And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-ha'dad.
I will kindle a fire ... and it shall consume the palaces of Ben-hadad - that palace whence so many evils and such cruelty to Israel emanated: thus implying the cause of Damascus' overthrow. Not the Ben-hadad of 2 Kings 13:3, son of Hazael, into whose hand the Lord delivered Israel. Amos 1:3 probably alludes to Hazael's oppression of Israel, "For three transgressions of Damuscus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with instruments of iron;" the very expression used of Hazael's oppression of Israel under Jehu and Jehoahaz (2 Kings 13:7, "He had made them like the dust by threshing." Ben-hadad was a common name of the Syrian kings-cf. 1 Kings 15:18; meaning son of Hadad, the idol).