Amos 3:15

"And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith Jehovah.

The heartless affluence, luxury and self-satisfied unconcern of the ruling classes in Israel were the sins of the people who owned and lived in the houses described in this passage; and their rich and easy lives had been made possible through all kinds of corruption and deceit as outlined in Amos' prophecy. They would sell a man into slavery for a pair of shoes. God announced that he was putting an end to that kind of culture, an end which came within the lifetime of those who heard Amos' words. We cannot highly regard the words of McKeating who criticized Amos as a nomad who was merely hostile to the refinements of city life, saying that his "was the uncomprehending indignation of what he sees as the vices of city life."[42] This is totally wrong. It was not Amos' indignation that is poured out in Amos, but the indignation of the infinite God. Mays more clearly understood the words of this remarkable prophecy thus:

"The judgment which Amos announces is no ascetic primitivism, growing out of simple hostility against a commercial culture and its influence. The houses were built beam by beam, and stone by stone, from a store of crimes."[43]

"Houses of ivory ..." The import of this is not likely to be that houses were built entirely out of this substance, but rather that they were extensively decorated with it. The Bible mentions the "ivory house which Ahab built" (1 Kings 22:39).

"Winter houses and summer houses ..." Plural houses were provided for some who could afford them with elevations that were designed to provide comfort in diverse seasons.

That ancient culture, founded upon the heartless oppression of the poor, is not the only such society that God has destroyed, as a trip through the palaces of Europe will quickly demonstrate. Maria Theresa's bedroom was decorated with over three million dollars worth of gold and precious stones. Wherever such selfishness is enshrined and honored, the wrath of God abides there forever.

"The horns of the altar shall be cut off ..." The horns of the altar were supposed to be its most sacred part; and, in pagan societies, a criminal could claim refuge by taking hold of the horns of the altar; but this was not allowed in Israel. Joab attempted to do this but was executed in spite of his doing so (1 Kings 2:28ff). The meaning is simply that the whole religious apparatus at Bethel shall perish, along with the rest of Israel.

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