Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.
Ver. 2. Howl, fir tree] That is, ye of lower rank, or ye meaner cities, those daughters of Jerusalem, that felt the Roman's force; howl, take up a loud outcry, a doleful ditty, after the manner of those that are carried captive by the enemy, Psalms 137:3. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us, qui contumulabant nos, that threw us on heaps (so Tremellius rendereth it, confer Isa 25:2), or those that made us howl, ululatores nostri (so Schindler), required of us mirth.
Because all the mighty are spoiled] The magnificos, the men of power, as they are called, Psalms 76:5, stout-hearted and every way able for strength, courage, and riches; which often take away the life of the owners, Proverbs 1:19, and expose them to spoil; as every man desireth to lop the tree that hath thick and large boughs and branches.
Howl, O ye oaks of Bashan] Og's country, who only remained of the remnant of giants, Deuteronomy 3:11. The Jews fable that he escaped in the flood by riding astride on the ark. By the oaks of his country understand the strong and eminent. The Chaldee rendereth it, Satrapae provinciarum, ye provincial governors.
For the forest of the vintage] Or, the defenced forest, viz. of Lebanon, i.e. Jerusalem, that seemed impregnable, but at length came down, ruit alto a culmine, as a cedar that is felled by a mighty one, Isaiah 10:34. Death hewed its way through a wood or forest of men in a minute of time from the mouth of a murdering piece, or some such warlike engine. When the sword is once sharpened it makes a sore slaughter; "it contemneth the rod," Ezekiel 21:10; q.d. what does this silly rod do here? these lesser and lighter judgments? let me come, I will make work among them; down with these oaks, down with this defenced forest, &c.