Amos 4:1

Social and Spiritual Corruption

1 Hear this word, [you] cows of Bashan who [live] on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the powerless, who crush the poor, who say to their husbands, "Bring [something] so that we may drink!"

Amos 4:1 Meaning and Commentary

Amos 4:1

Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan
Or "cows of Bashan" {n}; a country beyond Jordan, inhabited by the tribes of Gad and Reuben, and the half tribe of Manasseh, very fruitful of pasturage, and where abundance of fat cattle were brought up; to whom persons of distinction, and of the first rank, are here compared. Aben Ezra, Jarchi, and Kimchi, interpret them of the wives of the king, princes, ministers of state, and great men; and so it may be thought that Amos, a herdsman, in his rustic manner, compliments the court ladies with this epithet, for their plumpness, wantonness, and petulancy. Though it may be the princes and great men themselves may be rather intended, and be so called for their effeminacy, and perhaps with some regard to the calves they worshipped; and chiefly because being fat and flourishing, and abounding with wealth and riches, they became wanton and mischievous; like fat cattle, broke down their fences, and would be under no restraint of the laws of God and man; entered into their neighbours' fields, seized on their property, and spoiled them of it. So the Targum paraphrases it,

``ye rich of substance.''

In like manner the principal men among the Jews, in the times of Christ, are called bulls of Bashan, ( Psalms 22:12 ) ; that [are] in the mountains of Samaria;
like cattle grazing on a mountain; the metaphor is still continued: Samaria was the principal city of Ephraim, the metropolis of the ten tribes, ( Isaiah 7:9 ) ; situated on a mountain; Mr. Maundrell ^F15 says, upon a long mount, of an oval figure, having first a fruitful valley, and then a ring of hills running about it. Here the kings of Israel had their palace, and kept their court, and where their princes and nobles resided. Ahab is said to be king of Samaria, ( 1 Kings 21:1 ) ; which oppress the poor, which crush the needy;
by laying heavy taxes upon them; exacting more of them than they are able to pay; lessening their wages for work done, or withholding it from them; or by taking from them that little they have, and so reducing them to the utmost extremity, and refusing to do them justice in courts of judicature: which say to their masters, bring, and let us drink;
Kimchi, who interprets these words of the wives of great men, supposes their husbands are here addressed, who are, and acknowledged to be, their masters or lords; see ( 1 Peter 3:6 ) ; whom they call upon to bring them money taken from the poor, or for which they have sold them, that they may have wherewith to eat and drink, fare sumptuously, and live in a grand manner, feasting themselves and their visitors: or these are the words of inferior officers to superior ones, desiring they might have leave to pillage the poor, that so they might live in a more gay and splendid manner, and in rioting and drunkenness, in chambering and wantonness. So the Targum,

``give us power, that we may spoil it.''

Or rather these words are directed to the masters of the poor, who had power over them, had them in their clutches, in whose debt they were; or they had something against them, and therefore these corrupt judges, and wicked magistrates, desire they might be brought before them; who for a bribe would give the cause against them, right or wrong, so long as they got something to feast themselves with; or they are spoken by the rich, to the masters of the poor, to whom they had sold them, to bring them the purchase money, that they might indulge and gratify their sensual appetites; see ( Amos 2:6 Amos 2:7 ) ( Micah 3:1-3 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 (Nvbh twrp) "vaccae Basan", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Vatablus, Drusius, Mercerus, Grotius, Cocceius.
F15 Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 59. Ed. 7.

Amos 4:1 In-Context

1 Hear this word, [you] cows of Bashan who [live] on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the powerless, who crush the poor, who say to their husbands, "Bring [something] so that we may drink!"

2 My Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that, "Behold, the days are coming upon you {when they} will take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishing hooks.

3 And you shall leave through breaches [in the wall], each one in front of her. You will be dragged off toward Harmon," {declares} Yahweh.

4 "Come [to] Bethel and transgress; [to] Gilgal and {multiply transgression}! Bring your sacrifices in the morning and your tithes on the {third day}.

5 And bring a thank offering of unleavened bread, and proclaim freewill offerings, pronounce them, for so you love [to do], O {people} of Israel," [is] the declaration of my Lord Yahweh.