The Israelites would have loved this preaching! They would have loved to hear that God was going to punish Damascus (the capital of Syria), Gaza (the capital of the Philistines), Tyre, etc.—one after the other…At the same time Amos was coming ever closer to the nation of Israel herself! As one explainer puts it, Amos began with the distant city of Damascus and, like a hawk circling its prey, moved in ever-tightening circles from one country to another, till at last he pounced on Israel.
Israel, then, was happy to hear that God was going to punish surrounding nations that often harassed her. At the same time she was blind to the reality that really she was just as deserving of God’s wrath—if not more.
6 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals