Amos 1:11-12

11, 12. The sin and punishment of Edom.

Edom The Edomite territory was located south and southeast of the Dead Sea and east of the Arabah, the deep depression connecting the southern end of the Dead Sea with the Gulf of Akabah (see on Amos 6:14). During the exile the Edomites (Idumaeans) crossed this depression and settled in southern Judah. Edom was not as fertile as Palestine or Moab, though it is described as possessing, in the days of Moses, fields, vineyards, wells, and a highway (Numbers 20:17-19). With the exception of a few places the land was not suitable for agriculture, and it yielded scarcely enough for the keeping of flocks. As a result the Edomites became desert robbers, forcing a living from the caravans passing through their territory and from the neighboring more fertile regions. They were the dread of the Hebrews during the desert wanderings (Numbers 20:14 ff.) and during a large part of their national history.

His brother Israel (see on Obadiah 1:10).

Pursue… with the sword An apt characterization of the relation between Israel and Edom throughout their entire history (Numbers 20:0; Obadiah 1:10-14; Psalms 137:7; compare Joel 3:19; Malachi 1:2-5). This hostility merited the greater condemnation because the two nations were related so intimately. It is not necessary to suppose that the prophet had in mind any specific outbreak, though analogy with the other denunciations would point in that direction. A revolt against Judah is mentioned in 2 Kings 8:20-22; but others, unrecorded in the Old Testament, may have been undertaken against Israel.

Cast off all pity Margin, “corrupted his compassions.” Other translations are unnatural and need not be mentioned. Corrupt is used in the sense of suppress, or stifle, the natural instinct of compassion which may be expected to exist between brothers.

His anger did tear perpetually Or, in his anger he did tear perpetually; that is, his anger did not exhaust itself in one outbreak (Job 16:9; Psalms 7:2). Peshitto and Vulgate favor an emendation which gives a smoother parallelism, and is accepted by most modern scholars, “and he cherished his anger perpetually” (Jeremiah 3:5; compare Nahum 1:2; Psalms 103:9).

Kept his wrath forever Time was not allowed to dissipate it; carefully it was nursed. Such conduct calls for judgment.

Teman Mentioned again in Jeremiah 49:7; Obadiah 1:9; Job 2:11, etc. According to Eusebius and Jerome, Teman was a district of Edom, but also a village about fifteen miles from the capital, Petra. The direction from Petra is not certain; in Ezekiel 25:13, however, it is mentioned as being in the opposite direction from Dedan; the latter was in the southeast; Teman, therefore, must have been in the northwest or north or northeast. Since no walls are mentioned (compare Amos 1:7; Amos 1:10; Amos 1:14, etc.), it is thought that the reference here is to the district.

Bozrah Named again in Genesis 36:33; Jeremiah 49:13, etc.; not the city bearing the same name mentioned in Jeremiah 48:24. It is identified with the modern el-Busaireh, a small village surrounded by extensive ruins, about thirty-five miles north of Petra and about twenty miles southeast of the Dead Sea. The capital of Edom in Amos’s day was Sela, the later Petra (see on Obadiah 1:3).

The fulfillment of this oracle also may be traced in part in the later history of Edom. With other states in western Asia, Edom paid homage to Tiglath-pileser III, after having paid tribute to an earlier king, Adad-nirari III (about 800 B.C.). Of later kings Sennacherib, Esar-haddon, and Ashur-banapal enumerate the Edomites among their vassals; evidently they were never able, though they made frequent attempts, to free themselves from the Assyrians, while the prestige of the latter endured. Edom became a part of Nebuchadnezzar’s domain (Jeremiah 27:3-4). During the exile the Edomites crossed the Arabah and settled in southern Judah. At the time of Malachi Edom seems to have been desolate (Amos 1:3-4); and toward the close of the fourth century B.C. Arabian tribes established themselves permanently in the territory of Edom. After the Mohammedan conquests the Edomite cities disappeared entirely. On the authenticity of this oracle see pp. 220ff.