SEV Biblia, Chapter 6:2
Pasad a Calne, y mirad; y de allí id a la gran Hamat; descended luego a Gat de los palestinos; ved si son aquellos reinos mejores que estos reinos, si su término es mayor que vuestro término.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Amos 6:2
Verse 2. Pass ye unto Calneh] This is, says Calmet, the Ctesiphon on the river Tigris. Hamath] The same as Emesa. Hamath was a city on the Orontes, in Syria.
Gath] A well-known town, and head of one of the five seignories of the Philistines.
Be they better] You have no more reason to expect exemption from the consequences of your sins than they had. They have been punished; so shall you. Why then will ye trust in their gods, that could not save their own cities?
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 2. Pass ye unto Calneh, and see , etc.] What is become of that city, which was in the land of Shinar, an ancient city, as early as the days of Nimrod, and built by him, and was with others the beginning of his kingdom, ( Genesis 10:10); it belonged to Babylon, and is by Jarchi here interpreted by it, being put for Babel, as he supposes. According to Jerom f151 , it is the same city, sometimes called Seleucia, in his days Ctesiphon; very probably it had been lately taken by the king of Assyria, and therefore made mention of; (see Isaiah 10:9); where it is called Calno; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great ; the same with Antiochia, as Jarchi and Jerom; called the great, to distinguish it from Hamath the less, sometimes called Epiphania; or from Hamathzobah, near Tadmor, or Palmyra, in the wilderness, ( 2 Chronicles 8:3,4); though it might be so called with respect to its own grandeur and magnificence; as Sidon is called “Sidon the great”, though there was no other, ( Joshua 11:8); for it was a royal city; we read of Toi, king of Hamath, in the times of David, ( Samuel 8:9,10). It is placed by Josephus on the north of the land of Canaan; and so it appears to be, and to be between Damascus and the Mediterranean sea, from ( Ezekiel 47:15-17 <264801> 48:1). Abu’lfeda f153 , a learned prince, who reigned in Hamath, and should know its situation, places it on the Orontes, between Hems and Apamea, that river surrounding it on the east and north. The learned Vitringa thinks that neither Antiochia nor Epiphania are meant, but the city Emissa; which Ammianus Marcellinus makes mention of along with Damascus, as a famous city in Syria, equal to Tyre, Sidon, and Berytus: and of the same opinion was Theodoret among the ancients, and so Calmet of late.
And so Hamath and Damascus are mentioned together as recovered by Jeroboam, ( 2 Kings 14:28); very probably the kingdom of Hamath became subject to the kings of Damascus; (see Jeremiah 49:23); but, be it what place it will, it is very likely it had been lately spoiled by the king of Assyria; (see Isaiah 37:13). then go down to Gath of the Philistines ; one of their five principalities, and a chief one, so called to distinguish it from other Gaths, as Gathhepher, Gathrimmon. It stood about five or six miles south of Jamnia, about fourteen south of Joppa, and thirty two west of Jerusalem. A village of this name as shown, as Jerom says, five miles from Eleutheropolis, as you go to Diospolis or Lydda, and is taken to be the same place. It is famous for being the birthplace of Goliath; and is called in ( 2 Samuel 8:1); compared with ( 1 Chronicles 18:1), Methegammah, or the bridle of Ammah, or Metheg and her mother; that is, Gath and her daughters.
Reland thinks Gath is the city Cadytis of Herodotus f160 , who says it is a city of the Syrians, called Palestines or Philistines, and speaks of the mountains of it; and this city was not far from the mountainous country of Judea: now this city had been taken by Hazael, king of Syria, and its wall was broke down by Uzziah, king of Judah, ( 2 Kings 12:17 Chronicles 26:6); [be they] better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border ? that is, do Calneh, Hamath, and Gath, excel in dignity and grandeur, in wealth and strength, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah? or are they of a larger circumference, and exceed them in length and breadth? no, they did not; and therefore the more ungrateful were Israel and Judah to sin against the Lord as they had done, who had given them such rich and large kingdoms, and therefore might expect to be taken and spoiled as well as they: though some think there is a change of number and persons in the text, and that the sense is, are you better than these kingdoms, or your border greater than theirs? and, if not, you may expect to fare as they; see a like expression in ( Nahum 3:8).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-7 - Those are looked upon as doing well for themselves, who do well for their bodies; but we are here told what their ease is, and what their woe is. Here is a description of the pride, security, and sensuality for which God would reckon. Careless sinners are every where in danger but those at ease in Zion, who are stupid, vainly confident, an abusing their privileges, are in the greatest danger. Yet many fanc themselves the people of God, who are living in sin, and in conformit to the world. But the examples of others' ruin forbid us to be secure Those who are set upon their pleasures are commonly careless of the troubles of others, but this is great offence to God. Those who place their happiness in the pleasures of sense, and set their hearts upo them, shall be deprived of those pleasures. Those who try to put the evil day far from them, find it nearest to them.
Original Hebrew
עברו 5674 כלנה 3641 וראו 7200 ולכו 1980 משׁם 8033 חמת 2574 רבה 7227 ורדו 3381 גת 1661 פלשׁתים 6430 הטובים 2896 מן 4480 הממלכות 4467 האלה 428 אם 518 רב 7227 גבולם 1366 מגבלכם׃ 1366
