Amos 1:5

Break also the bar. Bars were used to secure the gate of the city (see 1 Kings 4:13; Jer. 51:30; Nahum 3:13). Therefore, breaking the bar opened the city to the enemy.

Plain of Aven. The exact location of this plain is unknown. Instead of “the plain of Aven,” the LXX reads, “the plain of On.” The usual Greek name for On is Heliopolis, “city of the sun,” and this has led some authorities to identify the plain of On as the plain between the Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon Mts., in which stood the famous shrine of Baalbek, which was also called Heliopolis.

House of Eden. Literally, “house of delight.” Some have identified Eden as a region in Mesopotamia, usually identified with the Assyrian Bit-Adini, and situated on the banks of the Euphrates River (see on 2 Kings 19:12).

Kir. Its location is uncertain. It was the region from which the Syrians (Aramaeans) originally emigrated (see ch. 9:7). Some years after this prophecy was given, many people of Syria were carried away captive when Tiglath-pileser III slew Rezin and sacked Damascus (2 Kings 16:7-9).