Say unto them, thus saith the Lord God
Here follows the explanation of the sign or emblem: behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of
Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows:
that is, the kingdom of Israel, consisting of the ten tribes, of which Ephraim was the chief: and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah;
with the kingdom of Judah: and make them one stick;
these two kingdoms one kingdom: and they shall be one in my hand:
in Christ, the hand and arm of the Lord; one under his care, government, and protection, as after explained: this had in part, and as a shadow of what was to come, its fulfilment upon the Jews' return from Babylon; when many of the ten tribes, as well as the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, came from thence, and became one nation and kingdom under one prince, until the coming of Christ; and it had a further accomplishment in the union of converted Jews and Gentiles in one body: but this is chiefly designed as an emblem of the union of the Jews one to another, when they shall be converted in the latter day; when they shall join together in seeking the Lord, and David, their King, the Messiah; who shall be the one King over them, as is afterwards said; and when all animosities shall cease, both among them, and among all the spiritual Israel of God in general; see ( Isaiah 11:13 ) ( Jeremiah 50:4 ) ( Hosea 1:11 ) ( 3:5 ) ( Zephaniah 3:9 )