Jeremiah 49:28

49:28-33 Nebuchadnezzar would make desolation among the people of Kedar, who dwelt in the deserts of Arabia. He who conquered many strong cities, will not leave those unconquered that dwell in tents. He will do this to gratify his own covetousness and ambition; but God orders it for correcting an unthankful people, and for warning a careless world to expect trouble when they seem most safe. They shall flee, get far off, and dwell deep in the deserts; they shall be dispersed. But privacy and obscurity are not always protection and security.

Jeremiah 49:28-29 . Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor — Kedar is well known to have been one of the sons of Ishmael, Genesis 25:13 , who settled in Arabia. But of Hazor we find no satisfactory account given by commentators. There is, indeed, a city called Hazor, mentioned Joshua 11:10 , and in other parts of Scripture: but this was in the land of Canaan; whereas the kingdoms of Hazor, here mentioned, were evidently in Arabia, in the neighbourhood, at least, of Kedar. Among the sons of Joktan, however, who were prior to the Ishmaelites in Arabia, and whose descendants are therefore looked on as the only genuine Arabs, we find one whose name was Hazar-maveth, Genesis 10:26-30 . And, as by Kedar all the descendants of Ishmael are probably here designed, so all the other branches of the family of Joktan may, in like manner, be included under the general name of Hazor. And perhaps the most probable reason why the Arabians are called a mingled people is, that they were thus made up of the people of different descents; some of them being sprung from Joktan, others from Ishmael, to whom must be added the sons of Abraham by Keturah, who are also said to have been settled in Kedem, or the east country, Genesis 25:6 , and perhaps other families besides. All these were divided into petty sovereign ties under certain chiefs or princes, which explains what is to be understood by the kingdoms of Hazor: see Blaney.

Arise ye, go up to Kedar, &c. — Here the prophet foretels that Nebuchadnezzar should conquer these kingdoms, and spoil the men of the East, as the Arabians are called in the Scriptures. Their tents and their flock shall they — Namely, the Chaldeans; take away — Their substance consisted in their cattle and their tents, from whence the country itself is called the tents of Kedar, Psalm 120:5 : with these they removed from place to place for the convenience of pasture. They shall take to themselves their curtains — Those elegant coverings of which their tents were made. and which were much superior to those of any other people. And they shall cry unto them — Hebrew, וקראו , Let them call for, or command, that is, as Blaney renders it, Let them bring, upon them terror from every side.

Verses 28-33. - Against the nomad and partly settled Arabs - the former described under the name Kedar (see on Jeremiah 2:10), the latter under that of Hazor (connected with hazer , an unwalled village; comp. Leviticus 25:31 ). This use of Hazer is remarkable; elsewhere the name denotes towns in Palestine ( Joshua 11:1 ; Joshua 15:23 ; Nehemiah 11:33 ). There are two plainly marked strophes, vers. 28-30 and 31-33, both beginning with a summons to the foe to take the field. Verse 28. - Hazer ( i.e. the settled Arabs) is said to have kingdoms . "King" is used in Hebrew in a wider sense than we are accustomed to (comp. Jeremiah 25:24 , "All the kings of Arabia"). The "kings" of Hazer would be mere sheikhs or emirs. Shall smite; rather, smote. There is no justification whatever for the future. The statement is obviously a later addition, to show that the prophecy was fulfilled. On the form "Nebuchadrezzar," see on Jeremiah 21:2. The men of the east . A general designation of the inhabitants of all the countries in the east of Palestine ( Genesis 29:1 ; Judges 6:3 ; Job 1:3 ). Jeremiah 49:28

28 . Kedar ] See on ch. Jeremiah 2:10 . kingdoms of Hazor ] Hazor elsewhere is the name of towns in Palestine, but here “is probably a collective term, derived from ḥâẓêr , a ‘village,’ denoting Arab tribes living in fixed settlements or ‘villages,’ ” Dr., as opposed to nomadic life alluded to in Jeremiah 49:29 (“curtains”). Cp. Isaiah 42:11 . children of the east ] Arabian tribes E. of Palestine. 28–33 (= LXX. Ch. Jeremiah 30:6-11 ). Prophecy against Kedar and Hazor 28–33 . This utterance, like the last, is rejected by Gi. and Co., though accepted, at any rate as containing a genuine element, by Kuenen, Erbt, and others. As elsewhere in these oracles, there have doubtless been later additions (see on 31 f.); but the reference to Dedan and Tema, tribes in the N. of Arabia, in Jeremiah 25:23 , would of itself lead us to expect a prophecy of this kind on Jeremiah’s part, a conclusion which receives support from the mention of Nebuchadrezzar in Jeremiah 49:28; Jeremiah 49:36 , although this may be due to a writer’s intentional projection of himself into Jeremiah’s time. This section may be divided into two subsections, which closely correspond in length, sense, and structure. Each consists of three verses, and the three consecutive thoughts in each are (i) a summons of the enemy to the attack, (ii) a promise of booty, (iii) an intimation that safety would be procured only by flight.

(28) Concerning Kedar . . . —The name belonged to a tribe of the Bedouin type, descended from Ishmael ( Genesis 25:13 ), and at this time conspicuous as supplying the markets of Tyre with sheep and goats ( Ezekiel 27:21 ). In PP. 120:5 it appears as the representative of the fierce nomadic life of the Arabians. Hazor appears as the name of many cities in Palestine ( Joshua 11:1 ; Joshua 15:23 ; Joshua 19:36 ), but the combination with Kedar points to quite a different region. The probable explanation is that Jeremiah uses the term (as a like word, hazērein, is used in Isaiah 42:11 for the “villages” of Kedar) for the region in which the Kedar Arabs had ceased to be nomadic, and had made a permanent settlement. According to Niebuhr ( Assur u. Bab., p. 210) it answers to the modern Hadschar in the angle formed by the southern course of the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf. Spoil the men of the east.—Literally, the B’eni-Kedem. or children of the East. The term appears in the Old Testament history from a very early date (Genesis 29:1; Judges 6:3; Judges 6:33; Judges 7:12; 1Kings 4:30; Job 1:3), and has, as might be expected, though obviously indicating a nomadic form of life, like that of the Midianites, a somewhat wide and undefined connotation.

The picture of the attack on them presents a marked contrast to that of the attack on Damascus: not palaces and treasures, but tents and flocks, the curtains or hangings of the tent, their implements (weapons, kneading troughs, and the like), their very camels, seized by the conquerors.

Hazor, derived from a word signifying an unwalled village, is a general appellative of those Arab tribes who were partially settled, while Kedar signifies the Bedawin, who used only tents. Some think that Hazor is another way of spelling Jetor, i. e., Ituraea, whose inhabitants, with the Kedarenes, would naturally be called the sons of the East. Shall smite - Or, smote.

Kedar, Genesis 25:13 , was one of the sons of Ishmael, whose posterity inhabited part of Arabia Petrea. See Isa, Isaiah 21:13,17 . We read of it Psalm 120:5 Song of Solomon 1:5 Ezekiel 27:21 . We read of Hazor Joshua 11:1 Joshua 11:10 , it was the head city to several kingdoms in Joshua’s time; Jabin was king of it in the times of Deborah, Judges 4:2 . The prophet foretells that Nebuchadrezzar should also conquer these kingdoms; and saith he heard the Lord call to Nebuchadrezzar to go up against them.

28. Kedar—son of Ishmael (Ge 25:13). The Kedarenes led a wandering predatory life in Arabia-Petræa, as the Bedouin Arabs (2Ch 21:16, 17; Ps 120:5). Kedar means "blackness" (So 1:5). Hazor—not the city in Palestine, but a district in Arabia-Petræa. "Kingdoms" refer to the several combinations of clans, each under its own sheik. men of the east—Kedar and Hazor were east of Judea (Jud 6:3; Job 1:3).