CRITICAL NOTES.]
Amos 1:6. Whole captivity] i.e. left none, but sold them to Edomites, the most deadly enemies to Israel: hence the greatness of the sin.
Amos 1:7. Fire on the wall] An enemy shall destroy it. Fulfilled by Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:8), Sennacherib (Isaiah 47:1), and by Alexander the Great.
THE JUDGMENT ON GAZA.—Amos 1:6-8
In similar terms as before, the special sins of the leading and most influential city of the Philistines are mentioned. Sin in every place grows and ripens for punishment.
I. The sins of Gaza. “For three transgressions,” &c.
1. The provocations were great in kind. They are called transgressions, or rebellions.
2. The provocations were multiplied in number. The sins were not few, but many, and multiplied. “For three and for four,” that is, for continued provocations against God. Sin was continually added to sin.
3. The provocations reached a climax in their cruelty towards the Jews. “Because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom.” (a) This captivity was most complete. The term “whole captivity” means “a full captivity.” The captives were numerous. They took all they could and left none behind. They intended to destroy Israel entirely. “They have said, Come and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance” (Psalms 83:4). (b) This captivity was most cruel. The Philistines appear to have sold their victims partly to the Edomites, the bitterest foes of Israel, and partly to the Phœnicians, who resold them to Edom (Amos 1:9) and to the Grecians (Joel 3:6). Amos emphasizes the hatred of the Philistines. They were not satisfied with taking them captives themselves, but added affliction to affliction, by delivering the Jews into the hands of implacable foes. Fugitives who flee to us for refuge should never be treated with cruelty nor robbed of their liberty. “It was like driving the shrinking flock of sheep to the butcher’s shambles,” says a writer, reeking with the gore of their companions. Yet were they driven there to the slaughter. Open markets there were for Jewish slaves in abundance. “Sell us only not to slaughter,” “Spare the gray-headed,” “Spare my child,” would go up in the ears of those, who though enemies understood their speech. But no! Such was the compact of Tyre, and Philistia, and Edom against the people of God. Not one was to be spared; it was to be a complete captivity, and that to Edom. The bond was fulfilled. “Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he too shall cry and not be heard.”
II. The doom of Gaza. “Behold, I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, which shall devour the palaces thereof.” The sentence upon Gaza stands out prominently, because the first city in power and in sin. It was the merchant city of the five. Each had its own petty king. But all formed one whole, and were involved in one sin and ruin. As they had treated Israel, so God would deal with them. Measure for measure. “He shall have judgment without mercy that hath showed no mercy.”
1. Gaza and affiliated cities would be destroyed. The ravages of fire and sword would devour the palaces of the land. Cities strong by nature and art would be smitten by the fire, when human foresight would pronounce them impregnable and secure.
2. The people were doomed to perish. So complete would be the destruction that “the remnant,” those who were left after one destruction, should fall in the other. The political strength which escaped one calamity should be overtaken in another. God will make a full end of those who sought to exterminate his people. Judgment upon judgment fell upon Philistia, until they ceased to be a nation (Jeremiah 47). Cruelty to the helpless, and persecution of God’s people, ripen nations and individuals for destruction with great rapidity. Flourishing families and magnificent palaces are destroyed, as if by tremendous fire. Fortified cities are leveled to the dust, fertile regions are depopulated, princes are dethroned, and mighty empires are reduced to slavery and ruin. “Rejoice not thou, whole Philistia, because the rod of him that smote thee is broken: for out of the serpent’s root shall come forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent.”