The chapter before us continues Amos's rebuke, and now the sword is directed toward Israel themselves. The prophet details their corruption according to the three cardinal sins: bloodshed, illicit sexual relations, and idolatry, showing how in each of them they sank to great depths. Afterward, the Holy One, blessed be He, contrasts their deeds with all the preparations He made for them so they would not stumble into these very sins, and concludes with a description of the distress and punishment that will befall them. Here we will study from verse seven through the end of the chapter.
הַשֹּׁאֲפִים עַל עֲפַר אֶרֶץ בְּרֹאשׁ דַּלִּים וְדֶרֶךְ עֲנָוִים יַטּוּ וְאִישׁ וְאָבִיו יֵלְכוּ אֶל הַנַּעֲרָה לְמַעַן חַלֵּל אֶת שֵׁם קָדְשִׁי׃ - Who pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the humble; and a man and his father go to the young woman, to profane My holy Name.
Radak explains that these words refer to the judges. They yearn, watch, and aim for the dust of the earth to be upon the heads of the poor: they coerce the pauper to pay, collecting from him by force, and if he refuses - the officers who served as the enforcers seize him by the hair of his head, cast him to the ground, and trample him. This is literally "the dust of the earth on the head of the poor." This is similar to what Michah said: "And whoever does not put into their mouths, they declare war against him" - an order is issued that he must pay, and if he does not pay, immediately the underworld is unleashed and "they declare war against him."
"And turn aside the way of the humble" - they pervert their verdict in judgment, because of the bribes that the wealthy paid to the judges. And "way" here, as Radak explains, is in the sense of a person's legal case and affairs, as in "the way in which they must walk," or "the righteous holds to his way." That is to say, they pervert the proper path, justice, and uprightness. "And a man and his father go to the young woman" - the son is not ashamed to cohabit with the woman his father was with, and this is a profanation of My holy Name: I told them, "You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy," yet they profane their sanctity. You are called by My Name, "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God," and when you desecrate Hashem's Name through your actions - you have profaned the Name of the Holy One, blessed be He.
The Malbim analyzes the precise wording of "hasho'afim" (those who pant or yearn). Aspiration (*she'ifah*) denotes an overwhelming lust to swallow something up, just as a person pants and draws air into himself, and as people speak today of someone having "aspirations." It is in the sense of the verse, "Like a slave who pants for the shade." It has been remarked in jest that this verse could describe a chronic smoker: he puffs like a slave, enslaved to the cigarette, and thinks nothing of blowing smoke and poisoning his surroundings. But in the literal meaning of the text, the Malbim teaches us who those people were that offered bribes and hired false witnesses. These were the ones who panted and hungered after the dust of the earth: the poor man possessed a plot of land, and the wealthy man craved to seize it. What would he do? He would fabricate a false accusation against the poor man, and on the strength of that accusation, they would take his head and execute him, whereupon the wealthy man would acquire his land. This is "who pant after the dust of the earth at the cost of the head of the poor" - he pants to acquire that person's plot of land, and in exchange gives the head of the poor man. He pays a bribe to the judge and secures the land. Therefore they would hire false witnesses and corrupt judges: "and turn aside the way of the humble" - perverting their cause to sentence them to death and murder them, for bloodshed was light in their eyes. Here we see how severe they were in the corruption of bloodshed.
And second: regarding illicit relations, they magnified their corruption - "and a man and his father go to the young woman," who was betrothed. This indicates, says the Malbim, the height of licentiousness and a total lack of shame, where a person is no longer ashamed before his own father. And all of this was "to profane My holy Name," for it stemmed from heresy rather than mere lust.
וְעַל בְּגָדִים חֲבֻלִים יַטּוּ אֵצֶל כָּל מִזְבֵּחַ וְיֵין עֲנוּשִׁים יִשְׁתּוּ בֵּית אֱלֹהֵיהֶם׃ - And they lay themselves down beside every altar upon pledged clothes, and drink the wine of the fined in the house of their god.
Targum Yonatan translates: "they recline on beds made of pledges." They would lend money to a poor person, and what could the pauper offer in return? His garment and his bed, which were all he owned. He had no chariot to give as collateral, only the barest essentials. They would take that very garment, spread it as bedding, and recline upon it at their feasts. According to Rashi, "altar" (*mizbe'ach*) here implies a feast, related to "slaughtering a feast" (*lizbo'ach zevach*), where the reference is to slaughtering an animal for dining. Furthermore: "and drink the wine of the fined in the house of their god" - in the pagan house, the house of idolatry, there they would drink the wine of the fined. That is, they would penalize people with monetary fines, and with that money purchase wine to drink in the house of their gods.
The Malbim explains that here the prophet turns to address idolatry. First he addressed the gravity of bloodshed, then the gravity of illicit relations - "a man and his father go to the young woman" - and now the gravity of idolatry. "Pledged garments" (*begadim chavulim*) are the garments taken from the poor person as collateral, for a pledge is called *chavulya* in Aramaic, and as in the verse, "No man shall take a mill or an upper millstone as a pledge" (*lo yachavol*). Upon those garments they would recline, leaning as one does at a banquet, dedicating them to the altar of the Ba'al - spreading them beside the altar in order to feast on the sacrifices of their gods. According to Rashi, the feast took place in their homes, whereas according to the Malbim, the feast was held in the house of idol worship itself, beside the altar, to partake of the offerings of their gods. So too with the wine, which they drank in the house of idolatry in honor of the idols, as it is written, "Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings" - eating and drinking from the wine and meat brought as sacrifices to idols. And this wine is called "the wine of the fined": where did you obtain the money for this wine? From the righteous people upon whom you imposed monetary fines. Thus, intertwined with the sin of idolatry was the sin of robbery, plundering the poor, and oppressing the destitute.
וְאָנֹכִי הִשְׁמַדְתִּי אֶת הָאֱמֹרִי מִפְּנֵיהֶם אֲשֶׁר כְּגֹבַהּ אֲרָזִים גָּבְהוֹ וְחָסֹן הוּא כָּאַלּוֹנִים וָאַשְׁמִיד פִּרְיוֹ מִמַּעַל וְשָׁרָשָׁיו מִתָּחַת׃ - "Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above and his roots from beneath."
Pay attention to the correct pronunciation: ve-shorashav (with a kamatz katan), and not ve-shoreshav. Just as we say kodesh in the singular but kodashim in the plural, so too with shoresh - its plural form is shorashav; such is the grammar of Lashon HaKodesh. Rashi explains: "Yet I destroyed his fruit from above" - this refers to the celestial ministers; I destroyed the guardian angel of the Amorite in heaven, for every battle here on earth begins first with a battle Above. This is why we find that before the Egyptians died, it says, "And Israel saw the Egyptian dead upon the seashore" (Shemot 14:30), which Chazal interpret as the celestial minister of Egypt. "And his roots from beneath" - these are the earthly rulers, the kings down below. Rashi also brings an additional explanation: this refers to the hornet (tzirah), which would blind their eyes from above and castrate them from below. Thus Hashem did to the Amorites: destruction from above and from below, affecting both their sight and their ability to reproduce.
The Malbim explains that the Holy One, Blessed be He, presents an indictment against them here: You have corrupted yourselves to the most severe degree with idolatry, sexual immorality, and bloodshed - yet I made all the preparations so that you would not stumble into them under the influence of the nations that were here! I made two preparations. The first preparation: "I destroyed the Amorite before them." The Amorites practiced all these abominations, which is why the Torah commands, "Do not perform the practice of the land of Egypt... and do not perform the practice of the land of Canaan" (Vayikra 18:3). The Egyptians where Israel dwelt, and the Amorites in the territories Israel conquered, were corrupted and degraded by all these abominations to the highest degree. Therefore, the Holy One, Blessed be He, took us out of Egypt so that we would not learn from their deeds, for that was where the greatest corruption lay, and brought us to Eretz Yisrael and destroyed the Amorite here so that we would not learn from his deeds. As taught in Torat Kohanim, He designated a guilty generation so that Israel would come and exact retribution from them. If so, how can you commit the very abominations because of which I destroyed them? I brought you here so that you would be righteous, and you turn around and corrupt yourselves like their abominations!
And should you argue: Hashem did not destroy them because of their evil deeds; rather, we defeated them naturally - Yehoshua, the great general, waged wars and conquered them! To this the verse responds: Realize that it was impossible to conquer the Amorite by natural means. "Whose height was like the height of the cedars" - in terms of royalty and dominion; "and he was strong as the oaks" - in terms of sheer strength and might. Furthermore, the Malbim notes, "height" also characterizes their celestial patron above, as they had a powerful minister in the upper realms; naturally speaking, it was nearly impossible to overcome them, for their celestial alignment and fortune were at the peak of success. Instead, the destruction was entirely supernatural: "yet I destroyed his fruit from above" - I nullified the power of his astrological fortune and heavenly minister from above, and then I wiped out his roots from beneath, meaning the Amorites down here on earth. It was all accomplished miraculously, above nature, so that you would learn and take moral instruction.
וְאָנֹכִי הֶעֱלֵיתִי אֶתְכֶם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם וָאוֹלֵךְ אֶתְכֶם בַּמִּדְבָּר אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה לָרֶשֶׁת אֶת אֶרֶץ הָאֱמֹרִי׃ - "Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite."
The Radak explains: Before I brought you into the Land, I took you out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and led you through the wilderness for forty years without you lacking a single thing, habituating you to My statutes so that you would not learn the statutes of the Amorites when you came to possess their land - and yet, you turned back and corrupted yourselves with all their abominations.
The Malbim explains that this was the very purpose of the Exodus from Egypt, since you had learned corrupt ways from the Egyptians. This aligns with Moshe Rabbeinu's defense of Israel after the sin of the Golden Calf: "Why should Egypt say, 'He took them out with evil intent'?" (Shemot 32:12). What does the Exodus from Egypt have to do with this? Rather, Moshe pleaded: Master of the Universe, what do You expect from this people? You have only just brought them out of the land of Egypt, and Egypt was full of every abomination and all forms of idolatry. What can be demanded of them? For many long years they observed idolatry and abominations in Egypt, and they are merely doing what they learned! The Malbim explains: Since I knew, says Hashem, that you came with negative baggage acquired from growing up and being educated in Egypt - "You know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt... and you saw their detestable things" (Devarim 29:15-16) - Hashem therefore made them wander for forty years in the wilderness until the entire generation that witnessed the abominations of Egypt passed away. And their children who arose after them, a new generation that had never seen Egyptian abominations - what did they see? They saw Hashem's providence and Hashem's mighty deeds. Hashem refined and purified them in the wilderness: every slight deviation from the path brought a plague, strikes, burning, or death. They underwent refining and purging there, and a new generation arose that knew nothing of Egypt's abominations. Hashem says: I prepared you with every possible preparation so that you would be perfected in the service of Hashem - so how could you replicate all the abominations of Egypt?
וָאָקִים מִבְּנֵיכֶם לִנְבִיאִים וּמִבַּחוּרֵיכֶם לִנְזִרִים הַאַף אֵין זֹאת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל נְאֻם יְהֹוָה׃ - "And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazirites. Is it not even thus, O children of Israel? says Hashem."
This was the second preparation the Holy One, Blessed be He, made so that you would be spared from the corruption of Egypt and the Amorites. To prevent you from being drawn after idolatry, I gave you sons who would be prophets. For part of the appeal of idolatry was fortune-telling through dealings with terafim, sorcery, and the forces of impurity. The Holy One, Blessed be He, says: You have no need for this. You have no need to consult the dead, nor do you need to worship sun-images to learn the future. "There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, a diviner of divinations..." "For these nations, which you are about to dispossess, hearken to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, Hashem your God has not granted you to do so. A prophet from among you, of your brethren... Hashem your God will raise up for you" (Devarim 18:10, 14-15). They receive messages derived from the external forces and the kelipot - broad, imprecise messages - whereas you have precise prophecies directly from Hashem. If a prophet errs in his prophecy by even a single minute - if he spoke of an event and it occurred a minute later - he is deemed a false prophet and put to death. Prophecy is therefore one hundred percent accurate, which means you have far more than they do. "And I raised up of your sons for prophets" - so that you would not go astray after false prophets.
And to keep you from pursuing sexual immorality: "and of your young men for Nazirites." What is the purpose of Naziriteship? Abstinence from immorality. As Chazal said: Why is the passage of the sotah juxtaposed with the passage of the nazir? Because whoever sees a sotah in her degradation should abstain from wine, since wine leads to illicit desires (Berachot 63a). The Radak adds: Even among the young men, who are naturally prone to pursue the desires of the flesh and wine, I instilled a spirit of purity so that they would separate themselves from wine and become holy to Me. Through all this I set you apart, so that you would be holy and not defile yourselves with the impurity of the Amorites who inhabited the land.
"Is it not even thus, O children of Israel?" - It was not enough that you failed to keep My commandments and stumbled into idolatry and sexual immorality; you even nullified the very preparations I made to protect you from these sins! Look around and see that there are now neither prophets nor Nazirites among you. Why? Because you acted directly against what I did for you. Rashi interprets "Is it not even thus": Can you possibly deny any of this? Is this not the truth?
וַתַּשְׁקוּ אֶת הַנְּזִרִים יָיִן וְעַל הַנְּבִיאִים צִוִּיתֶם לֵאמֹר לֹא תִּנָּבְאוּ׃ - "And you gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying: 'Do not prophesy!'"
You went and gave the Nazirites wine to drink, leaving no one to teach the path of ascetic restraint and distancing from physical desires, since the very person who was supposed to be a Nazirite was given wine to drink. Not only that, but as Rashi notes, an intoxicated person is forbidden to render halachic rulings; therefore, this Nazirite certainly cannot instruct while drunk. And when a prophet wishes to deliver a prophecy from Hashem, people tell him: "Be quiet, don't say anything, don't scare us. You just love to frighten people, talking about Gog and Magog and all sorts of apocalyptic forecasts, the destruction of the world, annihilation, punishments, and exile - be quiet and don't say a word." And isn't this how the media behaves today? Whenever a rabbi comes to say something to arouse the people, they silence him so he won't speak. All this is done so that the holy spirit of Hashem will not be found in Israel, and there will be no one to urge the people toward true faith or warn against idolatry. Rashi notes that this is precisely what happened to Amos himself, when Amatziah the priest of Beit El told him: "Seer, go, flee to the land of Judah" - we do not want you to prophesy; flee to the land of Judah and do not deliver any prophecy to us here.
הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי מֵעִיק תַּחְתֵּיכֶם כַּאֲשֶׁר תָּעִיק הָעֲגָלָה הַמְלֵאָה לָהּ עָמִיר׃ - "Behold, I am pressing down beneath you, as a wagon presses down when laden with sheaves."
"Behold, I am pressing down beneath you" - Radak explains that Hashem is saying: In the very place where you stand, I will press down upon you. Akah (rendered akata in Targum) denotes distress or trouble, as in the verse "because of the oppression (akat) of the wicked" - something that constricts, presses, and troubles. However, we must examine the phrasing closely: a wagon itself does not oppress or press upon anyone, so what is meant by "as the wagon presses down (ta'ik)"? The meaning is akin to tu'ak (is pressed down or burdened), signifying that the wagon itself is under distress and strain. In what way? When it is packed full of sheaves (amir), and the wooden sideboards hold them in, preventing them from spilling out, and an enormous amount is loaded - the wooden boards appear as though they are about to burst outward from the pressure of the sheaves pressing against them. It specifically mentions sheaves, which are not dense or heavy but bulky, so people compress and pack them as tightly as possible so the cart can carry more, until the cart seems to swell and groans under the strain of the sheaves packed inside it. This is Radak's explanation.
The Malbim, on the other hand, explains that ta'ik here is not derived from distress (me'ikah), but from railing or barrier (ma'akeh). A railing or barrier is erected around the wagon so that the sheaves will not fall out, and the sheaves are thus crammed and compressed tightly inside the wagon by that railing. In the same way, Hashem says, I will hem you in with distress like an inescapable barrier, so that you will be unable to break out of your place to fight or to escape the sword of the enemy.
וְאָבַד מָנוֹס מִקָּל וְחָזָק לֹא יְאַמֵּץ כֹּחוֹ וְגִבּוֹר לֹא יְמַלֵּט נַפְשׁוֹ׃ - "Flight shall perish from the swift, the strong shall not summon his strength, nor shall the mighty man save his life."
"Flight shall perish from the swift" - you will not be able to flee; the avenue of escape is lost, and there will be nowhere to run. Even a swift-footed person, whose first instinct upon facing a threat is to flee, will find flight cut off. By way of wit, people tell of someone who entered a coat check and saw a luxurious coat bearing a note: "This coat belongs to the strongest boxer in the world, the world boxing champion" - its owner assumed this would protect his coat. Another person came along, took the coat, and left a note: "This coat now belongs to the world champion sprinter; try to catch me." At any rate, the swift-footed person's first reaction is to run. Hashem says: The constriction will be so absolute that "flight shall perish from the swift"; the swift will neither be able to withstand the enemy in battle nor flee. "The strong shall not summon his strength" - the strong man does not flee, but rather rallies his strength and advances into battle. "Nor shall the mighty man save his life" - the warrior fights bravely for his life to save his soul from death through sheer heroism, yet he too will be unable to save his life.
The Malbim examines the precise phrase, "the strong shall not summon his strength (lo ye'ametz kocho)". In several places, the Malbim explains that there is a distinction between chazak (strong) and amitz (courageous and enduring): chazak refers to one who possesses raw strength, while amitz refers to one who sustains his strength, standing firm. Strength (chozek) expresses power itself, whereas ometz is the perseverance of that power. This is the sense of the phrase chazak ve'ematz - be strong and persevere in your strength; steel your heart to maintain that same vigor. Therefore, the verse states: "The strong shall not summon (ye'ametz) his strength" - he may possess strength, but he will not be able to sustain it.
וְתֹפֵשׂ הַקֶּשֶׁת לֹא יַעֲמֹד וְקַל בְּרַגְלָיו לֹא יְמַלֵּט וְרֹכֵב הַסּוּס לֹא יְמַלֵּט נַפְשׁוֹ׃ - "He who handles the bow shall not stand firm, the swift of foot shall not escape, nor shall he who rides the horse save his life."
"He who handles the bow shall not stand firm" - he will not stand his ground against the enemy, for he will lack the strength to draw the bow and shoot at them, so that the archer too will be unable to fight. "The swift of foot shall not escape (lo yemalet)" - although the word "his life" (nafsho) is not explicitly stated here, Radak explains that it is understood as if written, for it would have been more direct to write lo yimalet (in the passive: "shall not be rescued"), whereas lo yemalet (active) implies rescuing someone else. Radak therefore explains: he will not rescue his own life, treating his life in the third person, and the swift-footed man will be unable to flee. "Nor shall he who rides the horse save his life" - even though fleeing is easy for him, he will not save his life. Though the horse is swift to run, "a horse is a false hope for safety" (Tehillim 33:17), as Radak notes, when Hashem does not desire deliverance.
The Malbim explains differently: sometimes archers take a stand to hold back the enemy, and what is gained by this? That the swift-footed man will have enough time in the meantime to escape. In other words, "I will provide cover for you: I will shoot arrows and delay the enemy, and in the meantime, you run." Regarding this, the verse says: "He who handles the bow shall not stand" - he will not stand his ground, but will flee immediately; "and [the archer] shall not deliver the swift of foot" - meaning the archer will not save the swift-footed runner by standing firm. For if the one who was supposed to hold back the enemy does not stand his ground, how will the swift-footed man find enough time to escape? The Malbim's basis for this explanation is that, in his view, lo yemalet is a transitive verb acting upon someone else: the archer will not deliver the swift of foot. Had the verse spoken of the runner himself, it should have said lo yemalet nafsho ("shall not save his life") or lo yimalet ("shall not escape"). Thus it must refer not to himself, but to someone else, and that someone else is the swift of foot. And "he who rides the horse shall not save his life" - even though fleeing is easy for him, he will not save his life.
וְאַמִּיץ לִבּוֹ בַּגִּבּוֹרִים עָרוֹם יָנוּס בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא נְאֻם יְהֹוָה׃ - And he who is stout of heart among the mighty shall flee naked on that day, says Hashem.
Even one who is stout-hearted among the mighty, possessing great inner courage, will find that his heart melts on that day of battle and he will not be able to withstand the enemy, but will flee naked. And what does "naked" mean? Rashi explains: without weapons, stripped of gear. Radak explains that he will even cast off his clothes because they weigh him down; simply put, this refers to heavier garments, since warriors went to battle wearing armor and the like, and he will cast these off so that he can flee swiftly. His courage of heart will be of no use to him, but rather "he shall flee naked on that day" - he will seek only to save himself, not even attempting to salvage his possessions or his garments, because his life alone will be precious enough to serve as his prize, and he will not give a thought to anything else. This illustrates the immense crushing distress destined to strike in the wake of their sins.
The prophet enumerates the corruptions of Israel across the three cardinal sins: bloodshed through frame-ups and false witnesses to rob the poor man of his land, incest and sexual immorality without a trace of shame, and idolatry intertwined with extortion of the destitute - pledged garments spread out beside the altar of the Baal, and wine bought with unjustly levied fines imbibed in the house of their gods. Against this, the Holy One, blessed be He, sets forth the two preparations He established: the miraculous destruction of the Amorite from above and below, bringing us out of Egypt, and purifying us in the wilderness for forty years; and on the other hand, raising up prophets instead of sorcerers and nazirites as a fence against immorality. Yet Israel undermined even these preparations - they forced the nazirites to drink wine and commanded the prophets not to prophesy. Therefore, the crushing enclosure comes: like the side-boards hemming in sheaves on an overloaded wagon, Hashem will press in upon them so that neither the swift nor the strong will escape, neither the bowman nor the horseman, and even the stoutest-hearted warrior will flee naked, content merely to save his own life.