Amos 1:3

Thus saith the Lord,.... Lest it should be thought that the words that Amos spoke were his own, and he spake them of himself, this and the following prophecies are prefaced in this manner; and he

Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: Thus saith the Lord.

Thus saith the Lord; Amos speaks not by conjecture, or of his own head, but as he comes in the name of the Lord, so he assures us of it by this most solemn attestation. Three transgressions: this certain number is put for an uncertain; three, i.e. many, especially when, as here, it is joined with four; their transgressions are so multiplied, grown to such height and number. Damascus was the chief city of the kingdom of Syria, and very ancient; Abraham’ s steward was of this city. It was north-east from Canaan; conquered by David, lost by Solomon, recovered by Jeroboam the Second, though soon after lost again, and was in Ahaz’ s time the royal seat of Rezin, whom Tiglath-pileser slew, . While it was in its power and greatness it mightily oppressed Israel. It is here by a synecdoche put for the whole kingdom of Syria. I will not turn away the punishment thereof: some refer this to the suffering Damascus to be quiet, God threatens that she shall not have rest; others say it is a threat that God would not convert it, but leave the Syrians to their impenitent heart; but our version is full and plain, it is a threat of punishment which they should certainly fall under. God would no longer continue to be patient and gracious towards such sinners, nor divert the menaced punishment foretold by the prophet, deserved by the people, and which shall be executed by an impartial hand. Because they, the Syrians, comprised in the word Damascus, by a synecdoche, have threshed; first gathered, (as husbandmen gather sheafs into a floor,) next trod them under foot, beat them small, i.e. with utmost cruelty destroyed the persons, towns, and cities. Gilead: of this name there was a great mountain fifty miles in length, saith my author; there was also a country of this name, and a city possessed by the Reubenites, Gadites, and Manassites; now the Gilead in this text is by a very usual figure put for the inhabitants of this country and city, whom Hazael king of Syria, as was foretold by Elisha, , did most barbarously murder, as appears by the words of this text. With threshing instruments of iron; rakes, or flails, or harrows, or saws, or heavy wheels of iron; whichsoever of these were the instruments intended, it is most certain it was a very barbarous and cruel manner of using them.

Amos 1:3 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away [the punishment] thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:Ver. 3. For three transgressions of Damascus and for four] For their seven, that is, several sins, not a few; for their many and bony provocations, for their progress in sin, without mean or measure. The Jews here note, that for three faults God will pardon a man, but let him beware of the fourth: God will not always serve man for a sinning stock, but break off his abused patience, and proceed to punishment. Lo, all these things worketh God twice and thrice with man, Job 33:29, but let him not thereupon grow overly bold, lest he pay for his presumption. Sin iterated is greatly aggravated; as ciphers added increase the sum; and though it may sleep a long time, yet it is but a sleeping debt, not called for of many years, required at length; as Saul’ s sin in slaying the Gibeonites was not punished till forty years after; as Joab’ s killing of Abner slept all David’ s days. Now, lest Israel, looking upon Syria yet flourishing, should promise themselves like impunity, they are here thus threatened. I will not turn away the punishment thereof] But pay them home for the new and the old; yea, for the old by occasion of the new; for their obstinate and incurable wickedness, I will punish them seven times more, and seven times more, and seven to that, Leviticus 26:24, and so hang them up, as it were, in gibbets, for a warning to Israel, that they may wash their feet in the blood of these heathens, and redeem their own sorrows. Because they have threshed Gilead] i.e. the Gileadites whom they had taken captive, and thus cruelly intreated; see 2 Kings 13:7; 2 Kings 10:32, where it appeareth, that all this was done not without the Lord; which yet is no excuse to Hazael’ s cruelty. That conquerors were wont to use this kind of torment and punishment, see 2 Samuel 12:31. But that David should do so, is some wonder: he was hardly recovered of his late foul fall; and thence, haply, so much harshness. Certain it is, that the merciful God abhorreth cruelty toward his creature, and severely punisheth it; such as was this of Hazael toward Israel, foretold by Elisha, 2 Kings 8:12, and afterwards of Ptolemy Lathurus, king of Egypt, who slew 30,000 Jews at once; and forced the rest to eat up their dead carcases. (Joseph.) So that barbarous Duke of Alva roasted some of his prisoners to death, starved others, and that even after quarter, saying, though he promised to give them their lives, he did not promise to find them food.

CURSE ON . (3) Three transgressions . . .—This form of transgression, which occurs eight times in the prologue, is not an arithmetical, but a strongly idiomatic phrase, signifying “multiplied or repeated delinquencies” (Henderson). Turn away . . .—Rather, will not turn it back—i.e., the sore judgment I have purposed. (Comp. 2 Kings 10:32-33.)

Verse 3. For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four] These expressions of three and four, so often repeated in this chapter, mean repetition, abundance, and any thing that goes towards excess. Very, very exceedingly; and so it was used among the ancient Greek and Latin poets. See the passionate exclamation of Ulysses, in the storm, Odyss., lib. v., ver. 306: - ΤριςμακαρεςΔαναοικαιτετρακις, οἱτοτ' ολοντο Τροιῃενευρειῃ, χαρινΑτρειδῃσιφεροντες. "Thrice happy Greeks! and four times who were slain In Atreus' cause, upon the Trojan plain." Which words Virgil translates, and puts in the mouth of his hero in similar circumstances, AEn. i. 93. Extemplo AEneae solvuntur frigore membra: Ingemit; et, duplicis tendens ad sidera palmas, Talia voce refert: O terque quaterque beati! Queis ante ora patrum Trojae sub moenibus altis Contigit oppetere. "Struck with unusual fright, the Trojan chief With lifted hands and eyes invokes relief. And thrice, and four times happy those, he cried, That under Ilion's walls before their parents died." DRYDEN. On the words, O terque quaterque, SERVIUS makes this remark, "Hoc est saepias; finitus numerous pro infinito." "O thrice and four times, that is, very often, a finite number for an infinite." Other poets use the same form of expression. So SENECA in Hippolyt., Act. ii. 694. O ter quaterque prospero fato dati, Quos hausit, et peremit, et leto dedit Odium dolusque! "O thrice and four times happy were the men Whom hate devoured, and fraud, hard pressing on, Gave as a prey to death." And so the ancient oracle quoted by Pausanias, Achaic., lib. vii., c. 6: Τριςμακαρεςκεινοικαιτετρακιςανδρεςεσνται; "Those men shall be thrice and four times happy." These quotations are sufficient to show that this form of speech is neither unfrequent nor inelegant, being employed by the most correct writers of antiquity. Damascus was the capital of Syria.

Amos 1:3 to Amos 2:5. The sins of Israel’s neighbours 3–5. Damascus. The first denunciation lights upon the Syrian kingdom of Damascus, the best-organized and most formidable of Israel’s neighbours, with whom, shortly before, during the 80 years of the ‘Syrian wars’ (c. 880–800 b.c.), the dynasties of Omri and Jehu had had many a severe struggle. The specific sin with which the Syrians are taxed is the cruelty practised by them in their wars with the trans-Jordanic Israelites. Damascus is situated in the midst of a broad and fertile plain, which stretches from the foot of Hermon far off towards Palmyra: it lies picturesquely embosomed in the deep green of encircling orchards and cornfields, fertilized by the cool waters of the Barada (the Pharpar of 2 Kings 5:12), which descend in a copious volume from Hermon, and flow straight along the North of the city, till they lose themselves in an inland lake about 15 miles to the West. It owed its importance to the natural advantages of its site. Its soil was fertilized by the Barada; the surrounding orchards formed a defence difficult for an invader to penetrate: it lay on the best route from the interior of Asia to Palestine and the Mediterranean Sea. The Syrians of Damascus are first mentioned as an important military power in the time of David (2 Samuel 8:5-6), who made them tributary, and planted Israelite officers in their territory. Under Solomon, Rĕ ?zôn, who had been a subject of Hadadezer, king of Zobah, established himself in Damascus, and used his position for the purpose of harassing Israel (1 Kings 11:23-25). Ben-hadad I., king of Damascus, was in alliance first with Baasha, king of Israel, then with Asa, king of Judah (1 Kings 15:18-20): his successes against Israel, under Omri (b.c. 887–877), are alluded to in 1 Kings 20:34. The more varied fortunes of his son Ben-hadad II., in his conflicts with Ahab (876–854), and Jehoram (853–842) are recounted in 1 Kings 20, 22; 2 Kings 5:1-2; 2 Kings 6:8 to 2 Kings 7:20. Benhadad II. was assassinated by his general Hazael, who after he had established himself upon the throne, gained numerous victories over Israel, during the reigns of Jehu (842–815), and Jehoahaz (815–802), ravaged the whole Israelite territory East of Jordan, besieged and took Gath, and was only induced to abstain from attacking Jerusalem by the payment of a heavy ransom (2 Kings 8:7-15; 2 Kings 8:28-29; 2 Kings 10:32-33; 2 Kings 12:17-18; 2 Kings 13:3; 2 Kings 13:22; 2 Kings 13:25). At this time, Israel was reduced to the lowest extremities (2 Kings 13:4; 2 Kings 13:7; cf. 2 Kings 14:26-27), and continued in the same condition to the end of Hazael’s reign, as well as through the early years of his son and successor Ben-hadad III. (2 Kings 13:3). In the course of Ben-hadad III.’s reign, Jehoash (802–790) recovered from Syria the cities which his father had lost (2 Kings 13:14-19; 2 Kings 13:25; cf. 2 Kings 13:5; cf. 2 Kings 13:23); and Jeroboam II.

The order of God’s threatenings seems to have been addressed to gain the hearing of the people.

3-5. The sin and punishment of Damascus. Thus saith Jehovah — A solemn formula repeated before each denunciation (Amos 1:6; Amos 1:9; Amos 1:11; Amos 1:13; Amos 2:1; Amos 2:4; Amos 2:6).