(13) Travailing woman.--Ephraim is first addressed as a travailing woman; but the imagery passes to the condition of the unborn child, which tarries just where it should issue into the light of the world. Lack of seasonable repentance increases the danger at this critical stage of Israel's destiny. The latter part of the verse is missed in the rendering of the English version. Read, For at the right time he standeth not in the place where children break forth. But the use of the Hebrew word for "at the right time" ('?th) is doubtful. Perhaps the word should be read 'attah ("now"), as Buhl, in Zeitschrift fr Kirchliche Wissenschaft, suggests. (Comp. Ezekiel 27:34.)

Verse 13. - The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him. The threatened punishment that is to overtake them is compared to the throes of a parturient woman, on account of their severity, as 1 Thessalonians 5:3. Their sinfulness, which stands in the way of their success, shall be succeeded by severe sufferings and many sorrows. But eventually these worldly sorrows shall, under Divine grace, issue in the godly sorrows of repentance: then, and not till then, shall a new and happier period of existence be ushered in. The sorrow of travail shall give place to the joy of birth Delay of confession and repentance defers that joy, prolongs the sufferings, and puts the life of both parent and child in peril, so far as their personality is identical. He is an unwise son; for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children. Here the unwisdom of Israel is accounted for: it is folly, sheer folly that postpones repentance, and delays efforts and aspirations after new spiritual life, The literal rendering of the last clause is -

(1) For it is time, he should not tarry at the place of the breaking forth of children; or rather,

(2) When it is time, he does not place himself at (literally, stand) or come forward to the opening of the womb; and some translate עֵתִ

(3) "at the time," but that would rather require לְעֵת; it might, indeed, be duration of time, and Aben Ezra so renders it: "Therefore at the time he will not stand in the breaking forth of children." Also Wunsche: "He is an unwise son, for at the time he stands not in the breaking forth of children." It might be expressed, as in the Authorized Version, with a slight modification; thus: For otherwise he would not stand long time in the place of the breaking forth of children. The figure is now shifted from the mother to the child; such abrupt and sudden transitions are not infrequent in Scripture, especially in the Pauline Epistles (setup. e.g. 2 Corinthians 3:13-16). The danger is represented as extreme, as may be inferred from the similar expression, "The children are come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring forth." A perilous period in Israel's history is indicated, and to escape the danger he must make no tarrying, but advance at once into the new life of faith and repentance. Kimchi has the following comment: "Because he has compared his pains to the pain of a woman in travail, he says, 'The children are not wise,' as if he said, 'The coming generations, who have seen their fathers in affliction because of their iniquities, are not wise, and do not consider that distress has overtaken their fathers because of their iniquity; and turn not from the evil deeds of their fathers, but have done wickedness like them.'" He adds: "There are children lively by nature in their coming forth out of the womb; so also would these, if they were wise, not stay a single hour in distress, but immediately On returning to the Lord be delivered out of their distress." The LXX. omit the negative and render מי by ἐν συντριβῇ: "This wise son of thine [employed ironically] shall not stand [or, 'endure'] in the destruction of his children or people."

13:9-16 Israel had destroyed himself by his rebellion; but he could not save himself, his help was from the Lord only. This may well be applied to the case of spiritual redemption, from that lost state into which all have fallen by wilful sins. God often gives in displeasure what we sinfully desire. It is the happiness of the saints, that, whether God gives or takes away, all is in love. But it is the misery of the wicked, that, whether God gives or takes away, it is all in wrath, nothing is comfortable. Except sinners repent and believe the gospel, anguish will soon come upon them. The prophecy of the ruin of Israel as a nation, also showed there would be a merciful and powerful interposition of God, to save a remnant of them. Yet this was but a shadow of the ransom of the true Israel, by the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. He will destroy death and the grave. The Lord would not repent of his purpose and promise. Yet, in the mean time, Israel would be desolated for her sins. Without fruitfulness in good works, springing from the Holy Spirit, all other fruitfulness will be found as empty as the uncertain riches of the world. The wrath of God will wither its branches, its sprigs shall be dried up, it shall come to nothing. Woes, more terrible than any from the most cruel warfare, shall fall on those who rebel against God. From such miseries, and from sin, the cause of them, may the Lord deliver us.The sorrows of a travailing woman shall come upon him,.... Upon Ephraim, or the ten tribes; that is, afflictions, distresses, and calamities, which are often in Scripture compared to the pains and sorrows of a woman in childbirth; and may denote the suddenness and inevitableness of them; see Isaiah 13:8. So the Targum,

"distress and trouble shall come upon them, as pains on a woman with child;''

which may respect the invasion of their land, the siege of Samaria, and their captivity;

he is an unwise son; taking no warning by his ancestors, by their sins, and what befell them on account of them, but persisting in his sins, and in impenitence and hardness of heart: so the Targum,

"he is not wise to know my fear:''

for he should not stay long in the place of the breaking forth of children: that is, in the womb, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it; though the Targum and Jarchi understand it of the stool or seat of women in travail. The sense is, either that he is foolish and unwise, that he does not endeavour to extricate himself from these troubles; or rather to prevent them by repentance, by leaving his idols, and returning to the Lord; or that, should he do so, be would soon be delivered from all his sorrows, and not stay a moment longer in them. Though the words may be better rendered, "for he stays not", or "would not stay, the time for the breaking forth of children" (p); now this time is the time of the Gospel dispensation, the time of the Messiah's birth, the fulness of time appointed for his coming, and the time of the church's ringing forth many children in a spiritual sense; see Isaiah 54:1; for which Ephraim or the ten tribes should have waited, but did not, which was their folly and their ruin; they did not "stand", or continue, in the belief and expectation of the Messiah, and in the true worship of God, but left that, and served idols; and so continued not to the times of the Messiah, when the blessings mentioned in the following verse would be obtained and enjoyed; so Schmidt.

(p) "nam tempus non subsistet in partitudine filiorum", Cocceius; "quia tempus non stat in utero puerorum", Schmidt; "quia tempore non stetissent in raptura alvi filiorum", Montanus.