One stick... another stick. — These are not rods, as in Numbers 17:6-9, although Ezekiel may have had that event in mind; the word here is an entirely different one, and means simply a piece of wood. The two pieces were, no doubt, so shaped that being firmly held together they would appear as one.
For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions. — The object is to represent by the two pieces of wood the two kingdoms. It would be insufficient, therefore, to mention Judah only; for with him Benjamin had been always associated, and also considerable fragments of the other tribes (2 Chronicles 11:16; 2 Chronicles 15:9). After the fall of the northern kingdom, individual members of the ten tribes who had not been carried into captivity joined themselves more or less completely to the kingdom of Judah (2 Chronicles 30:11-18; 2 Chronicles 31:1).
For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim. — Joseph, as including the two great tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, is put for the whole of the ten tribes, and Ephraim is specified as being the leading tribe, and this makes necessary the addition, “and all the house of Israel his companions,” to show that the whole northern kingdom is included. The word for, in italics, should be omitted.