Then the Lord said unto me,.... Explaining the above vision:
out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land; that is, out of Babylon, which lay north, as Jarchi says, and so the Talmud t; or north east, as Kimchi and Ben Melech, to the land of Israel; from hence came Nebuchadnezzar and his army, which are meant by "the evil" that should break forth, or "be opened" u and loosed, which before were bound and hindered by the providence of God; see Revelation 9:14 and come upon all the inhabitants of the land of Israel; and who are signified by the boiling pot to the north; or, however, by the fire under it, which came from thence; for rather by the pot is meant Jerusalem; and, by the boiling of it, its destruction by the Chaldeans; see Ezekiel 11:3.
t T. Bab. Gittin, fol. 6. 1. and Bava Bathra, fol. 25. 2. u תפתח "aperietur", Munster, Tigurine version, Cocceius; "pandetur", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus.