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1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds 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.
And he said:
“The LORD roars from Zion
and utters his voice from Jerusalem;
the pastures of the shepherds mourn,
and the top of Carmel withers.”
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.
So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.
I will break the gate-bar of Damascus,
and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of Aven,
and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden;
and the people of Syria shall go into exile to Kir,”
says the LORD.
Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of Gaza,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they carried into exile a whole people
to deliver them up to Edom.
So I will send a fire upon the wall of Gaza,
and it shall devour her strongholds.
I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod,
and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,”
says the Lord GOD.
Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of Tyre,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they delivered up a whole people to Edom,
and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.
So I will send a fire upon the wall of Tyre,
and it shall devour her strongholds.”
Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of Edom,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because he pursued his brother with the sword
and cast off all pity,
and his anger tore perpetually,
and he kept his wrath forever.
So I will send a fire upon Teman,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.”
Thus says the LORD:
“For three transgressions of the Ammonites,
and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead,
that they might enlarge their border.
So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah,
and it shall devour her strongholds,
with shouting on the day of battle,
with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind;
and their king shall go into exile,
he and his princes together,”
says the LORD.
(ESV)
Nelson’s Commentary gives an informative but concise background on the book of Amos.
“The Lord sent Amos, a Judean, to Bethel to prophesy of coming judgment on Israel. But in Bethel, Amos faced a hostile audience. Israel’s first king, Jeroboam I, had made the town a center of pagan worship. Because the temple in Jerusalem was in Judah and not in the nation of Israel, Jeroboam had encouraged the Israelites to worship at Bethel instead of Jerusalem. Thus the Israelites who gathered at Bethel would regard Amos, a Judean, with suspicion. Yet Amos bravely condemned there the sins of Israel’s neighbors—the Syrians, Philistines, Phoenicians, Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites. Then he went on to point out the iniquity of Judah and Israel: they had rejected the God who had covenanted with them. They too stood before God condemned by their own evil ways. With a steady voice, Amos called the Israelites to return to the living God.”
Nelson’s New Illustrated Commentary
Amos started with the nations surrounding Israel in order to gain an initial following, and by the end of the book, he would turn God’s judgment toward Israel. But first, he would use a series of metaphors to illustrate the sins of the surrounding nations. Take verse 3 for example…
The LORD says: I will not relent from punishing Damascus for three crimes, even four, because they threshed Gilead with iron sledges.
Amos 1:3 HCSB
What does he mean by “three crimes, even four?”
Three things are beyond me; four I can’t understand.
Proverbs 30:18 HCSB
The earth trembles under three things; it cannot bear up under four.
Proverbs 30:21 HCSB
Three things are stately in their stride, even four are stately in their walk.
Proverbs 30:29 HCSB
The numerical formula represented the countless sins against God. Three represented more than enough to punish but four was beyond comprehension. This metaphor represented in the strongest wording just how corrupt Syria had become and how horrific their sins were to God.
It is important to understand that God holds us accountable for what we know. In this case, the Syrians did not have the same revelation as Israel did, however, God was still holding them accountable to the moral law that they already knew.
In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained.
Philippians 3:16 HCSB
The application for us is that God has an expectation for us. His bar is high and there is no way we can even begin to reach it without faith. But once we submit our lives to Him, that expectation for living a fruitful life can be accomplished. Jesus illustrated this point in the parable of the talents. He praised the two servants who doubled what was given and He judged the one who squandered it. Our God expects us to live up to the truth revealed to us!