CRITICAL NOTES.]
Amos 1:3. Three] The numbers serve to denote the multiplicity of sins, “ungodliness in its worst form” [Luther]. Turn] Reverse, to make a thing go back, to withdraw it (Numbers 23:20; Isaiah 43:13).
Amos 1:4. A fire] Material, as cities burned in war (Psalms 78:63); or an emblem of God’s judgments.
Amos 1:5. Bar] of its gates (Jeremiah 51:30). Inhab.] Subject. Him that holdeth] Ruler. Saith] Strengthens the threat, which was fulfilled when the Assyrian king conquered Damascus and broke up the kingdom (2 Kings 16:9).
HOMILETICS
THE JUDGMENT ON DAMASCUS.—Amos 1:3-5
The prophet having declared the object of his mission, and the authority by which he was sent, now gives the several messages in order. First to the surrounding nations, grouped together into two classes. Damascus (Syria), Gaza (Philistia), and Tyre, more distantly related to Israel; Edom, Ammon, and Moab allied in origin, and nearer to Israel. Then to Judah, and finally to Israel herself, the chief transgressor. In the succession of groups we see a climax of guilt.
I. The guilt of Damascus. “For three transgressions of Damascus and for four.” All the judgments are introduced by the same formula, which does not mean that four transgressions were added to three, but that there was a series of sins, each one greater than the one before it, and the last the greatest, the climax of all. All these nations were guilty of multiplied sins. We notice those specially mentioned in each case. Damascus, that is, the Syrians under the reign of Hazael, invaded and subdued the eastern regions of Israel. They treated the captured Gileadites with great cruelty, and crushed them under iron threshing-machines (2 Kings 10:32-33; 2 Kings 8:12). Elisha foretold this cruelty, and Hazael actually did it, though he stood aghast at the prediction. The women of Israel were thrown like sheaves on the threshing-floor.
II. The punishment of Damascus.
1. It is irreversible. “I will not turn away the punishment thereof.” There are antecedent stages when the consequences may be averted. There are times of warning and patient waiting. But when men abuse God’s patience, and continue in sin till there be no remedy, they must reap what they deserve.
2. It is wide-spread. (a) The royal palaces are destroyed. “I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad.” Royal palaces, though richly furnished and strongly built, avail nothing before God. The habitations of the rich are no protection against the wrath of God. They turn to dust and ashes before the fire. (b) The capital is made defenceless. “I will break also the bar of Damascus.” The bar, the gates of the city were broken. It was exposed to the enemy, who could go in and out at pleasure. The seat of empire and the empire itself was shorn of its strength. All means of resistance were shivered Disgrace and ruin followed. “Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap” (Isaiah 17:1). (c) The inhabitants greatly suffered. Some were cut off by the sword. The people from the plain of Aven and princes from the house of Eden, the inhabitants of the valley and the cities, were put to death. Neither their wealth nor their gods could protect them. Others were taken captives to the land of Kir, an Assyrian province on the banks of the river Kir, the modern Georgia. This was accomplished when the king of Assyria took Damascus, and carried away its people into captivity (2 Kings 16:9). How easily can God uproot and transplant a nation that sins against him, and acts with cruelty towards his people! Those who abuse the power which God bestows upon them to uproot others, shall themselves be uprooted.