For thus saith the Lord unto the king's house of Judah,.... That is, to the family of the king of Judah; though it may be rendered, "concerning the house of the king of Judah" z; and so refer to his palace as before:
thou [art] Gilead unto me, [and] the head of Lebanon; or, though like to Gilead (which was a very fruitful country) for wealth, riches, and all kind of valuable things; and like to the top of Mount Lebanon a, being set with tall cedars, for stateliness. So the Targum is,
"although thou art beloved before me more than the sanctuary, which is high upon the top of the mountains:''
or thou shall be as Gilead, and Mount Lebanon, which belonged to the ten tribes of Israel, and are put for the whole kingdom of Israel, which was wasted by the king of Assyria; and in like condition should the royal palace at Jerusalem be, notwithstanding all its riches and grandeur, and so the city and temple likewise; as follows:
[yet] surely I will make thee a wilderness, [and] cities [which] are not inhabited; though as fruitful as Gilead, yet shall become like a barren desert; and though full of children, courtiers, princes, and nobles, yet shall be like cities quite depopulated: or, "if I do not make thee" b, c. it is in the form of an oath, as Kimchi and Ben Melech observe and to be supplied thus, if I do not do as I have said, let me never be believed; let me be reckoned a liar, or not thought to be God, and the like. It shows the certain accomplishment of these things.
z על בית מלך "de domo regis", Cocceius, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. a גלעד אתה לי ראש הלבנון "velut Gilead, ut caput Libani", Junius & Tremellius. b אם לא אשיתך "si non posuero te", Vatablus, Pagninus, Montanus, Schmidt.