:
awr] must be referred to the grass, mentioned immediately before; that
which the dew descending from heaven is to the grass, Israel will, in
his heavenly mission, be to the heathen world), but at the same time
fearful and irresistible, vers. 7, 8 (8, 9); the latter of these
qualities shall show itself not only as a curse in the case of
obstinate despisers, but also as a blessing in the case of those who
are estranged from the kingdom of God, through ignorance only. Resuming
then the last words of ver. 8 (9), "All thine enemies shall be cut
off," the prophet declares that before this word shall be fulfilled,
the destructive activity of the Lord will be manifested in Israel
itself. He will cut off by His judgments, and by the catastrophes
described in iv. 9-14, everything in which, in the present, they placed
a carnal confidence, everything by which they became externally strong
and powerful (_Caspari_: "A cutting off, in the first instance, of all
wherewith elsewhere enemies are commonly cut off"), and so likewise all
idolatry, to which the Chaldean catastrophe already put a violent end.
It is only of such a termination by force, and not of a purely inward
effect of the "gentle power of the Spirit then poured out upon them,"
that the words here, as well as in reference to the horses, etc.,
permit us to think. The two kinds of objects of false confidence are
then, in conclusion, in ver. 13 (14) once more summed up,--when the
cities, just as in ver. 10 (11), come into view as fortresses only. If
thus the path be cleared and prepared for the Lord, He will, on behalf
of His people, execute vengeance upon the heathen world.

Footnote 1: After the example of _Hofmann_, _Caspari_ gives this
exposition: "And the remnant of His brethren, viz., the inhabitants of
Judah, shall return from the captivity to Canaan, along with the sons
of Israel, _i.e._, the ten tribes." But the return from the captivity
never appears in the prophets, as a work of the Messiah. It has here
taken place long before His appearing: chap. iv. 10, iv. 11-14 supposes
it to have taken place, and Zion to be in existence. The "brethren of
the Messiah" can neither be the inhabitants of Judah especially, nor
the sons of Israel, the ten tribes, unless the antithesis to Judah be
distinctly expressed. It is absurd to suppose that the ten tribes
should appear as those chiefly who are to be redeemed. [Hebrew: wvb],
which means "to return," cannot be used simply of