The double inroad of the nations. First, Ephraim is assailed by the Assyrian, etc., and overwhelmed, yet it was in the day of the Lord's deliverance. At this time scornful men, dwelt at Jerusalem, who said that the scourge would not reach them. But it should overflow the hiding place, and they should be trodden down by it.
There is "a consumption determined upon the whole land," yet unhappy and ignorant Zion the Lord loveth, and, when the learned cannot read His mind because he is unlearned, the Lord knows the thoughts He thinks towards them—thoughts of peace and not of evil—to give them an expected end. Jerusalem, or Zion the lion of God, shall be brought perfectly low, but the Lord shall fight against all the nations, and "they shall be as a dream when one awaketh" and according to His everlasting covenant, "Jacob shall not be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale."