Jeremiah 50:22

"exasperating." The most probable derivation of the word is from mrh, to rebel, with a dual termination, doubly rebellious, i.e., very rebellious. As to "Pekod," the versions give it the idea of visiting by way of punishment: "Avenge thou with the sword," is the Sept.; "Visit her inhabitants," the Vulg.; "Assail ye her and her inhabitants," the Syr.; the Targ. has "the inhabitants of Pekod." It is better to take both words as appellatives: — 21. Against the land of the most rebellious, against her ascend, And to the inhabitants of visitation; Slay and utterly destroy their posterity, saith Jehovah, And do according to all that I have commanded thee. As to Babylon being "rebellious," see Jeremiah 50:24, 33. "Inhabitants of visitation" were such as were to be visited, i.e., with judgment; see Jeremiah 50:31. The repetition, "against her," is emphatical. "posterity," i.e., children, or young men, as in Jeremiah 50:30. See 1 Kings 16:3. — Ed. Jeremiah 50:22 22. A sound of battle is in the land, and of great destruction. 22. Vox praelii in terra et contritio magna. The Prophet continues the same style of speaking, for he says that there would be the voice or the sound of battle Could he rouse up the Medes and the Persians? not indeed by his own power, but here he exa

. Jeremiah 50:22 Ver. 22. A sound of battle [is] in the land,.... In the land of the Chaldeans, as it is expressed in the Septuagint and Arabic versions; the noise of warriors, the clashing of arms, and sound of trumpets, both of the enemy entered into the land, and of the Chaldeans arming themselves in their own defence: and of great destruction; in the same land; or in Babylon, as Abarbinel supplies it; this is the consequent of the former. Jeremiah 50:23 Ver. 23. How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken!.... The Targum is, "how is the king cut down and broken that moved the whole earth!'' The king of Babylon, or the kingdom of Babylon, which was like a hammer for its hardness and strength; and being an instrument, in the hand of God, of beating to pieces and destroying the kingdoms and nations around it; but is now destroyed itself. These are the words either of the prophet, or rather of the people of other nations, wondering how this destruction came about, and rejoicing at it; how is Babylon become a desolation among the nations! this explains who and what is meant by the hammer of the earth, and by its being cut asunder and broken; even the utter destruction of the city and kingdom of Babylon. Jeremiah 50:24 Ver. 24. I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon,....

50:21-32 The forces are mustered and empowered to destroy Babylon. Let them do what God demands, and they shall bring to pass what he threatens. The pride of men's hearts sets God against them, and ripens them apace for ruin. Babylon's pride must be her ruin; she has been proud against the Holy One of Israel; who can keep those up whom God will throw down?

A sound of battle is in the land,.... In the land of the Chaldeans, as it is expressed in the Septuagint and Arabic versions; the noise of warriors, the clashing of arms, and sound of trumpets, both of the enemy entered into the land, and of the Chaldeans arming themselves in their own defence: and of great destruction; in the same land; or in Babylon, as Abarbinel supplies it; this is the consequent of the former.

Jeremiah 50:22-24 . A sound of battle is in the land — That is, in the land of Chaldea. How is the hammer of the whole earth broken! — That oppressive empire that smote the nations with a continual stroke, as is said Isaiah 14:6 , and brought them under subjection to it. I have laid a snare for thee; and thou art also taken, O Babylon — Cyrus took the city by surprise and in an unexpected manner, entering it, by draining the river Euphrates, at a time when the walls were entire, the city full of provisions, and the people in high spirits, and in a state of the utmost security, dreading no such event. According to Herodotus, part of the city was taken before those who dwelt in the midst of it knew any thing about it; so that with propriety they might be said to be caught as in a snare. Because thou hast striven against the Lord — The reason of this unexpected ruin coming on this great people was their sinning against the Lord: see Jeremiah 50:14 ; here called a striving against him, as indeed all sin is.

The land of Merathaim - of double rebellion. Like Mitsraim, i. e., the two Egypts, Aram-Naharaim, i. e., Syria of the two rivers, or Mesopotamia, it is a dual. It may have been a real name; or - the dual ending being intensive - it may mean the land of very great rebelliousness. Pekod - Possibly a Babylonian town. Waste - Rather, slay, Jeremiah 50:27.

21. Merathaim—a symbolical name for Babylon, the doubly rebellious, namely, against God. Compare Jer 50:24, "thou hast striven against the Lord"; and Jer 50:29, "proud against the Lord." The "doubly" refers to: first, the Assyrian's oppression of Israel; next, the kindred Chaldean's oppression of Judah (compare Jer 50:17-20, 33; especially Jer 50:18). Pekod—(Eze 23:23); a chief province of Assyria, in which Nineveh, now overthrown, once lay. But, as in Merathaim, the allusion is to the meaning of Pekod, namely, "visitation"; the inhabitants whose time of deserved visitation in punishment is come; not, however, without reference to the now Babylonian province, Pekod. The visitation on Babylon was a following up of that on Assyria. after them—even their posterity, and all that is still left of Babylon, until the very name is extinct [Grotius]. Devastate the city, after its inhabitants have deserted it. all … I … commanded—by Isaiah (Isa 13:1, &c.).

(22) On high — i.e., towards heaven ( Isaiah 40:26 ). (Comp. Isaiah 14:13-14 .) The Holy One of Israel.—A favourite expression of Isaiah’s, in whose book it occurs twenty-seven times, and only five times elsewhere in the Old Testameut (Psalm 71:22; Psalm 78:41; Psalm 89:19; Jeremiah 50:29; Jeremiah 51:5).Benson Commentary2 Kings 19:22. And lifted up thieve eyes on high — As those do who have haughty thoughts, and look down on others with contempt and scorn. Even against the Holy One of Israel — Whose honour is dear to him, and who has power to vindicate it, which the gods of the heathen have not.Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary19:20-34 All Sennacherib's motions were under the Divine cognizance. God himself undertakes to defend the city; and that person, that place, cannot but be safe, which he undertakes to protect. The invasion of the Assyrians probably had prevented the land from being sown that year. The next is supposed to have been the sabbatical year, but the Lord engaged that the produce of the land should be sufficient for their support during those two years. As the performance of this promise was to be after the destruction of Sennacherib's army, it was a sign to Hezekiah's faith, assuring him of that present deliverance, as an earnest of the Lord's future care of the kingdom of Judah. This the Lord would perform, not for their righteousness, but his own glory.

The Holy One of Israel - This is a favorite phrase with Isaiah, in whose prophecies it is found 27 times, while it occurs five times only in the rest of Scripture Psalm 71:22 ; Psalm 78:41 ; Psalm 89:18 ; Jeremiah 50:29 ; Jeremiah 51:5 . Its occurrence here is a strong proof - one among many - of the genuineness of the present passage, which is not the composition of the writer of Kings, but an actual prophecy delivered at this time by Isaiah.