Thus saith Jehovah For three transgressions of Gazah, and for four, I will not revoke its sentence; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver [them] up to Edom.
Amos names Israel's neighbours one at a time. Here the word falls on Gaza, a Philistine city charged with seizing a whole population and handing it over to Edom. Why does God count the crimes of nations outside Israel? And why is this trade in captives the sin that fills their cup?
The repeated phrase "for three transgressions... and for four" is not a count of offences. Writers read the numbers as a picture of guilt that is no longer in doubt.
In the first two chapters there are eight short denunciations of judgements, introduced by the words "for three transgressions and for four." Three witnesses were adequate testimony; four is the cup running over, of which the four quarters of the earth can testify.
The point is simple: the case is closed before the sentence falls.
Gaza was one of the chief Philistine cities. Its history with Israel runs from Samson's day to the prophets.
One of the five royal cities of the Philistines... In the time of Samson, however, the Philistines held it, and they made him a prisoner there. Judges 16:21... Because it was a Philistine stronghold, the prophets pronounced woes against it. Amos 1:6-7; Zephaniah 2:4; Zechariah 9:5.
The charge is not war but trade in people. Gaza captured Israelites and handed them over to Edom.
Philistia is represented by Gaza. They also mistreated Israel and sold them into the hands of Edom (2 Chronicles 21:16). Fire would consume the cities of Philistia, Gaza and its palaces. There would be an end to the Philistines: "the remnant of the Philistines shall perish," says the LORD.
These nations stood outside Israel, yet God still holds them responsible. He punishes two things at once: their cruelty to Israel, and their cruelty as human beings.
Notice this. God announces judgment on the surrounding nations before He declares judgment on Israel and Judah. He does so because of their hostile and cruel behaviour toward the people of Israel, and also because of what was cruel in them at the root, and against even ordinary human feeling. God takes account of all these things.
God may discipline Israel, but no nation may profit from Israel's ruin. Gaza's trade in captives was a bet on Israel's collapse, and it failed.
Here we see the folly of the hope the enemies of God's people held. They sought Israel's ruin, thinking they would gain by it. Of course God can discipline His people, for He must make His own character clear. But the malice of their enemies brings His judgment on them too.
Gaza sent a whole people into exile. Now Gaza itself will not survive as a people.
It is the same with Gaza, described in the same way as standing for the Philistines, Israel's old, relentless and active enemies... They had been guilty of transgression upon transgression, and therefore the LORD would not turn back here either. He would deal with their sin at once, not just carrying them off, but wiping them out as a people. "The remnant of the Philistines shall perish," says the Lord GOD.
The list that condemns Gaza does not stop at the border. God uses the same words for Judah and Israel. No one hearing them could think He judges by nationality.
- Measure. "Three... and for four" means the case is beyond dispute. Three witnesses were enough; four is the cup running over.
- Crime. Gaza's guilt was trafficking: carrying off a whole population and selling them into Edom's hands.
- Reach. God judges the nations around Israel too — for their cruelty to His people, and for cruelty that offends even ordinary human feeling.
- Folly. God may correct His people. But those who hope to gain from it bring His judgment on themselves.
- Result. Gaza sent others into exile and is ended itself: "the remnant of the Philistines shall perish."
And I will send a fire on the wall of Gazah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.
Amos names Gaza and passes sentence on it: fire on the wall, and its strongholds swallowed up. Why does God pass sentence on a nation outside Israel? And why aim at the wall and the strongholds, the very things that made the city safe?
Gaza and its neighbours sit on ground God had already given away. He is clearing His own land.
These judgments of Jehovah fall on the nations that have settled on the territory promised to Abraham. By this gift of God, that land belongs to the people of Israel. God purges His land of what defiles it... Here we see the folly of the hope Israel's enemies held. They sought Israel's ruin, thinking they would gain by it.
One city stands for the whole nation here. The Philistines were not a distant empire but the neighbour at the fence.
It is the same with Gaza, which in the same way stands for the Philistines. They were Israel's old, unrelenting and active opponents — an enemy on the border, if not inside the land. They had been guilty of transgression upon transgression. So Jehovah would not turn back here either. He would deal with their iniquity at once, not merely carrying them off, but wiping them out as a people.
One instrument keeps reappearing in these announcements. One phrase keeps closing the door on appeal.
In each judgment prediction we find the phrase, "for three transgressions or four... I will not reverse it." The meaning is that the measure is full and nothing can turn the judgment aside. Fire stands out as the way judgment comes. These nations were the enemies of Israel.
The wall was the city's defence. The strongholds — older translations say "palaces" — were its wealth and pride. Fire takes both, and the loss runs past the buildings to the people themselves.
Fire would consume the cities of Philistia — Gaza and its palaces. There would be an end to the Philistines: "the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the LORD."
Their treatment of God's people brought this on them, and the pattern reaches beyond Philistia:
The Philistines lived on a narrow strip along the seashore. They were the long-standing enemies of the people Israel... The vengeance of the Lord fell on the coast of Philistia, and they experienced the fury of the Lord. He dealt with those who had corrupted His people. And so God will deal in due time with all His enemies.
The list does not stop at the border nations. Amos uses the same wording for God's own people, and names the same penalty.
The measure was full for these nations, who had heaped transgressions upon transgressions. Yet Judah and Israel were just as guilty — yes, even more guilty than these nations. Amos uses the same telling phrase, "for three transgressions and four," of both... Fire was to devour the cities and palaces of the nations. Fire was to come upon Judah and the palaces of Jerusalem too.
The city's name carries its own irony, and the lesson outlives Philistia.
Gaza, a city of the Philistines, means "strong." For ceremonial religion seeks the greatest power in the world, and boasts of the strength of its numbers. Such strength means nothing to those who walk by faith. Let us never be intimidated by it. The harlot city Babylon may be so strong that she reigns over the kings of the earth (Rev. 17:18), but "her plagues will come in one day — death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her" (Rev. 18:8).
- Cause. Gaza piled up transgression on transgression, above all in its treatment of God's people. The measure is full, and the sentence stands.
- Court. God judges over land He had promised to Abraham. He is purging His own territory, and those who hoped to profit from Israel's ruin drew His judgment on themselves.
- Fire. Fire is the instrument through this whole section, and it strikes the wall and the strongholds — the city's defence and its wealth.
- Reach. Gaza's fall is not the end of the list. The same phrase and the same fire come to the palaces of Jerusalem. God's own people face the same measure.
- Result. Fire burns the city whose name means "strong." No human strength is worth fearing, "for strong is the Lord God who judges her."