Amos 1:5

And I will break the bar of Damascus Damascus will be powerless to resist the besieger. The allusion is to the -bars" of bronze or iron by which the gates of every fortified city were secured (see Deuteronomy 3:5; 1 Kings 4:13), and which, when a city is captured, are spoken of as -broken" (Lamentations 2:9; Jeremiah 51:30), or -hewn" asunder (Isaiah 45:2).

and cut off the inhabitant better, perhaps (note the parallel clause, him that holdeth the sceptre), as R.V. marg. him that sitteth (enthroned): yâshab(-to sit") has sometimes this force, even when standing alone; see Isaiah 10:13 R.V.; Psalms 2:4; Psalms 22:3 (R.V. marg.).

from the plain Biḳ-âh(from bâḳa-, to cleave) is a broad -cleft," or level (Isaiah 40:4) plain, between mountains: it is applied, for instance, to the plain of Jericho, Deuteronomy 34:3, of Megiddo, Zechariah 12:11; 2 Chronicles 35:22, of Lebanon, Joshua 11:17, i.e. Coele-Syria, the flat and broad plain between the two ranges of Lebanon and Hermon, which is still called (in Arabic) el-Beḳâ-a, and is probably the plain meant here.

of Aven or of idolatry. The reference is uncertain. The common supposition is that Amos alludes to the worship of the Sun, carried on at a spot in the plain of Coele-Syria, called by the ancients Heliopolis, and now known as Baalbeḳ, some sixty miles N.N.E of Dan, where are still, in a partly ruined state, the massive walls and richly decorated pillars and architraves, of two magnificent temples. These temples, dedicated respectively to Jupiter and the Sun, are not of earlier date than the 2nd cent. a.d., the temple of Jupiter having been erected as a wonder of the world, by Antoninus Pius (a.d. 133 161); but the massive substructures are considered to date from a much earlier period, and to bear witness to the fact that a temple of the Sun had stood there from a distant past. According to Macrobius (Sat. 1:23) and Lucian (de Dea Syria§ 5 both quoted by Robinson, Bibl. Researches, iii. 518) the worship of the Sun as carried on at Heliopolis in Syria was derived from Heliopolis in Egypt; and upon assumption of the correctness of this statement, it has been supposed that, with the worship of the Sun, the Egyptian name of Heliopolis, Aûnû (Heb. On, Genesis 41:45; Genesis 41:50; Genesis 46:20) may have been brought from Egypt; and further that, as the Egyptian On(און) is punctuated in Ezekiel 30:17 by way of contempt אָוֶן Aven(i.e. idolatry), so here the Syrian Onmay have been called, whether by Amos himself, or by the later scribes, Aven. These suppositions are however, mere conjectures. The statements of Macrobius and Lucian may be nothing more than inferences from the fact of two celebrated temples being dedicated to a similar cult; and there is no independent evidence that Onwas a name of the Syrian Heliopolis. (The LXX. rendering here τὸ πεδίον Ὦν is not proof of it: for they represent On in Gen. and Ezek. by Ἡλιούπολις.) In view of the double fact that Coele-Syria was a biḳ-âh, or broad vale, and that Baalbek, in this vale, was the old-established seat of an idolatrous worship of the Sun, it is not improbable that Amos may mean to allude to it; possibly, also, though there is no proof that the place was calledOn, the designation -Plain of Aven (idolatry)" may have been suggested to him by the thought of the Egyptian On, just as the nickname Beth-Aven for Beth-el (Hosea 4:1; Hosea 4:5; Hosea 5:8; cf. on ch. Amos 5:5) may have been suggested by the place Beth-Aven in the neighbourhood, a little to the east of Beth-el (Joshua 7:2; Joshua 18:12; 1 Samuel 13:5; 1 Samuel 14:23). But the identification cannot be regarded as certain: Wellhausen doubts even whether in the time of Amos Heliopolis was an Aramaic city.

him that holdeth the sceptre the σκηπτοῦχος βασιλεὺς of Homer (Il. II. 26; Od. ii. 231): comp. the corresponding Aramaic expression (חטראחז) in the Hadad-inscription (8 cent. b.c.) of Zinjirli, lines 15, 20, 25 (see D. H. Müller, Die altsemitischen Inschriften von Sendschirli, 1893, p. 20 sq., or in the Contemp. Review, April, 1894, p. 572 f.).

from the house of Eden or from Beth-eden. Another uncertain locality. Interpreted as a Hebrew word, -Edenvocalized -eden, not -çden, as in the -garden of Eden" would signify -pleasure." Of the identifications that have been proposed, relatively the most probable are, perhaps, either the modern Ehden, a village situated attractively in a fertile valley about 20 miles N.W. of Baalbek or Bît-Adini, a district mentioned in the Assyrian Inscriptions and lying some 200 miles N.N.E. of Damascus, on the Euphrates. The place intended may have been a summer-residence of the kings of Damascus, or the seat of some king who held his position in dependence upon the king of Damascus. See further the Additional Note, p. 228.

Syria Heb. Aram, the name borne regularly in the O. T. by the people (and country) whom the classical writers, through a confusion with Assyrian, knew as Syriansand Syria. (See Nöldeke in Schenkel's Bibel-Lex. s. v. -Aram, or in HermesAmos 1:3, p. 433 ff., and Z.D.M.[115]. 1871, p. 115.) The people calling themselves Aramwere very widely diffused over the regions N.E. of Palestine; their different divisions were distinguished by local designations as -Aram of Damascus" 2 Samuel 8:5 f. (also, as the most important branch, called often, as here, -Aram" simply), -Aram of Zobah," 2 Samuel 10:6; 2 Samuel 10:8; -Aram of Maachah," 1 Chronicles 19:6; -Aram of Beth-Rĕḥôb," 2 Samuel 10:6; -Aram of the two Rivers" (i.e. probably between the Euphrates and the Chaboras), Genesis 24:10: there were also many other tribes which were reckoned as belonging to -Aram," Genesis 10:23; Genesis 22:20-24. The language spoken by this people is called "Aramaic"; it exists in many dialects, corresponding to the different localities in which it was spoken, as the Palestinian Aramaic of Ezra and Daniel, the Palmyrene Aramaic, the dialects (not all the same) of the various Targums, the Aramaic of Edessa (commonly known as "Syriac," par excellence), &c. From Amos 9:7 it appears that recollections of the migrations of some of these tribes were retained, and that Aram i.e., it may be presumed, -Aram of Damascus" came originally from Kir.

[115] .D.M.G… Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft.

shall go into captivity Rather into exile. Though in a passage such as the present there is no appreciable difference between the two ideas, yet gâlâh, the word used here, expresses properly migrationfrom a home, exile; and it is better, where possible, not to confuse it with hâlakh bash-shebî, to go into captivity, or nishbâh, to be taken captive.

unto Kir In Amos 9:7 stated to have been their original home, which Amos accordingly here declares will be also their place of exile. 2 Kings 16:9 shews how within less than a generation the prophecy was fulfilled. The result of the combined attack of Pekah king of Israel and Rezin king of Damascus upon Judah (2 Kings 16:5 ff.; Isaiah 7) was that Ahaz applied for help to Tiglath-pileser, who, responding to the appeal, attacked Damascus, slew Rezin, and carried away the people into exile to Kir.

The brief notice of the book of Kings may be supplemented by the details given in the annals of Tiglath-pileser. From these we learn that in his 13th year (b.c. 733), the king laid siege to Damascus, and that in (probably) the following year (b.c. 732), after ravaging the surrounding country, he took the city, and carried large numbers of its inhabitants into exile. The place to which they were deported is not, however, mentioned in the existing (mutilated) text of the Inscriptions. The situation of Kir is very uncertain. A people of the same name is mentioned in Isaiah 22:6 beside Elam, as supplying a contingent in the Assyrian army. It is generally supposed to have been the district about the river Kur, which flows into the Caspian Sea on the N. of Armenia; but (Schrader in Riehm, H.W.B., s.v.) this region does not seem to have formed part of the Assyrian dominions in the time of either Tiglath-pileser, or Sennacherib; the kin the Assyrian Kurru (Kur) is also not the same as the ḳ(q) in ḳir. Others (as Furrer in Schenkel's Bibel-lex.; Dillm. on Isaiah 22:6) think of the place called by the Greeks Cyrrhus(now Kuris) about 30 miles N.E. of Antioch, which gave to the surrounding region the name of Cyrrhestica. Some region more remote from Damascus itself appears however to be required by the allusions in Amos; Cyrrhus, moreover, there is reason to suppose (Schrader, l.c.), was only so called by the Greeks after a place of the same name in Macedonia.

Additional Note on Chap. Amos 1:5 (-Eden)

The following are the principal identifications that have been proposed for -Eden (or Beth--eden). (1) -Edçn, as it is called in Syriac, or "Ehden, as it is called in Arabic, a village some 20 miles N.W. of Baalbek, on the opposite (N. W.) slope of Lebanon, attractively situated on the side of a rich and highly-cultivated valley, near the cedars, described by Amira the author of the first Syriac grammar published in Europe (1596, p. 59), whose native place it was as "loci situ, aquarum copia, terrae fertilitate, aeris temperie, in toto Libano praestantissima; unde non immerito tali nomine est nuncupata" (quoted by Payne Smith, Thesaurus Syriacus, col. 2810). The accounts given by modern travellers fully bear out this description: Lord Lindsay, for instance (cited by Dr Pusey) speaks of the slopes of the valleys about it as "one mass of verdure," with "the springs of Lebanon gushing down, fresh, cool, and melodious, in every direction." The place is said to be at present a favourite summer resort for the wealthier inhabitants of Tripoli. (2) Bêt-jenn, at the foot (E.) of Anti-Libanus, about 12 miles N.E. of Banias, and 25 miles S.S.W. of Damascus, watered by the Nahr-jennâni, which, flowing down from Anti-Libanus, forms one of the two sources of the A-waj (the Pharpar), the second great river near Damascus (Porter, Damascus, Exodus 2, p. 117 sq.). (3) Jubb -Adin, a village situated in the hills, about 25 miles N.E. of Damascus, and 20 miles S.E. of Baalbek. (4) The place called by the Greeks Paradisus, identified by Robinson (B.R[213] III. 544, 556) with old-Jûsieh, far up the valley of Coele-Syria, near Riblah, some 30 miles N.E. of Baalbek a spot described as being now, at any rate, remarkably "dreary and barren" (Porter, Handbook to Palestine, p. 577). (5) The -Eden of Ezekiel 27:23; 2 Kings 19:12 (Isaiah 37:12), which Schrader (K.A.T[214][215] p. 327) is disposed to identify with the Bît-Adini, often mentioned in the Inscriptions of Asshurnazirpal and Shalmaneser II., a district lying on both sides of the Euphrates, in the middle part of its course, between Bâlis and Biredschik, some 200 miles N.N.E. of Damascus.

[213] .R.… Edw. Robinson, Biblical Researches in Palestine(ed. 2, 1856).

[214] .A.T.… Eb. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und das A. T., ed. 2, 1883 (translated under the title The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the O. T. 1885, 1888). The references are to the pagination of the German, which is given on the margin of the English translation.

[215] … Eb. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und das A. T., ed. 2, 1883 (translated under the title The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the O. T. 1885, 1888). The references are to the pagination of the German, which is given on the margin of the English translation.

None of these identifications can be regarded as certain: and the grounds upon which some of them have been suggested are very insufficient. The name Bêt-jenn, for instance, was formerly supposed to be Bêt el-janne, i.e. "house, or place, of the garden (Paradise)," which bore the appearance of being an Arabic translation of Beth--eden; but this supposition appears not to be correct [216]. The Greek or ultimately Persian word Paradisus, again, does not mean a -Paradise," in our sense of the term, but merely an enclosed park. Jubb -Adin would seem to be a place of too little note to have been signalized by the prophet in such a connexion. On the whole, either (1) or (5) appears to be, relatively, the most probable. Bît-Adini (5) might indeed be thought to be too distant from Damascus; but it has been observed that thirty-two kings are mentioned as being in alliance with Ben-hadad (I.), in 1Ki 20:1; 1 Kings 20:16, and twelve -kings of the land of the Hittites," or of the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, are mentioned as allies of the same king by Shalmaneser II. (K.A.T[217][218], pp. 202, 203); hence the allusion may not impossibly be to one or other of the subordinate kings who held rule under the suzerainty of the king of Damascus, and who, the prophet declares, will be involved with him in his fall. Perhaps there were various Aramaean settlements in Coele-Syria and Mesopotamia governed in this way; and the "plain of Aven" and "Eden" whether this be the Syrian -Edçn, or Bît-adini may have been mentioned as representing these. Others have supposed the allusion to be to a summer residence of the kings of Damascus themselves. It is impossible to speak more definitely for lack of the necessary data. We must be content to know that some place or other, connected politically with Damascus, and, no doubt, prominent at the time, is intended by the prophet.

[216] See Robinson, B.R.iii. 447; Porter, Damascus, l. c.; Socin in Bädeker's Palästina und Syrien, Exodus 2, p. 283; all of whom write Bêt- jenn.

[217] .A.T.… Eb. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und das A. T., ed. 2, 1883 (translated under the title The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the O. T. 1885, 1888). The references are to the pagination of the German, which is given on the margin of the English translation.

[218] … Eb. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und das A. T., ed. 2, 1883 (translated under the title The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the O. T. 1885, 1888). The references are to the pagination of the German, which is given on the margin of the English translation.