Commentary: On Amos

In this comment on Amos 3:12 (“Thus says the Lord: As the shepherd takes out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the Israelites be saved that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed and in Damascus [dameshek] in a couch”), Eliezer enunciates an exegetical principle crucial to his biblical commentaries, namely, that contextualized interpretation is the most important guide for understanding scriptural ambiguities. To this end, Eliezer cites a traditional rabbinic principle of interpretation: “a matter is learned from its context,” which refers to understanding difficult terminology by looking at the biblical context. In this short excerpt, Eliezer interprets the cryptic term dameshek, which others understand to denote the Syrian city of Damascus, as part of a bed, either the head or the leg. Eliezer’s attitude places him at the center of peshat (plain meaning) exegesis in his period.