Now these [are] the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city;
Ver. 1. Now these are the children of the province] That is, of Judaea, now a province, though formerly a princess; now solitary and tributary that was once populous and great among the nations, Lamentations 1:1. Medinah, the word here rendered province, sometimes signifieth Metropolis, aliis ius dicens, a place that giveth laws to other places, and so Judaea in her flourish had been. See Ezra 4:20. But now it was otherwise, and so it is at this day, not only with Judaea, but with other renowned empires and kingdoms not a few, all which (together with most of those Churches and places so much mentioned in Scripture) are swallowed up in, the greatness of Turkish Empire. That Medina, a city in Arabia (where Mahomet lieth buried, and where his sepulchre is no less visited than is Christ's sepulchre at Jerusalem), holdeth this Medina in hard subjection; making her children pay for the very heads they wear; and so grievously afflicting them, that they have cause enough to take up anew Jeremiah's elegy over their doleful captivity.
That went up out of the captivity] That lifted themselves in Babylon, to go up. Which if any failed to do (as by comparing Ezr 2:5 of this chapter with Nehemiah 7:10, it appeareth some did), it was because either they changed their minds or their lives before they came there. When that noble Marquis Galeacius Caracciolus set forward for Geneva, some of his most familiar friends promised and vowed to accompany him there (His Life by Crashaw); but various of them, when they came to the borders of Italy, turned back again, &c.; and so might many of these engagers, magis amantes mundi delicias, quam Christi divitias, et graviorem ducentes iacturam regionis, quam religionis.
Which had been carried away] But had God's promise that they should return, be built up, planted, and not rooted out, Jeremiah 24:6, and his command to marry and beget children, Jeremiah 29:6, which should inherit the promises: for they are good surehold.
Whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon] That Metus Orbis, et Flagellum Dei, as Attilas, king of Huns, proudly styled himself, that is, the terror of the world, and scourge in God's hand. See Isaiah 10:5. That Ira Dei et Orbis Vastitas as Tamerlane loved to be called: The wrath of God and ruin of the world (Bucholc.).
Had carried away unto Babylon] As to his lions' den, Nahum 2:11, but God sent from heaven and saved them with such a mighty salvation, as eclipsed that deliverance out of Egypt, Jeremiah 23:7,8 .
Every one unto his city] Appointed him by the present governors. For during their abode in Babylon Judaea lay utterly waste and uninhabited. The land kept her sabbaths, resting from tillage, and God, by a wonderful providence, kept the room empty till the return of the natives.