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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Jeremiah 49:23 - 49:39
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Against Damascus, Hazok, and Elam
v. 23. Concerning Damascus. Hamath, a powerful city on the Orontes and formerly the capital of a country of the same name, is confounded, and Arpad, another mighty city, both of them now within the confines of Syria, for they have heard evil tidings; they are faint-hearted, full of concern on account of the reports which they have heard; there is sorrow on the sea, terror among the inhabitants along its shores; it cannot be quiet, there is no rest for worry over the outlook.
v. 24. Damascus is waxed feeble, utterly discouraged and enfeebled; and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her, anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail, the terror of utter despair.
v. 25. How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy? How was it that the place of delight, as Damascus was called of old, was not abandoned by its inhabitants, so that they might have saved their lives by a speedy flight?
v. 26. Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the Lord of hosts. So great had been their terror at the approach of the enemy that they had not even had recourse to flight and so were cut down in the very streets of their city.
v. 27. And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, inside the walls, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad, the royal dwellings, and therewith at least a part, if not all, of the city.
v. 28. Concerning Kedar, a tribe of Bedouins, descendants of Ishmael found in Northern Arabia, and concerning the kingdoms of Hazor, a district in Northeastern Arabia, which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, shall smite, thus saith the Lord, Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the East, as the people of Canaan designated all the wilderness dwellers of Arabia.
v. 29. Their tents and their flocks, the chief possessions of nomads, shall they take away; they shall take to themselves their curtains, the costly woven goods and the hangings of their tents, and all their vessels, household utensils as well as such pieces of furniture and adornment as comprised their wealth, and their camels; and they, the invading forces, shall cry unto them, in a shout of war, Fear is on every side.
v. 30. Flee, get you far off, run apace, dwell deep, hiding themselves in remote places, O ye inhabitants of Hazor! saith the Lord; for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, hath taken counsel against you, devised a plan to subdue them, and hath conceived a purpose against you. This warning is addressed to the wilderness dwellers, since no conqueror would venture to follow them into the trackless wastes of the desert. In the next words the Lord once more turns to the enemies, bidding them continue their work of destruction.
v. 31. Arise, get you up unto the wealthy nation, a tranquil tribe, having no presentiment of evil, that dwelleth without care, in calm security, saith the Lord, which have neither gates nor bars, not dwelling in fenced and fortified cities, which dwell alone, with little or no intercourse with other nations or tribes, from which they might expect assistance in case of an attack.
v. 32. And their camels shall be a booty and the multitude of their cattle a spoil, a welcome bit of plunder for the enemies; and I will scatter into all winds them that are in the utmost corners, those who have the edges of their hair trimmed; for these tribes had the custom of clipping the hair of head and beard in a peculiar angle; and I will bring their calamity from all sides thereof, saith the Lord.
v. 33. And Hazor shall be a dwelling for dragons, the habitation of jackals, and a desolation forever; there shall no man abide there, nor any son of man dwell in it. This prophecy was fulfilled when the Chaldeans, on their way to the West and South, sent detachments of troops to bring these nomadic tribes into subjection.
v. 34. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah, the prophet, against Elam, a Semitic tribe in the Persian province of Susiana, especially that section nearest to Palestine, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, at the beginning of the sixth century B. C. saying,
v. 35. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, for the skilful use of which the Elamites were known, the chief of their might, thus rendering them helpless before their enemies.
v. 36. And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven and will scatter them toward all those winds, so that their power would be definitely and finally broken; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.
v. 37. For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies and before them that seek their life, no specific enemy being named, but all of them included; and I will bring evil upon them, even My fierce anger, saith the Lord; and I will send the sword after them till I have consumed them, so that their identity as a separate nation, would be lost;
v. 38. and I will set My throne in Elam, Jehovah showing Himself as King by His judgments there, and will destroy from thence the king and the princes, saith the Lord.
v. 39. But it shall come to pass in the latter days, an expression used invariably of the Messianic era, that I will bring again the captivity of Elam, saith the Lord, so that from this country also there were some who accepted the Messiah as their Lord and Savior. It is interesting to note that among the strangers present on the great day of Pentecost to hear the sermon of Peter there were also people of Elam. Cf Act_2:9.