I will bring again, &c.— When the Lord had resolved to destroy the monarchy of the Chaldeans, he inspired Cyrus with those great designs which he afterwards so successfully executed: who began with setting free his own country; then the Persians and Elamites; subdued all the people who inhabited the countries round, and founded the monarchy of the Persians. Then the Persians and Elamites were re-united under Cyrus, and became the masters of the east. See Calmet and Blayney.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, The doom of the Ammonites is now read,
1. The charges against them are, [1.] Illegal seizure of God's heritage. When the king of Assyria subdued and led captive the Gileadites, they immediately took possession of their territories as their own, as if there were no Israelites remaining to inherit the possessions of their brethren. Note; They who are weak will often be oppressed; but there is a day coming when judgment shall sit, and justice be impartially administered. [2.] Apostacy of God. Lot, their father, had transmitted to them the worship of the true God, but they had quickly revolted to idols. [3.] Their vain confidence; they gloried in their vallies flowing with plenty, and in their treasures; as if, by these secured, they could defy their enemies. But they who depart from God have little reason to promise themselves security and ease in their sins.
2. Their judgment is pronounced. The alarm of war is sounded; their invaders are sent from God to spoil and destroy; their cities are burnt with fire; their cries go up; in vain they fly for shelter to the hedges; their kings, priests, and princes together are seized and led into captivity, and the remnant dispersed, and find no favour among the nations whither they wander. Then shall Israel obtain reprisals, seize their country, and be heir unto them that were his heirs, which was fulfilled, Genesis 5:6 and may perhaps have some respect to the days of the Messiah, Isaiah 11:14.
3. A promise of restoration is added. Afterward I will bring again the captivity of the children of Ammon; temporally, restoring them again to their own land; or spiritually, at the coming of Christ, converting them, and bringing them into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
2nd, Edom, in the day of Israel's calamity, cried, Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. Psalms 137:7 the cup therefore is next put into her hand. We have,
1. The terrible destruction of the Edomites. The calamity of Esau approaches, the day of their visitation; the inhabitants of Dedan are called upon to flee, and dwell in the depths of the wilderness, to save their lives from the destroyers. The most careful grape-gatherers leave some berries; and the thieves, who break in at night, know when they have enough, and make off; but Edom is stripped bare; nor can all his care to conceal his wealth, keep it from the spoiler, or the secret lurking-places hide the fugitives: his children are destroyed, and his neighbours, so far from helping, share his fate; so that, in the day of his affliction, none of them are left to say, Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive, and let thy widows trust in me; though others consider these words in a contrary sense; and some as a gracious promise to a remnant of Edom who should be turned unto God; and his people, in every time of distress, may with comfort apply them to themselves. Less guilty nations than Edom have drank of the cup, therefore he may not expect to escape unpunished. By an oath, to confirm the immutability of his counsel concerning them, God hath sworn that Bozrah, the capital, and all the other cities, shall become a curse, a reproach, and perpetual desolation, lying in ruinous heaps, without inhabitant, as the cities of Sodom. At God's secret instigation, the Chaldeans, as if invited by an ambassador, come up as to a certain victory; and, depopulated and impoverished, the Edomites shall become a vile and despicable people. For, though dwelling in fortresses which appear impregnable as the craggy rock, God's almighty arm is able and determined to bring them to the dust. With astonishment passengers behold, and hiss, insulting their fearful fall. As a lion, driven from his covert on the banks of Jordan by the rising flood, tears and devours the defenceless sheep, so shall the king of Babylon go up against the habitation of the strong, and Edom shall suddenly flee: or rather it should be rendered, I will cause him (Nebuchadnezzar) to run upon it suddenly, and subdue the country, appointing a deputy over it from among his captains; for who is like me? saith the Lord, able to execute all my purposes, and who will appoint me the time to dispute the battle, or retard the fulfilment of my counsels, and who is that shepherd that will stand before me? what king can defend his subjects against the power of the Almighty Jehovah? Therefore, since such is his decree to destroy Edom, the meanest soldier of the Chaldean army shall be sufficient to conquer the mightiest Edomite, and drag them from their lurking-holes. Amazed at their fall, the earth trembles, or echoes, with the shout of the conquerors, and the cries of the vanquished; the sound of which reaches the distant shores.
2. All their efforts to help themselves will be vain. Their boasted wisdom now shall fail them, and all their schemes prove abortive. And their terribleness, their mighty armies, and strong fortresses, which in the pride of their hearts they thought invincible, shall deceive them; when, swift as an eagle, the destroyer shall come up against them, and invest their capital. These terrible warriors, frighted, as a woman in the pangs of travail, should abandon themselves to despair, and fall an easy prey; or thy terribleness, which some render thine idol, be a vain protection in the day of their calamity. Note; When God strikes, the strong men must bow themselves; for there is neither counsel nor might against the Lord.
3rdly, Syria, with Damascus the capital, and the other chief cities, are next brought to the bar, and doomed to a terrible overthrow. No sooner are the tidings heard of the victorious armies of Babylon approaching, than instant confusion and terrors seize the inhabitants of the land. The anguish spreads to the most distant border of the sea; or, like its troubled waves, so restless are the inhabitants, and uneasy. Instead of resistance, the citizens of Damascus, affrighted as a woman in the pangs of travail, place all their hopes in flight. How is the city of praise, so famous once, not left or spared, but ruined by the Chaldean enemy; the city of my joy? Either the prophet admired its beauty, or her king lamented her ruins, her young men fallen, her warriors slain, her walls razed, her palaces burnt to the ground. God's wrath hath kindled the flames, and none can quench them. Note; (1.) They who place their joy in earthly comforts will be punished with greater bitterness in the loss of them. (2.) When God has a controversy with a nation, he can easily dispirit the bravest, and make the strong men feeble.
4thly, Kedar was a son of Ishmael; his descendant settled in Arabia; Hazor or Petra was the capital, and had other tributary kingdoms under it; though others suppose that some of the Hazorites, who escaped in the days of Joshua fled hither, and built a city of the same name with that which they had deserted.
Nebuchadnezzar is invited to come and spoil this wealthy nation, or rather this nation living at ease, and dwelling without care, in peace and security, unprepared to repel an invader; which have neither gates nor bars, nor dwelling in cities, but alone, separate from other nations, and in tents roving from place to place. Their curtains, vessels, camels, and flocks, wherein their riches chiefly consisted, are given for a prey. Unable to resist the arms of the conqueror, or countermine his purposes, they are called upon to flee; and, scattered on every side, their deserted country is ravaged; and their capital, in ruins, becomes no longer the abode of men, but of wild beasts for ever. Note; (1.) They who are most secure, are not therefore most safe. (2.) The most inoffensive have no guard against the ravages of ambition and covetousness.
5thly, Elam, which is also concerned in this prophesy, which is dated in the beginning of Zedekiah's reign, is supposed not to be Persia at large, but a country nearer Judaea, called Elymais, some of whose inhabitants served under Sennacherib, king of Assyria, at the siege of Jerusalem, Isaiah 22:6. It was afterwards subdued by Nebuchadnezzar, and the kings of Babylon sometimes made it the seat of their residence, Daniel 8:2.
1. Universal destruction is threatened. God undertakes to break their bow, and to disable the chief of their might, and then they must fall an easy prey. By the Chaldean army they shall be dispersed into the four corners of the earth, as fugitives or captives. Terrors shall seize them, the sword devour them, the wrath of God pursue them, and therein all evil is comprehended; nor shall the king and princes thereof escape, but fall in the promiscuous ruin; and the conqueror shall erect his throne in Elam, which may well be called the throne of God, by whose power and gift he obtained the dominion.
2. A gracious promise is given them of restoration, which under Cyrus was accomplished in a measure; but was more eminently fulfilled when by the preaching of the Gospel, the Elamites, among other nations, were called into the church, and into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, Acts 2:9.