When I have bent Judah for me, filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.
Ver. 13. When I have bent Judah for me] God himself did the work, though by the sons of Zion, as his instruments whom he used, and prospered against the sons of Greece, that is, the successors of Alexander the Great, who led them out of Greece against the power of Persia, and who, seizing upon Egypt and Syria, crushed and ground the poor Jews between them, as between two millstones. This prophecy was fulfilled in the Maccabees; but may have an eye to the apostles, who were some of them of Judah, some of Ephraim; that is, of the ten tribes, as of Zebulun, Naphthali. These Christ used as bows and arrows in the hand of a mighty man, whereby the people fell under him, Psalms 45:5; the sons of Greece especially, where so many famous churches were planted, as appears by the Acts and the Revelation. See Revelation 6:2. See Trapp on " Rev 6:2 "
And make thee as the sword of a mighty man] Given thee both arms and an arm to wield them. For it is God that strengtheneth and weakeneth the arms of either party in battle, Ezekiel 30:24. It is he also that rendereth the weapons vain or prosperous, Isa 54:17 Jeremiah 50:9. This Judas Maccabeus well understood, and therefore had his name from the capital letters of this motto written in his ensign, Mi camoca belohim Iehovah, Who is like thee, O Lord, among the gods? St Paul also, that conquered so many countries, and brought in the spoils of so many souls to God (whence the change of his name from Saul to Paul, as some think, from Sergius Paulus, the proconsul, whom he converted to the faith, Act 13:9). "The weapons of our warfare," saith he, "are mighty through God to the casting down of strong holds." "Not I, but the grace of God that is with me," 2 Corinthians 10:4 1 Corinthians 15:10. And, "Ye men of Israel, why look ye so earnestly upon us," saith Peter, "as if by our own power or holiness," &c., Acts 3:12 .