Jeremiah 48:2 |
2. There shall be no more praise of Moab; in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; come, and let us cut it off from being a nation: also thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen; the sword shall pursue thee. | 2. Nulla amplius gloriatio Moab in Chesbon; cogitaverunt super eam malum, Venite et excidamus eam, ne sit gens; etiam Madmen, (alloquitur urbem ipsam,) excisa es (ad verbum, in solitudinem redacta, sed metaphorice accipitur pro interitu, interiit ergo Madmen;) post to proficiscetur gladius. |
The Prophet, as before, does not speak in an ordinary way, but declares in lofty terms what God had committed to him, in order that he might terrify the Moabites; not indeed that they heard his threatenings, but it was necessary that he should denounce vengeance in this vehement manner, that the Jews might know that the cruelty and pride of the Moabites, hereafter mentioned, would not go unpunished.
Hence he says, No more shall be the praise or the boasting of Moab over Heshbon. We may learn from this place and from others, that Heshbon had been taken from the Moabites; for it was occupied by God's people, because the Moabites had lost it, as Moses relates in Numbers 21:30, and in Deuteronomy 2:26, etc. But (as things change) when the Moabites became strong, they took away this city from the Israelites. Hence the Prophet says, that there would be no more boasting that they possessed that city; for he adds, They have thought, or devised, etc. There is here a striking allusion, for Nwbsx, chesbon, is derived from bsx, chesheb, to devise or to consult, as though it were a place of consultation or devisings. The Prophet then says, that as to Heshbon they consulted against it, hyle wbsx cheshbu olie. He uses the root from which the name of the city is derived. Heshbon, then, hitherto called the place of consultation, was to have and find other counselors, even those who would contrive ruin for it. Come ye; the Prophet refers here to the counsel taken by the Chaldeans, Come ye, and let us cut her off from being a nation. He then joins another city, And thou, Madmen,1 shalt be cut off, for a sword shall go after thee, or pursue thee, as though the city itself was fleeing from the sword; not that cities move from one place to another; but when the citizens deliberate how they may drive away their enemies and resist their attacks, -- when they seek aid here and there, -- when they set up their own remedies, they are said to flee. But the Prophet says, "Thou shalt gain nothing by fleeing, for the sword shall pursue thee." It follows, --
Even silenced thou shalt be silenced,
After thee shall go the sword.
To be silenced, in the language of the prophets, is to be subdued. See Isaiah 15:1, when the same thing is said of Moab. The word silence forms a contrast with the boasting of Moab mentioned at the beginning of the verse. After being subdued and removed elsewhere, still the sword would follow Moab. -- Ed.