Amos 3:12

Yahweh also predicted that only a small remnant of the people would survive. The situation would be similar to when a shepherd snatched a remaining fragment of a sheep, a couple of leg bones or a small piece of an ear, from the mouth of an attacking wild animal. It would be like when someone stole everything in a house and the owner could only hold onto a piece of his bed or a bedspread. Similarly, an overpowering enemy would steal away the people of Samaria, and only a few would escape. Evidently about 27,000 Israelites from Samaria suffered captivity. [Note: Pritchard, p. 284; D. Winton Thomas, ed., Documents from Old Testament Times, pp. 58-60; Ellison, p. 159.]

The figure of a shepherd represented Yahweh in Israel’s literature (e.g., Psalms 23:1; et al.). The people would have seen Him as the one who would rescue the remnant as well as the one who would allow the enemy to overpower them.