Amos 4:10 - Exposition

The fourth visitation is pestilence and the sword (Le 26:25; Deuteronomy 28:60 ). After the manner of Egypt. In the manner in which Egypt is stricken (comp. Isaiah 10:24 , Isaiah 10:26 ; Ezekiel 20:30 ). There is here no reference to the plague of Exodus 9:3 , etc; or Exodus 12:29 . The allusion is to the plague which was reckoned to be epidemic in Egypt, and to other loathsome diseases for which that country was notorious (see Deuteronomy 7:15 ; Deuteronomy 28:27 , Deuteronomy 28:60 ) Sir G. Wilkinson notes that the plague used to occur about every ten years. Your young men have I slain with the sword. Pestilence and wax are allied scourges in Le Exodus 26:25 . A reference may here be made to the wars with the Syrians, wherein the Israelites suffered heavy losses ( 2 Kings 6:25 ; 2 Kings 8:12 ; 2 Kings 13:3 , 2 Kings 13:7 , 2 Kings 13:22 ). And have taken away your horses; rather, together with your captive horses, still under the regimen of "I have slain." The destruction of men and horses is mentioned in 2 Kings 13:7 . The stink of your camps. These unburied caresses caused pestilence in the district. Septuagint, καὶ ἀνήγαγον ἐν πυρὶ τὰς παρεμβολὰς ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ ὑμῶν , or, according to the Alexandrian manuscript, παρεμβολὰς ὑμῶν ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ μου , "In my wrath against you I set fire to your camps."