amos-1:1-5-nasb

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 1:5

The bar which secured the gate of the city ( 1 Kings 4:13 ; Jeremiah 51:30 ; Nahum 3:13 ). Breaking the bar is equivalent to laying the place open to the enemy. From the plain of Avon; Vulgate, de campo idoli ; Hebrew, bikath-Aven ; Septuagint, ἐκ πεδίου ων ; better, from the valley of Aven, or vanity, perhaps so called analogously with Hosea's naming Bethel, Bethaven, "House of God" and "House of vanity" ( Hosea 5:8 ). Robinson and Pusey refer the name to a... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 1:1

The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen - “Amos begins by setting forth his own nothingness, and withal the great grace of his Teacher and Instructor, the Holy Spirit, referring all to His glory.” He, like David, Peter, Paul, Matthew, was one of “the weak things of the world, whom God chose to confound the mighty.” He was himself a herdsman only “among herdsmen;” but the words which he spake were not his own. They were words which he saw, not with eyes of flesh, but “with that vision... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 1:2

The Lord will roar - Amos joins on his prophecy to the end of Joel’s, in order at once in its very opening to attest the oneness of their mission, and to prepare people’s minds to see, that his own prophecy was an expansion of those words, declaring the nearer and coming judgments of God. Those nearer judgments, however, of which he spake, were but the preludes of the judgments of the Great Day which Joel foretold, and of that last terrible voice of Christ, “the Lion of the tribe of Judah,” of... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 1:3

The order of God’s threatenings seems to have been addressed to gain the hearing of the people. The punishment is first denounced upon their enemies, and that, for their sins, directly or indirectly, against themselves, and God in them. Then, as to those enemies themselves, the order is not of place or time, but of their relation to God’s people. It begins with their most oppressive enemy, Syria; then Philistia, the old and ceaseless, although less powerful, enemy; then Tyre, not an oppressor,... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 1:4

And I will send a fire on the house of Hazael - The fire is probably at once material fire, whereby cities are burned in war, since he adds, “it shall devour the palaces of Benhadad,” and also stands as a symbol of all other severity in war as in the ancient proverb, “a fire is gone out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it hath consumed Ar of Moab, the lords of the high places of Arnon” Numbers 21:28; and again of the displeasure of Almighty God, as when He says, “a fire is kindled... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 1:5

I will also break the bar of Damascus - In the East, every city was fortified; the gates of the stronger cities were cased in iron, that they might not be set on fire by the enemy; they were fastened within with bars of brass 1 Kings 4:13 or iron (Psalms 107:16; Isaiah 45:2; compare Isaiah 48:14; Jeremiah 51:3 O). They were flanked with towers, and built over, so that what was naturally the weakest point and the readiest access to an enemy became the strongest defense. In Hauran the huge doors... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Amos 1:1

Amos 1:1. The words of Amos This inscription, and some similar ones prefixed to some of the books of the prophets, seem to have been formed by those who collected their writings together. Which he saw Received by revelation; concerning Israel Namely, the kingdom of the ten tribes, to which this prophecy chiefly refers; although the prophet briefly denounces God’s judgments against Judah, and also against the Syrians, Philistines, and other neighbouring countries. In the days of Uzziah... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Amos 1:2

Amos 1:2. The Lord will roar from Zion This and the next clause occur, Joel 3:16, and a similar one, Jeremiah 25:30, where see the notes. The meaning is, that God would soon spread terror, like beasts of prey when they roar, chap. Amos 3:8: or, that he would soon display his power in executing judgment. And utter his voice from Jerusalem The city God had chosen, where he dwelt; the seat of his instituted worship, and the royal seat of the kingdom, as God had settled it, but from which, in... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Amos 1:3

Amos 1:3. For three transgressions, &c. The prophet first denounces judgments against foreign countries, and afterward comes to Judah and Israel. He begins with Syria, the head or capital city of which was Damascus. By the expression, for three transgressions and for four, used here, and repeatedly afterward, he means, many or multiplied transgressions, a certain number being put, according to a very common way of speaking, for an uncertain. So we read, Job 5:19, He shall deliver... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Amos 1:4-5

Amos 1:4-5. But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael God’s judgments are often compared to fire. But perhaps the expression may here signify, that the fine palaces of Hazael, and his son and successor Ben- hadad, should be burned down, as they probably were in the taking of Damascus by Tiglath-pileser. I will break also the bar of Damascus The gates and fortifications thereof, in which its strength consists, shall be broken down: and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven ... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Amos 1:5

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 1:1

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 1:2

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 1:3

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 1:4

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Amos 1:5

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Amos 1:1

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Amos 1:2

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Amos 1:3

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Amos 1:4-5

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