Amos 1:4

So I will send a fire upon the house of Hazael,
and it shall devour the strongholds of Ben-hadad.

The attack begins in each case with a fire that would eventually consume the walls and/or fortresses of the city and leave it a smoldering ruin.


In punishing Damascus God declared He would smash the bar of the city gate and break down the gate, stripping the city of its defenses. He would destroy the rebel king who reigned over the wicked and proud nations. Valley of Aven and Beth Eden may refer to other regions of Aram, Baalbek and Bit-Adini. More likely, they are derogatory references to the area and palace of Damascus, meaning “Valley of Wickedness” and “House of Pleasure.” The house (dynasty) of Hazael would be terminated, and the Arameans would be exiled (cf. 1:15) back to their place of origin, a Mesopotamian site called Kir. In essence, this punishment would be a complete reversal of Aram’s proud history. God, who had originally brought them out of Kir (9:7), would send them back, after obliterating all they had achieved. This judgment was carried out by the Assyrians under Tiglath-Pileser III in 732 b.c. (cf. 2 Kings 16:7-9).

4. Hazael … Ben-hadad—A black marble obelisk found in the central palace of Nimroud, and now in the British Museum, is inscribed with the names of Hazael and Ben-hadad of Syria, as well as Jehu of Israel, mentioned as tributaries of “Shalmanubar,” king of Assyria. The kind of tribute from Jehu is mentioned: gold, pearls, precious oil, &c. [G. V. Smith]. The Ben-hadad here is the son of Hazael (2Ki 13:3), not the Ben-hadad supplanted and slain by Hazael (2Ki 8:7, 15). The phrase, “I will send a fire,” that is, the flame of war (Ps 78:63), occurs also in Am 1:7, 10, 12, 14, and Am 2:2, 5; Je 49:27; Ho 8:14.

This passage of Amos, combined with ver. 14, is quoted by Jeremiah (49:27), where he is pronouncing the doom of Damascus.

Ben-Hadad. Apparently a throne name, meaning “son of (the god) Hadad.” Ben-Hadad II was a son of Syrian king Hazael (841–801 b.c.).