_The burden of the desert of the sea_ THE DESERT OF THE SEA This enigmatical name for Babylon was no doubt suggested by the actual character of the country in which the city stood. It was an endless breadth or succession of undulations “like the sea,” without any cultivation or even any tree: low... [ Continue Reading ]
_Anoint the shield_ “ANOINT THE SHIELD” The ancient shields being mostly of stout leather stretched over a frame or rim of metal or wood, it was necessary to rub them with oil, lest they should become hard and crack, or lest they should become so rigid that an arrow or spear might easily penetrate... [ Continue Reading ]
_O My threshing, and the corn of My floor_ GOD’S THRESHING Babylon is the instrument employed by the Divine wrath to thresh with. But love takes part also in the work of threshing, and restrains the action of wrath. A picture likely to give comfort to the grain lying for threshing on the floor, _... [ Continue Reading ]
_The burden of Dumah_ THE BURDEN OF DUMAH Like Moab, Edom had once formed part of David’s dominions, but in the days of disruption and weakness both had rebelled. What about Edom now? When Moab was so soon to fall--when the Assyrian was spreading devastation all around--what was to be Edom’s fate... [ Continue Reading ]
_The burden upon Arabia_ ARABIA The term “Arabia,” in the Old Testament, is not used in such a wide sense as in modern English, and denotes merely a particular, tribe, having its home in the northern part of what is now known as the Arabian peninsula, and mentioned in Ezekiel 27:20, by the side of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, sad all the glory of Kedar shall fail_ END OF THE YEAR: A WARNING AND A LESSON I. A TERRIBLE THREATENING. We have here a prophecy of the fall of a nation, which had held a proud position by reason of prowess and skill in war. But glory founded... [ Continue Reading ]