Amos 1:4 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

I the Lord, avenger of mine oppressed Israel, Jehovah, as Amos 1:3. A fire; either literally understood, or figuratively, famine, pestilence, wars foreign or intestine, effects of God's great but just displeasure, which destroys all like fire. The house of Hazael; the family, or the material house in which he dwelt, or both; Hazael's stately dwelling-place should be consumed by fire, and his whole family be cut off. Devour; eat up, so as to leave nothing remaining of either. The palaces; the royal palaces, or those that descended from Hazael, and dwelt in them. Ben-hadad: whether this were some one of the Syrian kings before Hazael, or the Ben-hadad slain by Hazael, or son and successor to Hazael, is uncertain; nor can we know particularly who this was by this name Ben-hadad, which to the Syrian kings was a common name, as Pharaoh to the ancient Egyptian kings, Caesar to the Roman emperors, and Czar to the Muscovite at this day: three Ben-hadads are mentioned in the books of the Kings, as 1 Kings 15:18 2 Kings 8:7, 2 Kings 13:3.