Amos 3:12

Thus saith the LORD; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch. AS THE SHEPHERD TAKETH OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THE LION TWO LEGS - a pastoral image, appropriately used by Amos, a shepherd himself. "Taketh," i:e., rescueth. The "two legs" are properly the shank below the knee, the dry and worthless part, being only skin and bone. OR A PIECE OF AN EAR - brought by the shepherd to the owner of the sheep, so as not to have to pay for the loss (Genesis 31:39, where Jacob says to Laban, "That which was torn of beast I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night;...

In the next verse he leaves some hope, though this is not avowedly done. For when he says that some would be saved, as when a shepherd snatches from the jaws of a lion the ear of a sheep or two legs, it is not the Prophet’s design to mitigate the severe judgment of which he had before spoken; but shows, on the contrary, that when any should be saved, it would not be because the people would defend themselves, or were able to resist; but that it would be as when a trembling shepherd snatches some small portion of a spoil from the lion’s mouth. We must bear in mind what I have just said of the proud confidence of the people; for the Israelites thought that they were safe enough from danger; and therefore despised all threatenings. But what does Amos say? “Think not,” he says, “that there will be any defense for you, for your enemies will be like lions, and there will be no more strength in...

9-15 That power which is an instrument of unrighteousness, will justly be brought down and broken. What is got and kept wrongfully, will not be kept long. Some are at ease, but there will come a day of visitation, and in that day, all they are proud of, and put confidence in, shall fail them. God will inquire into the sins of which they have been guilty in their houses, the robbery they have stored up, and the luxury in which they lived. The pomp and pleasantness of men's houses, do not fortify against God's judgments, but make sufferings the more grievous and vexatious. Yet a remnant, according to the election of grace, will be secured by our great and good Shepherd, as from the jaws of destruction, in the worst times....

Verse Amos 3:12. _AS THE SHEPHERD TAKETH OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THE LION_] Scarcely any of you shall escape; and those that do shall do so with extreme difficulty, just as a shepherd, of a whole sheep carried away by a lion, can recover no more than _two_ of its _legs_, or a piece of its _ear_, just enough to prove by the _marks_ on those parts, that they belonged to a sheep which _was his own_. _SO SHALL THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL BE TAKEN OUT_] Those of them that escape these judgments shall escape with as great difficulty, and be of as _little worth_, as the _two legs_ and _piece of an ear_ that shall be snatched out of the lion's mouth. We know that when the Babylonians carried away the people into Chaldea they left behind only a few, and those the _refuse of the land_. _IN THE CORNER OF A BED_

AS THE SHEPHERD TAKETH - (Rather, rescueth) out of the mouth of the lion two legs (Properly, the shank, the lower part of the leg below the knee, which in animals is dry, and bone only and worthless) “or apiece” (the tip) “of an ear, so” (that is, so few and weak, so bared and spoiled, a mere remnant,) “shall the children of Israel be taken out” (rather, “rescued”) “that” now “dwell” at ease “in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus” , in “a couch,” or rather “in Damascus, a couch.” Now, that soft, rounded, oblong, hill of Samaria, was one large luxurious couch, in which its rich and great rested securely, propped and cushioned up on both sides, in, what is still the place of dignity, “the corner of a bed,” or “Divan,” that is, the inner corner where the two sides meet. Damascus also, which Jeroboam had won for Israel, was a canopied couch to them, in which they stayed themselv...

EXPOSITION VERSE 1-CH. 6:14 Part II. THREE ADDRESSES PARTICULARIZING THE SINS OF ISRAEL AND ANNOUNCING IMMINENT JUDGMENT. AMOS 3:1 _§ 1. First address: the prophet begins by showing Israel's ingratitude for past mercies _(Amos 3:1, Amos 3:2)_, and his own commission to announce the coming judgment _(Amos 3:3). They have drawn this upon themselves by iniquities which astonish even heathen

THUS SAITH THE LORD, AS THE SHEPHERD TAKETH OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THE LION,.... Or what the lion has left, to show to his master that it had been seized and torn by a beast of prey; for otherwise it is a most daring thing, and not usual, for a shepherd to take anything out of a lion's mouth, though David did: and here it is said to be not a whole sheep, or a lamb, but TWO LEGS, OR A PIECE OF AN EAR; the body of the creature being devoured by the lion, only some offal left he cared not for; two shanks of the legs that had no flesh upon them, and the gristle of the ear, as the Targum; having satisfied his hunger with the best of it: signifying hereby that only a few of the Israelites should escape the enemy, and those poor and insignificant, he made no account of; and this in a miraculous manner, it being like taking anything out of the mouth of a lion, to which a powerful enemy is compared...

II. THE PROPHETIC MESSAGES UNCOVERING THE CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE CHAPTER 3 The First Discourse _ 1. There is cause for judgment (Amos 3:1) _ 2. The coming judgment visitation (Amos 3:9) Amos 3:1. “Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, You have I only known of all the families of the earth, therefore will I punish you for all your iniquities.” This is the solemn beginning of the special messages addressed to the nation by the humble herdman of Tekoa. The Lord had singled them out from the other nations. He had separated them unto Himself. With His mighty power and outstretched arm He had del

GUILT AND DOOM OF SAMARIA. The prophet proceeds to apply the lesson. The peoples are summoned to proclaim the fate that has befallen (Amos 3:9 *) the castles of Ashdod and those in the land of Egypt, and then to assemble and witness the sins of Samaria. From the mountains of Samaria, the city presents a spectacle of great turmoil and deep-rooted oppression. And the reason is (Amos 3:10) that the ruling classes have no proper sense of what is right or straightforward. Wrong thought brings wrong doing, and wrong doing inevitably brings punishment. Therefore an adversary will succeed in encompassing the land and will be the means of bringing low the proud and rich potentates. Amos knew by experience that when the lion attacks the sheep, often all that can be saved is two legs or the piece of an ear ...

THUS SAITH THE LORD. See note on Amos 1:3. AS. Just as. according as. TAKETH. rescueth, like. brand plucked from the burning. A PIECE. the tip. IN. COUCH. [in the corner of]. couch: i.e. luxuriously. Compare Amos 6:1. Ellipsis (of Repetition). App-6...