Amos 1:4

But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-ha'dad. But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad. A black marble obelisk found in the central palace of Nimroud, and now in the British Museum, is inscribed with the names of Hazael and Ben-hadad of Syria, as well as Jehu of Israel, mentioned as tributaries of 'Shalmanubar,' king of Assyria. The kind of tribute from Jehu is mentioned, gold, pearls, precious oil, etc. (George Vance Smith.) The Ben-hadad here is the son of Hazael () into whose hand the Lord in anger delivered Israel, not the Ben-hadad supplanted and slain by Hazael (; ). Hazael assumed the common title of the Syrian kings, in order...

Now the Prophet subjoins, _I will send fire unto the house of Hazael, which will devour the palaces of Ben-hadad. _The Prophet speaks still of the kingdom of Syria; for we know that both Ben-hadad and Hazael were kings of Syria. But Jerome is much mistaken, who thinks that Ben-hadad was here put in the second place, as if he had been the successor of Hazael, (19) while sacred history relates that Hazael came to Elisha when Ben-hadad was ill in his bed, (2 Kings 8:9;) and he was sent to request an answer. Now the Prophet declared that Hazael would be the king of Syria, and declared this not without tears; for he pitied his own people, of which this Syrian would be the destroyer. After he returned home, he strangled Ben-hadad, and took to himself the royal dignity. But it is common enough in Scripture to speak of a thing present, and then, as in this place, to add what has past, I wi

Verse Amos 1:4. _BEN-HADAD._] He was son and successor of Hazael. See the cruelties which they exercised upon the Israelites, 2 Kings 10:32; 2 Kings 13:7, c., and see especially 2 Kings 8:12, where these cruelties are predicted. The _fire_ threatened here is the _war_ so successfully carried on against the Syrians by Jeroboam II., in which he took Damascus and Hamath, and reconquered all the ancient possessions of Israel. See 2 Kings 14:25-12;...

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 in Mine anger, and it shall burn unto the lowest hell” Deuteronomy 32:22. For the fire destroys not the natural buildings only, but “the house of Hazael,” that is, his whole family. In these prophecies, a sevenfold vengeance by fire is denounced against the seven people, an imag

EXPOSITION VERSE 1-CH. 2:16 PART I. APPROACHING JUDGMENT. VERSE 1-CH. 2:3 _§ 1. The nations bordering on the Holy Land are solemnly summoned to judgment._ AMOS 1:1, AMOS 1:2 Heading of the book, with short summary of its contents. AMOS 1:1 Heading. THE WORDS. So Jeremiah begins his prophecy (Jeremiah 1:1), and the writer of Ecclesiastes (Ecclesiastes 1:1). That the words am not thos

BUT I WILL SEND A FIRE INTO THE HOUSE OF HAZAEL,.... For so doing; into his family, his sons' sons, one of whom perhaps was Rezin, that Tiglathpileser king of Assyria slew, as Aben Ezra observes. This denotes the judgments of God upon his posterity for his cruel usage of the Israelites; and designs an enemy that should come into his country, and war made in the midst of it, by which it should be depopulated; and this being by the permission and providence of God, and according to his will, is said to be sent by him: WHICH SHALL DEVOUR THE PALACES OF BENHADAD; a name frequently given to the kings of Syria; there was one of this name the immediate predecessor of Hazael, whose servant he was; and he left a son of the same name that succeeded him, 2 Kings 7:7; these may denote the royal palaces of the kings of Syria, which should not be spared in this time of desolation; though r

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. JUDGMENT ANNOUNCED AGAINST THE NATIONS, JUDAH, AND ISRAEL CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The introduction (Amos 1:1) _ 2. Damascus (Amos 1:3) 3. Philistia (Amos 1:6) 4. Tyre (Amos 1:9) 5. Edom (Amos 1:11) 6. Ammon (Amos 1:13) Amos 1:1. It has been pointed out that Amos does not say like so many of the other prophets, “the Word of the Lord which came un

DAMASCUS. It is Yahweh who speaks by the mouth of the prophets. The mention of Damascus, the capital of the Aramaean or Syrian kingdom, would at once arrest attention, for until recently Israel had been engaged in a severe struggle (p. 69) with this kingdom (Damascus stands here for the whole region). Damascus, then, had committed sins (lit. rebellions) not once or twice or thrice, but again and again (three, yea, four). It might look as though an earlier threat of punishment had been forgotten by Yahweh and the sentence of doom revoked. But such was not the case (I will not turn it back, a formula repeated in Amos 1:6; Amos 1:9; Amos 1:11; Amos 1:13;...

I WILL SEND. FIRE. Compare Amos 1:7; Amos 1:10; Amos 1:12; Amos 2:2; Amos 2:5. Refer to Jeremiah 17:27; Jeremiah 49:27; Jeremiah 50:32.Hosea 8:14. HAZAEL. Compare...

Amos 1:3 TO AMOS 2:5. The sins of Israel's neighbours 3 5. DAMASCUS. The first denunciation lights upon the Syrian kingdom of Damascus, the best-organized and most formidable of Israel's neighbours, with whom, shortly before, during the 80 years of the -Syrian wars" (_c_. 880 800 b.c.), the dynasties of Omri and Jehu had had many a severe struggle. The specific sin with which the Syrians are taxed is the cruelty practised by them in their wars with the trans-Jordanic Israelites. Damascus is situated in the midst of a broad and fertile plain, which stretches from the foot of Hermon far off towards Palmyra: it lies picturesquely embosomed in the deep green of encircling orchards and cornfields, fertilized by the cool waters of the Barada (the Pharpar of...