Thus says Yahweh: "As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs, Or a piece of an ear, So shall the children of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria on the corner of a couch, And on the silken cushions of a bed."
After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, a poor remnant only escaped. Rup.: “The spirit of prophecy foresaw both captivities, the end whereof was to confirm the faith, not in one place only but in all the earth, and so a slight remnant was “rescued from the mouth of the lion,” that is, from the slaughter of the destroyers, and permitted to live, that through them, as a witness and monument, the justice of God might be known from age to age, and the truth of the Scriptures might be everywhere, borne about by them, still witnessing to Christ the Son of God, who is known by the law and the prophets. Hapness remnants, so “taken out” for the good of others, not their own!” As these remnants of the animal show what it was which the lion destroyed, yet are of no further profit, so are they now a memorial of what they once were, what grace through their sins they have lost.