Albert Barnes Commentary Amos 4:1

"Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, that oppress the poor, that crush the needy, that say unto their lords, Bring, and let us drink." — Amos 4:1 (ASV)

Hear you this, you kine of Bashan - The pastures of Bashan were very rich, and it had its name probably from its richness of soil. The Batanea of later times was a province only of the kingdom of Bashan, which, with half of Gilead, was given to the half tribe of Manasseh. For the Bashan of Og included Golan (Deuteronomy 4:43), (the capital of the subsequent Gaulonitis, now Jaulan), Beeshterah (Joshua 21:27), (or Ashtaroth, 1 Chronicles 6:71), very probably Bostra (see above on 1 Chronicles 1:12), and Edrei (Deuteronomy 1:4), in Hauran or Auranitis; the one on its southern border, the other perhaps on its northern boundary toward Trachonitis. Its eastern extremity at Salkah (Deuteronomy 3:10; Joshua 13:11), (Sulkhad) is the southern point of Batanea (now Bathaniyyeh); Argob, or Trachonitis, (the Lejah) was its northeastern fence.

Westward it reached to Mount Hermon (Deuteronomy 3:8; Joshua 12:5; Joshua 13:11; 1 Chronicles 5:23). It included the subsequent divisions: Gaulonitis, Auranitis, Batanea, and Trachonitis.

Of these, the mountain range on the northwest of Jaulan is still “everywhere clothed with oak-forests.” The Ard-el-Bathanyeh, “the country of Batanea or Bashan, is not surpassed in that land for beauty of its scenery, the richness of its pastures, and the extent of its oak forests.” “The Arabs of the desert still pasture their flocks on the luxuriant herbage of the Jaulan.”

Its pastures are spoken of by Micah (Micah 7:14) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 50:19). The animals fed there were among the strongest and fattest (Deuteronomy 32:14). Hence, the male animals became a proverb for the mighty on the earth (Exodus 39:18); the bulls furnished a type for fierce, unfeeling enemies (Psalms 22:12).

Amos, however, speaks of “kine,” not, as David, of “bulls.” He upbraids them not for fierceness, but for a more delicate and wanton unfeelingness—the fruit of luxury, fullness of bread, and a life of sense—which destroy all tenderness, dull the mind, “banker out the wits,” and deaden the spiritual sense.

The female name, “kine,” may equally brand the luxury and effeminacy of the rich men, or the cruelty of the rich women, of Samaria. He addresses these “kine” in both sexes, both male and female. The reproachful name was then probably intended to shame both: men who laid aside their manliness in the delicacy of luxury, or ladies who put off the tenderness of womanhood by oppression. The character of the oppression was the same in both cases. It was done, not directly by those who reveled in its fruits, but through the seduction of one who had authority over them. To the ladies of Samaria, “their lord” was their husband (as the husband is so called); to the nobles of Samaria, he was their king, who supplied their extravagances and debaucheries by grants, extorted from the poor.

Which oppress - Literally, “the oppressing!” The word expresses that they habitually oppressed and crushed the poor. They did not do it directly; perhaps they did not know it was done. They sought only that their own thirst for luxury and self-indulgence should be gratified, and did not know (as those at ease often do not know now) that their luxuries were continually watered by the tears of the poor—tears shed almost unknown except by the Maker of both. But He counts willful ignorance no excuse. “He who does through another, does it himself,” said the pagan proverb.

God says they did oppress, were “continually oppressing, those in low estate,” and crushing the poor (a word is used expressing the vehemence with which they crushed them). They crushed them only through the continual demand of pleasures of sense, reckless how they were procured: Bring, and let us drink. They invite their husband or lord to joint self-indulgence.