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I. THE DENUNCIATION OF IT.

1. The Author of it. "The Lord."

(1)  His sovereignty and power. It is He only that is able to punish; it is He only that hath all men and creatures under His command.

(2)  His purity. There are none who are so fit to punish others as those who are innocent persons.

2. The nature of it. "The Lord will cut off." From correction He passes to destruction. First, He cuts them short; and if that will do no good upon them, He cuts them off. First the pruning knife, then the axe. There is a two-fold sword which God makes use of for cutting with, before He proceeds to cut off; the sword of His mouth, i.e., the Word of God, and the sword of His hand, i.e., the rod of God. "He will."

(1)  A word of premonition. Despise not God's gracious hints and admonitions of judgment beforehand.

(2)  A word of procrastination. God is slow to anger.

(3)  A word of resolution. God will not be always willing; He will be at last doing.

3. The subject of it. If Israel shall provoke God by their impenitency and obstinacy against Him, even Israel shall be punished and cut off by Him (1 Peter 4:17).

II. THE EXTENT OF IT. That we have expressed in a double metaphor; the one from the nature of the head and the tail; the other from the nature of a tree, in the branches and roots: both of them coming to one and the same purpose. Whereby we have signified to us the universality and impartiality of the destruction which is here threatened; it shall be of so general an extent, as to reach to all sorts of persons, high and low, rich and poor, great and small, to one as well as to another.

1. The metaphor taken from a body in the head and the tail. We may reduce it by way of explication to a threefold rank of —

(1)  Age: old and young.

(2)  Estate: rich and poor.

(3)  Place or authority: governors and governed; magistrates, ministers, and those who are subordinate and in subjection to them.

2. The metaphor taken from the nature of a tree or plant: the branch and the rush. It is not said the branch and the root, because the Lord reserved a remnant which should be spared by Him. But the branch and the rush; the branch as an emblem of usefulness — persons of parts and employments; the rush as a note of unfruitfulness — idle and unprofitable persons. The branch is a note of strength and solidity; the rush of weakness and inconstancy. The branch (in like manner as the head) is a note of supremacy, the rush of meanness, In the execution of public judgments for the impenitency and incorrigibleness of a nation, God's hand is indifferent and impartial; He will spare no ranks or sorts or conditions of people at all

III. THE TIME OR SEASON OF IT. "In one day." It is a day —

1. In regard of the certainty of it, as that which is set and fixed.

2. In regard of the suddenness, as that which is speedy and soon accomplished.

(T. Horton, D. D.)

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KJV: Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.

WEB: Therefore Yahweh will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed, in one day.