flOfT'Upted 11'8 compaenon,; Le. did violence oonneotion with Hamel (2 Klngii 'Viii. 12) to bis nature.I feelings. Bo Ezek. xxviii. in concert with whom probably the Am: 17, "Thou ho.et corrupted thy wisdom," monitee acted (comp. 2 Kings xv. 16; Hos. perverted it from its proper end. The LXX. xiii. 16). Another rendering would refer gives, h,vµ:fwa:ro µ,11-rlpa (µ:f,-rpav, Alex.) i1rl the clause to the removing of landmarks, 'Yiir, "did violence to the mother that bare and yet a. third to the storming of lofty them." On this Jerome remarks, "Pro fortresses. But the Authorized Version is un- misericordia. Beptuaginta. vulva.m transtn• doubtedly correct. That they might enlarge lerunt, ducti 11mbiguitate verborum, quia. re- their border. The Ammonites laid claim to hem et vulvam et misericordia.m significa.t." the territory which the Israeli tea bad wrested Did tear, as a. wild beast tears his prey. So from Sihon, lying between the Amon o.nd in Job xvi. 9, where the ea.me word is used, Ja.bbok, and made a.n attempt upon it in the "He bath torn me in hie wre.th" (comp. time of Jephthah (Judg. xi.), and io later Hos. vi. 1). And he kept his wrath for years seized on the possessions of Gad-a. ever; more literally, and its fury it (Edom) proceeding which brought upon them the 'keeps for etier. The quo.rrels of relations denunciation of Jeremiah (xlix. 2-6). are proverbially bitter. Arist., 'Polit.,' vii Ver. 14.-llabba.h, "the Great," or Rab- 7, "0Be11 etp11-ra,, xaAe1rol ')'ap 1r&>..eµ,01 u6e>..• bath-.Ammon, tbe cnpita.l of Ammon, was ,p&11, 1tal 6l -ro, 1rlpa u-r,p{1JJ1Tu, ol 6~ 1tal 1rlpa situated on the southern arm of the Jabbok, ,.. uovuw (p. 193, Bekk.). and wa.e a. place of remarkable strength (see Ver. 12.-Teman is the region of ldu.mma, Deut. iii. 11 ; 2 Sam. xi. 1 ; xii. 26, etc. ; of which Bozra.h is the capital. Both 1 Chron. xx. 1-3). "For picturesqueness Jerome and Ensebius (' Onome.st.') speak of situation, I know of no ruins to compare of a city so called not fo.r from Petra; bnt with Ammon. Tbe most striking feature is in the Old Testament the name is applied the cite.de!, which formerly contained not to a district; and as the word in Hebrew merely the garrison, but an upper town, means "south," it is probably the southern and covered an extensive area.. The lofty portion of the land of Edom. Bozrah (hod. plateau on which it was situated i:i triangular Busaireh) was the old capital of Edom, in shape; two sides o.re formed by tho situated on a hill south of the Dead Sea. valleys which diverge from the apex, where (eee Gen. xxxvi. 33; Isa. xxxiv. 6). Jere- they a.re divided by a. low neck, and thence miah (xlix. 17) predicts the punishment of separating, fall into the valley of the Ja.b- Edom, and Ezekiel (xxv. 12-14) does like- bok, which forms the ha.so of the triangle, wise. The monologue of Obadiah has been and conta.ioed the lower town. Climbing already referred to. The instrument of up the citadel, we can trece the remains of vengeanoe in the present case was N ebu- the moat, and, crossing it, find ourselves in chadnezza.r, though it suffered much at the a mo.ze of ruins. The massive wo.lls-the hands of other enemies, as the Na.bathmo.ns lower parts of which still remain, and which, and Maccabeee. rising from the precipitous sides of the cliff, Vera. 13-15.-The judgment on Ammon. rendered any attempt o.t scaliog impossible- Ver. 13.-Ammon was connected with were evidently Ammonite. As I leo.nt over Israel e.e being sprung from Lot, and to- them o.ud looked sheer down a.bout three gether with Moa.b, which had the ea.me hundred feet into one wo.dy, and four hun- origin, retaioed the stamp of its incestuous dred feet into the other, I did oot wonder nt birth in habits, cha.ro.cter, and worship its having occurred to Kiog Daviu tho.t the (Gen. xix. 30, etc.). The Ammonites seem leader of a. forlorn hope o.gaiost these ram- to ho.ve been o. predo.tory and roving nation, parts would meet with certain death, and though the abundance of ruins in the dis- consequently assigning the position to Uriith. trict shows that they po9sessed fixed a.bodes: . . . Joab o.fterwa.rds took the lower city, but Re.bbah wo.s the only city of importance which he oolled • tbe city of we.tell!,' indi- in their territory (2 Sam. xi. 1). Their cating very probably thut the J e.bbok wo.a hostility to Isruel WIUI first shown in their dammed into a. lake near the lower city, to participo.tion with Moa.b iu the affair of which the conformation of the valley would Balao.m (Deut. xxiii. 4). Other instances lend itself" (Oliphant, • Land of Gilead,' 11.re seen in their treatmeot of Jo.besh-Gilea.d p. 259, etc.). There is a sketch of the citadel- (1 So.m. xi. 1--3) 11.nd of David's messengers, hill iu the • Dictiooa.ry of the Bible,' ii. o.nd in hiring the Syrians to mo.ke wo.r on 985. The city was takeu by Nebuoho.d- David (2 Sam. x. 1-6). We have no his- nezz11r (Jer. xxvii. 3, 6; xlix. 2, 3), either torical account of the 11.trocious oulruge on a.t the time of the destruction of J erusalcm, the Gilca.dites mentioned in the text, but it or in the course of his Egyptian ca.mpaigu is quite in character with the ferocity of (Josephus,' Ant.,' x. 9. 7). 'l'hu expression, their disposition, o.ud was doubtless iotcnded I will kindle a fire (not "send,'' o.s else- to depopulo.te the territory which they wished where), possibly implies, as Pusey suggests to acquire. This barbarity is spoken of in a conlia.gra.tion from within. The shouting 6 Tm!} BOOK OP AMOS. [oB, I, 1-16,
is the battle-cry of the opposing host, which "For Malcam elmll go into oaplivity, his adds to the horror of the scene (Job uxix. priests and his priucee together' (Jer. xii.JC. 25). With a tempest. The idea is that 8); and the other (xlviii. 7) ie similar, with the walls !hould fall before the invaders, as the substitution of " Ohemoeh," the god of if they were tents swept away in II whirl-wind. Moab, for " Mo.loam." That the localized Ver. 15.-Their king; Septuagint, oi {3a.- deity should sho.re the fortunes of his wo• <T<"-•is a./,ri)s. So Keil, Trochon, aud others shippers is quite in accordance with th~ consider that the King of the Ammonites is ideas of the time (comp. lea. xlvi. 11 2). meant. The Vnlgate, with Aquila, Sym- Probably Amoe meant to include both machns, the Syriac, and Jerome, ret.a.ins the notions-their "Malcam," whether king or word l\lelchoUB, or Melcham, which is the god, should be carried into captivity, accom- same as Molecb, their god. This interpre- panied by the prinoee, all the ohiefe, military tation is favoured by passages in Jeremiah, and sacerdotal, so that no one should be left of which one is evidently quoted from Amos, to head a future revolt.