John Calvin Commentary Amos 1:13-15

"Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have ripped up the women with child of Gilead, that they may enlarge their border. But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind; and their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, saith Jehovah." — Amos 1:13-15 (ASV)

He now prophesies against the Ammonites, who also derived their origin from the same common stock, for they were the descendants of Lot, as it is well known. Lot was counted as the son of Abraham, as Abraham, having taken him from his country, brought him up, no doubt, as his own son.

Therefore, Abraham was the common father of the Jews and of the Ammonites. Now, when the children of Ammon, without any regard for their relationship, joined forces with their enemies and conspired together, their cruelty was inexcusable.

And there is no doubt that they were guilty of many other crimes. However, God, by His Prophet, does not enumerate all the sins for which He had intended to punish them, but only distinctly points out, as in passing, one sin, and generally declares that such people were utterly beyond hope, for they had hardened themselves in their wickedness.

He therefore says of the children of Ammon that they rent the pregnant women. Some take הרות, erut, for הרים, erim, mountains; but I do not see what could lead them to this, unless they think it strange that pregnant women were rent so that the Ammonites might extend their borders further.

For this purpose, it would be more suitable to regard the word as meaning mountains, as if he said, “They have cut through mountains, even the earth itself; there has been no obstacle through which the Ammonites have not made their way. An insatiable greed has so inflamed them that they have rent the very mountains and destroyed the whole order of nature.”

Others take mountains metaphorically for fortified cities, for when one seeks to take possession of a kingdom, cities stand in his way like mountains. But this interpretation is too forced.

Now, since הרות, erut, means women with child, the word, I do not doubt, is to be taken in its genuine and usual sense, as we see it used in Hosea (Hosea 13:16). But why does the Prophet say that the Ammonites had rent pregnant women? It is to show that their greed was so frantic that they did not abstain from any kind of cruelty.

It is possible for one to be so avaricious as to seek to devour the whole earth and yet be inclined to clemency. Alexander the Macedonian, though a bloody man, yet showed some measure of kindness. But there have been others much more cruel, like the Persian of whom Isaiah speaks, who desired not money, but shed blood (Isaiah 13:17). So the Prophet says here of the Ammonites that they not only extended their borders by unlawful means, used violence, and became robbers who spoiled others of their property, but also that they did not spare even women with child.

Now this is the worst thing in the storming of towns. When a town has wearied out an enemy, pregnant women, children, and infants may, through fury, be destroyed; but this is a rare thing and never allowed, except under peculiar circumstances. He then reproaches the Ammonites not only for their greed but also for having committed every kind of cruelty to satisfy their greediness: they have then torn asunder women with child, that they might extend their borders.

I will therefore kindle a fire in the wall of רבה , Rabe, which shall devour its palaces, (the Prophet adds nothing new, so I will go on) and this by tumult, or by clamor, in the day of war.

The Prophet means that enemies would come and suddenly lay waste to the kingdom of Ammon, and that this would happen as a sudden fire lays hold of wood in the day of war. That is, as soon as the enemy attacked them, it would immediately put them to flight and execute the vengeance they deserved, by a whirlwind in the day of tempest.

By these figurative terms, the Prophet intimates that the calamity destructive to the Ammonites would be sudden.

He finally adds, And their king shall go into captivity, he and his princes together. As מלכם, melcam, was an idol of the people, some regard it here as a proper name. But he says, מלכם הוא ושריו, melcam eva ushariu, ‘their king, he and his princes;’ hence the Prophet, no doubt, names the king of Ammon, for he joins his princes with him. He says then that the ruin of the kingdom would be such that the king himself would be led captive by the Assyrians. This prediction was no doubt fulfilled, though there is no history of it existing.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, that since You have designed by so many examples to teach the world the fear of Your name, we may improve under Your mighty hand, and not abuse Your forbearance, nor gather for ourselves a treasure of dreadful vengeance by our obstinacy and irreclaimable wickedness, but seasonably repent while You invite us, and while it is the accepted time, and while You offer reconciliation to us, so that being brought to nothing in ourselves, we may gather courage through grace, which is offered to us through Christ our Lord. Amen.