Matthew Poole and continuators on Amos 8:3

3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day , saith the Lord GOD , there shall be many dead bodies in every place , they shall cast them forth with silence .

Which were composed by choicest wits, and set to sweetest Tunes, and chanted out by most skilful singers to the best musical instruments,

either to take in Iudah, and foretel the desolation of their Temple, or else by an Ironie, the Idol Temples, or else of the Palace, as the word in the Hebr. All Court mirth and jollity, Balls and Musick entertainments,

shall howl, Hebr. be turned into the hideous out-cries of undone and despairing men,

when God shall execute his Judgments threatned as he did begin on the Death of Ieroboam, and continued that day of vengeance till Salmaneser finished the work in the ruine of Samaria and its Captivity.

This added to assure Israel, that what Amos did foretel, should be accomplisht, for God spake it.

So there were when Shallum slew Zacharie, so there were when Menahem slew Shallum, when he came with his Army against Samaria, when he ript up the women with child in Tiphsah. 2 Kings 15.16. and when other usurpers prest through blood and treason to the Crown, beside the howlings when Pul, Tiglath-Pilneser, and Salmaneser cruelly wasted all

In Cities, Towns, and Country, in Palaces, and Temples too, in all which, the bloody effects of Enemies Swords, the wastes of Famine and Pestilence should be seen,

Who howl, who see this,

either shall secretly bury them, so some, or to rid themselves of that trouble, shall cast them out wherever they can, with silence, that none may observe them; so great calamitous mortality, that the living suffice not to bury the dead, or so great cruelty by the Enemy used against them, that they dare not bury them, or if they do, it must be undiscerned, see chap. 6. ver. 10.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 letter]owl.; Heb. be silent.