And the whole crowd stood on the beach. Although Israel and Judah were the primary audience of Gods message delivered through Amos, six other cities and nations Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab were also indicted. It lay on the best route from the interior of Asia to the Mediterranean, to Tyre, and even to Egypt. Because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron - The instrument, Jerome relates here, was a sort of wain, rolling on iron wheels beneath, set with teeth; so that it both threshed out the grain and bruised the straw and cut it in pieces, as food for the cattle, for lack of hay. A similar instrument, called by nearly the same name, is still in use in Syria and Egypt. The cities will be razed to the ground by an invading force. Proverbs 12:11 says, Those who work their land will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.Proverbs 28:19 says, He that tilleth his land shall have plenty of bread: but he that followeth after vainpersonsshall have poverty enough. Deuteronomy 28:12 says, The LORD will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. What was the significance of the horns of the altar (Amos 3:14)? Success in life requires hard work. Proverb: Because of the three transgressions of and because of four, I will not cause (him/it) to return.. Then follow Edom, Ammon, Moab, who burst the bonds of blood also. Genesis 1:11 says, Then God said, Let the land produce vegetation:seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. And it was so. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. : The waters of the river were spread over the surface of the soil in the fields and gardens; underneath, other canals were tunnelled to collect the superfluous water which percolates the soil, or from little fountains and springs below. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.Isaiah 17:10-11 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your refuge; therefore, though you plant pleasant plants and sow the vine-branch of a stranger, though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow, yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain., 2 Timothy 2:6 It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops.James 5:7 Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. J I am enjoying the study and appreciate your effort and willingness to share. Other poets use the same form of expression. 24:22) with stone or metal teeth embedded in the bottom side were dragged over the grain by these animals. 4 So I will send a fire on the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. Frequently threshing sledges (28:27) made of wood (2 Sam. This was usually done by spreading the stalks of grain several inches deep on a smooth flat area that was on a high piece of ground open to the wind. They beat down my people in Gilead as grain is threshed with iron sledges. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely., Isaiah 29:17 Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?Deuteronomy 22:9-10 You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the whole yield be forfeited, the crop that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.Matthew 13:1-58 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. God promised to make His people into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth and use them to bring judgment on those who oppress the godly (Is. If you go into your neighbors standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbors standing grain., Micah 4:12 But they do not know the thoughts of theLord; they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.Amos 1:3 Thus says theLord: For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.Leviticus 19:9-10 When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. , ' <-144 , . The Syrians apparently used tools that were intended for harvesting crops and ran over people with them. However, at some point, Tyrelike Philistia in the southbetrayed this treaty relationship and enslaved whole Israelite communities. Benhadad promised to restore the cities which his father had taken from Israel, and to make an Israel-quarter in Damascus 1 Kings 20:34. Philistia removed Judeans who lived in the lush farmland of the Judean foothills to the desert regions of Edom (cf. Here in Amos, we see that the people of Damascus rebelled against the LORD because they threshed Gilead with implements of sharp iron. The name Damascus probably betokened the strenuous, energetic character of its founder. The covenant of brothers probably refers to a treaty between nations whether imposed (as upon a vassal) or negotiated. 1 Kings 19:17 And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Does he continually open and harrow his ground?Ecclesiastes 5:9 But this is gain for a land in every way: a king committed to cultivated fields., Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek theLord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.Micah 4:1-4 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of theLordshall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of theLord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of theLordfrom Jerusalem. Damascus was already the chief city, through its relation to which alone Hobah was known. Such atrocities would not be unknown in the ancient world. Threshing SledgeThe purpose of threshing was to separate usable grain from the waste straw or chaff. English Standard Version. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 4 So I will send a fire on the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. 3 Thus says the Lord,For three transgressions of Damascus and for fourI will not revoke its punishment,Because they threshed Gilead with implements of sharp iron.4So I will send fire upon the house of HazaelAnd it will consume the citadels of Ben-hadad.5 I will also break the gate bar of Damascus,And cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven,And him who holds the scepter, from Beth-eden;So the people of Aram will go exiled to Kir,Says the LORD. The identified crime becomes the central ethical condemnation (1:3, 6, 9). Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. I Because of the Arameans war crimes, the LORD said He would send fire upon the house of Hazael and it would consume the citadels ofBen-hadad. Contact me: openbibleinfo (at) gmail.com. Benhadad at once broke his league with Baasha at the request of Asa in his later mistrustful days 1 Chronicles 16:2-7, and turned against Baasha (1 Chronicles 16:2-7 and 1 Kings 15:20). Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing? I would like to bring this forward in how we hear Amos,as individuals in the kingdom of THE FATHERS NEW COVENANT RELATIONSHIP. The city named Damascus was the capital of the nation of Aram during the 10th through 8th centuries BC. . So, He shall deliver thee in six troubles; yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee Job 5:19. K It begins with their most oppressive enemy, Syria; then Philistia, the old and ceaseless, although less powerful, enemy; then Tyre, not an oppressor, as these, yet violating a relation which they had not, the bonds of a former friendship and covenant; malicious also and hardhearted through covetousness. 3. "because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron" (1:3) "because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom" (1:6) "because they delivered up a whole people to Edom and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood." (1:9) 1. Gaza represents the alliance of Philistine citiesAshdod, Ashkelon, and Ekron [Gath is not named here]in southwestern Palestine. These are the men of Recah. D On some days, the only thing the farmer can do is sit, wait, and hope for the best. The moral majesty of a king is obviously greater than the rest. The inclusion of the valley of Aven as well as Beth-Eden together with Damascus might indicate the entire kingdom of Aram. Vv. (3) Three transgressions . document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ). A heavy wooden plank, 2 or 3 feet by 5 or 6 feet, with sharp spikes on the bottom, when oxen pulled it over a grain field the grain was separated from stalks and weeds. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. Meonothai fathered Ophrah; and Seraiah fathered Joab, the father of Ge-harashim, so-called because they were craftsmen. W A Disciple Seeking to Follow Jesus into the World for the Sake of the World to the Glory of God, because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom (1:6), because they delivered up a whole people to Edom and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood. (1:9), Amos 1:3-10 Amos Addresses Damascus, Gaza and Tyre, Theological Hermeneutics IV Exploring the Story, Thomas Flemings Disease in the Public Mind, Jesus Suffers: Garden, Via Dolorosa, and Cross, Jesus Serves: Temple, Template, and Table, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron (1:3). And God saw that the light was good. Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Throughout that whole beautiful tract, including 2 12 degrees of latitude, Hazael had carried on his war of extermination into every peaceful village and home, sparing neither the living nor the unborn. The Barada (the cold) having joined the Fijeh, (the traditional Pharpar, a name which well designates its tumultuous course ), runs on the north of, and through the city, and then chiefly into the central of the three lakes, the Bahret-el-kibliyeh, (the south lake;) thence, it is supposed, but in part also directly, into the Bahret-esh-Shurkiyeh (the east lake ). Let the nations who have ears to hear, hear what the Spirit through Amos says to the nations. The language about Tyre is almost exactly the same as how Amos describes Gaza. I will break the gate-bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from . And God separated the light from the darkness. The identification of the sin becomes the key element of the oracle itself with its subsequent consequence. The stream thus collected is led off to a lower level, where it comes to the surface. A threshing board, also known as threshing sledge, is an obsolete agricultural implement used to separate cereals from their straw; that is, to thresh.It is a thick board, made with a variety of slats, with a shape between rectangular and trapezoidal, with the frontal part somewhat narrower and curved upward (like a sled or sledge) and whose bottom is covered with lithic flakes or razor-like . Today, more and more people are moving away from rural areas where farming is highly practiced and into cities characterized by industrialization. Farming, which involves cultivating the land and raising livestock, is a part of agriculture. So Seneca in Hippolyt., Act. Like the other names connected with Aram in the Old Testament, it is, in conformity with the common descent from Aram, Aramaic. After this Joash decided to restore the house of theLord. All is vanity. A good tree doesnt produce bad fruitsconsider a grain of wheata sower went out to sowin story after story, Jesus Christ made use of scenes from everyday farm life to explicitly illustrate His points about the gospel and the kingdom of God. Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. On the words, O terque quaterque, Servius makes this remark, "Hoc est saepias; finitus numerous pro infinito." because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. Not the ethics and the morality of the fathers community. A man . Sin in full bloom. Isaiah 41:15 Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge, new, sharp, and having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff;Matthew 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.Genesis 1:11-12 And God said, Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth. And it was so. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.Genesis 1:1-31 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth, 4 I will send fire on the house of Hazael that will consume the fortresses of Ben-Hadad. Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it? You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.Deuteronomy 28:8 says, The LORD will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. because they have threshed m Gilead . (LogOut/ It was the "metropolis" of Syria, Isaiah 7:8; and so Pliny calls it, "Damascus of Syria". Mail (will not be published) __('(required)'). Randall. So does the wisest of us in living. We are encouraged to Work Hard and keep ourselves busy. You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together. Whichever is the case, Amos condemns Damascus for their violent aggression against Israel. We have detected that you are using extensions to block ads. Many things in life take time just as farming takes time. It is a probable conjecture that Jehu, by his political submission to Assyria, drew on himself the calamities which Elisha foretold. The city named Kir was the place where the Arameans originally lived (Amos 9:7), although its precise location is unknown. The region known as Gilead, the Transjordan area of Israel, was claimed by Damascus as well as Ammon.