14 But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour the palaces thereof, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind:
(Verse 14, 15) Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border. So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour her strongholds, with shouting on the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind; and their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together, says the Lord. LXX: Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they ripped open the women with child in Gilead, that they might enlarge their borders. So I will kindle a fire in the walls of Rabbah, and it shall devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind. Their king shall go into captivity, he and his priests and his princes together, says the Lord. The divine message captures the sons of Ammon, who are descendants of Lot, and who dwell in Arabia, where Philadelphia now stands. They question why, during the reign of Saul, the king of Judah, Naash, the prince of the Ammonites, ravaged Jabesh-gilead and mutilated its pregnant women in order to expand his territory and subdue all of Gilead with his empire (1 Samuel 11). Therefore, God threatens to kindle a fire on the walls of Rabbah, the capital city of the Ammonites, so that its houses may be devoured amidst the clamor and wailing of the conquering army. This will happen on a day of turmoil and whirlwind, when its captives are led away as captives by Nebuchadnezzar. The idol of the Ammonites, called Molech or their king, will be carried off to Assyria, and its princes or priests will also be taken captive. Priests are not recognized in Hebrew, but rather princes. So the Seventy priests were added, so that if you want to know who those princes are, you will listen to the priests. However, there is a difference between the cruelty of Damascus and the sons of Ammon, because they shattered the pregnant women of Gilead in iron carts or in iron saws: but these (priests) dismembered the pregnant women of Gilead in order to expand their territory. In Damascus, those who drink blood are deemed heretics, who have not only plundered the people of God from the Church but have also shattered them and chewed them with iron teeth, about whom it is written: Why do they devour my people as if eating bread? (Ps. LII, 5). Among the sons of Ammon, which is interpreted as the people of mourning, or my people, we receive the schismatics, who indeed separate the deceived multitude from the Church of God, and they break and divide the ignorant souls, who have recently conceived the word of Christ: yet they do not do this with cruelty, by which heretics slaughter any deceived individuals, but by remaining in the same rule of faith, they desire to expand their boundaries and send the name of glory to future generations. Therefore the Lord threatens that he will burn the walls of Rabbah, that is, of the multitude, in a day of wailing and of war, of commotion and of swirling, and will lead their king, the author of the schism, captive, and make the leaders of the Church submit their necks to the yoke.
[AD 420] Jerome on Amos 1:14-15