Jeremiah 21:13 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Behold, I am against thee, O inhabitant of the valley, and rock of the plain A description of Jerusalem, which was built in part upon the rocky mountain of Zion, but a great part of it was in the valley; and the higher mountains about mount Zion made that mountain itself, in comparison with them, to appear as a valley. Which say, Who shall come down against us? They confided in the strength of their situation, as the Jebusites, the ancient inhabitants of the place, had formerly done. “Yet how many times,” says Bishop Newton, “was Jerusalem taken, though it was a very strong place and wonderfully fortified, both by nature and art! It was taken by Shishak king of Egypt, by Nebuchadnezzar, by Antiochus Epiphanes, by Pompey, by Socius, and Herod, before its final destruction by Titus.” I will kindle a fire in the forest thereof The word forest is often metaphorically taken for a city in the prophetical writings. See Jeremiah 22:7; Ezekiel 20:46; Zechariah 11:1. Or it may mean the forest of Lebanon, or their houses made of wood cut out of that forest, especially those of the royal family, or their idolatrous groves. And it shall devour all things round about it And this fire shall not end in the destruction of this city, but shall totally destroy all the adjacent country.