Amos 2:1

Thus saith the Lord. In vs. 1-3 the prophet pronounces the divine judgment upon Moab, the brother nation of Ammon (see Gen. 19:30—38), and similarly related to Israel through Lot (see on Amos 1:13).

Moab. The hostility of Moab toward the Israelites is revealed in their hiring of Balaam to curse the people of God (see Num. 22-24; see also 2 Chron. 20:22). In the inscription on the Moabite Stone, Meslra says: “I made this high place for Kemosh in Qorchah . . ., for he saved me from ah kings and caused me to triumph over all my enemies. Omri, king of Israel, had oppressed Moab many days, for Kemosh was angry with his land” (see Additional Note on 2 Kings 3).

Burned the bones. This profanation of the body of the king of Edom (cf. 2 Kings 23:16; Jer. 8:1, 2), which was regarded by the Jews as a great disgrace, is not elsewhere recorded. Since Amos concentrates particularly on crimes committed against the people of God, this outrage may have had some connection with Israel or Judah. It may have happened during the time the Edomites allied themselves with Jehoram and Jehoshaphat in the league against Mesha, king of Moab (see 2 Kings 3:7, 9), the author of the celebrated Moabite Stone. Jerome quotes a Jewish tradition to the effect that after this war the Moabites, in revenge for the help Edom gave the Israelites, dug up the body of the Edomite king in order to dishonor his bones.