Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, [he is] a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and [is] as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:
Ver. 5. Yea, also because he transgresseth by wine] Or, How much more because he is a wine bibber, perfidious, proud, neither keepeth at home. These four faults the prophet here layeth to the charge of the Babylonian, and therehence inferreth for the comfort of the distressed captives, that his destruction cannot be far off; and therefore the just should meanwhile live by faith, and bear up under affliction. For if those that believe not the promises, but shift and shark for help and comfort elsewhere, shall smart for their unbelief, as Habakkuk 2:4, where shall those appear that are here described? shall these bipedum nequissimi, worst of men, escape by iniquity? Never think it. First, their drunkenness alone would undo them; as it did Amnon, Elah, Nabal, Belshazzar, Bonosus, &c. Aristotle saith, that double punishments are due to drunkards (Tοις μεθυουσι διπλα τα επιτιμια): first for their drunkenness, and then for other sins committed in and by their drunkenness. Nebuchadnezzar (or, as some will have it, Belshazzar) is here called, wine, or (by an ordinary elipsis) a man of wine; not only Meribibulus, but a deep and desperate drunkard, a very tundish a (as Diotimus of Athens was called), a hogshead, as young Cicero. No wonder therefore though he were all the rest that followeth. 1. Perfidious, to those that committed themselves to his trust, or made leagues with him, which he kept no longer than stood with his profit. 2. Proud, or arrogant, Proverbs 21:24. See Daniel 4:30, how he spreads his peacock's tail, and prides himself in it: his great wealth tumoured him up with great swealth.
3. He keepeth not at home] Non habitabit, his own country will not contain him, but he encloseth all nations in his dragnet, Habakkuk 1:15 .
4. He enlargeth his desire as hell] Which hath its name (Sheol) in Hebrew, from its unsatiableness, Proverbs 30:15,16, and in Latin it is called Inferuus ab inferendo, say some, from the devil's continual carrying in souls thither, and yet it is not filled.
And is as death] Which is the end of all men, Ecclesiastes 7:2; the way of all flesh, 1 Kings 2:2; of all the earth, Joshua 23:14; the house appointed for all living, the great congregation house, Job 30:23 .
And cannot be satisfied] Lust is unsatisfiable, and whatsoever it getteth is but as fuel to the fire. Ambition groweth as the crocodile doth, as long as he liveth. It rideth without reins, and there is no ho with it.
But gathereth unto him all nations, &c.] All that he could come at; all Asia, and a great part of Africa; and could never have enough, till his mouth was filled with a spade full of mould. Therefore he shall not keep home (so some read the words above in this verse), Ideo non manebit in habitaculo. His kingdom shall not long continue, but after a few years be overturned by the Persians: this golden head (as Daniel calleth the Babylonish monarchy) held not up over 170 years, if we reckon from Merodach Baladan, the first founder, to Belshazzar, slain by Cyrus, who translated the kingdom to the Persians, Daniel 5:30,31
a A wooden dish or shallow vessel with a tube at the bottom fitting into the bung-hole of a tun or cask, forming a kind of funnel used in brewing. ŒD