Amos 3:15 - Exposition

The winter house. The luxurious habits of kings and princes had led them to have different houses for the various seasons of the year, facing north or south as the case might be (comp. 3:20 ; Jeremiah 36:22 ). Septuagint, τὸν οἶκον τὸν περίπτερον , "the turreted house," which Jerome explains, Domum pinnatam, eo quod ostiola habeat per fenestras, et quasi pinnas, ad magnitudinem frigoris depellendam. Houses of ivory; panelled or inlaid with ivory, such as Ahab had ( 1 Kings 22:39 ). Solomon's throne was thus decorated ( 1 Kings 10:18 ; comp. Psalms 45:8 ). (For the Assyrian practice of veneering in ivory, see Rawlinson, 'Ancient Monarchies,' 1:463; comp. also Homer, 'Od.,' 4.73; Virgil, ' AE neid,' 6:895.) The great houses; better, many houses ; Septuagint, ἕτεροι οἶκοι πολλοί , "many other houses." Not only palaces, but many private houses, shall be destroyed (comp. Isaiah 5:9 , where the same words are used).