The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites; of Moab, and the Hagarenes;
Ver. 6. The tabernacles of Edom, and the Ishmaelites, &c.] Exercitu ex variis gentibus conflato, at odds among themselves, and yet well agreed for a mischief to the Church, who might ever well say, as the hare in Martial,
In me omnis terraeque aviumque marisque rapina est;
Forsitan et coeli, si canis astra tenet.
As dogs, fighting and intertearing one another, can give over and join together to follow the harmless hare that passeth by them; so here. If Manasseh be against Ephraim, and Ephraim against Manasseh, yet they will be both against Judah.
And the Hagarenes ] Who came also of Hagar, as well as the Ishmaelites; but were a distinct people, and would be called Saracens, from Sarah, the freewoman, for honour' sake, as if the promises made to Abraham and Sarah had belonged to them (Saracens, in Arabic, is thieves). Ptolemy maketh mention of the Saracens, and placeth in Arabia, the seat of the Hagarenes, where there is also a city called Agra, of Hagar, likely. Aben Ezra saith they came of Hagar, by another husband. The Chaldee calleth them Hungarians.