VI.
(1) The new discourse, or section of a discourse, deals more locally with the coming desolation of Jerusalem.
O ye children of Benjamin. — The city, though claimed as belonging to Judah, was actually on the border of the two tribes, the boundary running through the valley of Ben-Hinnom (Joshua 15:8; Joshua 18:16), and its northern walls were in that of Benjamin. It was natural that the prophet of Anathoth should think and speak of it as connected with his own people.
Blow the trumpet in Tekoa. — i.e., “give the signal for the fugitives to halt, but not till they have reached the southernmost boundary of Judah.” Tekoa was about twelve miles south of Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 11:6). The Hebrew presents a play upon the name Tekoa, as nearly identical with its sound is the verb “blow,” and the town is probably mentioned for that reason. The play upon the name is analogous to those that meet us in Micah 1:10-16.
Sign of fire. — Better, signal. The word, though applied to a fire or smoke signal in Judges 20:38; Judges 20:40, does not necessarily imply it. Such signals were, however, in common use in all ancient warfare.
Beth-haccerem. — i.e., the house of the vineyard, halfway on the road from Jerusalem to Tekoa. There, too, the signal was to be raised that the fugitives might gather round it. Jerome states (Comm. on Jeremiah 6) that it was on a mountain, and was known in his time as Bethacharma. It has been identified with the modern Jebel Fureidis, or “Hill of the Franks.”
Evil appeareth out of the north. — Literally, is bending over us, as looking down on its prey. The word is that used of “righteousness looking down from heaven” in Psalms 85:11.