_The word that the Lord spake against Babylon_ This prophecy was delivered and sent to Babylon in the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign, as appears from Jeremiah 51:59. _Declare ye among the nations_ The downfall of Babylon was an event in which many nations were concerned, that empire having been a c... [ Continue Reading ]
_In those days_ Wherein God shall begin to execute judgment on Babylon; _the children of Israel shall come_, &c. This passage is primarily meant of the return of the Jews from their captivity, upon the destruction of the Babylonish monarchy. Many of the ten tribes, here termed _the children of Israe... [ Continue Reading ]
_My people hath been lost sheep_ All men are compared to sheep that go astray, Isaiah 53:6. Here this character is applied to the Jews, whom God calls his people, because of the ancient covenant made with their fathers. They are said to have been _lost_, either on account of their captivity, being c... [ Continue Reading ]
_Remove out of the midst of Babylon_ All exhortation often used by the prophets on this subject: see the margin. Some learned men suppose that this exhortation relates to the siege of Babylon carried on by Darius Hystaspes in the fifth and sixth years of his reign. Before which time God had warned t... [ Continue Reading ]
_For, lo, I will raise against Babylon_, &c. See Jeremiah 50:41, and Jeremiah 51:27. _From thence_, or, as משׁם, may be rendered, _immediately, she shall be taken. Their arrows_, &c. The Medes and Persians were famous for the use of the bow. _And Chaldea shall be a spoil_ To all her destroyers, who... [ Continue Reading ]
_Your mother shall be sore confounded_ Namely, Babylon the metropolis, or mother-city of the empire. Or, your country shall be ashamed of you, her children, who are not able to defend her. _Behold, the hindermost of the nations_, &c. The translation of this clause in the Vulgate seems much preferabl... [ Continue Reading ]
_Israel is a scattered sheep_ See note on Jeremiah 50:6. _The lions have driven him away_ As a lion coming among a flock of sheep scatters them one from another; so have these foreign invaders, enemies cruel as lions, served my people. _First, the king of Assyria hath devoured him_ Namely, Shalmanes... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon, and his land_ God may justly punish those who do the things that he hath commanded them to do, if they do them not in that manner in which he directs, or, if what they do be not done in obedience to his command, but for the satisfaction of their own lusts:... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will bring Israel again to his habitation_ I will take care of Israel as a shepherd does of his flock, and bring them back to their ancient habitations, and to their former peace and plenty. By Israel here is meant the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, the Levites and some Israelites who joined w... [ Continue Reading ]
_Go up against the land of Merathaim, and against Pekod_ Although these two words מרתים, _Merathaim_, and פקוד, _Pekod_, are considered by our translators as proper names; and the latter is so understood by the Chaldee paraphrast: yet all the other ancient versions agree in representing the former w... [ Continue Reading ]
_A sound of battle is in the land_ That is, in the land of Chaldea. _How is the hammer of the whole earth broken!_ That oppressive empire that smote the nations with a continual stroke, as is said Isaiah 14:6, and brought them under subjection to it. _I have laid a snare for thee; and thou art also... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Lord hath opened his armory_, &c. God hath raised up enemies to subdue the Chaldeans, namely, Cyrus and his confederates, and hath furnished them with all the means necessary for such an undertaking. _Come against her from the utmost border_ From distant parts, namely, from the Caspian and Euxi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Israel and Judah were oppressed together_ Not _together_ with respect to times, for there was a distance of one hundred and fifty years between the time of Israel's and Judah's being carried away captive; nor by the same enemy; Israel being carried away by the Assyrians, Judah by the Chaldeans. _To... [ Continue Reading ]
_A sword is upon the Chaldeans_ That is, there shall come a sword upon them. _Upon Babylon and her princes_ Who were slain together with their king, Belshazzar, at a feast, Jeremiah 51:39; Daniel 5:2. _And upon her wise men_ The Chaldeans were famous for their skill in astrology, and other arts of d... [ Continue Reading ]
_A drought is upon all her waters_ Our translators, after the example of the Vulgate and others, have rendered חרב, _a drought_, here, whereas they have translated it _a sword_ in the preceding verses, as supposing, it seems, that _a sword_ has nothing to do with _waters._ But they might very proper... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, a people shall come from the north_ Namely, the Medes; _and a great nation_ That is, who are a great nation; for this is no more than an explicative of the foregoing sentence. _And many kings_ Namely, the kings of the Persians, Armenians, Hyrcanians, Cadusians, and others who fought under C... [ Continue Reading ]