ropean
nations--an announcement which was realised in history by the dominion
of the Greeks and Romans in Asia.

Ver. 12: "_And He setteth up an ensign to the Gentiles and assembleth
the exiled of Israel, and gathereth together the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth._"

The setting up of the ensign for the Gentiles, around which they are to
assemble for the purpose of restoring Israel, took place, in a prelude,
under Cyrus; comp. chap. xiv. 2, xlix. 22: "Thus saith the Lord God:
Behold I lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to
the nations, and they bring thy sons on their bosom, and thy daughters
are carried upon their shoulders;" where the sons and daughters
correspond to the exiled men of Israel, and to the dispersed women of
Judah, equivalent to all the exiled and dispersed men and women. As
early as in the Song of Solomon, we are taught that in the Messianic
time the Gentile nations will take an active part in the restoration of
Israel. According to the first part of that Song, the appearance of the
heavenly Solomon is connected with the reception of the Gentiles into
His Kingdom, and that, through the instrumentality of the [Pg 130] old
covenant people, as is intimated by the name of the daughters of
Jerusalem; comp. my Comment. on Song of Solomon, iii. 9-11. In the
second part of that Song we have a description of the reunion of
apostate Israel with Christ,--which reunion takes place by the
co-operation of the daughters of Jerusalem, the same whom they formerly
brought to salvation. According to Is. lxvi. 20, the Gentiles,
converted to the Lord in the time of salvation, bring the children of
Israel for an offering unto the Lord,--A significant allusion to the
passage before us is found in John xi. 52: [Greek: kai ouch huper tou
ethnous monon, all'hina kai ta tekna tou Theou ta dieskorpismena
sunagage eis hen.] It is the same mercy seeking that which is lost that
manifests itself in the gathering of apostate Israel, and in the
gathering of the Gentiles. What is said of the one furnishes, at the
same time, the guarantee for the other.

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 t