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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Amos 1:9 - 1:15
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Against Tyre, Edom, and Ammon
v. 9. Thus saith the Lord, the individual announcements coming with a special reference to the inspired nature of their contents, For three transgressions of Tyre, the great metropolis and seaport of Phoenicia, Cf Isaiah 23, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, refusing to change the punishment which He had decided upon, because they delivered up the whole captivity, all the captives obtained from the Philistines or the Syrians as the result of one of their campaigns, to Edom and remembered not the brotherly covenant, both David and Solomon having been allied with Phoenicia by a special treaty;
v. 10. but I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus, which shall devour the palaces thereof, the prophecy being fulfilled during the Babylonian and Grecian conquests.
v. 11. Thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, refusing, also in this instance, to give them any consideration after once their doom was decided upon, because he did pursue his brother with the sword, in the ineradicable hatred which always marked the attitude of the Edomites against Israel and Judah, and did cast off all pity, deliberately smothering every feeling of compassion, and. his anger did tear perpetually, being bent upon murder, and he kept his wrath forever;
v. 12. but I will send a fire upon Teman, which was probably a northern province of Idumea, which shall devour the palaces of Bozrah, the capital of the country, south of the Dead Sea.
v. 13. Thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, the ancient enemies of Israel, who lived northeast of the Dead Sea, on the edge of the Arabian Desert, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof, not reverse His intention of punishing them severely, because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, in the unspeakably cruel manner employed in many instances in those days, that they might enlarge their border, taking possession once more of the territory gained by the tribes of Israel east of Jordan, Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh;
v. 14. but I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, the capital of their country, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, as soon as the enemies would enter the city, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind, for, the enemies would come in a tumultuous assault and carry all before them;
v. 15. and their king shall go into captivity, Cf Jer_49:3, he and his princes together, saith the Lord. A nation may indulge in heinous crimes for some time, but when the Lord so decides, its career will come to an abrupt end.