e salvation. It is self-evident that
these two objects must not be considered as lying beside one another.
According to the whole context, the announcement of salvation for
Israel cannot have any other object than that of wounding Judah. This
object even comes out distinctly in ver. 6-11, and the import of the
discourse may, therefore, be thus stated: Israel does not continue to
be rejected as pharisaical Judah imagined; Judah does not continue to
be spared.--When the Prophet entered upon his ministry, ninety-four
years had already elapsed since the divine judgment had broken in upon
Israel; every hope of restoration seemed to have vanished. Judah,
instead of being thereby warned; instead of beholding, in the sin of
others, the image of its own; instead of perceiving, in the destruction
of the kingdom of its brethren, a prophecy of its own destruction, was,
on the contrary, strengthened in its obduracy. The fact that it still
existed, after Israel had, long ago, hopelessly perished, as they
imagined, appeared to them as a seal which God impressed upon their
ways. They rejoiced at Israel's calamity, because, in it, they thought
that they saw a proof of their own excellency, just as, at the time of
Christ, the blindness of the Jews was increased by the circumstance
that they still considered themselves as the sole members of [Pg 375]
the Kingdom of God, and imagined the Gentiles to be excluded from it.
The Saviour's announcement of the calling of the Gentiles stands in the
same relation as the Prophet's announcement of the restoration of
Israel.

* * * * * * * * * *

Ver. 14. "_Turn, O apostate children, saith the Lord, for I marry
myself unto you, and I take one of a city, and two of a family, and
bring you to Zion._"

The question here is:--To whom is the discourse here addressed,--to the
members of Israel, _i.e._, the kingdom of the ten tribes, as most of
the interpreters suppose (_Abarbanel_, _Calvin_, _Schmid_, and others),
or, as others assume, to the inhabitants of Judea? The decision has
considerable influence upon the exposition of the whole passage; but it
must unhesitatingly and unconditionally be given in favour of the first
view. There is not one word to indicate a transition; the very same
phrase, "turn, O apostate children," occurs, in ver. 22, of Israel.
Apostate Israel is, in the preceding verses (6, 8, 11,) the standing
expression, while Judah is designated as treacherous,