The city of Gilead was an Israelite region located on the eastern side of the Jordan River, just south of Damascus. Amos 1:6,9-2:16 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom: . The LORD pronounces judgment on the inhabitants of Damascus because they slaughtered the people of Gilead. Genesis 2:15 says, The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it., Agriculture is highly encouraged throughout the Scriptures. The last grace of God, whether sealing up the former graces of those who use them, or vouchsafed to those who have wasted them, is the crowning act of His love or forbearance. Gaza sent whole communities into exile to Edom. LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel, Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular, Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - first person common singular | third person masculine singular, Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct | third person masculine plural, Article | Noun - proper - feminine singular, Gilead -- a region in Palestine, also the name of several Israelites, Preposition-b, Article | Noun - masculine plural construct, Incised, incisive, a trench, gold, a threshing-sledge, determination, eager, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, OT Prophets: Amos 1:3 Thus says Yahweh: For three transgressions (Amo. Isaiah 17:1 The burden of Damascus. I will not turn away the punishment thereof. However, at some point, Tyrelike Philistia in the southbetrayed this treaty relationship and enslaved whole Israelite communities. See, I give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for the wood and the wheat for a grain offering; I give it all., Isaiah 3:15 What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor? declares the LordGodof hosts.Proverbs 21:1 The kings heart is a stream of water in the hand of theLord; he turns it wherever he will.Isaiah 17:13 The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm.Psalm 126:1-6 A Song of Ascents. The threshing sledge is also an allegory. 2007. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year.1 Corinthians 3:6-9 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. If you go into your neighbors standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbors standing grain., Micah 4:12 But they do not know the thoughts of theLord; they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.Amos 1:3 Thus says theLord: For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.Leviticus 19:9-10 When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir, says the Lord. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that theLordyour God may bless you in all the work of your hands., Deuteronomy 22:9 You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited, the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard.Deuteronomy 28:1-68 And if you faithfully obey the voice of theLordyour God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, theLordyour God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. Frequently threshing sledges (28:27) made of wood (2 Sam. They cover an area at last 25 (or 30) miles in circuit, and make the environs an earthly Paradise. Whence the Arabs said, If there is a garden of Eden on earth, it is Damascus; and if in heaven, Damascus is like it on earth. But this its beauty was also its strength. Frequently threshing sledges (28:27) made of wood (2 Sam. David had had, for some cause unexplained by Holy Scripture, to inflict it on the Ammonites 2 Samuel 12:31; 1 Chronicles 20:3. God also said He will cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven. (Comp. So does the wisest of us in living. It was rich in pasture (Numbers 32:1) and famous for its balm (Jeremiah 8:22). 3 Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. Gilead is here doubtless to be taken in its widest sense, including all the possessions of Israel, east of Jordan, as, in the account of Hazaels conquests, all the land of Gilead 2 Kings 10:32-33 is explained to mean, all which was ever given to the two tribes and a half, and to include Gilead proper, as distinct from Basan. Am). How Daniels Prophecy of 70 Weeks Connects to the End Times. Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! as the Targum; this country lay beyond Jordan, and was inhabited by the Reubenites and Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh; who were used in a very cruel manner, by Hazael king of Syria, as was foretold by Elisha, 2 Kings 7:12; not literally, as in 2 Samuel 12:31; but by him they were beat, oppressed, and crushed, as the grain of the threshingfloor; which used to be threshed out by means of a wooden instrument stuck with iron teeth, the top of which was filled with stones to press it down, and so drawn to and fro over the sheaves of corn, by which means it was beaten out, to which the allusion is here; See Gill on 1 Corinthians 9:9. The authority of Aram will end here as well. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of theLord, and their descendants with them. Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth, English Standard Version Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. For this they will be judged by God. International ethics are important to Amos. Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. It was the "metropolis" of Syria, Isaiah 7:8; and so Pliny calls it, "Damascus of Syria". Fire is used symbolically for Gods judgment, which would fall on the house of Hazael and the citadels of Ben-hadad. Chelub, the brother of Shuhah, fathered Mehir, who fathered Eshton. The work is never done. Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt: You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. The course of the prophecy convicted them, as the things written in Holy Scripture for our ensamples convict Christians. Matthew 13:18 Hear then the parable of the sower:Ruth 2:17 So she gleaned in the field until evening. B Thus says the Lord: "For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. The Barada (the cold) having joined the Fijeh, (the traditional Pharpar, a name which well designates its tumultuous course ), runs on the north of, and through the city, and then chiefly into the central of the three lakes, the Bahret-el-kibliyeh, (the south lake;) thence, it is supposed, but in part also directly, into the Bahret-esh-Shurkiyeh (the east lake ). Hazael extended his conquests to Gath 2 Kings 12:17, intending probably to open a connecting line with Egypt. These orchards are a most exceeding defense; for from the density of the trees and the narrowness of the ways, it seemed difficult and almost impossible to approach the city on that side. Even to this day it is said, The true defense of Damascus consists in its gardens, which, forming a forest of fruit-trees and a labyrinth of hedges, walls and ditches, for more than 7 leagues in circumference, would present no small impediment to a Mussulman enemy.. Does he continually open and harrow his ground?Ecclesiastes 5:9 But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields., Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek theLord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.Micah 4:1-4 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of theLordshall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of theLord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of theLordfrom Jerusalem. , Deuteronomy 11:1-32 You shall therefore love theLordyour God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); 2023 John Mark Hicks. Let the nations who have ears to hear, hear what the Spirit through Amos says to the nations. A threshing board, also known as threshing sledge, is an obsolete agricultural implement used to separate cereals from their straw; that is, to thresh.It is a thick board, made with a variety of slats, with a shape between rectangular and trapezoidal, with the frontal part somewhat narrower and curved upward (like a sled or sledge) and whose bottom is covered with lithic flakes or razor-like . Many factors can control the time it takes for the crop to ripen. It is here put for the whole country of Syria, and the inhabitants of it, for whose numerous transgressions, signified by "three" and "four", the Lord would not turn away his fury from them, justly raised by their sins; or the decree which he had passed in his own mind, and now made a declaration of, he would not revoke; or not inflict the punishment they had deserved, and he had threatened. , Proverbs 12:11 Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.Isaiah 65:22-24 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of theLordyour God. Whichever is the case, Amos condemns Damascus for their violent aggression against Israel. Tyre was an important commercial center in the Ancient Near East (cf. Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. They journeyed to the entrance of Gedor, to the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks, where they found rich, good pasture, and the land was very broad, quiet, and peaceful, for the former inhabitants there belonged to Ham. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of theLord. For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four. For a long time, these stories worked without much thought or explanation. The Lord says: I will not relent from punishing Damascus for three crimes, even four, because they threshed Gilead with iron sledges. What was the significance of the horns of the altar (Amos 3:14)? Any crime committed against human beings is ultimately against the LORD because He is the sole creator. For we are Gods fellow workers. The vats will overflow with new wine and olive oil.". And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. The smart farmer knows when the moment is ready. 4 So I will send a fire on the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. The white wool Ezekiel 27:18, in which it traded with Tyre, implies the possession of a large outlying tract in the desert, where the sheep yield the whitest wool. 2 Kings 8:12 And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? The LORD your God will bless you in the land he is giving you.. In unserem Vergleich haben wir die unterschiedlichsten 70413 lego am Markt unter die Lupe genommen und die wichtigsten Eigenschaften, die Kostenstruktur und die Bewertungen der Kunden abgewogen. Theodoret supposes the horrible aggravation, that it was thus that the women with child were destroyed with their children, casting the aforesaid women, as into a sort of threshing-floor, they savagely threshed them out like ears of grain with saw-armed wheels.. And he will bless you in the land that theLordyour God is giving you.Deuteronomy 15:1-10 At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. The city named Damascus was the capital of the nation of Aram during the 10th through 8th centuries BC. Any crime committed against human beings is ultimately against the LORD because He is the sole creator. 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, and 6). Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.Matthew 13:1-58 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. By Gods help they were twice defeated; the second time, when they directly challenged the power of God 1 Kings 20:22-25, 1 Kings 20:28, so signally that, had not Ahab been flattered by the appeal to his mercy 1 Kings 20:31-32, Syria would no more have been in a condition to oppress Israel. 2. Farming takes time. Hazael was the king of Damascus in the second half of the ninth century BC, while Ben-hadad was his son and successor (2 Kgs. And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. Damascus was already the chief city, through its relation to which alone Hobah was known. The LORD was the one who gave His words to His prophet. In similar fashion, Damascus had threshed Gilead with their instruments of war. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Soul-murder is worse than physical murder, and requires more devilish art. Home / Commentary / Amos / Amos Chapter 1 / Amos 1:35. Hesed, God was and is seeking usfor He will separate usable grain from the waste straw or chaff. Yahweh says, according to Amos, the he will not revoke the punishment such sins deserve. The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. In the days of Jehu, Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel from Jordan eastward; all the land of Gilead, the Gadites and the Reubenites and the Manassites, from Arorer which is by the River Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan 2 Kings 10:32-33; in those of Jehoahaz, Jehus son, he oppressed them, neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like the dust by threshing 2 Kings 13:7. Benhadad II had thirty-two vassal kings 1 Kings 20:1, 1 Kings 20:24, (dependent kings like those of Canaan, each of his own city and little territory,) and led them against Samaria, intending to plunder it 1 Kings 20:6-7, and, on occasion of the plundering, probably to make it his own or to destroy it. Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like The words of Amos, who was among the sheep breeders of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of King Uzziah of Judah and in the days of King Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake., For three transgressions of Damascus and for four, I will not revoke it; Because they have threshed Gilead with . Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. , Leviticus 19:19 You shall keep my statutes. Not the ethics and the morality of the fathers community. The order of Gods threatenings seems to have been addressed to gain the hearing of the people. TopicalBible Damascus (Syria, also called Aram) "threshed" Gilead. God authorized human government in Genesis, where He said, Whoever sheds mans blood, by man his blood shall be shed, forin the image of God He made man (Genesis 9:6). A threshing sledge was made of wooden boards embedded with sharp stones or iron teeth. For their brutality, Syria is promised judgment. It is worth noting that each of the oracles begins with the formula For three transgressions of [name of city or state], even for four, though Amos only listed one transgression for each nation, except for Israel which received all four of them (Amos 2:616). The flail, a pair of connected sticks used to beat the grain, evolved from the early method of using a single stick.It, with the earlier methods, was described by Pliny the Elder in his first-century CE Natural History: "The cereals are threshed in some places with the threshing board on the threshing floor; in others they are trampled by a train of horses, and in others they are beaten with . The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. The name Damascus probably betokened the strenuous, energetic character of its founder. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. Cite this page: Editor: Stephen Smith. summed up by the word. The Syrians apparently used tools that were intended for harvesting crops and ran over people with them. God promised to make His people into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth and use them to bring judgment on those who oppress the godly (Is. , Job 24:10 They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves;Psalm 35:5 Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of theLorddriving them away!Job 21:18 That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away?1 Chronicles 21:23 Then Ornan said to David, Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. Isaiah 7:8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within threescore and five years shall Ephraim be broken, that it be not a people. Salem Media Group. "They have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron." Gilead was a part of Israel on the eastern side of the Jordan river. Weeds have to be removed, the land watered, and fertilizer added. Israel, having lost the help of Judah, became the easier prey. Although God delegated authority to human governments to execute justice (Romans 13:4), He is still the ultimate judge. THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL K On the schism of the ten tribes, the hostility of Damascus was concentrated against Israel who lay next to them. (3) Three transgressions . I really like this study. Some believe that the Syrians used threshing tools with iron teeth to torture or kill prisoners, pregnant women and children. In ancient Israel, gates and doors were usually locked with a bar made of wood or metal that slid into openings in the posts. It is still the capital of modern Syria today. See the passionate exclamation of Ulysses, in the storm, Odyss., lib. OpenBible.info Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. Sin and punishment are by a great law of God bound together. Animals have to be fed, crops have to be watered and fertilized, and it doesnt matter how the farmer feels on that particular day. Throughout that whole beautiful tract, including 2 12 degrees of latitude, Hazael had carried on his war of extermination into every peaceful village and home, sparing neither the living nor the unborn. Again, Sowing discord among brethren Proverbs 6:16-19, has a special hatefulness, as not only being sin, but causing widewasting sin, and destroying in others the chief grace, love. A good tree doesnt produce bad fruitsconsider a grain of wheata sower went out to sowin story after story, Jesus Christ made use of scenes from everyday farm life to explicitly illustrate His points about the gospel and the kingdom of God. How then could it refuse to believe of itself, what it believed of others like itself? Then follow Edom, Ammon, Moab, who burst the bonds of blood also. I will not turn away the punishment thereof - Literally, I will not turn it back. What was this, which God would not turn back? You will be challenged and encouraged to be one who is firmly . For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to theLord. Israel is placed the last, because on it the destruction was to fall to the uttermost, and rest there. This was to prevent the earth from again being filled with violence (Genesis 6:11). Proverbs 12:11 says, Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.Proverbs 28:19 says, He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vainpersonsshall have poverty enough. Deuteronomy 28:12 says, The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. The work has to be done. (LogOut/ C And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. For the prophet had no mission to them; he only declares to Israel the ground of the visitation which was to come upon them. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. Amos 1:3 . You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.Deuteronomy 28:8 says, The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. .--This form of transgression, which occurs eight times in the prologue, is not an arithmetical, but a strongly idiomatic phrase, signifying "multiplied or repeated delinquencies" (Henderson). The Bible says a lot about agriculture and farming. Philistia removed Judeans who lived in the lush farmland of the Judean foothills to the desert regions of Edom (cf.