he accidental
element in the prophecy; the thought is this: As soon as Israel
realizes its destiny, it partakes of God's inviolability, of God's
victorious power. The Prophet's sole purpose is to point out the
victorious power, to give prominence to the thought that outward
prosperity is the necessary consequence of inward holiness.--In the
first clause, the image is taken from birds of prey; comp. Hab. i. 8:
"They fly as an eagle hastening to eat," which passage refers to the
enemies of Israel at the time of wrath. In the time of _grace_, the
relation will be just the reverse.--[Hebrew: mwlH id] occurs, in a
series of passages in Deuteronomy, of that which is taken in hand,
undertaken. Edom and Moab are no longer an object of _Noli me tangere_
for them.

Ver. 15. "_And the Lord destroys the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and
waves His hand over the River with the violence of His wind, and
smiteth it into seven streams, that one may go through in shoes._"

[Pg 132]

Ver. 16. "_And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people
which was left from Asshur; like as it was to Israel in the day that he
came up out of the land of Egypt._"

The miraculous power of the Lord shall remove all obstacles to
deliverance. These obstacles are represented by the Euphrates and the
Red Sea (the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, equivalent to the point of
it), with a reference to the fact that, among the countries, in ver.
11, from which Israel is to be delivered, there had been mentioned,
_Egypt_, between which and the Holy Land was the Red Sea, and Asshur,
situated on the other side of Euphrates. To Euphrates, upon which there
will be repeated that which, in ancient times, was done in the case of
Jordan, the Prophet assigns, in ver. 15, the last place, on account of
ver. 16. The highway in that verse is prepared by the turning off of
Euphrates, so that we might put: "And thus," at the beginning of the
verse. As regards the destroying, [Hebrew: hHrvM], it is the forced
devoting to God of that which would not spontaneously serve Him;
compare remarks on Mal. iii. 24. Objects of such devoting can properly
be _persons_ only, because they only are capable of spontaneous
sanctification to God, as well as of wilful desecration. The fact that
it is here transferred to the sea may be accounted for by its being
personified. The destruction which is inflicted upon the sea is, in it,
inflicted upon the enemies of God thereby represented, inasmuc