Isa 11:12-13, Eze 37:16-22, Hos 1:11 | JFB | STEP | 12. In the first restoration Judah alone was restored, with perhaps some few of Israel (the ten tribes): in the future restoration both are expressly specified ( ; ). To Israel are ascribed the "outcasts" (masculine); to Judah the "dispersed" (feminine), as the former have been longer and more utterly castaways (though not finally) than the latter ( ). The masculine and feminine conjoined express the universality of the restoration. from the four corners of the earth-- Hebrew, "wings of the earth."

‏ Isaiah 11:12-13

12. In the first restoration Judah alone was restored, with perhaps some few of Israel (the ten tribes): in the future restoration both are expressly specified (Eze 37:16-19; Jr 3:18). To Israel are ascribed the "outcasts" (masculine); to Judah the "dispersed" (feminine), as the former have been longer and more utterly castaways (though not finally) than the latter (Joh 7:52). The masculine and feminine conjoined express the universality of the restoration.

from the four corners of the earth--Hebrew, "wings of the earth."

13. envy ... of Ephraim ... Judah--which began as early as the time (Jud 8:1; 12:1, &c.). Joshua had sprung from, and resided among the Ephraimites (Nu 13:9; Jos 19:50); the sanctuary was with them for a time (Jos 18:1). The jealousy increased subsequently (2Sa 2:8, &c.; 19:41; 20:2; 3:10); and even before David's time (1Sa 11:8; 15:4), they had appropriated to themselves the national name Israel. It ended in disruption (1Ki 11:26, &c.; 1Ki 12:1-33; compare 2Ki 14:9; Psa 78:56-71).

adversaries of Judah--rather, "the adversaries from Judah"; those of Judah hostile to the Ephraimites [Maurer]. The parallelism "the envy of Ephraim," namely, against Judah, requires this, as also what follows; namely, "Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim" (Eze 37:15, 17, 19).

‏ Ezekiel 37:16-22

16. stick--alluding to Nu 17:2, the tribal rod. The union of the two rods was a prophecy in action of the brotherly union which is to reunite the ten tribes and Judah. As their severance under Jeroboam was fraught with the greatest evil to the covenant-people, so the first result of both being joined by the spirit of life to God is that they become joined to one another under the one covenant King, Messiah-David.

Judah, and ... children of Israel his companions--that is, Judah and, besides Benjamin and Levi, those who had joined themselves to him of Ephraim, Manasseh, Simeon, Asher, Zebulun, Issachar, as having the temple and lawful priesthood in his borders (2Ch 11:12, 13, 16; 15:9; 30:11, 18). The latter became identified with Judah after the carrying away of the ten tribes, and returned with Judah from Babylon, and so shall be associated with that tribe at the future restoration.

For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim--Ephraim's posterity took the lead, not only of the other descendants of Joseph (compare Eze 37:19), but of the ten tribes of Israel. For four hundred years, during the period of the judges, with Manasseh and Benjamin, its dependent tribes, it had formerly taken the lead: Shiloh was its religious capital; Shechem, its civil capital. God had transferred the birthright from Reuben (for dishonoring his father's bed) to Joseph, whose representative, Ephraim, though the younger, was made (Ge 48:19; 1Ch 5:1). From its pre-eminence "Israel" is attached to it as "companions." The "all" in this case, not in that of Judah, which has only attached as "companions" "the children of Israel" (that is, some of them, namely, those who followed the fortunes of Judah), implies that the bulk of the ten tribes did not return at the restoration from Babylon, but are distinct from Judah, until the coming union with it at the restoration.

18. God does not explain the symbolical prophecy until the Jews have been stimulated by the type to consult the prophet.

19. The union effected at the restoration from Babylon embraced but comparatively few of Israel; a future complete fulfilment must therefore be looked for.

stick of Joseph ... in the hand of Ephraim--Ephraim, of the descendants of Joseph, had exercised the rule among the ten tribes: that rule, symbolized by the "stick," was now to be withdrawn from him, and to be made one with the other, Judah's rule, in God's hand.

them--the "stick of Joseph," would strictly require "it"; but Ezekiel expresses the sense, namely, the ten tribes who were subject to it.

with him--that is, Judah; or "it," that is, the stick of Judah.

22. one nation--(Is 11:13; Jr 3:18; Ho 1:11).

one king--not Zerubbabel, who was not a king either in fact or name, and who ruled over but a few Jews, and that only for a few years; whereas the King here reigns for ever. Messiah is meant (Eze 34:23, 24). The union of Judah and Israel under King Messiah symbolizes the union of Jews and Gentiles under Him, partly now, perfectly hereafter (Eze 37:24; Joh 10:16).

‏ Hosea 1:11

11. Judah ... Israel ... together--(Is 11:12, 13; Jr 3:18; Eze 34:23; 37:16-24).

one head--Zerubbabel typically; Christ antitypically, under whom alone Israel and Judah are joined, the "Head" of the Church (Ep 1:22; 5:23), and of the hereafter united kingdom of Judah and Israel (Jr 34:5, 6; Eze 34:23). Though "appointed" by the Father (Psa 2:6), Christ is in another sense "appointed" as their Head by His people, when they accept and embrace Him as such.

out of the land--of the Gentiles among whom they sojourn.

the day of Jezreel--"The day of one" is the time of God's special visitation of him, either in wrath or in mercy. Here "Jezreel" is in a different sense from that in Ho 1:4, "God will sow," not "God will scatter"; they shall be the seed of God, planted by God again in their own land (Jr 24:6; 31:28; 32:41; Am 9:15).