shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry- shod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria ; like as it was to Israel, in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt V]
2. The union of them all under Christ as their common Head —
[Never have they been all under the government of one king since the revolt of the ten tribes from Rehoboam : much less has there been any king of the name of David that could lay claim to this dominion. But, at the period referred to, they shall all, even the whole twelve tribes, become one nation again ; and that too under the government of the Messiah, who is frequently foretold under the name of David, and who in the New Testament also is recognized as raised up of David's house, and as sitting upon David's throne0. They will all form one flock under him, as their " Shepherd," as, both in a preceding chapter and in that before us, is fully declared*1. They will be deeply sensible of their error, in having so long rejected him ; and will then "look on Him whom they, no less than their fathers, have pierced, and mourn, and be in bitter- ness, even as one that mourneth for his first-born son." And no longer will they cast off his light and easy yoke : yea rather, they will delight in him, and glory in him, as " all their salva- tion and all their desire." To this effect the Prophet Hosea also most plainly speaks : " The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim. Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord, and his goodness, in the latter-days e."]
3. Their enjoyment of God, as their covenant-God and portion —
[A new covenant will God make with them in that day, widely different from that which he made with their fathers, when he brought them forth out of Egypt f. In the new covenant, provision shall be made for the remission of all their sins, for the mortification of all their lusts, and for their entire restoration both to the favour and to the image of their God s. In former days, God dwelt with them visibly, by the bright Shechinah, the symbol of his presence ; and in his tabernacle he revealed himself in a way that he never had done to any
b Isai. xi. 11 — 16. c Luke i. 31—33, 69.
d ver. 22, 24, 25. and Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24. e Hos. iii. 4, 5.
f Jer. xxxi. 31—34. e ver. 23—26.