Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days.
Ver. 5. Afterward shall the children of Israel return] They shall come out of the furnace more refined than ever. "By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder; the groves and images shall not stand up," Isaiah 27:9. Then indeed hath Jacob the right fruit of his sufferings, when he makes all the stones of the altar as chalkstones, crumbling them to crattle; when he pulls down the groves and images, those Balaam's stumbling blocks that lay in his way to God, and now resolves to return.
And seek the herd] From whom they had deeply revolted; to seek his face and favour, to seek his ordinances and true worship, and lastly, to seek to know and do what is well pleasing in his sight. "Their hearts shall rejoice that thus seek the Lord"; and these are true converts indeed, these are those seekers, Psalms 24:6, yea, this is Jacob (as there), Israelites indeed, such as cannot be (wherever they are cast) without God in the world, without Christ, who is here called David by a patronymic surname (as also elsewhere), not without allusion to the apostasy of the ten tribes from the house of David, and so from the true God; which now also they shall bewail as the root of their sin and ruin, Jer 30:9 Ezekiel 34:24 1 Kings 12:26 .
And David their king] Called by Daniel, Messiah the Prince, Daniel 9:25; and by Peter, Christ the Lord, Acts 2:36. See Luke 1:32. Some think he is here called the goodness of God.
They shall fear the Lord and his goodness] Which also is his glory, Exodus 33:19. The Hebrew is, they shall fear to the Lord (pavebunt ad Dominum); trepidabunt, that is, trembling they shall make haste to him (as frightened doves do to their columbaries, see Hos 11:11); they shall kiss the Son with a kiss of homage, and with reverential fear submit to his kingdom.