Amos 1

God's Judgement on Israel's Neighbours

Verses 1- 2 Amos is probably a short name for Amasiah. We can see the name in 2 Chronicles 17:16. The book of Amos gives us some information about Amos. This is much more information than other prophets give about themselves. Jeremiah (1:1) also tells us about his home and his work. Amos probably had several jobs. We know that he looked after sheep. But probably he bought and sold farm animals too. Perhaps the earthquake happened about 760 BC. An earthquake is when the ground moves a lot and buildings fall down. This means that it is quite easy to tell when Amos wrote.

Amos 1:2 to 2:16 is a series of messages that are against the nations. First, he gives judgements against these nations. He writes about the terrible things that they have done. Then he says something to his own people who live in Israel and Judah. God will bring his judgement on them too. Verse 2 gives the main idea of the book of Amos. God is like a lion. He announces, by Amos, that he wants to cause death to his enemies. It is like the sound when there is lightning in the sky. But there will be no rain and all the plants will die.

Punishment for Aram's People

Verse 3 Damascus was the capital of Aram. It was north and east of Israel. Damascus was Israel's main enemy at this time. Aram was very cruel to the people in Gilead, and this was not necessary. Amos is referring to machines. People used these machines to separate grain. The Arameans were cruel to Gilead's people. It seems that the Arameans used these iron machines to hurt them.

Verse 4 Hazael of Damascus took power in Aram by killing Ben-Hadad. 2 Kings 8:7-15 describes this. Later, when Hazael's son became king, he used the name Ben-Hadad. However, God's fire would destroy their palaces and strong places.

Verse 5 The gates of Damascus had a huge wooden bar, which kept them shut. God would destroy this bar and these gates, so that the enemy could come in. We are not sure about the position of the Aven Valley. It might be a valley in Lebanon (Joshua 11:17). Beth-Eden was probably a city that was north and east of Damascus. Kir was the country that the people in Aram came from. The people in Aram would never achieve anything again.

Punishment for the Philistines

Verse 6 Gaza was a Philistine city. It guarded the way between Egypt and Israel. The Philistines' crime was that they forced many people to leave their villages. They then sold them as slaves to Edom. The Edomites then sold the slaves to other buyers. To sell slaves was legal (Exodus 21:2-11, 20-21, 26-27). But God hated the way that nations stole people.

Verse 7 Therefore God would punish Gaza. Gaza would not continue to be a city. This happened in 734 BC when Tiglath-Pileser from Assyria defeated them.

Verse 8 Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Ekron were three more cities that were in the Philistine group of cities. These places also would not continue to be cities. Sargon from Assyria defeated Ashdod in 711 BC and Sennacherib, king of Assyria defeated Ashkelon and Ekron in 701 BC. Amos is really sure that God wants to bring judgement to these cities. The people in these cities wanted big profits from the slave trade. God hated this.

Punishment for Tyre's People

Verse 9 The people who lived in Tyre were famous for commerce. But they had very little honour. In this way, they were like the Philistines. The people in Tyre did not care if they did not keep an agreement. They also did not care how they made a profit. The 'agreement' may refer to agreements between the king of Israel and the king of Tyre. These were in the time of David. They were also in the time of Solomon (1 Kings 5:1, 12; 9:13) and Ahab (1 Kings 16:30-31).

Verse 10 Tyre was an island. It was a very difficult place to take in war. The people in Tyre were proud of their security. But Nebuchadnezzar defeated Tyre's people in a long battle (585-573 BC) So Tyre, too, came to an end.

Punishment for Edom's People

Verse 11 Amos was angry with Edom's people as well. Edom had been an enemy of Israel for a long time (Numbers 20:14-21). In Moses' time the people in Edom did not want the Israelites to go through their land. Both Saul and David won battles against Edom (1 Samuel 14: 47; 2 Samuel 8:12-14). But Hadad from Edom continued to fight against Solomon (1 Kings 11:14-25). Later, in the time of Jeroboam (853 BC), Edom was often the enemy of Judah. The Edomites came from Esau, who was a brother to Israel (Jacob). And so, the Edomites and the Israelites were members of the same family. But Edom did not care about this fact.

Verse 12 Teman and Bozrah were important cities in Edom. When their enemies destroyed them, they would have no more power.

Punishment for Ammon's People

Verse 13 Ammon was east of the River Jordan. It was between Moab in the south and Gilead in the north. Ammon's people, too, wanted to make their country larger (Judges 11:4-5; 1 Samuel 11:1-11). We do not know all the details of Ammon's terrible behaviour. But we do know that soldiers did not care much then about poor people. In wars, they often behaved very badly towards them.

Verse 14 Rabbah was the capital of Ammon. In the New Testament, it is called Philadelphia. Today it is called Amman and it is the capital of Jordan. God himself will make sure that Rabbah will fall. Perhaps he himself will start the fires. He will come quickly, like a strong wind.

Verse 15 As a result, the leaders will go into exile. But Amos does not tell us where they will go. Jeremiah also says later that the people in Rabbah will be very sad, and they will cry out (Jeremiah 49:3).