Verse 11
Even the overthrow of some Israelite cities did not move the Israelites to repent (cf. Deuteronomy 28:62). Comparing these overthrown cities to Sodom and Gomorrah indicates their proverbial complete destruction (cf. Isaiah 1:9; Isaiah 13:19; Jeremiah 50:40; Zephaniah 2:9), not necessarily the method of their destruction. God had rescued His people like burning sticks from a conflagration, as He had formerly extracted Lot and his daughters from Sodom (Genesis 19). The Assyrian kings customarily sowed the ground of a conquered area with salt so nothing would grow there. [Note: Niehaus, p. 402.]
In all, Amos mentioned seven disciplinary judgments that God had brought on the Israelites: famine (Amos 4:6), drought, (Amos 4:7-8), plant diseases (Amos 4:9), insects (Amos 4:9), plague (Amos 4:10), warfare (Amos 4:10), and military defeat (Amos 4:11). God sometimes permits His people to suffer so they will turn back to Him (cf. Hebrews 12:6), but the Israelites had not done that.
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