but I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive it into a land barren and desolate, its forepart into the eastern sea, and its hinder part into the western sea; and its stench shall come up, and its ill savor shall come up, because it hath done great things.
God does not merely promise the Jews freedom from mockery; He declares plainly that He will drive away the Assyrians, those very enemies now armed and terrifying them. The Jews needed this express word, or anxiety would have devoured them. He means the northern powers, the Chaldeans and Assyrians, whose strength is nothing when God chooses to scatter them into desolate places.
AI summary
The Northlander is the Assyrian or Babylonian, whose native land lies north of Palestine, not the locust, which comes from Arabia. These are the type of all Israel's enemies, from Sennacherib onward. The stench of their putrefying bodies in the seas and desert will breed pestilence; they die in shame, having magnified themselves against God.
AI summary
The northern army refers to the Assyrians or Chaldeans from the north, not locusts, which come from the south or east. The prophecy describes their complete destruction: driven into barren wasteland with no food, their front ranks drowning in the eastern sea and their rear in the western sea, they will starve and perish.
AI summary