Amos 1

Amos, as before noted, was an early prophet; compare verse 1 with Hosea 1:1¹The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel. (Hosea 1:1). His name means “burden bearer”, and he was a herdman or sheep master, and a gatherer or dresser of sycamore fruit (thought to be the sycamore-fig, or fig-mulberry) (See chapter 7:14-15). Tekoa was a few miles from Bethlehem.

The burden laid on Amos was the state of God’s earthly people, the two nations of Israel and Judah, and the chastisement which was shortly to fall upon them because of their many sins. God was about to deal, also, with their neighbors on both borders, and these are spoken of briefly, at the beginning of the prophecy. As yet, He dwelt in Zion, where before long He will again have His earthly dwelling place, when the restoration of Israel is undertaken.

In Joel 3:16¹⁶The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. (Joel 3:16) is language similar to verse 2, except that Joel’s words refer to the yet future day of judgment, while Amos’s relate to that which was shortly to come to pass. God has long patience, but He will not compromise with evil.

The expression, “for three transgressions...and for four,” used repeatedly in chapters 1 and 2, covers a course of sin, rather than a certain number of offences, as three, or four, or seven.

God would not turn away from the judgment of Damascus, the capital of Syria, because of the cruelty the Syrians had practiced in taking Gilead, the northeastern section of Israel’s land—beyond the Jordan (2 Kings 8:12,28; 10:32-33¹²And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child. (2 Kings 8:12)
²⁸And he went with Joram the son of Ahab to the war against Hazael king of Syria in Ramoth-gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram. (2 Kings 8:28)
³²In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel; ³³From Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan. (2 Kings 10:32‑33)). “Ben-Hadad” was a title of the kings of Syria, meaning “Son of Hadad”, the Sun-god of the Syrians. The “bar” of Damascus referred to its defenses against an enemy, the plain (or valley) of Aven tells of the prevalence of idolatry; Beth-Eden appears to have been a name for the city of Damascus, as it means “House of delight”. Kir has not been identified, but it is thought to be a region between the Black and Caspian seas (See 2 Kings 16:9⁹And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it captive to Kir, and slew Rezin. (2 Kings 16:9) for the fulfilment of this prophecy).

Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon and Ekron were the royal cities of the Philistines; formerly they were five in number, but Gath may have been abandoned about this time (See 2 Chronicles 26:6⁶And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines. (2 Chronicles 26:6)). The captivity mentioned in verses 6 and 9 is not identified in the historical books. The Philistines are yet to perish as a people (verse 8; see Isaiah 14:29-31²⁹Rejoice not thou, whole Palestina, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent. ³⁰And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant. ³¹Howl, O gate; cry, O city; thou, whole Palestina, art dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times. (Isaiah 14:29‑31); Jeremiah 47; Ezekiel 25:15-17¹⁵Thus saith the Lord God; Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred; ¹⁶Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethims, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast. ¹⁷And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them. (Ezekiel 25:15‑17); Zephaniah 2:4-7⁴For Gaza shall be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive out Ashdod at the noon day, and Ekron shall be rooted up. ⁵Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the Lord is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant. ⁶And the sea coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks. ⁷And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the Lord their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity. (Zephaniah 2:4‑7); Zechariah 9:5-7⁵Ashkelon shall see it, and fear; Gaza also shall see it, and be very sorrowful, and Ekron; for her expectation shall be ashamed; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. ⁶And a bastard shall dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. ⁷And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remaineth, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite. (Zechariah 9:5‑7)).

Tyre’s glory was to end, and it did when first Nebuchadnezzar, and later Alexander the Great captured the city; but it will come into judgment at the Lord’s appearing, and after that Isaiah 23:18¹⁸And her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord: it shall not be treasured nor laid up; for her merchandise shall be for them that dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for durable clothing. (Isaiah 23:18) will be literally fulfilled, with Psalm 45:12¹²And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favor. (Psalm 45:12) also.

Edom with its district of Teman and capital city of Bozrah will be judged in the coming day, as several Scriptures witness. It was the land of Esau, whose children came to hate the children of Jacob with an undying hatred (Psalm 83; Psalm 137:7⁷Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem; who said, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. (Psalm 137:7); Isaiah 11:14,31; 63:1-6; Jeremiah 49:7-22⁷Concerning Edom, thus saith the Lord of hosts; Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished? ⁸Flee ye, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him. ⁹If grapegatherers come to thee, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, they will destroy till they have enough. ¹⁰But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is spoiled, and his brethren, and his neighbors, and he is not. ¹¹Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me. ¹²For thus saith the Lord; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it. ¹³For I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes. ¹⁴I have heard a rumor from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle. ¹⁵For, lo, I will make thee small among the heathen, and despised among men. ¹⁶Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thine heart, O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, that holdest the height of the hill: though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord. ¹⁷Also Edom shall be a desolation: every one that goeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all the plagues thereof. ¹⁸As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith the Lord, no man shall abide there, neither shall a son of man dwell in it. ¹⁹Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong: but I will suddenly make him run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? ²⁰Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord, that he hath taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out: surely he shall make their habitations desolate with them. ²¹The earth is moved at the noise of their fall, at the cry the noise thereof was heard in the Red sea. ²²Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom be as the heart of a woman in her pangs. (Jeremiah 49:7‑22); Lamentations 4:21²¹Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked. (Lamentations 4:21); Ezekiel 25:12-14; 35¹²Thus saith the Lord God; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them; ¹³Therefore thus saith the Lord God; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword. ¹⁴And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord God. (Ezekiel 25:12‑14); Joel:19; Obadiah; Malachi 1:2-5²I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob, ³And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness. ⁴Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever. ⁵And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel. (Malachi 1:2‑5)).

The nations spoken of in this chapter and in the next have disappeared with the glory of their kings, —and their cities are decadent or desolate; but Syria, Philistia, Tyre, Edom, Ammon and Moab will reappear as distinct peoples in the regions they formerly occupied, to be judged at the Lord’s appearing, now not far distant.

Had the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of Manasseh been content to go over the Jordan with their brethren (Numbers 32; Joshua 13), they would not have been so exposed to attack. Joshua 22; 2 Kings 10:32, 33³²In those days the Lord began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel; ³³From Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan. (2 Kings 10:32‑33); 1 Chronicles 5:26,²⁶And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day. (1 Chronicles 5:26) and verse 13 of Amos 1, tell what befell them because of their seeking, what seemed like natural advantage instead of acting on the word of God. The children of Ammon were their immediate neighbors on the east, and these to gain more territory for themselves, wantonly and brutally killed women of Gilead. The judgment of Ammon is accordingly pronounced.

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