Amos 2:7

7 Which all-foul the heads of poor men on the dust of [the] earth, and bow away the way of meek men; and the son and his father went to a damsel, that they should defoul mine holy name. (Who push down the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the meek out of their way; and the son and his father went after the same young woman, and in doing so, they defile my holy name.)

Amos 2:7 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 2:7

That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor,
&c.] Either were greedy after money, the dust of the earth, and even that small portion of it the poor were possessed of; they could not be easy that they should enjoy that little of it they did, but were desirous to get it out of their hands by oppression and injustice: or they were eagerly desirous of throwing the poor upon the earth, and trampling upon them, and dragging them through the dust of it, thereby filling their heads and covering their faces with it; and caused them to put their mouths in the dust, and be humble suppliants to them. Some think there is an allusion to an ancient custom, which Joseph ben Gorion ^F18 speaks of, that a guilty person should stand before the judges, clad in black, and his head covered with dust; and this these judges desired here might be done by the rich, that the poor might be accused by them from whom they expected gifts: and turn aside the way of the meek;
decline doing them justice, pervert it, and hinder the course of it, denying it to those who are humble, meek, and modest; or else by one means or another turned them from the good ways in which they were walking, and by degrees at length brought them to such impudence and immodesty as is next expressed, so Aben Ezra: and a man and his father will go in unto the [same] maid, to profane my
holy name;
that is, will be guilty of such uncleanness, as not only to have and enjoy the same harlot, but of such incest, as that the son would lie with his father's wife, and the father lie with his son's wife; a sin which was not named among the Gentiles, ( 1 Corinthians 5:1 ) ; and whereby the name of God was blasphemed among them, as if their religion taught them and encouraged them in such filthy actions; see ( Romans 2:24 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 Hist. Heb. c. 44. apud Drusium in loc.

Amos 2:7 In-Context

5 And I shall send fire into Judah, and it shall devour the houses of Jerusalem.

6 The Lord saith these things, On three great trespasses of Israel, and on four, I shall not convert him, for that that he sold a just man for silver, and a poor man for shoes. (The Lord saith these things, For the three great trespasses of Israel, and for the fourth, I shall not turn away their punishment, because they sold the righteous, or the innocent, into slavery for some silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes.)

7 Which all-foul the heads of poor men on the dust of [the] earth, and bow away the way of meek men; and the son and his father went to a damsel, that they should defoul mine holy name. (Who push down the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the meek out of their way; and the son and his father went after the same young woman, and in doing so, they defile my holy name.)

8 And they ate on clothes laid to wed beside each altar, and drank the wine of condemned men in the house of their God. (And they lie down beside each altar, on clothes taken as a pledge from the poor, and drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their gods.)

9 Forsooth I destroyed Amorite from the face of them, whose highness was the highness of cedars, and he was strong as an oak; and I all-brake the fruit of him above, and the roots of him beneath. (And I destroyed the Amorites before them, who were as tall as cedars, and were as strong as oaks; and I altogether broke their fruit above, and their roots below.)