Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_600_p.lzh/5_680.TXT

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Ver. 35. A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the
Lord, &c.] Or, shall be {k} or, O sword, be thou on
the Chaldeans {l}; that is, the sword of the Medea and
Persians; those that kill with the sword, as the Tar-
gum; in the mystic sense, the Christian princes that
shall draw the sword against the antichristinn states:
and upon the inhabitants of Babylon; the metropolis of
Chaldea; the common people in it, as distinguished
from those of high rank and degree following: and
upon herprinces; r.-elshazzar and his nobles, who were
slain the night Babylon was taken: and upon her wise
men; prime-ministers, politicians, and counsellots of
state; neither high birth nor great wisdom can secure
from the sword of the enemy, when it has a com-
mission fi'om God, as it had here.
Vet. 86. A sword is upon the liars, &c.3 Some
render it bars {m}, as the word sometimes signifies; and
interpret it of great men, who are the strength and
security of cities and commonwealths; but these are
mentioned both before and after. The Targum renders
it diviners; and so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it {n};
of which there were many among the Chaldeans, who
were a lying set of men, who imposed upon and de-
ceived the people; these with their divinations and
soothsayings could not save the land, nor themselves,
from the devouring sword; nay, their sorecries and
divinations were the cause of the ruin of it; see Isa.
xlvii. 9, 12, 13. Rev. xviii. 23: and they shall dote;
or, that they may become foolish °; be infatuated, and
act a mad part, and be at their wits' end; not knowing
what course to take for their own safety,, and much
less be able to give direction and advice to others: a
sword is upon her mighty men, and they shall be dis-
mayed; tim soldiers and their officers, the most valiant
and courageous of them; these would be in the utmost
fright and consternation at the approach of the enemy;
especially when they perceived the city taken, and the
carnage made of the king and his nobles.
Vet. 37- A sword is upon their horses, and upon their
chariots, &c.] Upon the horsemen, and those that
rode in chariots; upon the whole cavalry, which should
fall into the enemies' hands, and be cut to pieces; see
Roy. xix. 18: and upon all the mingled people that are
in the midst of her; those of other nations that so-
journed in Babylon, or came thither for merchandise;
the word having, as Kimchi observes, such a signifi-
cation; or rather her auxiliaries, troops consisting of
other people that were her allies, or in her pay and
service: and they shall become as women; timorous, faint-
hearted, quite dispirited, unable to act, or defend them-
selves: a sword is upon her treasures, and they shall be
robbed; or they that slay with the sword, as the Tar-
gum, the soldiers, shall seize upon her treasures, and
plunder them: thus should she be exhausted of men
and money, and become utterly desolate.
'Vet. 88. A drought is upon her waters, and they shall
be dried up, &c.] Either on the waters of the land of
Chaldea in general, from whence should follow barren-
hess, and so a want of the necessaries of life; hence
Kimchi interprets it of a consumption of riches, and
all good things; or on the waters of Babylon, the river
Euphrates, which ran through it; the channel of
which was diverted by Cyrus, and drained and made
so dry, that he marched his army up it into the city.
Some say Babylon was taken three times, by this
stratagem of turning the river Euphrates another way;
first by Semiramis; and after Cyrus by Alexander:
this may well be applied to the drying up of the river
Euphra;-es, upon the pouring out of the sixth vial, and
to the destruction of the antichristian states, signified
by the many waters on which the great whore of Baby-
Ion or Rome sitteth, Rev. xvi. 12. and xvii. 1, 15: for
it is the land of graven images; much given to dolatry;
had idols of gold, silver, brass, iron, wood, and stone,
Dan. v. 2. Rev. ix. 2O: and the!! are v7od upon their
idols; greatly affected, and much devoted to them;
superstitiously mad upon them: or, they gloried in
them; as the Targum, Vuigate Latin version, and
others {p}; they praised and extolled them as trne deities;
as Belshazzar and his nobles did the very night Babylon
was taken, Dan. v. 4. and this their idolatry was one
cause of their ruin. The word {q} for idols s!gnities
terrors, or terrible things; because their worshippers
stood in fear of them, as Kimchi observes.
Vet. 39. Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with
the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, &c.] Of
these creatures see the note on Isa. xiii. 21, 22: and
the owls shall dwell therein; so mvstical Babylon when
fallen shall become the habitation of devils, the hold of
every foul spirit, and a cage of every nnclean and hateful
bird, Roy. xviii. 2: and it shall be no more inhabited for
ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to gone-
: interpreters observe that this was gradually
accomplished: it was taken by Cyrus, and made tri-
butary to the Persians; the seat of the empire was
removed from it; its walls were demolished by Darius;
it was drained both of its inhabitants and its riches
through Seleucus Nicator building the city Seleucia {r}
near it. In Adrian's time there was nothing but an
old wall left; and in Jerom's time it was a park for the
king of Persia to hunt in; see the note on ver. 13. and
on Isa. xiii. 20.
Vet. 40. As God overthrew Sodore and Gomorrah,
and the neighbout cities thereof, saith the Lord, &c.]
Admah and Zeboim: so shall no man abide there,
neither shall any son of man dwell therein; the same
is said concerning Edom, ch. xlix. 18. see the note
there.
Ver. 41. Behold, a people shall come from the north,
and a great nation, &c.] The Modes and Persians, whose
country lay north of Babylon: see the note on ver. 9:
and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the
earth; the kings of .Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz,
ch. IS. 27. and of the Armenians and other nations that
Cyrus had subdued and bronght with him in his army
against Babylon, as Xenophon {} relates. Ten kings

{k} Erit, Abarbinel; irruet, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
{l} \^Mydvk le brx\^ gladie, super Chaldaeos, scil. veni, ades, Schmidt.
{m} \^Mydbh\^ vectes; so some in Gataker.
{n} Divinos, V. L. Vatablus, Tigurine version, Calvin, Pagninus; so
R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 84.
{o} \^wlanw\^ stultescant, Schmidt; ut stulte agant, Piscator; et in-
sanient, Pagninus, Montanus.
{p} \^wllhty\^ gloriantur, Vulg. Lat. Schmidt, Munster, Tigurine version.
{q} \^Mymyab\^ horrendis vel terriculamentis, Schmidt, Munster, Calvin,;
terricula, Junius & Tremellius.
{r} Plin. Nat. Hist. I.6. c. 26.
{s} Cyropaedia, I. 5. c. 15.