Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities? Concerning the Ammonites - This prophetic discourse was also delivered after the capture of Jerusalem.
Hath Israel no sons? - no heir? - The Ammonites, it appears, took advantage of the depressed state of Israel, and invaded their territories in the tribe of Gad, hoping to make them their own for ever. But the prophet intimates that God will preserve the descendants of Israel, and will bring them back to their forfeited inheritances.
Why then doth their king - מלכם Malcom or Milcom, the chief idol of the Ammonites. That the idol Milcom is here meant is sufficiently evident from Jeremiah 49:3, where it is said: "Milcom (not their king) shall go into captivity; his Priests and his princes together." Milcom is also called Molech. Malcom is put here for the Ammonites, as the people of Chemosh in the preceding chapter are put for the Moabites in general.