Amos 3:12

The shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear.

The destroyer and the rescuer

I. There is a destroying power at work in the world.

1. Variously represented. Here, the lion devouring the sheep. In New Testament, “the roaring,” etc.; in Old Testament, “the serpent beguiling,” etc.; in New Testament, “that old serpent,” etc.

2. His doings are described. Paradise ruined; Abel murdered; the old world destroyed; Sodom and Gomorrah burned; mankind desolated by pestilence, plague, war, famine, physical tortures, burning anxieties--souls lost.

3. He possesses mighty power. Called “prince of the power of the air”; “ruler of the darkness,” etc. Unites an angel’s strength with a fiend’s malignity. Has great power, but not all power.

4. Possessed of supreme subtlety. An angel of light, a lurking beast, a hidden serpent. Marvellously skilful in adapting temptation and detecting opportunities. Persuades those in most danger that they are most safe.

II. There is a rescuing power at work in the world. He is possessed of all power, and of all wisdom.

III. God is ready to receive even the fragments. Nothing was left but “ two legs and a piece of an ear,” vet the shepherd rescues and accepts these.

1. Total destruction was very near:

2. None need despair.

3. None may presume.

IV. That which is rescued is for active service. “Two legs “--motion, activity. “Piece of an ear.” “Faith cometh by hearing,” etc. God speaks to the heart through the ear. (R. Berry.)

A miserable remnant

Here we have an illustration borrowed from scenes with which Amos was familiar. A part of the shepherd’s office in those regions consists in defending the flock against the attacks of wild beasts, as well as the depredations of robbers. As a check against carelessness about the loss of the sheep in either of these ways, it was a part of the shepherd’s duty to rescue what he could from the beast that had torn a sheep. Such remains would prove the truth of his account of the matter; and show, perhaps, on some occasions, that he had not refused to attack the beast which had seized the prey. Jacob could say, in respect of his care of Laban’s sheep, that he had not availed himself of any immunity which such a custom conferred on the shepherd. “That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it.” And his wicked sons were but speaking a language in common use, when they showed their father the bloody garment of Joseph. Layard has the following passage in his book on “Nineveh.” “Violent altercations arose on the subject of missing beasts. Heavy responsibilities which the Effendi did not seem to admit, were thrown upon the wolves. Some time elapsed before these questions were satisfactorily settled; ears having been produced, oaths taken, and witnesses called, with the assistance of wolves and the rot, the diminution in the flock was fully accounted for.” The prophet’s language conveys the meaning, that after God’s righteous vengeance had wrought out its purposes amongst the sinful people of Israel, their condition would be that of a miserable remnant, without any of the glory which once belonged to them as a nation: with just enough evidence left to show that they had been a part of it, and with marks upon that remnant which would show how they had been exposed to violence and spoil. (Vincent W. Ryan, M. A.)