vene it would leem that they are the varions foreigners who, whether by choice or force, have been resident in Babylon, and who haTeacqnired an interest in her &te. Hitzig thinks the foreign mercenaries (oh. 1. 37) or allies are specially referred to. Take balm for her pain (comp. oh. viiL 22; xItL 11). The images of fracture and wonnd are com- bined, as in Isa. xxx. 26.
Ver.9.— We would have healed Babylon. Experience shows that it is useless to attempt to correct such inveterate evils. £vei7 one into his own country (as ch. 1. 16). Her judgment; t'.e. her punishment. Per- haps there is an allusion to the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, burned by fire from heaven. But we might also render "her crime " (comp. Deut. six. 6, where " worthy of death " is more strictly " a capital crime ").
Ver. 10. — Our righteousness ; literally, our righteousnesses ; not in the sense of " right- eous deeds " (as in Isa. Ixiv. 6 ; Judg. v. II), but "those things which prove ns to be righteous; i.e. by punishing Babylon he hath justified ns" (Payne Smith).
Ver. 11. — ^Make bright; rather, poIt'sA, so that the arrows may penetrate easily (comp. Isa. zliz. 2, "a polished shaft"). Oather the shields ; rather, fill the shields (viz. with your arms) ; t'.e. take hold of them. Oomp. the phrase, " to fill the hand with the bow " (2 Kings ix. 24). The rendering " quivers " is wanting in philological authority, and seems to have been inferred from this pas- sage, where, however, it is unnecessary. The kings of the Uedes. The prophet speaks of the Medes and not the Persians (comp. Isa. xiii. 17). "The reason, probably, is twofold : (1) that the name Madai became known to the Jews at an earlier period than Parol, * Persia ; ' and (2) that the generals of Gyrus were apparently Medes {e.g. Ma- zares and Harpagns, Herod., i. 157, 162)" (Cheyne's 'Prophecies of Isaiah,' ii. 275, 276). The new Cyrus-inscription throws light on the latter circumstance.
Ver. 12. — TTpon the walls of Babylon; rather, toward the walls (as ch. It. 6). The " standard " was carried before the army, to show the direction of the march. Make the watch strong. Kot merely for the safety of the invaders, but to blockade the city. Comp. the phrase, " Watchers [a synonymous Hebrew word is used] came from a far country" (ch. iv. 16); •'.«. besiegers. Pre- pare the ambushes. To press into the city when the besieged have made a sally (as Josh. viii. 14—19 ; Judg. xx. 33, 37).
Ver. 13. — Babylon is addressed as thou that dwellest upon many waters, with re- ference, not only to the Euphiatesj but to the canals, dykes, and marshes which sur- rounded the city. The measure of thy ooTetomness. A strange expression, even
when W6 have supplied (and have wa a right to do BO?) a suitable verb, snch as "w full." "Measure" is, literally, eO; " covetousness " should rather be gain, or spoil. Another possible rendering is, "The ell-measure of thy cutting off." In foot, the loot-meaning of the word rendered " gain," or » covetousness," is " to out off ; " and the figure of cutting off a man's half-finished life, like a web horn the loom, is familiar to ns from the psalm of Hezekiah (Isa. xxzviii. 12 ; comp. Job vi. 9).
Ver. 14.— Surely I will fill thee, etc This is the rendering of Hitzig and Giaf ; the enemies are compared to locusts, as in ch. xlvi. 23. But the expression, " to fill a city with men," is more naturally taken of the increase of the population of the city ; and it is better to render, with Ewald and Keil, "Even though [or, 'Surely even though'] I have filled thee with men, as with locusts, they shall raise over thee the cheer of the vintage;" i.e. the millions of Babylon's population will not save her from the most utter ruin. For the vintage cheer, see on oh. XXV. 30; and for the figures, see es- pecially, Isa. Ixiii. 1 — 6.
Vers. IS — 19. — ^Probably interpolated bom ch. X. 12—16 (the only verbal difference is in ver. 19, where " Israel " is left out before "the rod of his inheritance"). But may not Jeremiah have quoted himself? Con- ceivably, yes ; but he would surely not have quoted snch a passage here, where it spoils the context. For granting that a point of contact with ver. 14 may be found for vers. 15, 16 (Jehovah who has^swom has also the power to accomplish), yet the passage on the idols stands quite by itself, and distracts the attention of the reader.
Vers. 20 — 26. — Israel is now to be Je- hovah's hammer, striking down everything, even the Chaldean colossus. But though Babylon may be as great and as destrnctive as a volcanic mountun, it shall soon be quite burnt out.
Ver. 20. — Uy battle-axe ; or, mj/ mace. The mace (for a picture of which, see Bawlinson, ' Ancient Monarchies,' i. 459) was a weapon constantly employed W the Assyrians and presumably by the Baby- lonian kings. The battle-axe was much less frequently used. But who is addressed by this terrible title? The commentators are divided, some inclining to Babylon, (1) because Babylon was the last person ad- dressed (see ver. 14), and (2) became a similar title was given to Babylon in ch. L 23 : others to Israel, on the ground that tiie tenses are the same throughout the passage (vers. 20 — 24). The latter view is probably the best. How could Babylon be said tc shatter her own "governors " and " viceroys " (for the prophet deliberately ohonae* tli.
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THE BOOK OP THE PEOPHET JEREMIAH. [cH. u. 1— 64.
Babylonian ofBcial names)? The argument from the context is not very weighty ; for it la (dear that the connection of tlie parts of thia prophecy is very loose. We may assume, then, that ver. 20 begins a fresh paragraph, standing quite apart from that which pre- cedes. The objection of Graf and Keil, is that Israel could not himself be styled a "mace," it being Israel's destiny to be delivered by others. But is not a very similar statement made of Israel in Isa. xli. IS ; Pb. cxlix. 7 — 9 ? (Euenen offers a third explanation — Cyrus.) The nations . . . king- doms. First the great social organisms are mentioned ; next comes the military power ; next the population, according to sex, age, and class.
Ver. 23. — Captains ; rather, governors. It is the Hebraized form (pelihah) of the ofBcial name of an Assyrian or Babylonian governor (fokhaf). Balers; rather, vieeroya; Hebrew, iegamin (plural). The singular, edgan, is Hebraized from the Assyrian takun, Baby- lonian sagun.
Vers. 25, 26. — Another image for the destruction of Babylon.