And thy mighty [men], O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.
Ver. 9. And thy mighty men, O Teman] Thy giants, thy champions, that dare to look death in the face upon great adventures in the field; these were now dismayed and dispirited; their courage was quailed, and even broken with fear, as the word signifieth; so that, as Saul, when the devil had preached his funeral, made haste and fell with the fulness of his stature all along on the earth, as being sore afraid, 1 Samuel 28:20; so shall it be with the mighties of Teman, that is, of Edom, for Teman was nephew to Esau and son to Eliphaz, Genesis 36:11, and of him some city or part of the country took its denomination. The Chaldee and the Vulgate Latin take the word Teman appellatively, and render it thus, Thy mighty men shall perish from the South: or those that dwell to the southward of thy country, and so are more remote from the northern Chaldees; yet they shall no sooner hear of thy coming but they shall tremble and forget their prowess.
To the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter] Heb. every man, be he never so manly and magnanimous.
Of the mount of Esau] Of Idumea, which was mountainous, and therefore fitly called Seir, that is, rough and rugged.
May be cut off by slaughter] So that they shall live by fame only, and hardly that.