As Israel is united internally, so it shall be externally powerful. According to the Song of Solomon vi. 10, the congregation of Israel when, by her renewed connection with the Lord and His heavenly Solomon, she has regained her former strength, is "terrible as an army with banners."--The nations mentioned are those of the Davidic reign. Even before the time of the Prophet, they had been anew conquered by Jehoshaphat, in whom the spirit of David had been revived anew; comp. 2 Chron. xx.; Ps. lxxxiii. A prelude to the fulfilment of the prophecy before us took place at the time of the Maccabees, comp. Vol. i. p. 467, 468. But as regards the fulfilment, we are not entitled to limit ourselves to the names here mentioned. These names are the accidental element in the prophecy; the thought is this: As soon as Israel realizes its destiny, it partakes of God's inviolability, of God's victorious power. The Prophet's sole purpose is to point out the victorious power, to give prominence to the thought that outward prosperity is the necessary consequence of inward holiness.--In the first clause, the image is taken from birds of prey; comp. Hab. i. 8: "They fly as an eagle hastening to eat," which passage refers to the enemies of Israel at the time of wrath. In the time of _grace_, the relation will be just the reverse.--משלח יד occurs, in a series of passages in Deuteronomy, of that which is taken in hand, undertaken. Edom and Moab are no longer an object of _Noli me tangere_ for them. Ver. 15. "_And the Lord destroys the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and waves His hand over the River with the violence of His wind, and smiteth it into seven streams, that one may go through in shoes._" [Pg 132] Ver. 16. "_And there shall be a highway for the remnant of His people which was left from Asshur; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt._"