Jeremiah 25:25,26 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

All the kings of Zimri Those descended from Zimran, one of Abraham's sons, by Keturah; all of whom he sent to settle in the east country, Genesis 25:2; Genesis 25:6. It is probable that these descendants of Zimran were the same that Pliny mentions among the inhabitants of Arabia, by the name of Zamareni. And all the kings of Elam Namely, of Persia. And all the kings of the Medes Who were descended from Madai, the son of Japhet. The Medes and Persians were commonly confederates and partakers of the same prosperity or adversity. And all the kings of the north far and near “By the kings of the north that were near, the kings of Syria are probably meant: see Jeremiah 49:23. Those that were afar off may mean the Hyrcanians and Bactrians, who are reckoned in Xenophon's Cyropœdia, lib. 1., among them that were subjected or oppressed by the king of Babylon, and perhaps others besides of the neighbouring nations that were compelled to submit to the Babylonian yoke. All these lay to the north of Judea, and at a great distance.” And all the kingdoms of the world, &c. It is justly observed by Blaney, that this must be understood with a limitation to that part of the continent with which the Jews had some correspondence, or acquaintance; just as Πασα η οικουμενη stands for the whole Roman empire, Luke 2:1. “The ambition of a prince like Nebuchadnezzar, who aimed at universal monarchy, could not but occasion great confusion and distress, both among those who felt, and among those who dreaded, the power of his arms.” And the king of Sheshach shall drink after them Here the speech of Jehovah is resumed, which was broken off at the end of Jeremiah 25:16. That Sheshach means Babylon, appears clearly from Jeremiah 51:41. “But, among the reasons that have been assigned for this name,” says Blaney,” I have met with none that I think satisfactory. שׁכךְ, signifies to subside, and sink down; and may perhaps allude to the low situation of Babylon, which did not derive its strength from being built, like many other great cities, upon the heights of a rock, but stood upon a large flat, or plain, cowering, as it were, amidst the waters that surrounded it, and by which it was rendered in some parts inaccessible to an enemy.”