Isa 11:14

“And they shall fly of one accord against the Philistines in the west Heb. בְכָתֵף. Israel will fly and run of one accord against the Philistines who are in the west of Eretz Israel and conquer their land. [כָּתֵף, lit. a shoulder, is used in this case to denote unity. The word שֶׁכֶם, also lit. a shoulder, is used in a similar sense.] Comp. (Hoshea 6:9) “They murder on the way in unison (שֶׁכְמָה)”; (Zeph. 3:9) “One accord (שְׁכֶם אֶחָד).” And so did Jonathan render it: And they shall join in one accord to smite the Philistines who are in the west. and the children of Ammon shall obey them As the Targum states: Will hearken to them. They will accept their commandments over them.”

“ועפו According to some, And they will spread; comp. מגלה עׁפה A roll that was spread (Zach. 5:1). According to R. Moses Hakkohen it is hapax legomenon, and means they will rest. פלשתים Supply מקום or ארץ The place, or the land of the Philistines. Toward the west. The Philistines dwelt in the west of Palestine. Them of the east. The Syrians. They shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab, in order to spoil them. משמעתם. Supply יסורו אל or יסורו תחת Will come under their supremacy.”

“Shoulders. Or confines, Ezechiel xxv. 9. Ezechias and the Machabees attacked the Philistines. (Calmet) — Septuagint, “and they shall fly on the ships of the strangers; they shall plunder the sea together, and those on the east, and Idumea.” (Haydock) — East. Ammonites, &c., often defeated by the Machabees, and probably by Ezechias.”

“With united forces they shall subdue their foes (Amo 9:12). fly--as a bird of prey (Hab 1:8). upon the shoulders--This expresses an attack made unexpectedly on one from behind. The image is the more apt, as the Hebrew for "shoulders" in Num 34:11 is used also of a maritime coast ("side of the sea": Hebrew, "shoulder of the sea," Margin). They shall make a sudden victorious descent upon their borders southwest of Judea. them of the east--Hebrew, "children of the East," the Arabs, who, always hostile, are not to be reduced under regular government, but are only to be despoiled (Jer 49:28-29). lay . . . hand upon--take possession of (Dan 11:42). Edom--south of Judah, from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea; "Moab"--east of Jordan and the Dead Sea. Ammon--east of Judea, north of Moab, between the Arnon and Jabbok.”

“A fourth question has reference to the relation between this Israel of the future and the surrounding nations, such as the warlike Philistines, the predatory nomad tribes of the East, the unbrotherly Edomites, the boasting Moabites, and the cruel Ammonites. Will they not disturb and weaken the new Israel, as they did the old? "And they fly upon the shoulder of the Philistines seawards; unitedly they plunder the sons of the East: they seize upon Edom and Moab, and the sons of Ammon are subject to them." Câthēph (shoulder) was the peculiar name of the coast-land of Philistia which sloped off towards the sea (Jos 15:11); but here it is used with an implied allusion to this, to signify the shoulder of the Philistian nation (becâthēph = becĕthĕph; for the cause see at Isa 5:2), upon which Israel plunges down like an eagle from the height of its mountain-land. The "object of the stretching out of their hand" is equivalent to the object of their grasp. And whenever any one of the surrounding nations mentioned should attack Israel, the whole people would make common cause, and act together. How does this warlike prospect square, however, with the previous promise of paradisaical peace, and the end of all warfare which this promise presupposes (cf., Isa 2:4)? This is a contradiction, the solution of which is to be found in the fact that we have only figures here, and figures drawn from the existing relations and warlike engagements of the nation, in which the prophet pictures that supremacy of the future united Israel over surrounding nations, which is to be maintained by spiritual weapons.”