And Ephraim, they shall be like a mighty man - Prophecy, through the rest of the chapter, turns to Ephraim, which had not yet been restored. With regard to them, human victory retires out of sight, though doubtless, when their wide prison was broken at the destruction of the Persian empire, many were free to return to their native country, as others spread over the West in Asia Minor, Greece, Rome, and so some may have taken part in the victories of the Maccabees. Yet not victory, but strength, gladness beyond natural g adness, as through wine, whereby the mind is exhilarated above itself; and that, lasting, transmitted to their children, large increase, holy life in God, are the outlines of the promise.
Their heart shall rejoice in the Lord - Psalms 44:3 : “As the principal object, the first, highest, most worthy Giver of all good, to whom is to be referred all gladness, which is conceived from created goods, that ‘whose glorieth may glory in the Lord’ 2 Corinthians 10:17, in whom alone the rational creature ought to take delight.”