13. it is a trial--rather, "There is a trial" being made: the sword
of the Lord will subject all to the ordeal. "What, then, if it contemn
even the rod" (scepter of Judah)? Compare as to a similar scourge of
unsparing trial,
Job 9:23.
it shall be no more--the scepter, that is, the state, must
necessarily then come to an end. Fulfilled in part at the overthrow of
Judah by Nebuchadnezzar, but fully at the time of "Shiloh's" (Messiah's)
coming
(Ge 49:10),
when Judea became a Roman province.
JFB.
Picture Study Bible