Jeremiah 49:34 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The word that came to Jeremiah against Elam Elam we find to have been an independent, and even powerful kingdom, in the days of Abraham, Genesis 14:1. “But I am not of opinion with those writers,” says Blaney, “who hold that by Elam, in Scripture, Persia is always meant. There is no doubt but that when the monarchy of Persia was established under Cyrus, Elam was blended into and formed a part of it. But before that time Elam and Persia were two distinct kingdoms: of which this may be admitted for proof, that the kingdom of Persia, if Xenophon may be credited as an historian, was never subdued under the dominion of Nebuchadnezzar, but preserved its liberty in alliance with the Medes. Elam, on the contrary, is not only here prophesied of, as destined to become a part of the Babylonian conquests, but is actually spoken of, (Daniel 8:2,) as a province of the Babylonish empire; over which Daniel seems to have presided, having Shushan for the seat of his government. We may therefore conclude Elam to have been, as the name itself would lead us to suppose, the country called by heathen writers Elymais, which Pliny, in conformity with Daniel, describes as separated from Susiana, by the river Eulæus, or Ulay; Nat. Hist., lib. 6. cap. 31.”