5 It will be like when the harvester gathers the wheat, and his arm reaps the grain. Yes, it will be like when one gleans grain in the valley of Rephaim.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
And it shall be as when the harvest-man gathereth the corn. He shews by a comparison how great will be the desolation. "As the reapers," he says, "gather the corn in armfuls, so this multitude, though large and extended, will be mowed down by the enemies." Now that he may not leave a remainder, he adds that at the conclusion of the harvest the ears will be gleaned, as if he had said, that when the multitude shall have been destroyed and the country laid bare like a field which has been reaped, even the shaken and scattered ears will not be left. Besides, he employs the metaphor of a harvest because the people, trusting to their great number, dreaded nothing; but as the reapers are not terrified by the large quantity of the corn, so he declares that their vast number will not prevent God from utterly destroying them. This may also refer to the Assyrians, but the meaning will be the same, for they were God's servants in executing this vengeance. We need not spend much time in explaining the word gather, for it means nothing else than that the slaughter will resemble a harvest, the conclusion of which has been followed by the gleaning of the ears. When the ten tribes had been carried away, the Assyrians, having learned that they were meditating a revolution, destroyed them also (2 Kings 17:4). He especially mentions the valley of Rephaim, because its fertility was well known to the Israelites.
And it shall be - This is the other figure by which the prophet sets forth the calamities that were coming upon Ephraim - an image designed to denote the fact that the inhabitants and wealth of the land would be collected and removed, as the farmer gathers his harvest, and leaves only that which is inaccessible in the upper boughs of the tree, or the gleanings in the field.
As when the harvest-man gathereth the corn - The wheat, the barley, etc.; for so the word "corn" - now applied by us almost exclusively to maizes means in the Scriptures. The sense in this passage is plain. As the farmer cuts down and collects his grain and removes it from the harvest field, so the enemies of Ephraim would come and remove the people and their wealth to a distant land. This received a complete fulfillment when the ten tribes were removed by the Assyrians to a distant land. This was done by Tiglath-pileser 2-Kings 15:29, and by Shalmaneser 2-Kings 17:6.
And reapeth the ears with his arm - As he collects the standing grain with one arm so that he can cut it with the sickle in the other hand. The word rendered 'reapeth' (קצר qâtsar) means here "to collect together" as a reaper does the standing grain in his arm. The word rendered 'ears' (שׁבלים shı̂bălı̂ym) means here rather the spires or stalks of standing grain.
In the valley of Rephaim - The valley of Rephaim is mentioned in 2-Samuel 5:18, 2-Samuel 5:22; 2-Samuel 23:13; 1-Chronicles 11:15; 1-Chronicles 14:9. The name means 'the Giants;' but why it was given to it is now unknown. In passing from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, it lies on the left, and descends gradually to the southwest, until it contracts in that direction into a deeper and narrower valley, called wady el-Werd, which unites further on with wady Ahmed, and finds its way to the Mediterranean. The plain extends nearly to Jerusalem, and is terminated by a slight rocky ridge forming the brow of the valley of Hinnom (see Josephus, "Ant." vii. 4. 1; viii. 12. 4; also Robinson's "Bib. Researches," vol. i. pp. 323, 324). It seem to have been distinguished for its fertility, and is used here to denote a fertile region in general.
As when the harvestman gathereth "As when one gathereth" - That is, the king of Assyria shall sweep away the whole body of the people, as the reaper strippeth off the whole crop of corn; and the remnant shall be no more in proportion than the scattered ears left to the gleaner. The valley of Rephaim near Jerusalem was celebrated for its plentiful harvest; it is here used poetically for any fruitful country. One MS., and one ancient edition, has באסף beesoph, "In gathering," instead of כאסף keesoph, "AS the gathering."
And it shall be as when the reaper gathereth (g) the grain, and reapeth the heads with his arm; and it shall be as he that gathereth heads in the valley of (h) Rephaim.
(g) As the abundance of corn does not fear the harvest men that would cut it down: no more will the multitude of Israel make the enemies shrink, whom God will appoint to destroy them.
(h) A valley which was plentiful and fertile.
And it shall be as when the harvestman gathereth the corn,.... The "standing" corn, as in the Hebrew text: "and reapeth the ears with his arm"; or "his arm reaps the ears" (o); that is, with one hand he gathers the standing corn into his fist, and then reaps it with his other arm; and just so it should be with the people of Israel: they were like a field of standing corn, for number, beauty, and glory; the Assyrian was like a harvestman, who laid hold upon them, and cut them down, as thick and as numerous as they were, just as a harvestman cuts down the corn, and with as much ease and quick dispatch; they being no more able to stand before him than a field of corn before the reaper! this was done both by Tilgathpilneser, 2-Kings 15:29 and by Shalmaneser, 2-Kings 17:6 kings of Assyria:
and it shall be as he that gathereth ears in the valley of Rephaim; the Targum renders it,
"the valley of giants.''
and so it is translated, Joshua 15:8 mention is made of it in 2-Samuel 5:18 it was a valley not far from Jerusalem, as Josephus (p) says; who also calls it the valley of the giants: it is thought to have been a very fruitful place, where the ears of corn were very large and heavy, and so great care was taken in gathering and gleaning that none be lost: wherefore, as the former simile signifies the carrying off the people of Israel in great numbers by the above kings, this may signify, as some have thought, either the picking up of those that fled without, or the gleaning of them in after times by Esarhaddon, Ezra 4:2.
(o) "et brachium ejus spicas demeteret", Junius & Tremellius; "demetit", Piscator, &c. (p) Antiqu. l. 7. c. 4. sect. 1.
harvestman, &c.--The inhabitants and wealth of Israel shall be swept away, and but few left behind just as the husbandman gathers the corn and the fruit, and leaves only a few gleaning ears and grapes (2-Kings 18:9-11).
with his arm--He collects the standing grain with one arm, so that he can cut it with the sickle in the other hand.
Rephaim--a fertile plain at the southwest of Jerusalem toward Beth-lehem and the country of the Philistines (2-Samuel 5:18-22).
Gathereth - Taking care, as far as may be, that all may be gathered in, and nothing left. So shall the whole body of the ten tribes be carried away captive, some few gleanings only being left. Rephaim - A very fruitful place near Jerusalem.
*More commentary available at chapter level.