Amos 3:12

So sudden will be the surprise, so overwhelming the numbers of the foe, that of the luxurious nobles of Samaria only an insignificant remnant will escape with their bare lives: all the rest will be swept away by the foe.

As the shepherd taketh&c. better, rescueth (R.V.). A shepherd would bring such remains of a missing animal to his master, as evidence that it had really been torn by beasts (Exodus 22:13; cf. Genesis 31:39). The comparison, which is suggested no doubt by the experiences of Amos" shepherd life, illustrates forcibly both the scant numbers and the shattered condition of the survivors, besides hinting at the formidable powers of the assailant.

be taken out be rescued.

that sit in Samaria in the corner of a divan] The grandees of Samaria are represented as sitting luxuriously in the cushioned corners of their divans. In Assyria the king reclined, or sat up, on a couch beside the table, leaning his weight upon his left elbow, and having his right hand free and disposable (see the representation in Rawlinson's Anc. Monarchies, Exodus 4, i. 493). In the modern oriental houses of the wealthy (Van Lennep, Bible Customs in Bible Lands, p. 460, referred to by Mitchell), -a divan," or cushioned seat, about a yard in width, extends along three sides of the principal room, while a row of richly woven stuffed cushions lines the wall behind, and forms a support for the back: the seat of honour is the inmost corner of the divan, opposite the door. In some such luxurious state the magnates of Samaria sat in Amos's day. The framework of the seat was often inlaid with ivory (Amos 6:4).

and in Damascusin a couch The Hebrew text can hardly be right; nor, as pointed, is the Heb. word here found (d'mésheḳ) identical with that for Damascus (damméseḳ). Most moderns render and on the damask(whence R.V. silken cushions) of a couch. This rendering yields an excellent sense; but it cannot be regarded as certain: for (1) it is doubtful whether, in the time of Amos, Damascus was yet celebrated for the manufacture which in modern European languages is called after it: (2) in Arabic also, the name of the material (dimaḳs), which has been appealed to in support of this explanation, differs from that of the city (Dimaḳsh); hence it is very questionable whether it really derives its name from it. It is considered by Fränkel, Aram. Fremdwörter im Arabischen, p. 40, to be varied by metathesis from midaḳs, a form which also occurs, and which in its turn is derived from the Syr. mîtaḳs, which is the Greek μέταξα. Whatever uncertainty there may be about the word, it must, however, either be, or be the corrupt representative of, a term either synonymous or parallel with corner, in the preceding clause.