I will not turn away the punishment thereof. Get our Question of the Week delivered right to your inbox! He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away; , 1 Samuel 13:21 And the charge was two-thirds of a shekel for the plowshares and for the mattocks, and a third of a shekel for sharpening the axes and for setting the goads.2 Kings 19:29 And this shall be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. It includes: Complete but concise outlines of every Old Testament book A . It is mentioned in the Proverbs, as a capital punishment Proverbs 20:26; and is alluded to as such by Isaiah Isaiah 28:28. This was apparently a common practice in that region (cf. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year.1 Corinthians 3:6-9 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. Lastly and nearest of all, it falls on Judah, who had the true worship of the true God among them, but despised it. Genesis 8:22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.Isaiah 9:3 You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.Deuteronomy 11:14 He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil.Zechariah 10:1 Ask rain from theLordin the season of the spring rain, from theLordwho makes the storm clouds, and he will give them showers of rain, to everyone the vegetation in the field.2 Samuel 24:22 Then Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Why Did Jesus Talk So Much About Agriculture? It was the "metropolis" of Syria, Isaiah 7:8; and so Pliny calls it, "Damascus of Syria". The consequences, however, are essentially the samefire will burn destroy the cities/citadels (1:7, 10, 12). Unless otherwise indicated, all content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. The unexamined field soon becomes unusable. Not only would the kingdom of Aram fall, and its rulers have their authority crushed, its people would be conquered and taken into exile by its conquerors. A threshing sledge was pulled by a large animal. Thus the Church and members of the community of the Father sotra kinda Dont relate to the Process of the Hardened Hart and the compounded consequences of the deceitfulness of being habitually unfaithful in the little ways which bring about the cruelty of Amoss day. This is what the LORD says: 'The people of Damascus have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! , Deuteronomy 22:10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.Hebrews 6:7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.Deuteronomy 22:9-11 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. The fourth transgression of these pagan nations is alone mentioned. Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Amos specifically notes one defining cultural sin. Where the water of one is diffusing life and verdure over the surface, another branch is collecting a new supply. In former days these extended over the whole plain to the lakes, thus irrigating the fields and gardens in every part of it., Damascus then was, of old, famed for its beauty. Salem Media Group. Its white buildings, embedded in the deep green of its engirdling orchards, were like diamonds encircled by emeralds. Tyre was an important commercial center in the Ancient Near East (cf. 4 tn Heb "they threshed [or "trampled down"] Gilead with sharp iron implements" (NASB similar). Are you not of more value than they?Isaiah 28:27 Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod.Matthew 13:23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. Blog, A The language about Tyre is almost exactly the same as how Amos describes Gaza. These, registered by name, came in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and destroyed their tents and the Meunites who were found there, and marked them for destruction to this day, and settled in their place, because there was pasture there for their flocks., Deuteronomy 8:1-20 The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that theLordswore to give to your fathers. The words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. . From the standpoint of the synergistic point of view of Sanders,Dunn,and Wright. Vv. Fire is used symbolically for Gods judgment, which would fall on the house of Hazael and the citadels of Ben-hadad. The bar would secure the gate or the door to prevent outsiders from entering to hurt the residents of the city. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson. 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. Hazael was the king of Damascus in the second half of the ninth century BC, while Ben-hadad was his son and successor (2 Kgs. Rather, they were guilty of a huge quantity of sins, which the prophet described as three transgressions even four.. (LogOut/ 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, and 6). There Elisha announces the coming death of Ben-hadad but weeps over the future that Hazael will bring to Israel. 10 million Ukrainians without power because of Russia. Here in Amos, we see that the people of Damascus rebelled against the LORD because they threshed Gilead with implements of sharp iron. Such an attraction caused the Arameans to thresh the Israelites of Gilead with implements of sharp iron. Threshing-sledges with iron (or basalt) are large boards (73 feet usually) pulled by oxen to separate the grain from the chaff. Change but the name, the tale is told of thee, was a pagan saying which has almost passed into a proverb. T And he will bless you in the land that theLordyour God is giving you.Deuteronomy 15:1-10 At the end of every seven years you shall grant a release. These are the men of Recah. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of theLord, and their descendants with them. Change). Amoss prophecy concerning Damascus was probably fulfilled in 732 BC when the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III captured the city, weakening it for the rest of the Old Testament period (2 Kgs. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. Such a pronouncement of judgment continues throughout the second chapter, which begins with Moab and culminates with Gods chosen people, namely, Judah and Israel. Of the situation of this place, and the delightfulness of it; see Gill on Jeremiah 49:25; and of its founder, and the signification of its name; see Gill on Acts 9:2; to which may be added, that though Justin says it had its name from Damascus, a king of it before Abraham and Israel, whom he also makes kings of it; and Josephus would have Uz the son of Aram the founder of it, to which Bochart agrees; yet the Arabic writers ascribe the building of it to others; for the Arabs have a tradition, as Schultens says, that there were Canaanites anciently in Syria; for they talk of Dimashc the son of Canaan, who built the famous city of Damascus, and so it should seem to be called after his name; and Abulpharagius says, that Murkus or Murphus, as others call him, king of Palestine, built the city of Damascus twenty years before the birth of Abraham: from this place many things have their names, which continue with us to this day, as the "damask" rose, and the "damascene" plum, transplanted from the gardens that were about it, for which it was famous; and very probably the invention of the silk and linen called "damasks" owes its rise from hence. [5] I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven, and him that holds the scepter from Beth-eden; Frequently threshing sledges (28:27) made of wood (2 Sam. Beginning with Damascus, Amos stated, Thus says theLord, Forthree transgressions ofDamascus and for four, I will notrevoke itspunishment. As mentioned earlier, the statement thus says the LORD tells the reader that the message of Amos originated from God. It was not tempted to set itself against believing them. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. Joash, king of Judah, bought him off, when advancing against Jerusalem, with everything of gold, consecrated or civil, in the temple or in his own treasures 2 Kings 12:18. The course of the prophecy convicted them, as the things written in Holy Scripture for our ensamples convict Christians. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. 2. Hazael not only took from Israel all east of Jordan 2 Kings 10:32-33, but made the whole open country unsafe for the Israelites to dwell in. I really like this study. Although God delegated authority to human governments to execute justice (Romans 13:4), He is still the ultimate judge. 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 . For a long time, these stories worked without much thought or explanation. These are the men of Recah. So says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn back from it, for they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. Help us purchase electrical generators for churches. They beat down my people in Gilead as grain is threshed with iron sledges. And he told them many things in parables, saying: A sower went out to sow. Their commercial interests included the slave trade, even selling Judeans to Greeks far from their homeland (Joel 3:6). 10:3233). Judging, probably, of Davids defensive conquests by its own policy, it joined the other Syrians who attacked David, was subdued, garrisoned, and became tributary 2 Samuel 8:5-6. OpenBible.info A threshing sledge was made of wooden boards embedded with sharp stones or iron teeth. Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. perhaps more (cf. The names Hazael and Ben-hadad, two kings of Aram, are also known from 2 Kings 8. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. Conclusion: The Lord God has spoken (not always present). Immediately, it was bounded by the three lakes which receive the surplus of the waters which enrich it. I didnt know that thrashing tools might have been used in torturing people. Hazael probably became the instrument of God in chastening Israel, while he was avenging Jehus submission to a power whom he dreaded and from whom he had suffered. (3) Three transgressions . VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. He condemns violent aggression (perhaps even torture and wanton killing), enslavement of populations, and the slave trade. All the blood of all the prophets and servants of God under the Old Testament came upon that generation. And thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Damascus, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of their threshing Gilead with sharp-pointed irons, - Youngs Literal Bible For thus saith the LORD: For three transgressions of Damascus, yea, for four, I will not reverse it: because they have threshed Gilead with sledges of iron. Not naming it, he leaves it the rather to be conceived of by the mind, as something which had been of old coming upon them to overwhelm them, which God had long stayed back, but which, since He would now stay it no longer, would burst in, with the more terrific and overwhelming might, because it had been restrained before. Then, as to those enemies themselves, the order is not of place or time, but of their relation to Gods people. They beat down my people in Gilead as grain is threshed with iron sledges. Through studying this beautiful exposition on each of these eight books, you will gain understanding of the historical events and the countless precious spiritual applications and prophetic utterances that apply to the church today. The stream thus collected is led off to a lower level, where it comes to the surface. Please support us by disabling these ads blocker. In pagan poetry also, as a trace of a mystery which they had forgotten, three is a sacred whole; from where thrice and fourfold blessed stands among them for something exceeding even a full and perfect blessing, a super-abundance of blessings. This historical account is followed by a description of Gods pronouncement of judgment on five pagan nationsSyria, Philistia, Phoenicia, Edom, and Ammon. threshedReverso Context-: Rock threshing floors: seeds were threshed there with the help of animals. because they have threshed Gilead. As the sledge was pulled over the threshing floor the stones or iron teeth would separate the grain from the stalks. Certainly Hadadezer stands cut conspicuously; the Damascenes are mentioned only subordinately. And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. Israel heard and readily believed Gods judgments upon others. Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. Deuteronomy 4:24 says that God is a consuming fire. 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. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! This space rather became the center of its dominions, than measured their extent. What Does the Bible Say About A Man Providing For His Family? Farmers work throughout the year, regardless of the weather. In that the prophet says, not, for the fourth, but for three transgressions and for four, he expresses at once, that God did not punish until the last sin, by which the iniquity of the sinful nation became full Genesis 15:16, and that, then, He punished for all, for the whole mass of sin described by the three, and for the fourth also. U . All rights reserved. How then could it refuse to believe of itself, what it believed of others like itself? These quotations are sufficient to show that this form of speech is neither unfrequent nor inelegant, being employed by the most correct writers of antiquity. God stated that He would also break the gate bar of Damascus. Of the three on the south side, one is led to the populous village Daraya, five miles distant; the other two supply the city, its suburbs, and gardens., The like use was made of every fountain in every larger or lesser plain. 3 This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not relent. 12:19; 2 Kgs. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. Amos 1:3-5 (ESV) Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. Here the LORD said He would break the bar to allow Damascuss enemies to enter. .--Rather, will not turn it back--i.e., the sore judgment I have purposed. Israel is placed the last, because on it the destruction was to fall to the uttermost, and rest there. 4 So I will send a fire on the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Stated differently, the cities/nations would not be judged merely because of one transgression or even two. Will the sun really be turned to darkness and the moon to blood (Joel 2:31). And he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, Go out to the cities of Judah and gather from all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and see that you act quickly. But the Levites did not act quickly. Luke 9:23 says, Then he said to them all: Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. As Christians, we have to be loving, faithful, prayerful, diligent, patient, forgiving, and merciful at all times. 2 Kings 10:32,33 In those days the LORD began to cut Israel short: and Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel; . Will you? So does the wisest of us in living. 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 ).