Lecture Fifteenth
Jeremiah 4:7 | |
7. The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant. | 7. Ascendit leo ex densitate sua (hoc est, ex oculto loco,) et vastator gentium profectus est; egressus est e loco sue ad ponendum (ut ponat) terram tuam in vastitatem, urbes tuae perdentur, ut non sit habitator. |
The Prophet more fully declares the import of the threatening which we briefly considered yesterday; for God said in the former verse, that he would
By the similitude of lion he means that the Israelites would not be able to resist; and when he adds that he would be the desolator of nations, he intimates that they would perish with the rest: for if Nebuchadnezzar was sufficiently able to destroy many nations, how could the Jews escape a similar calamity?
But the similitude is most suitable, because the Jews never thought that the king of Babylon would come forth from places so remote; for the passing through was difficult, and the expedition attended with great toil: yet the Prophet says, that the lion would come from his recesses, and that nothing would hinder him from breaking forth and coming to the open country. He at last concludes by saying, that the
1 The word "thicket, "in our version, correctly expresses it; a tangled wood, where trees cross and entwine with each other.-Ed.
2 "Laid waste" is the Chaldee sense; but the verb means in Hebrew to germinate, to produce grass, to grow over with grass as ruined cities do. The words which follow, "without an inhabitant, "shew that this meaning suits here,-
Thy cities shall grow over with grass, without an inhabitant.
The Targum is,
Thy cities shall be desolate without an inhabitant.-Ed.