And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion [shall be] from sea [even] to sea, and from the river [even] to the ends of the earth.
Ver. 10. And I will cut off the chariot, &c.] This is the same in effect with that of Isaiah 9:7 "Of the increase of Christ's government and peace there shall be no end"; and Isaiah 2:4 "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." Christ was born in the reign of Augustus Caesar, then when having vanquished Lepidus, Antony, and the rest of his enemies both at home and abroad, he set open the gates of Janus in token of a universal peace, and reigned as lord and monarch of the Roman world Polydor Virgil out of Orosius tells us that the self-same day wherein Christ was born Augustus Caesar made proclamation that no man should thenceforth give him the title of Lord, manifesto praesagio maioris dominatus qui tum in terris ortus est, saith he, not without a manifest presage of a greater lord than himself then born into the world; greater, 1. Both for the peaceableness of his government, as here; no use of weapons or warlike engines. "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual," 2 Corinthians 10:4. Christ shall bring both to Jews and Gentiles the gospel of peace and the peace of the gospel:
He shall speak peace unto the heathen] Peace of country and peace of conscience too: and, 2. For the extent of his government it should be as large as the world, a Catholic kingdom.
His dominion shall be from sea to sea] From the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, or the Sea of Palestine; for these two seas were the bounds of the land of Canaan, Numbers 34:6; Numbers 34:12, for the Jews scarcely knew any other sea but these two. And the prophet here alludeth to the times of Solomon's reign, as appears by Psalms 72:8 "He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth"; that is, from Euphrates to the utmost bounds of the Holy Land, which by a common custom of speech are put for the utmost quarters of the world.