12. shepherd--a pastoral image, appropriately used by Amos, a shepherd
himself.
piece of . . . ear--brought by the shepherd to the owner of the sheep,
so as not to have to pay for the loss
(Ge 31:39;
Ex 22:13).
So if aught of Israel escapes, it shall be a miracle of God's goodness.
It shall be but a scanty remnant. There is a kind of goat in the East
the ears of which are a foot long, and proportionally broad. Perhaps
the reference is to this. Compare on the image
1Sa 17:34, 35;
2Ti 4:17.
that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed--that is, that live
luxuriously in Samaria (compare
Am 6:1, 4).
"A bed" means here the Oriental divan, a raised part of the room
covered with cushions.
in Damascus in a couch--Jeroboam II had lately restored Damascus to
Israel
(2Ki 14:25, 28).
So the Israelites are represented as not merely in "the corner of a
bed," as in Samaria, but "in a (whole) couch," at Damascus, living in
luxurious ease. Of these, now so luxurious, soon but a remnant shall be
left by the foe. The destruction of Damascus and that of Samaria shall
be conjoined; as here their luxurious lives, and subsequently under
Pekah and Rezin their inroads on Judah, were combined
(Isa 7:1-8; 8:4, 9; 17:3).
The parallelism of "Samaria" to "Damascus," and the Septuagint
favor English Version rather than GESENIUS:
"on a damask couch." The Hebrew pointing, though
generally expressing damask, may express the city "Damascus";
and many manuscripts point it so. Compare for Israel's overthrow,
2Ki 17:5, 6; 18:9-12.
JFB.
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