Isa 24:8-9, Amo 6:5-6 | JFB | STEP

Isaiah 24:8-9

9. with a song—the usual accompaniment of feasts.

strong drink—(See on Isa 5:11). "Date wine" [HORSLEY].

bitter—in consequence of the national calamities.

Amos 6:5-6

5. chant—literally, "mark distinct sounds and tones."

viol—the lyre, or lute.

invent . . . instruments . . . like David—They fancy they equal David in musical skill (1Ch 23:5; Ne 12:36). They defend their luxurious passion for music by his example: forgetting that he pursued this study when at peace and free from danger, and that for the praise of God; but they pursue for their own self-gratification, and that when God is angry and ruin is imminent.

6. drink . . . in bowls—in the large vessels or basins in which wine was mixed; not satisfied with the smaller cups from which it was ordinarily drunk, after having been poured from the large mixer.

chief ointments—that is, the most costly: not for health or cleanliness, but wanton luxury.

not grieved for the affliction of Joseph—literally, "the breach," that is, the national wound or calamity (Ps 60:2; Eze 34:4) of the house of Joseph (Am 5:6); resembling in this the heartlessness of their forefathers, the sons of Jacob, towards Joseph, "eating bread" while their brother lay in the pit, and then selling him to Ishmaelites.