Amos 1:11

1:18-21 There shall be abundant Divine influences, and the gospel will spread speedily into the remotest corners of the earth. These events are predicted under significant emblems; there is a day coming, when every thing amiss shall be amended. The fountain of this plenty is in the house of God, whence the streams take rise. Christ is this Fountain; his sufferings, merit, and grace, cleanse, refresh, and make fruitful. Gospel grace, flowing from Christ, shall reach to the Gentile world, to the most remote regions, and make them abound in fruits of righteousness; and from the house of the Lord above, from his heavenly temple, flows all the good we daily taste, and hope to enjoy eternally.

Amos 1:11-12 . For three transgressions of Edom, &c. — The Edomites, or Idumeans, are often threatened for their enmity against the Israelites, because they took all occasions to oppress and insult over them in their distress. Because he did pursue his brother with the sword — The Edomites retained the same hatred and animosity against their brethren, the Israelites, which their father Esau had expressed against his brother Jacob. But I will send a fire upon Teman, &c. — Teman and Bozrah were two principal cities of Idumea. The destruction here denounced against them was afterward brought upon them, in some degree, by Sennacherib, but more especially by Nebuchadnezzar: see notes on Jeremiah 49:7-22 , and Ezekiel 25:15 .

CURSE ON EDOM. (11) Edom.—Comp. the prophecy of Obadiah and Isaiah 34:5. See also Dict. of the Bible, art. “Edom.” All through their history Edom sided with the enemies of Israel. (Comp. 1Samuel 14:47; 2Samuel 8:14; Psalm 60:9; and 2Chronicles 21:8-10.) Cast Off.—It would be better to render stifled. In the following clause read “And his indignation rended continually, and his wrath lurked ever on the watch.” But another punctuation of the Hebrew original yields a different sense. “As for his wrath, he hath kept it for ever” (almost as E.V.). This corresponds closely with Jeremiah 3:5.

Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he did pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath {l} for ever: (l) He was a continual enemy to him.

Three transgressions: see Amos 1:3 . Edom: see Amos 1:6 . I will not turn away the punishment thereof: see Amos 1:3 . He did pursue ; watch for and lay hold on every occasion to oppress Israel. His brother; Jacob and his posterity here are meant, as is Esau and his posterity. Esau personally considered was an enemy to the person of Jacob, and vowed his ruin, forced him to flee into Padan-aram, and on his return thence frighted Jacob too by coming out with four hundred men armed; the posterity of Esau behaved themselves no whit more friendly. With the sword; either joining with the enemies, as Psalm 83:6-8 137:7 , or setting a war on foot on their own account, as 2 Chronicles 28:17 , against them. Cast off all pity; common humanity was by Edom cast off, when Jacob’s posterity needed it, as appears by their denial of passage and selling to them necessaries for their relief in travelling by their country, Numbers 20:14-21 ; nay, they armed against Israel, Numbers 20:20 . Common pity would have forborne strangers travelling by our coasts; how much more brethren. The inhumanity of the Edomites appeared yet further in this, that they were chapmen to buy all the captive Israelites, and to sell them to the heathen for slaves, which is certainly the height of inhumanity. His anger, which is expressed by fierceness, and with vehemency, did tear, as a ravenous, hungry, and fierce lion tears the prey; so the word.

Perpetually; though sometimes this anger did intermit for want of opportunity, yet on every occasion it revived, and showed itself again. Kept his wrath for ever; lest the fire of his wrath should extinguish, Edom did record, treasure up, and reserved the seeds of his displeasure, as men rake up fire in ashes to blow it up into a flame; such was Edom’s wrath, a wrath that exceeded all bounds, as the word imports, and never ceased.

11. Edom … did pursue his brother—(Isa 34:5). The chief aggravation to Edom's violence against Israel was that they both came from the same parents, Isaac and Rebekah (compare Ge 25:24-26; De 23:7, 8; Ob 10, 12; Mal 1:2). cast off all pity—literally, "destroy compassions," that is, did suppress all the natural feeling of pity for a brother in distress. his wrath for ever—As Esau kept up his grudge against Jacob, for having twice supplanted him, namely, as to the birthright and the blessing (Ge 27:41), so Esau's posterity against Israel (Nu 20:14, 21). Edom first showed his spite in not letting Israel pass through his borders when coming from the wilderness, but threatening to "come out against him with the sword"; next, when the Syrians attacked Jerusalem under Ahaz (compare 2Ch 28:17, with 2Ki 16:5); next, when Nebuchadnezzar assailed Jerusalem (Ps 137:7, 8). In each case Edom chose the day of Israel's calamity for venting his grudge. This is the point of Edom's guilt dwelt on in Ob 10-13. God punishes the children, not for the sin of their fathers, but for their own filling up the measure of their fathers' guilt, as children generally follow in the steps of, and even exceed, their fathers' guilt (compare Ex 20:5).

Verses 11, 12. - The judgment on Edom. Verse 11. - His brother . The prophet proceeds to denounce the three nations cognate to Israel, of which the Edomites were the nearest and the most inimical. From the time of Esau until now they had been consistent in enmity, and it is this unbrotherly conduct rather than any specific outrages which Amos here condemns. Edom is accused of relentless persecution, inhumanity, savage fury, and persistent anger. (For the brotherhood of Edom, see Numbers 20:14 ; Deuteronomy 2:4, 5, 8 ; Deuteronomy 23:7 , etc. For his hostility to Israel, see Numbers 20:18 ; 1 Kings 11:14 ; 2 Kings 8:20 ; 2 Chronicles 20:10 ; 2 Chronicles 25:11, 12 ; 2 Chronicles 28:17 .) The prophecy of Obadiah is directed against Edom (comp. also Ezekiel 25:12 ; Ezekiel 35:5, 15 ; Joel 3:19 ). Did cast off all pity; literally, corrupted his compassions ; i.e. did violence to his natural feelings. So Ezekiel 28:17 , "Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom," perverted it from its proper end. The LXX. gives, ἐλυμήνατο μητέρα ( μήτραν , Alex.) ἐπὶ γῆς , "did violence to the mother that bare them." On this Jerome remarks, "Pro misericordia Septuaginta vulvam transtulerant, ducti ambiguitate verborum, quia rehem et vulvam et misericordiam significat." Did tear, as a wild beast tears his prey. So in Job 16:9 , where the same word is used, "He hath torn me in his wrath" (comp. Hosea 6:1 ). And he kept his wrath forever; more literally, and its fury it (Edom) keeps forever .

11 . because he did pursue his brother with the sword ] Edom and Israel are frequently spoken of as ‘brethren’ ( Deuteronomy 2:4 ; Deuteronomy 23:7 ; Obadiah 1:10 ; Obadiah 1:12 ; cf. Genesis 27:40-41 ): they were more closely related to each other than was either to any of their other neighbours: and the unbrotherly attitude assumed too often by Edom towards Israel is the head and front of his offence. Cf. Obadiah 1:10 (of the behaviour of Edom at the time when Jerusalem was taken by the Chaldaeans; see Amos 1:11-14 ), “For the violence done to thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.” and did cast off all pity ] and corrupted (or destroyed ) his compassion , i.e. suppressed, or stifled, the natural instinct of tender regard which a person would normally cherish towards a brother, and which would render it impossible for him to ‘pursue’ him ‘with the sword.’ and his anger did tear perpetually ] For the figure, see Job 16:9 . Edom’s anger against his brother was ever raging, tearing ( Psalm 7:2 ) or rending its victims, like some wild animal. But the parallelism of the following clause makes it possible that we ought to read ‘and retained his anger’ ( ויטר for ויטרף ): see Psalm 103:9 ; Leviticus 19:18 ; Nahum 1:2 (parallel with avenge ); and, as here, parallel with keep ( שמר ), Jeremiah 3:5 (so Pesh. Vulg.

Gunning, Wellhausen and others). and he kept his wrath for ever ] i.e. nursed, cherished it: instead of letting time dissipate it, he cherished it, in a spirit of revenge, till a fresh opportunity arose for displaying it in act. This revengeful temper of Edom displayed itself especially, not in malicious words only, but also in deed, at the time when Jerusalem was taken by the Chaldaeans: see Obadiah 1:10-14 ; Ezekiel 25:12-14 ; Ezekiel 35 (where it is made, as here, the ground of predictions of desolation); cf. also Isaiah 34:5-17 ; Jeremiah 49:7-22 ; Lamentations 4:21 f.; Malachi 1:4 ; Joel 3:19 ; Psalm 137:7 . 11–12 . Edom. The home of the Edomites was S. of the Dead Sea, immediately on the E. of the deep depression, which extends from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Akabah, in ancient times the S. part of the ‘Arábah (comp. on Amos 6:14 ), now the valley of the ‘Arăbah. The capital of Edom was Sela (Petra), remarkably situated in a hollow, shut in by mountain-cliffs and accessible only through two narrow defiles (cf. Robinson, B.R [131] ii. 128 ff.; Sinai and Palestine , p. 87 ff.; Hull, Mount Seir , p. 85 ff.; Pusey, Minor Prophets , on Obadiah, p. 235). Though now desolate, and inhabited only by wandering Bedawin, Edom was in ancient times fertile and prosperous; and its people were quite one of the more considerable and powerful of Israel’s neighbours.