He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.
Ver. 4. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry] He had showed what wonders God can do in the air; now he telleth what he doeth in the water and in the earth. And it is well observed by an interpreter (Tarnov.), that when the prophets speak of God, they do for the most part imitate the expressions of Moses, that most severe lawgiver, and allude to his history; to show that by the law is the knowledge of sin, Romans 3:20, without which the stony hearts of men melt not, that the promise of the gospel may relish sweetly with them, Psalms 19:10,11. The word here rendered he rebuketh, importeth that God rateth and rattleth the sea, verborum pedumque strepitu, with such a voice and other noise, as causeth fright and flight. "The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back. What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest?" Psalms 114:3; Psalms 114:5. "The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled," Psalms 77:16 : see Exo 14:21 Psalms 78:14; Psalms 66:6; Psalms 136:16; Psalms 106:9. This is not in the power of any man to do; though Xerxes vainly attempted something, when he wasted two million men over the Hellespont, and, for battering his bridge of boats, caused it to be beaten with three hundred stripes, and cast a pair of fetters into it, to make it his prisoner. But to how small purpose all this, together with his digging through Isthmus, his drinking up rivers with his army, and the like, it well appeared, when he was forced to flee back out of Greece in a poor fisher's boat, which being over loaded, had sunk all if the Persians, by the casting away themselves, had not saved the life of their king. The story of Canute the Dane, sometime king of England, is well known. He was told by a court parasite that all things in his dominions were at his beck and command. Canute, to confute him, caused a chair to be set on the seashore; wherein being set, he said to the sea flowing fast toward him, Thou belongest to me, and the land upon which I now sit is mine own, neither is there any whosoever that obeys me not shall escape unpunished. I command thee, therefore, thou sea, that thou come up no higher into my land; nor presumest once to wet thy master's legs or garments. But the sea, keeping his ordinary course, without duty or reverence, washed both his legs and gown. He then leaping back said, Let all the inhabitants of the world know, that the power of kings is frivolous and vain; neither is there any mortal man worthy the name of a king, but he to whose beck heaven, earth, and sea, by his laws eternally are obedient. Neither did Canute after this time wear a crown; but set it upon the crucifix, according to the superstition of those times; thereby acknowledging it to be a royalty proper to Christ alone to rebuke the surges of the sea, and to say unto them, Peace, and be still, Luk 8:24 Mark 4:39 .
And drieth up all the rivers] As he did Jordan, Joshua 3:15,17 2 Kings 2:7,8; 2Ki 2:13-14 Chereth, 1 Kings 17:7; the great river Euphrates, Revelation 16:12. See Trapp on " Rev 16:12 " See also Plin. Nat. Hist. 1. 2, cap. 85, 103.
Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth] All the beauty of those fertile and pleasant places fadeth. When the earth beareth fruit and flowers, she is said to yield her strength, and to bring forth her increase; as when through drought or otherwise she doth not, she is said to languish and hang the head, see Joel 1:10; Joel 1:12. If the eclipse of the sun cause a drooping in the whole frame of nature, how much more the wrath and vengeance of God!