Charles Ellicott Commentary Amos 1:6-8

"Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Gaza, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they carried away captive the whole people, to deliver them up to Edom: but I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour the palaces thereof. And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that holdeth the sceptre from Ashkelon; and I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, saith the Lord Jehovah." — Amos 1:6-8 (ASV)

CURSE ON PHILISTIA.

The marginal reading is more literal and points to the special bitterness of Philistia's actions, represented here by Gaza as the principal city (compare 2 Chronicles 21:16–17, which implies an actual sack of Jerusalem). The extreme barbarity Judah suffered was that her children were handed over to the implacable enemy Edom. (Compare the language of Joel 3:4-6.)

This may have occurred in border warfare, where defenseless Judean villages were overpowered, and the inhabitants sold to the eastern tribes through the Edomites. The utter fall of Philistine independence is depicted . The cities mentioned here are often referred to in the books of Joshua, Judges, and Samuel, and by the prophet Zephaniah.