Moab, after subduing the Emims (Deut. ii. 10), had established himself in his own land, or had become enrolled among the nations of history, — from that time forward had he remained undisturbed in his own land, i.e. without being driven out of it, had not gone into captivity (as is shown by the figure of the wine poured from one vessel into another). In this way there is a qualification made of the general statement that he remains at rest on his lees, and undisturbed. For Moab has often carried on wars, and even suffered many defeats, but has never yet been driven from his own land; nor had the temporary dependence on Israel exercised any transforming influence on the ordinary life of the people, for they were simply made tributary. This quiet continuance in the country is to cease. The God of Israel u will send to them cellarmon (Germ. Schroter), who shall bring them out of the cellar" (Germ, ausschroten), as Luther translates ver. 12. " Schruter" are men who bring the wine-casks out of the cellar; for u schroten" means to bring out heavy burdens, especially full casks on a strong kind of hand-barrow (Genu. Htttewcrkzeug), like a ladder in appearance. D*)J¥ (from njflf, to bend-, incline) are those who incline a barrel or vessel for the purpose of pouring out its contents. These will not merely empty the vessels, but also break the pitchers; i.e. not merely carry away the Moabites, but also break down their political organization, and destroy their social arrangements.
Ver. 13. In this way Moab will come to dishonour through his god Chemosh, i.e. experience his powerlessness and nothingness, and perish with him, just as Israel (the ten tribes) came to dishonour through Bethel, i.e. through their golden calf at Bethel. As to the form DHDap, with Segol in the pretone, cf. Ewald, § 70, a; Olshausen, Gram. S. 377. Moab will then be no longer able to boast of his valour; this is the meaning of the question in ver. 14: on this term in the address, cf. ii. 23, viii. 8. In ver. 15 it is further stated that the result will show this: " Moab is laid waste." n)y WW is variously interpreted. An explanation which has met with much acceptance, but which nevertheless is really untenable, is founded on Judg. xx. 40 (" The whole city went up towards heaven," i.e. in smoke and fire): " As for his cities, fire or smoke ascends;" but there is no mention here either of smoke or fire. Kimchi long ago came Dear the truth when he sought to find the subject TjW in "WjbJ: u and the devastator comes against his citi< However, the contrast between n >' and Viv is not fully brought out in this way: it is better to leave the subject indeterminate i u and his cities they climb " (Kaeper), or: u they go up to his citii t Bottcher, Neve tEhrenlesej ii. 163). The enemy who mounts the cities is evidently intended. To change ">'-' into TjW is both unnecessary and unsuitable; but J. I). Michaelis, Ewald, Dahler, Graf, after making the alteration, translate, u The destroyer of Moab and of Ins cities draws near." Hitzig justly remarks, in opposition to this conjecture: "There is nothing to justify the mere placing of the Bubject at the head of the sentence (contrast vers. 8, 18o); besides, one does not see why the cities of Moab are distinguished from Moab itself; and cf. 206." ntpap TV, " to sink down to the slaughter, cf. 1. 27; and on this use of *nj, Isa. xxxiv. 7. The enemy ascends into the cities, the ing is enforced by the addition, " saith the King," etc. Jahveh is called the King, in contrast with the belief of the Moabites, that their god Chemosh was the king of his people (see on ver. 7). The true King of the Moabites also is Jahveh, the God of hosts, i.e. the Kuler of the whole world.
Vers. 16-25. MoaUs glory is departed. — Ver. 1G. " The destruction of Moab is near to come, and his trouble hastens rapidly. Ver. 17. Bewail him, all [ye who are] round about him, and all who know his name! Say, How the rod of strength is broken, the staff of majesty! Ver. 18. Come down from [thy] glory, and sit in the drought, [thou] inhabitant, daughter of Dibon; for the destroyer of Moab hath come up against thee, he hath destroyed thy strongholds. Ver. 19. Stand by the way, and watch, O inhabitant of Aroer! ask him who flees, and her that has escaped; say, What has happened % Ver. 20. Moab is ashamed, for it is broken down: howl and cry out; tell it in Arnon, that Moab is laid waste. Ver. 21. And judgment hath come upon the country of the plain, upon Holon, and upon Jahzah, and upon Mephaath, Ver. 22. And upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Beth-Diblathaim, Ver. 23. And upon Kirjathaim, and upon Beth-Gamul, and upon Beth-Meon,
Ver. 24. And upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, those that are far off and those that are near. Ver. 25. The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith Jahveh."
The downfall of Moab will soon begin. Ver. 16a is an imitation of Deut. xxxii. 35; cf. Isa. xiii. 22, lvi. 1. The fall of the Moabite power and glory will be so terrible, that all the nations, near and distant, will have pity on him. The summons to lament, ver. 17, is not a mockery, but is seriously meant, for the purpose of expressing the idea that the downfall of so mighty and glorious a power will rouse compassion. The environs of Moab are the neighbouring nations, and " those who know his name" are those who live far off, and have only heard about him. The staff, the sceptre, is the emblem of authority; cf. Ezek. xix. 11, 12, 14, and Ps. ex. 2. In vers. 18-25 is further described the downfall of this strong and glorious power. The inhabitants of DiboD are to come down from their glory and sit in misery; those of Aroer are to ask the fugitives what has happened, that* they may learn that the whole table-land on to the Anion has been taken by the enemy; and they are to howl over the calamity. The idea presented in ver. 18(/ is an imitation of that in Isa. xlvii. 1, %l Come down, O daughter of Babylon, sit in the dust;" but *T1 is intensified by the addition of ""330, and "»DJ ^ *3W is changed into *3B^ KE2T3 (the Ketlnb *nB* has evidently been written by mistake for "rr\ the Qeri). KDJ elsewhere means " thirst;" but " sit down in the thirst" would be too strange an expression; hence N->* must here have the meaning of Kt», Isa. xliv. 3, u the thirsty arid land:" thus it remains a question whether we should point the word SDV, or take N£V as another form of NE¥ as 2?n is of
^n Ezek. xxiii. 19. There is no sufficient reason why Jlitzig and Ewald should give the word a meaning foreign to it, from the Arabic or Syriac. Dibon lay about four miles north from the Arnon, at the foot of a mountain, in a very beautiful plain, where, under the name of Dibdn, many traces of walls, and a well by the wayside, hewn out of the rock, are still to be found (Seetzen, i. S. 409 f.). Hence it must have been well provided with water, even though we should be obliged to understand by " the water of Dimon" (Dibon), wdiich Isaiah mentions (xv. 9), the river Anion, which is about three miles off. The command to '* sit down in an arid land" thus forms a suitable figure, ^presenting the humiliation and devastation of Dibon. That the city was fortified, is evident from the mention of the fortifications in the last clause, na nrj'\ as in xlvi. 19, Aroer was situated on the north hank of the Anion (Mojeb), where its ruins still remain, under the old name Aiair (Burckhardt, p. 372). It was a frontier town, between the kingdom of Sihon (afterwards the territory of the Israelites) and the pos- Jsion of the Moabites (Dent. ii. 36, iii. 12, iv. 48; Josh, xii. 2, xiii. 9, 16). But after the Moabites had regained the northern portion of their original territory, it lay in the midst of the land. The fugitives here represented as passing by are ondeavouring, by crossing the Anion, to escape from the enemy advancing from the north, and subduing the country before them. npjDJI DJ means fugitives of every kind. The co-ordination of the same word or synonymous terms in the masc. and fern, serves to generalize the idea; see on Isa. iii. 1, and Ewald, § 172, c. In nfcta the tone is retracted through the influence of the distinctive accent; the form is participial. The question, "What has happened?" is answered in ver. 20. nnn "^ « for (= certainly) it is broken down." The Kethib *p|>fi vvn must not be changed. Moab is addressed: with Win is introduced the summons, addressed to individuals, to proclaim at the Arnon the calamity that has befallen the country to the north of that river. In vers. 21-24 the general idea of Moab's being laid waste is specialized by the enumeration of a long list of towns on which judgment has come. They are towns of llsfW pN, the table-land to the north of the Arnon, the names of which nearly all occur in the Pentateuch and Joshua as towns in the tribe of Reuben. But Holon is mentioned only here. According to Eusebius, in the Onomasticon, s.v. 'Ieaad, Jahzah was situated between MrjSafiwv (Medeba) and At](3ov$ (Dibon)', according to Jerome, between Medeba and Debus, or Deblathai; but from Num. xxi. 23, we conclude that it lay in an easterly direction, on the border of the desert, near the commencement of the Wady Wale. Mophaath or Mephaath, where, according to the Onomasticon, a Roman garrison was placed, on account of the near proximity of the desert, is to be sought for in the neighbourhood of Jahzah; see on Josh. xiii. 18. As to Dibon, see on ver. 18; for Nebo, see on ver. 1. Beth-Diblathaim is mentioned only in this passage. It is probably identical with Almon-Diblathaim, Num. xxxiii. 40, and to be sought for somewhere north from Dibon. For Kirjathaim see ver. 1. Beth-Gamul is nowhere else mentioned; its site, too, is unknown. Eli Smith, in Robinson's Palestine, iii. App. p. 153, is inclined to recognise it in the ruins of L'm-< l-Jtunl, lying on the southern boundary of the llauran, about twenty miles south-west from Bozrah: hut a consideration of the position shows that they cannot be the same. Beth-Meon, or Baal- Meon (Num. xxxii. 38), or more fully, Beth-Baal-Meon (Josh. xiii. 17), lay about three miles south from Heshbon, wh(
38. Kerioth, vers. 24 ami 1 1, and Amos ii. 2, i- DOt to be identified with the ruins called Kereyath or A n iyath} mentioned by Burckhardt (p. 367) and S d ft. ii. 342, iv. 384. as Ritter has assumed: for this Kereyath is more probably Kirjathaim (see on ver. 1). Rather, a- is pretty fully proved by Dietrich (in Mer£ Archiv, i.320ff.), it is a synonym of.1/. the old capital of Moab, Num. xxii. 36; and the plural form is to be accounted for by supposing that Ar was made up of two or several large portions. We find two great arguments supporting this position: (1.) When Ar, the capital. OCCUTS among the names of the towns of Moab, as in the list of tho.se in Reuben, Josh. xiii. 16-21, and in the prophecy against Moab in Isaiah, chap. xv. and xvi., where so many Moabitic towns are named, we rind no mention of Kerioth; and on the other hand, where Kerioth is named as an important town in Moab, Amos ii. 2, Jer. xlviii., there is no mention of Ar. Cl.) Kerioth imentioned as an important place in the country in Amos ii. 2, where, from the whole arrangement of the prophecy, it can only be the capital of Moab; in this present chapter also, ver. 24, Kerioth and Bozrah are introduced as two very important towns which maintained the strength of Moab; and immediately afterwards it is added, " The horn of Moab is cut off," etc. Further, in ver. 41 the capture of Kerioth is put on a level with the taking of the fortresses; while it is added, that the: the mighty men has failed, just as in xlix. 22 the B ttupled with the loas of courage on the t of 1- lom's hero* j« Bozrah is not to be confounded with:rah in Edom (xlix. L3), nor with the later flourishing city of Bostra in Eiauran: it is the same with Bezer pva), which, •rding to Deut. iv. 43 and Josh. sx. -s. was situated in the Mishor *>f the tribe of Reuben, but has not yet been discovered; see on Deut. iv. 43. For the purpose of completing the enumeration, it is further added, u all the towns of the land Moab, those which are far off (i.s. those which are situated towards the frontier) and those which are near" (ue, the towns of the interior, as Kimchi has already explained). Thereby the horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm broken. Horn and arm are figures of power: the horn an emblem of power that boldly BS&ertS itself, and pushes down all that opposes (of. Ps. Ixxv. 5. 11); the arm being rather an emblem of dominion.
Vers. 26 35. Afoab's haughtiness and <hi>h')<if>I>' fall. — Ver. 26. " Make him drunk, — for he hath boasted against Jahveh, — so that Moab shall splash down into his vomit, and himself become a lau£hini:-stock. Ver. 27. Was not Israel a laughing-stock to thee, or was he found among thieves? for whenever thou spakest of him, thou didst shake thine head. Ver. 28. Leave the cities and dwell in the rock, ye inhabitants of Moab; and be ye like a dove [that] builds its nest in the sides of the mouth of a pit. Ver. 29. We have heard the very arrogant pride of Moab, his haughtiness, and his arrogance, and his high-mindedness, and his elation of mind. Ver. 30. I know, saith Jahveh, his wrath, and the untruthfulness of his words; they have done what is untrue. Ver. 31. Therefore will I howl over Moab, and for all Moab will I cry; they mourn for the people of Kir-heres. Ver. 32. I will weep for thee [with more] than the weeping of Jazer, O vine of Sibmah, thou whose tendrils have gone over the sea, have reached even to the sea of Jazer; on thy fruit-harvest and thy vintage a spoiler has fallen. Ver. 33. And joy and gladness are taken from the garden, and from the land of Moab; and I have caused wine to fail from the wine- vats: they shall not tread [with] a shout; the shout shall be no shout. Ver. 34. From the cry of Hesh- bon as far as Elealeh, as far as Jal.az, they utter their voice; JL Zoar as far as Horonaim and the third Eglath; for even he waters of Nimrim shall become desolations. Ver. 35. And I will destroy from Moab, saith Jahveh, hm that offers on a hi crh place and burns incense to his gods.
Through his pride, Moab has incurred the sentence of destruction to his power. In arrogance and rage he has exalted himself over Jahveh and His people Israel; therefore must he now be humbled, vers. 26-30. The summons to make Moab drunk is addressed to those whom God has charged with the execution of the sentence; cf. vers. 10 and 21. These are to present to the people of Moab the cup of the divine wrath, and lo to intoxicate them, that they shall fall like a drunk man into his vomit, and become a laughing-stock to others (cf. nil. 13, xxv 15), because they have boasted against Jahveh by driving the Israelites from their inheritance, and by deriding the people of God; cf. Zepb. ii. 8. P», to strike, frequently of striking the hands together; here i! signifies to fall into his vomit, i.e. to tumble into it with a splash. No other explanation of the word can find support from the language used. U. Isa. xix. 14 and xxv. 10 f. In the last clause of ver. 20, the emphasis lies on Ml M: "he also (Moab, like Israel before) shall become a laughing-stock." This statement is enforced by the question put in ver. 27, " Was not Israel a laughing-stock to thee? " CN— DM shows a double question, like DN— n; and OKI in the first clause may be further strengthened by the interrogative n before phfe>, as in Gen. xvii. 17. For other forms of the double question, see Ps. xciv. 9, Job xxi. 4, Jer. xxiii. 26. On Dagesh diriment in p'ntfn, cf. Ewald, § 104, b. There is no sufficient reason for questioning the feminine form n«XD3 in the Qeri; Israel is personified as a woman, just as Moab in ver. 20, where nnn is found. On to fW "!*?,_ cf. xxxi. 20, where, however,? "»31 is used in another meaning. Yiijnn, to shake oneself, is a stronger expression than tW"0 Tjn, to shake the head (xviii. 16), a gesture denoting mockery and rejoicing over another's injury; cf. Ps. lxiv. 9.— Ver. 28. A transition is now made from figurative to literal language, and Moab is summoned to leave the cities and take refuge in inaccessible rocks, because he will not be able to offer resistance to the enemy; cf. vims. 6 and 9. u Like a dove that builds its nest over deep crevic The reference ia to wild pigeons, which occur in large numbers in Palestine, and make their nests in the clefts of high rocks (Song of Sol. ii. 11) even at tie* present day, r.<i. in the wilderness of Engedi; cf. Robinson's Pal ifcne, ii. 203. ^n?"^ ^^, lit. k' on the other side of the mouth of the deep pit," or of the abyss, i.r. over the yawning hollows, ^ly? is a poetic form for 13V3, as in Isa. vii. 20. The humiliation of Moab finds its justification in what is brought out in ver. 29 f., his boundless pride and hatred against Israel. — Vers. 21* and 30 only more fully develope the idea contained in Isa. xvi. 6. Those who "heard" are the prophet ami the people of God. There is an accumulation of words to describe the pride of Moab. Isaiah's expression also, i^"j3y Y12 i?"Nv, is here expanded into two clauses, and Jahveh is named as the subject. Not only have the people of God perceived the prick4 of Moab, but God also knows his wrath. Via belongs to |3"W as a genitive, as in Isaiah |3"Nv means " not right," contrary to actual facts, i.e. untrue.1 — Vers. 31-33 are also an imitation of Isa. xvi. 7-10. Ver. 31 is a reproduction of Isa. xvi. 7. In ver. 7, Isaiah sets forth the lamentation of Moab over the devastation of his country and its precious fruits; and not until ver. 9 does the prophet, in deep sympathy, mingle his tears with those of the Moabites. Jeremiah, on the other hand, with his natural softness, at once begins, in the first person, his lament over Moab. (3~^, u therefore," is not immediately connected with ver. 29 f., but with the leading idea presented in vers. 26 and 28, that Moab will fall like one intoxicated, and that he must flee out of his cities. If we refer it to ver. 30, there we must attach it to the thought implicitly con-
1 The Masoretic accentuation, according to which Athnach is placed under j3, exhibits another view of the words in the text: this is shown by the
Chaldee paraphrase, " their nobles endure not, they have not done what is right." The Masoretes took D^na in the sense of " staves," and took staves as a symbol of princes, as in Hos. xi. 6. Luther, in his translation, " I know his anger well, that he cannot do so very much, and attempts to do more than he can," follows the Vulgate, Ego scio jactantiam ejus, et quod non sit juxta earn virtus ejus, nee juxta quod poterat conata sit facere, which again seems to have followed the LXX. in taking)*~\2 for V12.
tained in the emphatic statement, " I (Jahveh) know his wrath," viz. il and I will punish him for it." The /who makes lament is the prophet, as in Isa. xvi. 9 and xv. 5. Schnurrer, Hitzig, and Graf, on the contrary, think that it is an indefinite third person who is introduced as representing the Moabites; but there is no analogous case to support this assumption, since the instances in which third persons are introduced are of a different kind. But when Graf further asserts, against referring the I to the prophet, that, according to what precedes, especially what we find in ver. 26 ff., such an outburst of sympathy for Moab would involve a contradiction, he makes out the prophet to be a Jew thirsting for revenge, which he was not. Raschi has already well remarked, on the other hand, under Isa. xv. 5, that " the prophets of Israel differ from heathen prophets like Balaam in this, that they lay to heart the distress which they announce to the nations; " cf. Isa. xxi. 3 f. The prophet weeps for all Moab, because the judgment is coming not merely on the northern portion (vers. 18-25), but on the whole of the country. In ver. 316, Jeremiah has properly changed *£*?foj? (cakes of dried grapes) into VhWT*, the people of Kir-heres, because his sympathy was directed, not to dainties, but to the men in Moab; he has also omitted "surely they are smitten," as being too strong for his sympathy, iWJ, to groan, taken from the cooing of doves, perhaps after Isa. xxxviii. 14, lix. 11. The third person indicates a universal indefinite. Kir-heres, as in Isa. xvi. 11, -or Kir-haresheth in Isa. xvi. 7, 2 Kings iii. 25, was the chief stronghold of Moab, probably the same as Kir- Moab, the modern Kerek, as we may certainly infer from a comparison of Isa. xvi. 7 with xv. 1; see on 2 Kings iii. 25, and Dietrich, S. 324.— Ver. 32. "W£ *MD, " more than the weeping of Jazer," may signify, " More than Jazer weeps do I weep over thee; " or, " More than over Jazer do I weep over thee." However, the former interpretation is the more obvious, and is confirmed by the reading in Isa. xvi. 9. According to the Onomasticon, Jazer was fifteen Roman miles north from Heshbon. Seetzen recognises it in the ruins called es Szir at the source of the Nahr Szir; see on Num. xxi. 32. According to Jerome, on Isa. xvi. 8, Sibmah was only five hundred paces from Heshbon; see on Num. xxxii. 38. Judging from the verse now are as, and from Isa. I.e., the vines of Sibmah must have been famed for the Strength and excellence of their clusters. Even new, that region produces excellent grapes In abundance. From
Szalt, which lies only ten miles north from Szir, raisins and grapes are carried to Jerusalem, and these of excellent quality (Seetzen, i. S. 399; Burckhardt, p. 350). In what follows, " his tendrils crossed the sea," etc., the extensive cultivation of the grape is set forth under the figure of a vine whose tendrils stretch out on all sides. u They have crossed over the sea " has reference in Isaiah (xvi. 8) to the Dead Sea (D), as in Ps. lxviii. 23, 2 Chron. xx. 2); not merely, however, in the sense of the shoots reaching close to the Dead Sea, but also over it, for Engedi was famed for its vines (Cant. i. 14). Jeremiah also has reproduced the words taken from Isaiah in this sense. From the following clause, " they reached to the sea of Jazer," it does not follow that he has specified u the sea" by " Jazer." What tells rather the other way is the fact that "OT, which means to cross over, cannot possibly be used as equivalent to *1V $83, " to reach to." " They crossed over the sea " shows extension towards the west, while " they reached to the sea of Jazer " indicates extension towards the, north. This latter statement also is an imitation of what we find in Isa. xvi. 8; and " Jazer " is merely further specified as i{ the sea of Jazer." In spite of the most diligent inquiries, Seetzen (i. S. 406) could learn nothing from the people of that region regarding an inland lake; but in the beautiful green vale in the vicinity of Szar (i.e. Jazer) there were several ponds, which he supposes may possibly be the mare Jazer, since this valley lying among the mountains is somewhat depressed, and in ancient times was probably filled with water. The " sea " (&) of Solomon's temple further shows that DJ does not necessarily denote only a large lake, but might also be applied to a large artificial basin of water. So also, at the present day, the artificial water-basins on the streets of Damascus are called baharat, u seas; " cf. Wetzstein in Delitzsch on Isa. xvi. 8. This cultivation of the vine is at an end; for the destroyer has fallen upon the fruit-harves^ and the vintage. Jeremiah, by " the destroyer has fallen," explains the words of Isaiah (xvi. 9), " shouting has fallen." — In ver. 33, Isa. xvi. 10 is reproduced. " Joy and gladness are taken away from the gardens, and from the whole land of Moab." fe*|3 is not here a proper name, for Mount Carmel does not at all suit the present context; it is an appellative, fruit-land, i.e. the fruitful wine-country near Jazer. Jeremiah adds, "and from the land {i.e. the whole land) of Moab." The pressing of the grapes comes to an end; there is no wine in the vat; no longer is the wine pressed with " Hedad.'' Ti*n is an adverbial accusative. This is further specified by the oxymoron: a " Hedad, and yet not a Hedad." This word generally signifies any loud shout, — not merely the shout of the wine-pressers as they tread the grapes (see on xxv. 30), but also a battle-cry; cf. li. 14. Hence the meaning is, " Hedad is heard, but not a merry shout of the wine-pressers." — Ver. 34 is based on Isa. xv. 4-6. " From the cry of Heshbon is heard the echo as far as Elealeh and Jahaz," or " from Heshbon to Elealeh and Jahaz is heard a cry, and from Zoar to Iloronaim." Heshbon and Elealeh are only about two miles distant from each other; their ruins are still visible under the names <>f Hesbdn (Husban, see on ver. 2) and El Al (see on Num. xxxii. 37). They were both built on hills; Elealeh in particular was situated on the summit of a hill whence the whole of the southern Belka may be seen (Burckhardt, p. 365), so that a shout thence emitted could be heard at a great distance, even as far as Jahaz, which is pretty far off to the south-west from I Icshbon (see on ver. 21). The words "from Zoar to Iloronaim" also depend on u they uttered their voice." Both places lay in the south of the land; see on vers. 3 and 4. The wailing resounds not merely on the north, but also on the south of the Arnon. There is much dispute as to the meaning of WW rp:y, which is here mentioned after Horonaim, but in Isa. xv. 5 in connection with, or after Zoar. To take the expression as an appellative, juvenca tertii anni (LXX., Vulgate, Targum, Gesenius, etc.), would perhaps be suitable, if it were an apposition to Moab, in which case we might compare with it passages like xlvi. 20, 1.11; but this does not accord with its position after Horonaim and Zoar, for we have no analogy for the comparison of cities or fortresses with a juvenca tertii anni, h. e. indomita jugoque non assueta; and it cannot even be proved that Zoar and Horonaim were fortresses of Moab. Hence we take V rfcy as the proper name of a place, " the third Eglath;" this is the view of Rosenmiiller,
Drechaler, ind Dietrich (in Merrf Arehiv. L S. 342 fi\). The main reason for this view is, that there would be no use for an addition being made, by way of apposition, to a place which is mentioned as the limit of the Moabites1 flight, or that reached 1 \ their wailing. The parallelism of the clauses argues in favour of its being a proper name; for, on this view of it, three towns are named in both members, the first once, as the starting-point of the cry of wailing, the other two as points up to which it is heard. The preposition "W, which is omitted, may be supplied from the parallel member, as in Isa. xv. 8. Regarding the position of Eglath ShelUhijah, it is evident from the context of both passages that we must look for it on the southern frontier of Moab. It is implied in the epithet "the third" that there were three places (villages), not far from one another, all bearing the same name. Dietrich (S. 344 f.) has adduced several analogous cases of towns in the country to the east of the Jordan, — two, and sometimes even three, towns of the same name, which are distinguished from each other by numerals. " The waters of Nimrim also shall become desolations," because the enemy fill up the springs with earth. Nimrim is not the place called nipj or rno: rV3 mentioned in Num. xxxii. 3, 36, Josh. xiii. 27, whose ruins lie on the way from Szalt to Jericho, in the Wady Shaib, on the east side of the Jordan (see on Num. xxxii. 36), for this lies much too far to the north to be the place mentioned here. The context points to a place in the south, in Moab proper, where Burckhardt (p. 355), Seetzen (Reisen, ii. S. 354), and de Saulcy (Voyage, i. 283, ii. 52) have indicated a stream fed by a spring, called Moiet Numere {i.e. brook Nimrah), in the country at the south end of the Dead Sea, and in that wady a mass of ruins called JVumSre (the Nimmery of Seetzen, iii. 18). — Ver. 35 ends the strophe of which it is a part; here the Lord declares that He will make to cease 3Ki^ (for, or from Moab, lit. to Moab), every one who offers on a high place and burns incense to his gods. TOyb cannot be a substantive, else the parallelism would be destroyed. Nor may we, with Hitzig, render " he who raises a nig1- place," i.e. builds it, for n^yn is not used in this sense.
Vers. 36-38. Further lamentation over the fall of Moab. — Ver. 36. "Therefore my heart sounds like pipes for Moab, and my heart sounds like pipes for the men of Kir-heres; therefore 2 savings which he has made are perished. Ver 37 For every head is baldness, and every beard is shorn; on all hands there are cuts, and on loins sackcloth. Ver. 38. On a 1 the roofs of Moab and in its streets, it is all mourning; for I have broken Moab like a vessel, in which there is no pleasure, saith Jahveh.
The prophet once more lifts up his lamentation over Moab (ver. 36 corresponds to ver. 31), and gives reason for it in the picture he draws of the deep affliction of the Moabites. Ver. 36a is an imitation of Isa. xvi. 11; the thought presented in ver 366 accords with that found in Isa. xv. 7. Isaiah says, « My bowels sound (groan) like the harp," whose strings give a tremulous sound when struck with the plectrum. Instead of this, Jeremiah puts the sounding of pipes, the instruments used in dirges (Matt. ix. 23). Moab and Kir-heres are mentioned together, as in ver. 31. IT**, in the second clause does not stand for P^V '3, "on this account that" (Kimchi, Hitzig, Graf, etc.), but is co-ordinated with the first i^y. The id is not, "Therefore my heart mourns over Moab, because the savings are perished; " but because the sentence of desolation has been passed on the whole of Moab, therefore the heart of the prophet makes lament, and therefore, too, all the property which Moab has acquired is lost ™v, as a collective noun, is joined with the plural verb TOK. On the construction nt'? miV, cf. Gesenius, § 123, 3, Kern. 1; Ewald, § 332, c. The proof of this is given by the deep sorrow and wailing of the whole Moabite nation, ver. 37 f. On all sides are tokens of the deepest sadness,— heads shorn bald, beards cut off, incisions on the hands, sackcloth round the loins.— Ver. 37 is formed out of pieces taken from Isa. xv. 2, 3. nrnp is a substantive, " baldness," i.e. quite bald. nyna, decurtata, instead of!W1| (in Isaiah), is weaker, but more suitable for the present connection. n'Tra, i.e. cuts or scratches inflicted on the body, as signs of mourning; cf. xvi. 6, xli. 5. 1BDO rf^, " It is all wailing; " nothing is heard but wailing, for God has broken Moab in pieces like a useless vessel. On the simile employed, cf. xxii. 28.
Vers. 39-44. No escape from destruction.— Ver. 39. " How it is broken! they howl. How hath Moab turned the back, for shame! And Moab becomes a laughing-stock and a terror ill his neighbours. Ver. 40. For thus saith Jahveh: Behold, ho shall fly like the eagle, and spread his wings over M.il>. Ver. 41. Kerioth is taken, and the Btrongholds are
•d, and the heart of the heroes of Moab on that day become like the heart of a travailing woman. Ver. 42. And Moab is destroyed from being a people, because he hath boasted against Jahveh. Ver. 43. Fear, and a pit, and a snare, are against thi 0 inhabitant of Moab, saith Jahveh. Ver. 44. lie who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit, and lie who goes up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for I will brine; against it, ■gainst Moab, the year of their recompense, saith Jahveh."
The subject of nnn in ver. 39 is Moab viewed as a nation. vyn might be imperative, but in this case we would be obliged to take iris also as an imperative (as Hitzig and Graf do). It is simpler to take both forms as perfects: " they howl... Moab turns the back, is ashamed " ( = for shame). On pnb>p r\*ny cf. ver. 20. n?nr, object of terror, as in xvii. 17. " All who are round about him," as in ver. 17. u For (ver. 40) the enemy rushes down upon Moab like an eagle, and seizes Kerioth and all his strongholds." The subject is left unnamed, as in xlvi. 18, but it is Nebuchadnezzar. The figure of the eagle, darting down in flight on its prey, is founded on Deut. xxviii. 49 (on "vK for?V, cf. xlix. 22). Kerioth, the capital, is taken (see on ver. 24); so are the other strongholds or fastnesses of the country. The mere fact that ninp has the article does not justify any one in taking it as an appellative, "the cities;" this appears from a comparison of Amos ii. 2 with this verse. No plural of nnp occurs anywhere. Then the fear of death falls on the heroes of Moab like a woman in labour. mvo partic. Hiphil from "H^ uterum comprimeits, is found only here and in xlix. 22, where the figure is repeated. Moab is annihilated, so that it is no longer a nation (cf. ver. 2), because it has risen up in pride against the God of Israel; cf. ver. 26. He who flees from one danger falls into the other. The play on the words ins, fear, horror, nns, pit, and na? spring-trap, as well as the mode in which it is carried out, is taken from Isa. xxiv 17 f., — a prophecy of the judgment on the world; see a similar idea presented in Amos v. 19, but somewhat differently expressed. The Kethib D'on, perfect Hiphil, "he flees," is less suit-
Vers. 45-47. Conclusion.— Ver. 45. "Under the shadow of Heshbon stand fugitives, powerless; for a fire goes out from Heshbon, and a flame from Sihon, and devours the region of Moab, and the crown of the head of the sons of tumult. Ver. 46. Woe unto thee, Moab! the people of Chemosh are perished! for thy sons are taken away into captivity, and thy daughters into captivity. Ver. 47. Yet will I turn the captivity of Moab at the end of the days, saith Jahveh. Thus far is the judgment
From Heshbon issued the resolution to annihilate Moab (ver. 2): to Heshbon the prophecy finally returns. " In the shadow of Heshbon stand fugitives, powerless" (nbp, with f? privative), where, no doubt, they were seeking refuge; cf. Isa. xxx. 2, 3. The fugitives can only be Moabites. Here it is astonishing that they seek refuge in Heshbon, since the enemy comes from the north, and according to ver. 2, it is in Heshbon that the resolution to destroy Moab was formed; and judging from xlix. 3, that city was then in the hands of the Ammonites. Hence Hitzig and Graf miss the connection. Hitzig thinks that the whole clause was inserted by a glosser, who imagined the town belonged to Moab, perhaps allowing himself to be misled in this by Num. xxi. 27, " Come to Heshbon." Graf, on the other hand, is of opinion that the fugitives are seeking the protection of the Ammonites in Heshbon, but do not find it: hence he would take the *3 which follows in the adversative sense of "however" or "rather;" but this is against the use of the word, and cannot be allowed. The tenor of the words, " Fugitives stand under the shadow of Heshbon," does not require us to assume that people had fled to Heshbon out of the whole of Moab. Let us rather think of fugitives from the environs of Heshbon, who seek refuge in this fortified town, from the enemy advancing from the north, but who find themselves disappointed in their expectation, because from this city there bursts forth the fire of war which destroys Moab. The thought merely serves the purpose of attaching to it tin* utterances which follow regarding Moab: but from vers. -13 and 1 I alone, it is evident that escape will be impossible. In proof of this he mentions the flight to Heshbon, that he may have an opportunity of introducing a portion of the old triumphal songs of the Mosaic age, with which he wished to conclude his prophecy, vers. 45/> and 46. The fugitives stand powerless, i.e. exhausted and unable to flee any further, while Heshbon affords them no refuge. For there bursts forth from it the fire that is to destroy the whole of Moab. The words from u for a fire," etc., on to the end of ver. -10, are a free imitation of some strophes out of an ancient song, in which poets of the Mosaic period celebrated the victory of Israel over Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had conquered the greater portion of Moab; but with this there is interwoven a passage from the utterances of Balaam the seer, regarding the fall of Moab, found in Num. xxiv. 17, viz. from?2iir\) to pWff *:2. These insertions are made for the purpose of showing that, through this judgment which is now coming upon Moab, not only those ancient sayings, but also the prophecy of Balaam, will find their full accomplishment. Just as in the time of Moses, so now also there again proceeds from Heshbon the fire of war which will consume Moab. The words, " for a fire has gone out from Heshbon," are a verbatim repetition of what we find in Num. xxi. 28, with the single exception that K'N is here, as in Ps. civ. 4, construed as masculine, and thus takes N¥* instead of HWP; but this change, of course, does not affect the meaning of the words. The next clause runs, in Numbers, I.e., prvp rn^D rani, but here prvp pao nnniri; this change into pnp is difficult to account for, so that J. D. Michaelis and Ewald would alter it into n*3D. There is no need for refuting the assumption of Raschi and Nagelsbach, that Sihon stands for the city of Sihon; or the fancy of Morus and Hitzig, that an old glosser imagined Sihon was a town instead of a king. When we consider that the burning of Heshbon by the Israelites, celebrated in that ancient song, was brought on by Sihon the Amorite king, since the Israelites were not to make war on Moab, and only fought against Sihon, who had made Heshbon his residence, there can be no doubt that Jeremiah purposely changed JVlpp into |in*D fin, in order to show that Sihon was the originator of the fire which consumed Heshbon.^ By this latter expression Jeremiah seeks to intimate that, in Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldean army, there will arise against the Moabites another Sihon, from whose legions will burst forth the flame that is to consume Moab. 1*39, " from between," is to be explained on the ground that Sihon is not viewed as a single individual, but as the leader of martial hosts. This fire will "devour the region of Moab, and the crown of the head of the sons of tumult." These words have been taken by Jeremiah from Balaam's utterance regarding Moab, Num. xxiv. 17, and embodied in his address after some transformation. What Balaam announces regarding the ruler (Star and Sceptre) that is to arise out of Israel, viz. «he shall smite the region of Moab, and dash in pieces the sons of tumult," Jeremiah has transferred to the tire: accordingly, he has changed fTO into felfrn, and n*W» Tgrjpi into Jtatf \33 IpTO. Several commentators understand WB as signifying the' margin of the beard (Lev. xix. 27, xxi. 5); but the mention of the crown of the head in the parallel member does not require this meaning, for hsd does not signify the corner of the beard, except when found in combination with Wh or ljj{. The singeing of the margin of the beard seeing in connection with the burning of the crown, too paltry and insignificant. As in the fundamental passage **« signify the sides of Moab, so here nss is the side of the body, and lp"9 the head. fiSV »», homines tumultuosi, are the Moabites with their imperious disposition; cf. ver. 29.— Ver. 46 is again derived from the ancient poem in Num. xxi., but the second half of the verse is altered. The bold figure which represents Chemosh the god of the Moabites as delivering his people up to captivity, is continued in the literal statement of the case; Moab's sons and daughters, i.e. its population, are carried away by the enemy into captivity.— Ver. 47. This infliction of judgment, however, on the Moabites, is not to prove a complete annihilation of them. At the end of the days, i.e. in the Messianic times (see on xxiii. 20), there is in store for them a turn in their fortunes, or a restoration. For TPO0 310, see on xxix. 14. Cf. the similar promise for Egypt, xlvi. 26; Ammon and Elam, xlix. 6 and 39. The last clause, " Thus far," etc.,
GHAT. XI ix i in addition made by the editor, when this oracle was received into the collection of Jeremiah's prophecies; cf. Li. 64, p means the prophecy regarding Moab with reaped to its content
A.s to the fulfilment of the threatened ruin, Josephus (Antt. x. (.». 7) states that Nebuchadnezzar, in the fifth year after the traction of Jerusalem, made war on the Moabites and subdued them. This statement is nol to be questioned, though the date given ahould be incorrect. We have no other sources of Information regarding this people. After the return of the Israelites from Babylon, the Moabites are no longer mentioned as a people, except in Ezra ix. 1. Neh. xiii. 1, 23, where it is stated that some Israelites had married Moabitish wives; nor is any mention made of this people in the hooks of the Maccabees, which, however, relate the wars of Judas Maccabeus with the Ammonites and Edomites ( 1 Mace. v.,') and 6, cf. iv. 61); neither is there any further notice taken of them in Josephus, who only now and then speaks of Moab, i,e, the country and its towns (Antt. xiii. 14. 2, L5. -1; BelL Jud. hi. 3. o, iv. 8. 2). This name seems to have been merged, after the exile, in that of the Arabians. But the disappearance of the name of this people does not exclude the probability that descendants continued to exist, who, when Christianity spread in the country to the east of the Jordan, were received into the communion of the Christian church.
Vers. 1-6. Concerning the children of Ammon. — The Ammonites were, not merely as regards descent, but also as to their character and their relation to Israel, the twin-people with the Moabites. From them, too, as well as from the Moabites, Sihon tlie king of the Ammonites had wrenched a portion of their territory, which the Israelites received for a possession after Sihon had been subdued. This territory they sought every opportunity of retaking from the Israelites, whom they as constantly endeavoured to humiliate when they could. Besides their connection with Eglon the Moabite king (Judg. iii. 13), they oppressed Israel during the period of the judges for eighteen years, not only in Gilead, but also on this side of Jordan, since they fought against Ephraim, Benjamin, and Judah (Judg. x. 7 ff., xi. 12-32). During Samuel's time, their king Nahash besieged Jabesh-Gilead, and demanded the surrender of the city under shameful conditions, in consequence of which they were defeated by Saul (1 Sam. ii.). During the time of David they disgracefully treated his ambassadors, who had come to comfort King Hanun over the death of his father; they then united with the Syrians against Israel, but were defeated by Joab, and, after the taking of their capital, Kabbah, severely chastised (2 Sam. x. 1 to xi. 1, and xii. 26-31). Under the reign of Jehoshaphat, also, in company with the Moabites, they invaded Judah (2 Chron. xx.); and when, later, the Israelites were heavily oppressed by the Syrians under Ilazael, the Ammonites practised cruelties on them in Gilead, for which the prophet Amos (i. 13-15) threatens them with devastation of their country and foreign captivity. After the death of Jeroboam n., who had restored the borders of Israel as far as the Dead Sea (2 Kings xiv. 25), the Ammonites must have made fresh attempts to enlarge their territory during the interregnum that had begun in the kingdom of the ten tribes; for it is mentioned in 2 Chron. xxvi. 8 that they brought presents to King Uzziah, i.e. paid tribute, and had thus been rendered tributary to him: it is also stated in 2 Chron. xxvii. 5 that his son Jotham marched against them in order to enforce the payment of the tribute. But when, soon afterwards, Tiglath-pileser the Assyrian carried away the tribes of Israel on the east of the Jordan (2 Kings xv. 29; 1 Chron. v. 26), the Ammonites seized possession of the depopulated country of the tribes of Gad and Reuben, while they also seized Heshbon on the border of these two tribal territories. This unjust appropriation of Israelitish territory forms the starting-point of the prophecy now before us. Ammon has taken possession of the inheritance of Gad, therefore must his cities be destroyed by war, that Israel may again obtain his own property (vers. 1, 2). Ammon will sorrow deeply, for his god will go with his princes into captivity (vers. 2-4). His trust in the wealth of his land will not help him, but his people will be frightened away through terror on every side, yet they will be restored in the future (vers. 5, 6).
Ver. 1. a Concerning the children of Amnion, thus saith Jahveh: Hath [srael no sons, or hath ho no heirl Why (loth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities I Ver. 2. Therefore, behold, days are coming, saith Jahveh, when I will cause to he heard against Baobab, of the children of Amnion a war-cry: and it shall become a heap of ruins, and her daughters shall he burned with tire: and [srael shall heir those who heired him, saith Jahveh. Ver. 3. Howl, () Ileshbon! for Ai is laid waste. Cry! ye daughters of Rabbah, gird yourselves with sackcloth: lament, and run up and down among the enclosures: for their king shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together. Ver. 4. Why dost thou glory in the valleys I Thy valley flows away, O thou rebellious daughter, that trusted in her treasures, [saying], Who shall come to me! Ver. ">. Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee, saith the Lord Jahveh of hosts, from all that is round thee; and ye shall be driven each one before him, and there shall be none to gather together the fugitives. Ver. 6. But afterwards I will turn the captivity of the children of Ammon, saith Jahveh." The address begins with a question full of reproach: "Has Israel, then, no sons who could take possession of his land as their inheritance, that the king of the Ammonites has taken possession of Gad (i.e. of the hereditary portion of the tribe of Gad), and dwells in the cities of Gad?" The question presupposes that the Israelites had been carried away by Tiglathpileser, but at the same time, also, that the country still belongs to the Gadites, for they certainly have sons who shall again receive the inheritance of their fathers. Since Jeremiah, as is clear from ver. 3, had Amos i. 13-15 in his mind, he evidently uses DJpD in a double sense, not merely in ver. 3, but even in ver. 1 also, with a reference to Amos i. 15, meaning the king and god of the Ammonites. As in Amos, Aquila, Symmachus, Jerome, and the Syriac, so in this passage also, the LXX., Vulgate, and Syriac have understood D3^0 of the god Data; with them agree Ewald, Hitzig, and Graf. But the reasons alleged for the change of 03^0 into Di^p are quite as insufficient here as in Amos i. 15. Just as, in the last-named passage, D3?£ first of all refers to the king of the Ammonites, so is it here. It is not the god, but the king, of the Ammonites that has taken possession of the territory of Gad. It is not till ver. 3 that the reference to the god Milcom plainly comes out. Ver. 2. Therefore shall Kabbah, the capital of the Ammonites, hear the cry of war, and be changed into a heap of ruins, T\X\ fiBV \:3, " The great (city) of the sons of Amnion," is the full name of the Ammonite capital (cf. Deut. iii. 11), which is usually called, briefly, n3") (Amos i. 14; 2 Sam. xi. 1, etc.); it was afterwards called Philadelphia, probably after Ptolemy Philadelphus, in Polybius rPa/3/3ardfiava, in Abulfeda Amdn, which is the name still given to its ruins on the Nahr Amman, i.e. the Upper Jabbok; see on Deut. iii. 11. " A cry of war," as in iv. 19; cf. Amos i. 14. " A hill of desolation," i.e. a heap of ruins; cf. Josh. viii. 28, Deut. xiii. 17. "Her daughters" are the smaller cities dependent on the capital, — here, all the remaining cities of the Ammonites; cf. Num. xxi. 25, Josh. xv. 45, etc. u Israel shall heir those who heired him," i.e. receive back the property of those who have appropriated his land. — Ver. 3. The cities of the Ammonites, i.e. their inhabitants, shall howl and lament over this calamity. The summons given to Heshbon to howl implies that this city, formerly the residence of Sihon, was then in possession of the Ammonites. There is obscurity in the clause announcing the reason, H for *V (LXX. Tai) is laid waste:" the word seems to be a proper noun, but there is no city of this name known in the Ammonite country, or the land east of the Jordan; while we must not think of Ai (W, Josh. vii. 2 f.), which was situated on the west side of the Jordan. Venema and Ewald are inclined to take the word as an appellative, synonymous with #W, "ruins" (which is the meaning of sy), and regard it as the subject of Rabbah, the capital, u because it has been laid in ruins." But a comparison of xlviii. 20, iv. 20, Zech. xi. 3, rather favours our taking \P as the subject. Graf and others would therefore change *V into "W, as (they say) the capital of the Ammonites was called by the Israelites. But there are no historical traces of this designation of Rabbah. There remains hardly any other course open than to consider ^ as the name of an important Ammonite city. The mere fact that it is mentioned nowhere else cannot form a strong foundation for the objection against this assumption, for we do not find anywhere a list of the Ammonite cities. The inhabitants the other towns are to put on Mgnsofaowow and go about mourning •• in the enclosures," U in the open country su.ce the cues, being reduced to ashes, no longer afford shelter. Most expositors understand rrtVH as meaning sheep-folds (Num axxii. 16, 2 1, 36); but there is no reason for taking this special viewoi the meaning of the word, according to which niv» would stand for W rnvti. im, and tj, also mean the wall of a vineyard, or the hedges of the vineyards, and in Num. xxii •' i specially the enclosure of the vineyards at the cross-roads in the country oast of the Jordan. This is the meaning here \\V must not, with Nagelsbacn, think of city walls on which one could run up and down, for the purpose of taking measures lor defence: the words do not signify the walls of a city. The carrying away into exile of Malcam with his priests and princes gives the reason for the sorrow. D?fe is here not the earthly king, but the god MUcom viewed as the king of the Ammonites, as is clear from the addition Wqa, and from the parallel passes m x vm. 7. The clause is copied from Amos i. 15, but m has been substituted for WqS>, in order that B& may be understood of Milcom, the chief deity (see on 1 Kings xi. 5)._Ver 4 Thus shall the empty boasting of the Ammonites and their trust in their riches come to nothing. « Why dost thou boast of the valleys?" le. of the splendid fruitful valleys and plains which being well watered, produced large crops of corn and wheat ' «p 3, is viewed by some as an antfthes.s what immediately precedes]: « thy valley flows, *. with the blood of heshin (Rosenmuller and Gesenius still view it thus); or it flows away, i.e. thy valley (viz. its inhabitants) is scattered dispersed. But it is quite arbitrary to supply « with blood;" and even the other explanation-which Hitzig justifies on the ground that valley or river-bottom stands for what it contains, whether they have expressed vpm or ^m by W„>. On the ground of this arbitrary paraphrase, Hitzig would at once change *»» into D^g, without considering that the giant races of that region to i.e. the inhabitants of the valley, and that the population is represented under the figure of a mass of water running, flowing away — is very far-fetched. The words cannot form an antithesis to what precedes (because the description of the confidence shown is still continued, and the antithesis does not follow till ver. 5), but merely a further extension of the preceding clause. We may, then, either translate, u thy valley flows, overflows," so that the words shall be subordinated to what precedes; or we may take 3T, with Ewald and Graf, as a noun, in which case we must repeat the preposition 3, u the abundance of thy valley." The singular, u thy valley," means, together with the other valleys of the country, perhaps the valley of Rabbah; for Amman lies in a broad valley along the banks of the Moiet Amman, which has its source in a pool two hundred paces from the south-west end of the city (Burckhardt's Syria, p. 355). Regarding the vicinity, Abulfeda writes ( Tabula? Syr. ed. Mich. p. 92), circwnjecta regio arva sativa sunt ac terra bona et abundans. The direct address, " O rebellious daughter," used of Israel in xxxi. 22, is here transferred to the inhabitants of Rabbah, with reference to the fact that the Ammonites, denying their descent from Lot, behaved like enemies towards Jahveh and His people. In trusting their riches, they are like the Moabites, xlviii. 7. In this confidence they said, u Who will come unto us?" i.e. attack us as enemies. Thereupon the Lord replies, " I will bring on thee fear, terror from all that is round thee," all the nations that dwell about thee (cf. xlviii. 17, 39), whose distress or overthrow will put thee in terror, hg Bte=WB^ B*K, « every one before him " (cf. Josh, vi. 5, Amos iv. 3), without looking about him, or turning round (cf. xlvi. 5), i.e. in the most precipitate flight, with no one to rally the fugitives. "TO is collective. — Ver. 6. Yet afterwards, the fortunes of Ammon also shall be changed, as it was with Moab, xlviii. 47.
Regarding the fulfilment of this prophecy (just as in the case of Moab), we have no further information than that of Josephus (Ant. x. 9. 7), that Nebuchadnezzar defeated and subdued the Ammonites in the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem. Shortly before, their king Baalis had got Gedaliah the governor put out of the way (Jer. xl. 14). Even after the exile they kept up their hostile spirit against the Israelites and the Jews, inasmuch as they tried to hinder the building of the city walls at Jerusalem (Neh. iv. Iff.), and in the Maccabean age were still making war against the Jews; 1 Mace. v. (i, 30-43. Their name was preserve! till the time of.lustin Martyr (Afifiavtrcou eaTt, vvv irokv ttXtjOos, l>ial. Tryjph. p. 212). But Origen already comprehends their country under the general name Arabia (lib. 1 in Jobum).
Vers. 7-22. Concerning Edom. — To the Edomites, whom Israel were to leave undisturbed in their possession, since they were a kindred nation (Deut. ii. 4), Balaam announces that M Edom shall become a possession," i.e. shall be taken possession of by the ruler rising out of Israel. We have shown, in the explanation given of Num. xxiv. 18, that up to the time of the exile this utterance had been fulfilled merely by feeble attacks being made, since the Edomites were only temporarily subdued by the Israelites, then soon made themselves independent again, and made war on Israel. On account of their implacable hostility towards the people of God, Ezekiel (xxv. 12 ff.), as well as Jeremiah in this prophecy, announces ruin to them. The contents of the prophecy before us are as follow: The far-famed wisdom of Teman will not preserve Edom from the destruction with which Jahveh will visit it. The judgment of desolation that has been decreed shall inevitably come on it (vers. 7-13). The nations shall wage war against it, and make it small; because of its proud trust in the strength of its dwelling-place, it shall become the laughingstock of every passer-by (vers. 14-18). As a lion from the reedy places of Jordan suddenly attacks a herd, the Lord will drag the Edomites from their rocky dwelling, so that the earth shall quake with the crash of their fall, and the anguish of death shall seize their heroes (vers. 19-22). In this prophecy Jeremiah has relied much on Obadiah, vers. 1-9, and reproduced much of his expressions regarding the fall of Edom.1 According to what has been said, his address falls into three strophes. In the first (vers. 7-13), the judgment breaking
1 The use made of Obadiah by Jeremiah has been so convincingly proved, especially by Caspari in his commentary on Obadiah, that even Ewald and Graf, who place the prophecy of Obadiah in the time of the over Edom is depicted as one that cannot be averted, and as having been irrevocably decreed by the Lord; in the second (vers. 14-18), it is set forth as to its nature and the occasion of its occurrence; and in the third (vers. 19-22), as to its completion and consequences.
Vers. 7-13. The judgment as inevitable. — Ver. 7. "Thus saith Jahveh of hosts: Is there no more wisdom in Teman? has wisdom perished from those of understanding? is their wisdom [all] poured out? Ver. 8. Flee, turn ye! hide yourselves, ye inhabitants of Dedan; for I bring the destruction of Esau upon him, the time [when] I visit him. Ver. 9. If grape-gatherers come to thee, they will not leave gleanings; if thieves by night, they destroy what suffices them. Ver. 10. For I have stripped Esau, I have uncovered his secret places, and he cannot cover himself; his seed is destroyed, and his brethren, and his neighbours, and he is not. Ver. 11. Leave thine orphans, I will keep them alive; and let thy widows trust me. Ver. 12. For thus saith Jahveh: Behold, [they] whose judgment was not to drink the cup shall certainly drink it: and art thou he [who] shall be quite unpunished? thou shalt not be unpunished, but shalt certainly drink. Ver. 13. For by myself have I sworn, saith Jahveh, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all its cities shall become everlasting wastes."
In order to frighten Edom out of his carnal security, the prophet begins by depicting the horror of the judgment coming down on this people, before which his wise men shall stand not knowing what to advise, and unable to find out any means for averting the evil. Teman} the home of the wise Eliphaz (Job ii. 11), is here, as in Amos i. 12, Obad. ver. 9, the region of that name in Gebalene, the northern district of Idumea; see on Amos i. 12. The question, " Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?" is ironical, and has a negative meaning. The following clauses also are to be taken as questions, not as assent to the question, as Hitzig and Graf infer from the omission of DX. D*» is not the plural of |3, " son," but the participle of pa or exile, acknowledge this use that has been made of it, and therefore hold that the first part of the book of Obadiah is a fragment of an older oracle. This is a hypothesis which we have already shown, in the introduction to Obadiah, to be untenable.
DedaniteS, whose caravans inarch in peace through Edom ( on x\\. 23), must flee, and hide themselves in deeply concealed hiding-places, in order to escape the evil befalling Edom. The form ••—7I, which only occurs besides in E)zek. ix. 2, In the sense of being "turned, directed," i-< here preferred to the
Hiphil (cf. ver. 24, xlvi. 21, etc.). in order to indicate the constraint under which they must change their route. *PW(!! is also an imperative, in spite of the Segol in the first syllable, which is found there, in Mime forms, instead of a; cf. Ewald, § 226, a. nrj;^MP":vn, "make deep to stay," i.e. withdraw yourselves into deep or hidden places, where the enemy does not see and discover you. " For the destruction of Esau/1 i.e. the destruction determined on Esau, or Edom, "I bring on him;" on this matter, cf. xlvi. 21. — Ver. 9 is a reproduction of Obad. ver. o, but in such a way that what Obadiah brings forward as a comparison is directly applied by Jeremiah to the enemy: our prophet represents the enemy as grape-gatherers who leave nothing to glean, and as nocturnal thieves who destroy what is sufficient for them, i.e. destroy till they have enough, drag away and destroy as much as they can. The after-clauses, " they will not leave," etc., " they destroy," etc., are thus not to be taken as questions. The reference to Obadiah does not entitle us to supply NiSi from that passage. The connection here is somewhat different. The following verse is joined by means of *3, " for; " and the thought, u for I have stripped Esau, I have discovered his secret places," shows that the enemy is to be understood by the grapegatherers and nocturnal thieves: he will leave nothing to glean — will plunder all the goods and treasures of Edom, even those that have been hidden. On this subject, cf. Obad. ver. 6. siiPn, ".to strip off leaves, make bare " (xiii. 26), has been chosen with a regard to ^aru in Obadiah. *?3V &6 rmrai, lit. u and he hides himself, he will not be able to do it; " i.e. Esau (Edom) tries to hide himself; he will not be able to do it — he will not remain concealed from the enemy. There are not sufficient grounds for changing the perf. nam — Narrj into the inf. abs. ninn^ as Ewald and Graf do. " His seed is destroyed," i.e. his family, the posterity of Esau, the Edomites,
"his brethren," the descendants of nations related to the family, and of others similar who had intermingled with them, as the Amalekites, Gen. xxxvi. 12, Horites, Gen. xxxvi. 20 ff., Simeonites, 1 Chron. iv. 42, " and his neighbours," the neighbouring tribes, as Dedan, ver. 8, Thema and Buz, xxv. 23. u And he is not " is added to give intensity, as in Isa. xix. 7; cf. Jer. xxxi. 15. The last idea is made more intensive by ver. 11, " Leave your orphans and widows." Edom is addressed, and the imperative expresses what must happen. The men of Edom will be obliged to leave their wives and children, and these will be left behind as widows and orphans, because the men fall in battle. Yet the Lord will care for them, so that they shall not perish. In this comfort there is contained a very bitter truth for the Edomites who hated Jahveh. rory is the imperative (Ewald, § 228, a), not infinitive (Hitzig); and intoan is a rare form of the -jussive for runoan as in Ezek. xxxvii. 7; cf. Ewald, § 191, b. Keasons are given for these threats in vers. 12 and 13, first in the thought that Edom cannot continue to be the only one unpunished, then in the bringing forward of the solemnly uttered purpose of God. " Those who should not be compelled to drink." Those meant are the Israelites, who, as the people of God, ought to have been free from the penal judgment with which the Lord visits the nations. If, now, these are not left (spared such an infliction), still less can Edom, as a heathen nation, lay claim to exemption. By this Jeremiah does not mean to say that any injustice befalls the Jews if they are obliged to drink the cup of the wrath of God, but merely that their having been chosen to be the people of God does not give them any right to exemption from the judgments of God on the world, i.e. if they make themselves like the heathen through their sins and vices. The inf. abs. \TW for nhy intensifies: "ye shall (must) drink." The idea is founded on that pervading chap, xxv., and there is use made of the words in xxv. 25. The *3 in ver. 13 is mainly dependent on the clause immediately preceding: " thou shalt certainly drink." On " by myself have I sworn " cf. xxii. 5. In the threat that Edom shall be laid waste there is an accumulation of words corresponding to the excitement of feeling accompanying an utterance under solemn oath. 3jh
D^iy ntann, as in xxv. \K Bozrafa WM at that time the pital of the Edomites (cf. ver. 22); it lav soutli from the Dead Sea, on the site of the village Bnseireh (Little Bozrah), in Jebal, which is still surrounded by a castle and with ruins of considerable extent, and is situated on an eminence; see on Amos i. 12 and Gen. xxxvi. 33. " And all its cities," i.e. the rest of the cities of Idumea; cf.!jpnto3*, ver. 2.
A ers. 14-18. The nature and occasion of the judgment decreed. — Ver. 14. " I have heard tidings from Jahveh, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: Gather yourselves together, and go against her, and arise to the battle! Ver. 15. For, behold, I have made thee small among the nations, despised among men. Ver. 16. Thy terrihleness hath deceived thee, the pride of thv heart, () thou that dwellest in the hiding-places of the rock, that boldest the height of the hill. Though thou makest thv nest high like the eagle, thence will I bring thee down, saith Jahveh. Ver. 17. And Edom shall become an astonishment; every passer-by shall be astonished at her, and shall hiss at all her plagues. Ver. 18. As [it was in] the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, saith Jahveh, no man shall dwell there, nor shall a son of man sojourn there."
This judgment will immediately take place. The nations who are Xo make Edom small and despised have been already summoned by the Lord to the war. Jeremiah has taken this idea from Obad. vers. 1, 2. The subject in "I have heard" is the prophet, who has heard the information from Jahveh. In Obadiah is found the plural, "we have heard," because the prophet includes himself among the people; this is to show that the news serves as a consolation to Israel, because Edom shall be punished for his crimes committed against Judah. This view was not before the mind of Jeremiah; with him the prevailing representation is, that judgment, from which Edom cannot be excepted, is passed upon all nations. Therefore he has chosen the singular, " I have heard." In the succeeding clause the perf. Pual n^ has been changed into Tpbfy as the more usual form. The messenger is to be considered as havinobeen sent by the Lord for the purpose of summoning the nations to war, as he actually does in the second hemistich.
The message agrees, in the nature of its contents, with Obad. ver. 1; but Jeremiah has dealt somewhat freely with its form. The statement with regard to the object of the war, ver. 15, agrees pretty exactly with Obad. ver. 2. The account, too, which is given of the cause of the judgment, i.e. the guilt of Edom arising from his trusting in the impregnable character of his habitation, is derived from Obad. vers. 3, 4. Jeremiah has intensified the idea by the additional use of WJSW, but has also made certain limitations of the expression by omitting some clauses found in Obadiah. The word just named is air. \ey.j and has been variously explained. The verb }?? occurs only in Job ix. 6, with the meaning of quaking, trembling; and the noun n«OB pretty frequently in the sense of fear, shuddering, horror; further, n|f»e is used in 1 Kings xv. 13, 2 Chron. xv. 16, of an idol, monster, object of horror. Hence Rabbinical writers have been inclined to understand nv?sn as meaning idolatry; in this they are followed by J. D. Michaelis, Meier, and Nagelsbach. The last-named writer translates, "Thy monster (idol) led thee astray." But even though this meaning were better established from the use of language than it is, yet the mention of idolatry, or even of an idol, is quite unsuitable in this passage. The LXX. render r) iratyvia <rov, i.e. risus or jocus tuus, Chald. l|nwto, " thy folly," — evidently a mere guess from the context. The best ascertained translation is, " Thy terror," i.e. the terror which thou dost inspire, or the fear of thee, " hath misled thee, the pride of thine heart," so that " the pride," etc., forms an apposition to "thy terror." The combination of the fern. tywW? with the verb K'tfn in the masc. is not decisive against this. Following the example of Schleussner (0 arrogantiam tuarri), Hitzig and Graf would take the word as an exclamation, " Terror to thee! horror on thee! " and they point for support to D39OT, Isa. xxix. 16. But an exclamation is out of place here, and incompatible with the derivation of the following words from Obadian. Since Jeremiah appropriates from Obadiah the thought, a thy pride hath misled thee," WJWWJ may possibly be meant as a mere intensification of 1?p YiT. The pride of Edom increased because the other nations were afraid to make war on him in his rocky dwelling, so difficult of access. On jn »una *aafc^ see on Obad. ver. 3. The succeeding appositionclause in2V Dnc, found in Obadiah, is modified by Jeremiah into rqoi DhB van, u thou that seizest, or boldest (as in xl. 10), the height of the hill." In the expression v^on ^n there is perhaps implied an allusion to the rock-city V/p, or Petva, in the Wady Musa (see on 2 Kings xiv. 7), and in npa Diip another allusion to Bozrah, which lay on a hill; see on ver. 13. On ver. 16, cf. Obad. ver. 4. Jeremiah has omitted the hyperbolic addition, " among the stars." In vers. 17 and 18 the devastation of Edom is further portrayed. On vt 7a, cf. xxv. 11, 38; with lib agrees xix. 8, almost word for word. The comparison with Sodom, etc., is a reminiscence from Deut. xxix. 22, and is repeated in the prophecy concerning Babylon, 1. 40; cf. Isa. xiii. 19, Amos iv. 11. " Her neighbours " are Admah and Zeboim, Deut. xxix. 22, Hos. xi. 8. The comparison with Sodom is not so to be understood as if it indicated that Edom shall be destroyed in the same manner as Sodom; it is merely stated that the land of Edom shall become a desert waste, like the region of the Dead Sea,, uninhabited, and with no human beings in it; cf. ver. 33 and 1. 40.
Vers. 19-22. The execution of the judgment, and fall of Edom. — Ver. 19. u Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the glory of Jordan, to the dwelling of rock: but in a moment will I drive him away from her, and will appoint over her him who is chosen; for who is like me? and who will summon me [before the judge]? and what shepherd shall stand before me? Ver. 20. Therefore hear the counsel of Jahveh which He hath counselled against Edom, and His purposes which He has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely they shall drag them about, the little ones of the flock; surely he shall lay waste their dwelling over them. Ver. 21. At the noise of their fall the earth trembles; a cry — its noise is heard in the Red Sea. Ver. 22. Behold, he shall come like the eagle and dart after [his prey], and spread his wings over Bozrah; and the heart of the mighty men of Edom in that day shall become like the heart of a woman travailing."
As a lion coming up out of the thicket of reeds at the Jordan (HP!? PN3, see on xii. 5) suddenly attacks a flock, so shall he who executes the judgment attack the Edomites in their strong habitations, and at once put them to flight. The foe or general who executes the judgment is here no further pointed out, as in xlvi. 18, xlviii. 20; but he is merely set forth as a lion, and in ver. 22 as an eagle that in its flight darts down on its prey. |JVK FTj3, pasture or dwelling of permanence; as |rPK is used in Num. xxiv. 21 of the rocky range of Sinai, so is it used here of the rocky range of Seir (V?Bn W> ver. 16). The translation "evergreen pasture" (Graf, Nagelsbach) cannot be defended; for neither JTPK, " continual, enduring," nor nu, " pasture-ground, dwelling," includes the notion of green grass. Quite baseless is the assumption of Hitzig, that the former word means the " shepherd " as remaining with the flock. 'nyTi.X, " I shall wink," stands for the adverb, " immediately, at once." ntyo tfyjK, "I will make him (Edom) run, " i.e. drive him, " from it," his habitation (which is construed as fern, ad sensum). Jahveh sends the lion; Jahveh is not compared with the lion (Hitzig). In "urn V? the former word is not the interrogative pronoun, but the indefinite quicunque, as in Ex. xxiv. 14; cf. Ewald, 332, b. And the latter word is not "the valiant shepherd" (Hitzig), but signifies "chosen." irta is used instead of n^V: and *PV "TPB means to u set over " something, as the chief, superior. The idea is, that God will frighten away the Edomites out of their land by a lion, and appoint him as the shepherd whom He chooses for that purpose. None can prevent this, for there is none like Jahveh in strength or power, and none can call Him to account for His doing. UW (from 1£), in Hiphil, to " summon before the court of justice," i.e. to call on one to make a defence; cf. Job ix. 19. Nor can any shepherd stand before Jahveh, i.e. defend his flock. These words are directed against the rulers of Edom, who foolishly imagined they were secure, and could not be touched in their rock-fortresses. The words, moreover, contain general truths, so that we cannot apply "WIS to historical persons, such as Nebuchadnezzar or Alexander the Great.— Ver. 20. This truth the Edomites are to lay to heart, and to hear, i.e. consider the purpose which the Lord has formed regarding'Edom. Teman is not synonymous with Edom, but the inhabitants of Teman are specially named together with Edom in the parallel member, because they wore particularly famous for their wisdom (wr. 7), and in their pride over this wisdom, held the counsels of God in very small esteem. The counsel of God, the thoughts which 11 has conceived regarding Edom, follow in the clauses which are introduced with Bolemn assuranc I**an *T1N M(?9! is rendered by the Vulgate, ex non dejecerin arvuli which
Luther follows in his translation, "if the shepherd-hoys will not drag them away." And C B. Michaelis and Havernick (on Ezekiel, p. 115) still view the words as meaning that "the least oi the flock " will drag away Edom; i.e. the covenant people, weak and miserable though they are, will Ik? victorious over Edom: in support of this rendering they point to Ezek. xxv. 1 1. But though Ezekiel clearly declares that the Lord will satisfy His revenge on Edom by means of His people Israel, yet it does not follow from this that Ezekiel had this passage of Jeremiah in his mind, and sought so to apply it. In spite of the clearness with which the thought is expressed by Obadiah and Ezekiel, that Edom will at last become the prey of the people of God, we would expect to find it in Jeremiah only as a simple inference from his words; for Jeremiah does not, like Obadiah and Ezekiel, mention the enmity of Edom to Israel as the cause of his guilt, but only the pride of his heart. Against taking " the little ones of the flock " as the subject of the clause, we find these considerations: (1) 3~9? "to pull, drag away," does not well apply to sheep, but rather points to dogs (xv. 3) or lions, which drag away their prey. (2) The context is far from leading us to understand, by the little ones of the sheep, Israel or the people of God, either here or where the words are repeated, 1. 45; while Zech. ii. 7 and xiii. 7 are passages which cannot be held as regulating this verse. In ver. 19 the rulers of Edom are viewed as shepherds: in accordance with this figure, the Edomites are in ver. 20 called sheep, and weak, helpless ones too. The subject of E^np* is indefinite: c' the enemy will advance like a lion out of the jungle of the Jordan; " the suffix precedes the noun, as in xlviii. 44, etc. The fate of Edom will be so terrible, that their pasture-ground, their habitation, will be astonished at it. The Hiphil D^ is formed, like C"J:: in Num. xxi. 20, from DE^; not, however, with the sense of " laying waste," which the construction with?V of a person does not suit, but with the meaning of " making astonished;' as in Ezek. xxxii. 10, and only here with the directly causative sense of manifesting, showing astonishment or amazement. — Ver. 21. The fall of Edom will be so fearful, that the earth will tremble, and the cry of anguish from the perishing people will be heard on the lied Sea. D?B3 is the iuf. Kal with suffix. The threatening concludes, in ver. 22, with the same thought through which destruction is threatened to the Moabites, xlviii. 40 if. The comparison of the enemy to an eagle is continued in the expression, "he shall come up;" the coming up, however, does not mean the rising of the eagle into the air, but refers to the enemy: to march as an enemy against Edom.
With reference to the fulfilment of this prophecy, we have already pointed out, on Num. xxiv. 18, and at the close of the exposition in Obadiah, that the threatened devastation of the land of Edom was brought about by the Chaldeans, as is clear from Mai. i. 3; but the annihilation of the people was commenced by the Maccabeans, and completed by the Romans, about the time of the Jewish war.
Vers. 23-27. CONCERNING DAMASCUS. — Aram, on this side of the Euphrates, or Syria, was divided, in the times of Saul and David, into the kingdoms of Damascus, Zobah, and llamath, of which the second, extending between Damascus and llamath (see on 2 Sam. viii. 3), or situated north-eastward from Damascus, between the Orontes and the Euphrates, was the most powerful; its kings were defeated by Saul (1 Sam. xiv. 47), and afterwards conquered and made tributary to the kingdom of Israel by David, who did the same to the Syrians of Damascus that had come to the assistance of Iladadezer king of Zobah (2 Sam. viii. and x.). After the death of David and during the time of Solomon, a freebooter named Kezon, who had broken away from Iladadezer during the war, established himself in Damascus (see on 1 Kings xi. 23-25), and became the founder of a dynasty which afterwards made vassals of all the smaller kings of Syria, whose number is given 1 Kings xx. 1. This dynasty also, under the powerful rulers Benhadad I. and II. and Hazael, long pressed hard on the kingdom of Israel, and conquered a great part of the Israelite territory (1 Kings xv. 18 ff., xx. 1 ff., xxii. 3 ff.; 2 Kings v. 1 ff., vi. S ii., viii. 28 P., x. 32 f., xii. Is ii., xiii.:; IT.)- At last, King Joash, after the death of Hazael, succeeded in retaking the conquered cities from his son, Benhadad in. (2 Kings xiii. L9ff.); and Jeroboam u. was able to restore the ancient frontiers of [srael as far as Hamath (2 Kings \iv. 25). Some decades later, Rezin king of Damascus, in alliance with Pekah of Israel, undertook a war of conquest against Judah during the time of Ahaz, who therefore called to his aid th< rian king
Tiglath-pileser. This monarch conquered Damascus, and put an end to the Syrian kingdom, hy carrying a way the people to Kir (2 Kings xv. 37, xvi. 5-9). This kingdom of Syria is called " Damascus" in the prophets, after its capital. We find threats of destruction and ruin pronounced against it even by such early prophets as Amos (i. 3-5), for its cruelty committed against Israel, and Isaiah (wii. 1 i)'.), because of its having combined with Israel to destroy Judah. According to the use of language just referred to, " Damascus," mentioned in the heading of this prophecy, is not the city, but the kingdom of Syria, which lias been named after its capital, and to which, besides Damascus, belonged the powerful cities of Hamath and Arpad, which formerly had kings of their own (Isa. xxxvii. 13). Jeremiah does not mention any special offence. In the judgment to come on all nations, Aram-Damascus cannot remain exempt.
Ver. 23. " Hamath is ashamed, and Arpad, for they have heard evil tidings: they despair; there is trouble on the sea; no one can rest. Ver. 24. Damascus has become discouraged, she has turned to flee: terror has seized her; distress and pains have laid hold on her, like a woman in childbirth. Ver. 25. How is the city of praise not left, the city of my delight? Ver. 26. Therefore shall her young men fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be silent in that day, saith Jahveh of hosts. Ver. 27. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the palaces of Benhadad."
The largest cities of Aram are seized with consternation and discouragement. Damascus would flee, but its men of war fall by the sword of the enemy, and the city is in flames. The description of the terror which overpowers the inhabitants of Aram begins with Hamath (Epiphaneia of the Greeks, now called Hamali), which lies north from Hums (Emesa), on the Orontes (el 'Asi); see on Gen. x. 17 and Num. xxxiv. 8. Arpad is always mentioned in connection with Hamath (Isa. x. 9, xxxvi. 19, xxxvii. 13; 2 Kings xviii. 34 and xix. 13): in the list of Assyrian synonyms published by Oppert and Schrader, it is sounded Arpadda; and judging by the name, it still remains in the large village of Arfad, mentioned by Msrasc., about fifteen miles north from Haleb (Aleppo); see on 2 Kings xviii. 34. The bad news which Hamath and Arpad have heard is about the approach of a hostile army. " She is ashamed," i.e. disappointed in her hope and trust (cf. xvii. 13), with the accessory idea of being confounded. IfaM, to be fainthearted from fear and anxiety; cf. Josh. ii. 9, 24, Ex. xv. 15, etc. There is a difficulty with the expression n:^ 0*3, from the mention of the sea. Ewald has therefore invented a new word, *3, which is stated to signify mind) heart; and he translates, " their heart is in trouble." Graf very rightly remarks, against this, that there was no occasion whatever for the employment of a word which occurs nowhere else. The simplest explanation is that of J. D. Miehaelis, Rosenmiiller, and Maurer: '; on the sea," i.e. onwards to the sea, " anxiety prevails." The objection of Graf, that on this view there is no nominative to 73\\ cannot make this explanation doubtful, because the subject (Ger. man^ Fr. on, Eng. people, t!<e>/) is easily obtained from the context. The wTords /W to Ei5rr} form a reminiscence from Isa. lvii. 20, where they are used of the sea when stirred up, to which the wicked are compared. But it does not follow from this that the words are to be understood in this passage also of the sea, and to be translated accordingly: " in the sea there is no rest," i.e. the sea itself is in ceaseless motion (Ilitzig); or with a change of DJ3 into DJ3, " there is a tumult like the sea, which cannot keep quiet" (Graf). As little warrant is there for concluding, from passages like Jer. xvii. 12 ff., where the surging of the Assyrian power is compared to the roaring of the waves of the sea, that the unrest of the inhabitants of Syria, who are in a state of anxious solicitude, is here compared to the restless surging and roaring of the sea (Umbreit). For such a purpose, ru*n? « concern, solicitude," is much too weak, or rather inappropriate. — Yer. 24. ptPBl nnsn, " Damascus has become slack," i.e. discouraged; she turns to floe, and cannot escape, being seized with trembling and anxiety. nP'*nn is not the third pen. fern., prehendU terrorem, but.stands for ^FQjJj With Mappik omitted, because the tone is retracted in consequen of the Athnach; cf. vi. 24, viii. 21, etc " Terror has seized Damascus." In the last clause E?3ni is subsumed along with "~y; hence the verb is put in the singular. — Ver. 25. The question, fl How is not," etc., has been differently explained. Eiehhorn, Gesenius, Ewald, and Umbreit take the words according to the German usage, in the sense, " How is the city forsaken! " or laid waste. But this Germanism is foreign to the Hebrew; and it is not obviated by C. B. Michaelis taking u how " in the sense of qiuun iuopinato et quam horribiliter non ', so that the words would mean nullus est modus desertionis ant gracilis quern Damascus non sit experta, because N? T^ does not express the kind and manner, or the degree of an action. In the only other passage where N<> SJH? occurs (2 Sam. i. 14) the negative has its full meaning. Others (Calvin, Schnurrer, J. D. Michaelis, Rosen muller, Maurer) take 3fy in the sense of leaving free, untouched: " How has she not been left untouched 1 " i.e. been spared. But this meaning of the verb is nowhere found. There is no other course left than, with 2sa>elsbach, to take the verb as referring to the desertion of the city through the flight of the inhabitants, as in iv. 29, etc., and to take the words thus: " How is (i.e. how has it happened that) the famous city (is) not forsaken "?" According to this view, it is not the desolation of the city that is bewailed, but the fact that the inhabitants have not saved their lives by flight. The way is prepared for this thought by ver. 24, where it is said that the inhabitants of Damascus wish to flee, but are seized with convulsive terror; in ver. 25 also there is a more specific reason given for it, where it is stated that the youths (the young warriors) and all the men of war shall fall in the streets of the city, and be slain by foes. The suffix in " my delight" refers to the prophet, and expresses his sympathy for the fall of the glorious city (see on xlviii. 31); because not only does its population perish, but the city itself also (ver. 27) is to be burned to ashes. — Ver. 27 has been imitated from Amos i. 4 and ver. 14 conjointly. r»?h37 not " on," but " in," i.e. " within the wall." "The palaces of Benhadad" are the palaces of the Syrian kings generally, because three kings of Damascus bore this name.
The fulfilment of this threat cannot be proved historically, from want of information. Since Pharaoh-Xecho had conquered Syria as far as the Euphrates, it is very possible that, after the defeat of the Egyptians at Carchemish, in the conquest of Syria by Nebuchadnezzar, Damascus was harshly treated. The prophecy is, however, so general in its statement, that we need not confine its fulfilment to the conquest by Nebuchadnezzar.
Hazor, which Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon smote." (The Kethib ^muX^VSW is perhaps merely an error in transcription occasioned by the occurrence of the preceding 1^r}.) Kedar, the Kedarenes, a Bedouin nation descended from Ishmael, dwell inn in tents throughout the region between Arabia Petraea and Babylonia (see on Gen. xxv. 13 and E/.ek. xxvii. 21), is here, no doubt, a general name for all the nomadic tribes and shepherd nations of Arabia. Hazor elsewhere occurs only as the name of various cities in Palestine (Josh. xi. 1, xv. 2i>, 25, xix. 23; Nah. xi. 33), of which we need not think here, since it is Arabians who are spoken of. No locality or region of this name in Arabia is known. Jeremiah appears to have formed the name for the purpose of designating those Arabians who dwelt in 2,">'n, "courts" or "villages," and who thus diff from the Bedouins proper, or nomads and dwellers in tents; cf. Isa. xlii. 11 with Gen. xxv. 1G. The settled Arabians are to this day called Hadarijeh, in contrast with Wabarijeh, who dwell in tents. " Hadar, "l¥n, is the settled dwelling-place, in contrast with bedu, the steppe, where the tents are pitched, sometimes here, sometimes there, and only for a time " ( Debt, on Isa. xlii. 11, vol. ii. p. 182 of Clark's translation). " The kingdoms of Hazor" are the regions of the settled tribes, ruled by their own princes or sheiks; ef. xxv. 21.1 In the prophecy, the general designation, " children of the east,*' i.e. < Orientals,
1 According to Mrc. v. Niebuhr, Get h. Ass. u. Bab. p. 21". " Hazor is the modem Hajar, a region which occupies the whole north-eastern corner of the Nejed, and to which, in the wider Bense, Lasclia, the region on the alternates with Kedar: the former is the most common name given to the tribes living to the oast of Palestine, in tho wilderi -: ci. JihIix. vi. 3, Job i. 3, Ezek. xxv. 1. [nstead of this name, Josephus uses tho designation "Arabians" (Ant. v. 6. 1); later, "Nahateans" or "Kedarenes" became common. Here also (ver. 32) is ased tho special designation n^- *¥WP [cut (at) tho corner (of tho hair)], which points to the custom, usual among several of these Bedouin tribes, of cropping the hair of the head and beard; Bee on i\. 25 and xxv. 23.
Ver. 286. "Thus saith Jahveh, Arise, go up to Kedar, and destroy the children of the oast. Ver. 29. Their tents and their flocks shall they take: their curtains, and all their vessels, and their camels shall they carry away for themselves; and they shall cry over them, Fear is on every side. Ver. 30. Flee! wander far, dwell deep, ye inhabitants of Hazor, saith Jahveh; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon hath taken counsel aLr;nn^t you, and hath devised a plan against them. Ver. 31. Arise! go up against a nation at ease, dwelling carelessly, saith Jahveh; it has no gates nor bars — they dwell alone. Ver. 32. And their camels shall be a prey, and the multitude of their herds a spoil; and I will scatter them to every wind who have cut the corner [of their beards], and from all sides will I bring their destruction, saith Jahveh. Ver. 33. And Hazor shall be an habitation of jackals, a desolation for ever. No man shall dwell there, nor shall a son of man sojourn in it.1'
This prophecy consists of two brief strophes, which begin with a summons to the army of the enemy to wage war on the Arabians (ver. 286 and ver. 31), and then announce the execution of this order; the arrangement, moreover, is such that there is attached to the first strophe a summons to the Arabians to save themselves by flight (ver. 30), while the other concludes with the threat that their territory shall be destroyed (ver. 3;)). — Ver. 28. n?y is used with 7X instead of pV, to sirmifv hostile advance against a nation or city. niB> with Qametz-Hatuph coast, also belongs." But "liVH, from ivn, which corresponds to ^z^ or
(Ewald, Umbreit, etc.), but imperfects, describing what takes place in consequence of the order given. Tents and flocks of sheep and goats, curtains and vessels, togettar with camels, form the property and wealth of the nomads. Rfettj to take away, carry off; Dnj, sibi. They call out over them, as if it were a watch-cry, " Horror around: " on this expression, see vi. 25. This justifies the call addressed to them, " Flee," etc. To }D3 is added *PU for the purpose of intensifying, and this again is further strengthened by appending "ifcO: u Use every effort to flee." n?'^ *P*9J!£! as in ver. 8. A reason is given for the summons, in the statement that Nebuchadnezzar, as the instrument of Jahveh, has formed a plan against them; cf. ver. 20 and xviii. 11. Instead of DiTjyt, many 1188. and the ancient versions have Mvy, in conformity with the first member. In all probability, the original reading is " against them," inasmuch as " the discourse, as in other instances, makes a transition, in the last portion, from direct address to a calmer style of speaking" (Ewald). — Ver. 31 does not declare the plan of the king of Babylon; but the words, " Arise, go ye upv" etc., are once more the summons of the Lord, as is shown by the expression " saith Jahveh." The enemy is to march against a peaceful nation, dwelling securely, that has neither doors nor bars, i.e. does not live in cities surrounded by walls with gates and bars (cf. 1 Sam. xxiii. 7, Deut. iii. 5), whose territory, therefore, is easily conquered. They dwell alone, apart from others, without connection and intercourse with other nations, from which they could obtain help and support. v^jJ, like Tjff, Job xxxvi. 2, Dan. vii. 8, is a Chalaaizing form; elsewhere it is written vS"\ Job xxi. 23, or W, Job xvi. 12. As to living securely, cf. Judg. xviii. 7, Ezek. xxxviii. 11; on living alone, xv. 17. This last is elsewhere said only of Israel, Num. xxiii. 9, Deut. xxxiii. 28. Their possessions will become the spoil of the enemy; God will scatter them to every wind (cf. Ezek. v. 12, xii. 14), and bring destruction on them from every side (on vjay, cf. 1 Kings v- 4). — Ver. 33. The dwelling-places of the settled tribes (Hazor) shall become the habitation of jackals (cf. ix. 10), an uninhabited desolation for ever. Ver. 336 is in part a repetition of ver. 18.
With regard to the fulfilment of this prophecy, it follows m the latter part of the title that Nebuchadnezzar had smitten the Arabian tribes, it, defeated them, and subjected them to his sway. But we have no historical information as to the time when this took place. M. von Niebuhr (Geseh. A*t r. u. Bab. >.-20[)) and Duncker (Gesch. d. AUerth. i. S. 427) suppose thai Nebuchadnezzar, after he had returned home to Babylon from Hither Asia, having heard of the death of his father, after his victory at Carchemish, and after lie had ascended the throne, k> as it seems;' first thought of extending his authority over the Arabians on the lower portion of the Euphrates, in North Arabia, and in the Syrian desert. This supposition may possibly he true, hut cannot he raised to historic probability; moreover, it is connected, by the above-mentioned historians, with theories regarding the campaigns against Hither Asia which rest upon statements of Josephus that are very uncertain, and some of which can be proved to be incorrect. Such is the statement in A nit. x. G. 1, that Nebuchadnezzar after Ids victory at Carchemish, in pursuing the Egyptians to the borders of their country, did not touch Judea* The only notice we have, apart from Scripture, of the conquest of Arabia by Nebuchadnezzar, is that furnished by Josephus (contra Ap. i. 19) from Berosus: Kpar^aai Be (f>Vat rov BaffvXwviov (i.e. Nebuchadnezzar) Alywrrov, Zvpi'as, $0^779, 'Apafiia?. But this notice is stated in such indefinite and general terms, that nothing more specific can be inferred from it regarding the time and circumstances of the conquest of the Arabians.
Vers. 34-39. Concerning Elam.— By the title (on the form of which, cf. xlvi. 1, xlvii. 1, andxiv. 1), the utterance regarding Elam is placed "in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah; " hence it was published later than the prophecies in chap, xlviii. and in xlix. 1-33, and not long before the prophecy regarding Babylon in chap. 1. Elam, a Shemitic people in Elymais, the Persian province of Susiana (the modern Husistan), which, except in Gen. xiv. 1, only appears in history when it had no longer a Shemitic but an Aryan language (see on Gen. x. 22 and Dan. viii. 2), is mentioned in Isa?xx?i. 6 as serving in the Assyrian army, and in Isa. xxi. 6 as being, together with Madai (the Medes), the executors of judgment against Babylon. That Elam still belonged, in the time of Esarhaddon, to the kingdom of Assyria, follows from Ezra iv. 9, where Elamites are mentioned among the colonists whom this Assyrian king transplanted into the depopulated kingdom of the ten tribes. But whether Elam, after the revolt of Media, also made itself independent of Assyria, or remained subject to this kino-dom till it fell, we have no historical data to determine. The same must be said regarding the question whether, after the fall of Nineveh and the destruction of the Assyrian kingdom by the united armies of Nabopolassar from Babylon and Cyaxares from Media, Elam was incorporated with the Median or the Babylonian kingdom; for nothing more specific has been transmitted to us regarding the division of the conquered kingdom among the two victors. Judging from its geographical situation, we must probably come to the conclusion that Elam fell to the lot of the Medes. Seeing that there is an utter want, in other respects, of facts regarding the earlier history of Elam, neither can a historical occasion be made out for this prophecy. The supposition of Ewald, " that the wild and warlike Elamites (Isa. xxii. 6) had shortly before taken part with the Chaldeans as their allies in the deposition of Jehoiachin and the first great exile of the people, and had therein shown themselves particularly cruel," has no support of any kind, cither in the contents of the prophecy or in the time when it was composed. The prophecy itself contains not the slightest indication of any hostility on the part of the Elamites towards Judah; nor is anything proved regarding this by the fact that the chastisement is not said to proceed from Nebuchadnezzar, but directly from Jahveh, since, in the oracles concerning Philistia, Edom, and Damascus also, Nebuchadnezzar is not mentioned, but Jahveh is named as the one who destroys these peoples and burns up their cities; cf. xlvii. 4, xlix. 10, 13 if., 27. Add to this, that the assumption of Elamites being in Nebuchadnezzar's army is devoid of historic probability, since Elam, as has already been stated, hardly belonged to the Chaldean kingdom.1
1 No valid reason has been adduced for calling in question the statement in the title regarding the time when this prophecy was composed; yet this has been done by Movers, Hitzig, and Nugelsbach. " That the LXX. have given the heading twice, the first time briefly, and then fully at the end
Ver. 35. « Thus saith Jahveh of hosts ■ B ihold, T will break the bow of Khun, the chief part of their strength. Ver. 36. And 1 will bring upon Elam four winds from the four ends of the heaven, and 1 will scatter them towards all these winds; and there shall be no nation where the scattered ones of Elam shall notcome. Ver. 37. And I will make Khun terrifi Fore their enemies, and before those who seek their life; and I will bring on them evil, the heat of my wrath, saith Jahveh; and I will send after them the sword, until I consume them. Ver. 38. And 1 will place my throne in Elam, and will destroy thence king and princes, saith Jahveh. Ver. 39. But it shall be in the end of the days, that I will turn the captivity of Elam, saith Jahveh."
Elam's martial power is to be destroyed, and its population scattered to the four winds among all nations (ver. 25 f.). The Lord will make them terrified before their enemies, and lot them be pursued by the sword till they are swept away (ver. 37). In the country itself He will hold a tribunal, and destroy kin- and priests out of it (ver. 38). In ver. 35, the how. as the°chief weapon of the Elamites (cf. Isa. xxii. 6), is mentioned, by synecdoche, instead of all offensive and defensive weapons, for all the means of resistance and attack employed by this warlike nation. This, indeed, is shown by the apposition, "the first-fruits (i.e. the chief part) of their strength " or valour. To break the bow in pieces is thus equivalent to rendering defenceless. The plural suffix in DTntta points to Elam as a nation— the Elamites. Hitzig, Graf, and older expositors make an assumption which is both unnecessary and incapable of the piece, merely shows that two different readings have nmr been combined m it" (Ewald). And Nagelsbach has yet to bring proof of the assurance given us when he says, " I consider it quite impossible that Jeremiah in the beginning of Zedekiah's reign, should have thought of any other than Nebuchadnezzar as the instrument to be employed in executiim- judgment, or that he should even have left this matter in suspense" ff Jeremiah, as a prophet of the Lord, does not announce, as the word of Jahveh mere human conjectures regarding the future, but only what the Spirit of the Lord suggested to him, neither could he set forth his own conjectures regarding the question by whom God the Lord was to scatter the Elamites to the four winds, but must leave it in suspenso, if the Spirit of the Lord had revealed nothing to him regarding it.
of proof, that T\f% stands for D^toa, and means " the valiant, brave people of war," as in Isa. xxi. 17 and 1 Sam. ii. 4; but neither in these passages can the alleged meaning be fully made ites shall be dispersed to all the four winds, i.e. to all parts of the earth. This exercise of power is represented under the figure of the four winds. The wind is the most appropriate among all earthly things for symbolizing the Spirit of God, or the energy of the divine operation; cf. Zech. vi. 5, Dan. vii. 2. The Kethib nhty in ver. 36 has evidently been written by mistake for th% The meaning of the figure is this: Elam is to be attacked on all sides by enemies, and be scattered in every direction. This is evident from ver. 37, where the figurative is changed for the literal, and the thought further extended. 'ririnn, Hiphil from rinn, be broken to pieces, in Hiphil to dispirit through fear and terror; cf. i. 17. On the form in the text, which is shortened from Vrtnnq through the shifting of the tone to the last syllable, cf. Ewald, § 2;)4, e. njn, " evil, misfortune," is marked by the apposition, " the heat of mine anger," as the emanation of God's judgment of wrath. On 37&, cf. ix. 15. The Lord will sit in judgment on king and princes, and punish them with death. The throne is set for the Judge to sit in judgment; see xliii. 10. Yet (ver. 39), in the Messianic future, blessing shall come on Elam; cf. xlix. 6, xlviii. 7.