They reach nearly to Anti-libanus westward, and extend on both sides of the Barada some miles eastward. Whom hate devoured, and fraud, hard pressing on, And so the ancient oracle quoted by Pausanias Achaic., lib. The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. At the time of our era, the name of Abraham was still held in honor in the country of Damascus; a village was named from him Abrahams dwelling; and a native historian Nicolas said, that he reigned in Damascus on his way from the country beyond Babylon to Canaan. God promised to make His people into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth and use them to bring judgment on those who oppress the godly (Is. They sent them into captivity (or exile). , Deuteronomy 28:8 TheLordwill command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake. Benhadad promised to restore the cities which his father had taken from Israel, and to make an Israel-quarter in Damascus 1 Kings 20:34. 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. These are the men of Recah. 5 I will break the gate bars of Damascus and I will cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven and the one who takes . Kings who entered treaties with each other typically thought of themselves as brothers (cf. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. , 1 Chronicles 4:10-41 Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain! And God granted what he asked. If this promise was fulfilled, Ramoth-Gilead must have been lost to Syria at an earlier period, since, three years afterward, Ahab perished in an attempt, by aid of Jehoshaphat, against the counsels of God, to recover it 2 Kings 7:6. It includes: Complete but concise outlines of every Old Testament book A . When the Jews killed the Son, there, came on them all the righteous bloodshed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias Matthew 23:35-36; Luke 11:50-51. 5 I will p break the gate-bar of l Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of q Aven, 4. and him who holds the scepter from r Beth-eden; Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. This likely refers to the entire kingdom of Aram, of which Damascus was the capital. Theme: Contempt by Vault9. As such, patience is a required virtue for a farmer. The work has to be done. E Farmers work throughout the year, regardless of the weather. Amos used the imagery of threshing to convey the damage wrought by Damascus upon the inhabitants of Gilead. The city of Gilead was an Israelite region located on the eastern side of the Jordan River, just south of Damascus. This is what the LORD says: 'For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not relent. So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-. I will break the gate bars of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and the one who holds the scepter . In ancient Israel, gates and doors were usually locked with a bar made of wood or metal that slid into openings in the posts. 3 Thus says the Lord,For three transgressions of Damascus and for fourI will not revoke its punishment,Because they threshed Gilead with implements of sharp iron.4So I will send fire upon the house of HazaelAnd it will consume the citadels of Ben-hadad.5 I will also break the gate bar of Damascus,And cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven,And him who holds the scepter, from Beth-eden;So the people of Aram will go exiled to Kir,Says the LORD. Sin adds to sin, out of which it grows; it does not overshadow the former sins, it does not obliterate them, but increases the mass of guilt, which God punishes. Eshton fathered Beth-rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah, the father of Ir-nahash. So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am theLordyour God., Genesis 26:12 And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. , Job 24:10 They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves;Psalm 35:5 Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of theLorddriving them away!Job 21:18 That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away?1 Chronicles 21:23 Then Ornan said to David, Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. All these nations fall under the divine judgment because each has committed offenses against the holy God. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am theLordyour God., Proverbs 3:10 Then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.Genesis 9:20 Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.Deuteronomy 23:24-25 If you go into your neighbors vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag. Randall. Through studying this beautiful exposition on each of these eight books, you will gain understanding of the historical events and the countless precious spiritual applications and prophetic utterances that apply to the church today. Philistia removed Judeans who lived in the lush farmland of the Judean foothills to the desert regions of Edom (cf. What Does the Bible Say About Husbands and Wives? Publication date: Jun 3, 2010. M This should not be too surprising because most of Jesus listeners were farmers themselves or, at least, very familiar with farming. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. After this Joash decided to restore the house of theLord. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? God also said He will cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven. 2. Thus said 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: Amos 1:6,9,11,13 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom: , Amos 2:1,4,6 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime: . With a small company of men he defeated a large army of Judah 2 Chronicles 24:23-24. 1 Kings 19:17 And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Many things in life take time just as farming takes time. All time was measured by seven. R And he told them many things in parables, saying: A sower went out to sow. Again, give a portion to seven, and also to eight Ecclesiastes 11:2. because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. Hazael was the king of Damascus in the second half of the ninth century BC, while Ben-hadad was his son and successor (2 Kgs. Mail (will not be published) __('(required)'). Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, , Psalm 104:14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earthLeviticus 19:19 You shall keep my statutes. And since they had no root, they withered away. a aq as _ \\ \ \ \ ss ce ake i arthur s. phelps his booke god give him grace. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. Z. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of theLord. Y It is here put for the whole country of Syria, and the inhabitants of it, for whose numerous transgressions, signified by "three" and "four", the Lord would not turn away his fury from them, justly raised by their sins; or the decree which he had passed in his own mind, and now made a declaration of, he would not revoke; or not inflict the punishment they had deserved, and he had threatened. David had had, for some cause unexplained by Holy Scripture, to inflict it on the Ammonites 2 Samuel 12:31; 1 Chronicles 20:3. Benhadad II had thirty-two vassal kings 1 Kings 20:1, 1 Kings 20:24, (dependent kings like those of Canaan, each of his own city and little territory,) and led them against Samaria, intending to plunder it 1 Kings 20:6-7, and, on occasion of the plundering, probably to make it his own or to destroy it. Animals have to be fed, crops have to be watered and fertilized, and it doesnt matter how the farmer feels on that particular day. Q And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.1 Kings 5:11 While Solomon gave Hiram 20,000 cors of wheat as food for his household, and 20,000 cors of beaten oil. Soul-murder is worse than physical murder, and requires more devilish art. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! By Gods help they were twice defeated; the second time, when they directly challenged the power of God 1 Kings 20:22-25, 1 Kings 20:28, so signally that, had not Ahab been flattered by the appeal to his mercy 1 Kings 20:31-32, Syria would no more have been in a condition to oppress Israel. It was the "metropolis" of Syria, Isaiah 7:8; and so Pliny calls it, "Damascus of Syria". 1:93. He condemns violent aggression (perhaps even torture and wanton killing), enslavement of populations, and the slave trade. vii., c. 6: ; "Those men shall be thrice and four times happy.". Although Israel and Judah were the primary audience of Gods message delivered through Amos, six other cities and nations Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab were also indicted. Let the nations who have ears to hear, hear what the Spirit through Amos says to the nations. Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth, This is what the LORD says: 'For three offenses of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke its. And as such, it was easier and more effective, to point to a farmer in the field, the numerous plants growing around them, or the shepherds tending nearby flocks and reference the heart of God or another gospel truth about Gods kingdom. Taught by the face of creation around them, where the course of every tiny rivulet, as it burst from the rocks, was marked by a rich luxuriance, the Damascenes of old availed themselves of the continual supply from the snows of Hermon or the heights of Anti-libanus, with a systematic diligence, of which, in our northern clime, as we have no need, so we have no idea. Amos 1:3-5 (ESV) Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. . The names Hazael and Ben-hadad, two kings of Aram, are also known from 2 Kings 8. Gilead is here doubtless to be taken in its widest sense, including all the possessions of Israel, east of Jordan, as, in the account of Hazaels conquests, all the land of Gilead 2 Kings 10:32-33 is explained to mean, all which was ever given to the two tribes and a half, and to include Gilead proper, as distinct from Basan. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. 5 I will break down the gate of Damascus; I will destroy the king who is in the Valley of Avenand the . Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. Frequently threshing sledges (28:27) made of wood (2 Sam. God would cause the one holding the scepter to be cut off from Beth-Eden. As good people, by the grace of God, do, through each act done by aid of that grace, gain an addition to their everlasting reward, so the wicked, by each added sin, add to their damnation. john mark nothing big cus i Still hate to write. <-144 , . Tyre was an important commercial center in the Ancient Near East (cf. , Deuteronomy 22:10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.Hebrews 6:7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.Deuteronomy 22:9-11 You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited, the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. On the west and north its plain lay sheltered under the range of Anti-libanus; on the east, it was protected by the great desert which intervened between its oasis-territory and the Euphrates. You are Gods field, Gods building., Deuteronomy 25:4 You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.Judges 3:31 After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel.Leviticus 19:9 When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest.2 Chronicles 26:10 And he built towers in the wilderness and cut out many cisterns, for he had large herds, both in the Shephelah and in the plain, and he had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil., Matthew 7:19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.Psalm 65:10 You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth.Deuteronomy 24:19 When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. (LogOut/ W And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to theLord. Hesed, There Elisha announces the coming death of Ben-hadad but weeps over the future that Hazael will bring to Israel. Five of these canals are led off from the river at different elevations, before it enters the plain. Here in Amos, we see that the people of Damascus rebelled against the LORD because they threshed Gilead with implements of sharp iron. You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.Ecclesiastes 1:1-18 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Isaiah 41:15 Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge, new, sharp, and having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff;Matthew 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.Genesis 1:11-12 And God said, Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth. And it was so. The identified crime becomes the central ethical condemnation (1:3, 6, 9). But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am theLordyour God., 1 Corinthians 3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.Leviticus 26:1-5 You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am theLordyour God. 4 So I will send a fire on the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. Specially shod animals walked around on the stalks until the grain separated from the hulls. The Bible says a lot about agriculture and farming. Amos 1:6,9-2:16 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom: . The amount of rain, the cool of the nights, the warmth of the days, soil conditions, insects, and many others. f tribe of Manasseh returned to go into the country of Gilead, to the land of their possessions Joshua 22:9. Kimchi thinks that this respects four particular seasons, in which Damascus, or the Syrians, evilly treated and distressed the people of Israel; first in the times of Baasha; then in the times of Ahab; a third time in the days of Jehoahaz the son of Jehu; and the fourth in the times of Ahaz; and then they were punished for them all: because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron; that is. Then, as to those enemies themselves, the order is not of place or time, but of their relation to Gods people. 1 Kings 9:13the brotherhood between Hiram of Tyre and Solomon of Israel). Certainly Hadadezer stands cut conspicuously; the Damascenes are mentioned only subordinately. Deuteronomy 4:24 says that God is a consuming fire. The bar would secure the gate or the door to prevent outsiders from entering to hurt the residents of the city. B And the whole crowd stood on the beach. For we are Gods fellow workers. Benhadad appears to have acted on the offensive, in alliance with the kings of the Hittites, the Hamathites and Phoenicians; Hazael was attacked alone, driven to take refuge in Anti-libanus, and probably became tributary. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, Genesis 1:12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. The city of Damascus was called under judgment because that nation "threshed Gilead with implements of iron" (Amos 1:3) or behaved with unnecessary cruelty against a conquered . God was and is seeking usfor He will separate usable grain from the waste straw or chaff. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of theLordyour God. The sons of Kenaz: Othniel and Seraiah; and the sons of Othniel: Hathath and Meonothai. Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear., 2 Chronicles 24:1-26:23 Joash was seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. On the west and north the city was far and wide fenced by orchards, like thick dense woods, which stretched four or live miles toward Libanus. You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am theLord. God is longsuffering and ready to forgive; but when the sinner finally becomes a vessel of wrath Romans 9:22, He punishes all the earlier sins, which, for the time, He passed by. T .--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). It is still the capital of modern Syria today. Such an attraction caused the Arameans to thresh the Israelites of Gilead with implements of sharp iron. The course of the prophecy convicted them, as the things written in Holy Scripture for our ensamples convict Christians. Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing? Genesis 2:15 says, The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it., Agriculture is highly encouraged throughout the Scriptures. They each follow the same rhetorical pattern. You shall have them for food.Proverbs 20:4 The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing.Proverbs 21:5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.Ecclesiastes 11:6 In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.Matthew 13:1-10 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Likewise, the unexamined life soon becomes useless for service in the kingdom. Fire is used symbolically for Gods judgment, which would fall on the house of Hazael and the citadels of Ben-hadad. This historical account is followed by a description of Gods pronouncement of judgment on five pagan nationsSyria, Philistia, Phoenicia, Edom, and Ammon. In this second volume on the Minor Prophets, Dr. Bailey discusses the books of Joel to Zephaniah. Its native historian admits that the Damascenes were, in the time of David, and continued to be, the aggressors, while he veils over their repeated defeats, and represents their kings, as having reigned successively from father to son, for ten generations, a thing unknown probably in any monarchy. 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. For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Eshton fathered Beth-rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah, the father of Ir-nahash. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. Gaza sent whole communities into exile to Edom. Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. Abijam was in league with the father of Benhadad 1 Kings 15:19. of In similar fashion, Damascus had threshed Gilead with their instruments of war. Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. Amos condemns violent aggression (perhaps even torture and wanton killing), enslavement of populations, and the slave trade. An example of Damascuss war against Israel is found in 2 Kings 10 where Hazael [the king of Damascus] defeated them throughout the territory of Israel: from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites and the Reubenites and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan (2 Kgs. as the Targum; this country lay beyond Jordan, and was inhabited by the Reubenites and Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh; who were used in a very cruel manner, by Hazael king of Syria, as was foretold by Elisha, 2 Kings 7:12; not literally, as in 2 Samuel 12:31; but by him they were beat, oppressed, and crushed, as the grain of the threshingfloor; which used to be threshed out by means of a wooden instrument stuck with iron teeth, the top of which was filled with stones to press it down, and so drawn to and fro over the sheaves of corn, by which means it was beaten out, to which the allusion is here; See Gill on 1 Corinthians 9:9. The work is never done. All the fields have to be checked. International ethics are important to Amos. "They have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron." Gilead was a part of Israel on the eastern side of the Jordan river. , Matthew 13:1-10 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And Joash did what was right in the eyes of theLordall the days of Jehoiada the priest. 3 Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, [] because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. The city of Damascus was called under judgment because that nation threshed Gilead with implements of iron (Amos 1:3) or behaved with unnecessary cruelty against a conquered people. Sin in full bloom. 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, and 6). What Does the Bible Say About Depression and Hopelessness? Not the ethics and the morality of the fathers community. Joel 2:24 speaks of that abundance as a sign of God's blessing if the people repent: "The threshing floors will be filled with grain. The Lord says: I will not relent from punishing Damascus for three crimes, even four, because they threshed Gilead with iron sledges. For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to theLord. A good tree doesnt produce bad fruitsconsider a grain of wheata sower went out to sowin story after story, Jesus Christ made use of scenes from everyday farm life to explicitly illustrate His points about the gospel and the kingdom of God.