Chapter 5 of Amos opens with a lamentation. The Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, says: Since you refuse to return to Me - hear this dirge. A "kinah" is a lament recited in mourning, and indeed the expressions in this chapter are exceedingly harsh. Yet, as we shall see, even within the sharpest lamentation lies a repeated call: "Seek Me and live."
שִׁמְעוּ אֶת־הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי נֹשֵׂא עֲלֵיכֶם קִינָה בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - Hear this word which I take up as a lamentation over you, O house of Israel.
נָפְלָה לֹא־תוֹסִיף קוּם בְּתוּלַת יִשְׂרָאֵל נִטְּשָׁה עַל־אַדְמָתָהּ אֵין מְקִימָהּ׃ - The virgin of Israel has fallen, she shall rise no more; she is cast down upon her land, there is none to raise her up.
This prophecy was fulfilled when the Ten Tribes were exiled in the days of Hoshea the son of Elah. From that time on they rose no more - meaning, they never returned. The Ten Tribes are missing from us to this very day and have not yet returned. "She is cast down upon her land" - like something discarded, shattered, and abandoned across the open field, with no one to pick it up.
However, Radak cautions: do not understand "she shall rise no more" as meaning forever, for that would imply, Heaven forbid, that the Ten Tribes are lost forever. Rather, it means for an extended period of time. And how does he know this? From other sources throughout Tanach. Regarding Aram, it says, "And the bands of Aram came no more into the land of Israel," yet immediately afterward it states that Ben-hadad gathered all his host and went up against the land of Israel. Similarly, "And the king of Egypt did not come anymore out of his land," yet later it says, "And Pharaoh's army came out of Egypt." Thus, "no more" can mean for that era, not forever. So too here: "The virgin of Israel has fallen, she shall rise no more" refers to the prolonged era in which we, regrettably, still find ourselves; but in the future to come, she will certainly rise again. There is no doubt that the people of Israel are destined to be redeemed.
Someone once asked the Malbim: It says, "The glory of this latter House shall be greater than that of the first." If the Second Temple is called "the latter" (ha-acharon), that implies there is no Third Temple. How can you say that a Third Temple will be built in the future? To ask such a question to the Malbim is to court trouble! The Malbim replied: Have you ever studied Chumash? Have you studied Bereishit? The answer to your question is already there. It is written: "And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost (acharonim)" - behold, a "latter" that is followed by yet another "latter"! "Acharon" does not necessarily denote the absolute end, just as people say, "the last is the most beloved." The Second Temple was called "latter," and after it will come another "latter" - the Third Temple. So too with "she shall rise no more": during that historical era they would rise no more, but in the future to come, they certainly will.
The Malbim explains the precise wording of the verse. A person who experiences a minor, harmless fall stumbles and gets right back up on his own. But someone who suffers a catastrophic fall cannot easily rise by himself; people nearby must come and help him up. Here, two things are stated: "She shall rise no more" - her fall is so severe that she cannot stand up on her own; "she is cast down upon her land, there is none to raise her up" - and her neighbors and allies do not come to her aid either, leaving her abandoned with no one to support or raise her.
The application of the parable is clear: In earlier days, whenever the people of Israel fell, a recovery followed. They fell again, and they regained their strength again. Sometimes they required assistance and support, but ultimately they rose. This was the pattern in the days of the Judges: they did evil in the eyes of Hashem, He brought enemies upon them, and then He raised up a judge who delivered them from the hand of their oppressors; they repented and remained in the Land. But here, the Creator says, "she shall rise no more" - here in the Land they will no longer rise; rather, reality will become one of exile.
And why is she called "the virgin of Israel"? Radak explains: She was considered a virgin as long as foreign masters had not ruled over her. Until now, no one held dominion over her, but from now on she will, as it were, lose that status, in that she will be exiled among the nations and the nations will rule over the People of Israel.
כִּי כֹה אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה הָעִיר הַיֹּצֵאת אֶלֶף תַּשְׁאִיר מֵאָה וְהַיּוֹצֵאת מֵאָה תַּשְׁאִיר עֲשָׂרָה לְבֵית יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - For thus said the Lord Hashem: The city that goes forth with a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which goes forth with a hundred shall have ten left, for the House of Israel.
Here he explains "she shall rise no more": they will have no rising on their own. Come and see - a city that used to send out a thousand men to the army will now send out only a hundred, for ninety percent have already died. And a city that sent out a hundred will send out only ten. "The city" here refers to the people of the city who send forth soldiers from among themselves. Naturally, they have no further possibility of rising.
כִּי כֹה אָמַר יְהֹוָה לְבֵית יִשְׂרָאֵל דִּרְשׁוּנִי וִחְיוּ׃ - For thus said Hashem to the House of Israel: Seek Me and live.
Now the verse explains to us why there is no one to raise her up. Do not think it is because the Holy One, blessed is He, no longer desires them - that until now He cared for them and therefore raised them up and helped them, and now He has turned into their enemy and therefore she rises no more. The Holy One, blessed is He, says to them: I still desire you, and I still say to you, "Seek Me and live." If you seek Me, that is, return to Me, you will live. Rashi explains "Seek Me" - go on pilgrimage to pay your vows in Jerusalem. And the Malbim explains that this is stated in contrast to what He told them about only one in ten remaining: if you seek Hashem, you will have long life.
וְאַל־תִּדְרְשׁוּ בֵּית־אֵל וְהַגִּלְגָּל לֹא תָבֹאוּ וּבְאֵר שֶׁבַע לֹא תַעֲבֹרוּ כִּי הַגִּלְגָּל גָּלֹה יִגְלֶה וּבֵית־אֵל יִהְיֶה לְאָוֶן׃ - But do not seek Beit El, nor enter Gilgal, and do not pass over to Be'er Sheva; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Beit El shall become naught.
Notice the variation in phrasing: regarding Beit El it says "do not seek," regarding Gilgal "do not enter," while regarding Be'er Sheva - "do not pass over," not even to pass through. Why? Rashi cites a Midrash that there was no idolatry in Be'er Sheva itself. Rather, as long as one of the members of the ten tribes set out to seek - and seeking could mean Hashem or, l'havdil, idolatry - and had not yet crossed Be'er Sheva, one could still say he might turn toward Jerusalem, since there is a road from there leading to Jerusalem. But once one crossed Be'er Sheva, from there the path led directly to the golden calf in Beit El or to the calf in Dan, as the verse says, "By the life of your god, O Dan!" Therefore it says specifically "and do not pass over to Be'er Sheva" - for if you crossed it, it is already clear where you are heading. And here we also resolve a difficulty: we have no record of a calf in Be'er Sheva. Calves were in Beit El and Dan, and in Gilgal we saw there were transgressions. Rather, Be'er Sheva was a crossroads - if you crossed it, you were going to the calves; if you did not cross it, you could still go to Jerusalem.
"For Gilgal shall surely go into exile [galoh yigleh]" - you have surely noticed the wordplay: Gilgal, galoh yigleh. "And Beit El shall become naught [l'aven]" - Rashi says: its curse corresponds to its name. Adjacent to Beit El was a town called Beit Aven, and the prophet tells it that it will become aven. And what is aven? Something devoid of substance, falsehood, and futility. In other words, nothing will remain of them.
The Malbim recalls what we saw earlier, that they would proclaim: "Come to Beit El and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression!" These were the places where they committed sins. And at Gilgal they engaged in idolatry specifically because Gilgal had been a place of divine revelation. And this is a rule: wherever there was a divine revelation, the nations would come and build a house of idolatry there, so that through the power of the place's sanctity they could draw the faithful to themselves. Just as Islam built its mosque on the Temple Mount, and just as they took control of Joseph's Tomb, the Cave of Machpelah, and all the places sacred to us.
This is comparable to a person who opened a business and a shop, and eventually closed it down - and immediately a shrewd merchant rushes to open the exact same business in that very spot, in order to create the impression that the well-known, reputable shop is now him. This is precisely what they did: to attract clients, they established their places of worship specifically in locations where holiness had already rested previously. The prophet warns them about this: do not seek these places, for they are what caused only one in ten of you to remain. You used to seek Beit El - seek Hashem! This is the meaning of "Seek Me and live," and not seeking places where one is distanced from Hashem.
דִּרְשׁוּ אֶת־יְהֹוָה וִחְיוּ פֶּן־יִצְלַח כָּאֵשׁ בֵּית יוֹסֵף וְאָכְלָה וְאֵין־מְכַבֶּה לְבֵית־אֵל׃ - Seek Hashem and live, lest He break out like fire, O house of Yosef, and devour, and there be none to quench it for Beit-El.
Earlier it was said to them, "And you were like a brand plucked from the burning" - you still had a chance to be saved, like a piece of wood rescued from a blaze, and yet "you did not return to Me." Now he tells them: Do you know what could happen? This burning brand will be completely consumed. "The house of Yosef" refers to Ephraim, the tribe of Yarov'am ben Nevat, which is why the Ten Tribes are called by the name of Ephraim - because their first king was from Ephraim. "And devour, and there be none to quench it" - nothing will remain of them.
Beyond that, the Malbim explains, there is an allusion here to a matter we mentioned several times in Sefer Hoshea as well. In the days of Hoshea ben Elah, a rebellion broke out, and why? Because Hoshea ben Elah abolished the worship of the golden calves. All those factions who resented this abolition fought against him; they slandered him to the king of Assyria, claiming he was conspiring with the king of Egypt, and as a result the king came and exiled them all. It turns out that they themselves caused their own exile, for they fought against a king who had actually begun to do good, abolished the calves, and opened the possibility of going up to the Beit HaMikdash.
This is the meaning of "Lest He break out like fire, O house of Yosef" - this is not a fire from without, but from within themselves. It was an internal war that destroyed them: the opponents of Hoshea ben Elah, those wicked people who wanted to continue the idolatry in Beit El, fought against him, and the internal strife consumed them. They fought against each other, Ephraim against Menasheh and Menasheh against Ephraim, in the words of Yeshayahu in chapter 9: "And the people were as fuel for fire; no man spared his brother... Menasheh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Menasheh." This is "the house of Yosef" - Ephraim and Menasheh. And just as fire spreads, with one log igniting the one beside it, so they ignited one another and devoured one another. Hashem says to them: I am still giving you an opportunity - "Seek Hashem and live," lest you yourselves become the cause of your own downfall.
And what is the meaning of "yitzlach"? The Malbim explains: The success of fire occurs when it finds wood, burns it, and accomplishes its task. When there is no wood, it dies out, and that is not success. "Lest it succeed like fire" means that the fire will burn and succeed in its destructive work. So too in other places: "No weapon formed against you shall prosper (yitzlach)," "And an evil spirit from God descended mightily (vatitzlach)..." - anything that accomplishes its work is described with the root tzalach.
הַהֹפְכִים לְלַעֲנָה מִשְׁפָּט וּצְדָקָה לָאָרֶץ הִנִּיחוּ׃ - You who turn justice to wormwood, and cast down righteousness to the earth.
Here he gives them an additional reason why they have fallen with no one to raise them up. The existence of the Jewish people depends on two things: justice (mishpat) and righteousness (tzedakah). "Justice" refers to mitzvot between man and his fellow man, that all earthly matters be conducted with integrity, without theft and without oppression. "Righteousness" is related to tzaddik, meaning to be righteous in the service of Hashem, rather than in the sense of giving charity, as in "and it shall be righteousness unto you" and "righteous is Hashem, the mouth declares" - these are matters between man and the Omnipresent (bein adam laMakom). Success depends on both together. If the Jewish people are faithful and upright in matters between man and his fellow, and serve Hashem in matters between man and the Omnipresent, they endure. But if one of them is missing - they are decent in interpersonal relations but not towards Heaven, or vice versa - that itself is a tragedy that can lead even to exile.
"You who turn justice to wormwood" - wormwood is a bitter substance. Justice administered with honesty and fairness is sweet; distorted justice is as bitter as wormwood. "And cast down righteousness to the earth" - when a person serves Hashem, his good deeds ascend to heaven; but when he abandons the service of Hashem, righteousness remains on earth, in worldliness.
A story is told of a man who walked into a synagogue where the congregants were talking during prayer - in short, it was more a gathering of scoffers than a synagogue. He said to them: "I walk in here and feel that this place is truly full of holiness." They were astonished: "Really? That is not exactly what this place is known for." He replied: "Understand, everywhere else that someone prays, the prayer ascends to heaven, but here it does not even pass the ceiling; everything stays inside. Therefore, the place remains full of holiness, because nothing has left." And this is "and cast down righteousness to the earth": their mitzvot do not ascend to heaven, and if they ever do anything good, it is out of worldly self-interest, because they gain something from it here, and not out of a desire to fulfill the will of God.
עֹשֵׂה כִימָה וּכְסִיל וְהֹפֵךְ לַבֹּקֶר צַלְמָוֶת וְיוֹם לַיְלָה הֶחְשִׁיךְ הַקּוֹרֵא לְמֵי־הַיָּם וַיִּשְׁפְּכֵם עַל־פְּנֵי הָאָרֶץ יְהֹוָה שְׁמוֹ׃ - He Who makes Kimah and Kesil, Who turns the shadow of death into morning and darkens day into night, Who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth - Hashem is His Name.
Some of the expressions here are obscure, and the context is not immediately obvious. Rashi notes that Chazal expound this verse as referring to the generation of Enosh, upon whom the Holy One, blessed be He, flooded the waters of the ocean. Let us begin with Radak. Kimah and Kesil are constellations, and the verse comes to show how the Holy One, blessed be He, creates opposites, one thing and its antithesis. During the summer days, Hashem turns darkness into light - in winter sunset is already at five, while in summer it is still light at eight; the days are long and the nights are short. In the winter, the reverse occurs: He turns light into darkness. This is the meaning of "Who turns the shadow of death into morning" - tzalmavet (the shadow of death) is the night, the shadow of night and the darkness of death - "and darkens day into night." Consider how the Holy One, blessed be He, brings about opposites, and this very dynamic is necessary for the world's existence and maintenance.
So too, "Who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth." Radak explains here how clouds are formed: the sea evaporates, forming clouds, and the clouds bring down rain. But ostensibly, sea water is salty while rain is fresh water - how does this wonder occur? When water evaporates, the salts settle and remain below, while the lighter water rises. Today, desalination plants are built on this very principle. Thus, the Holy One, blessed be He, takes salty water and transforms it, through the clouds, into water fit for drinking. "Who calls for the waters of the sea" - He summons them into the heavens and into the clouds; "and pours them over the face of the earth" - irrigating it with fresh water. Hashem transforms negative elements into goodness, whereas you turn Hashem's good judgments into evil and act contrary to His command. That is the indictment against them.
Malbim explains: they turn sweet into bitter; they turn heavenly bliss into something mundane, and they subvert the orders that Hashem instituted for the world's success and sustenance. Come and see that the Holy One, blessed be He, arranged the world in the best possible way: "He Who makes Kimah and Kesil" - two constellations, two star clusters that are opposites. Kesil brings heat and dryness, while Kimah brings cold and water. Chazal said: Were it not for the heat of Kesil, the world could not endure the chill of Kimah. Kimah radiates cold, and the heat of Kesil creates the balance.
There is also a Midrash that when the Holy One, blessed be He, brought the Flood, He took two stars from Kimah and with them brought the deluge upon the world. It is also written that during the year of the Flood there was darkness, and the heavenly luminaries did not function (or according to some, they functioned but their light was not discernible), and Noach possessed a precious stone that illuminated the Ark for him.
A lecture by Dr. Avraham Levy of the Arachim organization pointed out that scientists broadly agree that a catastrophic flood occurred - the existence of the Flood itself is widely supported, documented not only in Judaism but across various ancient cultures, along with geological evidence from fossils and rock strata showing that water once covered arid deserts and distant lands. How do scientists explain the flood? The Earth was once rotating along a different axis, and following the impact of two meteorites, it shifted off course, becoming more tilted and flattened at the poles, altering its rotational pattern. This aligns strikingly with Chazal's account: scientists point to two meteorite impacts, and Chazal state that Hashem took two stars from Kimah and Kesil. Scientists also suggest that the impact ruptured the Earth's crust, causing lava and scalding water to surge upward from beneath, and this extreme heat generated massive steam and dense cloud cover that unleashed rain for an extended period, while thick soot blocked out sunlight. All this accords directly with Chazal's teachings that the luminaries did not serve for an entire year, and that the Holy One, blessed be He, judged the generation with scalding water from below and cold waters from above.
From here we also understand the role of Kesil: it preserves the order of creation so that the waters do not overwhelm and inundate the earth, for it provides heat and dryness. Today, unfortunately, Kesil's influence has grown even stronger: we witness entire ice shelves breaking off from Antarctica, and massive glaciers drifting into warmer waters and melting. As they melt, sea levels rise, threatening a dramatic shift across the globe - coastal cities and low-lying areas risk being submerged. Even today, there are islands documented by pilots twenty or thirty years ago that are no longer visible, completely submerged beneath the rising waters.
The same applies to "Who turns the shadow of death into morning": Hashem, Who created light, transformed the shadow of death into morning; a time that should have been night He made into morning. All these are examples of how the Holy One, blessed be He, takes what appears negative and transforms it into good. But because you commit evil, Hashem will do the reverse. Just as He created Kesil so that the harshness of Kimah would not prevail to bring a flood upon the world, now the opposite will occur: "Who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth" - He will summon the waters of the sea and pour them over the land, a kind of flood.
The Holy One, blessed be He, swore never to bring another global flood, but He did not swear against a tsunami. Indeed, we saw with the generation of Enosh that He flooded them with the waters of the ocean. We have no guarantee against localized inundations; the promise was only that there would never be a universal Flood. Thus, when you corrupt your ways and turn Hashem's good mitzvot into something perceived as bad, claiming that they burden you and that you do not want them, Hashem says: I, too, will turn the good things I have created in the world into something harmful against you.
הַמַּבְלִיג שֹׁד עַל־עָז וְשֹׁד עַל־מִבְצָר יָבוֹא׃ - "He who strengthens ruin over the strong, and ruin comes upon the fortress."
What is the meaning of hamavlig? Rashi explains that it denotes strengthening and overpowering, as in "When I would comfort myself (mavlighiti) against sorrow" (Yirmiyahu 8:18), which means overcoming, and like "that I may recover strength (ve'avligah) a little" (Iyov 10:20). Even today, we use the term havlagah (restraint), which signifies self-mastery: I want to react, but I restrain myself. And according to Rashi, shod refers to a victim of robbery, a weak person. In other words, Hashem empowers the plundered victim over the mighty. This is contrary to nature, for the mighty always rule over the plundered and the weak. "And ruin comes upon the fortress" - He empowers the weak over the powerful, "and causes the looted to rule over fortified cities" (Targum Yonatan): those who were looted, from the root of booty, suddenly overcome the fortresses and rule over them. Thus, the Holy One, Blessed be He, gives the weak the power to overcome those who are stronger than them, upending the natural order of the world.
The Radak explains that this verse serves as a response to those who used to say: Why are you frightening us with troubles and enemies? We have fortresses, we have a line of fortifications, we are protected, everything is fine. The prophet tells them: "He who strengthens ruin over the strong" - the Holy One, Blessed be He, will bring the plunderer, the enemy, against a mighty nation, against those who consider themselves strong. "And ruin comes upon the fortress" - he will capture your fortresses as well; he will overpower them too. How can you believe that those places will be a refuge for you? If Hashem wills it, despite your fortress and all your might, He will bring you down before the plunderers and the enemies.
And the Malbim explains: since they turned justice into wormwood - justice is uprightness, but they made it bitter and perverted it - the Holy One, Blessed be He, says to them: I too will pervert your order, and plunder will overcome both the strong and the mighty. And what is shod according to him? A person who perverts justice robs the poor and the destitute, the weak and the downtrodden, since he cannot prevail against the strong. This is why we constantly see in the Prophets rebuke over the oppression of the poor, and later in our chapter it will speak of this as well. It turns out that you perverted justice and plundered the destitute, and this very robbery is what brings the calamity upon you.
And as we have mentioned more than once: "Your own wickedness shall chastise you" (Yirmiyahu 2:19). A person commits sins and thereby creates a destroying angel, and that angel exacts retribution from him. The person then complains: Master of the World, why did You do this to me? What did I do to You? But "your own wickedness shall chastise you" - it is your own evil that afflicts you. Similarly, "The foolishness of a man perverts his way, and his heart frets against Hashem" (Mishlei 19:3) - your own foolishness causes the suffering. One who was a robber will find that the robbery he committed exacts retribution from him. This is the meaning of "He who strengthens ruin over the strong": the plunder itself overpowers them. The wicked deeds of that robbery and theft are what will rise up against you to vanquish you.
It is told that the Chofetz Chaim was once at a major convention of Agudath Israel, staying at a hotel. He needed some paper, so he asked one of the Chassidic Rebbes for a few sheets and came to pay him a few coins. The Rebbe said to him: Why would you pay? It is only worth a few pennies! The Chofetz Chaim replied: Do you make light of stealing a few pennies? Know that from the theft of a few pennies, a destroying angel is created that can crumble all the walls of Petersburg! If that is the case with the theft of pennies, consider what kind of destructive angels are created by outright plunder.
The chapter opens with a harsh lamentation: "The virgin of Israel has fallen; she shall no more rise" - a fall from which there is no self-recovery, and even her closest kin do not come to raise her up. Yet "no more" does not mean forever, but rather for a long time, and ultimately the virgin of Israel will rise. Amidst the lamentation, the call rings out twice: "Seek Me and live," "Seek Hashem and live" - a sign that He still desires us. Do not seek Beit El and Gilgal, and do not cross over to Be'er Sheva, from where the road leads to the golden calves; rather, seek Hashem Himself. Their sin was turning justice into wormwood and casting righteousness to the ground, harming both interpersonal relations (bein adam lechavero) and their relationship with God (bein adam laMakom) alike. In response, the prophet shows them that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is the One Who constantly turns bad into good - the Pleiades and Orion balancing one another, night turning into morning, salty sea waters becoming sweet rain. But if they turn His goodness into evil, He too will turn good into evil, pouring the waters of the sea onto the earth, and empowering the plunder itself over the strong and over the fortress. "Your own wickedness shall chastise you": the evil deeds themselves are what vanquish those who commit them.
The door still remains open: Seek Me and live.