Lastly and nearest of all, it falls on Judah, who had the true worship of the true God among them, but despised it. Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Joel 3:4-8; Ezekiel 27:13). Grain is threshed with farming instruments, which back then might include a heavy board, studded with sharp metal used to pull over the grain to separate it from the husk. Damascus (Syria, also called Aram) "threshed" Gilead. 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. Of old it was said, the Chrysorrhoas (the Barada) is nearly expended in artificial channels.: Damascus is fertile through drinking up the Chrysorrhoas by irrigation. Fourteen names of its canals are still given; and while it has been common to select 7 or 8 chief canals, the whole have been counted up even to 70. What is the Biblical Perspective on Agriculture, Why Did Jesus Talk So Much About Agriculture, Why Jesus Talked So Much About Agriculture. vii., c. 6: ; "Those men shall be thrice and four times happy.". So in other places, where the like form of words occurs, the added number is one beyond, and mostly relates to something greater than all the rest. Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing? Proud member : the drag (or board), under the same name rtz (properly something sharpened) which it has in Amos 1:3, in Isaiah 28:27, "For not with a sharp threshing-board is Nigella-seed [Tristram, N. H. B. p. 444] trodden out; nor is the wheel of a (threshing-) wagon turned about upon cummin," Job 41: . R And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.1 Kings 5:11 While Solomon gave Hiram 20,000 cors of wheat as food for his household, and 20,000 cors of beaten oil. Farming, which involves cultivating the land and raising livestock, is a part of agriculture. To report dead links, typos, or html errors or suggestions about making these resources more useful use the convenient, for three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron, I will not turn away the punishment thereof -, Because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron -, For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four -, , . 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. 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. Yet this was as nothing. The LORD was the one who gave His words to His prophet. You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am theLord. (LogOut/ This is what the LORD says: 'The people of Damascus have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Without the Barada, says Porter, the city could not exist, and the plain would be a parched desert; but now aqueducts intersect every quarter, and fountains sparkle in almost every dwelling, while innumerable canals extend their ramifications over the vast plain, clothing it with verdure and beauty. We need only look at the history of nations, including the United States, to know that these kinds of atrocities have happened over and over. This was done by Hazael king of Syria, who is said to destroy the people, and make them "like the dust by threshing", 2 Kings 10:32. It was the "metropolis" of Syria, Isaiah 7:8; and so Pliny calls it, "Damascus of Syria". L I will not turn away the punishment thereof - Literally, I will not turn it back. What was this, which God would not turn back? THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL More than a Bible handbook but less than a commentary, Nelson's New Illustrated Old Testament Survey provides a section by section breakdown of issues and topics dealt with in the Hebrew Scriptures. All rights reserved. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. And Joash did what was right in the eyes of theLordall the days of Jehoiada the priest. And God separated the light from the darkness. 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. The course of the prophecy convicted them, as the things written in Holy Scripture for our ensamples convict Christians. 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. Fewer and fewer of us grew up on farms, and thus, we miss a lot of subtle points Jesus is making in some of His stories. For we are Gods fellow workers. All time was measured by seven. Weeds have to be removed, the land watered, and fertilizer added. Theodoret supposes the horrible aggravation, that it was thus that the women with child were destroyed with their children, casting the aforesaid women, as into a sort of threshing-floor, they savagely threshed them out like ears of grain with saw-armed wheels.. Eshton fathered Beth-rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah, the father of Ir-nahash. Hesed, C Thus saith the . Here in Amos, we see that the people of Damascus rebelled against the LORD because they threshed Gilead with implements of sharp iron. The oracles against the nations are intricately structured. In the days of Jehu, Hazael smote them in all the coasts of Israel from Jordan eastward; all the land of Gilead, the Gadites and the Reubenites and the Manassites, from Arorer which is by the River Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan 2 Kings 10:32-33; in those of Jehoahaz, Jehus son, he oppressed them, neither did he leave of the people to Jehoahaz but fifty horsemen and ten chariots, and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Syria had destroyed them, and had made them like the dust by threshing 2 Kings 13:7. G 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. 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. 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. which leads to the comprise of and ingratiation of the Nations being the primary benefactor of the poor and the marginalized of our capitalistic morality. As a result of God breaking the gate bar of Damascus, the people of Aram would go exiled to Kir. 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 ). It was rich in pasture (Numbers 32:1) and famous for its balm (Jeremiah 8:22). The difference is that Amos adds a further comment on the transgression: they did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.. And since they had no root, they withered away. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. An example of Damascuss war against Israel is found in 2 Kings 10 where Hazael [the king of Damascus] defeated them throughout the territory of Israel: from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites and the Reubenites and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the valley of the Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan (2 Kgs. This should not be too surprising because most of Jesus listeners were farmers themselves or, at least, very familiar with farming. The vats will overflow with new wine and olive oil.". Its whole plain was intersected with canals, and tunneled below. 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. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.Leviticus 11:1-47 And theLordspoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, Speak to the people of Israel, saying, These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. Amos does not express it. The LORD pronounces judgment on the inhabitants of Damascus because they slaughtered the people of Gilead. Any crime committed against human beings is ultimately against the LORD because He is the sole creator. And the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. as the Targum; this country lay beyond Jordan, and was inhabited by the Reubenites and Gadites and the half tribe of Manasseh; who were used in a very cruel manner, by Hazael king of Syria, as was foretold by Elisha, 2 Kings 7:12; not literally, as in 2 Samuel 12:31; but by him they were beat, oppressed, and crushed, as the grain of the threshingfloor; which used to be threshed out by means of a wooden instrument stuck with iron teeth, the top of which was filled with stones to press it down, and so drawn to and fro over the sheaves of corn, by which means it was beaten out, to which the allusion is here; See Gill on 1 Corinthians 9:9. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, , Psalm 104:14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earthLeviticus 19:19 You shall keep my statutes. Thanks John Mark. "For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron. The advantage of its site doubtless occastoned its early choice. "They have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron." Gilead was a part of Israel on the eastern side of the Jordan river. 1 Kings 9:13the brotherhood between Hiram of Tyre and Solomon of Israel). The last grace of God, whether sealing up the former graces of those who use them, or vouchsafed to those who have wasted them, is the crowning act of His love or forbearance. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. 5 I will p break the gate-bar of l Damascus, and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of q Aven, 4. and him who holds the scepter from r Beth-eden;