The special subject of this prophecy is the action of the Assyrian, and its consequence, concerning Samaria. But then, verse 9, it comes to Judah and reaches to Jerusalem, and this is taken up as the judgment of the whole nation. This confirms so clearly that the proper Jewish question is not with Antichrist but with the Assyrian. Antichrist is a specialty in this scene, and not mentioned in this prophecy—he does not concern the Land and Israel, but is of an infinitely deeper moral character, not so much prophetic and national. The Prophet returns to assembling Jacob, all of it, and makes, accordingly, Jerusalem the center of it, for the Lord lays to His hand there; see chapter 5:3, 4. Then it is the 'Remnant of Jacob,' etc. (v. 7). Then, chapters 6 and 7, comes the pleading, between the Lord and the nation itself, as to the whole ground of their relation, and what has passed.