Amos Chapter 2

“Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Moab, etc.] Or the Moabites, who descended from the eldest son of Lot, by one of his daughters; and, though related, were great enemies to the Israelites; they sent for Balaam to curse them when on their borders, and greatly oppressed them in the times of the judges: and for four, I will not turn away [the punishment] thereof; (see Gill on “<300103>Amos 1:3”). Idolatry, as well as the sin next charged, must be one of these four transgressions: the idols of Moab were Chemosh and Baalpeor; of the former (see Gill on “<244807>Jeremiah 48:7”); and of the latter (see…”

“CHARGES AGAINST MOAB, JUDAH, AND LASTLY ISRAEL, THE CHIEF SUBJECT OF AMOS' PROPHECIES. (Amos 2:1-16) burned . . . bones of . . . king of Edom into lime--When Jehoram of Israel, Jehoshaphat of Judah, and the king of Edom, combined against Mesha king of Moab, the latter failing in battle to break through to the king of Edom, took the oldest son of the latter and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall (Kg2 3:27) [MICHAELIS]. Thus, "king of Edom" is taken as the heir to the throne of Edom. But "his son" is rather the king of Moab's own son, whom the father offered to Molech [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 9.3]. Thus the…”

“Moab - The relation of Moab to Israel is only accidentally different from that of Ammon. One spirit actuated both, venting itself in one and the same way, as occasion served, and mostly together (see the note at Amos 1:13). Beside those more formal invasions, the history of Elisha mentions one probably of many in-roads of “bands of the Moabites.” It seems as though, when “the year entered in,” and with it the harvest, “the bands of the Moabites entered in” too, like “the Midianites and Amalekites and the children of the east” Judges 6:3-4, Judges 6:11 in the time of Gideon, or their successors the Bedouins, now.…”

“The bones - Or ashes, reduced them by fire into fine dust, and used these ashes instead of lime to plaister the walls and roofs of his palace, and this in hatred and contempt of the king of Edom. Amos 2:2”

“2:1 desecrated the bones: In some past skirmish, the Moabites had captured Edom’s king. Cremation was considered a form of desecration; if the ashes (literally lime) of the king were used in plaster, the insult would be compounded.”

“For three: Amo 2:4, Amo 2:6, Amo 1:3, Amo 1:6, Amo 1:9, Amo 1:11, Amo 1:13; Num. 22:1-25:18; Deu 23:4, Deu 23:5; Psa 83:4-7; Mic 6:5 of Moab: Isa 11:14, 15:1-16:14, Isa 25:10; Jer. 48:1-47; Eze 25:8, Eze 25:9; Zep 2:8, Zep 2:9 because: Kg2 3:9, Kg2 3:26; Pro 15:3 Amos 2:2”

“Moab. - Amo 2:1. "Thus saith Jehovah: for three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I shall not reverse it, because it has burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime, Amo 2:2. I send fire into Moab, and it will devour the palaces of Kirioth, and Moab will perish in the tumult, in the war-cry, in the trumpet-blast. Amo 2:3. And I cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and all its princes do I strangle with it, saith Jehovah." The burning of the bones of the king of Edom is not burning while he was still alive, but the burning of the corpse into lime, i.e., so completely that the bones turned into powder…”