Jeremiah 48

— run to and fro by the hedges;] Like persons distracted, seeking a place of concealment. Poole.

— for their king shall go into captivity, Rather, “Melcom shall go &c.” Compare chap. xlviii. 7; and see the note on chap. xliii. 12. W. Lowth, Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 48:2

2. — her daughters shall be burned with fire:] That is, the smaller cities, which are reckoned as so many daughters to their mother city. Compare Ps. xlviii. 11; xviii. 8. W. Lowth.

— then shall Israel be heir &c.] This is understood to have been fulfilled when Judas Maccabeus defeated

Before CHRIST about 600. 28. children of noise. captivity. captivity. about 600. a Amos 1. 13. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. b Amos 1. 14. The judgment of Edom. Before CHRIST about 600. Or. Melcom. e Chap. 48. 7. Or. thy valley floweth away. Obad. ver. 8. Or. they are turned back.

Jeremiah 48:5

5. For in the going up of Luhith &c.] In the mountains and valleys shall be nothing but howling and desolation; while the Moabites climb up the hill to the high-seated city of Luhith, and while they pass down to the plain of Horonaim. Bp. Hall. At Luhith the hill country of Moab appears to have begun; and here the people are represented as mounting the hill successively in their flight before the enemy, weeping as they follow one another. At Horonaim they descended again into the plain. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 48:6

6. — be like the heath in the wilderness.] Or, like “a blasted,” or “naked tree,” as in the margin: that is, a tree stripped of its foliage. A proper emblem of one robbed of all his fortune, and just able to escape with life by fleeing into the desert. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 48:7

7. — Chemosh shall go forth into captivity.] The idol of the Moabites, Numb. xxi. 29. See the note on chap. xliii. 12. W. Lowth. 10. Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully.] God executes his judgments upon sinners by the ministry of men, and those oftentimes as great sinners as those that suffer. He had declared by Jercmiah his purpose of making the Chaldeans his instruments in punishing the Jews, and the neighbouring countries: see chap. xxv. 9. Their success answered the prediction, and Nebuchadnezzar seems to have looked upon Jeremiah as a Prophet, and had a particular regard to his character: see chap. xxxiv. 11. Being thus assured that he had a commission from God, he might confidently proceed in his conquests, and it would have been a fault to have shewn mercy to those whom he had good reason to believe that God had marked out for destruction. Such an unreasonable act of forbearance is highly blamed in Saul, 1 Sam. xv. 11; and in Ahab, 1 Kings xx. 42. God’s judgments are often denounced in the form of imprecation: see Deut. xxvii. 15; Judges v. 23; Gal. i. 8; 1 Cor. xvi. 22;

8. Concerning Edom,] The destruction of Edom, or Idumea, is likewise foretold by Ezekiel, chap. xxv. 12—14; xxxv. 2, &c.; Joel iii. 19; Amos i. 11, 12; and by Obadiah. Dr. Blayney.

— Is wisdom no more in Teman? The Eastern part of the world, by which is chiefly meant Araba and the adjacent countries, was famous for the study of wisdom; see 1 Kings iv. 30. The Edomites appear to have put in their claim to this distinction. W. Lowth.

8. — dwell deep, When the Arabs have drawn upon themselves such a general resentment of the more fixed inhabitants of those countries, that they think themselves unable to stand against them, they withdraw into the depths of the great wilderness, where none can follow them with any hopes of success. It is probable, that the “dwelling deep,” which Jeremiah recommends to the Arab tribes here and at ver. 30, means this plunging far into the deserts, rather than going into caves and dens, as has been sometimes supposed. For although people, who live a settled kind of life, have practised this method of security, the Arabs, who lead a wandering life in tents, look upon caves as traps, rather than as places of defence. Harmer.

The language of modern travellers, in describing this custom of the Arabs, corresponds with the language of

O inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him, the time that I will visit him.

Jeremiah 48:9

9. If grapegatherers come to thee, &c.] The vintage can hardly be gathered so clean, but that there will be a gleaning left. Compare Isa. xvii. 6. Nay, the housebreakers commonly leave something behind them. But the desolation which is coming upon thee shall be so entire, that scarcely a remnant shall be preserved: compare Obad. ver. 5. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 48:11

11. — he hath settled on his lees.] All wines, it is said, ought to be kept for some time upon the lees, in order to preserve their strength and flavour; on which account “the lees” are expressed by a word that signifies the preservers. Wine is apt to be damaged by being drawn off too soon into other vessels. By this allegory therefore Moab is represented as having enjoyed singular advantages from constantly remaining in his own country, ever since he became a people. See Bp. Lowth’s note on Isa. xxv. 6. Dr. Blayney.

12. Leave thy fatherless children, &c.] It is doubted whether these words are a threatening or a promise. If a promise, the sense is, that though this great destruction should come upon the body of the Edomites, yet God would take care of some of their fatherless children, whose parents bring carried into captivity, they had none to provide for them. If they be taken as a threatening, they imply ruin to them as well as to the rest. Poole.

Jeremiah 48:12

12. — wanderers, that shall cause him to wander.] The Chaldean soldiers, who came out of a foreign country: these shall make a prey of him. W. Lowth.

13. — Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup &c.] Behold, even my people the Jews, which, in comparison of thee, had no reason to be put to these extremities of judgments, they have been plagued severely by my just hand: and shalt thou think to go unpunished? Bp. Hall.

Jeremiah 48:13

13. And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, &c.] They shall be disappointed in their expectations of successors from their tutelary idol; see Judges xi. 24;

14. — Bozrah] One of the chief cities of Idumea: see Isa. xxxiv. 6; lxiii. 1. W. Lowth. “All the cities

Before CHRIST about 600. Obad. ver. 5. Heb. their sufficiency.

Jeremiah 48:17

17. — How is the strong staff broken.] Compare Isa. xiv. 5. A staff, or rod, is an emblem of authority, and thence comes to signify a kingdom, or government, especially such an one as oppresses its subjects or neighbours: see Isa. ix. 4; x. 5. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 48:18

18. Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, &c.] And thou, O Dibon, the fair city of Moab, come down from thy glory, and take up with the lot of thy neighbours; thirst, distress, destruction. Bp. Hall. See the note on chap. xliii. 19.

Jeremiah 48:19

19. — Aroer,] A town in the borders of Moab, Deut. ii. 36.

Jeremiah 48:20

20. — Arnon.] A country, which took its name from the river Arnon, which was on the borders of Moab, Numb. xxi. 28. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 48:24

24. — Bozrah.] Called Bezer, Deut. iv. 43; Josh. xxi. 36. A different place from Bozrah, which belonged to Edom, chap. xlix. 13. W. Lowth. 25. The horn of Moab—his arm. See note at 1 Sam. ii. 1.

Jeremiah 48:27

27. For was not Israel a derision unto thee? &c.] Was not Israel without cause a scorn unto thee? In what had he offended thee? However guilty he were in his carriage towards me, yet to thee he was inoffensive: notwithstanding thou didst insult in his fall, and joy in his miscarriage. Bp. Hall. 28. — the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole’s mouth. That doves build their nests in the clefts or natural hollows of a rock, see Cant. ii. 14. Dr. Shaw in his travels mentions a city on the African coast, called Humam-et, from the number of wild pigeons that are bred in the clefts of the adjacent mountains. Dr. Blayney. 30. I know his wrath,—but it shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it.] I know his haughty boastings; but it shall not be so with him as he imagineth: his great words and presumptuous undertakings shall not carry it. Bp. Hall.

Jeremiah 48:31

31. — Kir-heres.] Or, Kir-hareseth, Isa. xvi. 7, appears to have been once the capital; or at least the strongest, of the cities of Moab, 2 Kings iii. 25. Dr. Blayney. 32. O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer. The expressions denote the destruction of the fruitful vineyards of Sibmah. W. Lowth. See the note on Isa. xvi. 9. — thy plants are gone over the sea, &c.] See the note on Isa. xvi. 8.

Jeremiah 48:33

33. — their shouting shall be no shouting.] Not the cheerful shouting of the grape-treaders, but the dreadful shouting of military spoilers. Parkhurst.

Jeremiah 48:34

34. From the cry of Heshbon &c.] See the notes on Isa. xv. 5.

Jeremiah 48:36

36. — mine heart shall sound—like pipes.] I groan inwardly for trouble and anguish. The musick of pipes was used at funerals. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 48:37

37. For every head shall be bald, &c.] See the note on chap. xli. 5. — upon all the hands shall be cuttings.] See the notes on chap. xvi. 6. We often read of persons cutand his people. CHAP. XLVIII, XLIX. The judgment of the Ammonites. Before CHRIST about 600. cities. k Isa. 24. 17. 18.

Jeremiah 48:38

38. — upon all the housetops] Compare Isa. xv. 3.

Jeremiah 48:40

40. — he shall fly as an eagle.] That is, the Babylonian conqueror; with evident allusion to Deut. xxviii. 49. Compare chap. xlix. 22. Dr. Blayney.

In the flying of an eagle there are two circumstances especially remarkable: 1st, The rapidity with which it rushes on its prey, noticed in Hab. i. 8; 2 Sam. i. 23; Lam. iv. 19; and other places of Scripture. 2ndly, Its peculiar manner of fully expanding its wings, which supplied an epithet for the eagle to the Greek poets, and which is also particularly noticed in chap. xlix. 22. Parkhurst.

Jeremiah 48:43

43. Fear, and the pit, and the snare, &c.] See Isa. xxiv. 17, 18; and the notes there.

Jeremiah 48:45

45. They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon &c.] They that fled thought they should find good shelter in the strong forts of Heshbon; but they shall be deceived: for so far shall Heshbon be from being able to defend itself, that the destruction, which shall begin there, shall reach to all the utmost parts of the dominions of Moab, and shall light upon the heads of those insolent undertakers that were the cause of these wars and tumults. Bp. Hall.

“The midst of Sihon” means the city of Sihon, or Heshbon: see Numb. xxi. 28. The Prophet fifty applies to the present case the words of an ancient poem, made on Sihon’s conquests over Moab, and recited by Moses as above. W. Lowth.

force: but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the † tumultuous ones.

Jeremiah 48:47

47. Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab &c.] The Moabites were afterwards restored to their country, as appears from Josephus. W. Lowth.

Chap. XLIX. ver. 1. Concerning the Ammonites.] This downfall of the Ammonites is foretold by other Prophets. See the margin. It is uncertain when this prophecy was delivered: for the probable time of its completion, see the note on chap. xlviii. 1. Dr. Blayney.

— why then doth their king inherit Gad.] It is probable from hence, that when the king of Assyria carried away captives the Gadites and their brethren, who dwelt beyond Jordan, 2 Kings xv. 29; 1 Chron. v. 26; the Ammonites, either by the consent or connivance of the Assyrian conqueror, took possession of their vacant country, to which they had no pretensions of right, so long as any of the ancient owners or their posterity were in being. The word, rendered “their king,” might be rendered according to most of the ancient versions, more properly “Melcom,” (see the margin,) as the proper name of the chief deity of the Ammonites, who is so called, 1 Kings xi. 5. See below, ver. 3, and the note there. As Jehovah is said to have given his people Israel the lands they possessed, so the idolatrous nations considered their acquisitions as obtained by the favour of their respective idols. See Judges xi. 24. Dr. Blayney.