Amos 1:9-15
Amos 1:9
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Tyrus,
and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they
delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and remembered not the brotherly
covenant:
Then God turns his attention upon the many transgressions
of Tyrus which was one of the chief cities of Phoenicia along with Sidon.
About 240 years before this time King Hiram of Tyre was friends with both
King David and Solomon. There was a
peace treaty between them but eventually the pagan roots of Tyre started to
surface and they rejected the peace treaty.
Tyre’s transgression was the same as Gaza but it was worse because there
was a covenant of peace between them whereas there was no covenant of peace
between Israel and Gaza. So Tyre
had delivered the Israelites to the Edomites as slaves in violation of their
covenant.
Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy
merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market.
(Ezekiel 27:13)
Amos 1:10
But I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall
devour the palaces thereof.
The same judgment awaited Tyrus as Gaza, Damascus, and
Ashdod. The walls would come down
making them vulnerable to attack and being conquered.
God’s judgment on Tyrus came in two waves.
First, Nebuchadnezzar’s missiles damaged the city, that is, instruments
of fire fired from catapults. Then
the second wave of destruction came from Alexander the Great who built a great
ramp out to the city and then turned it into a peninsula and destroyed the city.
Amos 1:11
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Edom,
and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue
his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear
perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever:
Edom was a nation southeast of the Dead Sea in the
mountains of Seir in the land of the Horites which was founded by Esau.
Now these are the generations of
Esau, who is Edom. (Genesis 36:1)
The named “Edom” means “Red, Earthy or Red Earth.”
Here God also pronounces punishment upon Edom for their perpetual
transgressions. The Edomites had a
long history of anger and resentment for Israel.
They continually pursued Israel and hunted them down to persecute them.
God would not excuse them and would hold them accountable for their
actions against Israel. The verse
speaks about Israel being his brother which refers to the progenitors of both
Israel who would be Jacob and Edom who would be Esau.
Edom never quelled its anger for Israel throughout their whole history.
Amos 1:12
But I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall devour the
palaces of Bozrah.
Teman was a region located somewhere in Edom to the north
and Bozrah was the chief city of Edom.
It is not certain whether Teman was an actual city or a region but no
city has ever been found with that specific name.
It was located about 25 miles (40 km) southeast of the Dead Sea.
It was located on a ridge with deep valleys on three sides.
Here too God will completely judge the region of Edom from the palaces of
the rulers to the entire region because all of Edom was guilty for persecuting
their brethren.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will
also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it;
and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the
sword. (Ezekiel 25:13)
Amos 1:13
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of the
children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof;
because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they might
enlarge their border:
Then the next group of people who would be judged by God
for their incessant sins against Israel would be the Ammonites.
The Ammonites were descendants of Lot who had an incestuous relationship
with his younger daughter.
And the younger, she also bare a son, and
called his name Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto
this day. (Genesis 19:38)
King Saul had defeated the Ammonites but after a while they wanted to
rebuild their territory so they attacked Gilead and mercilessly killed the
people even ripping open women who were with child.
They took delight in killing the unborn with their mothers.
God’s wrath was against them for this barbaric cruelty.
Amos 1:14
But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it
shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a
tempest in the day of the whirlwind:
Rabbah was east of Gad’s tribal territory in a
well-watered fertile valley and was the chief city of the Ammonites.
It would be punished by a series of wars and violent storms.
Therefore, behold, the days come,
saith the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the
Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned
with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the
LORD. (Jeremiah 49:2)
The whirlwind denotes the fact that its judgment is going to come
swiftly. The city is still around
today under the name Amman which is the capital of Jordan.
Amos 1:15
And their king shall go into captivity, he and his
princes together, saith the LORD.