Amos 4:1-3

Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria.

God the champion of the oppressed

I. The character of these men. “Ye kine of Bashan,” etc. The feminine, “kine,” marks their effeminacy; the reference to Bashan, where the richest pasture-land of Israel lay, shows that they had grown fat with luxurious living. It is not rare to find such men the most unscrupulous and cruel Here they are seen in characteristic fashion oppressing the poor, crushing the needy (Amos 2:6), and crying out for new gratification of the!r lusts. “Bring, and let us drink.”

II. Their punishment.

1. The Certainty of this is assured by an oath. “The Lord hath sworn by His holiness.” Such men were a fester in the creation of God, an offence to His love for purity. God had espoused the cause of the poor and taken them under His wing. His holiness forbade Him to keep any truce with such men.

2. The punishment is both complete and ignominious. Every one should seek to escape by the nearest breach in the walls, and as God threatened to do with Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:28), these luxurious nobles should be taken away with hooks, and their posterity with fish-hooks. The oppressor must reckon with the great Champion of the oppressed. (J. Telford, B. A.)