They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a faulty bow. Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.
Harper is probably correct, such a view emphasizing the truth that Israel had failed to achieve the purpose for which God had called them and established them in the land of Canaan.  Their purpose was to preserve for the benighted citizens of Adam's race the knowledge of the one true God, as distinguished from the gross idolatry into which the entire pre-Christian Gentile world had fallen.  Instead of doing so, they promptly joined in the near-universal paganism and themselves forgot the true God. Their purpose included the segregation of the chosen people for the objective of ushering the Messiah into the world, when, in the fulfillment of God's plans, the Saviour would be born in Bethlehem; but instead, Ephraim had so mixed himself with the pagan peoples of his day that the fulfillment of God's purpose became impossible.  Israel (the northern country) was useless for the achievement of such holy purposes, and therefore God removed them.  The fulfillment of the high hopes and purposes of God would thenceforth rest in its entirety upon the southern kingdom of Judah, and Israel would be forsaken forever.