Historical chapter commentary
Verse 1. Thereof. Hebrew leb kamai, “of the heart, rising up against me.” Bible.—Many take Leb-kamai to be the enigmatical name of the Chaldees, by a secret combination of letters, (Kimchi. Grot.) as if they were not clearly designated in the sequel. Calmet.—The prophet expresses more pointedly what he had declared in the preceding chapter. Worthington.
Verse 2. Fan her. After the corn was trodden out, it was heaved into the wind. This custom would insinuate the distress and captivity of the Chaldees. Septuagint “I will send … scoffers, and they shall treat her with scorn, καθυβριουσιν. Bible.—They have read ( Calmet.) zedim for zarim.
Verse 3. Mail. There will be little or no resistance made. Calmet. 50:3. Bible.—The Persians denounce destruction to all taken in arms; or, according to Septuagint and Syr. they exhort each other to fight. Calmet.—“Let him,” and so forth Bible.—Hebrew of the Masorets, “you who bend … spare not.” Calmet.—Prot. “against him that bendeth let the archer bend his bow,” and so forth Bible.—Hebrew is printed ne tendat tendat tendans. The second word is properly omitted in some MSS. Thus (1 Chron. 24:6) we read taken taken, achuz having been put erroneously for achad, one. Kennicott.
Verse 5. Forsaken, as a widow, viduatus. Bible.—God still considers the nation as his spouse.—Their land. That of the Chaldees, ( Calmet.) or of the Jews. Theodoret.—Sin, or punishment.
Verse 6. Silent. Jews proclaim that Babylon is justly punished, ( Calmet.) lest you partake in her crimes. Revelation 18:4. Prot. “be not cut off in her,” and so forth Bible.
Verse 7. Cup. She has exercised the vengeance of the Lord on Juda, Egypt, and so forth
Verse 8. Suddenly. She has not lost many battles; but is fallen at once from being the greatest city of the East.
Verse 9. We. The guardian angels, or Jews reply. Miracles are lost on her.—Heavens. Her crimes call for punishment. Genesis 18:21 and Jonah 1:2.
Verse 10. Justices. We had not injured the Chaldees, though we had offended God.
Verse 11. Sharpen. He addresses ironically the citizens of Babylon.—Medes. Thus the subjects of the Persian monarchs are commonly styled. Calmet.
Verse 12. Standard. Call together thy subjects and allies. Bible.—This must be explained of Babylon. Menochius.—Yet all will be in vain. verse 11. Bible.—Ambushes. Herein the valour and genius of heroes was most displayed. Joshua 8:2. Homer.
Verse 13. Waters. Not far from the Tigris, and divided into two parts by the Euphrates. Calmet.—Entire, being cut up by the roots, pedalis, (Lyran.) or according to the measure of thy crimes. Delrio. Calmet.—Septuagint “thy end is truly come into thy bowels.” Bible.
Verse 14. Himself. Septuagint “his hand” lifted up, or by his power.—Locusts. Their ravages were equally dreaded. Joel 2:4. Judges 6:5.
Verse 16. Rain. Thunder and lightning are usually followed by showers. Calmet.
Verse 17. Every man, and so forth That is, every maker of idols, however he boasts of his knowledge and skill, does but shew himself a fool in pretending to make a god. Challoner. Wisd. 14:18.—By his, or “by default of knowledge;” (a scientia. Bible.) as the Hebrew may also mean. The Babylonians were so confounded, they knew not what to do. Calmet.—Prot. “Every man is brutish by his knowledge.” Marg. or “is more brutish than to know.” Calmet. 10:14. Bible.
Verse 20. Thou, Cyrus, (Grot.) or more commonly the Chaldees are understood.
Verse 25. Mountain. So Babylon is styled in derision. See Calmet. 21:13. Isaiah 1:10 and 20:6 and 22:1. The city stood on a plain. Some think that its palace and walls are designated.—Burnt; unfruitful. This happened long after Cyrus, though it then ceased to be the capital, and became only a shadow of its former greatness.
Verse 26. Corner. No king or conqueror shall spring thence. Alexander thought of making it the seat of his empire, but was prevented by death. Strabo xv.
Verse 27. Prepare. Lit. “sanctify.” Bible.—Call together all nations to fight against Babylon. Worthington.—Many religious ceremonies were used.—Ararat, where the ark rested, (Genesis 8:4) near the Araxes, (Saint Jerome in Is. xxxvii.) or in the Gordyean mountains, in Armenia, where the Menni dwelt.—Ascenez, or Ascantes, ( Calmet.) near the Tanais. Pliny vi. 7.—Taphsar, “the prince.” Nahum 3:17. Pagn. “Warriors.” Chal. “Machines” Sept.—Caterpillar, or “locust,” (bruchum. Bible.) which resembles more a body of cavalry. Calmet.—Septuagint “Push forward the cavalry against her, as a multitude of locusts.” Bible.
Verse 28. Prepare; “sanctify.” Bible.—Media. Cyrus. verse 11.—Captains: generals. Calmet.—Rulers. Lit. “magistrates.” Bible.—Hebrew Seganim, a title used once by Isaias, and frequently by those who wrote after the Assyrians ( Calmet.) commenced their invasion. Bible.
Verse 30. Bars, fastening the gates. Calmet.—Those who entered by the channel of the river, would seize the gates to let their companions enter. Bible.
Verse 31. King, feasting in his palace, (Herod. i. 191.) or at Borsippe. Berosus. He sent to make inquiries, ( Calmet.) or his subjects hastened to convey the doleful tidings, and thus met each other. Bible.
Verse 32. Fords. Thus the enemy entered.—Marches. Hebrew “sedges,” which grew to the size of trees, and were burnt when the waters of the river and lakes were drained. Herodotus (i. 185. 178.) specifies a lake four hundred and twenty stadia square, and says the ditches round the city were full of water.
Verse 33. Threshing, performed by oxen treading, and by rollers, and so forth Judges 8:16 and 2 Kennicott. 12:31.—Little; about fifty-six years.
Verse 34. Dragon, or huge fish, which swallows without chewing. Sion is here venting her complaint. Psalms 136:8. Calmet.—She shews that Babylon is justly punished for her cruelty towards God’s people. Worthington.
Verse 36. Spring; commerce, the source of her riches; or rather the waters shall be brought out of their usual channels. For many ages ( Calmet.) the Euphrates has been lost in sands, and reaches not the Persian Gulph. Pliny vii. 27. Cellar. iii. 16.
Verse 37. Dragons. This has been the case for above sixteen centuries. Calmet. 50:31. Isaiah 13:21.
Verse 38. Roar. They shall retain their haughty air and threaten others, when they themselves shall fall ( Calmet.) in the midst of their feasting. Daniel 5:30. Xen. vii.
Verse 41. Search, the city which worshipped the moon, (Calmet. 25:26.) Bel, (Calmet. 50:2.) and so forth
Verse 42. Sea: numerous armies of Cyrus, or the waters of the Euphrates let loose. Calmet.—In the days of Alexander, many tombs of the kings were inundated. Strabo xv.
Verse 44. Down. His priests pretended that he eat, (Daniel 14:11) and a woman of their choice slept in the most retired part of the temple. Herod. i. 181.—The prophet derides this notion. The idol, or rather his votaries, ( Bible.) shall be forced to let go the Israelites. Calmet.—Fall, by means of Cyrus and of Darius. Calmet. 50:3. Bible.
Verse 46. Faint. You may apprehend that your miseries will increase in the midst of such confusion; but no, Baltassar, the last of your oppressor’s race, shall be assassinated by Neriglissor, who will be succeeded by Laborosoarchod and Nabonides. This last shall yield to Cyrus, who well grant you liberty. Baltassar reigned two years, Neriglissor four, his ill-tempered infant son nine months, when his followers murdered him, and gave the crown to a Babylonian called Nabonides, who kept it seventeen years, till Cyrus took him prisoner. This we learn from Berosus, quoted by Josephus, c. Ap. i. On the other hand Daniel makes Darius, the Mede, succeed Baltassar, and after him Cyrus reigned. To these changes and continual alarms the prophet alludes.
Verse 47. Idols; Bel, and so forth verse 41.—Slain. Hebrew “dancers.” The people were feasting. Calmet.—It means also “slain,” (Prot.) or “soldiers.”
Verse 48. Praise, for the just punishment. Bible.—The crimes were public. Calmet.
Verse 50. Mind. Offer sacrifices of thanks on Sion, ( Bible.) both Jews and other nations. Calmet.
Verse 51. We. The Jews answer: we are ashamed when we think of these places. Menochius.
Verse 53. High. Her fortifications and ditches will prove fruitless. Calmet. 48:7. 18.
Verse 55. Great voice, or boasting and songs of joy, usual at public meetings.—Noise. They groan under affliction.
Verse 57. Drunk, with the wine of fury. verse 39. Calmet. 25:26.
Verse 58. Broad wall. The pagan historians agree not in the dimensions, but allow it was excessively broad and lofty. Calmet.—Six chariots might go abreast. It was 360 stadia long, (Ctesias); or 480 (Herod. i. 178.) that is above 23 leagues, allowing 2,500 paces for each. This author says the breadth was fifty cubits of the king, three inches larger than the common one, or about twenty-one inches. Pliny (vi. 26.) improperly applies this to Roman feet, and says the walls were two hundred feet high; while Herodotus assigns so many cubits. Calmet.—There were three different walls. Curt. v.—Cyrus demolished the outer one. Beros.—What remained, ( Calmet.) with the hundred brazen gates, Darius treated in like manner. Herod. i. 179. and iii. 159.—Thus was the prediction fulfilled, and the works of so many captive nations brought to nothing. It is asserted that 200,000 ( Calmet.) daily finished a stadium, (Curt. v.) or 125 paces. Calmet.
Verse 59. With. Hebrew also, ( Calmet.) “on behalf of.” Prot. marg. Bible.—It is no where else asserted that Sedecias went in person, and Septuagint Chal. and so forth explain it in this manner. Baruch accompanied his brother Sararias, and probably took the letter. Baruch 1:2. Saraias went to petition for the sacred vessels.—Prophecy, or of the embassy to speak ( Calmet.) in the king’s name. Hebrew menucha, was a caution of Benjamin. It means, “rest;” whence some have inferred that he was chamberlain, (Song of Songs 3:8) or a favourite. Most translate, “chief of the presents,” Septuagint and Chal. as if they they had read mincha, which he carried as a tribute to Babylon. Jeremias gave him charge of the parcel, perhaps before Baruch had determined to go.
Verse 64. Sink. The angel did the like; (Revelation 18:21. Calmet.) and the Phoceans, leaving their country, swore that they would return no more till a piece of red hot iron, which they threw into the sea, should swim. Herod. i. 165.—Thus, and so forth was added by the compiler. Septuagint omit the sentence, as what relates to Babylon is place Calmet. 28 in their copies. Calmet.—Yet Grabe puts it in a different character. Bible.—Jeremias wrote a great deal, after the 4th year of Sedecias, verse 59. Calmet.—He here finished his predictions against Babylon. Worthington.—This does not mean that he did not write the next chapter, ( Menochius.) as Cappel allows, (Houbig.) though this may still be doubted. Bible.