*H The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds come from the south, it cometh from the desert from a terrible land.
Ver. 1. The desert of the sea. So Babylon is here called, because from a city as full of people as the sea is with water, it was become a desert. Ch. — After its fall, it was mostly inundated. C. xiii. 20. — Land. Media and Persia, which lay to the south, and were not so beautiful as the environs of Babylon.
*H A grievous vision is told me: he that is unfaithful dealeth unfaithfully: and he that is a spoiler, spoileth. Go up, O Elam, besiege, O Mede: I have made all the mourning thereof to cease.
Ver. 2. Spoileth. Baltassar is incorrigible, or his opponents must proceed. C. — Elam; that is, O Persia: (Ch.) Cyrus, and Darius, the Mede. C. — The former nation was weak, and the latter strong. W. — Cease. The enemy will shew no pity; nor shall I; as Babylon did not heretofore. H.
*H Therefore are my loins filled with pain, anguish hath taken hold of me, as the anguish of a woman in labour: I fell down at the hearing of it, I was troubled at the seeing of it.
Ver. 3. Pain. He bewails the crimes and the fall of Babylon, which at this time was in amity with Ezechias. v. 10. C.
*H My heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon my beloved is become a wonder to me.
Ver. 4. Babylon. Prot. "the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me." Sept. "My soul is turned into fear." H.
*H Prepare the table, behold in the watchtower them that eat and drink: arise, ye princes, take up the shield.
Ver. 5. Drink. Persians refresh yourselves. — Take up. Heb. "anoint." He may also allude to the Babylonians, who were feasting.
*H And he saw a chariot with two horsemen, a rider upon an ass, and a rider upon a camel: and he beheld them diligently with much heed.
Ver. 7. Camel. These two riders are the kings of the Persians and Medes. Ch. — The sentinel, placed by Isaias, in spirit, or rather by the king of Babylon, brings these tidings. C.
*H And a lion cried out: I am upon the watchtower of the Lord, standing continually by day: and I am upon my ward, standing whole nights.
Ver. 8. Out. Lit. "He cried, a lion." H. — Cyrus appears like one. Sept. "And call Urias to the watch-tower," &c. C. viii. 2.
* Footnote * Habacuc 2 : 1
I will stand upon my watch, and fix my foot upon the tower: and I will watch, to see what will be said to me, and what I may answer to him that reproveth me.*H Behold this man cometh, the rider upon the chariot with two horsemen, and he answered, and said: Babylon is fallen, she is fallen, and all the graven gods thereof are broken unto the ground.
Ver. 9. Horsemen, drawn by the ass and camel. v. 7. This was verified long after.
* Footnote * Jeremias 51 : 8
Babylon is suddenly fallen, and destroyed: howl for her, take balm for her pain, if so she may be healed.* Footnote * Apocalypse 14 : 8
And another angel followed, saying: That great Babylon is fallen, is fallen; which made all nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.*H O my thrashing, and the children of my floor, that which I have heard of the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared unto you.
Ver. 10. Floor: you who must shortly be reduced to the utmost distress. Baladan was friendly to Ezechias. But Assaradon having seized Babylon, took Manasses prisoner; and the city thenceforward continued to fill up the measure of its sins. C.
*H The burden of Duma calleth to me out of Seir: Watchman, what of the night? watchman, what of the night?
Ver. 11. Duma. That is, Idumea, or Edom. Ch. — It was a city of that country, twenty miles from Eleutheropolis. S. Jer. — Assaradon desolated Idumea the year following. v. 16. The Jews absurdly apply to Rome what is said of Edom. S. Jer. C.
*H The watchman said: The morning cometh, also the night: if you seek, seek: return, come.
Ver. 12. Night. Instead of joy, I must announce dreadful things. H.
*H The burden in Arabia. In the forest at evening you shall sleep, in the paths of Dedanim.
Ver. 13. Arabia. This sentence is not in the Rom. (C.) or Alex. Sept. (H.) and Dedan is a city of Idumea. C. — The Ismaelites are threatened. W.
*H Meeting the thirsty bring him water, you that inhabit the land of the south, meet with bread him that fleeth.
Ver. 14. Water. To neglect this was to be accessary to another's death, in those dreary regions. C. xvi. 3. Deut. xxiii. 2.
*H For thus saith the Lord to me: Within a year, according to the years of a hireling, all the glory of Cedar shall be taken away.
Ver. 16. Hireling; counting precisely. C. xvi. 14. C. — Cedar: Arabia, (Ch.) near to Edom. C.