ציטירנדיקער פּירוש אויף עמוס 4:1

The words of Koheles. Wherever it is stated, “the words of דִּבְרֵי,” it introduces words or reproof. [For example,] “These are the words הַדְּבָרִים that Moshe spoke,”¹Devarim 1:1. [followed by,] “And Yeshurun became fat [and kicked].”²Ibid. 32:15. [Also,] “The words דִּבְרֵי of Amos,”³Amos 1:1. [followed by,] “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan.”⁴Ibid. 4:1. [Also,] “The words דִּבְרֵי of Yirmiyahu,”⁵Yirmiyahu 1:1. [followed by,] “Ask now and see whether a male gives birth, etc.”⁶Ibid. 30:6. [And finally,] “And these are the words דִּבְרֵי of Dovid,”⁷II Shmuel 23:1. [followed by,] “But the wicked are all like thorns thrust away.”⁸Ibid. 23:6. “The words דִּבְרֵי of Koheles” [is followed by,] “The sun rises ... All the rivers flow into the sea.”⁹Below, verse 5. He refers to the wicked as the “sun,” the “moon,”¹⁰Below, verse 7. and the “sea,” which earn no reward. So it was taught in Sifre. I learned from there that the section deals with the wicked and he compares them to the rising sun, which ultimately sets. Addendum: Another explanation, “All the rivers flow into the sea.” What is the meaning of this? This is stated concerning idolaters, the fools who prostrate themselves to the water thinking that it has substance because they see the Great Sea, into which all the rivers flow and it is not full, but they have no understanding that to the place where the rivers flow, they repeatedly go, for the water of the rivers that flow into the sea are the very same waters that already flowed; they flow from under the deep and flow above the surface until the sea and then flow again. Therefore, the rivers do not stop, and the sea is not full, and not because they have substance. End of addendum.

FOR IN THEIR ANGER THEY SLEW A MAN AND IN THEIR SELF-WILL THEY DISABLED AN OX (‘SHOR’). The meaning of this is that they committed violence in their wrath in that they were angry at Shechem, and it was to satisfy their own desire and not because of the guilt or sins of the slain.
Now Onkelos says that the word shor (ox) should be understood as shur (wall) with a shuruk,¹¹¹The phonetic equivalent oo. Thus the word should be understood as shur (wall) rather than shor (ox). The Torah-script has no vowel signs, and for the sake of interpretation, a difficult word may sometimes be interpreted as if it were vowelled differently than the traditional reading. as in the verse, Daughters treaded on the wall (‘shur’).¹¹²Verse 22 here. Thus Onkelos translated the word shor in the present verse as “the wall of the enemy,” similar in expression to the verse: Mine eye also hath gazed on them that lie in wait for me (‘b’shuroi’).¹¹³Psalms 92:12. Ramban is thus suggesting that the enemy lies in wait for me behind his fortified walls. The meaning of the verse is thus: “and they uprooted a city surrounded with a wall, slaying their children and women after having killed the men of the city.” The word ikru (disabled) would then be similar in use to the verse, Ekron shall be rooted up (‘tei’akeir’).¹¹⁴Zephaniah 2:4.
Others¹¹⁵Mentioned in the commentary of R’dak in the name of Rabbi Yaakov the son of Rabbi Elazar. have explained that the ox, which is the largest of cattle, is an allusion to Hamor and his son Shechem, the prince of the country,¹¹⁶Above, 34:2. just as in the verses: His firstling bull, majesty is his;¹¹⁷Deuteronomy 33:17. Ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria.¹¹⁸Amos 4:1. Similarly do the verses surname the great princes “rams”¹¹⁹Exodus 15:15. Eilei Moab is generally translated, “the mighty men of Moab,” but literally it means “the rams of Moab.” and “he-goats.”¹²⁰Isaiah 14:9. Atudei eretz is generally translated, “the chief ones of the earth,” but literally it means “the he-goats of the earth.”
The correct interpretation appears to me to be that the verse is to be understood in its usual sense as stating that in their anger they killed each man of whom they were wrathful; and in their self-will, after their anger had been calmed by the slaying of the men, they uprooted all oxen, this being an allusion to their cattle and their possessions, including everything that was in the home and everything in the field. Now Jacob mentioned this in order to state that he had no part in all these secret deliberations of theirs, even in the removal of the cattle and possessions, or any aspect of the spoiling and plundering of the people of the city of Shechem. The word ikru [in the expression, ikru shor], has the same meaning as in the verse: Thou shalt hemstring (‘te’akeir’) their horses.¹²¹Joshua 11:6. But the expression and purport is all one.

וברצונם עקרו שור, “and it was their wish to uproot an ox.” Onkelos translates the word שור as סנאה, “the hated one.” It is similar to the word שור in Genesis 49,22 where it means “wall.” After they had killed the inhabitants of Shechem they climbed its protective wall. An alternate explanation understands שור as an allusion to חמור, Chamor and Schechem, the leaders of the town of Shechem. The ox is considered the largest of the domesticated animals, as we know of the description פרות הבשן, Amos 4,1, where the prophet describes the people oppressing the poor in such terms. It is also possible that the word איש describes all the people killed in Shechem, and that after having killed the males they plundered their belongings, and that Yaakov describes that with the words עקרו שור, “they uprooted all their belongings, their valuables.”

all the chiefs of the earth [lit. the he-goats.] All the kings of the nations, the princes, and the princesses, are compared by Scripture, to bulls, to cows, and to he-goats. Comp. (Psalms 22:13) “Bulls surrounded me.” Also (Amos 4:1): “The cows of the Bashan that were on Mt. Shomron,” and here he compares them to he-goats.

the crushing the crushing of the poor, and עֹשֶק, oppression proves it, for ‘oppressed’ and ‘crushed’ are always juxtaposed in the language of the Scriptures. Cf. (I Sam. 12: 3) “Whom did I oppress or whom did I crush?”