Amos 2:1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Consequently, Joram from Samaria sent a message to Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, saying, “The king of Moab has rebelled against me: will you join me in battle against Moab?” The response was affirmative: “I will go up.” Thus, the king of Israel, along with the king of Judah and the king of Edom, proceeded together (4 Kings 3:7, 9). Notice that along with these kings, the king of Edom is mentioned explicitly. Facing a dire shortage of water, they sought Elisha’s assistance, imploring him to intercede with the Lord on their behalf. Following this, the Moabites were defeated, as later described. The Moabites harbored resentment for the earlier defeat inflicted upon them by the Israelites, who were aided by the king of Edom. Unable to express their grievance towards the deceased, they desecrated his remains by consigning them to the flames, showing no mercy even to the bones, as though it were a way to avenge themselves against the Israelites and their erstwhile ally. Hence, it is proclaimed that their cities will be set ablaze, and they shall perish in utter weakness, not through illness or mundane frailty, but with the sound of a cry and the blast of a trumpet, akin to the noise of war. Furthermore, it is warned that the judges and rulers will face destruction alongside their subjects because they were the architects of their evil schemes and the instigators of others' wickedness.

I will send fire upon Moab, and it shall consume the foundations of his cities; and Moab shall perish through impotence amid the clamor, and at the sound of the trumpet: and I will uproot the judge from his midst, and I will slay all his princes with him, says the Lord. Both the children of Ammon and the children of Moab descend from Lot, the son of Abraham's brother. This illustrates that God reigns over all humanity, and that every soul belongs to His authority as their Creator. He enacts judgment for the offense against the king of Edom, or more accurately, for the affront committed against him by the Moabites, who desecrated his remains with their cruelty even post-mortem. The Hebrews recount that the bones of the Edomite king, who allied with Joram of Israel and Jehoshaphat of Judah against Moab, were exhumed by the Moabites in revenge after he had already been buried. Thus, God proclaims that He will unleash fire upon Moab, likely targeting the capital of the Moabites, from which the entire region derives its name, and it shall consume the edifices of Carioth, which denotes a city; although the LXX translates it as "his cities," referring to the entirety of Moab. They shall fall amidst the uproar and clamor of the victorious host, identified in Hebrew as “saon” and “therua,” and at the blast of the trumpet, known as “sophar.” When Moab is vanquished, the counsel of its princes and judges will be futile, for their leaders will be destroyed alongside their cities. We must not relocate all the captives of Solomon into Idumea, thus dragging them from the exalted to the earthly, as Gaza and Tyre did, nor should we desecrate the bones of the king of Edom, reducing them to dust and ashes. The Jews conflate spiritual comprehension with Idumean corporeality, diminishing the robust royal understanding found in the scriptures to empty genealogies and fables. This distortion is not only theirs but is shared by all heretics who envision God, like men, seated on a lofty throne with His feet touching the ground, equipped with a nose to perceive fragrance, eyes to see, hands to act, feet to walk, ears to listen, mouth to articulate, and teeth to consume. Anyone reading that Judah approached Tamar the harlot and fathered two sons by her (Gen. 38) who clings to a crude literal interpretation fails to ascend to the profound beauty of spiritual understanding, thereby burning the bones of the king of Edom. Similarly, one who believes that Hosea wed a harlot (Hos. 1), perceiving no deeper meaning in the text than what is explicitly stated, also desecrates the bones of the king of Edom. Therefore the Lord will send fire upon Moab, whose name signifies “of the father,” for despite being birthed by God, he has forsaken Him. This fire will consume his cities or towns, particularly Carioth; thus we also refer to Cariathiarim in our language as the “city of forests.” Moab will perish not by any mundane means but through the shouting, clamor, and reverberation of the trumpet, stricken by elevated understanding—an understanding likened to the sound of a trumpet in sacred texts. The Word of God will obliterate the judges and princes, along with all earthly rulers, and will instruct the church leaders, “Ascend to the high mountain, you who bring good tidings to Zion; lift up your voice, you who proclaim the gospel to Jerusalem” (Isaiah 40:9).