Jeremiah 49:2

Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the LORD. RABBAH - the great, metropolis of Ammon (). Its destruction is foretold also in ; Amos 1:14. HER DAUGHTERS SHALL BE BURNED WITH FIRE - the towns and villages dependencies of the metropolis (). THEN SHALL ISRAEL BE HEIR UNTO THEM THAT WERE HIS HEIRS -...

God testifies here plainly that he would not suffer the Ammonites for ever to enjoy their unjust plunder. He says that _the days would come_, in order to sustain with hope the minds of his children: for the Prophet announced his prediction at a time when the Ammonites were in a state of security; and then, some years elapsed while that people enjoyed their spoils. He therefore holds here the minds of the faithful in suspense, that they might learn patiently to wait until the fixed time of God’s vengeance came. For this reason, then, he says, that the _days _would _come _when God would _cause the trumpet of war to resound in Rabbah _He speaks as of a thing extraordinary, for the Ammonites thought, as we shall see, that they should never be in any danger. As, then, they proudly trusted in their own strength, the Prophet speaks here of the trumpet of war in Rabbah, which was the metropolis...

RABBAH - i. e., the “great city.” See 2 Samuel 12:27 note for a distinction between Rabbah, the citadel, and the town itself, lying below upon the Jabbok. DAUGHTERS - i. e., unwalled villages (and in Jeremiah 49:3). SHALL ISRAEL BE HEIR ... - i. e., “shall be victor over his victors;” compare Micah 1:15....

EXPOSITION On Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar and Hazer, and Elam. JEREMIAH 49:1 The violence of the Ammonites shall be severely punished. JEREMIAH 49:1 HATH ISRAEL NO SONS! The violent seizure, perpetrated before his eyes, of parts of the sacred territory, forces the indignant question from the prophet, "How can these things be?" It was so on a former occasion (see Jeremiah 2:14), and it is so again, now that the Ammonites are occupying the land of the Gadites. True, the present generation has lost its property, but the next is the heir to all its rights and privileges. THEIR KING; rather, _their King—_the

THEREFORE, BEHOLD, THE DAYS COME, SAITH THE LORD,.... Or, "are coming" y; as they did, in a very little time after this prophecy: THAT I WILL CAUSE AN ALARM OF WAR TO BE HEARD IN RABBAH OF THE AMMONITES; the metropolis of the Ammonites; it was their royal city in the times of David, 1 Kings 11:1; called by Polybius z Rabbahamana; and by Ptolemy a Philadelphia, which name it had from Ptolemy Philadelphus, who rebuilt it; this the Lord threatens with the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war, or the noise of warriors, as the Targum; the Chaldean army under Nebuchadnezzar, who, about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, subdued the Ammonites, as Josephus b relates: AND IT SHALL BE A DESOLATE HEAP; be utterly destroyed; its walls broken down, and houses demolished, and made a heap of rubbish: and her daughters shall be burnt with

CHAPTER 49 Concerning Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, and Elam _ 1. Concerning the Ammonites (Jeremiah 49:1) _ 2. Concerning Edom (Jeremiah 49:7) 3. Concerning Damascus (Jeremiah 49:23) 4. Concerning Kedar and Hazor (Jeremiah 49:28) 5. Against Elam (Jeremiah 49:34) Ammon was the younger brother of Moab, and, like the Moabites, the Ammonites were a wicked people, though they had no cities like Moab, but were restless wanderers; they were also the enemies of Israel. The predic

AMMON. The Ammonite territory lay eastward of part of that assigned to Gad, between Heshbon and the river Jabbok; the Ammonites appear to have occupied the territory of Gad after the deportation of its inhabitants in 734 (2 Kings 15:29). Why has Milcom seized the land of Gad as his inheritance (1 _mg._ 2)_ ?_ As a penalty, there shall be war against Rabbah (the chief city of Ammon, at the upper sources of the Jabbok), and it shall become a desolate mound, its dependent cities (daughters, Numbers 21:25) being burnt. Let there be mourning for the coming exile of the Ammonites (Jeremiah 49:3). Rabbah's pride in her site and in her wealth is rebuked ...

BEHOLD. Figure of speech _Asterismos._ RABBAH. Now _'Amman,_ on the highlands of Gilead.. large Roman city was built there four centuries later, called "Philadelphia". Its ruins yet remain. HEAP. _tel._ DAUGHTERS: i.e. villages, or smaller dependent towns....

_Rabbah_ now _-Ammân_, their capital city, on the river Jabbok, fourteen miles N.E. of Heshbon. _a desolate heap_ See on Jeremiah 30:18. _her daughters_ the minor cities depending on her; so Jeremiah 49:3....

RABBAH OF THE AMMONITES— A capital city of that country. Her _daughters_ mean the smaller cities or villages. _THEN SHALL ISRAEL BE HEIR,_ &C.— This is understood to have been fulfilled, when Judas Maccabeus defeated the Ammonites, and took their towns, Genesis 5:6, &c. Zephaniah speaks in like manner, ch. Jeremiah 2:9. _The residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them._ But both prophets may perhaps refer to still future times, when Israel shall be finally restored to their own land, as is frequently foretold of them, and not only recover their own ancient possessions, but succeed likewise to the vacant possessions of their once hostile neighbours, long before extinct and irrecoverably lost....