The happy time of restoration will also be a time of reunion. The estranged tribes will return to their old allegiance. This is implied by the promise, "I will bring you to Zion," and by that of the next verse: _And I will give you shepherds after My own heart; and they shall shepherd you with knowledge and wisdom_. Obviously, kings of the house of David are meant; the good shepherds of the future are contrasted with the "rebellious" ones of the past (ii. 8). It is the promise of Isaiah (i. 26): "And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning." In this connexion, we may recall the fact that the original schism in Israel was brought about by the folly of evil shepherds. The coming King will resemble not Rehoboam but David. Nor is this all; for _It shall come to pass, when ye multiply and become fruitful in the land, in those days, saith Iahvah, men shall not say any more, The ark of the covenant of Iahvah_, (or, as LXX., _of the Holy One of Israel); nor shall it_ (the ark) _come to mind; nor shall men remember it, nor miss it; nor shall it be made any more_ (pointing יֵעָשֶׂה although the verb may be impersonal. I do not understand why Hitzig asserts "_Man wird keine andere machen_ (Movers) oder; _sie wird nicht wieder gemacht_ (Ew., Graf) als wäre nicht von der geschichtlichen Lade die Rede, sondern von ihr begrifflich, können die Worte nicht bedeuten." But cf. Exod. xxv. 10; Gen. vi. 14; where the same verb עשה is used. Perhaps, however, the rendering of C. B. Michaelis, which he prefers, is more in accordance with what precedes: _nor shall all that be done any more_, Gen. xxix. 26, xli. 34. But פקד does not mean _nachforschen_: cf. 1 Sam. xx. 6, xxv. 15). _In that time men will call Jerusalem the throne of Iahvah; and all the nations will gather into it_ (Gen. i. 9), _for the name of Iahvah_ [_at Jerusalem_: LXX. om.]; _and they_ (the heathen) _will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil heart_ (vii. 24; Deut. xxix. 19).