The ruin of the Chaldeans A. M. 3409. Anno CHAP. L. 22 A sound of battle is in the Ol. XLVI. 2. land, and of great destruction. 23 How is the hammer of the Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., 22. whole earth cut asunder and broken! how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! C 24 I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the LORD. 25 The LORD hath opened his armoury, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation for this is the work of the Lord GOD of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. d 26 Come against her from the utmost border, open her storehouses: cast her up as heaps, and destroy her utterly: let nothing of her be left. 27 Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: wo unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation. i 28 The voice of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple. 29 Call together the archers against Babylon: all ye that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: Chap. li. 54. b Isa. xiv. 6; chap. li. 20.Chap. li. 8, 31, 39, 57; Dan. v. 30, 31.-d Isa. xiii. 5.- Heb. from the end. Or, tread her. - Psa. xxii. 12; Isa. xxxiv. 7; chap. xlvi. 21.- - Chap. xlviii. 44; ver. 31.- Li Chap. li. 10, 11. literal. 'recompense her according to her 31 Behold, I am against thee, O thou most proud, saith the Lord GoD of hosts for thy day is come, the time that I will visit thee. 32 And a the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up and I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him. 33 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go. 34 Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead their cause, that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon. 35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Baby lon, and upon her princes, and upon her :wise men. The words are addressed to the Medes and Verse 28. Declare in Zion the vengeance of the Persians; and the country is Chaldea, doubly rebel-Lord] Zion was desolated by Babylon; tell Zion that lious by its idolatry and its insufferable pride. In these two, it was exceeded by no other land. God hath desolated the desolator, The vengeance of his temple.] Which NebuchadNebu-nezzar had pillaged, profaned, and demolished, transporting its sacred vessels to Babylon, and putting them in the temple of his god Bel. Verse 23. The hammer of the whole earth] chadnezzar dashed to pieces the nations against whom he warred. He was the scourge of the Lord. Verse 24. I have laid a snare for thee] It was not by storm that Cyrus took the city. The Euphrates ran through it; he dug a channel for the river in another direction, to divert its stream; he waited for that time in which the inhabitants had delivered themselves up to debauchery in the dead of the night he turned off the stream, and he and his army entered by the old channel, now void of its waters. This was the snare of which the prophet here speaks. See Herodotus, lib. i., c. 191. Verse 26. Open her store-houses] At the time that Cyrus took the city, it was full of provisions and treasures of all kinds; the walls had suffered no injury; and when the inhabitants heard that the enemy was within, they thought they must have arisen out of the earth in the centre of the city! Verse 27. Slay all her bullocks] Princes, magistrates, &c., &c. Verse 29. Call together the archers] The preceding verses are the prediction: here, God calls the Medes and Persians to fulfil it. Verse 31. O thou most proud] 11 zadon. PRIDE in the abstract; proudest of all people. Verse 32. And the most proud] 11 zadon, as before. Here pride is personified and addressed, as if possessing a being and rational powers. Verse 34. Their Redeemer is strong] And it was not that he wanted power, and that Nebuchadnezzar had much, that Jerusalem was taken; but because the people had sinned, and would not return; and therefore national sins called for national punishments. These have taken place; and now the Lord of hosts shows them that the power of the Chaldeans is mere weakness against his might, Verse 35. A sword] War and its calamities, or any grievous plague; and so in the following verses, The fearful destruction A. M. 3409. B. C. 595. Ol. XLVI. 2. Anno y A. M. 3409. Tarquinii Prisci, 36 A sword is w Tarquinii Prisci, sword is upon her mighty men; a 37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.. 38 A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols. d 39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. 40 As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith the LORD; so shall no man abide there, -neither shall any son of man dwell therein. 41 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. 42 They shall hold the bow and the lance: w Isa. xliv. 25; chap. xlviii. 30.- -x Or, chief stays. Heb. bars.2 Chap. xxv. 20, 24; Ezek. xxx. 5.- Chap. li. 30; Nah. iii. 13. Isa. xliv. 27; chap. li. 32, 36; Rev. xvi. 12. Ver. 2; chap. li. 44, 47, 52.- Isa. xiii. 21, 22; xxxiv. 14; chap. li. 37; Rev. xviii. 2. Isa. xiii. 20; chap. xxv. 12. fGen. xiii. 10; xix. 24, 25, 28; Deut. xxix. 23; Isa. i. 9; xiii. Verse 38. A drought is upon her waters] May not this refer to the draining of the channel of the Euphrates, by which the army of Cyrus entered the city. See on ver. 24. The original is, however, a chereb, a sword, as in the preceding verses, which signifies war, or any calamity by which the thing on which it falls is ruined. 43 The king of Babylon hath heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: I anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail. 44 m Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong but I will make them suddenly run away from her and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? 45 Therefore hear ye the counsel of the LORD, that he hath taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them. 46 At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations. 19; chap xlix. 18; Lam. iv. 6; Amos iv. 11; Zeph. ii. 9; 2 Pet. ii. 6; Jude 7,- Ver. 9; chap. vi. 22; xxv. 14; li. 27; Rev. xvii. 16—Chap. vi. 22. Isa. xiii. 18. Isa. v. 30 1Chap. xlix. 24.m Chap. xlix. 19, &c.- Or, convent me to plead.- - Job xli. 10; chap. xlix. 19.- -p Isa. xiv. 24, &c.; chap. li. 11.- - Rev. xviii. 9. Verse 44. Behold, he shall come up like a lion] The same words as in chap. xlix. 19, &c., where see the note. Verse 39. The wild beasts of the desert] Dahler | Jerusalem. translates these various terms, "The wild cats, the jackals, and the ostriches." And Blayney the same. Wicklif, "Dragons, woodewoses, and ostriches." Coverdale, "Wild beestes, apes, and estriches." Verse 40. As God overthrew Sodom] As the very ground on which these cities stood, with all the plain, now lies under the Dead Sea; so Babylon and the adjacent country shall be rendered totally barren and un Verse 46. At the noise of the taking of Babylon] See the note on the parallel place, chap. xlix. 21. In the forty-ninth chapter, these words are spoken of Ne buchadnezzar; here, of Cyrus. The taking of Babylon was a wonder to all the surrounding nations. It was thought to be impregnable. CHAPTER LI. Sequel of the prophecies of Jeremiah against Babylon. The dreadful, sudden, and final ruin that shall fall upon the Chaldeans, who have compelled the nations to receive their idolatrous rites, (see an instance in the third chapter of Daniel,) set forth by a variety of beautiful figures; with a command to the people of The fearful destruction CHAP. LI. of Babylon foretold. God, (who have made continual intercession for the conversion of their heathen rulers,) to flee from the impending, vengeance, 1-14. Jehovah, Israel's God, whose infinite power, wisdom, and understanding are every where visible in the works of creation, elegantly contrasted with the utterly contemptible objects of ⚫the Chaldean worship, 15-19. Because of their great oppression of God's people, the Babylonians shall be visited with cruel enemies from the north, whose innumerable hosts shall fill the land, and utterly extirpate the original inhabitants, 20-44. One of the figures by which this formidable invasion is represented is awfully sublime. "The SEA is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof." And the account of the sudden desolation produced by this great armament of a multitude of nations, (which the prophet, dropping the figure, immediately subjoins,) is deeply afflictive. "Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness; a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby." The people of God a third time admonished to escape from Babylon, lest they be overlaken with her plagues, 45, 46. Other figures setting forth in a variety of lights the awful judgments with which the Chaldeans shall be visited on account of their very gross idolatries, 47-58. The significant emblem with which the chapter concludes, of Seraiah, after having read the book of the Prophet Jeremiah against Babylon, binding a stone to it, and casting it into the river Euphrates, thereby prefiguring the very sudden downfall of the Chaldean city and empire, 59-64, is beautifully improved by the writer of the Apocalypse, chap. xviii. 21, in speaking of Babylon the GREAT, of which the other was a most expressive type; and to which many of the passages interspersed throughout the Old Testament Scriptures relative to Babylon must be ultimately referred, if we would give an interpretation in every respect equal to the terrible import of the language in which these prophecies are conceived. A. M. B. C. 3409 595 OL. XLVI. 2. THUS saith the LORD; Behold, though their land was filled with C 2 And will send unto Babylon fanners that shall fan her, and shall empty her land; for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about. 6 h Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man not cut off in her iniquity; for time of the LORD's vengeance; render unto her a recompense. A. M. 3409. Anno O1. XLVI. 2. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., 22. his soul; be this is the he will 7 Babylon hath been a golden cup in the 3 Against him that bendeth let the archer LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunken: bend his bow, and against him that lifteth him-m the nations have drunken of her wine; there self up in his brigandine: and spare ye not her young men; destroy ye utterly all her host. 4 Thus the slain shall fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and they that are thrust through in her streets. 5 For Israel hath not been forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; NOTES ON. CHAP. LI. Verse 1. Thus saith the Lord] This chapter is a continuation of the preceding prophecy. A destroying wind.] Such as the pestilential winds in the east; and here the emblem of a destroying army, carrying all before them, and wasting with fire and sword. Verse 2. And will send-fanners] When the corn is trodden out with the feet of cattle, or crushed out with a heavy wheel armed with iron, with a shovel they throw it up against the wind, that the chaff and broken straw may be separated from it. This is the image used by the prophet; these people shall be trodden, crushed, and fanned by their enemies. . Verse 5. For Israel hath not been forsaken] God still continued his prophets among them; he had never fore the nations are mad. 8 Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; a take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. 9 We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her Rev. xvii. 4. Rev. xiv. 8. -P Chap. xxv. 16. Isa. Chap. xlviii. 20; Rev. xviii. Isa. xiii. 4; chap. 1. 16. cast them wholly off. Even in the midst of wrathhighly deserved and inflicted punishment, he has remembered mercy; and is now about to crown what he has done by restoring them to their own land. I conceive us asham, which we translate sin, as rather signifying punishment, which meaning it often has. Verse 7. Made all the earth drunken] The cup of God's wrath is the plenitude of punishment, that he inflicts on transgressors. It is represented as intoxicating and making them mad. Verse 8. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed] These appear to be the words of some of the spectators of Babylon's misery. Verse 9. We would have healed Babylon] Had it been in our power, we would have saved her; but we could not turn away the judgment of God. The fearful destruction A. M. 3409. Ol. XLVI. 2. Anno judgment reacheth unto heaven, men, as with caterpillars; and and is lifted up even to the skies. they shall lift up a shout 10 The LORD hath brought against thee. forth our righteousness: come, and let us " declare in Zion the work of the LORD our God. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., 22. W 11 Make bright the arrows; gather the shields the LORD hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes: y for his device is against Babylon, to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of his temple. 12 Set up the standard upon the walls of Babylon, make the watch strong, set up the watchmen, prepare the ambushes: for the LORD hath both devised and done that which he spake against the inhabitants of Babylon. 13 O thou that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness. с Verse 10. The Lord hath brought forth our righteousness] This is the answer of the Jews. God has vindicated our cause. Verse 11. Make bright the arrows] prophet's address to Babylon. 1 A. M. 3409. Ol. XLVI. 2. Anno Tarquinii Prisci, 15 He hath made the earth by R. Roman., 22. his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding. m 1 16 When he uttereth his voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and "he causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends. of the earth: he maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. 17 Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. He hath established the world by his wisdom] The omniscience of God is particularly seen in the government of han tebel, the inhabited surface of the globe. This is the What a profusion of wisdom and skill is apparent in that wondrous system of providence by which he governs and provides for every living thing. The Lord hath raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes] Of Cyaxares king of Media, called Darius the Mede in Scripture; and of Cyrus king of Persia, presumptive heir of the throne of Cyaxares, his uncle. Cambyses, his father, sent him, Cyrus, with 30,000 men to assist his uncle, Cyaxares, against Neriglissar king of Babylon, and by these was BabyJon overthrown. Verse 12. Set up the standard] A call to the enemies of Babylon to invest the city and press the siege. Verse 13. O thou that dwellest upon many waters] Thou who hast an abundant supply of waters. It was built on the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates; the latter running through the city. But the many waters may mean the many nations which belonged to the Babylonish empire; nations and people are frequently so called in Scripture. Verse 14. I will fill thee with men] By means of these very waters through the channel of thy boasted river, thou shalt be filled with men, suddenly appearing as an army of locusts; and, without being expected, shall lift up a terrific cry, as soon as they have risen from the channel of the river. Verse 15. He hath made the earth by his power] The omnipotence of God is particularly manifested in the works of creation. And hath stretched out the heaven by his understanding.] Deep thought, comprehensive design, and consummate skill are especially seen in the formation, magnitudes, distances, revolutions, and various affections of the heavenly bodies. Verse 16. When he uttereth his voice] Sends thunder. There is a multitude of waters]. For the electric spark, by decomposing atmospheric air, converts the hydrogen and oxygen gases, of which it is composed, into water; which falls down in the form of rain. 'Causeth the vapours to ascend] He is the Author of that power of evaporation by which the water is rarified, and, being lighter than the air, ascends, in form of vapour, forms clouds, and is ready to be sent down again to water the earth by the action of his lightnings, as before. And by those same lightnings, and the agency of heat in general, currents of air are formed, moving in various directions, which we call winds. Verse 17. Every man is brutish by his knowledge] He is brutish for want of real knowledge; and he is brutish when he acknowledges that an idol is any thing. in the world. These verses, from fifteen to nineteen, are transcribed from chap. x. 12-16. The fearful destruction A. M. 3409. B. C. 595. 20 Thou art my battle axe and | for a corner, nor a stone for founOL. XLVI. 2. weapons of war: for "with thee dations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the Lord. Anno Tarquinii Prisci, will I break in pieces the nations, R. Roman., 22. and with thee will I destroy kingdoms; 21 And with thee will I break in pieces the horse and his rider; and with thee will I break in pieces the chariot and his rider; 22 With thee also will I break in pieces man and woman; and with thee will I break in pieces ▾ old and young; and with thee will I break in pieces the young man and the maid; 23 I will also break in pieces with thee the shepherd and his flock; and with thee will I break in pieces the husbandman and his yoke of oxen; and with thee will I break in pieces captains and rulers. 25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth and I will stretch out mine. hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, y and will make thee a burnt mountain. 26 And they shall not take of thee a stone Isa. x. 5, 15; chap. 1. 23.- Or, in thee, or by thee. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 17.- -W Chap, 1. 15, 29.iv. 7.y Rey. viii. 8.- Chap. 1. 40 desolations. So -x Isa. xiii. 2; Zech. - Heb. everlasting Verse 20. Thou art my battle axe] I believe Nebuchadnezzar is meant, who is called, chap. 1. 23, the hammer of the whole earth. Others think the words are spoken of Cyrus. All the verbs are in the past tense: "With thee have I broken in pieces," &c., &c. Verse 24. And I will render] The vau should be translated but, of which it has here the full power: "But I will render unto Babylon." Verse 25. O destroying mountain] Another epithet which he applies to the Babylonish government; it is like a burning, mountain, which, by vomiting continual streams of burning lava, inundates and destroys all towns, villages, fields, &c., in its vicinity. And roll thee down from the rocks] I will tumble thee from the rocky base on which thou restest. The combustible matter in thy bowels being exhausted, thou shalt appear as an extinguished crater; and the stony matter which thou castest out shall not be of sufficient substance to make a foundation stone for solidity, or a corner stone for beauty, ver. 26. Under this beautiful and most expressive metaphor, the prophet shows the nature of the Babylonish government; setting the nations on fire, deluging and destroying them by its troops, till at last, exhausted, it tumbles down, is extinguished, and leaves nothing as a basis to erect a new form of government on; but is altogether C A. M. 3409. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., 22. 27 Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her d the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillars. 28 Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion. e useless, like the cooled lava, which is, properly speaking, fit for no human purpose. Verse 27. Set ye up a standard] Another summons to the Medes and Persians to attack Babylon. Ararat, Minni] The Greater and Lesser Armenia. And Ashchenaz] A part of Phrygia, near the Hellespont. So Bochart, Phaleg, lib. i. c. 3, lib. iii. c. 9. Concerning Ashchenaz Homer seems to speak, Il. ii. 370, 371: Φόρκυς αν Φρυγας ηγε, και Ασκάνιος θεοειδης, "Ascanius, godlike youth, and Phorcys led The Phrygians from Ascania's distant land." Calmet thinks that the Ascantes, who dwelt in the vicinity of the Tanais, are meant. Verse 29. And the land shall tremble] It is represented here as trembling under the numerous armies that are passing over it, and the prancing of their horses. Verse 30. The mighty men-have forborne to fight] They were panic-struck when they found the Medes and Persians within their walls, and at once saw that resistance was useless. Verse 31. One post shall run to meet another] As the city was taken by surprise, in the manner already |