The Bible

 

Amos 6

Study

   

1 Wo [to] those secure in Zion, And those confident in the mount of Samaria, The marked of the chief of the nations, And come to them have the house of Israel.

2 Pass ye over [to] Calneh and see, And go thence [to] Hamath the great, And go down [to] Gath of the Philistines, Are [they] better than these kingdoms? Greater [is] their border than your border?

3 Who are putting away the day of evil, And ye bring nigh the seat of violence,

4 Who are lying down on beds of ivory, And are spread out on their couches, And are eating lambs from the flock, And calves from the midst of the stall,

5 Who are taking part according to the psaltery, Like David they invented for themselves instruments of music;

6 Who are drinking with bowls of wine, And [with] chief perfumes anoint [themselves], And have not been pained for the breach of Joseph.

7 Therefore now they remove at the head of the captives, And turned aside is the mourning-feast of stretched-out ones.

8 Sworn hath the Lord Jehovah by Himself, An affirmation of Jehovah, God of Hosts: I am abominating the excellency of Jacob, And his high places I have hated, And I have delivered up the city and its fulness.

9 And if there are left ten persons in one house, It hath come to pass -- that they have died.

10 And lifted him up hath his loved one, even his burner, To bring forth the bones from the house, And he said to him who [is] in the sides of the house, `Is there yet with thee?' And he said, `None,' then he said, `Hush! Save to make mention of the name of Jehovah.'

11 For lo, Jehovah is commanding, And He hath smitten the great house [with] breaches, And the little house [with] clefts.

12 Do horses run on a rock? Doth one plough [it] with oxen? For ye have turned to gall judgment, And the fruit of righteousness to wormwood.

13 O ye who are rejoicing at nothing, Who are saying, `Have we not by our strength taken to ourselves horns?'

14 Surely, lo, I am raising against you a nation, O house of Israel, An affirmation of Jehovah, God of Hosts, And they have oppressed you from the coming in to Hamath, Unto the stream of the desert.

   

Commentary

 

Horn

  

In Genesis 22:13, this signifies with all power as to the truths of faith. (Arcana Coelestia 2832) Horns are mentioned in the Word here and there, and signify the power of truth from good, or, in the opposite sense, of falsity from evil. Here they signify that the spiritual are entangled in external knowledges of the natural with all power as to truth; but are deprived of the power of receiving truth. (Arcana Coelestia 2832)

In Revelation 8:11, this signifies power in speaking, teaching, and writing, consequently, in reasoning and arguing.

'The little horn that rose up,' as mentioned in Daniel 7:3-8, signifies the full perversion of the Word by the application of its literal sense to the confirmation of the love of dominion. It is called 'little,' because such perverted application is not sensibly apparent to the understanding of a person, or to the sight of his spirit.

When spoken of the Lord, a 'horn' signifies omnipotence. It also stands for the power of truth from good.

(References: Apocalypse Revealed 270)