28 Tammuz 5780 | July 20, 2020
929
Rabba Aliza Libman Baronofsky
Class of 2022
In the late 19th century, Gilded Age mansions constructed on Fifth Avenue in New York and on similar streets elsewhere housed the tycoons of the era while many thousands of others toiled in sweatshops and lived in tenements. The lifestyle characterized by opulent surroundings and succulent foods takes a page out of Amos 6, where the wealthy are criticized for their excessive lifestyle:
Verse 4 tell us: “They lie on ivory beds.” Ivory brings to mind the worst excesses of recent centuries – the widespread massacre of elephants for their tusks – but in the era of 8th century BCE, it must have been even more difficult and expensive to acquire and transport enough ivory to the Middle East to make a bed of sufficient size.
Later in the verse, we are told that they feast on lambs and calves. Then comes the musical entertainment: “they hum snatches of song to the tune of the lute.” Though these people think of themselves like David, they are much closer to Goliath, with his reliance on his power and his scorn for the weak. These verses illustrate parties with food, music, wine, and oil for anointing.
Verse 6 warns “But they are not concerned about the ruin of Joseph.” The prophet is warning about the destruction of the Northern Kingdom but these rich people are impervious to his warnings. We can understand their blindness: we’ve seen it so many times throughout history.
- The Gilded Age of the late 19th century ended with the Panic of 1893, when the collapse of commodity prices spelled trouble for those who had taken on too much debt.
- More familiar to us is the end of the Roaring 20s, when the stock market crash of 1929 was propelled by similar forces.
- In the summer of 2007, gas and housing prices had been soaring, when economists began to warn that the bubble would burst.
Too few listened until it was too late.
It is easy to confuse tangibility with permanence. The house you own, the ivory bed you sleep on, the well-stocked wine cellar feel permanent because you can touch (or taste) them. In every era, there are wealthy people who believe that it is through their own virtue that they have great wealth, which will never run out. Nothing material is permanent, the prophet reminds us. Not the house of the private citizen, which can be seized by the bank, the government or invading armies, and not the fortresses and palaces which we discussed in chapter 3.
What is permanent and enduring? Only God, God’s power, and hopefully, the relationship God has with the remnant of God’s people.
