3. go out at the breaches--namely, of the city walls broken by the
enemy.
every cow at that which is before her--figurative for
the once luxurious nobles (compare "kine of Bashan,"
Am 4:1)
shall go out each one right before her; not through the gates, but
each at the breach before him, not turning to the right or left,
apart from one another.
ye shall cast them into the palace--"them," that is, "your
posterity," from
Am 4:2.
You yourselves shall escape through the breaches, after having cast
your little children into the palace, so as not to see their
destruction, and to escape the more quickly. Rather, "ye shall cast
yourselves into the palace," so as to escape from it out of the
city [CALVIN]. The palace, the scene of the
princes' riots
(Am 3:10, 15; 4:1),
is to be the scene of their ignominious flight. Compare in the similar
case of Jerusalem's capture, the king's escape by way of the
palace, through a breach in the wall
(Eze 12:5, 12).
GESENIUS translates, "Ye shall be cast (as captives)
into the (enemy's) stronghold"; in this view, the enemy's stronghold is
called "palace," in retributive contrast to the "palaces" of Israel's
nobles, the store houses of their robberies
(Am 3:10).
JFB.
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