Jeremiah 49
PATThis chapter is a collection of prophecies against several of those nations, against which Jeremiah had a general. commission to declare God’s judgments, xxv. 3. Concerning the time when they were fulfilled, sec the Argument of the foregoing chapter. Vcr. 1. JtlATH Israel no sons? — why then doth their kings inherit Gad? &c] The Scptuagint read Gilcad, which agrees with the words of Amos in his prophecy against the Ammonites, (Amos i. 13.) But the sense is all one; for in Amos we are to understand that part of Gilcad which belonged to the tribe of Gad. God sorely afllictcd those parts of the kingdom of Israel that lay eastward of Jordan, first by Hazacl, (2 Kings x. 33.) afterward by Tiglath-Pilcser, (xv. 29.) and then delivered up the whole kingdom to be carried captive by Shalmancser: (chap, xvii.) after which time, it is probable, the Ammonites took occasion to possess themselves of Gilcad, that lay near their territories: but God’s dispossessing the Israelites gave them no right to invade their inheritance; (see Zcph. ii. 8.) especially when they had been so tender of the Ammonites’ right, as not to invade their possession in their march towards the land of Canaan. (Sec Dcut. iv. 19.2 Chron. xx. 10.) * Hoivl, O Hcshbon, for Ai is spoiled.’] When Ai (not the place mentioned Josh. viii. but) a city of the Ammonites is destroyed: then it is time for Hcshbon, the chief city of Moab, to lament her danger, for her turn comes next. (See xlviii. 2.) • Cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird ye with sackclothJ] Ye tender women, inhabitants of Rabbah, that arc not used to hardships, bemoan yourselves with the deepest expressions of mourning and sorrow. (Compare Isa.xxxii. 11. Jer. iv. 8. vi. 26.) Lament, and run to and fro by the hedges.] Try to hide yourselves in the thickets, and remove from one place to another for fear of being discovered: or the words may be expounded thus: Lament, ye inhabitants of the lesser towns, and run to and fro in yonr villages, as uncertain reports shall prompt you to flee from the enemy. So Schindlcr expounds the word gederoth, Psal. lxxxix. 40. (Sec iv. 29.) * For their king shall go into captivity.] Or, Mileom shall go into captivity: so the word may likewise be rendered in the first verse. Mileom was the idol of the Ammonites. (Sec 2 Kings xxiii. 13.) The idols always shared in the prosperity or calamities that befel their worshippers. (Compare xlviii. 7. and see the note on xliii. 12.) and to their fathers. (See xxv. 2.0.) Concerning the phrase of drinking God’s cup, see the note on xxv. 15. And art thou he that shalt altogether go unpunished?’] Concerning the Hebrew phrase used in this place, see the note on xxx. 11.
Jeremiah 49:2
/ will cause the noise of tear to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites. The principal city of that country. (See Amos i. 14. Ezck. xxv. 5.)- Iler daughters shall be burnt tvithfire.] That is, the lesser cities which arc reckoned as so many daughters to the mother-city. To the same sense the daughters of Judah arc joined with Zion, as the metropolis, Psal.xlviii. 11. xcvii. 8. and sec the following verse. Then shall Israel be heir to them that were his heirs.] CHAP. XLIX.] UPON JEREMIAH. The Jews made themselves masters of the Ammonites, and the neighbouring countries under the Maccabees. - (See Maccab. v. 0, 7. and compare Ezck. xxv. 14.) The words heir and inheritance, in the.1 1 cbrcw, signify any real and lasting possession: (sec Psal. lxxxii. 8.) the expression being taken from the usual manner of conveying land among them, which was by inheritance.
Jeremiah 49:4
Wherefore gloriest thou in thy valleys, thou flowing valley?. That is, in the riches of thy fat and plentiful valleys, which overflow with abundance of all things. (Compare Isa. xxviii. 1. 4.) O backsliding daughter.] See the note on vii. 24. That trusted in her treasures, &c] Thought she had money enough to furnish herself with all things necessary for her defence. Such a confidence and carnal security as this, is elsewhere severely threatened. (Sec xxi. 13. Isa. xlvii. 7, 8.)
Jeremiah 49:5
Behold, I will bring a fear upon thee. When God gives up a people to destruction, he commonly takes from them their usual courage, so that a thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one. (Compare ver. 29. xlviii. 43.) This the heathens expressed by a panic terror. • Or the word fear may denote a hostile army, the cause of fear and terror.’ (Compare xv. 8.) And ye shall be driven out every one right forth.] So’as not to dare look back, but fly for their lives that way which lies next. (Sec xlvi. 5. Amos iv. 3.) And none shall gather up him that wandereth.] None shall bring him that flies from the enemy to his house, or afford him any shelter or accommodation. (Compare Isa. xvi. 3.) Ver. G. And afterward J.tvill bring again the captivity of the children ofAntmon.] See 1 Mciccab. v. 5. and the note upon xlviii. 47.
Jeremiah 49:7
Is wisdom no more in Teman?. The eastern part of the world (by which is chiefly meant Arabia, and the adjacent countries, see the note on Isa. xi. 14.) was famous for the study of wisdom, or philosophy as it was called in later times. (Sec 1 Kings iv. 30.) The Edomites put in their claim to this prerogative, as appears from the text, and the parallel place of Obadiah, (ver. 8.) as also from the book of Job, where Eliphaz, one of the disputants, is called the Tcmanitc, as being descended from Teman, Esau’s grandson, who gave name to the city or country of Teman, elsewhere mentioned. (Sec Amosi. 12. Obad. ver. 9. Habak. iii. 3.) Unless we suppose it the same Tcma, mentioned xxv. 23. Isa. xxi. 14. which took its name from Tcma, Ishmacrs son, Gen. xxv. 15. Is counsel perished from the prudent?] When Go’d designs a people for destruction, he deprives them of that common prudence and foresight which is requisite for the due management of their affairs. (See Isa. xix:ll,&c.)
Jeremiah 49:8
Flee, turn back, dwell deep, O inhabitants of -Dedan. The Dedanites were Arabians of the posterity of Dcdan, the grandson of Abraham, (Gen. xxv. 3.) They seem by this place to have been in latter times subdued by the Idumeans, and incorporated with them: the prophet exhorts them to flee, and turn their backs from an enemy they are not able to encounter; and hide themselves in the deepest caves and dens they could find. 1 (Compare ver. 10. and Judg.vi. 2.)
Jeremiah 49:9
If grape-gatherers came to thee, would not they leave some grapes? &c. The vintage can hardly be gathered in so clean, but that there will be a gleaning left. (Compare Isa. xvii. G.) Nay, the house-breakers commonly leave something behind them. But the desolation that is coming upon thee will be so entire, that scarce a remnant shall be preserved/ (Compare Obad. ver. 5.) •
Jeremiah 49:10
For I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret parts. Or treasures, as the word signifies, Isa. xlv. 3. I have taken from him every thing that might be a refuge or defence to him in the time of a general calamity. His seed is spoiled, his brethren, and his neighbours.] The Divine judgments extend not only to his children, but even to his brethren and neighbours: such as the Ammonites, Moabitcs, and all about him, from whom he might expect some succour and assistance.. And he is not.~] He is utterly ruined and destroyed. (Compare Isa. xvii. 14.) Some join this word enenna to the following verse, and render it, And there is none left [that may say] leave [to me] thy father’s children, &c. that is, there is none left to take care of the fatherless and widow.
Jeremiah 49:11
Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive, &c. The Chaldee paraphrase understands this of the Jews, to whom the following words do certainly belong,- as if it contained God’s promise to take care of their families, under that distressed and forlorn state, to which the captivity had reduced them. If we understand the words of the Edomites, the sentence seems to be ironical; (sec alike instance, Isa. xvi. 4.) as if the prophet had said, Thou needest not to be concerned for thy helpless children, and thy widows thou must leave to the mercy of the enemy, for none of them shall survive or escape. This sense agrees very well with that expression of ver. 10. His seedis spoiled, and with ver. 13. 17.
Jeremiah 49:12
Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken.* The Jews, who in all human appearance might have expected mercy at God’s hands in regard to the gracious promises mado to them,
Jeremiah 49:13
That Bozrah shall become— a curse.*. See the note on xxiii. 9. Bozrah was one of tho chief cities of Idumea. (See Isa. xxxiv. G. lxiii. 1.) It is usual in the prophets to describe the destruction of a whole nation, by the ruin of some one or more of its principal’cities. (See ver. 23. Amos i. 8. 12. 14. ii. 3. 5.)
Jeremiah 49:14
I have heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, &c. The prophets often represent God as summoning armies, and setting them in array of battle against those people whom he has decreed to destroy, (See 1. 9. 21. li. 11. Isa. xiii v 2, 3. xviii. 3.) God’s stirring up men’s spirits to invade such countries, is described here, as if he had sent an ambassador to the Chaldeans and their confederates, to engage them in a war against the Idumeans: according to the methods which earthly princes use to engage their allies. (Compare li. 27, 28.)
Jeremiah 49:16
Thy terribleness hath deceived thee, and the pride of thy heart. Thou hast been formerly terrible to all about thee: the confidence thou hast in this thy strength hath made thee careless and secure, and thereby given thine enemies an advantage against thee. O thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rocks, that holdest the height of the hill.] Compare Obad. ver. 4. Numb. xxxiv. 3, 4. St. Jerome, who lived in the neighbourhood, tells us, in his Commentary upon Obadiab, that Idumea was a rocky mountainous country, and that the inhabitants dwelt in caves dug out of thle rocks and hills. Though thou shouldest make thy nest as high as the eagle, I will bring thee down.] The greatest height or strength cannot place thee out of the reach of Divine vengeance. (Compare li. 53. Amos ix. 2.) The eagle is remarkable for its flying high. (See Job xxxix. 27.)
Jeremiah 49:17
Every one that goeth by it — shall hiss at all the plagues thereof. See the note on xviii. 1G.
Jeremiah 49:18
As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, &c. A proverbial expression, denoting an utter desolation. (See 1. 40. Isa. xiii. 19.)
Jeremiah 49:19
Behold, liq shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong. A description of Nebuchadnezzar marching with his army against Idumea, whom the prophet compares to a lion coming out of his den, neaT the river Jordan. When that swells in the time of harvest (see Josh.iii. 15. 1 Chron. xii. 15.) the lions that lie in the thickets on the river-side, aTe raised out of their coverts, and infest the country. (See Maundrell’s Travels, p. 81. and compare Zech. xi. 3.) But I will make him suddenly run away from her.] 1 have observed in my notes on Isa. li. 4. that the words should be rendered I will rouse him up, and make him run, or seize upon her. The preposition menal, here translated from, doth likewise signify upon, and is so rendered by our interpreters, 1 Kings ix. 5. (See Noldius’s Concordance, p. G35.) And who is a chosen man [or warrior] that I may appoint over her?] That is, I will single out a man remarkable for his prowess, viz. Nebuchadnezzar, and place him at the head of tho army, that shall execute my vengeance upon Edom. Who will appoint me the time? or who is that shepherd that will meet me?] Who will challenge me to meet him in the field, as if we were upon equal terms? or what leader or general can enter into the lists with ino? The word shepherd often signifies a prince or commander. (Sco vi. 3. xxv. 34.) But here it is used in opposition to the lion mentioned before; as if he had said, A shepherd may as well encounter a lion, as the best appointed warrior contend with God Almighty, or those whom he makes the instruments of his vengeance.
Jeremiah 49:20
Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out. The prophet having given the name of shepherd to the generals of the army, in pursuance of that metaphor, he expresses the common soldiers by the least of the flock, as the commanders are called the principal of the flock, xxv. 3-1. These he saith shall have strength and courage enough to draw out or devour the Idumean forces. The verb sahab, to draw out, alludes to the custom of dogs, who draw about a carcass before they devour it. So it is used xv. 3. where our interpreters read, and the dogs to tear.
Jeremiah 49:21
The earth is moved at the noise of their fall. The neighbouring countries are astonished at it. The prophet compares the destruction of a nation to the fall of a great building, the noise of which frights those that are near it. (See Ezek. xxvi. 15. xxxi. 1G.) Horace uses the same metaphor, Ode i. lib. ii. -" auditumque Medis Hesperiae sonitum ruinee." At the cry, the noise thereof was heard in the Red Sea.] Or, the?wise of their cry was heard in the Red Sea: which was a considerable distance from the land of Edom.
Jeremiah 49:22
He shall come up as an eagle, &c. See xlviii.
Jeremiah 49:23
Concerning Damascus. The judgment denounced against Damascus, the principal city of Syria, is to be supposed to extend to the whole country. (See the note on ver. 13.) Nebuchadnezzar had subdued Syria at the beginning of his reign: (see the notes on xxxv. 1.) but he might upon some new provocations overrun that country afterward, during the siege of Tyre, which lasted thirteen years. (See the Argument to the chapter, and the notes upon xxv. 26.) Hamath is confounded, and Arphad.] Hamath and Arphad are elsewhere joined together. (See 2 Kings xviii. 34.) Hamath is supposed to be tho same with Riblah in the land of Hamath, xxxix. 5. called Hamath the great, Amos vi. 2. It is a frontier town, lying upon the borders of Judea towards Syria, thence called the entrance of Ha* math, 1 Kings viii. G5. Isa. x. 9. Amos vi. 14. Arphad is otherwise called Arvad, the habitation of the Arvadites, Gen. x. 18. called the Aradites by the Septuagint, that is, the inhabitants of the isle of Aradus. There is sorrow on the sea.] Or, As on the sea, as the margin reads: the particle as is frequently understood. (See xlviii. 34. and the note on Isa. xxi. 8.) They are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, as the prophet Isaiah speaks, lvii. 20.* If we follow the reading of the text, we may interpret the words of the Aradians, who lay upon the I sea-coast. (Compare xxv. 22.)
Jeremiah 49:24
Anguish and sorrows have taken her, &c. See xlviii. 41.
Jeremiah 49:25
How is the city of praise not left, &c. A city of praise, is a city of fame and renown. (Compare xxxiii. 9. li. 41. Isa. Ixii. 7.) This is spoken in the person of the king, or some other inhabitant of Damascus, bewailing the lot of so famous and pleasant a city, that it should not be spared or left untouched by the enemy.
Jeremiah 49:26
Therefore her young men. Or, Surely her young. men, &c. So the particle taken is rendered, v. 2.
Jeremiah 49:27
It shall devour the palaces qf Ben-hadad. The name of several kings of Syria. (See 1 Kings xv. 28. 2 Kings xiii. 3.)
Jeremiah 49:28
Concerning Kedar, and concerning the kingdoyis qf Hazor. The kingdoms whose metropolis is Hazor, or Petra; so called, because it is kvk(# 7rirpa tppovpovfilvri, Strabo, lib. xvi. So Vitringa explains it upon Isa. xxi. 13. Kedar was that part of Arabia, which was inhabited by the posterity of Kedar, Ishmael’s son; (Gen. xxv. 13.) called likewise the kingdoms or provinces of Hazor: each division having anciently a petty prince or king over it. (See the note on xxv. 20.) Spoil the men of the east.] The Arabians are called, in the Scripture dialect, the men, or children, of the east. (Seethe note on Isa. xi. 14.)
Jeremiah 49:29
TJieir tents and their flocks shall they take away, &c. Their substance consisted in their cattle and their tents, from whence the country itself is called the tents of Kedar, Psal. cxx. 5. With these they removed from place to place for the convenience of pasture. (See Isa. xiii. 20.) And they shall cry unto them, Fear is on every side.] The very noise of the enemies shall fright them, and bring a panic fear upon them. (See xlvi. 5:)
Jeremiah 49:30
Flee, get you far, dwell deep, &c. See ver. 8.
Jeremiah 49:31
Arise, get you up into the wealthy nation,. The prophet gives the Chaldeans a commission from God to undertake this expedition, and seize upon the wealth of the inhabitants of Kedar. Which have neither bars nor gates.] A description of those that live securely, without walls or ramparts for their defence. (See Ezck. xxxviii. 11.) Which dwell alone.] That do not combine into cities or communities for their mutual defence: but live scattered about the country, whero they have room enough for their flocks, without any apprehension of danger. (Compare Numb, xxiii. 9. Deut. xxxiii. 28. Micah vii. 14.)
Jeremiah 49:32
And their camels shall be a booty, &c. See ver. 29. And I will scatter them that dwell in the utmost corners.] See the note upon ix. 26.,
Jeremiah 49:33
And I will make Hazor a dwelling for dragons. See the note on ix. 11.
Jeremiah 49:34
The word — that came to Jeremiah against Elam. The province of Elymais, which, together with Susiana, Nebuchadnezzar subdued, and took from Astyages king of Media, as Archbishop Usher gathers, by comparing Jer. xxv. 25. with Dan. viii. 1, 2, where, in the reign of Belshazzar, Daniel speaks of himself, as residing in Shushan the palace, in the province of Elam: which therefore at that time must be a province belonging to the king of Babylon. (Sec his Annals, ad An. M. 3405. and 3451.) Xenophon gives this account of the matter, how Elam came afterward under the power of Cyrus: " That Abradatcs being viceroy of Susa, under the king of Babylon, his wife Panthea, a very beautiful woman, wastaken prisoner in the first war against the Babylonians: Cyrus having used her kindly, and kept her chastely for her husband; the sense of this generosity drew this prince over to Cyrus’s party: whereupon Elam was joined to the empire of the Medes and Persians." (Vid. Cyri Paed; lib. v.) Accordingly, we find the Elamites come with them to the siege of Babylon. (See Isa. xxi. 2.), t
Jeremiah 49:35
I will break the bow of Elam. The Elamites were famous archers. (See Isa. xxii. 6.)
Jeremiah 49:36
And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven. I will bring enemies upon them from every, quarter: wars and commotions are metaphorically denoted by winds. (See iv. 11, 12. li. 1. Dan. vii. 2.)
Jeremiah 49:37
And I will send the sword after them, Sic. Even after they are driven out of their own country, my yengeance shall pursue them. (Compare x. 16.)
Jeremiah 49:38
And I will set my throne in^Elam. Nebuchadnezzar shall place his throne, or his royal pavilion, in Elam, in token of his entire conquest over that country. (See i. 15. xliii. 10.) This is called God’s throne, as Nebuchadnezzar is called his servant: one that had an especial commission from God, to conquer this and the neighbouring countries. (See xxvii. 6, 7.)
Jeremiah 49:39
But it shall come to pass, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam. The Elamites joined with Cyrus to subdue the Babylonians: (see the note upon ver. 34.) upon which Shushan, the chief city of Elymais, was made the metropolis of the Persian empire.