He cropped off the top of his young twigs, and carried it into a land of traffick; he set it in a city of merchants.
Ver. 4. He cropped off the top of his young twigs,] i.e., The nobles carried into captivity with their king, as is to be seen Ezekiel 17:12. So true is that saying of the Rabbis, Nulla est obiectio in lege quae non habet solutionem in latere, There is no riddle in the law that hath not a solution by the sides of it; and so little cause had that Jesuit, Barradius, to borrow an argument from this text to prove the Scriptures to be a riddle and obscure.
And carried it into a land of traffic.] Babylonia was so. See Revelation 18:11. Rome is so, where all things are saleable and soluble. Omnia Romae vaenalia; as was long since complained.
He set it in a city of merchants.] Some city of Babylon, saith Diodat, assigned to the Jews, which was commodious for traffic, to keep them from all thoughts of war and state policy.