Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He predicts destruction through the Chaldeans for the Ammonites, verse 1; for the Edomites, verse 7; for Damascus, verse 23; for Kedar, verse 25; for Elam, verse 34.
Vulgate Text: Jeremias 49:1-13
1. Concerning the children of Ammon. Thus says the Lord: Does not Israel have sons? Or has he no heir? Why then has Milcom possessed Gad by inheritance, and his people dwelt in its cities? 2. Therefore behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will cause the roar of battle to be heard against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and it shall be made a desolate heap, and its daughters shall be burned with fire, and Israel shall possess those who possessed him, says the Lord. 3. Wail, O Heshbon, for Ai is laid waste; cry out, O daughters of Rabbah, gird yourselves with sackcloth; mourn and run about among the hedges: for Milcom shall go into captivity, his priests and his princes together. 4. Why do you glory in the valleys? Your valley has flowed away, O pampered daughter, who trusted in your treasures, and said: Who shall come against me? 5. Behold, I will bring terror upon you, says the Lord God of hosts, from all those who are around you: and you shall be scattered, each one from before the other, and there shall be none to gather the fugitives. 6. And after this I will bring back the captives of the children of Ammon, says the Lord. 7. Concerning Edom. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Is there no longer wisdom in Teman? Has counsel perished from its sons? Has their wisdom become useless? 8. Flee, turn back, descend into the caverns, O inhabitants of Dedan: for I have brought the destruction of Esau upon him, the time of his visitation. 9. If grape-gatherers had come upon you, would they not have left some gleanings? If thieves in the night, they would have stolen only what was enough for them. 10. But I have stripped Esau bare, I have uncovered his hiding places, and he shall not be able to conceal himself: his seed is laid waste, and his brothers, and his neighbors, and he shall be no more. 11. Leave your orphans: I will make them live: and your widows shall hope in Me. 12. For thus says the Lord: Behold, those who did not deserve to drink the cup, shall certainly drink it: and shall you be left as though innocent? You shall not be innocent, but you shall surely drink. 13. For I have sworn by Myself, says the Lord, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, and a reproach, and a wasteland, and a curse: and all its cities shall be perpetual wastes.
(1) Jeremiah prophesies in this chapter about the peoples neighboring Judea. First, concerning the Ammonites, hostile to the Hebrews in every age: first, he remonstrates about the possession of the lot of Gad by them, 1; second, he threatens them with hostile incursions, fires, devastation, and universal mourning, 2, 3; third, he rebuffs their vain glory and confidence, by striking terror, verses 4, 5; fourth, he finally promises a future return from captivity, verse 6. Second, concerning the Edomites: first, he confounds their vain wisdom with a prediction of necessary flight, 8; of enduring a plundering greater than grape-gatherers usually strip a vineyard, or thieves empty a house, 9-11; of suffering punishment, following the example of others whom God had reason to forgive, and equity seemed to recommend — namely the Jews who were bound to God by a close covenant, and yet were not immune from punishment, 12; second, God humbles their unwitting arrogance, 16; with a sworn threat of disgraceful devastation to be inflicted from every side, 13-15; of horrible overthrow and desolation to be brought about, 17, 18; of slaughter and ruin by a divinely raised enemy, 19-23. Third, concerning the Syrians or Damascenes, of whom he describes first, their terror at the sad news, 23; second, their flight and despair, 24, 25; third, the soldiers slain and the city destroyed by fire, 26, 27. Fourth, concerning the Hagarenes. First, he predicts that in Arabia Petraea, with Nebuchadnezzar invading, there will be devastation, plundering, and carrying off of cattle, 28, 29. Second, in Arabia Deserta, under the invasion of the same king, he urges flight upon the inhabitants, fortified by no means, 30, 31, and at the same time he pronounces plundering upon the cattle, and desolation and wasteland upon the lands, 32, 33. Fifth, concerning the Elamites, noting the time of the prophecy made, 34, he narrates their disaster, dispersion, and panic fear, and the transfer of the royal throne to another, 35-38, and adds a prophecy about restoration to be made thereafter.
14. I have heard a report from the Lord, and an ambassador has been sent to the nations: Gather together, and come against her, and let us rise up for battle. 15. For behold, I have made you small among the nations, despised among men. 16. Your arrogance has deceived you, and the pride of your heart: you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, and strive to seize the height of the hill; though you make your nest as high as the eagle, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord. 17. And Edom shall be desolate: everyone who passes through it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all its wounds. 18. As Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities were overthrown, says the Lord: no man shall dwell there, nor shall any son of man inhabit it. 19. Behold, like a lion he shall come up from the swelling of the Jordan against the fair and strong land; for I will suddenly make him run against her: and who is the chosen one, whom I may set over her? For who is like Me? And who shall withstand Me? And who is that shepherd who can resist My face? 20. Therefore hear the counsel of the Lord, which He has taken against Edom; and His purposes, which He has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock shall drag them out; surely He shall make their dwelling desolate with them. 21. At the noise of their fall the earth trembles: the cry was heard at the Red Sea. 22. Behold, like an eagle he shall ascend and fly: and he shall spread his wings over Bozrah: and the heart of the mighty men of Edom in that day shall be like the heart of a woman in labor. 23. Concerning Damascus: Hamath and Arpad are confounded: for they have heard bad tidings; they are troubled like the sea: anxiety could not rest. 24. Damascus has grown feeble, she has turned to flee, and trembling has seized her: anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in labor. 25. How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of joy! 26. Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets: and all the men of war shall be silenced in that day, says the Lord of hosts. 27. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad. 28. Concerning Kedar, and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck. Thus says the Lord: Arise, and go up to Kedar, and lay waste the sons of the East. 29. They shall take their tents and their flocks: their skins, and all their vessels, and their camels they shall carry away for themselves: and they shall cry out against them, 'Terror on every side!' 30. Flee, depart far away, dwell in the depths, O you inhabitants of Hazor, says the Lord: for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken counsel against you, and has conceived a plan against you. 31. Arise, go up against the quiet nation, that dwells securely, says the Lord: they have no gates nor bars; they dwell alone. 32. And their camels shall be for plunder, and the multitude of their cattle for spoil: and I will scatter to every wind those who have their hair cut at the corners: and from every side I will bring their destruction upon them, says the Lord. 33. And Hazor shall be a dwelling of jackals, desolate forever: no man shall dwell there, nor shall any son of man inhabit it. 34. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying: 35. Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. 36. And I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven: and I will scatter them to all those winds: and there shall be no nation to which the fugitives of Elam shall not come. 37. And I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before those who seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, the fierce anger of My wrath, says the Lord: and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them. 38. And I will set My throne in Elam, and will destroy from there kings and princes, says the Lord. 39. But in the latter days I will bring back the captives of Elam, says the Lord.
Verse 1: Ad Filios Ammon
1. Concerning the children of Ammon — that is, a prophecy to the Ammonites, or about the Ammonites, or against the Ammonites: for the Hebrew lamed, which our translator renders as 'to' (ad), signifies all these things.
(1) This prophecy seems to have been issued like that which precedes it against the Moabites, after Jerusalem was conquered, and it was fulfilled twenty years later.
Israel. Since Israel has legitimate sons as heirs, to whom belongs the land of Gad across the Jordan, why has Milcom — that is, the Ammonites, whose king, lord, and god is Milcom — violently seized the land of Gad? Theodoret notes that when the ten tribes were carried off to Assyria, then the Ammonites invaded and occupied the neighboring Gilead (which was the land and lot of the tribe of Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, whom the Assyrians carried away first of all; 2 Kings 13), as it was now empty and deserted, out of hatred and mockery of the Israelites, as they had tried to do under Jephthah, Judges 11:13; and therefore God here threatens them, as against those who wronged Him and His people, with destruction. For it is just that one who invades what belongs to others should be deprived of his own. Again, Ezekiel gives another reason for the destruction of the Ammonites in chapter 25:6, namely that they had exulted in the destruction of Israel and aided it.
Mystically, Alcazar takes Moab and Ammon — brothers begotten from a carnal and incestuous union — as the twofold appetite: namely through Moab the concupiscible, and through Ammon the irascible, which ceaselessly assail reason and the spirit. So he himself notes in Apocalypse 17:11.
Why then has he possessed by inheritance? The Ammonites were kinsmen of the Israelites, for they were the sons of Lot, Abraham's nephew, Genesis 19:37; and so when they saw the Israelites almost carried off and destroyed, they occupied their inheritance as if by right. But God throws this back at them, saying that Israel still has sufficient close heirs, namely the remnants of the ten tribes, and in their default, the tribe of Judah and Benjamin, so that the kinsmen, namely the Ammonites, should not think about claiming his inheritance.
Verse 2: Rabbath
2. Rabbah. It is a city of Arabia, the capital of the Ammonites, later called Philadelphia by Ptolemy Philadelphus, as Stephanus asserts in his book On Cities. It was called Rabbah, that is, great or many, from the greatness of the people and the place.
It shall be made a desolate heap. The Chaldee: It shall become a heap of desolation with its daughters, that is, its lesser towns and villages — a heap, I say, of stones and rubble, as destroyed cities usually are.
Shall possess — as if to say: Israel, returning from captivity, shall occupy and possess not only its own land, but also that of the Ammonites, who had occupied and possessed their inheritance. This was fulfilled through the Maccabees, as is clear from 1 Maccabees chapter 5:6, and from Josephus, Antiquities XIII, chapter 21. So Hugo and Lyra.
Verse 3: Ulula
3. Wail, O Heshbon. Heshbon was a city of the Moabites, near Ai and other cities of the Ammonites; hence from the disaster of Ai and the Ammonites, he warns Heshbon and the Moabites to prepare themselves for a similar disaster. From this it is clear that Ai and the remaining cities of Ammon were laid waste before Heshbon and the cities of Moab: this prophecy about the Ammonites therefore preceded that of the preceding chapter about the Moabites. So Isidore, Maldonatus, and others.
(1) Nebuchadnezzar, coming from the north, first conquered the land of Ammon, then attacked the fraternal land of Moab. 'Mantua, alas, too near to wretched Cremona!' (Virgil's Eclogues.) (J. D. Michaelis.)
Verse 4: Quid Gloriaris In Vallibus? Propter Earum Fertilitatem
4. Why do you glory in the valleys? — on account of their fertility. For it was near Sodom and the Pentapolis, which before its overthrow was so fertile and pleasant that it seemed the paradise of God, Genesis chapter 13, verse 10.
Your valley has flowed away (in Chaldee, has been desolated) — because it has been laid waste by the enemy. For just as in winter the leaves, fruits, and all the greenness and growth of the fields and valleys fall away: so also in hostile devastation.
Pampered daughter. In Hebrew, daughter of scobeba, that is, rebellious or turned away; the Septuagint, daughter of rashness or impudence; because in order to pursue her pleasures, she impudently rebelled against God; the Chaldee, foolish kingdom. Our translator derived scobeba from the root yashab, that is, she sat, rested, was peaceful, rich, and prosperous: whence shuba signifies rest, as if to say: You have rested and sat until now in your pleasures and vices, just like your sister Moab in her dregs, chapter 48:11; now you will be shaken out of them along with her.
Who shall come against me — to capture me? Military terror — terrible soldiers, or a panic terror, so that seized by it you may flee with no one pursuing you, such as God sent upon the Canaanites, Genesis 35:5, Exodus 23:27, and elsewhere. So Sanchez.
Verse 5: Singuli A Conspectu Vestro
5. Each one from before the other — mutually, as if to say: One from another, one this way, another that way will be scattered, to look out for his life, as happens in a common disaster and confusion; hence the Hebrew has: Each one to his own face, that is, wherever his face leads or drives him, he will flee.
Verse 6: Reverti
6. I will bring back — both from temporal captivity, so Theodoret, Hugo, Lyra; and from the spiritual captivity of the devil, through Christ; so Rabanus and Vatablus.
You will say: Ezekiel 25:10 says there will no longer be any remembrance of Ammon. I respond: of Ammon, that is, of the kingdom of Ammon; yet the nation of Ammon continued to exist, but in a weakened state, about which see more in Ezekiel 25. For Cyrus, having captured Babylon, released the Ammonites detained in it, just as he did the Jews.
Verse 7: Ad Idumaean
7. Concerning Edom — the prophecy is directed, namely that which follows. Teman was a city and chief place of Edom, abounding in wise men, so called from Teman the son of Eliphaz the son of Esau, says Theodoret, Genesis 36:11, as if to say: How has it happened that the wise men of Teman, now bereft of counsel, were unable to defend themselves against their enemies? It seems therefore that in Teman there were schools and academies of wisdom, both divine and human. Certainly Eliphaz shows this in disputing about God and God's providence with Job: for Eliphaz was a Temanite.
Counsel has perished from the sons of Teman; the Septuagint, from the wise men of Teman: for in Hebrew banim signifies both wise men and sons. Note: When God wishes to punish a city or nation, He removes the wise, or so blinds them that they give foolish counsel. So it happened to Rehoboam, Absalom, and others.
Verse 8: Descendite In Voraginem
8. Descend into the caverns — into ditches for hiding. So Theodoret, Hugo, Lyra. It is irony, as if to say: You will descend and hide in caves, but in vain: for there the Chaldeans will search you out and kill or capture you. This is clear from verse 10.
Inhabitants of Dedan. It is a region, so called from Dedan the son of Abraham by Keturah, Genesis 25:3. It is situated in Edom, or near it, as is clear from this passage. Similarly other sons of Abraham inhabited the neighboring provinces of Arabia. The reason why they should descend, he adds: For I have brought the destruction of Esau — that is, the disaster decreed by Me against Edom, I will now bring upon it.
Verse 9: Non Racemum? Non
9. Not a gleaning? 'Not,' that is, 'is it not so?' — for it is a question. The meaning is, as if to say: Grape-gatherers here and there pass over and leave some hidden cluster on the vine, because they do not see it hidden among so many leaves: but the Chaldeans will leave nothing in you; they will search out and plunder everything. The same thought is in Obadiah 1:5. So Rabanus, Hugo, Lyra.
If thieves in the night — as if to say: Thieves do not steal everything, because many things are hidden and locked away, which cannot be seen and seized by them; but I will uncover and strip bare Edom, so that whatever is hidden in it may be found by the enemies, as if to say: I will leave nothing in Edom, but will betray it and all its riches which it has hidden to the enemy Chaldeans, so that its seed — that is, all its sons, brothers, and neighbors — will be destroyed. Moreover he says: 'I have stripped Esau bare,' and 'I have uncovered his hiding places:' because the Edomites dwelt in the clefts of rocks and caves, as Obadiah says in verses 3 and 6; both because Edom is situated in mountains and rocks; and because of the heat of the sun, which strikes that region, so that they might protect themselves from it in the shade and coolness of caverns and grottoes. So St. Jerome on Obadiah verse 6. These caves and grottoes of theirs, therefore, the Chaldeans searched and plundered.
(2) The site of Amman, that is, Rabbah of the Ammonites, Abulfeda describes thus in Tabula Syriae, page 92: 'The lands surrounding the region are arable, and the soil is good and abundant' (Cf. Burckhardt's Travel Commentary, page 612, German edition). The city itself is situated on a mountain, at whose steep base the Jabbok flows, so that here beneath the mountain there is a deep valley, Polybius, book V, chapter 71. (J. D. Michaelis.) But the Ammonites could, says Rosenmuller, glory in their valleys precisely because they were surrounded on all sides by mountains, so that an enemy would scarcely dare to attack them.
(3) The same promise was made to the Moabites above, chapter 48:47. The Greek Alexandrine omitted this verse. In the Jesuit codex and the royal Parisian codex, as well as in the Syro-Hexaplar version, it is inserted with an asterisk under the name of Aquila and Theodotion. (Rosenmuller.)
(4) Four verses of this prophecy (9, 14, 15 and 16) are taken from Obadiah's prophecy against the Edomites, with a few changes. (Rosenmuller.)
Verse 10: Et Non Erit
10. And he shall be no more — that is, no one will survive to say to a dying companion: Leave me your children and your widow; I will care for them, I will preserve them in life, nourish and protect them, as if to say: All will be killed and will die. This is clear from Obadiah verse 18; Psalm 137:7. So Vatablus. Second, Rabanus, Hugo, and Lyra explain it thus: 'and he shall be no more' — supply: brother, neighbor — but all will perish. Hence God adds and says: 'Leave therefore to Me your orphans' and your widows; I will preserve them: for it is clear that God preserved some in Edom, since afterwards the Edomites were again subdued by the Maccabees. Third and best: 'he shall be no more,' namely the seed, which precedes, that is the posterity of Edom, boldly saying: Leave your orphans if you have any, I will make them live; but know that you will leave none, that is, few and scarcely any, as if to say: So completely will all the Edomites perish when the Chaldean rages, that they will not even leave widows and infants surviving, of whom I, who take the greatest care of widows and orphans, could say to you: 'Leave your orphans, I' will nourish them; hence the Septuagint translates: And it is not possible for your orphan to survive. So Maldonatus.
Verse 12: Ecce Quibus Non Erat Judicium
12. Behold, those who had no judgment — that is, the Jews, especially those who were pious and good, did not seem to deserve the punishment of captivity; yet they were punished with it: how much more will you, O Edom, who are guilty, be punished with the same? So Theodoret, Hugo, Rabanus, Vatablus. Otherwise Sanchez: as if to say: Behold, your orphans and bereaved, who were innocent, did not obtain immunity from the common slaughter; how then can you promise yourself impunity from the disgrace of your crimes?
Verse 13: Non Eris Innocens (Id Est Impunita
13. You shall not be innocent (that is, unpunished. It is a catachresis). But you shall surely drink — that is, you will certainly drink, and will drain to the dregs the cup of God's wrath, which He pours out for you. Bozrah shall become a curse. So terribly will Bozrah be punished and overthrown, that it will seem to be cursed by God, and will be taken as an example by all who wish to curse anyone, and they will say: May God curse you, as He cursed Bozrah. For just as a blessing signifies the aggregate of all goods, so a curse signifies the aggregate and totality of all evils. Moreover, Bozrah was the capital of Edom. Bozrah in Hebrew means fortified. From it came Jobab, the second king of Edom, Genesis 36:33. There was also another Bozrah in Moab.
Verse 14: Auditum Audivi
14. I have heard a report — that is, I have heard this matter. It is metonymy. 'Hearing' is put for 'the thing heard.' He begins here the destruction to be brought upon Edom, from the beginning, namely from the ambassador who follows.
(1) This interpretation seems more natural than the one which turns the speech to the Hebrew people, whose orphans and widows God would promise to take under His care, which the context and purpose of the whole discourse scarcely allows. Nor is the interpretation of C. B. Michaelis to be admitted, as too far-fetched, who, also referring this verse to the Hebrew people, construes it thus: Leave your orphans, O Edom, that is, that people which has no father on earth, and is therefore an orphan in your midst and partly through your tyranny. Therefore keep your hands off them, do not afflict them, as you have done until now.
An ambassador has been sent to the nations. The 'ambassador' here was, first, the will of God, His impulse and urging, by which He Himself stirred up the Chaldeans to invade Edom, says Cyril and Ribera on Obadiah, Lyra and Sanchez here. Second, Theodoret says 'ambassadors,' that is, angels, who stir up the Chaldeans to war. Third, the 'ambassador' whom the Chaldeans sent to the nations subject to them, that they should prepare themselves for war against Edom. This meaning is the plainest. See Isaiah 5:26, and Canons 36 and 37.
Mystically, St. Jerome and Rupert say: Christ was sent as ambassador from the Father to the Edomites and other nations, to overthrow their paganism and vices, and to make them Christians from pagans.
Verse 15: Ecce Enim Parvulum
15. For behold, I have made you small — because Edom, being narrow and mountainous, had few inhabitants: yet these were proud of the fortification of their place, because they dwelt on hills and in the caverns of rocks, as verse 16 says. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Rabanus, Hugo. Jeremiah took these and more from Obadiah, whose entire prophecy is about the destruction of Edom. The meaning is, as if to say: O Edomites! I gave you a rocky and mountainous region, so that your dwellings seem to be the lairs and hiding places of beasts rather than of men; I therefore made you few, small, and abject: moreover, I again crushed you through David and Joab, who killed all males among you, 2 Samuel 11:15, and nearly exterminated you; and yet you are proud, thinking yourselves invincible because of the fortification of your place, inaccessible because of the roughness of your cliffs. You are deceived: the Chaldean will overrun all of this.
Otherwise, Vatablus and Maldonatus: as if to say: 'I have given,' that is, I will give and make you small and contemptible through the Chaldeans, O Edom! I will cast you down and humble you, though you seem great there: for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled. See Obadiah and Isaiah. Job 20:6, Matthew 10:15.
Verse 16: Arrogantia Tua
16. Your arrogance. In Hebrew tiphlatstech, that is, the terror and trembling of you — namely that you were a terror to your neighbors because of your power. So the Chaldee. This terror begat arrogance. Vatablus and Pagninus translate: Your idol has deceived you — as though this idol, consulted by the Edomites, promised them victory against the Chaldeans; but falsely. So tropologically, pride is an idol that men fashion for themselves, when they think themselves to be more than they are: this deceives the proud. So Nebuchadnezzar made himself an idol, namely a very tall statue, to be worshiped in it, Daniel 3:1.
You who dwell in the clefts of the rock (that is, in inaccessible mountains and crags, like the Swiss), and strive to seize (in Hebrew tophesi, that is, you hold and occupy) the height of the hill — that is, of Mount Seir. Otherwise Maldonatus: 'you strive to seize,' that is, he says, you seem to yourself to reach the height of the hill, as if to say: You who seem to yourself to be lofty, and like the highest hill.
Verse 17: Et Sibilabit
17. And he shall hiss — either in mockery, or in amazement at so great a disaster; for hissing was a sign of both among the Hebrews, as if to say: In the extreme disaster, misery, and wailing of the Edomites, no one will have compassion on them because of their pride, but rather will insult them and hiss at them.
Verse 19: Ecce Quasi Leo
19. Behold, like a lion. Note with Theodoret: Nebuchadnezzar is compared to a lion because of his fury and strength; hence he said of him in chapter 4: 'The lion has come up from his lair.' Therefore Maldonatus is less correct in understanding the Maccabees here by the lion, who subdued the Edomites, 1 Maccabees 5. For this passage deals with the Chaldeans, not the Maccabees.
Now Edom is called ironically 'the fair and strong land,' because the Edomites boasted of having beautiful and strong cities, but falsely: for what beauty can there be in the caverns of rocks? Against this came Nebuchadnezzar from the swelling of the Jordan — that is, having crossed the swollen Jordan (for at harvest time the Jordan swells and rises from the snows melting on Lebanon, as is clear from Joshua 3:15), proud — as if, having conquered Judea and augmented his forces, he came into Edom, as if to say: Just as the swelling Jordan, with a great overflow of waters, inundates the land; so the Chaldean, with the multitude of soldiers flowing together and increasing in Judea, will cover Edom; and this coming from the Jordan and Judea. This is clear from Obadiah verse 18. So Rabanus, Hugo, Vatablus. Thus he compared Nebuchadnezzar to a river, chapter 46, verse 7: 'Who is this that rises like a river, and whose waters swell like the torrents?'
Rabanus, Theodoret, and Hugo add that 'the swelling' refers to the lower part of the Jordan, which, because it gathers into itself many streams and waters flowing down successively from the mountains, therefore swells and rises more — that is, it rolls greater masses and surges of water. Moreover, the Chaldee, Lyra, and Sanchez think 'the pride of the Jordan' refers to that part of the Jordan where the forest is denser and the pastures richer, on which lions and wild beasts are fattened, and become bold and proud, as if to say: The Chaldeans will rush into Edom with the same force and ardor with which a lion runs from the most fertile woods and pastures of the Jordan and pounces on its prey. Finally, the Hebrew min, that is 'from,' may be rendered 'more than,' so that the meaning would be: Behold, the Chaldean like a lion shall ascend, swollen and bloated with pride more than the Jordan swollen with waters. He adds the reason: For I will suddenly make him run against her, as if to say: Because I will give the Chaldean strength, ardor, and force, so that like a raging lion he may rush against Edom.
Who is the chosen one, whom I may set over her? 'Her,' namely Edom, that is, Edom's affairs — namely its vengeance, punishment, and destruction. For a thing is often used for its attendant circumstances. So the Apostle says: 'Put on Christ,' that is, the character and virtues of Christ. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: Whom shall I choose, that I may set him over so great a matter and the disaster of the Edomites — if not the invincible and terrible Nebuchadnezzar?
To whom I, who have no equal in strength, and for whom I fight. So the Chaldee, Theodoret, Hugo, Vatablus. But since He has already designated Nebuchadnezzar as the agent of His vengeance upon the Edomites, saying: 'Behold, the lion (namely Nebuchadnezzar, fierce as a lion) shall ascend,' etc.; hence, secondly and better, Lyra and Sanchez take it properly as referring to Edom, as if to say: Whom shall I choose, that I may set him over Edom, to resist the Chaldeans? As if to say: No one — both because I am sending Nebuchadnezzar, and because no one is like Me, no one can resist Me. Therefore God says, as Sanchez comments: What commander of the Edomite nation is so fortunate and strong that he would dare to contend with Me, who direct the Chaldean army? Who will withstand Me — burning, turning, and moving all things — who fight against Edom with the hands of the Chaldeans?
Shepherd — namely of peoples, that is, king. So the Chaldee. Thus Isaiah, chapter 44:28, calls Cyrus a shepherd: and Homer calls Agamemnon 'shepherd of peoples.'
Verse 20: Si Non (Est Forma Jurantis
20. If not (It is the form of an oath, in which the implied statement is: may I perish, be punished, be held a liar, if I do not bring it about) that the least of the flock — that is, the very lowest soldiers of the Chaldean army — shall cast down, and, as Vatablus translates, shall drag through the ground for the sake of disgrace the Edomites, who trusted in their own strength and were arrogant. So the Chaldee, Hugo, Lyra, Vatablus. For instead of 'shall cast them down,' the Hebrew is yisechabum, that is, shall drag, shall pull apart, shall seize them; the Chaldee: shall drag down and kill them; the Septuagint: they shall be snatched away, from a word meaning to take up, carry away, seize. Some codices, such as the Royal ones, read: they shall confuse the tracks, from a word meaning to scrape, crush, confound, and obliterate someone's tracks, so that they no longer appear. Thus, with God willing and helping, everything weak becomes strong, and with Him withdrawing, everything strong becomes weak.
Otherwise Maldonatus: The 'little ones of the flock,' he says, are boys who guard the flock — so the Jews are called; because few and already subjugated, serving in the Chaldean camps, they conquered the Edomites, their ancient enemies. This meaning fits the passage.
Verse 21: A Voce Ruinae
21. At the noise of their fall — as if to say: Because of the crash of their fall, the earth will be shaken and will tremble. For the Hebrews call every sound a 'voice.' The cry was heard at the Red Sea — for Edom is near the Red Sea.
Verse 22: Quasi Aquila
22. Like an eagle. The eagle is Nebuchadnezzar, swift and rapacious: the wings are his military forces.
Verse 23: Damascum
23. Concerning Damascus. After the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites, who were kinsmen of the Jews, and therefore to be punished more severely because they had waged war against them, he passes to the Syrians, whose capital was Damascus (just as Jerusalem was of Judea, and Rabbah of Ammon), Isaiah 7:8, because they too had afflicted the Jews. Isaiah does the same, chapter 17:1.
(1) Of the history of this Damascene kingdom, or republic, whose destruction Jeremiah prophesies, we have absolutely no certain knowledge. The old Damascene kingdom, famous in military history, founded under Solomon, had been destroyed by the Assyrians. It must have risen again; for who would prophesy against a kingdom that does not exist, especially in such proximity of places? But we have no testimony whatsoever to know what it was like in the time of Jeremiah. And perhaps the Prophet prophesies sad things not about a Damascene kingdom as such, but about the city, to whatever power it then belonged, and other neighboring cities (J. D. Michaelis). Moreover, nothing prevents a small kingdom from having arisen after the destruction of the former Damascene kingdom, against which Jeremiah prophesies. This prophecy was issued and fulfilled at the same time as the preceding one.
See the annotation on verse 5 of chapter 12 of Jeremiah.
Note: Damascus was a famous city, hence in verse 25 he calls it the praiseworthy city, the city of joy: thus Julian the Apostate in his letters calls Damascus the city of Jupiter, and the eye of the whole East. It was founded by Uz the son of Aram, son of Shem, son of Noah, says Josephus, book I of Antiquities, chapter 6; hence it was called Aram, says St. Jerome; later restored by Dammesek, a servant of Abraham, it was called Damascus, says the same St. Jerome, and aptly so: for in Hebrew it is called Dammesek, as if dam sac, that is, a sack of blood (that is, of red wine); and in Greek Damascus, as if from derma and dochas, that is, a wineskin: for it abounds in excellent wine. Hence they invented the story that Bacchus lived in a sack at Damascus. At Damascus also are woven all kinds of silk, bombazine, and linen fabrics of various colors: likewise from cotton, the whitest and softest cotton linens; hence it abounds in merchants, who ship and sell them in other trading centers and throughout all Europe. Thus Damascus was the capital and royal seat of Syria, which thence was called Damascene. David the king was the first to subdue Damascus, 2 Samuel 8:6. Elijah was commanded by God to anoint and establish Hazael as king of Damascus, 1 Kings 19:15. This city, given to arrogance and luxury because of its wealth, was condemned to devastation by God, as threatened by Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah. Therefore Tiglath-Pileser, hired by Ahaz king of Judah in the fourth year of Ahaz, captured and burned it. Nebuchadnezzar did the same later. It was restored by the Macedonians and Ptolemies. Finally, in the time of Pompey, Damascus was taken by the Romans. After several centuries it came under the power of the Saracens. Christians besieged it during the Crusades; but betrayed by Syrian guides and lacking supplies, they raised the siege. Then, around the year of Christ 1400, Tamerlane utterly destroyed it, and left as a trophy three towers ingeniously erected from the skulls of the slain. Afterward it was fully restored by the Sultan of Egypt. Finally, in the year of Christ 1517, Selim, having defeated and killed the Sultan, occupied Egypt, Damascus, and Syria: whence it still obeys the Turk. Damascus is famous for the conversion of St. Paul. The site, still honored with a temple (in which Christians are buried), is located on a hill, from which the city can first be seen. So Ludovicus Romanus, Bredenbach, Adrichomius, and others.
Moreover, Damascus is six days' journey from Jerusalem. Hamath is confounded (which later, enlarged by Antiochus Epiphanes, was called Epiphania) and Arpad. These were two cities of the Syrians, as if to say: First Damascus will be taken by the Chaldeans, and that news will strike Hamath, Arpad, and the other lesser cities of Syria.
They are troubled like the sea — that is, as if on the sea; for the kaph of comparison is understood, as if to say: Just as one who is on a sea of terror, that is, fearful and tossing, when a storm has arisen, cannot rest: so the inhabitants of Arpad and Hamath, having heard of the coming of the Chaldeans, will be unable to rest because of fear and the surges of anxiety and anguish, because they will see themselves enclosed by them as if by the sea, able neither to flee nor to resist. So the Chaldee, Lyra, Vatablus, and Pagninus. Or 'in the sea,' that is, like the stormy sea, which hurls waves to the sky. For thus the Hebrew beth is often taken for kaph, that is, 'in' for 'like.'
How have they forsaken it? That is, how have the citizens deserted Damascus for fear of the Chaldeans? so that a populous and noble city is now like a rustic and deserted village. The Hebrew, Chaldee, and Septuagint have: How is the city of praise not forsaken — that is, the most famous for its wealth, palaces, walls, dominion, etc., praised and renowned among all nations? Forsaken, I say, so as to be immune from this disaster, as if to say: It was fitting that so noble a city should be preserved and not laid waste. It is the voice rather of Jeremiah than of the Damascenes, lamenting such a great disaster for the Damascenes.
Verse 27: Benadad Rex Syriae Et Damasci
27. Ben-hadad — king of Syria and Damascus, father of Hazael. This Ben-hadad adorned Damascus with splendid buildings. So Theodoret.
Verse 28: Cedar
28. Kedar. It is a region of Arabia in the wilderness of the Saracens, so called from Kedar, the second son of Ishmael, Genesis 25:13. Kedar was therefore a grandson of Abraham through Ishmael, and he inhabited that region and gave it his name Kedar, which was later called Arabia Petraea: in which were Mount Sinai and Horeb, where the Hebrews received the law from God: for Kedar is part of Arabia Petraea. The inhabitants were called Kedarenes and Hagarenes from Hagar their mother, who was the wife of Abraham and bore him Ishmael: they were also called Saracens, not from Sarah the wife of Abraham, but from Saraca their capital, says Stephanus in his book On Cities. They are aptly called Kedarenes, that is, dark ones, because from the heat of the sun by which they are scorched, they are dark of body. For the root kadar means to become black, to be dark.
Jeremiah here describes their customs and dwellings, namely that they live in tents made of skins and curtains; hence they are called anoikoi, that is, without household or hearth, and amaxobioi, that is, living in wagons (for in these they carry their wives, children, and possessions with them, and drive them about in every direction). Of these Horace says in book III of the Odes, ode 24: 'Whose wagons duly draw their roaming homes: / Nor does cultivation longer than a year please them.'
They live from their cattle and from plunder even today, to such a degree that the Turk, under whom they are subject, cannot restrain these Arab raiders with all his power, nor keep them from raiding. For they dwell in crags, forests, and deserted places like wild beasts.
From this race of Ishmael and the Arabs arose Muhammad the Arab, a monster and bane of the world, who, when dying he had said he would ascend to heaven — those waiting long and in vain for this miracle, finally compelled by the foul odor, enclosed his corpse in an iron coffin, which they deposited in the city of Mecca in Arabia Petraea, and they preserve it for the worship and veneration of posterity.
(1) The image of restless anxiety is drawn from the restless nature of the sea itself, which is always in motion: they cannot calm the surging and regain rest, but ceaselessly roll, as it were, great waves of cares and anxieties. (Rosenmuller.)
Concerning Kedar, and the kingdoms of Hazor. 'Kedar' is the same as 'the kingdoms of Hazor.' For Hazor is the capital of the Kedarenes, says St. Jerome on Isaiah 21, Sanchez, and Rabanus, Hugo, and Lyra agree. Others think this is another Hazor, which was situated in Canaan, whose king was Jabin, having Sisera as commander, whom Jael killed, Judges 4:2 and 21. St. Jerome in his Hebrew Places says Hazor is a Decapolis, that is, ten cities, which are Tiberias, Safed, Kedesh, Hazor, Caesarea Philippi, Capernaum, Jonitera, Bethsaida, Chorazin, and Beth-shan; and that these are called by Jeremiah 'the kingdoms of Hazor,' that is, the various dominions and districts of Hazor. But perhaps St. Jerome, if indeed he is the author of the book, erred in memory, so that instead of Chatsor or Hazor (with tsade), he thought it was written Asor (with ain and sin), which means 'ten,' and thence Decapolis. The Septuagint, reading Chasir instead of Chazor or Hazor, translate 'royal courts'; which Theodoret interprets as: Concerning Kedar, the city of the royal court, that is, which as queen commands the Hagarenes, who live in open-air courts and tents.
Struck — will strike. Lay waste the sons of the East. The 'sons of the East' are the descendants of Keturah and Hagar, wives of Abraham: for these dwelt to the east of the descendants of Isaac, namely the Hebrews, as I said on Genesis 25:6.
Verse 29: Pelles Eorum
29. Their skins — namely tents made from skins: for in these the Kedarenes lived, lacking houses. These, together with their camels and vessels, that is, their scanty pastoral furnishings, the Chaldeans 'shall take.' And they shall cry out against them 'Terror' — that is, the fearsome Chaldeans.
Verse 31: Consurgite
31. Arise — O Chaldeans, as My soldiers! It is the voice of God. Against a quiet nation — one abounding in peace. They have no gates nor bars. These are the Hagarenes and wandering Nomads, who live outside cities in tents, and go from one region to another seeking pasture, as if to say: Flee, O Edomites, to the Nomads; but in vain: for their camels and goods too will be plundered, as follows. It is irony.
Verse 32: Qui Sunt Attonsi In Comam
32. Those who have their hair cut at the corners — that is, the Saracens, who cut their hair beside their ears, as the Wallachians and some Germans do now; about whom see chapter 9:26.
Verse 34: Aelam
34. Elam. It was not a city of the Red Sea, as Theodoret would have it, but a part of Persia, so called from Elam the firstborn of Shem. So Josephus, book I of Antiquities, chapter 7, and St. Jerome in the Traditions, on chapter 10 of Genesis, verse 22. These had given aid to the Chaldeans against the Jews, say the Hebrews, and therefore Jeremiah prophesies against them here.
Verse 35: Confringam Arcum Aelam
35. I will break the bow of Elam, and their chief (thus it should be read with the Roman editions, the Hebrew, Chaldee, and Septuagint — not 'I will take,' as is commonly read) strength — that is, I will break the bows of the Elamites: for they were the most skilled archers; hence they placed all their military might in their bows. So Maldonatus. The same is clear from Isaiah 22:6.
Verse 36: Inducam Super Aelam Quatuor Ventos A Quatuor Plagis Coeli
36. I will bring upon Elam the four winds from the four quarters of heaven — that is, I will bring four battalions of soldiers like winds from the four quarters of heaven, and I will scatter them to all those winds, as if to say: I will raise up enemies on every side against the Elamites, who, like the most powerful winds, will carry them off to every part of the earth.
Verse 38: Ponam Solium Meum
38. I will set My throne — as if to say: I will subdue and rule over the Persians, either through Alexander the Great, as Hugo would have it; or, as Isidore would have it, through Cyrus; or, as Theodoret best says, through Nebuchadnezzar. For he was the scourge of the world, and the cup of God's wrath, which Jeremiah in chapter 25:17 and 23 gave the Elamites to drink, as well as the other nations.
Moreover, in what year Nebuchadnezzar laid waste the Elamites is unknown. Sanchez thinks the Elamites and Medes were laid waste last among the nations, in the last years of Nebuchadnezzar; because the cup of God's wrath is given to them last by Jeremiah in chapter 25:25. But this reasoning is not conclusive. For in the same chapter, verses 17 and 19, this cup is first given to the Jews, then to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, then to the Ammonites, Moabites, and Tyrians, who were clearly laid waste before the Egyptians. The Rabbis incorrectly think this was done through Ahasuerus, who after rejecting Vashti and hanging Haman with his ten sons, substituted Esther in the queen's place and Mordecai in the place of Haman. But at that time neither the Elamites nor any of their kings were slain or overthrown.
Verse 39: Reverti Faciam Captivos Aelam
39. I will bring back the captives of Elam — namely through Cyrus, who after overthrowing Babylon transferred the kingdom to the Elamites, that is, the Persians, so Lyra; and spiritually, through Christ I will bring them back to freedom and the Evangelical faith, so Rabanus and Vatablus. Hence in Acts 2:9, among other nations converted by the Apostles at Pentecost, the Elamites are numbered. Hence afterwards Christianity flourished so greatly in Persia that it produced many thousands of martyrs there: among the illustrious ones were Simeon and Acepsimas the Bishops, Azades, Usthazanes, and Pusices who were courtiers, Aeithalas, Jonas, Barachisius, and others numbered at sixteen thousand, besides very many others whose number could not be determined, who under Shapur king of the Persians in the time of Emperor Constantius most steadfastly met death for the faith of Christ, as Sozomen narrates, book II, chapters 8, 9, 10, and from him Baronius.