Cow

The cow appears in the UPDV in three distinctive settings: Pharaoh's seven-and-seven vision of plenty and famine, the Philistine test in which two nursing cows carry the ark, and Amos's figure for the comfortable women of Samaria.

Pharaoh's dream of plenty and famine

Pharaoh's first dream gives the cow its richest scene. Two sets of cows come up out of the Nile, and the lean overpower the fat: "And, look, there came up out of the river seven cows, well-favored and fat-fleshed; and they pastured in the reed-grass. And, look, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ill-favored and lean-fleshed, and stood by the other cows on the brink of the river. And the ill-favored and lean-fleshed cows ate up the seven well-favored and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke." (Ge 41:2-4). The matching dream of the ears of grain follows in the next verses (Ge 41:5-7), and Joseph's interpretation later in the chapter binds the two visions to one meaning: "The seven good cows are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one. And the seven lean and ill-favored cows that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven thin ears blasted with the east wind; they will be seven years of famine. That is the thing which I spoke to Pharaoh: what God is about to do he has shown to Pharaoh. Look, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: and there will arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will consume the land;" (Ge 41:26-30). The cows here function as a vehicle of revelation: the seven good and seven lean stand for years of plenty and famine, with the lean swallowing the fat as the famine swallows the memory of plenty.

Used for pulling: the nursing cows and the ark

The literal use turns up at Beth-shemesh. The Philistines design a test for whether the plague on them is from Yahweh: they yoke two unbroken nursing cows to a new cart, separate them from their calves, and load the ark on top. "Now therefore you⁺ take and prepare a new cart, and two nursing cows, on which there has come no yoke; and tie the cows to the cart, and bring their calves home from them" (1Sa 6:7). The animals' instinct should be to circle back to their calves; if instead they go straight to Israel's territory, the Philistines will know "he has done us this great evil" (1Sa 6:9). The narrative records that "the cows took the straight way by the way to Beth-shemesh; they went along the highway, lowing as they went, and didn't turn aside to the right hand or to the left" (1Sa 6:12). The cows' deviation from natural behavior is the verdict.

Hosea picks up the same image of the trained draft animal: "And Ephraim is a heifer that is taught, that loves to tread out [the grain]; but I have passed by her fair neck: I will set a rider on Ephraim; Judah will plow, Jacob will break his clods" (Hos 10:11). Ephraim is figured as a heifer that already enjoys the lighter labor of treading; the prophecy moves her into the heavier yoke.

Figurative: the cows of Bashan

The strongest figurative use is Amos's address to the wealthy women of Samaria: "Hear this word, you⁺ cows of Bashan, who are in the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their lords, Bring, and let us drink" (Amos 4:1). The pasture of Bashan was famous for its fattened cattle, and the prophecy turns that fact into an indictment — privileged consumption built on the oppression of the poor and on demands made of their husbands.