She sent out her boughs unto the sea - To the Mediterranean Sea on the one side.

And her branches - Her sucklings. The word is usually applied to little children, and means here the little branches that are nourished by the parent vine.

Unto the river - The Euphrates, for so the river usually means in the Scriptures. The Euphrates on the one side, and the Mediterranean Sea on the other, were the natural and proper boundaries of the country as promised to Abraham. See Psalm 72:8; 1 Kings 4:21. Compare the notes at Psalm 60:1-12.

She sent out her boughs unto the sea and her branches unto the river - The Israelitish empire extended from the River Euphrates on the east to the Mediterranean Sea on the west, and from the same Euphrates on the north of the promised land to its farthest extent on the south; Syria bounding the north, and Arabia and Egypt the south. And this was according to the promises which God had made to the fathers, Exodus 23:31; Deuteronomy 11:24.

She sent out her boughs unto the sea,.... The Mediterranean, or midland sea, which was the border of the land of Canaan to the west:

and her branches unto the river; the river Euphrates, which was its border to the east; see Deuteronomy 11:24. This, in the spiritual sense of it, will have its accomplishment in the church of Christ, when he shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth, Psalm 72:8. The Targum is,

"she sent out her disciples to the great sea, and to the river Euphrates her babes;''

or sucklings.

She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the {h} river.

(h) That is, Euphrates.

80:11 The river - They possessed the whole land, from the mid - land sea to the river Euphrates.

80:8-16 The church is represented as a vine and a vineyard. The root of this vine is Christ, the branches are believers. The church is like a vine, needing support, but spreading and fruitful. If a vine do not bring forth fruit, no tree is so worthless. And are not we planted as in a well-cultivated garden, with every means of being fruitful in works of righteousness? But the useless leaves of profession, and the empty boughs of notions and forms, abound far more than real piety. It was wasted and ruined. There was a good reason for this change in God's way toward them. And it is well or ill with us, according as we are under God's smiles or frowns. When we consider the state of the purest part of the visible church, we cannot wonder that it is visited with sharp corrections. They request that God would help the vine. Lord, it is formed by thyself, and for thyself, therefore it may, with humble confidence, be committed to thyself.