Amos 1:9

Thus saith the Lord, for three transgressions of Tyrus,.... Or Tyre, a very ancient city in Palestine; of which [See comments on Isaiah 23:1]; and for four, I will not turn away [the punishment]

Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the

The prophet having foretold the destruction of the Syrians and the Philistines, for their inhumanity and barbarous cruelty against the Jews, he doth now in the same manner and words foretell the destruction of the Tyrians. See . Because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom: see , where these passages are already explained. And remembered not the brotherly covenant, which was between Hiram on the one part, and David and Solomon on the other part, on account whereof these Tyrians ought to have befriended the Jews, and not betrayed them; so some: others thus, The nearness of blood between Israel and Edom should have been remembered by the Tyrians, and they should therefore have persuaded Edom to carry it as became a brother, and by their mediation the Tyrians should have made peace between Israel and Edom; but they did not so, they took advantage of times, and made merchandise of Israel, sold such as either fled for refuge from other enemies, or such as fell into the hands of the Tyrians, joining with Hazael and Ben-hadad in their wars against Israel. What other sins Tyre added to this between this time and Nebuchadnezzar’ s besieging and subduing Tyre were then punished, when after thirteen years’ siege it was taken, of which see Ezekiel 26$ 27$ 28$, where at large Tyre is spoken of.

Amos 1:9 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four, I will not turn away [the punishment] thereof; because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly covenant:Ver. 9. For three transgressions of Tyrus] That crown of the sea, Isaiah 23:8, media insuperabilis unda, island unconquorerable by sea, till Alexander’ s time, who joined it to the continent, and afterwards ruined it. Charged it is here as those before, 1. With incurable obstinace; 2. With extreme cruelty. Because they delivered up the whole captivity] Which either themselves had taken, or that had fled to them for refuge in some common calamity; but were betrayed by them into the hands of their bitterest enemies. See Amos 1:6, and acknowledge the truth of that Divine proverb, "The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel": they help their clients no otherwise than the wolf in the fable helped the sheep of his cough, by sucking his blood. And have not remembered the brotherly covenant] That passed of old between David, Solomon, and Hiram their king. Or rather, that between Jacob and Esau and their respective posterity, which the Tyrians should have promoted by labouring a reconciliation between these dissenting brethren; but they contrariwise blew up the coals, and rather stirred up more strife then stinted it. They called not to mind what unity and amity ought to be between people so near allied; and what good offices they should therefore have done for them. “ Protenus indigni fraternum rumpere foedus. ” Horat. "Thou shalt not abhor an Edomite, for he is thy brother." This is God’ s argument to Israel, Deuteronomy 23:7. Should not the Tyrians have said the like to the Edomites, and so sought to have pacified them, rather than gratified them in their hereditary hatred and deadly feud, &c.? They put themselves among those worst of men, which, given over of God, though they know the law, how that they which commit such things are worthy of death, yet not only do the same, but also take pleasure in those that do them, Romans 1:32.

CURSE ON TYRUS. (9) The brotherly covenant.—The “covenant of brethren” (margin) was the league made between Hiram and David, and afterwards between Hiram and Solomon (2 Samuel 5:11; 1 Kings 5:1; 1 Kings 5:12). This ancient covenant was forgotten in Phœnicia’s mercantile cupidity, and Tyre was tempted to sell Hebrew captives to Greeks and Idumeans. (Comp. Isaiah 23; Ezekiel 26, and the special excursus in the Speaker’s Commentary.)

Verse 9. Tyrus] See an ample description of this place, and of its desolation and final ruin, in the notes on Ezekiel 26:1-28:19. The brotherly covenant] This possibly refers to the very friendly league made between Solomon and Hiram, king of Tyre, 1Kg 5:12; but some contend that the brotherly covenant refers to the consanguinity between the Jews and Edomites. The Tyrians, in exercising cruelties upon these, did it, in effect, on the Jews, with whom they were connected by the most intimate ties of kindred; the two people having descended from the two brothers, Jacob and Esau. See Calmet.

9–10. Tyre, the great commercial city of the North, next receives her doom from the prophet’s lips. Tyre, as the most important of the Phoenician cities, is taken as representing Phoenicia generally. For defensive purposes Tyre was strongly fortified; but the Phoenicians were not an aggressive people: they were devoted to commerce: Tyre was a ‘mart of nations’ (Isaiah 23:3), a centre of trade by land as well as by sea (see the striking picture of the variety and extent of Tyrian commerce in Ezekiel 27); hence her relations with the Hebrews, as with her neighbours generally, were peaceful. The Tyrians were also celebrated for skill in artistic work: Hiram, king of Tyre, sent Tyrian workmen to build a palace for David; a formal treaty was concluded between Hiram and Solomon; Tyrian builders prepared timber and stones for the Temple; and a Tyrian artist designed and cast the chief ornaments and vessels of metal belonging to it (2 Samuel 5:11; 1 Kings 5:1-12; 1 Kings 5:18; 1 Kings 7:13-45). because they delivered up entire populations to Edom] The charge is similar to that brought against the Philistines, Amos 1:6; the Tyrians however are not accused of taking captives, but only of delivering them to others, i.e. of acting as agents for those who actually took them. For the Tyrians taking part in the trade of slaves, cf. Ezekiel 27:13; and see on Joe 3:6. What ‘exiled companies’ are alluded to does not appear; they need not necessarily have consisted of Israelites; the reference may be as well to gangs of slaves procured with violence from other nations. and remembered not the brotherly covenant] lit. the covenant of—i.e. between—brothers: this forgetfulness was an aggravation of the offence, which is not mentioned in the case of Gaza, Amos 1:6. The allusion is commonly supposed to be to the league, or ‘covenant,’ concluded between Hiram and Solomon, 1 Kings 5:12 (for ‘brother’ used figuratively of one joined in amity to another, see 1 Kings 9:13; 1 Kings 20:32); but it is scarcely likely that the crowning offence of Tyre should be forgetfulness of a treaty entered into nearly 300 years previously; more probably the reference is to the way in which, repudiating some alliance formed with other Phoenician towns, the Tyrians were the means of procuring slaves from them for Edom. As Amos 2:1 shews, Amos does not restrict his censure to wrongs perpetrated against Israel: it is the rights common to humanity at large, which he vindicates and defends. Isaiah (ch. 23), Jeremiah, at least incidentally (Jeremiah 25:22), Ezekiel (ch. 26–28), Zechariah (Zechariah 9:3 f.), all foretell the ruin of Tyre; but it was long before it was accomplished. The Tyrians, it seems, escaped as a rule the hostility of the Assyrians by acquiescing in a condition of dependence and by timely payment of tribute. Thus Asshurnazirpal (b.c. 885–860) boasts of marching with his army as far as the “great sea of the West,” and receiving tribute from Tyre, Sidon, Gebal, and Arvæd; but he claims no conquest by arms (K.A.T[121][122], p.

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.

9, 10. The sin and punishment of Phoenicia. Tyrus [“Tyre”] — The most important of the cities of Phoenicia, representing here the entire nation (see on Joe 3:4; Zechariah 9:2). The crime condemned is similar to that of Philistia.