The Pulpit Commentary — Amos — Section 6

from the sea. Ashkelon was situate be- had oommitted the sin (of rebellion), and I tween the two. "Askelon differs from the hung np theil' bodies on stakes all round other oelebmted oities of the Philist.ines, the city. Theoitizens who had done wrong being seated on the sea, while Ekron, e.nd wickedness I counted as e. spoil " (Pro- Gath, Jamnia, Ashdod, and Gaza are in the fessor Sayce, 'Fresh Light from the Monu• interior. It never could have had a harbour ments,' pp. 120, 121). I will tum mine of e.ny considerable size, however. . . . The hand; literally, will bring back my hand; topography of the ple.re is peouliar. An visit a.gain with punishment, or repeat the abrupt ridge begins near the shore, runs up blow (lse.. i. 25; Jer. vi 9; see note OD Zeoh. eastward, !,ends round to the south, then to xiii. 7). The remnant. All the Philistines the west, e.nd finally north-west to the sea who had o.s yet escaped destruotion ( oomp. age.in, forming an irregular amphitheatre. eh. ix. 12: Jar. vi. 9), On the top of this ridge ran the wall, whioh Vere. 9, 10.-Thejudgment on Tyre. was defended at its salient angles by strong Ver. 9.-They delivered up the whole towers. The specimens which still exist oaptivity (see note on ver. 6). The sin of show that it was very high and thick, built, Tyre, the great Phoanician merchant oity, however, of small stones, and bound to- wes committed in concert with the Philis- gether by broken columns of granite e.nd tines (comp. Ps. lxxxiii. 7), and was of the marble. This clearly proves tlrn tit is patch- same character, exoept that she is not e.c- work, and not Askelon's original rampart.... cused of carrying awe.y the captives, but The position is one of the fairest along this only of handing them over to the Edomites. part of the Mediterranean coast; and when It is probable that the Phoanicians had the interior of the amphitheatre we.s adorned gotten into their hands, by purchase or some mth splendid temples and palaces, ascend- other means, Israelitisb prisoners, whom ing, rank e.bove rank, from the shore to the they delivered over to the Edomites, for- summit, the appearance from the see. must getting the brotherly oovenant made by have been very imposing. Now the whole their forefathers with David and Solomon are& is planted over with orchards of the (2 Sam. v. 11 : 1 Kings v. 1, 7-11 ; ix. 11- various kinds of fruit whioh flourish iu this 14 ; 2 Chron. ii. 11). The cruel conduot of region " (Thomson, ' The Land and the Tyre was quite unprovoked, as no Jewish Book,' Southern Pal.estine, p.171). In spite king had made war against Phoanicio. or its of its bad harbour, it carried on a lucrative capital. foreign commerce, which was tbe chief cause Ver. 10.-A fire, as ver. 7; see Ezekiel'& of its power e.nd i.mportanoe (Ewald,' Hist. prophecy against Tyre (xxvi.). She had of Israel,' i. 247, Eng. transl). It was about long been tribute.ry to Assyria, but, revolt- fifty Roman miles from Jerusalem. In ing, was punished by Sargon, and later we.a medimve.l times there were two cities of the atte.cked by Nebuchadnezzo.r, who besieged name, one on the coast (Jer. xlvii. 7), the it for thirteen years, with what success is same as Herod's Ascalon, and one iuland. not known. The Assyrian monuments afford In its palmiest days the former could never no account of its capture by this monarch have had e. real harbour (' Survey Memoirs,' (comp. Isa. xxiii.; Jer. xlvii. 4; • Arrian., iii. pp. 245, 246). Ekron, hod. A1'ir, was ii. 16-24). (For its capture and destruo- twelve miles north-east of Ashdod, and tion by Alexander the Great, see notes on some nine from tbe coast. Ashdod was Zeoh. ix. 2, 4.) taken by Uzziah (2 Cbron. uvi 6), by the tartan, or commander-in.chief, of Sargon Vera. 11, 12.-Thejudgment on Edom. (lse.. xx. 1), and by Psammetichus King of Ver. 11.-llis brother. The prophet pro- Egypt (B.O. 635), when it sustained a siege oeeds to denounce the three nations cogne.te of twenty-nine years (Herod., ii. 157). Sen- to Israel, of whioh the Edomites were the nacherib, in a cuneiform inscription, records nearest and the most inimical. From the how be treated the two other citiea: "Zede- time of Esau until now they he.d been con- kio.h King of Ashkelon," he says, " who had sistent in enmity, and it is this unbrotherly not submitted himself to my yoke, himself, conduot rather than any specifio outrages the gods of the house of his fathers, his which Amoe here condemns. Edom is ac- wife, his sons, his daughters, and his cused of relentless perseoution, inhume.nity, brothers, the seed of the house of his savage fury, and persistent anger. (For the fathers, I removed, and I sent him to brotherhood of Edom, see Numb. u. 14; Aseyria. I set over the men of Ashkelon, Deut. ii. 4, 5, 8; xxiii. 7, et.:. For his Sarludo.ri, the son of Ru.kipti, theil' former hostility to Israel, see Numb. xx. 18; 1 king, and I imposed upon him the payment Kings xi. 14 ; 2 Kings viii. 20; 2 Chron. of tribute, o.nd the homage due to my xx. 10: xxv. 11, 12; uviii. 17.) The pro- mo.jesty, and be became a vassal. . . . I pheoy of Obadiah is directed against Edom marched against the city of Ekron, and put (comp. also Ezek. xxv. 12; xxxv. 5, 15: to death th~ priests and the chief men who Joel iii. 19). Did oaet off all pity; litere.Jly, O.d, I. 1-16.) THE BOOK OP All08.