A question...

ChickenSoup

ChickenSoup

Banned
I wanted to know your opinions on this.

This is what the LORD says:
"For three sins of Damascus,
even for four, I will not turn back my wrath .
Because she threshed Gilead
with sledges having iron teeth,
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That's in Amos 1. Now, the thing I want to bring up is "Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth". What is a sledge with iron teeth? Is it referring to some sort of siege weapon?
 
Well, I don't claim to be a Bible scholar, understand the history surrounding the events laid out in Amos 1, but from just looking up the words and putting together meanings, I have two possibilities (both of which could be wrong)


I don't know who or what Gilead is. The name "Gilead" is used in the Bible to reference two places and three people. I don't know which applies here, but each of my two possible answers will assume one of each.

Main Entry: thresh (verb)
1 : to separate seed from (a harvested plant) mechanically; also : to separate (seed) in this way
3 : to strike repeatedly

Sledge has two possible meanings - Sledge, as the shortened form of Sledgehammer, or Sledge, as a Sleigh. I doubt Damascus was riding a sleigh to anger God, so I'm sticking with the sledgehammer with a pointed tip. Think about a meat tenderizer....but much much bigger.

So here comes my two interpretations of the passage. I think the first is more likely to be accurate, but I'll list the second as a possibility as well.

First, it is possible that a man named Gilead was threshed (definition 3 - stricken repeatedly) with sledges (that is, sledgehammers with pointed ends).

The second interpretation is that Damascus (being a territory, an empire) came into Gilead (Gilead means hill of testimony or mound of witness, (Gen. 31:21), a mountainous region east of Jordan) and destroyed it with the same weaponry, separating the people, destroying the land as they went.

If the second is accurate, it would be understandable because at that time, when an empire conquered a new area, they would scatter the people amongst several other territories, so there would be less chance of a revolt. Rome was especially good at this.

Anyway, without going back and reading up a little bit, there are my guesses.
 
Sledge has two possible meanings - Sledge, as the shortened form of Sledgehammer, or Sledge, as a Sleigh. I doubt Damascus was riding a sleigh to anger God, so I'm sticking with the sledgehammer with a pointed tip. Think about a meat tenderizer....but much much bigger.
Click to expand...

A battering ram, perhaps? :) this is getting interesting
 
Well, I'm picturing something much smaller than a battering ram. I searched around the net and couldn't come up with what I am envisioning as the object I described.

If you know what a Geologist's Hammer or Ball-Peen Hammer is - imagine a sledge hammer that has a tip similar to those two combined.

Anyway, here's what my study Bible suggests for what the verses are describing:
Sledges having iron teeth (Amos 1:3)
A picture of extreme violence. Farmers threshed their grain by pulling wooden sledges over it. The sharp teeth on the bottom separated the kernels from the stalks. Sledges were also used to cut furrows in the ground, in battle they were sometimes dragged behind chariots.

Although this may be a figure of speech to describe war atrocities, some think Amos was denouncing a literal method of torture - dragging sledges over prisoners of war who were staked to the ground.
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So there ya go. I have no idea. :)

It also says:
For three sins . . . even for four (Amos 1:3)
This is a literary device used to express the concept of many. The formula describing the sins of Damascus is repeated with each of the other nations indicated by Amos, including Judah and Israel (vv. 5, 9,11,13; 2:1,4,6)
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After adding those two bits of information, I'm going to stick with my second explanation above.... I may have been somewhat off track with specifics, but the general idea still was accurate.

Durruck said:
The second interpretation is that Damascus (being a territory, an empire) came into Gilead (Gilead means hill of testimony or mound of witness, (Gen. 31:21), a mountainous region east of Jordan) and destroyed it with the same weaponry, separating the people, destroying the land as they went.
Click to expand...
 
NASB:
Amo 1:3 Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions of Damascus and for four I will not revoke its punishment, Because they threshed Gilead with implements of sharp iron.

Young's literal translation:
Amo 1:3 And thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Damascus, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of their threshing Gilead with sharp-pointed irons,

Websters bible:
Amo 1:3 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron:

I think Gilead here is the region east of the Jordan river. I think "threshed" is a metaphor like the threshing of wheat.
 
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