Ver. 34.— Based on Isa. xv. 4—6. The ory of one town echoes to another, and is taken up afresh liy its terrified inhabitnntB. HeshboTi and Blealeh lay on eminences but a short distance apart, so that the shrill cry of lamentation would be heard far away in the south-east at Jahaz. Znar and Horonaim both lay in tlie southern half of Moab (see on vers. 3, i). An heifer of three years old. If this is the right reuderi.ig, the phrase is descriptive of Horonaim, which may, in the time of Jeremiah, have been a " virgin for- tress." But the phrase, thus understood, comes in very oddly, and in the parallel pas- sage in Isaiah it stands, not after Horonaim, but after Zoar ; it hardly seems likely that there were two Gibraltars in Moab. Another rendering (Ewald, Keil) is, "(to) the third Eglath." This involves an allusion to the fact that there were other places in Moab called Eglath or Egl.ih, which has been rendered highly probable by Geseiiius. The waters also of Nimrim. Canon Tristram speaks of the " plenteous brooks gushing from the lofty hills into the Ghor-en-Nu- meira." Consul Wetzstein, however, says that nature appears there under so uu- speakiibly gloomy an aspect, that the iden- tification is impossible. He proposes a site in the Wady So'eb, about fourteen miles east of the Jordan, which with its luxuriant meadows, covered with the flocks of the Bedouin, is probably suitable to the passages in Isaiah and Jeremiah (Excursus ii. in Delitzsch's * Jesaja,' 4th edit., pp. 572, 573). 60 also Seetzen, who remarks that the lower part of this w&iiy is still called Nuhr Nimrin. In Josh. xiii. 27 a place called Beth-nimrah is mentioned as situated in the valley (i.e. the Jordan valley); no doubt this was in the wftdy referred to by the prophets. " The valley " seems to have been sometimes used in a wider signification, so as to include lateral valleys like that of Nimrim. The antiquity of the name is shown by its occurrence in the Annals of Thothmes III., ■who penetrated into the heart of Palestine, and, in the temple of Kainak, enumerates the cities which he conquered. From before ao. 1600 to nearly A. D. 1900 this secluded valley h;is borne precisely the same name I
Ver. 35. — Him that offereth in the high plaoes ; rather, him that goelh up to a high place. Apparently a reminiscence of Isa. XV. 2 and xvi. 12. As Dr. Payne Smith well remarks, "The last stiige of natural ruin is reached, when thus the rites of religion entirely cease."
Vers. 36— 42.— The description of Moab'« lamentations continued.
Ver. 36.— Based on Isa. xvi. 11 ; xv. 7. Iiike pipes. Isaiah has, " like the harp [or, ' lute ']." The pipe, or flute, was specially ■ted at funeral ceremonies (Matt ix. 23;
Luke vH. 32),'and therefore, perhaps, seemed to Jeremiah more appropriate. Because the riches, etc. This is, no doubt, what we should have expected, but this is not what Jere- miah wrote ; " because " should rather be therefore, jeremiali simply transferred a clause (substantially at least) from his original, Isa. xv. 7, but into a context where it stands rather less naturally. The mean- ing of the words in Isaiah is that, the desolation being so great, the Moabites shall carry away as much of their goods as they can. In this new context, however, we can only explain this unexpected " therefore" by referring to a habit of the Israelitish mind by which that which contributed to a result was regarded as worked purposely for that result. Good instances of this habit are Gen. zviii.5; Ps. xlv. 3; It 6; comp. Winer's ' New Testament Grammar ' (Clark), pp. 573, 574, especially note 1 on p. 574, though the idiom also occurs in Old Testament passa;;es in which the religious view of life is hardly traceable.
Vers. 37, 38 (first part).— Based on Isa. XT. 2 (latter part), 3 (first part). On the primitive Arabic, Egyptian, and Hebrew custom of cutting off the hair, see on ch. xvi. 6, and oomp. Herod., ii. 36. Clipped. The difference from the word in Isaiah is so slight that it may easily have arisen from a copyist. The meaning is virtually the same. Cuttings. So of Philistia (oh. xlvii. 5); see on ch. xvi. 6.
Ver. 38. — lamentation generally ; lite- rally, all of it it lamentation; i.e. nothing else is to be heard. Like a vessel, etc. For this figure, see on ch. xxii. 28 (Jeremiah repeats himself).
Ver. 39.— They shall howl, saying, etc.; rather, How is it dismayed I (how) they viaU I How hath Moab tamed the hack ashamed/ Yea, Moab becometh, etc.
Vers. 40, 41.— The Septuagint has a shorter form (see introduction to chapter).
Ver. 40.— He shaU fly as an eagle ; rather, he shall swoop (same word and figure in Deut. xiviii. 49). The subject is not named, but (as in ch. xlvi. 18) is Nebuchadnezzar.
Ver. 41.— Kerioth is taken. Kerioth has been already mentioned in ver. 24 (see note). Another possible lendering is. The cities are taJcen, and this certainly agrees better with the parallel line. But a plural of hiryah, a city, does not occur elsewhere. If the identification of Kerioth with Ar-moab, the capital of Moab, be accepted (see on ver. 2i\ the equalization of Kerioth and " the strong holds" seems to be a stumbling-block. Strong holds; or, mountain faetneuet Uti, Ii. 30). ^
VeTs._ 43 — 47.— Hence, as the final result escape is absolutely impossible, for one dan- ger succeeds another in an endless
oa. iLvm. 1— 4t.] THE BOOK Ol- THE tROPflET JEBEMIAH.
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The last and greatest danger beeets those who seek refuge behiml Ihe strong fortifi- cations of Heslibon. It is from this very city that the hottest fire of the enemy brealcB forth. Chemdsh has not saved hia people ; and yet there is hope for Moab in the future.
Ver. 4.S. — Fear, and the pit, and the snare. An alliteration in the Hebrew, which occurs again in Isa. xxiv. 17. In German it can be repreiiented better than in English — e.g. by Hitzig's " grauen, giaben, gam." All primi- tive poetry dellglits in such alliterations.
Ver. 45. — Apparently quoted from memory from Numb. xxi. 28; xxiv. 17, except the first clause ; the application, however, is peculiar to this passnge. They that fled, etc. ; rather, The fugitives stand without strength in the shadow of Heshhon. There is a diffl- ciilty here, for, according to ver. 2, the hos- tile raid into Hoab started from Heslibon. Surely the fugitives would not think of esuauing northwards, much less would they be able to elude tlie vigilance of the foe imd reai'h Ileshbon. But it is not surprising that the autlior of so long a poem should ijow and then make a slip ; the author of tlie Book of Job i* sometimes inconsistent with