9. the north--(see on [Jr 1:14], ). The Medes and other northern peoples, confederate with Babylon, are included with the Chaldeans.
my servant--My agent for punishing ([Jr 27:6]; ; compare [Jr 40:2]). Compare [Is 44:28]; Cyrus, "My shepherd." God makes even unbelievers unconsciously to fulfil His designs. A reproof to the Jews, who boasted that they were the servants of God; yet a heathen king is to be more the servant of God than they, and that as the agent of their punishment.
10. ([Jr 7:34]; [Re 18:23]). The land shall be so desolated that even in the houses left standing there shall be no inhabitant; a terrible stillness shall prevail; no sound of the hand-mill (two circular stones, one above the other, for grinding corn, worked by two women, [Ex 11:5]; [Mt 24:41]; in daily use in every house, and therefore forbidden to be taken in pledge, [De 24:6]); no night-light, so universal in the East that the poorest house has it, burning all night.
candle--lamp ([Job 21:17]; ).
11. seventy years--([Jr 27:7]). The exact number of years of Sabbaths in four hundred ninety years, the period from Saul to the Babylonian captivity; righteous retribution for their violation of the Sabbath ([Le 26:34], ; [2Ch 36:21]). The seventy years probably begin from the fourth year of Jehoiakim, when Jerusalem was first captured, and many captives, as well as the treasures of the temple, were carried away; they end with the first year of Cyrus, who, on taking Babylon, issued an edict for the restoration of the Jews ([Ezr 1:1]). Daniel's seventy prophetic weeks are based on the seventy years of the captivity (compare [Da 9:2], ).
13. all ... written in this book, which Jeremiah ... prophesied against all ... nations--It follows from this, that the prophecies against foreign nations (forty-sixth through fifty-first chapters) must have been already written. Hence the Septuagint inserts here those prophecies. But if they had followed immediately ([Jr 25:13]), there would have been no propriety in the observation in the verse. The very wording of the reference shows that they existed in some other part of the book, and not in the immediate context. It was in this very year, the fourth of Jehoiakim ([Jr 36:1], 2), that Jeremiah was directed to write in a regular book for the first time all that he had prophesied against Judah and foreign "nations" from the beginning of his ministry. Probably, at a subsequent time, when he completed the whole work, including the forty-sixth through fifty-first chapters, Jeremiah himself inserted the clause, "all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations." The prophecies in question may have been repeated, as others in Jeremiah, more than once; so in the original smaller collection they may have stood in an earlier position; and, in the fuller subsequent collection, in their later and present position.
14. serve themselves--([Jr 27:7]; ; ). Avail themselves of their services as slaves.
them also--the Chaldees, who heretofore have made other nations their slaves, shall themselves also in their turn be slaves to them. Maurer translates, "shall impose servitude on them, even them."
recompense them--namely, the Chaldees and other nations against whom Jeremiah had prophesied ([Jr 25:13]), as having oppressed the Jews.
their deeds--rather, "deed," namely, their bad treatment of the Jews ([Jr 50:29]; , ; compare [2Ch 36:17]).
15. wine cup--Compare [Jr 13:12], , as to this image, to express stupefying judgments; also [Jr 49:12]; . Jeremiah often embodies the imagery of Isaiah in his prophecies ([La 4:21]; [Is 51:17-22]; [Re 16:19]; ). The wine cup was not literally given by Jeremiah to the representatives of the different nations; but only in symbolical vision.
16. be moved--reel ([Na 3:11]).
18. Jerusalem--put first: for "judgment begins at the house of God"; they being most guilty whose religious privileges are greatest ([1Pe 4:17]).
kings--Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and Zedekiah.
as it is this day--The accomplishment of the curse had already begun under Jehoiakim. This clause, however, may have been inserted by Jeremiah at his final revision of his prophecies in Egypt.
19. Pharaoh--put next after Jerusalem, because the Jews had relied most on him, and Egypt and Judea stood on a common footing ([Jr 46:2], ).
20. mingled people--mercenary foreign troops serving under Pharaoh-hophra in the time of Jeremiah. The employment of these foreigners provoked the native Egyptians to overthrow him. Psammetichus, father of Pharaoh-necho, also had given a settlement in Egypt to Ionian and Carian adventurers [Herodotus, 2.152, 154]. (Compare [Jr 50:37]; see on [Is 19:2], ; [Is 20:1]; [Eze 30:5]. The term is first found in [Ex 12:38].
Uz--in the geographical order here, between Egypt and the states along the Mediterranean; therefore not the "Uz" of [Job 1:1] (north of Arabia-Deserta), but the northern part of Arabia-Petræa, between the sea and Idumea ([La 4:21]; see [Ge 36:20], ).
remnant of Ashdod--called a "remnant," because Ashdod had lost most of its inhabitants in the twenty-nine years siege by Psammetichus. Compare also see on [Is 20:1]. Gath is not mentioned because it was overthrown in the same war.
21. Edom ... Moab ... Ammon--joined together, as being related to Israel (see [Jr 48:1-49:39]).
22. all the kings of Tyrus--the petty kings of the various dependencies of Tyre.
isles--a term including all maritime regions ([Psa 72:10]).
23. Dedan--north of Arabia ([Ge 25:3], ).
Tema ... Buz--neighboring tribes north of Arabia ([Job 32:2]).
all ... in ... utmost corners--rather, "having the hair cut in angles," a heathenish custom (see on [Jr 9:26]).
24. mingled people--not in the same sense as in [Jr 25:20]; the "motley crowd," so called in contempt (compare [Jr 49:28], ; ). By a different pointing it may be translated the "Arabs"; but the repetition of the name is not likely. Blaney thinks there were two divisions of what we call Arabia, the west (Araba) and the east. The west included Arabia-Petræa and the parts on the sea bordering on Egypt, the land of Cush; the east, Arabia-Felix and Deserta. The latter are "the mixed race" inhabiting the desert.
25. Zimri--perhaps the Zabra mentioned by Ptolemy between Mecca and Medina. Zimran also, as Dedan, was one of Abraham's sons by Keturah ([Ge 25:2]).
Elam--properly, west of Persia; but used for Persia in general.
26. Sheshach--Babylon; as the parallelism in [Jr 51:41] proves. In the Cabalistic system (called Athbash, the first Hebrew letter in the alphabet being expressed by the last) Sheshach would exactly answer to Babel. Jeremiah may have used this system (as perhaps in [Jr 51:41]) for concealment at the time of this prediction, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, while Nebuchadnezzar was before Jerusalem. In [Jr 51:41] there can be no concealment, as Babylon is expressly mentioned. Michaelis more simply explains the term "brazen-gated" (compare [Is 45:2]); others, "the house of a prince." Rather, it comes from the Babylonian goddess, Shach, by reduplication of the first letter; from her Misael was named Meshach by the Babylonians. The term Shace was applied to a festival at Babylon, alluded to in [Jr 51:39], ; [Is 21:5]. It was during this feast that Cyrus took Babylon [Herodotus, 1]. Thus Jeremiah mystically denotes the time of its capture by this term [Glassius].
27. rise no more--The heathen nations in question should fall to rise no more. The Jews should fall but for a time, and then rise again. Therefore, the epithet is given, "the God of Israel."
28. if they refuse to take the cup--No effort of theirs to escape destruction will avail.
29. If I spared not Mine elect people on account of sin, much less will I spare you ([Eze 9:6]; Ob 16; [Lu 23:31]; [1Pe 4:17]).
be unpunished--"be treated as innocent."
30. roar--image from a destructive lion ([Is 42:13]; [Joe 3:16]).
upon his habitation--rather, "His pasturage"; keeping up the image of a lion roaring against the flock in the pasture. The roar was first to go forth over Judea wherein were "the sheep of His pasture" ([Psa 100:3]), and thence into heathen lands.
shout ... tread ... grapes--([Jr 48:33]; [Is 16:9], ).
31. controversy--cause at issue ([Mi 6:2]).
plead with all flesh--([Is 66:16]). God shows the whole world that He does what is altogether just in punishing.
32. from the coasts--rather, "from the uttermost regions." Like a storm which arises in one region and then diffuses itself far and wide, so God's judgments shall pass "from nation to nation," till all has been fulfilled; no distance shall prevent the fulfilment.
not be lamented--([Jr 16:4], ).
neither gathered--to their fathers, in their ancestral tombs ([Jr 8:2]).
dung--([Psa 83:10]).
34. shepherds--princes ([Jr 22:22]). Here he returns to the Jews and their rulers, using the same image as in [Jr 25:30], "pasture" (see on [Jr 25:30]).
wallow yourselves--Cover yourselves as thickly with ashes, in token of sorrow, as one who rolls in them ([Jr 6:26]; [Eze 27:30]) [Maurer].
principal--leaders. The Septuagint translates "rams," carrying out the image (compare [Is 14:9], Margin; [Zec 10:3]).