House of Judah. The southern kingdom (see 1 Kings 11:31, 32).
House of Joseph. The ten tribes comprising the northern kingdom of Israel are thus named because the most numerous and prominent of the northern tribes was that of Ephraim, a son of Joseph (Gen. 41:50-52).
As though. To the returned exiles God promised restoration full and free. If they had cooperated with the purposes of Heaven, they soon would have enjoyed a prosperity not to be distinguished from that which it had been their privilege earlier to obtain (see pp. 31,32).
Thus it may be with the sinner. Though guilty of grievous transgression, he may obtain pardon full and free. When, by faith, he accepts the righteousness of Christ, he is accepted before God as if he had not sinned (see SC 62).