For there shall be a day, in which the watchmen on mount Ephraim, shall cry: Arise, and let us go up to Sion to the Lord our God.

“the watchers shall call The lookouts at the tops of the lofty towers to announce with a voice heard a distance away. Another explanation: נֹצְרִים is like “He keeps (נֹצֵר) lovingkindness” (Exod. 34:7), an expression of keeping. That is to say: There is a day when they will call those who kept the Torah and say, “Rise...” And so did Jonathan render: There are many days and much goodness that is destined to come to the righteous who kept My Torah from days of old.”

“Here he consoles them by the promise of prosperity: and concerning this he does two things. First he promises the prosperity of the nation; second, the enlargement of the city, there, "behold the days are coming," and so forth. The first is divided into three. In the first he consoles the ten tribes; in the second, the two, there, "thus says the Lord," etc.; in the third, both, there, "behold the days will come," and so forth. The first is divided into two. In the first is set forth the restoration of the destroyed people; in the second, the order of the restoration, there, "for thus says the Lord: exult with gladness, Jacob." Concerning the first, three things. First he promises them the restoration to the worship of religion: "at that time," either after the return from Babylon, to all, as regards those of the ten tribes who adhered to the two; or as regards all, since all Israel will be saved, after the fullness of the Gentiles has entered in: to Rom. 11. Apoc. 20: "they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, their God." Second, he promises restoration to the place of birth, promising the benefit of the recall: the people who had remained from the sword of Babylon, in the desert, in the land of captivity, in which they will seem forsaken by God, through which, having been purged, they returned to their own land, just as of old through the desert to the land of promise, "found grace," that is, this mercy with God, "that he will go to rest," that is, to his own land, in which he shall rest in peace: which can be explained mystically as regards the peace they had in the time of Simon Maccabeus: 1 Mach. 14. Isa. 13: "my people shall sit in the beauty of peace, and in the tents of confidence, and in wealthy rest." Determining the time of the recall: "from afar" — before it was to come to be — "he appeared," revealing the future liberation. Above, 28: "I will break the yoke of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon after two years of days from the neck of all nations." Habac. 2: "yet it is seen afar off, and it shall appear in the end, and shall not lie." And showing the affection of the one who recalls: "with an everlasting love have I loved you," as if to say: not for a time but forever he has bestowed good things on you; "he has drawn" — to your place — "having mercy," fulfilling mercy outwardly with a kindness. Hosea 11: "I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bonds of love." Above, 2: "I have remembered you, pitying your youth, and the love of your espousal." Third, he promises the recall to a state of prosperity: and first he promises prosperity as regards the repair of the nation: "and again I will build," according to the metaphor by which the house of Israel is spoken of. Above, 24: "I will build them up, and not destroy them; I will plant them, and not pluck them up." As regards the gladness of the heart: "virgin of Israel, you shall be adorned with your timbrels," that is, adorned you shall go forth playing to the beat of the timbrel. Isa. 30: "gladness of heart, as he who goes with the pipe, to enter into the mountain of the Lord, to the mighty one of Israel." And as regards the tranquility of peace: "you shall yet plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria," on account of the three cities which were added to the Jews: 1 Mach. 10: "they shall plant until the time comes"; as if to say: on account of fear of enemies they will not forestall the time of the vintage. Isa. 65: "they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruits of them." Second, he assigns the reason for the prosperity: "for there shall be a day"; in which is signified the return to the worship of God, to which they exhort one another. In Sion, and not in Bethel to the calves of Jeroboam: 3 Reg. 12. And Isa. 2: "come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us ways, and we will walk in his paths."”

“For there shall be a day,.... The whole Gospel dispensation is "a day", made so by the bright rising of the sun of righteousness; here it seems to design some certain fixed period of time in that dispensation, when the light of the Gospel will break out most gloriously, and it will be a clear day; as it will be when the Jews will be converted: that the watchmen upon the mount Ephraim; the same with the mountains of Samaria; for Samaria was the head or metropolis of Ephraim, Isa 7:9; and these are the watchmen that kept the vines there, Jer 31:5; for the allusion is not to watchmen of states and cities, but to watchers of vineyards, and to such the ministers of the Gospel are compared, Sol 1:6. Grotius thinks there is an allusion in the word "Notzerim" to the title of Nazarenes, given to Christ and his followers; and Abarbinel the Jew on the place observes, that the prophet, by the Holy Ghost, foresaw that the Romans would believe in Jesus of Nazareth, and therefore would be called Nazarenes from him; see Act 24:5; so that Christian ministers may be well thought to be here intended: who shall cry, arise ye; lift up their voice like a trumpet, and cry aloud to persons as asleep, or in dead and lifeless frames, to awake, arouse, and rise up, and shake off their sloth and indolence, saying: and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God; to the church of God, to attend the word of God, his worship and ordinances; to which sometimes there is a backwardness, arising from sloth, from a lukewarm frame of spirit, from a love of the world, and a vain conceit of their own sufficiency and knowledge; and it is the business of Gospel ministers to stir up persons to frequent the house of God, and attend public worship in it; since it is not only their duty, but their interest and privilege; here they have true pleasure, and real profit; and it is to their honour to continue here, and not forsake the assembling of themselves together: but they should not rest here, trusting to, and depending on, these things; but should go "to the Lord their God"; not only seek and pray unto him, but should be desirous of hearing of him, and from him; of seeing him, his power and his glory, and him in his beauty; and of having communion with him; and should exercise faith upon him as their own God. Christ seems to be intended; going to him is exercising faith upon him, for righteousness and strength, peace, pardon, life, and salvation; and saying, as Thomas did, "my Lord, and my God", Joh 20:28.”

“The watchmen stationed on eminences (types of the preachers of the gospel), shall summon the ten tribes to go up to the annual feasts at Jerusalem ("Zion"), as they used to do before the revolt and the setting up of the idol calves at Dan and Beer-sheba (Eze 37:21-22). Mount Ephraim--not one single mountain, but the whole mountainous region of the ten tribes. our God--from whom we formerly revolted, but who is now our God. An earnest of that good time to come is given in the partial success of the gospel in its first preaching in Samaria (John 4:1-42; Acts 8:5-25).”