translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: AMO

label: NET study note

text: The Moabites apparently desecrated the tomb of an Edomite king and burned his bones into a calcined substance which they then used as plaster (cf. Deut 27:2, 4 ). See S. M. Paul, Amos (Hermeneia), 72. Receiving a proper burial was very important in this culture. Desecrating a tomb or a deceased individual’s bones was considered an especially heinous act.


text: The destruction of Moab by fire is an example of a judgment in kind – as the Moabites committed the crime of “burning,” so the Lord will punish them by setting them on fire.


text: Kerioth was an important Moabite city. See Jer 48:24, 41 .


text: The ram’s horn (used as a trumpet) was blown to signal the approaching battle.


text: Most interpreters see some type of sexual immorality here (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT), even though the Hebrew phrase הָלַךְ אֶל ( halakh ’ el , “go to”) never refers elsewhere to sexual intercourse. (The usual idiom is בוֹא אֶל [ bo ’ ’ el ]. However, S. M. Paul ( Amos [Hermeneia], 82) attempts to develop a linguistic case for a sexual connotation here.) The precise identification of the “girl” in question is not clear. Some see the referent as a cultic prostitute (cf. NAB; v. 8 suggests a cultic setting), but the term נַעֲרָה ( na ’ arah ) nowhere else refers to a prostitute. Because of the contextual emphasis on social oppression, some suggest the exploitation of a slave girl is in view. H. Barstad argues that the “girl” is the hostess at a pagan מַרְזֵחַ ( marzeakh ) banquet (described at some length in 6:4-7 ). In his view the sin described here is not sexual immorality, but idolatry (see H. Barstad, The Religious Polemics of Amos [VTSup], 33-36). In this case, one might translate, “Father and son go together to a pagan banquet.” In light of this cultic context, F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman argue that this is a reference to a specific female deity (“the Girl”) and correlate this verse with 8:14 ( Amos [AB], 318-19).


text: Nazirites were strictly forbidden to drink wine ( Num 6:2-3 ).