Ver. 13. "And the envy of Ephraim departeth, and the adversaries of Judah are cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim."
According to the explanatory fourth clause, the "adversaries of Judah" in the second clause, can only be those among Judah who vex Ephraim. At the very beginning of the separation of the two kingdoms, their future reunion had been announced by a prophet; and this must now take place as certainly as Jehovah is God, who had promised to David and his house the eternal dominion over all Israel. The separation had taken place because the house of David had become unfaithful to its vocation. In the Messiah, the promise, to the Davidic race is to be completely realized; and this realization has, for its necessary consequence, the removal for ever of the separation; comp. Ezek. xxxvii. 22. It was a prelude to the fulfilment, that a portion of the subjects of the kingdom of the ten tribes united with Judah in all those times when, in the blessing accompanying the enterprises of a pious son of David, the promise granted to David was, in some measure realized,--as was the case under Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and Josiah. Even before Christ appeared in the flesh, the announcement here made was all but realized. The exile put an end to the kingdom of the ten tribes, and hence also to the unnatural separation which had been designated as the severest calamity of the past, chap. vii. 17. The other tribes joined Judah and the restored sanctuary; comp. Acts xxvi. 7; Luke ii. 36. The name of "Jews" passed over to the whole nation; the jealousy disappeared. This blessing was conferred upon the people for Christ's sake, and with a view to His future appearance. In Christ, the bond of union and communion is so firmly formed that no new discord can alienate the hearts from one another.
Ver. 14. "And they fly upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the West, spoil together the children of the East; Edom and Moab shall be their assault, the children of Ammon their obedience."
As Israel is united internally, so it shall be externally powerful. According to the Song of Solomon vi. 10, the congregation of Israel when, by her renewed connection with the Lord and His heavenly Solomon, she has regained her former strength, is "terrible as an army with banners."--The nations mentioned are those of the Davidic reign. Even before the time of the Prophet, they had been anew conquered by Jehoshaphat, in whom the spirit of David had been revived anew; comp. 2 Chron. xx.; Ps. lxxxiii. A prelude to the fulfilment of the prophecy before us took place at the time of the Maccabees, comp. Vol. i. p. 467, 468. But as regards the fulfilment, we are not entitled to limit ourselves to the names here mentioned. These names are the accidental element in the prophecy; the thought is this: As soon as Israel realizes its destiny, it partakes of God's inviolability, of God's victorious power. The Prophet's sole purpose is to point out the victorious power, to give prominence to the thought that outward prosperity is the necessary consequence of inward holiness.--In the first clause, the image is taken from birds of prey; comp. Hab. i. 8: "They fly as an eagle hastening to eat," which passage refers to the enemies of Israel at the time of wrath. In the time of grace, the relation will be just the reverse.--משלח יד occurs, in a series of passages in Deuteronomy, of that which is taken in hand, undertaken. Edom and Moab are no longer an object of Noli me tangere for them.
Ver. 15. "And the Lord destroys the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and waves His hand over the River with the violence of His wind, and smiteth it into seven streams, that one may go through in shoes."
Ver. 16. "And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people which was left from Asshur; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt."
The miraculous power of the Lord shall remove all obstacles to deliverance. These obstacles are represented by the Euphrates and the Red Sea (the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, equivalent to the point of it), with a reference to the fact that, among the countries, in ver. 11, from which Israel is to be delivered, there had been mentioned, Egypt, between which and the Holy Land was the Red Sea, and Asshur, situated on the other side of Euphrates. To Euphrates, upon which there will be repeated that which, in ancient times, was done in the case of Jordan, the Prophet assigns, in ver. 15, the last place, on account of ver. 16. The highway in that verse is prepared by the turning off of Euphrates, so that we might put: "And thus," at the beginning of the verse. As regards the destroying, החרום, it is the forced devoting to God of that which would not spontaneously serve Him; compare remarks on Mal. iii. 24. Objects of such devoting can properly be persons only, because they only are capable of spontaneous sanctification to God, as well as of wilful desecration. The fact that it is here transferred to the sea may be accounted for by its being personified. The destruction which is inflicted upon the sea is, in it, inflicted upon the enemies of God thereby represented, inasmuch as it opposes the people of God, and thus, as it were, strives against God.--With the violence or terror of His wind, i.e., with His violent, terrible wind. There is in this an allusion to Exod. xiv. 21, according to which the Lord dried up the Red Sea by a violent wind. Against Drechsler, who thinks of "God's breathing of anger," first, this reference to Exod. xiv. 21, and farther, the circumstance that the רוח appears as something which the Lord has in His hand, are decisive.--In ver. 16 we need not, after "from Asshur," supply the other nations mentioned in ver. 11, which would be unexampled; but Asshur appears as the representative of all the enemies of God. Similarly in Micah also, Asshur is, with evident intention, used typically; comp. Vol. i. p. 515, 516.
[ [1]] Notwithstanding the arguments which we stated in favour of our proposition, that the original form of the name is נצר. Ebrard without even attempting to refute them, assumes, in favour of a far-fetched conjecture, that the name of the place was written נזרת (Kritik. d. Ev. Geschichte S. 843, 1st Ed.), and has introduced this opinion even into the text of the new edition of Olshausen's Commentary, edited by him. The circumstance that elsewhere commonly the Hebrew ז is, in Greek, rendered by ζ, צ by σ is, in this case, where the special arguments in favour of נצר are so strong, of no consequence.
[ [2]] Hofmann (Weissagung und Erfüllung., II. S. 64) was the last who assumed that the Evangelist had generally in view those passages in which the lowliness, contempt, and rejection of Christ are spoken of, and that, in the Old Testament passages in question, the Ναζωραῖος was not contained according to the letter, but according to the spirit only. But this is opposed not only by the whole manner of quotation which is given as a literal one, but also by a whole series of analogies: Christ's birthplace in Bethlehem, His stay in Jerusalem, His ministry in Galilee, and especially in Capernaum, His entrance into Jerusalem,--all these are by Matthew traced back to prophetical declarations which have a special reference to these localities. Against the exposition given by us, Hofmann advances the assertion that neither נצר nor חטר have ever attached to them the idea of lowliness, of unassuming appearance. But even if a twig were not of itself something lowly and unassuming in appearance, yet, in the passage before us, that idea is, at all events, implied in the connection with the stump and roots, as well as by the contrast to יפרה.