And Ephraim [is as] an heifer [that is] taught, [and]
loveth
to tread out [the corn]
Like a heifer taught to bear the yoke, and to plough; but learned
it not, as the Targum; does not like it; chooses to tread out the
corn where it can feed upon it, its mouth not being then muzzled,
according to the law; oxen or heifers were used both in ploughing
and treading out corn, to which the allusion is. The sense is,
that Ephraim or the ten tribes were taught to bear the yoke of
the law, and yield obedience to it, and perform good works; but
did not like such a course of life; had no further regard for
religion than as they found their own worldly profit and
advantage in it: or they did not care to labour much in it; they
liked the fruit and advantage arising from working, rather than
the work itself; and thus, like a heifer, doing little, and
living well, they grew fat, increased in power, wealth, and
riches; and so became proud and haughty, and kicked against the
house of David, and rent themselves from it; and set up a kingdom
of their own, and lived and reigned according to their own will
and pleasure, like a heifer without yoke and muzzle: but I
passed over upon her fair neck;
or, "the goodness of her neck" {c}; which is expressive of the
flourishing and opulent state and condition of the ten tribes,
especially in the times of Jeroboam the second, which made them
proud and haughty: but the Lord was determined to humble them,
and first in a more light and gentle manner; or caused the rod of
correction to pass over them more lightly; or put upon them a
more easy yoke of affliction, by causing Pul king of Assyria to
come against them; and to get rid of whom a present was given
him, exacted of the people; and afterwards Tiglathpileser,
another king of Assyria, who carried captive part of their land;
and this not having its proper effect, the Lord was determined to
proceed against them in a heavier manner: I will make
Ephraim to ride;
some, taking the future for the past, render it, "I have made
Ephraim to ride" F4; that is, to rule and govern, having
royal dignity and power given them, and that greater than that of
Judah; and ride over the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who were
sometimes very much afflicted by them; and this is thought to be
the sense of the following phrases, Judah shall plough,
[and] Jacob shall break his clods;
or, "break the clods for him" F5; for Ephraim while he rides,
and uses them very hard; as in the days of Joash and Pekah, kings
of Israel, when many of the tribes of Judah were slain by them, (
2 Kings
14:12 2 Kings
14:13 ) ( 2 Chronicles
28:6 2 Chronicles
28:8 ) ; but rather the meaning is, "I will cause to ride on
Ephraim" F6; that is, the Assyrians shall ride
upon them, get the dominion over them, carry them captive, and
use them to hard service and bondage, as a heifer rid upon by a
severe rider while ploughing; and the other tribes shall not
escape, though they shall not be so hardly dealt with: "Judah
shall plough, and Jacob shall break his clods"; these shall be
carried captive into Babylon, and employed in hard and servile
work, but more tolerable; as ploughing and breaking clods are
easier than to ride upon; and as they had hope of deliverance at
the end of seventy years; whereas no promise of return was made
to the ten tribes, which is the sense some give; but Pocock and
others think that these words regard the tender and gentle
methods God took with these people to bring them to obedience to
his law. Ephraim being teachable like a heifer, he took hold of
her fair neck, and stroked it to encourage her, and accustom her
to the hand, and to the yoke; and then put the yoke of his law
upon them, add trained them up in his institutions, and used also
gentle methods to keep them in obedience; and also set Judah to
"plough", and Jacob to "break the clods", prescribed for them;
and employed them in good works, in the duties of religion, from
whence answerable fruit might have been expected; saying to them,
by his prophets, as follows: