The Lord will care for Judah
“I will strengthen the house of Judah
and save the house of Joseph. I will restore them
because I have compassion on them.
They will be as though I had not rejected them,
for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them.
7 The Ephraimites will become like mighty men,
and their hearts will be glad as with wine.
Their children will see it and be joyful; their hearts will rejoice in the LORD.
8 I will signal for them
and gather them in. Surely I will redeem them;
they will be as numerous as before.
9 Though I scatter them among the peoples,
yet in distant lands they will remember me.
They and their children will survive, and they will return.
10 I will bring them back from Egypt
and gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon, and there will not be room enough for them.
11 They will pass through the sea of trouble;
the surging sea will be subdued
and all the depths of the Nile will dry up.
Assyria’s pride will be brought down and Egypt’s scepter will pass away.
12 I will strengthen them in the LORD
and in his name they will walk,” declares the LORD.
When Jesus talked about the hired hand in John chapter 10, he showed that the greatest sin of the hired hand was his lack of compassion. The sheep were just animals to him. At the first threat of danger to himself, he left them to fend for themselves. But the Lord is the Good Shepherd. In verse 6 we read of his compassion for his people. He feels for his people. Golgotha is the ultimate proof of this compassion.
This feeling of compassion cannot be manufactured. When the Lord speaks of his compassion for his people, it is a feeling akin to what a mother feels when she looks at her child. In another place the Word poses this question: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast?” (Isaiah 49:15). Neither can the Lord forget his children. He feels for them. He is compassionate.
Verses 6 to 12 talk about God’s harsh action to his people. He did reject and scatter. He did these things because he could not stand the sin and rebellion of his people. On the other hand, he is compassionate, and he is merciful. These same verses show this too: “I will signal for them and gather them in . . . I will bring them back . . . I will strengthen them.” This is sweet gospel. This is why we too can join with the Ephraimites in verse 7: “Their hearts will be glad as with wine. Their children will see it and be joyful; their hearts will rejoice in the LORD.”
The final verse of chapter 10 speaks of the Lord’s name. God’s name is everything that stands for him. He is his name. When Moses asked the Lord’s name, he was told that it was “I AM.” When God proclaimed his name in Exodus chapter 34, he told of his very essence, he spoke his very name: “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation” (verses 6,7). God’s name is the gospel. God’s name is also the law.
This knowledge of God’s name determines how we walk in life. “I will strengthen them in the LORD and in his name they will walk.”