The promise in this passage forms the contrast to the threatening in Deut. xxviii. 23, 24: "And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron. The Lord will give for the rain of thy land, dust, and dust shall come down from heaven upon thee." The second אענה is, by most interpreters, considered as a resumption of the first. But we obtain a far more expressive sense, if we isolate the first אענה, "I shall hear," namely, all prayers which will be offered up unto Me by you, and for you. Parallel, among other passages, is Is. lviii. 9, where the reformed people are promised: "Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say. Here I am." By a bold _prosopopœia_, the prophet makes heaven to pray that it might be permitted to give to the earth that which is necessary for its fruitfulness, etc. Hitherto they have been hindered from fulfilling their _destination_, since God was obliged to withdraw His gifts from the unworthy people, ii. 11; but now, since this obstacle has been removed, they pray for permission to resume their vocation. The prophets in this manner give, as it were, a visible representation of the idea, that there is in the whole world no good independent of God,--nothing which, in accordance with its destination, is not ours, and would indeed be ours, if we stood in the right relation to Him,--nothing that is not His, and that will not be taken away from us, if we desire the gift without the Giver. _Calvin_ remarks: "The prophet shows where and when the happiness of men begins, viz., when God adopts them, when He betrothes Himself to them, after having put away their sins.... He teaches, also, in these words, that the heavens do not become dry by some secret instinct; but it is when God withholds His grace, that there is no rain by which the heavens water the earth." God, then, here shows [Pg 273]plainly that the whole _order of nature_ (as men are wont to say) is so entirely in His hand, that not one drop of rain shall fall from heaven unless by His will,--that the whole earth would produce no grass,--that, in short, all nature would be sterile, unless He made it fruitful by His blessing. Ver. 25. "_And I sow her unto Me in the land, and I have mercy upon her 'who had not obtained mercy'_ (Lo-Ruhamah); _and I say to 'not My people'_ (Lo-Ammi), _Thou art My people, and they say to Me, My God._" The three symbolical names of the children of the prophet here once more return. The _femin. suffix_ in זרעתיה, referring to יזרעאל, need not at all surprise us; for, in the whole passage before us, the sign disappears in the thing signified. In point of fact, however, _Jezreel_ is equivalent to Israel to be sowed anew. (It is not the Israel to be _planted_ anew, which is a figure altogether different; the sowing has always a reference to the increase.)