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| 1 'Come, and we turn back unto Jehovah, For He hath torn, and He doth heal us, He doth smite, and He bindeth us up. |
Come – In their afflictions, the great time of trouble, they will come to acknowledge their guilt and to seek the Lord. R1434:1*
Verses 1 to 3 refer to Israel's judgments and their final repentance and reconciliation. Q788:4; R2294:5
Let us return – The returning ones represent those fullest in faith in the Lord and his promises.
The prodigal must will to return, the prodigal must strive to return, but the Father will meet him on the way to receive him and to bless him. R3361:6
He hath torn – He wounds to heal. SM55:T
He will heal us – After the time of trouble is past. A256; SM55:T
The great Messiah, Christ and the Church. SM55:T
As Priest of the Millennial time. SM55:T
The healing process will be coincidental to the wounding and breaking. SM55:T
When his sharp arrows shall smite them, and his judgment, as a hammer, shall break the hard, stony hearts. SM54:2
Giving them "beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." (Isa. 61:3) A256
He hath smitten – The Jews had experienced the judgment of the Lord in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem at a time corresponding to the fifth thousand-year day. Q788:4, Q795:2
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| 2 He doth revive us after two days, In the third day He doth raise us up, And we live before Him. |
After two days – The fifth and sixth thousand-year days. R2294:5, R643:1*; Q788:4
In the third day – The seventh thousand-year day, a sabbath. R2294:5, R643:1*; Q788:4
Jesus spoke in the fifth thousand-year day since Adam. So the seventh thousand years, the Millennium, would be the third day from when he spoke. Q635:1; R92:6*
Early in the morning of this third day--the thousand years of Messiah's reign--"all Israel shall be saved." (Rom. 11:26) Q789:T, Q795:2
If our Lord knew of the third day as indicating a three thousand year period, he did not know what day and hour in that three thousand year period he would be present and the work begin. (Mark 13:32) Q635:1
He will raise us up – Two thousand years of the Jews' cast-off condition is followed by the thousand years of favor and resurrection--an additional reason why Christ arose on the third day. R643:2*, R2294:5
A double signification: one phase of this prophecy applied to Christ in person, and that has been fulfilled, and is the pledge that the other phase of it will be fulfilled in subsequent resurrections. R350:1*
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| 3 And we know we pursue to know Jehovah, As the dawn prepared is His going forth, And He cometh in as a shower to us, As gathered rain sprinkling earth.' |
If we follow on – A continuous eating. You must seek. R201:5
It is as much our work to follow as it is the Spirit's work to lead us into all truth. R130:4*
Let us not put down stakes and say, "Thus far will I believe and no farther." R130:4*
We must not expect to obtain all the truth in one swallow, it is a continuous eating. R201:5
As the rain – Truth. B256
Of the two rains picturing Christ's first and second coming. R643:4*
Latter – Spring. R643:4
Former – Fall. R643:4*
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| 4 What do I do to thee, O Ephraim What do I do to thee, O Judah Your goodness [is] as a cloud of the morning, And as dew rising early going. |
O Ephraim – Christendom. D22
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| 5 Therefore I have hewed by prophets, I have slain them by sayings of My mouth, And My judgments to the light goeth forth. |
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| 6 For kindness I desired, and not sacrifice, And a knowledge of God above burnt-offerings. |
Mercy, and not sacrifice – Explaining why the publicans and sinners were more attracted to the Lord's words than the Pharisees-the latter trusted in themselves that they were righteous, spurning to ask or accept mercy; the former admitted that they were unrighteous and had need of mercy. R2260:5, R2591:6
The great lack of many critics and faultfinders is their lack of mercy and of love. R3754:4
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| 7 And they, as Adam, transgressed a covenant, There they dealt treacherously against me. |
Like men – Like Adam. (Margin and R.V.) R4902:2, R5832:3, 5 R762:3, R4570:2*
Transgressed the covenant – Abolishing that covenant relationship and all its privileges. R5021:3
One act of disobedience broke the covenant between God and Adam by which he was treated as a son and guaranteed everlasting life. R5149:2, R4902:2, R5021:3, R5223:3, R5832:3
Because of Adam's transgression the world is not in covenant relationship with God in any sense of the word. R5162:3
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| 8 Gilead [is] a city of workers of iniquity, Slippery from blood. |
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| 9 And as bands do wait for a man, A company of priests do murder the way to Shechem, For wickedness they have done. |
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| 10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing, There [is] the whoredom of Ephraim defiled is Israel. |
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| 11 Also, O Judah, appointed is a harvest to thee, In My turning back [to] the captivity of My people! |
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