Amos1chapter 1

Amos 1:3

“For three - This certain number is put for an uncertain: three, that is, many. Of Damascus - Here Damascus is put for the whole kingdom of Syria. Threshed - Treated it with the utmost cruelty.”

Amos 1:4

“But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael,.... For so doing; into his family, his sons' sons, one of whom perhaps was Rezin, that Tiglathpileser king of Assyria slew, as Aben Ezra observes.”

Amos 1:5

“The bar - Literally the bar with which the city gates were shut, and fastened. Of Eden - Some royal seat, of the kings of Syria. Kir - Kir of Media, Isaiah xxii, 6, thither did Tiglath-Pilneser carry the conquered Syrians, 2 Kings xvi, 9, and placed them captives in that barren mountainous country, about fifteen years after it was foretold by Amos.”

Amos 1:6

“Gaza--the southernmost of the five capitals of the five divisions of Philistia, and the key to Palestine on the south: hence put for the whole Philistine nation. Uzziah commenced the fulfilment of this prophecy (see 2Ch 26:6). because they carried away . . . the whole captivity--that is, they left none.”

Amos 1:7

“But - Literally, “and.” Thus had Gaza done, and thus would God do; “I will send a fire upon Gaza.” The sentence on Gaza stands out, probably in that it was first in power and in sin. It was the merchant-city of the five; the caravans parted from it or passed through it; and so this sale of the Jewish captives was ultimately effected through them. First in sin, first in punishment.”

Amos 1:8

“Ashdod, &c.--Gath alone is not mentioned of the five chief Philistine cities. It had already been subdued by David; and it, as well as Ashdod, was taken by Uzziah (2Ch 26:6). Gath perhaps had lost its position as one of the five primary cities before Amos uttered this prophecy, whence arose his omission of it.”

Amos 1:9

“The last crowning sin, for which judgment is pronounced on Tyre, is the same as that of Philistia, and probably was enacted in concert with it. In Tyre, there was this aggravation, that it was a violation of a previous treaty and friendship. It was not a covenant only, nor previous friendliness only; but a specific covenant, founded on friendship which they forgat and brake. If they retained the memory of Hiram’s contact with David and Solomon, it was a sin against light too.”

Amos 1:10

“But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus,.... An enemy to destroy the walls of it: this was done either by Shalmaneser king of the Assyrians, in the times of Eulaeus king of the Tyrians, of whose expedition against it Josephus (s) makes mention: or by Nebuchadnezzar, who took it after thirteen years' siege of it, in the time of Ithobalus (t): or by Alexander, by whom it was taken, as Curtius (u) relates, after it had been besieged seven months: which shall devour the palaces thereof; of the governor, the great men and merchants in it.”

Amos 1:11

“Edom - God had impressed on Israel its relation of brotherhood to Edom. Moses expressed it to Edom himself , and, after the suspicious refusal of Edom to allow Israel to march on the highway through his territory, he speaks as kindly of him, as before; “And when we passed by from our brethren, the children of Esau” Deu 2:8. It was the unkindness of worldly politics, and was forgiven.”

Amos 1:12

“But I will send a fire upon Teman,.... A principal city of Edom or Idumea, so called from Teman a grandson of Esau, Gen 36:11. Jerom (x) says there was in his time a village called Theman, five miles distant from the city Petra, and had a Roman garrison; and so says Eusebius (y); who places it in Arabia Petraea; it is put for the whole country; it signifies the south.”

Amos 1:14

Rabbah--the capital of Ammon: meaning "the Great." Distinct from Rabbah of Moab. Called Philadelphia, afterwards, from Ptolemy Philadelphus. tempest--that is, with an onset swift, sudden, and resistless as a hurricane. day of the whirlwind--parallel to "the day of battle"; therefore meaning "the day of the foe's tumultuous assault."

Amos 1:15

“And their king - The king was commonly, in those nations, the center of their energy. When “he and his princes” were “gone into captivity,” there was no one to make head against the conqueror, and renew revolts. Hence, as a first step in the subdual, the reigning head and those who shared his counsels were removed. Ammon then, savage as it was in act, was no ill-organized horde. On the contrary, barren and waste as all that country now is, it must once have been highly cultivated by a settled and laborious people.”