Go up against the land of Merathaim. — No such name is found in Babylonian inscriptions or is mentioned by historians. The most probable explanation of its use is that the prophet coined it as a descriptive word (= land of two rebellions), and then substituted it, after his manner (as with Sheshach, Jeremiah 25:6; Magor-missabib, Jeremiah 20:3), for the name Aram-Naharaim (= land of the two rivers = Mesopotamia), which was, as in Genesis 24:10; Deuteronomy 23:4; Judges 3:8; Judges 3:10, the recognised name of the country between the Tigris and Euphrates. It was, he seems to say, the country, not of rivers, but of rebellions, choosing the dual form, partly for the sake of assonance, partly to express the fact that Babylon having rebelled against Assyria, as, e.g., Merodach-baladan (Isaiah 39:1) and Nabopolassar had done, had also rebelled against Jehovah. Possibly, however, the dual may simply express intensity. Such changes of names were quite after the manner of Old Testament usage. So Beth-aven was substituted for Bethel (Hosea 10:5), Mephibosheth for Meribbaal (2 Samuel 4:4; 1 Chronicles 8:34). Micah 1 is full of such paronomasiae.
Against the inhabitants of Pekod. — Here we have a name which is found in Ezekiel 23:23 and in inscriptions as that of a Babylonian town, as in a list of rebels, and in the form Bukudu, as in the Cylinder of Sennacherib (Records of the Past, i. 26), and is the name of a city, Nahar-Pekod, mentioned in the Talmud (Fürst, Lex. s.v., and Neubauer, Géog. du Talm., p. 363). We can scarcely doubt, however, that the prophet chose this name for the sake of its meaning, “visitation.” It was necessary to find a word to be at once nomen et omen for the guilt of Babylon. There was one ready at hand applicable to its punishment.
Waste and utterly destroy. — Better, slay and devote to destruction. The latter verb is connected with the Hebrew Cherem, which expressed, as in Deuteronomy 7:26; Joshua 7:13, the idea of a solemn anathema.