Amos 3:9

Amos called for announcements to be made to the large buildings (i.e., to the people living in them) of Ashdod in Philistia and to those in Egypt. The Mosaic Law required two witnesses in cases involving the death penalty (Deuteronomy 17:6). Here those witnesses were Ashdod and Egypt. Amos may have chosen these nations because they had previously oppressed the Israelites. People who lived in citadels were the wealthy and the leaders of those areas. A "citadel" (Heb. ’armon) was almost any fortified building higher than an ordinary house (cf. Psalms 48:3; Isaiah 34:13; Jeremiah 9:21). These structures became part of a city’s defense system because they were high and easier to defend than ordinary houses. Usually important people lived in these larger buildings, and they were often part of the palaces of kings (cf. 1 Kings 16:18; 2 Kings 15:25). Here, because of the military terminology in the passage, their function as fortresses is particularly in view. These witnesses should come and stand on the mountains surrounding Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom. There they would see great tumults, not the peace and order that should have prevailed, and oppressions within Samaria. The Israelites were assaulting and robbing one another; the rich were taking advantage of the poor.