Exposition of the Whole Bible

of nots a noify, big and blufterous king in words, but in deeds nothing: be hath paffed the time appointed, to join his auxiliaries, in order to give the enemy battel; and fo left them in the lurch, of which they complain; or thro’ his dilatorinefs loft the proper opportunity of attacking him. Some indeed underftand it, not of the king of Egypt, but of the king of Babylon, as if the fenfe was this, the Egyptians cried aloud, and encouraged themfelves and their allies againft the king of Babylon, faying, what Feremiah the. prophet faid concerning Pharaoh king of Egypt and his deftruction, is all mere noife; there is nothing in it; for the time fet by him for that event is pafied and over: others, becaufe the word has fometimes the fignification of a folemn meeting or feftival, take the meaning to be; that Pharaoh king of Egypt being brought to utter deftruction, as the word for oi/e may fignify, or being a noify tumultuous prince, who brought ruin on himfelf and others, has thereby caufed the folemn feafts to pafs away ", or the feftivals to ceafe; whether in a civil or a religious way; but the firft fenfe feems beft.

¥. 18. As I live, faith the king, whofe name is the Lord of hofts, &c.| A greater king than either Nebuchadnezzar or Pharaoh; the Lord of the armies of heaven and earth; and who has them all at his command and fervice; fwears by his life, by himfelf, becaufe he can fwear by no greater, to the truth of what follows; for this is the form of an oath: /urely, as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the fea, fo fhall he come. Tabor is commonly faid to be the mountain on which our Lord was transfigured; but that there is any juft foundation for it, is not certain. It was a mountain in Galilee, fituated on the borders of the tribes of Lfachar and Zebulun, Fofh. xix. 12, 22. it was two leagues from Nazareth eattward ®; three miles trom the lake of Genezareth; ten miles from Dzocefarea to the eaft; and two days journey from Ferufalem°. Adrichomius” fays, it was a moft beautiful mountain, fituated in the midft of the plain ot Galilee, remarkable for its roundnefs, and was thirty furlongs high, abounding with vines, olives, and fruit-trees, with which it was fet all over; and gave to thofe at feaa moft delightful fight, at a confiderable diftance. Our countryman Mr. Maundrel 4, who travelled up it, gives this account of it; that it ‘¢ ftands by itfelf in the plain of E dra-

“* elon (the fame the {fcripture calls the valley of <* Fezreel), after a very laborious afcent (fays he) ** which took up near an hour, we reached the higheft part of the mountain: it has a plain area ** at top, moft fertile and delicious; of an oval “* figure, extended about one furlong in breadth, and two in length: this area is inclofed with trees on all parts, except towards the fouth.” It is called by the Septuagint, Fofephus, and other writers, [tabyrium. Carmel is with great propriety called Carmel by the fea: it was fituated on the border of the tribe of Aber; and near to it was the Tiver Kifhon, Fofh. xix. 26. 1 Kings xviii. 40, 43. So Mr. Maundrel * fays, ‘* we arrived in two hours

PNY oss bse) rex /Egypti, rex tumultus, Munfter, Vatablus; rex perturbationis, Calvin; fo Ben Melech; Tex

; *D quia ficut in mare veniet, Schmidt.

*¢ at that ancient fiver, the river Ki/box, which “« cuts his way down the middle of the plain of ‘ Hjdraelon, and then continuing his courfe cloie ‘ by the fide of mount Carme/, falls into the fea “* at a place called Caypha;” by which Dlink all that the mount was near the fea; and Piizy * ca it a promontory; and places it on the Phenician fhore; on which he fays were the promontory Carmel, and a town upon the mountain of the fame name, formerly called Eebatana. Adrichomius* gives it the name of Carmel of the fea; and fays it was a very high mountain, and woody, abounding with moft noble vines, olives, fruit-trees, and odoriferous herbs. So Yo/epbus * makes mention of Capmel, and the fea together;»he fays, the Zebulonites obtained land as far as the lake of Genezareth, contiguous to Carmel and the fea; and their being near to each other appears from a paflage in the YerufalemTalmud”, lays ‘* R. Samuel Bar Chaja Bar Fu- ‘© dab, in the name of A. Chanina, when the orb “‘ of the fun begins to fet, a man ftanding on “* mount Carmel, and goes down and dips in the “< great fea (the Mediterranean fea) and goes up ‘“* again, and eats his zeruma (or offering). it it a ‘* pre{umption that he dipped in the day-time;” and which is alfo evident from the paffage in 1 Kings XViil. 42, 43. where Edyah and his fervant ate faid to be on the top of mount Carme/, and from thence he bid his fervant look towards the fea: now thefe mountains fo fituated, are taken notice of, either to fhew the manner of the king of Badylon’s coming aginit Hgypt; that as Tabor and Carmel were high mountains in the land of J/rae/, fo fhould Nebuchadnezzar litt up his head on high, and come with great pride and haughtinefs ot {pirit againft the Egyptians, or rather the certainty of his coming, that he fhould come as fure as thofe mountains were in the places they were; or beft of all, the certainty of the deftruction of the Egyptians, and the truth of this prophecy concerning it; tho’ the Egyptians were as firm, and might’ think themfelves as fecure and as immoveable as the above mountains, yet fhould certainly come to ruin, and the word of God concerning it fhould ftand as firm as they. ‘To this fenfe agrees the Zargum, ‘* as this word ftands firm, that Zador is among ‘¢ the mountains, and Carme/ in the fea, fo fhall ‘* his deftruction come.” The words, according to the accents, may be better rendered, as Tabor among the mountains, and Carmel alfo, ‘be fhall come into the Jfea*; that is, Pharaoh, tho’ he lift up his head as high as Yabor and Carmel, he fhall be brought low into the depths of the fea; into a moft forlorn and deplorable condition, into a very low eftate; and perhaps there may be an allufion to the ancient Pharaoh being drowned in the fea; and with this agrees the Syriac verfion, Pharaoh foall fall as the fragment of a mountain, and as Carmel, into the midft of the fea, compare with this Matt, xi. 23.

y. 19. O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, 8ec.} That is, O ye inhabitants of Egypt, that have long dwelt there, in great fecurity, enjoying great plenty, and who promifed themfelves a long con- ia ’ tranfire fecit folennitatem, De Dieu.

Rint ise ° Vid. Reland. Paleftina 4 Journey from

Tabor in montibus, & ficut Carmel (fcil. in montibus eft) ita tinuance: furnifh thyfelf to go into captivity; or, make or prepare for thyfelf veffels of captivity’, or fuch things as are proper for captives, as fuitable cloaths to travel in, fhoes to walk in, fcrip and ftaff, and the like; expect captivity, and prepare for it: for Noph fhall be wafte and defolate without an inhabitant; the city Memphis, as the Targum, and all the verfions: this is particularly mentioned, becaufe it was a royal city, as Kimchi obferves; and tho’ a very populous one, its deftru€tion fhould be fo general, that not an inhabitant fhould be left in it: the devaftation of this city is put for that of all the reft, and as a fure token of it and the whole nation going into captivity.

‘¥. 20. Egypt is like a very fair heifer, &c.| Like an heifer that has never been under a yoke, it having never been conquered, and brought under the power of another; and like a beautiful, fat, and well-fed one, abounding in wealth and riches, in pleafures and delights, in wantonnefs and luxury, and fit for flaughter, and ready for it. The Targum is, ** Egypt was a beautiful kingdom.” Some think there is an allufion to the gods of Egypt, Apis and Muevis, which were heifers or oxen, very beautiful, that had fine fpots and marks upon

Heliopolis, the city of the fun, the fame with Beth- Joemefo, whole deftruction is prophefied of in ch. xliii. 13. fee the note there; and both thefe were of various colours, as Ovid * fays, particularly of one of them, and is true of both. Pomponius

Mela * obferves of Apis, the god of all the people of

Egypt, that it was a black ox, remarkable for certain fpots; and unlike to others in its tongue and tail.’

And Solinus » fays, it is famous for a white fpot on its right fide, in the form of a new moon: with whom Pliny * agrees, that it has a white fpot on the right fide, like the horns of the moon, when it begins to increafe; and that it has a knot under the tongue, which they call a beetle. And fo Herodotus * fays, it is very black, and has a white four-fquare fpot on the forehead; on the back, the effigies of an eagle; two hairs in the tail, and a beetle on the tongue. To which may be added what Strabo* reports, that at Memphis, the royal city of Egypt, is the temple of Apis, the fame with Ofiris; where the ox of pis is fed in an inclofure, and reckoned to be a god; it is white in its forehead, and in fome fmall parts of the body, and the reft black; by which marks and figns, it is always judged what is proper to be put in its place when dead. In the table of Js‘, publifhed by Pignorius, it is otherwife painted and defcribed; its head, neck, horns, buttocks and tail black, and the reft white; and on the right fide, a corniculated ftreak. lianus® fays, thefe marks were in number twenty-nine, and according to the Egyptians, were fymbols of things; fome, of the nature of the ftars; fome, of the overflowing of the Nile; fome, of the darknefs of the world before the light, and of other things: and all agree, that the ox looked fair and beautiful, to which the allufion is; and | there may be in the words an ironical farcafm, flout

Apis was worfhipped at Memphis, or Noph before-mentioned, as to be wafted{,; and Myevis at not fave them from the deftruction coming upon them, as follows: but deftruéfion cometh, it cometh from the north; that is, the deftruction of Egypt, which fhould come from Cha/dea, which lay north of Egypt, and the coming of it is repeated, to denote the quicknefs and certainty of it: the word ufed fignifies a cutting off, or a cutting up; in allufion to the cutting off the necks of heiférs, which ufed to be done when flain, Devt. xxi. 4. or to che cutting of them up, as is done by butchers: and the abitract being put for the concrete, it may be rendered, the cutter up; or, cutter off; men, like butchers, fhall come out of Babylon, and flay and cut up this heifer.. So the Targum, ** people, that ** are flayers, fhall come out of the north againft “« her, to fpoil her’;” that is, the Chaldean army, agreeable to the Syriac verfion, ‘* an army fhall ** come out of the north againft her.”

y. 21. All ber hired men are in the midft of ber like fatted bullocks, 8c.] Or, bullocks of the fiall*; foldiers of other countries, that were hired into the fervice of Egypt, and lived fo delicioufly there, that they were unfit for war, and were like fatted beafts prepared for the flaughter. The Targum and Farchi interpret it, her princes!; who had the care of this heifer, and of the feeding of it; thefe themfelves were like that, nourifhed for the day of flaughter:

for they alfo are turned back, and are fled away together; they turned their backs upon the enemy

in battel, and fled in great confufion and precipitancy; fee ¥. 15, 16: they did not fiand, and face the enemy, and fight him, but fell or fled before him: ecaufe the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their vifitation, the time appointed by the Lord to vifit and punifh them, and bring deftruction on them for their fins.

¥. 22. The voice thereof foall go like a ferpent, &c.] That is, the voice of Egypt, before compared to a heifer, when in its glory; but now it fhall not bellow like a heifer in fat pafture, but hifs like a ferpent, when drove out of its hole, and purfued; fignifying, that their voice fhould be low and fubmiffive, and fhould not fpeak one big or murmuring word to their conquerors. The voice - of the ferpent is, by Ariffotle™, faid to be fmall and weak; fo Alianus". Tho’ Farchi, Kimchi, and Abarbinel, underftand it of the voice of ferpents heard afar off; and fo it may refpe¢ct the dreadful lamentation the Egyptians fhould make, when they fhould fee the Chaldeans come upon them to deftroy them; juft as ferpents in woods make a horrible noife, when they are fet on fire, or are cut down, to which there is an allufion in fome following claufes. “The Yargum feems to interpret this of the Chaldean army thus, ‘* the voice of the “< clafhing of their arms as ferpents creeping;” and of them the following words are certainly meant: for they fhall march with an army; the Targum adds, againft you; the meaning is, that the Chaldeans fhould come with a great army, and march againft the Egyptians with great ftrength, force, and fury: and come againft her with axes, as bewers of wood; with battel-axes, as if they came to cut down trees;° nor would they fpare the Egyp- and jeer at the gods they’ worfhipped, which could ¢ians, any more than fuch hewers do the trees;

nor would they be able any more to refift them, than trees can refift hewers of wood.

¥. 23. They foall cut down her foreft, faith the Lord, &c.] The land of Egypt, compared to a foreft, for the multitude of its cities and towns, and the inhabitants of them; which fhould be deftroyed by the Chaldeans, as a foreft is cut down by hewers of wood; the metaphor is here continued. The _ Targum interprets this of the princes of Egypt, and the deftruétion of them. Iho’ it cannot be fearched; either the foreft of Egypt, which was fo thick of trees; that is, the land was fo full of towns and cities, that they could not be fearched and numbered; and tho’ the way thro’ it feemed impaffable, yet was made paffable by the hewers of wood: or its deftruétion would be fo general, that it cannot be fearched °, or found out, where this foreft was, where thofe trees grew, not one of them ftanding: or elfe this is to be underftood of the Chaldean army, which was fo great, that it could not be numbered: Jecaufe they are more than the grafboppers, and are innumerable; which creatures come in large numbers, and eat up every green tree and herb; and fo the Chaldean army, being alike numerous, would eafily cut down the trees of this foreft, tho’ they were fo many.

¥. 24. The daughter of Egypt fhall be confounded, &c.] Brought to fhame before all the nations of the earth, being conquered by the Chaldeans; that is, the kingdom of Egypt, as the Targum, or the inhabitants of it, being fubdued and carried captive: fhe fhall be delivered into the band of the people of the north; the Chaldeans,\who dwelt northward of £gypt, as is manifeft from what follows.

y. 25. Ihe Lord of hofts, the God of L/rael faith, &c.] Thefe titles are often given to the Lord, and fet before prophecies that come from him; and, according to Kimchi, the reafon why he is here fpoken of as the God of J/rael, was, becaufe the vengeance threatened to the Egyptians, fhould come upon them, as a punifhment for ufing J/rael ill; as Shifbak king of Egypt, and Pharaoh Necho, who flew Fofiah: bebold, I will punifhb the multitude of No; the inhabitants of it, which were many, called populous No, Nab. iti. 8. a famous city in Egypt. Some take it to be Dio/polis or Thebes; and others?, the fame that is now called Alexandria; and fo the Targum renders it; and which is followed by the Vulgate Latin verfion: and Farchi calls it the feignory or government of Alexandria, and takes Amon, the word for multitude, to fignify the prince of this place; and fo Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it, king of a city called No: rather Jupiter Ammon 2 is meant, an idol of the Egyptians, which had a temple in Thebes, and was worfhipped in it; and who had his name from Ham, the fon of Noah. Hillerus*, by various arguments, endeavours to prove, that No is the fame city with Memphis, and that No Amon fignifies the habitation of the nourifbed; that is, of Apis, which was nourifhed here. But be he who he will, or the place what it will, he or that would certainly be punifhed, And Pharaoh, and kgypt, with their gods, and their kings, Pharaob, the prefent king of Egypt, who was Pharaoh Hlophra, and all the land of Egypt; and all their numerous idols, which were many indeed; and the feveral governors of the nomes or provinces into which the land was diftributed; thefe fhould be punifhed, and fuffer in the general calamity: Aves Pharaoh, and all them that truft in him; the Fews that dwelt in Egypt, and who thought themielvés © fafe under his protection; fuch who went alo with Yebanan thither, contrary to the will of God; thefe fhould not efcape punifhment, but be involved in the fame deftruction. a

¥. 26. And I will deliver them into the band fe thofe that feek their lives, &c.] Into the hands) of ' the Chaldeans, that is, the king of Egypt, and all’

his people, and thofe that trufted in him) and» into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of bis fervants; his general officers, that commanded in his army under him. Berofus*, the Chaldean, makes mention of Nebuchadnexzar’s cartying the Egyptians captive into Babylon. _ And afterwards it foall be inhabited, as in the days of old; after forty years, as Ezekiel, prophefied, ch. xxix. 13, 14. not that it fhould rife to the fame glory and dignity as before, for it would be but a bafe kingdom; but whereas it was) defolate and uninhabited after this deftruétion, it fhould now be inhabited again.

¥. 27. But fear thou not, O my fervant-Facob, and be not difmayed, O Ifrael, &c.}] The fame things are faid in ch. xxx. 10. fee the note there: behold, I will fave thee from afar off, and thy feed Jrom the land of their captivity; Grotius thinks the Jews carried into Egypt by Pharaoh Necho, along with Fehoabaz, are meant; but it does not appear that any were carried captive along with him, 2 Kings xxiii. 33, 34. archi fappotes thefe to be the righteous in Egypt, who were carried thither by Fohanen againit their will; but tho’ they may be included, even that fmall remnant that fhould efcape, ch. xliv. 28. yet the Fews in Babylon, and other provinces, are chiefly defigned; and the words are intended to comfort them in their captivity, with a promife of their return, left they fhould be difcouraged, in hearing that the Zgyptians fhould inhabit their own land again; and they not theirs: and Facob fhall return, and be in refi, and at eafe, and none foall make him afraid; this will have its full accomplifhment hereafter in the latter day; when the Fews will be converted, and return to their own land, and never be difturbed more, ‘as they have been, ever fince their return from the Babylonifh captivity. So Kimchi fays, this paflage refpects time to come. +t tg y. 28. Kear thou not, O Facob, my servant, faith the Lord, for Iam with thee, &c.| \Tho’vatar off, in foreign lands, and in captivity: this exhortation is repeated, to ftrengthen their confolation; and. them, againft their fears of being caft off by the Lord: for I will make a full end of all the nations, whither I have driven thee, the Babylonians and Chaldeans are no more: but 1 will not.make a@ full end of thee, the Fews to this day remain a people, and diftinét from others, tho’ {cattered about in the world: but correct thee in meafure, with j it, and in. mercy: yet will I not leave, thee w punifbed fee the note on ch. xxx. TEs tage Boe ai Sothstnlth < 1hN we los he 4

HIS chapter contains a prophecy of the deftruction of the Phili/tines chiefly; and alfo of the Zyrians and Zidonians. ‘The title of the prophecy, ¥. 1. the inftruments of this deftruétion, who are compared to overflowing waters; which would caufe great lamentation in the inhabitants of the places where they fhould come, y¥. 2. the noife of their horfes and chariots would be fo terrible, as to make parents flee and leave their own children, ¥. 3. at the fame time Tyre and Zidon would fall into the hands of the enemy, and have no helper, y. 4. particular places in Paleftine are mentioned, that fhould be deftroyed, ¥. 5. and all this owing to a commiffion the Lord gave to the fword, and which therefore would continue to ravage, ¥. 6, 7:

y¥. 1. The word of the Lord that came to Feremiah the prophet againft the Philiftines, &c.] As the former prophecies were againft the Egyptians, the friends and allies of the ‘ews, in whom they trufted; this is againft the Phili/tines, the near neighbours of the ‘ews, and their implacable enemies: the time of this prophecy was, before Pharaoh finote Gaza; one of the five cities of the Philifines, a very ftrong and fortified place, as its name fignifies; fee Aé#s viii. 26. and the note there. The ews, in their Chronicle, fay ', this was fulfilled in the eighth year of Zedekiah, when Pharaoh came out of Egypt, while the Chaldeans were befieging Fernfalem; which they hearing of, broke up the fiege, and went forth to meet hith; upon which he went to Gaza, and deftroyed that, and returned to Egypt again. Both Ferchi and Kimchi make mention of this, but fay, it was in the tenth year of Zedekiab, and which, no doubt,’ is the trueft reading, fince the Chaldean army did not come up againft Feru/falem, until the ninth year of his reign. But it is more likely that this Pharaob was Pharaoh Necho, and that he fell upon Gaza, and fmote it, either when he came to Carchemi/h, or when he returned from thence, after he had flain Fofiah.. Now this prophecy was delivered out before any thing of this kind happened, and when the Philiftines were in the utmoft peace, and in no fear or expectation of deftruction; and the miting of this fingle city by the king of Egypt, is foretold,’ as the forerunner and pledge of a greater deftruéction of the land by the king of Babylon, next mentioned.

¥. 2. Lhus faith the Lord, behold, waters rife up out of the north, &c.} Meaning an army of men, which fhould come in great numbers, and with ereat force and rapidity, like an overflowing flood. So the Targum, ‘* behold, people fhall come from *¢ the north;” that is, from Chaldea, which lay notth of Paleftine: and shall be an overflowing flood, and foalloverflow' the land, and all that is therein 3 or, the fulnefs of it“; the land of the Philiftines, and carry off the men and cattel, and all the riches thereof: the city, and them that dwell therein, not any particular or fingle city, as Gaza;

but the feveral cities of Palefine; and the inhabitants of them ‘then the men'foall cry, and all the snbabitants‘of the land foall howl; not being able to do any thing elfe; not to defend themfelves, their families, and property; and feeing nothing but ruin and deftruction ‘before their eyes.

¥. 3. At the noife of the fiamping of the hoofs of his firong horfes, c.] The noife of the cavalry of Nebuchadnezzar’s army, as they came marching on towards the country of the Pdiliffines; who being mounted on ftrong pranfing horfes, made a great noife as they came along, and were heard at a diftance: at the rufbing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels; the rattling and clatter the chariot-wheels made; in which rode the chief officers and generals, with other mighty men: chariots were much ufed in war in thofe times: she fathers foall not look back to their children for feeble-. nefs of hands, they fhould be fo frighted at the approach of the enemy, and flee with fuch precipitance to provide for their own fafety; that they fhould not think of their children, or ftay to deliver and fave them, the moft near and dear unto them; being fo terrified, as not to be able to lift’ up their hands to defend themfelves, and protect their chldren. The Targum is, ‘* the fathers fhall ** not look back to have mercy on their chil- ** dren;” in their fright fhould forget their natural affection to them, and not fo much as look back with an eye of pity and compaffion on them; fo intent upon their own deliverance and fafety.

¥. 4. Becaufe of the day that cometh to fpoil all the Philiftines, &c.] The time appointed by the Lord for their deftruction, which fhould be univerfal: and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth, thefe were cities in Phenicia, which bordered on the country of the Philiftines, who were their auxiliaries in time of diftrefs; but now being wafted themfelves, could give them no help, when Nebuchadnezzar attacked them; as he did Tyre particularly, which he befieged thirteen years, and at laft deftroyed it, and Zidon with it: for the Lord will {poil the Philiftines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor, thefe laft are not put by way of appofition, as if they were the fame with the Pbiliftines, though they were near of kin to them, coming from Cuflahim; who were the pofterity of Mizraim, as well as Caphtorim, Gen: x. 13, 14. indeed the Phili/tines are faid to be brought from Caphtor, Amos ix. 7. being very probably taken captive by them, but refcued from them; and now in confederacy with them, and like to fhare the fame fate as they. The Targum renders it, ‘‘ the remnant of the ifland of the Cappado- “¢ cians;” and fo the Vulgate Latin verfion. Some think the Co/chi, others that the Cretians are meant. R. Saadiah, by Caphtor underitands Damiata, a city in Egypt; which is the fame with Pe/u/um ot Sin, the ftrength of Egypt, Ezek. xxx. 15. and it is ufual with the Fews “ to call this place Capbutkia, the fame with Caphtor, they fay; and in 4rabic, Damiata.

¥. 5. Baldnefs is come upon Gaza, &c.] The Targum is, ‘* vengeance is come to the inhabi- “ ‘tants of Gaza.” It is become like a man, whofe hair“4s fallen. from his head, or is clean’ fhaved off; its -houfes were demolifhed; its inhabitants

flain, and their wealth plundered; a pillaged and depopulated place. Some underftand this of fhaving or tearing off the hair for grief, and mourning becaufe of their calamities; which agrees with the latter claufe of the verfe: Afbkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley; this was one of the five cities of the Philiftines; it lay north of Gaza. Herodotus * calls Afbkelon a city of Syria, in which was the temple of Urania Venus, deftroyed by the Scythians; faid to be built by Lydus Afcalus, and called fo after his name’. Of this city was Herod the king, and therefore called an Ajbkelonite; it was now deftroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, but afterwards rebuilt and inhabited; and with it were deftroyed the refidue of the cities, towns, and villages, in the valley, adjoining to that and Gaza; or Ajbkelon and Gaza, now deftroyed, were all that remained of the cities of the valley, and fhared the fame fate with them. The Targum is, ‘‘ the rem- “ nant of their ftrength;” fo Kimchi, who interprets it of the multitude of their wealth and power. How long wilt thou cut thyfelf? their faces, arms, and other parts of their body, mourning and lamenting their fad condition; the words of the prophet, fignifying hereby, the dreadfulnefs of it, and its long continuance.

¥. 6. O thou fword of the Lord, &c.} For tho’ it was the fword of the Chaldeans, yet being appointed and fent by the Lord, and having a com-

HIS chapter contains a prophecy of the de- T ftruction of Moad, and of the mourning that fhould be for it; and not only its deftrudion in general is predicted, but particular places are mentioned, on which it fhould fall, ¥. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. the caufes of which were their confidence in their works and riches, their carnal eafe and fecurity, and their idolatry, they fhould now be afhamed of, ¥. 6—13. and this deftruction is reprefented both as certain, and as near, notwith{tanding their mighty warriors and choice young men, ¥. 14— 17. and then other cities are particularly named, that fhould fhare in the calamity, ¥. 18—a5. and all this becaufe of their infolence to the Lord; their contempt of his people; their pride, arrogance, and haughtinefs; their wrath, and their lies, ¥. 26—30. and this deftruction is further exaggerated, by the lamentation of the prophet over Moab in general, and over feveral particular cities; and by the lamentation of the inhabitants of them, becaufe of the fpoiling of their vines, their fruits, and their riches, ¥. 31—39. and this is confirmed by the Lord, as to the fwittnefs of the enemy that fhould deftroy them; the confternation and fear that fhould feize them; the flight they fhould be put to; and the confumption and captivity of them, ¥. 40—46. and the chapter is concluded with a promife of the return of their captivity in the latter day, y. 47.

¥. 1. Againft Moab, thus faith the Lord of bofts, the God of Ifrael, &c.] The prophecy, concerning Moab, is introduced with thefe epithets of God, partly to obferve that the God of Jrael was the only true God, in oppofition to the gods of Moab, and other nations; and partly to point out his

miffion from him, and being ordered and direéted in his providence to ‘do his will, it is called his - {word: bow long will it be ere thou be quict? and ceafe from deftroying men; wilt thou not ceafe till thou haft no more to deftroy? put up thyfelf into thy fcabbard, reft and be fill; and make no more havock among the people: thefe are either the words of the Phili/tines, intreating a ftop might be put to the ravages of the fword, and that the war might ceafe, and the defolations of it; or rather of the prophet, commiferating their ftate as a man, tho’ they had been the avowed enemies of his people; to which the following words of him are an anfwer, either to the Philiftines, fhewing why their requeft could not be granted, or as correcting himéfelf.

¥. 7. How can it be quiet, &c.] There is no reafon to believe it will, nor can it be expected that it fhould; to ftop it is impoffible, and to requeft that it might be ftopped is in vain: /éeing the Lord hath given it a charge againft Afpkelon, and agcinft the fea-/bore? for it had a commiffion from the Lord to, deftroy the inhabitants of Abkelon, and other places, which lay ftill more towards the fea, as Foppa and Famue, and indeed, all Palefline lay on the coaft of the Mediterranean fea: there hath he appointed it, by an irreverfible decree of his, in righteoufnefs to punifh the inhabitants of thefe places for their fins.

omnipotence, being able to perform what he here predicts and threatens; as alfo to fuggeft, that for the enmity of the Moabites to his people I rael, and their contempt of them, which is taken notice of in this chapter, and the ill treatment of them, the Lord would now take vengeance on them. Some render it, concerning Moab *; becaufe, every thing that is here faid, is not againft it; the chapter concludes in favour of it; tho’ the far greater part, and even all but the Jaft verfe, is againft it. This prophecy, according to Jofephus*, had its fulfilment about five years after the deftruéction of Ferufalem. Wo unto Nebo, for it is fpoiled, its walls broken down; its houfes demolifhed; its inhabitants deftroyed, and plundered of their riches; this, in prophetic language, is reprefented as done, becaufe of the certainty of it. Of this city, fee the note on J/. xv. 2. It is thought to be an oracular one, where was a temple of their idol; and from whence their priefts gave out oracles, promifing peace, and profperity, and fafety, to Moab; and therefore the defolation of that is firft prophefied of, to fhow that no dependence was to be had on thofe lying oracles. Kirjathaim is confounded and taken; a city in the tribe of Reuben, which afterwards came into the hands of the Moabdites, Fob. xii. 19. The word is of the dual form; and it might be a double city, like Ferufalem, confitting of a lower and upper city; or it might be divided by a river; or, as Kimchi and Ben Melech think, it was fo called, becaufe it had two towers in it, It feems to be the fame with Kir of Moab, Kirbarefo, and Kirharefeth, If. xv. 1. and Xvi. 7, 11, when it was taken by the Chaldeans, the inhabitants were confounded, as having looked u the place, and. boafted of it, as impr

Mifgad is confounded and difmayed; fo called: from its being built on an high place, and well fortified; tho’ fome think that this is not the proper mame of a place; but only fignifies an high and fortified place both by nature and art; a place of refuge, where perfons thought themfelves fafe; and fo the Targum renders it, ‘* the houfe of their con- “¢ fidence;” this when befieged and taken by the ‘Babylonians, threw the inhabitants into the utmoft coniternation and confufion. Some take it to be the fame with Bamoth, a name of much the fame fignification, Fo. xiii. 17. fee If xv. 2.

y. 2. There fhall be no more praife of Moab, &c.] It fhall be no more commended for a rich, populous and fruitful country, being now laid wafte; tho’ the next phrafe, iz or concerning Hefbbon», fhould be read in connexion with this; and then the fenfe is, there fhall be none any more in Hefhvon to praife the country of Moab, what a fine and fertile country it is, fince that city will be deftroyed alfo; or there will be no more a Adcabite to boaft of his being an inhabitant in He/hdon, fuch an utter deftruction will be made of it; or there will be no more boafting of Moa, or of any Moabite concerning Hefbbon, what a famous, opulent or {trong city that is, fince it is no more. Of this city fee the note on Jf. xv. 4: they have devifed evil againft it; that is, the Chaldeans devifed evil againtt Hefhbou, to befiege it, take and deftroy it: there is in the expreffion a beautiful allufion to the name of the city of Hefobon, which has its name from a word that fignifies to devife and confult *: come, and let us cut it of from being a nation, this is what the Babylonians confulted together againft Hefbbon; and.not only againft that, a principal city; but againft-the whole country of Moab, to make fuch an entire defolation of it, that it fhould be no more a nation; that which the Moadites with others devifed againft the people of J/rae/, is now devifed againft them; a juft retaliation this; fee Pf. Ixxxiii. 4, 5,6: alfo thou fhalt be cut down, O Madmen; or utterly deftroyed: it may be rendered, Joalt become filent *; the voice of man fhall not be heard in it, efpecially the voice of praife, of boafting, and rejoicing: there is in this claufe aifo an elegant allufion to the name of the place which comes from a root, that fignifies to cu¢ down, or be filent*. ‘This is thought by Grotius to be the Madiama of Ptolemy‘: the fword foall purfue thee; after it has deftroyed other cities, it fhould come in great hafte, and with great force to Madmen, or it fhould purfue after the inhabitants of it, that fhould make their efcape, or attempt to do fo. The Targum is, ** after thee fhall go out thofe that ** flay with the fword.”

¥. 3. A voice of crying fhall be from Horonaim, &c.| Another city of Mead. The word is of the dual number; and according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, there were two Horous, the upper and the lower; of this place fee the note on Jf xv, 5. this alfo fhould be deftroyed; and fo a cry of the inhabitants of it fhould be heard out of it: /poiling, and great defiruction, beaufe the city was poiled, and a great deftruction made in the inhabitants, and riches of it.

¥. 4. Moab is deftroyed, &c.] Either the whole nation in general; fo the Targum, “ the kingdom ** of Moab is broken;” and fo Abardinel, or a city fo called} which fome take to be the city Areopolis. Ferom® fays, that Moab is a city of Arabia, now called Areopolis; and which alfo has the name of Rabbath Moab, or grand Moab: her little ones have caufed a cry to be heard, feeing their parents killed, and they left defolate, and in the hands of the enemy; and not only fo, but juft going to be dafhed in pieces by them. The Targum interprets it, her governors; and fo Farcbi, who thinks they are fo called, becaufe they are leffer than kings. Kimchi and Ben Melech fuggeft, that thefe are called fo by way of contempt. The word Yzeir fignifies both little and great, as the learned Pocock * has abundantly proved.

X. 5. Hor in the going up of Lubith continual weeping fhall go up, &c.|] This is another city, which was built on an high hill; which had a confiderable afcent to it, whither thofe that efcaped from Horenaim might flee for fatety; but as they went up the hill would weep bitterly, and all the way they went, becaufe of the lofs of friends and fuftenance, and the danger they themfelves were ftill in. Of this place fee the note on If xv. 5.: for in the going down of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of defiruétion, a place before-mentioned, which lay low, in the defcent of which, the enemies, the Chaldeans, heard the cries of thofe that fled from Horonaim, and went up from thénce to Lubith; which cry was as follows:

¥: 6. Flee, fave your lives, &c.] Thefe are éither the words of the Moabites, their cry of deftruction mentioned in the latter part of the preceding verfe; who, feeing nothing but ruin before their eyes, advife one another to flee in all hafte, and fave their lives if poffible, fince nothing elfe could be faved: or elfe they are the words of the prophet, giving counfel to the Moadites to betake themfelves to flight for the fafety of their lives, thefe being in great danger; fo Abarbinel; with whom others agree, only think they are fpoken ironically; fuggefting, that when they had endeavoured by flight to fave their lives, it would be to no purpofe; they fhould not efcape the hands of their enemies; which feems to be the trueft fenfe: and be like the heath in the wildernefs; which is called erice, or ling, which grows in wafte places. Kimchi and Menachem in Farchi interpret it, of a tree that grows in dry and defert places; a low, naked, barren, fruitlefs fhrub; fignifying, that when they were fled from their habitations, they fhould be as folitary and ftripped of all their good things, as fuch a bare and naked fhrub in a defert. Kimchi’s note is, that when they had left their cities and fled, their cities would be as the heath in the wildernefs. The Zargum is, ‘* and be ye as the * tower of Aroer, as they who dwell in tents in ‘© the wildernefs.” archi obferves, that the tower of Aroer was built in the wildernefs, and there was no inhabitant round it, but thofe that dwelt in ° tents; and the tower ftanding where there was no. inhabitant, it looked like a wafte. The Septuagint verfion is very foreign, as @ wild a/s in the wilderne/s; which is followed by the Aradic verfion.

navn ANID nboan “T1Y YN nulla amplius gloriatio. Moab in Chefbon, Calvin; non ultra laus Moab in Chefbon, ontanus; to the fame purpofe Vatablys. Montanus; fo y. 7. For becaufe thou baft trufted in thy works, &c.] The ftrong works and fortifications they had made about their cities, and fo thought themfelves fafe in them; which is the fenfe of the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin verfions, and thofe that follow them. Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it, of their cattel and other poffeffions, as the word is rendered in 1 Sam. xxv. 2. which they obferve. It may very well be underftood of theif idols, the works of their hands, in which they placed their confidence; and therefore their chief god aftermentioned is threatened to be taken and carried away: and in thy treafures; their gold and filver, and other riches they had heaped together; thou foalt be taken; fome particular city feems to be meant, the city Moab, or Ar of Moab, x. 4. or Horonaim, x. 5: and Chemofh fhall go forth in captivity, with bis priefts and his princes together, this was the god of the Ammonites, Fudge. xi. 24. and of the Moabites, 1 Kings xi. '7, 33. 2 Kings xxiii. 13. hence the Moabites are called the people of Chemofo, Numb. xxi. 29. which Philo the Few i explains thus; that is, thy people and power are found blind, and deprived of fight; and fays, that Chemo/b is interpreted, as groping, or feeling, which is the property of one that cannot fee. Moj/d in Heorew fignifies to grope or feel; and Caph isa fervile letter, and a note of fimilitude, and by another Fewi/b writer *, Chemofh is called the god of the blind. ‘ferom takes it to be the fame idol with Baal-peor, thought by fome the Priapus of the heathens. Comus the god of feftivals and merriment, feems to have had his name ‘from hence; very probably the fun was worfhipped by the Moabites under this name, which may be fo called from its fwiftnefs,; for the drabic word (Yianss Camafb, fignifies fwift and haftening *; as the fun is to run its race. The Moadites put their truft in this their deity; and to let them fee that he would be of no avail unto them in this time of their diftreis, he himfelf fhould be taken away by the enemy out of his temple, for the fake of the gold or filver that was upon him, and with him the priefts that attended his fervice; or his worfhippers, as the Zargum, and the princes of the nation that ferved him, and fupported the worfhip of him, and defraid the expences of it.

¥.8. And the fpoiler fhall come upon every city, &c.] That is, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and his army. The Zargum is, the fpoilers, who came againft and took every city of Moab, and watted them. a/epbus* makes particular mention of Nebuchadnezzar fubduing the Ammonites and Moabites: and no city fhall efcape, the fpoiler, and deftruction by him: the valley alfo fhall perifh, and the plain fhall be defiroyed, as the Lord hath poken, not only the cities, and the inhabitants of them; but the inhabitants of ‘the vallies and plains, as the Targum paraphrafes it, fhould be deftroyed; and alfo the corn that grew upon them, and the flocks and herds that grazed there, exactly as the Lord had foretold.

¥.9. Give wings unto Moab that it may flee, and get away, 8c.) That is, give wings to the inhabitants of Moab; fignifying that they were in great danger, and there was no probability of efcaping it, unlefs they had the -wings of a {wift bird, or were as {wift as fuch, and even that would not do;

tho’ perhaps their fleeing and paffing away with wings may fignify not their fleeing from danger, and their attempt to efcape; but their fwift and fudden deftruétion, compared to the fwift flight of a bird; for the laft claufe may be rendered, for in flying it fhall fly away°. Some render the firlt claufe, givea flower to Moab, as the Vulgate Latin. verfion; and fo the word fometimes fignifies, J/- xl. 7. and the fenfe may be, hold up a flower to Moab, or a feather, fuch as is light, as the down of a thiftle, as an emblem of its deftruction; whieh fhall pafs away as eafily and fwiftly as fo light a thing before the wind, but archi and Kimchi interpret the word as we do, a wing. The Targum is, ** take away the crown from Moab, for going ‘* it fhall go away into captivity.” The word is ufed of the plate of gold on the high-priefts mitre

Exod. xxviii. 36: for the cities thereof foail be defo~ late, without any to dwell therein, which exprefies the utter deftruction of them.

y.10. Curfed be he that doth the work of the Lord deceitfully, 8c.] Which is faid with refpect to the Chaldeans, who were enjoined to deftroy the Moabites; which is called the work of the Lord, becaufe he had given them a commiffion to do it; and which was to be done by them, not by halves, or in a remifs and negligent manner, but fully and faithfully; they were not to fpare them, as Saul did the Amalekites, and Ahab, Benhadad. This is a general rule, which may be applied to all divine work and fervice; every man has work to do for God; fome in a more public, others in a more private way; all fhould be done in uprightnefs and fincerity, with all faithfulnefs and integrity: it is done deceitfully, when men play the hypocrite; and negligently, when they are backward to it, lukewarm in it, and infrequent in the performance of it; which brings upon them the curfe of God; and which is not a curfe caufelefs, but a legal one; and is no other than the wrath of God in itrict juftice: and curfed be he that keepeth back bis fword from blood; from fhedding the blood of the Moabites, when God had given command to do it. The curfe is repeated, as Kimchi obferves, to confirm the matter, that it might be moft affuredly expected; fince it would certainly come, if the Lord’s work was not done aright.

y¥. 11. Moab hath been at eafe from his youth, &c.] Lived in great peace and profperity from the time they became a kingdom; being very little difturbed with wars by their neighbours, or very rarely; fo that they were in very profperous and flourifhing circumftances, which occafioned that pride and haughtinefs they were notorious for. This is an emblem of unregenerate men; who, tho’ finners from their birth, and liable to the curfe of the law, fubject to the ftroke of death, and muft come to judgment; yet ftupid and quite at eafe, having no fight of fin, nor feeling of the burden of its guilt, nor grief or trouble for it; no fenfe of danger, or fear of hell; but in the utmoft fecurity: all which arife from ignorance, hardnefs of heart, profanenefs and infidelity, thoughtlefinefs about their immortal fouls; putting the evil day far from them; and being under the influence of fatan, who keeps his goods in peace: and he hath

Jettled on his lees; a metaphor taken from wine;

which, the longer it remains on the lees, the better / io body body it has, and the richer and ftronger it is; and denotes the great tranquillity of the Moadites; the riches they were poffeffed of, and in which they trufted. ‘The Targum renders it, ‘* quiet in their ** fubftance;” herein they were an emblem of unconverted finners, who are fettled and hardened in the corruptions of their nature; and not at all difturbed at the evil of fin; the wrath of God; his Judgments on men’; the laft and awful judgment; or at the terrors of hell; and likewife of fuch who truft in their own righteoutnefs, and depend upon that for falvation: and hath not been emptied from veffel to veffel, like wine that has never been racked off from the veffel or veflels it was firft put into: they were never removed from place to place, but always continued in their land; in which they were an emblem of fuch who have:never feen their own emptinefs, and their want of the grace of God, and have never been emptied of fin, nor of felfrighteoufnefs: neither hath he gone into captivity; this explains in proper words the metaphor in the preceding claufe: the Moadites had never been carried captive out of their own land into others; an emblem of fuch who have never feen their captive ftate to fin and fatan; or ever brought to complain of it, or become the captives of Chrift: therefore his tafte remained in him, and his {cent is not changed; his wealth, riches and profperity continued, without any change and alteration; and alfo his fins and vices, idolatry, pride, luxury, and which were the caufe of his ruin, and for that reafon are here mentioned; an emblem of unregenerate men, whofe tafte is vitiated by fin, and continues as it was ori ginally; they relith fin, and difrelifh every thing that is good; and favour the things that be of man, and not the things of God; and fo are ina moft dangerous condition.. y.12. Therefore behold, the days come, faith the Lord, &c.] This being their cafe, they. flould not continue in it; a change would be made, and that in avery fhort time, as there was; for according to Yofepbus ®, it was about five years after the deftruction of Yerufalem, that the Moadites were fubdued by the king of Babylon: that I will fend unto him wanderers that fhall caufe him to wander; the Chaldeans, who wandered out of their own

- country to Moab, directed by the providence of

God to come there to do his work; and who, at firft, might be treated by the Meabdites with contempt, as vagrants; but would foon be made to know, that they would caufe them to wander; or would remove them out of their own country into other lands, particularly Babylon, to be vagrants there. The word may be rendered, ¢ravellers *; and fignifies fuch that walk with great ftrength of body, in a ftately way, and with great agility and fwiftnefs; in which manner the Chaldeans are defcribed as coming to Moab, and who fhould caufe them to travel back with them in all hafte; fee the word in J// Ixiii.1. The Zargum renders it, Spoilers; according to the metaphor of wine ufed in the preceding verfe, it may fignify a fort of perfons that caufe wine to go, or empty it from one veffel to another; fuch as we call wine-coopers; and this agrees with what follows: aud hall empty bis veffels, and break their bottles, depopulate the cities of Moab; deftroy the inhabitants of them, and make them barren and empty of men. The Zar- bi =dby my") & civitates ejus confcendit, Montanus; afcendit fuper urbes ejus, Gataker, * Et urbes ejus in quas afcendit, Schmide, gum is, ** I will-fend fpoilers upon them, and they ** fhall fpoil them, and empty their fubftance, and ** confume the good of their land; feey. 8. The Septuagint verfion is, they fhall cut in pieces his horns; which, as Origen * interprets them, were a kind of cups anciently ufed; for in former times they drank out of horns, either of oxen, or other anithals; and Pliny * fays, that the northern people ufed to drink out of the horns of buffaloes, a creature larger than a bull, and which the Mu/covites call Thur, the fame is aflerted by Atheneus ', and others, that the horns of beafts were drinking veflels before cups were invented.

¥.13. dnd Moab fhall be afbamed of Chemofh, &c.] His idol; fee ¥. 7. of his worfhip of him, prayers to him, and confidence in him; he not being able to fave him from the deftruétion of the Chaldeans, and being carried captive by them; he hunfelf alfo going into captivity: as the houfe of Tfrael were afhamed of Bethel, their confidence; that is, of the golden calf that was fet up in Bethel by jFeroboam, and which the ten tribes of J/rael worfhipped, and in which they trufted; but that could not fave them from being carried captive by the Afprians; and fo were afhamed of it, and of their idolatrous worfhip, and vain confidence.

¥.14. How fay ye, we are mighty and ftrong men

for the war? | The Moadites were proud, haughty, and arrogant; boafted much of their ftrength and valour; of the ftrength of their bodies, and fitnefs for war, and {kill in it; and of the ftrength of their fortified cities; and thought themfelves a match for the enemy, and fecure from all danger: for this their pride, vanity and felf-confidence they are here reproved, fince their deftruction was at hand. ¥. 15. Moab is fpoiled, &c.] The whole country is ruined; which is fpoken of as prefent, tho’ future, after the manner of prophecy, becaufe of the certainty of it:\ and gone up out of her cities; the inhabitants of Moab were gone up out of their cities, either thro’ fear and flight; or thro’ force, being made to go out of them, and were carried captive. The Targum is, ‘* the Moabites are fpoiled, <¢ and their cities are defolate;” and fo Kimchi interprets it, ‘¢ the multitude of her cities is made “¢ to ceafe;” the people of them. It might be as well rendered, and he is gone up to her cities“, that is, the fpoiler ¥, as Kimchi’s father rightly interprets it; fee ¥. 8. or it may be rendered, and his cities, into which he went up*; that is, thofe are fpoiled and deftroyed, into which the Moadites ufed to go up, being built on high places; or whither they went for fafety, the enemy being in their country, but in vain: and bis chofen young men are gone down to the flaughter, or, the choice of his chofen ones ¥; the felect of them, for comelinefs, ftrength and valour; thefe being taken when the enemy entered the cities, were had down to fome place of flaughter, and there put to death; or were brought down to the grave, the pit of corruption; unlefs this can be underftood of the choice young men of the enemy, the Chaldean army 5 who, mounting and fcaling the walls of the cities of Moab, went down into them to flay the inhabitants of them; but this is fubmitted to confideration. All this was not barely faid by the prophet, who was but a man, tho’ fent of God; but by the * Apud Drufium in fragmentis aly ane t Deipnofoph. 1.11. p. 235. Rhodigin. Fest ee yy inl Waa the Lord himfelf, as it follows: faith the king, whofe name is the Lord of hofts; who is the king by way of eminency; the King of kings, and Lord of lords; mightier than the king of Moad, or even than the king of Babylon; and the Lord of greater armies than either; and therefore what he faid fhould certainly be accomplifhed.

y. 16. The calamity of Moab is near to come, &c.] As it did come within five years after the deftruction of Ferufalem, as obferved on ¥.12. out of Fo- Jephus: and bis affiittion hafteth faft, or, bis evil *;

the evil of punifhment for his fin; his utter de-_

¥.17. All ye that are about him, bemoan him, &c.] The neighbouring nations; fuch as the 4mmonites, and others, are called upon to condole the fad cafe of Moab; all upon the borders of the country of Moab, either within them, or without them: all ye that know bis name not only that had heard of his fame and glory, but knew in what grandeur and fplendor he lived; thefe have a form of condolence given them: fay, bow is the firong Staff broken, and the beautiful red! the mighty men of war, the ftaff of the nation, in which they trufted, deftroyed; their fortified cities demolithed; the powerful kingdom, which fwayed the iceptre, and ruled in great glory, and was terrible and troublefome to others, now pulled down. The Targum is, ‘* how is the king broken that did ** evil, the oppreffing ruler!”

¥. 18. Lbou daughter that dof inhabit Diben, &c.] A city in Moab; fee the note on Jf xv. 2. The Targum is, ‘‘ O kingdom of the congregation “ of Diben;” but this was not a kingdom of itfelf, tho’ a principal city in the kingdom of Moab: come down ifrom thy glory, and fit in thirft; in a dry and thirfty land; in want of all the neceffaries of life; in captivity; who before abounded with all good things, inhabiting. a well watered and fruitful foil; feeJ/ xv.g. but now called to quit all their former glory and happinefs, their fulnefs and felicity, and fubmit to the greateft ftraits and difficulties: for the /poiler of Moab foall came upon thee, and he foall dejiroy thy ftrong holds; the king of Babylon and his army, who fpoiled the other cities of Moab; he fhould come againtt. this alfo, and take it, and demolifh its fortifications, by reafon of which it thought itfelf fecure; but thefe fhould not be able to protect it.

¥. 19. O inbabitant of Aroer, &c.] Another city that belonged to Moab, fituated on the border of it towards Ammon, near the river Arnon; fee the note on J/. xvii. 2: ftand by the way, and efpy; get to the road-fide where travellers pafs, and look out for them: af him that fleeth, and her that efcapeth; whether man or woman you fee fleeing, having efcaped the army of the Chaldecus: and Jay, what is done? by the Chaldeans; alk what citics they have taken; what progrefs they have made; what is done to their cities, that they flee from them; tell all the particulars of things.

¥.20. Moab is confounded, for it is broken down, &c.] This is the anfwer returned by thofe that had-efcaped and were fleeing, to thofe who enquired of them; who report, that the whole coun-.

try of Moab was in the utmoft confufion and confternation; not being able-to ftand before the enemy, who broke down and deftroyed all that was in his way: and therefore calls upon them, to howl and cry; becaufe of the general ruin of the nation, and who muft expe& themfelves to fhare the fame fate; and therefore fhould. their neighbours for it, as follo Arnon, that Moab is fpoiled; the country fo called, from a river of that name, on the of which Areer was fituated; the inhabitants « which are defired to fpread it all over that part of © thescountry, that Moab was utterly ruined by the Chaldean army; the particulars of which folloy ¥. 21. And judgment is come upon the plein cou try, &c.] Of Moab, which was for the moft pat fuch, efpecially that which lay near Arnon 5 the judgment of God’s vengeance, punifhment for fin,” by the hand of the Chaldeans.. The Targum is,

‘*¢ they that execute vengeance are come:” “pom

Holon; a city of Moab; of which fee Fob. xv. 5t. and xxi. rg. it had its name perhaps from the fandy ground on which it ftood. Grotius takes ite to be the Alabena of Ptolemy: and upon Fabaxaby the fame with Fahaz, If xv. 4. fee the note there;, reckoned by Grotius to be the Fedu of Ptolemy; fee Folb. xiii. 18: and upon Mephaath; of which fee Joh. xiii. 18. and xxi. 37. faid by Grotins to» be the Maipha of Ptolemy. i Fes y¥.22. And upon Dibon, &c.) Whofe deftrue= tion by this time was come’ upon it, as fuggefted. y¥.18: and upon Nebo; of which fee ¥.12 and > upon Beth-diblathaim, the fame with Almon-dibla=. thaim in Numb, xxxiii. 46, 47. and Didlath in Ezek. ~ vi. 14.. ¥.29. And upon Kirjathaim, &c.] Of which fee. 1: and upon Beth-gamul; this is no where elfe mentioned in fcripture; fuppofed. by Grotius to be the Maccala of Ptolemy, put for Camala: and upon Beth-meon; of which fee Jf xv. 2. ts ¥. 24. And upon Kerioth, &c.] Which once belonged to the tribe of Fudah, Fofh. xv.25. from this place Fudas Ifcaviot is by fome thought to have his name; as if it was J// Kericth, a man of Kerioth, Grotius takes it to be the Goiratha of Ptolemy: and upon Bozrah, not in Idumea, but in Moab; the fame with Bezer, Fob. xxi. 36: and upon all the cities of the land of Moab far and near; all the reft of the cities not named, whether nearer or farther off from Aroer. 7 ¥.25. Lhe horn of Moab is cut off, &c.| Th kingdom of Moab, high and ftrong, his power and ftrength, by which he defended. himfelf, and offended others,:as a beaft with his horns; his powerful kingdom, and thé glory of it: and his arm is brokeny faith the Lord; {o that he cannot, hold a fword, or manage any weapon of war againft the enemy, or do any thing to annoy him, or.in his own defence. The Zergum is, ** the. “kingdom of Moad is cut off, and their rulers — ‘* are broken, faith the Lord;” and fo Ben Me-. lech interprets it, of his princes, and his armies, which were the arm of the king, and of the~ people.

y¥.26. Make ye him drunken, &e.] Not wit

‘ &: bee a _haughtily and contemptibly of him, and. blafphemoufly againft him, as if he could not deliver his people, or deftroy his and their enemies. The Yargum interprets it, of the people of God, as in Zeph. ii. 10. paraphrafing the words thus; “ bring ** diftrefs upon them, that they may be like to ** drunken men; for againft the people of the ** Lord have they magnified themfelves:” Moab alfo foall wallow in his vomit; as drunken men do: or, he fhall clap, or dafh* his hand in his vomit; dafh his hands and feet againft the ground as he lies in his vomit, as perfons in fuch a condition do: or fhall wring his hands, and clap them together for forrow, being fick, and in diftref$. Some render it, he /hall clap the hand at Moab in bis vomit ®; men fhall laugh at him as he lies wallowing in it, or rejoice at his fall and ruin; but: this is exprefied in the next claufe: and he alfo fhall be in derifion; as drunken men are; he fhall be derided by others, as others have been derided by him; now it will be his turn. | ¥.27. For was not Ifrael a derifion unto thee? &c.] In the time of his calamity, when the ten tribes were carried captive by the Afyrians fome years ago; and of late the two tribes of Fudab and Benjamin by the Chaldeans, the Moabites rejoiced at this, which they ought not to have done, upon the common principles of humanity; and efpecially fince they were not only neighbours, but a-kin; and therefore, according to the law of retaliation, it was but juft that they fhould be had in derifion themfelves: was he found among thieves? that is, //rael; that he fhould be a derifion to any, as thieves are when they are taken; men rejoice at it, infult them, and deride them; but was this the cafe of J/rael? had he robbed any? had he done any injury to Moab, or any other? no, verily: why this derifion then? for fince thou [pakeft of him, thou frippedft for joy; or, foookedft thyfelf*, whenever the Moadites {poke of the diftreffes and calamities of J/rael, and of their captivity, they laughed till they fhook themfelves; not only fhook their heads, but their whole bodies. The Vulgate Latin verfion is, therefore becaufe of thy words which thou haft Spoken againft him, thou fhalt be carried captive, and ‘archi mentions fuch a fenfe of the words, as given by fome of their Raddins; and to this agrees the Jargum, ‘* and becaufe ye have multiplied words *¢ againft them, therefore ye fhall go into cap- “© tivity.” ¥.28. O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, &c.] Signifying hereby that they would not be in fafety in their ftrongeft and moftt fortified cities, which would be befieged by the enemy, and taken; and therefore are advifed to leave them, and flee to the rocks and mountains, that if poffible they might be fafe there: and

be like the dove, that maketh her neft in the fides of

the holes mouth; which, for fear of birds of prey, makes her neft in the fide of a hole, or cleft of a rock, that fhe and her young may be: fafe from them; and which being purfued by the hawk, flies into a hollow rock or cavern, as Homer ‘ obferves: but here it intends the place where it makes its neft; which is for the moft part in deferts and rocky places, where great numbers of doves refort, and make their nefts, as Diodorus Siculus * relates; and efpecially in the holes and clefts o rocks, to which the allufion is in Cavi. ii. 14.° The

Targum is, ** and be as a dove that leaves her dove-

** houfe, and comes down and dwells in the bot- ** tom of a pit,” or ditch..

¥.29. We have beard the pride of Moab, &c.] Ifrael, and all the nations round about, had heard of this, and feen or heard of many inftances of it; the thing was notorious; according to Kimchi, it is the prophet that here fpeaks in the name of thé nations; but it feems beft to underftand it of the Lord himfelf, as appears from the following verfe; and who here fpeaks in the plural number, becaufe of the plurality of perfons in the God-head; as he afterwards does in the fingular number, to denote the unity of the divine effence: (he is exceeding proud) bis loftine/s, and bis arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtine/s of his heart, a heap of words to exprefs the fame thing; figgefting, that. the inftances of his pride were many, and that it was exceeding great ‘indeed: thefe many words were little enough; and indeed words were wanting fully to declare it. The fame was obferved in Tfaiah’s time, and in much the fame language; only more words are here ufed, to fhew that his pride was increafed fince that time; fee J/ xvi. 6.

¥. 30. I know his wraith, faith the Lord, &c.] Againft the Yews, and other nations’ what he has threatened to do unto them, and would do if not reftrained: but it fhall not be fo; as he has devifed in his mind, and threatened in his wrath; all his fwelling thoughts and big words fhall come to nothing: bis lies foall not fo effed it; it fhall not be according to his words; they'll prove lies, and of no effect. Kimchi interprets it, of the fons of Moab, who fhall not be able to do what they thought to do; and Yarchi, of his mighty ones 5 and the Zargum, of his nobles, paraphrafing it,, ‘¢ and their nobles are not right, they do not as “< is becoming;” perhaps it may be better under- {tood of his diviners and foothiayers, as the word is ufed in Jf xliv. 25. and be rendered, his divixers have not done right '; they have deceived him with their lying oracles; fwelled him with pride; and brought him to ruin; he trufting to them.

¥. 31. Therefore will I howl for Moeb, &c.] The prophet, being as a man affected with the miferies of a people very wicked, and fo deferving of them; tho’ indeed by this he does not fo much defign to exprefs the affections of his own heart, as to fhew what reafon the Moabites would have to howl for the calamities of their country; for, as Kimchi obferves, the prophet here fpeaks in the perfon of the people of Moab; fee If. xvi.7: and I will cry out for all Moab; the whole country of Moab, which fhould become defolate: mine heart /hall mourn for the men of Kir-heres, the fame with Kir-barefeth, a city of Moab, If. xvi. 7. whofe foundations fhould be fapped, the city taken, and the men of it put to the fword, or caufed to flee; and their cafe being deplorable, the prophet fays his heart fhould mourn for them like a dove, as Kimchi and Farchi obferve; tho’ it may be rendered, Le /hall mourn * that is, Moab, for the deftruction of fuch a principal city, and the men of it. The Targum

Schmidt; allidet, Lyranus.

> Complodet manus fuper Moabum jacentem in vomitu fao, Gataker.

fwwy id MD YT vaniloqui ejus non reétuth 8 17 gemet, Montanus.

renders it, for the men of the city of their ¢ ftrength.” ¥. 32. O vine of Sibmab, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Fazer, &c.] Sibmah was a city in the land of Moad abounding with vines, but snow fhould be deftroyed; and Yazer, another city in the fame country, which was deftroyed before the other; and therefore its deftruction fhould be lamented and wept over, as that had been: or from, or after the weeping of Fazer"; when that is over, or from thence will I go in courfe as the defolation proceeds, to weep for Stbmah: or I will weep for that more than the weeping of Fazer’; make a greater lamentation for it than for Fazer; or, as fome, than J/aiah made for Fazer; of which fee If. xvi.9: thy plants are gone over the fea; the dead fea; meaning the inhabitants of Sidmab, the governors and common people, who were gone over fea into captivity, as it is generally underftood: they reach even to the fea of Fazer; a lake or confluence of water near to Fazer, called a fea; as it was ufual with the Yews to call fuch feas; as the fea of Tiberias, and the like: this fpread of the plants feems to refer to the multitudes of thofe that belonged to Sidmab, and the villages of it, which extended beyond the dead fea, even to the fea of Fazer; but as fruitful as this vine was, and extenfive as its branches were, they fhould come to deftruction: the /poiler is fallen upon thy fummerfruits, and upon thy vintage; the king ot Babylon, who came upon them with his army in the fummer-feafon, and at the time of their vintage, and devoured the fruits of their vines and fig-trees,. with which this country abounded; and fo impoverifhed and ruined them. The Yargum of the whole is, ‘* therefore as I have brought an army “ apainit Fazer, fo I will bring flayers againit * Sitmab; they that carry them captive have wa- “© ded; they have paffed thro’ the fea; they are “come to the fea of Fazer; upon thy harveft, and upon thy vintage, the fpoilers are fallen.” ¥.33. And joy and gladnefs is taken from the plentiful field, &c.] Or, from Carmel *; not mount Carmel in the land of J/rael, for the prophecy is of Moab; tho’ that reached to Sibmab; but here it fignifies any fruitful place, like Carmel, where were good paiturage, corn, and fruit-bearing trees, which produced great plenty of good things, and caufed joy to the owners of them: but now all being deftroyed by the enemy, joy and gladnefs would ceafe: and from the land of Moab; from all parts of it, where there had ufed to be plenty, and fo joy: I have caufed wine to fail from the wine-preffes; there being no grapes to put into them, or men to tread them were there any; or if put in and trodden, not the owners, but the enemy fhould have the wine; fo that it fhould fail from the Moabites; they fhould be never the better for it. Thefe are the words of the Lord, who has the difpofal of the fruits of the earth: none fhall tread with shouting; as treaders in the wine-prefs ufed to-do, to encourage one another, and make their jabour more eafy, and the time to pafs on in it more pleafantly; but now there fhould neither be treading nor fhouting; fee J xvi. 10: their houting fhall be no fhouting, not a fhouting of joy, as ufed to be when they trod out the wine; but a

Chy-xiviii..¥. 32+ 36D cry of mourning and lamentation; -becaufe of the’ {word of the enemy.; (aj oo Moghe

¥. 34. From the cry of Hefbbon, even unto Elealeby &c.} Two cities in the land of Moab; of which fee If; xv. 4. and xvi. 9. He/bbon being deftroyed, a cry was made by the inhabitants. of it; which either reached from thence to Elealeh; or the de« ftruétion being carried on to that city; the ery: was continued there: and ever unto Fahax,-bave they uttered their voice; another city of Moaés fee If. xv. 4. which alfo was laid watte, and where the: Moabites uttered their voice of lamentation dn acs count of it: from Zoar, even unto Horonaim, as! an heifer of three years old, that is, as the deftrucs: tion fhould go on to Zoar, and fo to Loronaims of which places fee Jf xv. 5. fo the cry of the diftreffed, and of thofe that flee, fhould alfo go from place to place; and. be as loud, and as {trong, and heard as far, as the lowing of an heifer, of three years old. Naturalifts ' oblerve, that the voice in all female creatures is fmaller and fhriller, excepting the ox; for the voice of the females of that creature is ftronger than in the males; and alfo that the taming of thefe creatures is whem they are three years old, that is the proper time: betore it is too foon, and afterwards too late ™ 5 and then it is, their voice is fuller, and their {trength firmer, to which the allufion here is; fee the note on // xv. 5: for the waters alfo.of Nimrim, foall be defolate; being difturbed by the Chaldean army, their horfes treading them withtheir fect, and fo fouling them; or being mixed with the blood of the flain, and fo unfit to drink. A fad cafe this, to have neither wine nor water; fee the note on J/. xv. 6. to which may be added, that Ferom alfo makes mention of a village in ‘his timé called Benamerium, to the north of Zoar; and feems rather the place intended. ¥. 35. Moreover, I will caufe to ceafe in Moab, faith the Lord, bim that offereth in the high places, &c.] A burnt-offering there; that is, the prieft, who fhall be taken and carried captive, ¥. 7. even every one of them; fo that there won’t be one left to offer facrifice: and him that burneth incenje to his gods; Chemofb, and others, the Moabites wonthipped: this fuggefts, that idolatry was one of the fins for which they were punifhed;.and as all places, and all forts of perfons fhould fuffer in this calamity, fo likewife idolatrous places, priefts and worfhippets. ¥. 36. Therefore my heart fhall found for Moab like pipes, &c.] That are founded on mournful occafions, as at funerals, and the like; fee Adeis, ix. 23. This the prophet faid, as Kimchi obferves, in the perfon of the people, the inhabitants of Moab; whofe bowels would yearn and found for the calamities of their country like the doleful found of minftrels. So the Targum, “* therefore “¢ the Moabites thall found in their hearts like am “ harp:” and my heart fhall found like pipes for the men of Kir-heres; as for the country of..; in general, fo for this principal city, and thednhabitants of it, in particular, fee the note on Jf xvi. 11: decauje the riches that be hath gottem 4s perifbed, either Moab, or Kir-beres; the abundance _ of goods they had got together were now loft, falling into the hands of the enemy; and which © was matter of lamentation. The ae ' ed Baer e iiss 8

“otheurefty of their fubftance. they. had got were ** fpoiled.”” Some underftand it, of the refidue of men that efcaped the fword.;.thefe perifhed by. fainine, or other means; fee J) xv. 7. ¥.37. For every bead thall be bald, and every beard ciipt, &cc.| Men, in times of mourning, ufed to pluck off the hairs of their head till they made them bald, and fhaved their beards; which, as Kimchi fays, werethe glory of their faces; fee //- xv. 2:0 upon all the bands foall be cuttings 5 it was ufual with the heathens. to make incifions in the feveral parts of their bodies, particularly in their hands and arms, with their nails, or with knives, in token of mourning; which are. forbidden the Tfrackites, Deut. xiv. 1: and upen the loins fackcloth; this is a well-known cuftom for mourners, to put off their cloaths, and put on fackcloth,; all thefe things are mentioned, to fhow how great was the mourning of Joab, for the calamities of. it. ¥. 38. Lhere thall be dementation generally, &c.] Or, all of it is mourning*; the whole country of Moab is in mourning; or all is full of mourning; all perfons, places, and things, exprefs nothing but nourning; go where you will, it is to be feen: upon all the boufe-tops of Moab, and-in the ftreets thereof, the mourning, as it was general, it. was publics it was feen /byjall, and every where; fee the note on Jf, xv..3.: for I have broken Moab like avefjel wherein is no pleafure, faith the Lord, as an earthen vefiel, which the potter does not like, and which is utelefs and unprofitable to any, and which he takes and dafhes into pieces; into a thoufand fhivers, as’ the-word ° here fignifies, and can never be put together again; or as a filthy, unclean veffel, a man can’t bear in his fight: dad is by the Lord called his wafh-pot, Pf lx. 8.. The Moaé- ites were vefiels of wrath; fitted for deftruction by their own fins; and now the time of it was come. ¥.39. They foall howl, faying, bow is it broken down? &c.| Or, bow is it broken or thrown into confternation®? they bowl]; that is, they howl out thefe words, or whilft they are howling fay, how is Kirheres or Moab broken all to pieces their ftrength, power, and glory; their cities, and their mighty men; and are in the utmoft fright and ‘confufion? archi takes it to be an imperative, and paraphrafes it, ‘* howl ye over hers, and fay, << how is it broken.” Kimchi fays, it may be taken either as in the paft, or in the imperative. How hath Moab turned the back with fhame? not being able to look their enemies in the face, but obliged to flee before them. So fhall Moab be a derifion, and a difmaying to all them about him; a derifion to fome, to their enemies, as J/rae/ had been to them, and fo they are paid in their own coin; anda confternation to others, their friends, who would fear fharing the fame fate, at the hands of the Chaldeans.

y. 40. For thus faith the Lord, bebold, he foall fy as. an eagle, 8c.) The enemy, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, with his army; who is compared to an eagle for his ftrength, fwiftnefs, and greedinefs after the prey: and shalt /pread his wings over Moab; as an eagle fpreads its wings, which are very large, over the little birds it feizes upon as its prey; fo the king of Babylon would bring a mumerous army againft Mog, and fpread it over. his country. The Zargum is, ‘* behold, as an

¥. 41. Kerioth is taken, &c.}. The name of a city in Moab, as in ¥, 24. fo Farchi; and others; but Kimchi and Abarbinel obferve, that it may be taken for an appellative, and be rendered, the cities 3 every one of the cities of Moab, which were as eafily and quickly taken as one city; thefe may intend the cities in the plain, as the ftrong-holds thofe in high places: and the ftrong-bolds are furprized; every one of them; fo that there was not a city, or a fortified place, but what came into the enemies hands: and the mighty mens bearts in Moab ai that day fhall be as the heart of 2 woman in her pangs; even the hearts of the foldiers, and the moft courageous generals, fhall fink within them; and they be not only as timorous as women in common, but as low-{pirited as a woman when fhe finds her pains are coming upon her, and the time of her delivery is at hand.

¥. 42. And Moab fhall be deftroyed from being @ people, &c.] For fome time, not always; fince the captivity of Méoad is promifed to be returned, y.. 47. or from being fuch a people as they had been, enjoying fo much eafe, wealth, power, and prfo- {perity. dbarbinel takes it to be a comparative, and renders it, more than a people, that is, fhall be deftroyed more than any other people; but the former fenfe is beft. Becaufe he bath magnified himfelf againft the Lord; the Targum is, again{ft the people of the Lord; this is the caufe of his deftruction; fee the note on y. 26.

¥. 43. Fear, and the pit, and the fnare fhall be upon thee, &c.|] A proverbial expreffion, fhewing,; that if they efcaped one danger, or fore judgment, they fhould fall into another and greater: the words feem to be taken from J/ xxiv. 17. fee thé note there: O inhabitant of Moab, faith the Lord; what in the prophecy of J/aiah is faid of the inhabitants of the earth in general, is here applied to the inhabitants of Mad in particular.

v.44. He that fleeth from the fear, &c.] From terrible enemies he is afraid of, and dares not face them, but flees, in order to efcape.them: /hall fall into the pit; into fome misfortune or another; and he that getteth out of the pit, fhall be taken in the fuare, laid by the enemy for him, and fo shall fall into his hands. Sanéfius very ingenioufly obferves, that the allufion is to the hunting of deer, and fuch like creatures; when firft a line of feathers of various colours is placed to fright them; and if they get over that, then there is a pit dug for them, to catch them in; and if they get our of that, a fnare is laid to take them; {fo that they rarely efcape: and thus it would be with the Moabites, if they got rid of a firft and fecond danger, a third would involve them, their deftruction was certain, as follows; fee J/: xxiv. 18: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their vifitation, faith the Lord; in a way of wrath and punifhment; for which there was a time fixed, and was now at hand, and would quickly take place, according to the will and word of the Lord, of which Acad might be affured, who is exprefied by name, for the fake of explanation, and that it might be manifeft who was intended.

¥. 45. They that fled, ftood under the foadow of Hefobon, becaufe of the force, Sc.) Hefbbon was a {trong city in the land of Moab, to which ms? Co)

“gh GODT 9 tot luctus (eft), vel omnia lu&us (fant), Schmidt; totus erit plan@tus, Junius & Tremellius; per omnia erit uss

P PIMP “PM quomodo confternata eft, of the Moabites betook themfelves in this time of their calamity; thinking they fhould be fheltered under the protection of it, from the fury of the Chaldean army; hither they fled, and here they ftood, imagining they were fafe, decaufe of the force; becaufe of the flrength of the ‘city of Hefobon, as Kimchi; or becaufe of the force of their enemies, for fear of them, as Kimcbi’s father; or for want of ftrength, becaufe they had no more ftrength to flee, and therefore ftopped there, fo Farchi and Abarbinel: but the words fhould rather be rendered, they that food under the fhadow of

Hefbbon, thinking themfelves fafe, but now perceiving danger, fled with firength*; or as fwittly as they could, and with all the ftrength they had, that they might, if poffible, efcape from thence: for a fire’, for fo it fhould be rendered, and not but, fall come forth out of Hefbbon, and a fiame from the midft of Sibon; the fame with Hefbbon, fo called from Sthon, an ancient king of it; the meaning is, that the Chaldeans fhould make themfelves matters of He/bbon, this ftrong city, in which the Moabites trufted,; and from thence fhould go out like a flame of fire, and fpread themfelves all over the country, and deftroy it: what was formerly faid of the Amorites, who took the land of Moab out of the hands of the king of it, and it became afterwards a proverbial expreffion, is here applied to the Chaldeans; fee Numb. xxi. 26, 27, 28. fo the Targum, by a flame of fire, underftands warriors: and fhall devour the corner of Moab; the whole country, even to the borders of it. The Targum is, ** and fhall flay the princes of Moad;” fo great men are fometimes called corners; fee Zech. x. 4. and Numb. xxiv. 17: and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones; not of the common people that were tumultuous and riotous, but of the great ones, who fwaggered and boaited, and _ made a noife about their ftrength and riches; but now fhould have their heads broke, and their pride and glory laid in the duft. So the Targum, <* and ‘© the nobles, thé children of noife.”

¥. 46. Wo be unto thee, O Moab, the people of

Chemofo perifbeth, &c.] The inhabitants of Moad,!

who worfhipped the idol Chemofh; of which fee y. 7. and fo called his people, as J/rwel were called the people ef the Lord; now thefe, notwithftanding their idol, whom. they worfhipped, arid in whom they trufted, fhould perifh; and fad and deplorable would be their condition and ‘cireumftances: for thy fons are taken captives, and th

‘daughters captives; this explains the to that fhould come, upon them, and in what fenfe they thould perifo, fince their fons and daughters, who’ they hoped would have continued their name and nation, were taken, and would be carried captives into Babylon; fee Numb. xxi. 29. neally

¥. 47. Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter day, foith the Lord, 8ec.| Some think this is added, not fo much for the fake of Moab, as of the Fews, to affure them of their return from captivity, as had been promifed them, fince this would be the cafe even of Adcab. It had a literal accomplifhment under Cyrws, as is thought, when they were reftored to their land; and certain it is, they were a people in the times of Alewander, or king Fanneus, who fubdued them, as Fo- Jepbus * relates: and it had. a fpiritual one in the times of the Meffiah, in the converfion of forme of thefe people, as very probably in the firft times of the gofpel; fo it will have in the latter day; fee I/. xi. 14. Kimchi interprets it of the days of the Meffiah. For tho’ that people are no more, yet there are a people which inhabit their country, who will, at leaft many of them, be converted, when the fulnefs of the Gentiles is brought ing and it is no unufual thing in {cripture, for the prefent inhabitants of many countries, to be called after thofe who formerly inhabited them, as the Turks are often called Afyrians. Thus far is the judgment of Moab; that is, either fo long, unto the latter days, will the judgment of Méoab continue. So the Targum, ‘* hitherto to execute vengeance of “* judgment on’ Adoab;” or rather, thus far is the prophecy concerning the deftruction of Moad; this is the conclufion of it; here it ends, being a long one.

of Ba chapter contains prophecies concerning the judgments ‘of God on feveral nations and kingdoms, chiefly bordering on the land of Ifrael, on the Ammonites, y. 1—6. on the Edomites, ¥. 7—22. on the kingdom of Dama/cus, or the Syrians, ¥.23—27. on the Kedarenes or Arabians, y. 28—33. and on the Elamites or Perfians, ¥.

¥. 1. Concerning the Ammonites, thus faith the Lord, &c.] Or, to the Ammonites"; or, againft them ™; it will bear to be rendered either way, and all is true; for what is faid by the Lord as follows, 1s Concerning them, their fins, and their punifhment, and is directed to them, and is a threatning againft them: hath Ifrael no fons? hath he noheir? certainly he has, and who ought to poffefs the land: this is to be underftood not of the ten tribes, fometimes called Jfrael, as diftingét from the other two; for thefe had been long ago carried captive, and left no heirs of their tribes; but of all Z/rae/, including the tribes of Fudab and Benjas min, who, tho’ their brethren of the ten tribes were carried captive, and left no children to inherit, yet being next in blood, were the lawful heirs of their lands and poffeffions: why then doth their king inmberit Gad? that part of the’ land of J/rael which — belonged to the tribe of Gad; this, when the ten tribes were carried captive by the king of Afpriay and the Gadites among the reft, was feized on t the Ammonites, with their king at the head” them, lying near unto them; who might alfovpre>” tend relation, as being the children of Zot, the brother’s fon of Abraham; or claim it, as having

| Milcom or Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites, the idol they worfhipped, 1 Kings xi. 5, 7. fo Farchi interprets it. The Ammonites having got pofleffion of the land, fet up their idol init, where temples were built for him, and altars erected, and facrifices offered to him, fo that he might be faid to inherit it) and-which muft be very offenfive to, and highly refented by, the God of J/rael: and bis people dwellin bis cities; the Ammonites dwelt in the cities belonging to the tribe of Gad, as if they were their own; who are called the people of Mileom or Molech, juft as the Moabites are called the people of Chemofh, from the idol they worfhipped, ch. xlviii. 46.

yv.2. Therefore behold, the days come, faith the Lord, &c.}' Or, are coming»; as they did, in a very little time after this prophecy: that I will caufe an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbab of the Ammonites; the metropolis of the Ammonites, it was their.royal city in the times of David, 1 Kings xi. 1. and xii..26. called by Polydius *, Rabbahamana, and by Ptolemy *, Philadelphia, which name it had from Ptolemy Philadelphus, who rebuilt it; this the Lord threatens with the found of the trumpet, the alarm of war, or the noife of warriots, as the Targum; the Chaldean. army under Nebuchadnexzar,°who, about five years after the deftruction of Ferufalem, fubdued the Ammonites, as Fofephus » relates: and it fhall be a defolate beap; be utterly deftroyed; its walls broken down, and houfes demolifhed, and made an heap of rubbith: and her daughters fhall be burnt with fire, Rabbab was the mother-city, and the other cities of the Ammonites were her daughters, which are threatned to be deftroyed with fire by the enemy; or it may mean the villages round about Rabbah, it being ufual in fcripture for villages to be called the daughters of cities; fee Ezek. xvi. 46. fo the Targum here paraphrafes it, ‘¢ the inhabitants ef her *¢ villages fhall be burnt with fire:” then fhall Tfrael be heirs unto them that were his heirs, faith the Lord, that is, fhall inherit their, land again, which the Ammonites pretended to be the lawful heirs of; yea, not only poffefs their own land, but the land of Ammon too: this was fulfilled not immediately upon the deftruétion of Ammon, but in part upon the return of the ews from the Badbylenifo. captivity, when they repoffeffed their own country; and partly in the times of the Maccadces, when they fubdued the Ammonites, 1 Maccab. v. 6. and will more fully in the latter day, when the ‘¥ews fhall be converted, and return to their own jand, and the children of Ammon fhall obey them, Jf. xi. 14. fo Kimcbi interprets it; and other Yewi h writers underftand it of the days of the Mefiah, as Abarbinel obferves..

y¥. 3. Howl, O Hefobon, &c.] Which was a city of Moab, tho’ it formerly belonged to the Amorites; _ fee ch. xlviii. 2.. Numb. xxi. 26. it was upon the border of Ammon, and near to 47, now deltroyed; and. therefore is called upon to howl and lament, becaufe its deftruétion alfo was near at hand, and might be expected; hence Kimchi gathers, that the Ammonites were deftroyed before the Moadites: but fome have thought, that He/hbon was a double city, divided: by a river, which ran thro’ it; and that that.city which was on one fide of the river be- longed to Mead, and thator the other fide to Ammon: for Ai is fpoiled; not that which was near Jericho in the land of Canaan, but*a city in the land of Ammon, thought to be the Gaia of Ptolemy, this feems to be the firft city in the country of Ammon, that Nebuchadnezzar would lay watte: ery, ye daughters of Rabbeb; the royal city beforementioned; either the inhabitants of it, particularly the women, efpecially the younger women, who would bein the utmoft diftrefs, on hearing the enemy was fo near them, and what had befallen 4i; or the villages about Rabbah, as Kimchi interprets it; that is, as the Targum, ‘* the inha- ** bitants of the villages of Rabbab:” gird ye with fackcloth; as a token of calamity and mourning for it, as was ufual: /ament, and run to and fro by the hedges; which Farchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, underftand of the inclofures or fences of villages, like thofe of gardens, fields, and folds, in diftinction from walls of cities, and fortified places; but rather it fignifies the hedges in the fields, whither being drove from their habitations, they would feek unto for fhelter, and run about among them for fafety, lamenting their unhappy cafe: for their king feall go into captivity; be taken and carried captive; either their principal governor; or rather Milcom their god, fince it follows: and bis priefts and his princes together;* both fuch as offered facrifice to him, and attended on and fupported his worfhip: the fame is faid of Chemofh the god of the Moabites, ch. xlvii. 7.

¥. 4. Wherefore glorieft thou in thevallies, 8c.) Of which there were many in the country of Ammon, fruitful and well watered, which were fituated by the rivers of Arnon and Fabbok, the borders of | this country, and in which was the plain of the vineyards; fee Fudg. xi. 13, 33. and indeed the » whole country was a vale. For, as Fo/epbus* fays, the country both of the Moabites and Ammonites were in the valley of Syria, or Celefyria; that is, hollow Syria, fo called trom its lying low, or ina valley; for this country lay between the mountains Libanus and Antilibanus, as Strabo‘ fays, and brought forth a large increafe; in this they. gloried, in the produce of thefe vallies, in the grafs, corn, and vines that grew upon them, and the flocks that fed there; but now fhould have no occafion to glory, all being fwept away by the enemy: thy flowing valley; or, thy valley flows*; is overflowed with water, thro’ abundance of rain, which deftroyed the fruits of it, fo Farchi; or rather flowed with the blood of the flain, as Kimchi, Ben Melech, and Abarbinel; the enemy having entered it, and made fo great a flaughter of men in it: O backfliding daughter? the Targum is, O foolith kingdom; the whole kingdom of Ammon is meant, or the people of it; who defcending from righteous Lot, may be called backfliders; and being alfo idolaters, have this character; for fuch revolt from the true God, to worfhip idols.: it may be rendered, refrafory, rebellious ‘; as all fuch per‘ons are: that trufteth in ber treafures, faying, who shall come unto me? dwelling in yallies encompailed with mountains, and in fortified cities, and abounding in wealth and riches, whereby they were able to procure men and arms to defend themfelves; thought they were fafe from any enemy, and that none could come nigh them, and fo dwelt ateafe, and in great fecurity.

¥. 5. Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, faith the Lord God of hofis, 8c.| The terrible army of the Chaldeans, which fhould ftrike them with-a pannic; who thought themfelves fo fecure in their fortrefles, trufting in their riches: from’ all thofe that be about thee; meaning either from the Chaldeans, and the neighbouring nations, that fhould join, and furround the Ammonites on all fides; or from all the borders of Ammon round about, where they fhould come; they would be a Magor-miffabib, a fear all round: and ye fhall be driven out every man right forth; driven out of their houfes, and cities, and villages, and fteer their courfe right forward, and never look behind to fee what were become of their families, and their friends; every one having enough to do to provide for his own fafety: and none fhall gather up him that wandereth, that is ftraggling about, and knows not which way fo intent on their own fafety, that they will not concern themfelves for others, to take them under their care; to take thofe that are on foot upon their horfes or carriages, whom they overtake; or into their houfes, as they pafs by.

¥. 6. And afterwards I will bring again the capsivity of the children of Ammon, faith the Lord.] Perhaps by Cyrus; for in the times of Judes Maccabeus the children of Ammon were again a large and mighty people, 1 Maccab. v. 6. Fuftin Martyr‘ fays, that in his time there was a large multitude of Ammonites; but Origen ®, who was later than he, obferves, that not only the Jdumeaus, but the Ammonites and Moabites, were then called by the common name of Avadians; and thefe are now the prefent inhabitants of their country; and when thefe fhall be converted in the latter day; fee J/. Ix. 6, 7. who may be called by the name of the ancient inhabitants, then will this be more fully accomplifhed: for fome refer this to the days of the Meffiah, and to the converfion of fome of thefe heathen people, either in the firft times of the gofpel, or in the latter day; fee the note on ¥.2. The Fews* underftand this as fulfilled in <Ammonite profelytes to their religion.

¥. 7. Concerning Edom, thus faith the Lord of hofts, &c.| Or, unto Edom', thus faith the Lord; or, againfs Edom*, all which is true, as obferved on ¥. 1. meaning. the Idumeans, the pofterity of Efau, who was called Edom. Kimchi thinks this refpects time yet future, and points at the deftruction of Rome, and the Romans, who with the Fews frequently go by the name of Edom; and Abarbinel is of the fame mind. And Cocceius is of opinion, that the Yews are meant, and their deftruction, with whom the Jdumeans were incorporated before the coming of Chrift, and had Hered, an Idumean, king over them; but it is beft to underftand the prophecy properly and literally of the Idumeans themfelves. Is wifdom no more in Teman? a city in Edom, which had its name from Teman, a grandfon of E/au, Gen. xxxvi. 11. whofe defcendants were called Temanites; one of which was Elipbaz, a friend of $0b’s, Fob ii. 11. it was a principal city, famous for men of wifdom; fuch an one was the perfon juft mentioned: perhaps the grand fenate of the country, or the chief counfellors, dwelt here; where {chemes were formed for