Amos 3:12 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

In brief, this verse foretells how few and with what difficulty they shall escape who are not swallowed up of the approaching judgments, and it is elegantly expressed in the following similitude. As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth; as the shepherd doth hardly rescue a small part of a sheep or lamb, when the lion hath seized and torn it. The lion; the fiercest, strongest, and boldest creature, not a bear or wolf. Two legs; which are parts the ravening lion less regardeth and last eateth; or a piece of an ear, less considerable than the legs. So shall the children of Israel, some of the children of Israel, or some of the ten tribes, but the poorer, meaner, and more worthless of them, be taken out that dwell in Samaria; shall escape when Samaria is taken. In the corner of a bed; lying in some dark corner, and on a piece of a bed, as the poor do in most places. In Damascus; the chiefest city of Syria, taken by Tiglath-pileser much about the time when he wasted Israel in aid of Ahaz against Rezin and Pekah. In a couch; some few of the poorer among them also shall escape, pitied by the enemy when he findeth them weakly and sick upon their couch.