Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.
Ver. 11. Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee] This is a very difficult text, and much vexed by interpreters. Et hic nisi Lyra lyrasset, nos omnes delirassemus. Lyra sets this sense upon the text, and I accord him: Though thou, Judah, art also to be carried captive; yet God hath set, or provided for thee, a harvest in thine own land, when I shall have returned the captivity of my people, viz. under the conduct of Zorobabel, by the decree of Cyrus. Here, then, is a promise of a joyful harvest to Judah, who is not to be punished with like severity as Israel, Hosea 1:7, and for the change of person, when I returned, for he shall have returned. See Isa 29:19 Jeremiah 31:23 Zep 3:20 Psalms 14:7. Simul Iudae captivitas et reditus praedicitur significanter admodum, saith Jerome here; both the captivity and return of Judah is here very significantly foretold. It is a very good note that one giveth here, sc. that God in his chastisement ever showeth himself mindful of his covenant; after a long barrenness, he setteth for his people a plentiful harvest, and turneth again their captivity, after that for a time he hath tried them. His mercy also and faithfulness herein appeareth, that be mingleth promises with threatenings; and while he utterly destroyeth the kingdom of the ten tribes, he preserveth the commonwealth of Judah, wherein the Messiah was to come, and whereof there was not (by the ancient prophecies) to be a dissolution, till Shiloh came. Hence it is that promises of the restoration of Judah are ever intermingled, lest any should doubt the manifestation of the Messiah in the fulness of time.