Amos 1:4

4 So I will send fire upon the palace built by King Hazael and I will burn down the fortresses of King Benhadad.

Amos 1:4 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 1:4

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 2 Kings 7:15 ) ( 13:24 ) ; these may denote the royal palaces of the kings of Syria, which should not be spared in this time of desolation; though rather by them may be intended the temples, which he and Hazael are said by Josephus ^F3 to build in the city of Damascus, whereby they greatly adorned it; and for these and other acts of beneficence they were deified by the Syrians, and worshipped as gods; and even to the times of Josephus, he says, their statues were carried in pomp every day in honour of them; and so, the house of Hazael, in the preceding clause, may signify a temple that was either built by him, or for the worship of him, since he was deified as well as Benhadad; and it may be observed, that as Adad was a common name of the kings of Syria; for, according to Nicholas of Damascus ^F4, ten kings that reigned in Damascus were all called Adad; so this is a name of the god they worshipped. Pliny speaks of a god worshipped by the Syrians, whose name must be Adad; since, according to him; the gem "adadunephros" had its name from him ^F5; and Macrobius ^F6 is express for it, that the chief god of the Assyrians was called Adad, which signifies one; (See Gill on Isaiah 66:17).

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 Antiqu. l. 9. c. 4. sect. 6.
F4 Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 7. c. 5. sect. 8.
F5 Nat. Hist. l. 27. c. 11.
F6 Saturnal. l. 1. c. 23.

Amos 1:4 In-Context

2 Amos said, "The Lord roars from Mount Zion; his voice thunders from Jerusalem. The pastures dry up, and the grass on Mount Carmel turns brown."

3 The Lord says, "The people of Damascus have sinned again and again, and for this I will certainly punish them. They treated the people of Gilead with savage cruelty.

4 So I will send fire upon the palace built by King Hazael and I will burn down the fortresses of King Benhadad.

5 I will smash the city gates of Damascus and remove the inhabitants of Aven Valley and the ruler of Betheden. The people of Syria will be taken away as prisoners to the land of Kir."

6 The Lord says, "The people of Gaza have sinned again and again, and for this I will certainly punish them. They carried off a whole nation and sold them as slaves to the people of Edom.