Amos 2:9

“Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, etc.] Here the Lord by the prophet reckons up the many favours and blessings he had bestowed upon Israel, which was an aggravation of their sins, and showed them to be guilty of great ingratitude, and a justification of him in his punishment of them he drove out the seven nations of Canaanites from before them, to make way for them, and destroyed them, of which the Amorite was a principal, and is here put for all the rest: whose height [was] like the height of the cedars; being both tall of stature, and in great honour and dignity with the other nations, and in very opulent and flourishing circumstances: and he was strong as the oaks: not only like…”

“Yet--My former benefits to you heighten your ingratitude. the Amorite--the most powerful of all the Canaanite nations, and therefore put for them all (Gen 15:16; Gen 48:22; Deu 1:20; Jos 7:7). height . . . like . . . cedars-- (Num 13:32-33). destroyed his fruit . . . above . . . roots . . . beneath--that is, destroyed him utterly (Job 18:16; Eze 17:9; Mal 4:1).”

“Yet - (and I) I (Emphatic) destroyed Such were “their” doings; such their worship of “their God.” And what had “God” done? what was it, which they thus requited? The Amorite - These, as one of the mightiest of the Canaanite tribes, stand in Moses for all. Moses, in rehearsing to them the goodness of God and their backsliding, reminds them, how he had said, “Ye have come to the mountain of the Amorites, which the Lord your God giveth you” Deuteronomy 1:20; and that they, using this same word, said, “Because the Lord hateth us, He hath brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorite to destroy us” Deuteronomy 1:27. The aged Joshua, in rehearsing God’s great…”

“The Ammorite - The mightiest nation of all the Canaanites. As the oaks - Another proverbial speech denoting their great strength. His fruit - Their children. His roots - The old standards; that present generation. Amos 2:11”

“2:9 Amorites is used here as a general term to denote the inhabitants of Canaan (see Gen 15:16; Judg 6:10).”

“I the: Gen 15:16; Exo 3:8, Exo 34:11; Num 21:24; Deu 2:24-33; Jos 3:10, Jos 24:8-12; Jdg 11:21-23; Neh 9:22-24; Psa 135:10-12, Psa 136:17-22 whose: Num 13:28, Num 13:29, Num 13:32, Num 13:33; Deu 1:28, Deu 2:10, Deu 2:11, Deu 3:11, Deu 9:1-3 I destroyed: Jos 11:21, Jos 11:22; Sa2 23:16-22; Job 18:16; Isa 5:24; Mal 4:1 Amos 2:10”

“And if this daring contempt of the commandments of God was highly reprehensible even in itself, it became perfectly inexcusable if we bear in mind that Israel was indebted to the Lord its God for its elevation into an independent nation, and also for its sacred calling. For this reason, the prophet reminds the people of the manifestations of grace which it had received from its God ( Amo 2:9-11). Amo 2:9. "And yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and who was strong as the oaks; and I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. Amo 2:10. And yet I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the desert,…”