel" (Amos 5:4). The fifth is "thus said Gd the Host of Legions" (Amos 5:16). The sixth is "Woe to those who wish for the day of the Lord" (Amos 5:18). The seventh is "Those who are at ease in Zion" (Amos 6:1). The eight is "For the Lord will command" (Amos 6:11). And about these I have six questions. ...

Job pours great scorn (Ezekiel 23:32) on Zophar's philosophical method, that by which he had determined that since we possess knowledge only by reason of our senses as they apprehend the exterior of things, and we do not perceive the reality of things as they are in themselves, it is conceivable that though a person may appear to be righteous according to our sense perception, he is in truth wicked and is deserving of perdition and torment by reference to his inner spiritual essence. Is there anything more ludicrous, asks Job, than that a person who appears to be virtuous in all his acts and beyond suspicion, should be told that he does not really know his own mind or its intrinsic state, in terms of which he may be both wicked, and a sinner, and deserving of misfortunes? (Job 12:5), Is it conceivable that God created man in such an evil and bitter manner (Jeremiah 2:19) for scorn and for ridicule (Ezekiel 23:32); so that his calm and secure thoughts (Amos 6:1) about his righteousness are as a burning torch inside him (Isaiah 62:1) heaping coals of fire (Proverbs 25:22) and mockery on his head? For not knowing his soul (Proverbs 14:9) nor trusting his life (Job 24:22), he is perhaps a criminal and guilty, but does not know it! (Ch.12:3-4).

מראשית כל פרי האדמה אשר תביא מארצך, the choicest of each category. [the word ראשית is not understood as “first.” Ed] We find the term ראשית used in this sense in Amos 6,6 וראשית שמנים ימשחו, “they anoint themselves with the choicest oils.” In verse 1 of the same chapter we read נקובי ראשית הגויים, “the ones known as the choicest of the nations. ” These “choicest” fruit are the seven types of produce for which the Land of Israel is famous, and this is why we have been commanded already in Exodus 23,19 to offer samples of these in the Temple. The gift known as ביכורים is not literally the fist ripe produce of each of these seven species, but the ones that grow on the best soil the farmer has so that it is truly also his choicest. The seven categorise of produce have been enumerated in Deut. 8,8-9.