And I will take away his blood out of his mouth
The Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, read "their blood"; not the blood of the bastard, but of the Philistines. The Targum is, "I will destroy them that eat blood"; the meaning may be, that they shall no more thirst after blood, nor drink it; nor breathe out threatenings and slaughter against the saints, or persecute the people of God: or that they should no more offer the blood of their sacrifices upon the altars to their deities, or eat things sacrificed to them: and his abominations from between his teeth;
their idols and idolatries they were tenacious of, as a man is of his food, or of any thing that is grateful to him; it may design things sacrificed to idols, eaten by them: but he that remaineth, even he [shall be] for our God:
the Targum paraphrases it,
``and the proselytes that remain among them, they also shall be added to the people of our God:''Jarchi interprets it of the synagogues and schools in the captivity of Edom or Rome; but Aben Ezra's note is much better, that there shall be none remaining of the Philistines, but only such who serve the blessed God openly: but the true sense is, that here should be a remnant, according to the election of grace, who should evidently appear to be the Lord's people, by their conversion and effectual calling: and he shall be as a governor in Judah;
``they shall be as the princes of the house of Judah;''that is, as the heads of the families in that tribe; see ( Micah 5:2 ) compared with ( Matthew 2:6 ) all true Christians are as princes, yea, they are kings and priests unto God; and some of them are (Plak) , as a guide, teacher; and instructor of others; who go before them, and instruct them in the doctrines of the Gospel, as pastors and ministers of the word: and Ekron as a Jebusite;
``and Ekron shall be filled with the house of Israel, as Jerusalem.''The Syriac version is, "and Ekron shall be as Hebron".