Well-fed bovine cattle can be very large.  The tallest and largest breed is the Chianina.  In this breed, a cow (female) can be 5 feet tall, and more than 2,000 pounds and a bull can be 5 ½ feet tall and weigh 3,500 pounds (Chianina, the cattlesite.com).  Holstein can be very large.  Blosom, a Holstein Friesian, is believed to be the tallest cow ever.  She stood 6 feet, 2 inches tall (Meet Record-Breaking Cows Whose Short and Tall Statures Earned a Place in History by Vickie Newman, published July 11, 2023, guinessworldrecords.com).  Romeo, a Holstein Friesian, is listed as the tallest living steer.  He stands 6 feet 4 ½ inches (Tallest Steer Romeo Grows to Record Height After Being Rescued from Slaughter by Vickie Newman published May 22, 2024, ibid).  Imagine the food required each day to sustain an animal of this size.

In this writing we will examine two passages.  These passages refer to fattened cows. 

“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountains of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, ‘Bring wine, let us drink!’  The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness; “Behold, the days shall come upon you when He will take you away with fishhooks, and your posterity with fishhooks’” (Amos 4:1-2).

Bashan (today’s Golan Heights) was a fertile region east and northeast of the Sea of Galilee.  It was known for its agricultural production and its well-fed cattle (cf. Deuteronomy 32:14; Psalm 22:12; Jeremiah 50:19; Ezekiel 39:18; Micah 7:14).

This is a picture of a pampered luxurious life.  Some in Israel so lived.  The issue was not their wealth.  The issue was that some maintained this lifestyle by mistreating others (Amos 2:6-8;  4:1-2; 5:11-12).  Some were self-absorbed and unconcerned for others (Amos 6:3-7). 

Women (wives) are specifically mentioned (Amos 4:1-2 cf. Isaiah 3:16, 18-ff).  Why?  This makes clear that it was not only the men who were guilty.  [Note: The comparison to cows of Bashan is not about weight but about a pampered, easy life.]   Some of the wives had incited their husbands in this.  They were not godly but materialistic.  The character of women has an important and significant influence on a home, church, and even a nation.

Captivity was coming.  They appeared to be living the good life.  They were about to be taken away with fishhooks (Amos 4:1-2; 6:7).  “The Assyrians literally led captives by ropes and hooks, drawn through the nose or lips of captives, as stone reliefs from that era reveal” (Wayne Jackson, The Prophets, p. 397). 

“You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in the day of slaughter” (James 5:5).

The message is much the same.  Again, this concerns the rich.  The problem is not their riches (per se); nor does it seem to be pleasure or luxury (cf. 1 Timothy 6:17-19; James 1:9).  However, there is the possibility, based on word selection, that this is describing wasteful living (cf. Guy N. Woods, The Epistle of James, p. 267).  The reason for the rebuke is that they had enriched themselves by cheating others out of their wages (James 5:4 cf. Leviticus 19:13; Deuteronomy 24:14-15; Jeremiah 22:13). 

There will be a day of judgment.  While they live on earth in pleasure, they were like fatten cattle that would be slaughtered.  Guy Woods comments, “They were fattening their own hearts; but what they did not take into account was the fact that they were fattening themselves for a day of slaughter – their own!  The day of slaughter is judgment” (Woods, p. 268).

 Let’s remember that true riches are not on earth but in heaven, and the hereafter.  Are you truly rich?  (cf. Luke 12:13-21; 16:19-13; 9:25).