Amos 1:13

because they have ript up the women with child of Gilead A barbarity probably not uncommon in ancient warfare, at least among more cruel or uncivilized combatants: see 2 Kings 8:12 (Hazael), 2 Kings 15:16 (Menahem); Hosea 13:16; cf. Hosea 10:14: comp. the similar cruelty of dashing children in pieces (2 Kings 8:12; Hosea 13:16; Nahum 3:10; Isaiah 13:16; Psalms 137:9). "In the embittered border-feuds between Arabian tribes the same ghastly barbarity is often mentioned; Ibn Athir iv. 256. 1, 258. 6, 260. 60, 262. 11 sqq.; Kitâb al-"Aghani, xix. 129. 12 sq., xx. 128. 13; Tabari ii. 755. 19" (Wellh.).

thatthey might enlarge their border Such cruelty was not perpetrated in self-defence, but in cold blood, simply from a desire to augment their territory, at the expense of their Israelitish neighbours on the N. and W. (cf. at a later date Jeremiah 49:1).