Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, ‘As surely as your god lives, O Dan,’ or, ‘As surely as the way of Beersheba lives’—they will fall, never to rise again.”
He afterwards mentions the reason why the Lord would inflict such punishments on his people; it was, because they had prostituted themselves to wicked superstitions; They swear, he says, by the sin of Samaria; they say, Live does thy God, Dan; Live does the way of Beersheba Some understand “sin” here metaphorically, (as it is taken also in many other places,) as meaning sin-offerings, which...
In these verses is threatened, I. A general judgment of spiritual famine coming upon the whole land, a famine of the word of God, the failing of oracles and the scarcity of good preaching. This is spoken of as a thing at some distance: The days come, they will come hereafter, when another kind of darkness shall come upon that land of light.
Commenting on Amos 8:11-14
swear by the sin of Samaria--namely, the calves (Deu 9:21; Hos 4:15). "Swear by" means to worship (Psa 63:11). The manner--that is, as "the way" is used (Psa 139:24; Act 9:2), the mode of worship. Thy god, O Dan--the other golden calf at Dan (Kg1 22:26-30). liveth . . . liveth--rather, "May thy god . . . live . . . may the manner . . .