Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_000_p.lzh/5_079.TXT

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were qualified by him with courage and strength to
perform it, and therefore said to be his; and this com-
mand that was given them was not by a voice from
heaven, or in a message by one of his prophets; but by
a secret instinct, and, by the power of his providence,
stirring them up to engage in such an enterprise {z}. \*\\I
have also called my mighty ones\\; meaning Cyrus and
Darius, and the officers of their armies, with the
common soldiers, who were furnished with might and
strength to do his will, to which they were called in
his providence: \*\\for mine anger\\; to execute his wrath
upon the Babyloninns; so the Targum, \*"that they
"may avenge my wrath upon them:"\* or, %in mine
anger%; which being stirred up, put him upon calling
those mighty ones to his service, and fitting them for
it: literally it is, %to my nose% {a}; to be before him, to be
at his beck and will, and to minister his wrath and
vengeance: \*\\[even] them that rejoice in my highness\\;
in doing that which tended to the exaltation and glory
of God; they went cheerfully about the work, and
exulted and triumphed in their success: or, %that re-
joice my highness% {b}; make me glad, because I am glori-
fied by them. So seven angels, the Lord's holy and
mighty ones, will be employed in pouring out the vials
of his wrath on mystical Babylon, \\#Re 15:1,6,7 16:1\\.
\*Ver. 4. \\The noise of a multitude in the mountains,
like as of a great people\\, &c.] That is, like the noise
of a very numerous people; this noise was heard either
on the mountains of Media, where they flocked in vast
numbers to the standard set; or on the mountains
upon the borders of Chaldea, when the army under
Cyrus was marching towards Babylon: \*\\a tumultuous
noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together\\;
for Cyrus's army consisted of several kingdoms and
nations; for besides the thirty thousand Persians he
brought with him into Media, where he was made ge-
neral of the Medes also, and was sent with the joint
forces of both nations against Babylon, the kingdoms
of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz, were prepared, ga-
thered together, and called forth against it, \\#Jer 51:27,28\\:
\*\\the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle\\; or
the warlike army: it was the Lord, that has the armies
of heaven and earth at his command, who in his pro-
vidence caused such a numerous army to be formed,
directed them where to march, and put them in battle
array, and gave them the victory.
\*Ver. 5. \\They come from a far country, from the end
of heaven\\, &c.] The east, as Kimchi observes; the
Targum is, from the ends of the earth; the further-
most parts of it, as Persia and Media were: the former
is bounded on the south side by the main ocean; and
the latter, part of it by the Caspian sea; and between
Babylon and these kingdoms lay the large kingdom of
Assyria; so that this army might be truly said to
come from a far country: \*\\[even] the Lord, and the wea-
pons of his indignation\\; the Medes and Persians, who
were the instruments of his wrath and vengeance
against Babylon; just as Assyria is called the rod of
his anger, \\#Isa 10:5\\ with these he is said to come, be-
cause this army was of his gathering, mustering, order-
ing, and directing, in his providence; the end and
design of which was, \*\\to destroy the whole land\\; not
the whole world, as the Septuagint render it; but the
whole land of Chaldea, of which Babylon was the
metropolis. The Targum is, \*"to destroy all the wicked
"of the earth."\*
\*Ver. 6. \\Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand\\,
&c.] These words are an address to the Babylonians,
who instead of rejoicing and feasting, as Belshazzar
and his nobles were the night that Babylon was taken,
had reason to howl and lament; seeing the day that
the Lord had fixed for their destruction was very near,
and he was just about to come forth as a judge to
take vengeance on them; for though it was about two
hundred and fifty years from the time of this prophecy,
to the taking of Babylon, yet it is represented as
hand, to shew the certainty of it, both for the com-
fort of the Jewish captives, when they should be in it,
and for the awakening of the sluggish inhabitants, who
were secure, and thought themselves out of danger:
\*\\it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty\\: sud-
denly, swiftly, and irresistibly: there is a beautiful
paronomasia in the Hebrew text, %ceshod mishaddai% {c}; as
destruction from the destroyer; from God, who is able
to save, and to destroy; he is almighty and all suffi-
cient, so some render the word; the hand of God was
visible in it.
\*Ver. 7. \\Therefore shall all hands be faint\\, &c.] Or
hang down; that is, the hands of all the Babylonians,
the city being taken suddenly and at once, so that
they should not be able to lift them up to lay hold on
a weapon, and defend themselves: \*\\and every man's
heart shall melt\\; like wax before the fire; be dispirited,
and lose all their valour and courage, have neither
power nor heart to resist their enemies, and attempt
to save themselves.
\*Ver. 8. \\And they shall be afraid\\, &c.] Troubled,
dismayed, affrighted, at the sudden taking of the city,
and at the sight of Cyrus's troops marching up into
the very heart of it, and to the king's palace: \*\\pangs
and sorrow shall take hold of them\\; as convulsions,
pains in the bowels, &c. more fully explained in the
next clause: \*\\they shall be in pain, as a woman that tra-
vaileth\\; that is in labour, and ready to bring forth her
child, whose pains are very sharp, and agonies great;
the same is said of the king of Babylon, \\#Jer 50:43\\: \*\\they
shall be amazed one at another\\; that so great a city
should be so surprised, and so suddenly taken; and
that they shall not be able to help one another; and
that such as were so famous for courage and valour
should be at once so dispirited: \*\\their faces [shall be
as] flames\\; not red with blushing, through shame, as
Kimchi; but pale with fear, as the colour of flame,
or, as the faces of smiths, that work at a forge: the
words may be rendered, %their faces are as the faces of
Lehabim% {d}; the name of a people mentioned in \\#Ge 10:13\\
the same with the Libians, which were of a
blackish or tawny colour; so Jarchi interprets it, and
says they were a people of a yellow complexion:

{z} Vid. T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 8. 2. & Gloss. in ib.
{a} \^ypal\^ %in ira mea%, Vatablus; %ad iram meam%, Janius &
    Tremellius, Piscator; %in naso meo%, Montanus.
{b} \^ytwag yzyle\^ %exultantis celsitudinis meae%, Montanus.
{c} \^ydvm dwvk\^.
{d} \^Mhynp Mybhl ynp\^ %ut facies Lehabim, %sive% Lybiorum facies
    eorum%, Gataker.