Ver. 21. — The land of Merathaim ; le. of double rebellion. Probably enough an actual geographical name may lie at the root of this singular expression ; but we are not able at present to say what it was. Tlie prophet has, at any rate, modified it in such a way as to convey a definite meaning, sym- bolic of the character of Babylon (comp. on ver. 31). What was this meaning? Accord- ing to Gesenius, tliere is an allusion to th» two great blows indicted on Israel and Judab by Assyria and Babylon respectively ; but as these two powers were but the instru- ments uf a higher Hand, this explanation would seem to be inconsistent with the pro- phetic teaching. Dahler, De Wette, and Keil take the two rebellions to be the spiritual ones of idolatry and pride; and there is no obvious objection to this. But the dual may be simply intended to express intensity ; comp. cb. xvii. 18, " Destroy them with double destmction " (see note). The inhabitants of Fekod ; i.e. of punishment But here too a geographical name very probably lies underneath. The Taylor cylinder-inscription of Sennacherib men tions a Pukudu (= Pekod), together with Havrann (Hauran) and Nabatu (Naba- theeans); but this was the name of a tribe. In Ezek. xxiii. 23 we read, "The Baby- lonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa," etc. ; and in ' Becords of the Fast,' zi. 92, we find a town Pikudu mentioned, lying to the south of Babylon, which may, perhaps, have given its name to a district, and to this district the prophet not improbably alludes. M. Haldvy conjec- tures that the event which corresponds to the prophecy is the decisive battle which virtuidly teiminated the Babylonian empbe. According to the newly discovered Cyrus- inscriptioi.. this battle was fouglit near a place called Rutu, which appears to have been situated in the neighbourhood of Pukudu (' Records,' I.e.). About the sym- bolic meaning there can be no doubt : Pekod is a wortljy pendant to Merathaim. Sin and punishment are so closely connected in the pronlietio mind thiit one word sometimes
OH. L. 1—46.] THE BOOK OP THE PROPHET JEREMIAH,
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oovera both notions. It ia doubtful, for tnstanoe, whether the better rendering of Isa. T. 18 is " draw sin as with a cart-rope " or "draw punishment."
Ver. 23. — The hammer of the whole earth. So in Isaiah (ziv. 5), " JehoTah hath broken the staff of the wicked, the rod of the rulers; which smote peoples in passion with an unceasing stroke." In the next chapter a similar title is conferred upon Israel, with the right to retaliate upon Babylon all the evil which Babylon bad done to Zion (ch. li, 20 — 21). Compare the epithet Martel, " The Hammer," given to Charles, Duke of the Franks, on aooount of his great victory over the Saracens at Tours ; it is tempting to add " Makkabi," the epi- thet of Judas (MaccabsBus), but the k is not the same letter as that in maqqab, hammer.
Ver. 24. — I have laid a snare for thee. It was very natural, as long as Cyrus's own account of the capture of Babylon was un- known, to refer for a fulfilment to the strata- gem which, as Herodotus relates, that king employed, viz. diverting tlie waters of the Euphrates into an already existing reser- voir, and entering the city unexpectedly by the river-channel (Herod., i. 191). But the cylinder-inscription, translated by Sir H. Bawlinson in 1880, shows that Babylon opened its gates of its own accord, on hear- ing the defeat and capture of Nabonidua. There is no occasion to look for any further fulfilment of the prophecy than the surprise wliich must ever come upon the bystander when he sees a mighty empire suddenly pass into the hands of its enemies. The tenses in this verse are not very happily rendered. It would be better to translate, I laid a snare for thee, and tlu)u wast taken, Babylon, unawares ; thou wast found, etc., hecame thou hadst striven against the Lord.
Ver. 25.— Hath opened his armoury. A truly grand figure. The north country (the " hidden " part of the eartli, as it was called in Hebrew) is regarded by the prophet as a storehouse of young and " in- exhaustible" nations, from which Jehovah can at any time " bring forth weapons of his indignation." The latter phriso occurs again in the parallel prnpheoy (Isa. xiii. 5), where it is evidently applied to the army of Medo-Persian invaders. For this is the work, etc. ; rather, For the Lord, Jehovah of halts, hath a work.
Ver. 26. — Come against her ; rather. Come to her. Dr. Payne Smith infers that Baby- lon has already fallen, and that the persons addressed are not warriors only, but plun- derers of every kind. This is almost too subtle. The propositions "to" and " against" (literally, upon) are so frequently interchanged (corap. ch. xlvi. 22; xlix. 9).
JEBEKIAH — n.
From the utmost border; rather, aS to- gether} it ia an idiom expressing nniver- eality. Those who are spoken of are re- garded as a totality, " from the utmost end " of which its members come. Cast her up as, heaps ; rather. Cast it up as sheaves; i.e. ransack the repositories of Babylon's wealth, and heap it up like corn ; last of all, destroy her (rather, it) utterly. The verb ia « very emphatic one. Its primary meaning is " to cut off, or shut off." Hence kherem, a devoted thing, is applied in the Law to that which is " tubooi d," as it were, cut off from any but sacred uses. In Lev. xivii. 21 it is used of a field wholly appi opiiated to the sanctuary, and in 1 Sam. xv. 21 and 1 Kings XX. 42 to livinj beings doomed to de.^tniction. Destruction is generally a part of the meaning ; but it is not merely destruction, but an act of homage to tlie Divine justice.
Ver. 27. — In this verse we are told that the kherem, i.e. the Divine ban, falls upon the entire male population, as in the Loly wars of Joshua (Josh. vi. 21 ; xi. 11, 20). All her bullocks. As in ch. li. 40 and Isa. xxxiv. 6, the doomed people ia likened to sacrificial victims (comp. ch. xlvi. 10). The same fact is described without figure in cli. xlviii. IS. Qo down to the slaughter ; i.e. be forceil down to the slaughtering-trough.
Ver. 28. — The voice of them that flee, etc. ; rather, Bark ! those that flee, etc. A cor, fused murmur indicates the approach of the fugitives with their great tidings. The vengeance of his temple ; i.e. the punisi ment due to Babylon for burning the temple ; comp. next veise, also ver. 15, " The vengeance of the Lord," and ch. li. 11.
Vers. 29 — 40. — The completeness of Baby- lon's destruction.
Ver. 29. — Call together the archers, etc. A dramatic way of indicating that the siege is about to begin.
Ver. 30.— With the exception of " her " in the second clause, a repetition of ch. xlix. 26.