Jeremiah 25:30-33 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Lord shall roar from on high Shall manifest his anger from heaven. God speaks by his judgments, and those, when they are very terrible, may be fitly compared to the roaring of a lion, which strikes a consternation into those that hear it. He shall mightily roar upon his habitation He shall pronounce and execute a terrible judgment upon his temple, the place on earth which he hath chosen for his residence: see 1 Kings 8:29. He shall give a shout as they that tread the grapes That is, He shall utter his voice before his army, as Joel expresses it, Joel 2:11. Like a leader or general, he shall encourage them to give the onset upon their enemies, which is usually performed with a shout, as great as that which the treaders of grapes use at the time of the vintage. A noise shall come to the ends of the earth The report of these calamities and confusions shall reach the most distant countries. For the Lord hath a controversy with the nations God enters into judgment with men for their impieties, as being so many injuries to his honour, for which he demands satisfaction, Hosea 4:1; Micah 6:2. He will plead with all flesh Namely, with fire and sword, as Isaiah expresses it, Isaiah 66:16. He will give the wicked to the sword His quarrel with men is for their wickedness, for their contempt of him, of his authority over them, and kindness to them. They have provoked him to anger, and thence comes all this destruction. Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation As the cup of God's wrath goes round, every nation shall have its share, and take its turn, because one doth not take warning, by the calamities of another, to repent and reform. A great whirlwind shall be raised up, &c. The Chaldean army shall come like a hurricane, raised in the north, and thence carried forward with incredible fierceness and swiftness, bearing down all before it. God's vengeance is often compared to a whirlwind, and is here said to come from the coasts, or sides of the earth, because Chaldea was, at that time, thought to be one of the most remote regions. And the slain of the Lord, &c. Multitudes shall fall by the sword of the merciless Chaldeans, so that the dead shall be everywhere found, here termed, the slain of the Lord, because slain by commission from him, and sacrificed to his justice. They shall not be lamented They shall fall in such great numbers that the usual funeral rites and lamentations shall not be paid them, and many of them will lie unburied.