1. The burden of Babylon From this chapter down to the twenty-fourth, the Prophet foretells what dreadful and shocking calamities awaited the Gentiles and those countries which were best known to the Jews, either on account of their being contiguous to them, or on account of the transactions of comm... [ Continue Reading ]
2._Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain. _The word _mountain _contains a metaphor; for the discourse relates to _Babylon_, which, we know, was situated on a plain; but with a view to its extensive dominion, he has assigned to it an elevated situation, like a fortress set on high above all nati... [ Continue Reading ]
3._I have commanded my sanctified ones. _(198) Here the Prophet introduces the Lord as speaking and issuing his commands. He calls the Medes and Persians _sanctified ones_, that is, those whom he has _prepared_. The verb קדש (_kadash_) is used in various senses; for sometimes it refers to the spirit... [ Continue Reading ]
4._The noise of a multitude in the mountains. _He adds a still more lively representation, ( ὑποτύπωσιν,) that is, a description by which he places the event as it were before our eyes. The prophets are not satisfied with speaking, without also giving a bold picture of the events themselves. Words u... [ Continue Reading ]
5._Coming from a distant country. _He repeats and confirms more fully what I stated a little before, that the operations of war do not spring up at random from the earth; for though everything disorderly is vomited out by the passions of men, yet God rules on high; and therefore Isaiah justly ascrib... [ Continue Reading ]
6._Howl ye. _He continues the same argument, and bids the inhabitants of Babylon _howl_. Not that he directs instruction to them, as if he hoped that it would be of any advantage, but, in foretelling what shall be their condition, he emphatically employs this form of direct address. _For the day of... [ Continue Reading ]
7._Therefore all hands shall be weakened. _He shows that the power of the Lord to destroy the inhabitants of Babylon will be so great, that they shall have no means of withstanding his anger. Though they stood high in wealth and in power, yet their _hearts _would be so _faint_, and their _hands _so... [ Continue Reading ]
8._Pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them. _The word צירים (_tzirim_) being ambiguous, the Greek translators render it _ambassadors_. But the comparison of _a woman that travaileth_, which is added immediately afterwards, sufficiently proves that it denotes _pangs_; for here, as if by a single wo... [ Continue Reading ]
9._Behold the day of the Lord will come cruel. _He repeats what he had slightly noticed a little before, that though the inhabitants of Babylon are now at ease, and rely on their wealth, _the day of the Lord _is at hand, to terrify those who are at ease. But a question might here be raised, Why is... [ Continue Reading ]
10._For the stars of heaven. _In order to strike our minds with a stronger and more distressing fear of the judgment of God, the prophets are accustomed to add to their threatenings extravagant modes of speaking, which place the anger of God, as it were, before their eyes, and affect all our senses,... [ Continue Reading ]
11._And I will visit upon the world wickedness. _Here the Prophet does not speak of the whole _world_; but as Babylon was the seat of the most powerful of all monarchies, he gives to it on that account the name of _the world_, and he does so emphatically, ( ἐμφατικῶς,) for Babylon was a kind of _wor... [ Continue Reading ]
12._I will make a man more precious than pure gold. _Here he describes in a particular manner how cruel and savage will be the war that is carried on against Babylon. In like manner believers, instructed by these predictions, implore in the spirit of prophecy what is the utmost exertion of the cruel... [ Continue Reading ]
13._Therefore I will shake the heavens. _This is another figure of speech which contributes in a similar manner to heighten the picture. God cannot too earnestly urge this doctrine, not only to terrify the wicked, but to afford consolation to the godly, who are often distressed when it is well with... [ Continue Reading ]
14._And it shall be as the chased roe. _He shows that auxiliary troops will be of no avail to the Babylonians, and by these comparisons he describes the fear which shall seize the soldiers. Babylon employed not only her own soldiers, but likewise foreign and hired soldiers. He says that they will al... [ Continue Reading ]
15._Every one that is found shall be thrust through. _Here he confirms what he had formerly said, that none shall escape from Babylon, and that all who shall be there shall perish. Xenophon also relates that, by the command of Cyrus, they slew every one that they met in the beginning of the night, a... [ Continue Reading ]
16._Their children shall be dashed in pieces. _He draws a picture of extreme cruelty. It is the utmost pitch of ferocity exercised by an invading army, when no age is spared, and infants, whose age makes it impossible for them to defend themselves, are slain. He represents it as still more shocking,... [ Continue Reading ]
17._Behold I raise up against them the Medes. _The Prophet, having predicted the destruction of the Babylonians, describes also the authors, or says that God will be the author; and at the same time he explains in what manner, and by means of whom, it will be accomplished; for he says that _he will... [ Continue Reading ]
18._And with bows they shall dash in pieces the children. _(207) Some render it, _they shall cut_. They think that the language is exaggerated, as if they made use of the children of the Babylonians in place of _arrows_, and afterwards dashed them to the ground, that they might be broken with greate... [ Continue Reading ]
19._And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms. _Here the Prophet intended to give a brief summary of his prophecy about the Babylonians, but enlarges it by some additions tending to show more fully that it will be completely destroyed. In this manner do the prophets speak of the punishment of the wicked, s... [ Continue Reading ]
20._It shall never be inhabited any more. _By the verb תשב, (_thesheb_,) _shall sit_, he means continuance; as if he had said, “There is no hope of restoring Babylon.” All these forms of expression have precisely the same object, that the Babylonians will be destroyed with such a destruction that th... [ Continue Reading ]
21._But the Ziim shall lie there. _(209) He continues the description of a desert place, and alludes to what he had formerly said, that Babylon will be destitute of inhabitants. In what way ציים (_tziim_) ought to be translated I cannot easily say, on account of the diversity in the opinions of tran... [ Continue Reading ]
22._And Iim shall cry _(211) He expresses the same thing as had been formerly said, and shows how dreadful that change will be, in order to make it manifest that it proceeds from the judgment of God, and not from chance. The picture is even heightened by adding that this will take place, not in ordi... [ Continue Reading ]