Amos 3:14

That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.

Ver. 14. That in the day that I shall visit, &c.] Tell them so from me, saith God: say to these wicked, Woe be unto them, it shall be ill with them! Isaiah 3:11. The jealous Lord of hosts will surely visit the iniquity of idolatrous fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation, Exodus 20:5. See Jer 3:21-22 Ezekiel 16:21; Ezekiel 16:36 Hosea 2:4. As they have their day of defection, so hath he of visitation; his season, his harvest for judgment, Matthew 13:30. What then will they do when God riseth up: and when he visiteth, what will they answer him? Job 31:14 .

I will also visit the altars of Bethel] At first there was but one altar, 1 Kings 12:32,33; 1 Kings 13:2, but afterwards they multiplied, as in Peter's at Rome there are said to be now over one hundred altars, Hosea 8:11; Hosea 10:1 : there is no end of will worship; but, like the Jerusalem artichoke, plant it where you will, it overruns the ground and chokes the heart. Now as God "loved the gates of Zion," where he was solemnly worshipped, "more than all the dwellings of Jacob," Psalms 87:2, and as the walls of good people (whose houses are little churches) are continually before him, Isaiah 49:16, so he heartily hateth places and monuments of idolatry; and layeth them waste as he hath done our abbeys and monasteries. Zisca overthrew three hundred of them in Bohemia; and among the rest the famous monastery called the King's Court, a mile from Prague; in the walls whereof the whole Bible was most exquisitely written in letters of gold; but little read or regarded by those filthy abbey lubbers, of whom Luther testifieth that they were tam desperatae malitiae, &c., so desperately debauched that they dared adventure upon any villany whatsoever.

And the horns of the altar, &c.] Which were held the holier parts thereof. This was fulfilled by good Josiah many years after, 2Ki 23:15 2 Chronicles 34:4; 2 Chronicles 34:6. Nullum tempus occurrit Regi. Time can be no prejudice to God's proceedings; neither is his forbearance any quittance.