Bible Commentaries
Amos 5

Verses 1-27

Amos 5:8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:

Amos 5:8 Word Study on “the seven stars” - Gesenius says the Hebrew word “the seven stars” “kiymah” ( כִּימָה ) (H3598) means, “a heap, a cluster.” Strong defines this word as “Pleiades, seven stars,” and says it is derived from an unused primitive root ( כּוּמָז ) (H3558) that means, “to store away.” The Enhanced Strong says this Hebrew word “cimah” is found three times in the Old Testament, being translated “Pleiades 2, seven stars 1.”

Job 38:31, “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades , or loose the bands of Orion?”

Amos 5:8, “Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:”

Webster tells us that the name “Pleiades” is derived from Greek mythology, referring to “the seven daughters of Atlas and the nymph Pleione, fabled to have been made by Jupiter a constellation in the sky.” As a constellation, it is “a group of small stars in the neck of the constellation Taurus.” Since there are only six of these pleiads that are “distinctly visible to the naked eye,” the ancient Greeks supposed that “a sister had concealed herself out of shame for having loved a mortal, Sisyphus.” Hence, we get the rendering “the seven stars” in Amos 5:8 ( KJV).

Amos 5:8 Word Study on “Orion” - Gesenius says the Hebrew word “Orion” “kes-eel” ( כְּסִיל ) (H3685) means, “a fool.” Strong says it is derived from the primitive root ( כָּסַל ) (H3684), which literally means, “to be fat,” and figuratively, “to be silly.” Thus, this constellation is also called “the Fool.”

The Enhanced Strong says this Hebrew word is used only 4 times in the Old Testament, being translated in the KJV as “Orion 3, constellation 1.” This word is used in Job 38:31 and Amos 5:8 as the name of one of several constellations. Isaiah 13:10 uses this word in its plural form in a wider sense to mean all of the constellations in the heavens.

Job 38:31, “Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion ?”

Amos 5:8, “Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion , and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:”

Isaiah 13:10, “For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.”

Webster says that Orion is “a large and bright constellation on the equator between the stars Aldebaran and Sirius…it contains a remarkable nebula visible to the naked eye.” In addition, John Gill tells us that the Hebrew name “Cesil” ( כְּסִיל ) is a derivative of the name of the Hebrew month “Cisleu,” which corresponds to the Roman calendar of November and December at which time this constellation is visible in the Middle East. He says because this constellation appears during the stormy, winter season, Virgil referred to it as “nimbosus Orion,” or “stormy Orion.” [27]

[27] John Gill, Job, in John Gill’s Expositor, in e-Sword, v. 7.7.7 [CD-ROM] (Franklin, Tennessee: e-Sword, 2000-2005), comments on Job 9:9.

The legend of this constellation is of a celebrated mythological hero who was bound in the heavens for an unsuccessful war against the gods. Thus, Job 38:31 describes Orion as being bound with cords. Among the Eastern tradition this individual was identified as Nemrod, who rebelled against the Lord in Genesis. [28] However, the Greeks identified this person as Orion, a celebrated hunter in the oldest Greek mythology of a gigantic stature. [29]

[28] Albert Barnes, Job, in Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 1997), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), comments on Job 9:9.

[29] David H. Levy, “Orion,” in The World Book Encyclopedia, vol. 14 (Chicago: World Book, Inc., 1994), 856.

Amos 5:21-23 God Rejects Israel’s Religious Worship In Amos 5:21-23 God lists seven aspects of Israel’s worship, which He rejects: their feast days, solemn assemblies, burnt offerings, meat offerings, peace offerings, the noise of their songs, the melodies of their viols.