The destruction of Babylon by the Medes and Persians: a prophecy against the Edomites and the Arabians.
The destruction of Babylon by the Medes and Persians is againe prophecied, 11. The like of the Idumeans; 13. and of Arabians.
1The burden of the desert of the sea. As whirlwinds come from the south, it cometh from the desert from a terrible land.Annunzio pesante contro il mare del deserto. Da un deserto, da un'orrida terra egli viene, come dall'Affrico vengono i turbini.THE burden of the desert sea. As whirlewinds come from the South, it cometh from the desert, from an horrible land.Onus deserti maris. Sicut turbines ab africo veniunt, / de deserto venit, / de terra horribili. 2A 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.Una dura visione è stata annunziata a me. L'incredulo opera da infedele, il saccheggiatore devasta. Mettiti in marcia, o Elam, poni l'assedio, o Medo. Io darò requie a tutti quelli, ch'ella facea sospirare.A sore vision was told me: he that is incredulous doth vnfaithfully: & he that is a spoiler, wasteth. Come vp Aelam, besiege ô Mede: I haue made al the moorning therof to cease.Visio dura nuntiata est mihi: / qui incredulus est infideliter agit; / et qui depopulator est vastat. / Ascende, Ælam; obside, Mede; / omnem gemitum ejus cessare feci. 3Therefore 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.Per questo son pieni di dolore, e gli affetti miei sono in affanno, quale è quello di una partoriente: mi sbigottii all'udire, fui atterrito al vedere.Therfore are my loines filled with sorow, anguish hath possessed me, as the anguish of a woman that trauaileth: I fel downe when I heard it, I was trubled when I saw it.Propterea repleti sunt lumbi mei dolore; / angustia possedit me / sicut angustia parturientis; / corrui cum audirem, conturbatus sum cum viderem. 4My heart failed, darkness amazed me: Babylon my beloved is become a wonder to me.Il cuor mi si strugge; l'orrore mi prende stupido. Babilonia la mia diletta è per me oggetto di sbalordimento.Mine hart fayled, darkenes made me astonied: Babylon my beloued is made a miracle vnto me.Emarcuit cor meum; / tenebræ stupefecerunt me: / Babylon dilecta mea / posita est mihi in miraculum. 5Prepare the table, behold in the watchtower them that eat and drink: arise, ye princes, take up the shield.Prepara la mensa: sta spiando da una vedetta: voi, che mangiate, e bevete, alzatevi, o principi, date di piglio allo scudo.Lay the table, looke about in the watch towre the eaters and drinkers: arise ye princes, take shield.Pone mensam, contemplare in specula / comedentes et bibentes: / surgite, principes, / arripite clypeum.
6For thus hath the Lord said to me: Go, and set a watchman: and whatsoever he shall see, let him tell.Imperocché il Signore mi ha parlato così: Va, metti una sentinella, ed ella dia avviso di tutto quel, che vedrà.For thus hath our Lord sayd to me: Goe, and set a watchman: and what soeuer he shal see, let him tel.Hæc enim dixit mihi Dominus: / Vade, et pone speculatorem, / et quodcumque viderit annuntiet. 7And 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.Ed ella vide una pariglia di due cavalieri, uno cavalcava un asino, altro cavalcava un cammello, e li contemplò attentamente per molto tempo.And he saw a chariote of two horsemen, a rider vpon an asse, and a rider vpon a camel: and he beheld them diligently with much looking.Et vidit currum duorum equitum, / ascensorem asini, / et ascensorem cameli; / et contemplatus est diligenter multo intuitu. 8And 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.E gridò qual lione: Io sto alla vedetta da parte del Signore: io vi sto continuamente di giorno, e io sto vegliando al mio posto le intere notti.And a lion cried: I am vpon the watch towre of our Lord, standing continually by day: and I am vpon my watch, standing whole nights.Et clamavit leo: / Super speculam Domini ego sum, / stans jugiter per diem; / et super custodiam meam ego sum, / stans totis noctibus. 9Behold 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.Ecco, che viene la pariglia de' cavalieri sulle loro cavalcature; e soggiunse, e disse: E caduta, è caduta Babilonia, e tutte le statue de' suoi dei sono infrante sulla terra.Behold this man cometh, the rider vpon the chariot of two horsemen, and he answered, and said: Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and al the sculptils of the gods therof are broken to the ground.Ecce iste venit ascensor / vir bigæ equitum; / et respondit, et dixit: / Cecidit, cecidit Babylon, / et omnia sculptilia deorum ejus / contrita sunt in terram. 10O 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.Voi mia battitura, voi figli della aia mia, a voi ho io annunziato quello, che udii dal Signor degli eserciti, dal Dio d'Israele.O my threshing, and children of my flore, the thinges that I haue heard of the Lord of hostes the God of Israel, I haue shewed vnto you.Tritura mea et filii areæ meæ, / quæ audivi a Domino exercituum, / Deo Israël, / annuntiavi vobis.
11The burden of Duma calleth to me out of Seir: Watchman, what of the night? watchman, what of the night?Annunzio pesante contro Duma: Gridano a me da Seir: Sentinella, che è stato questa notte? sentinella, che è stato questa notte?The burden of Duma crieth to me out of Seir: Watchman what of the night? watchman what of the night?Onus Duma. Ad me clamat ex Seir: / Custos, quid de nocte ? / custos, quid de nocte ? 12The watchman said: The morning cometh, also the night: if you seek, seek: return, come.La sentinella risponde: È venuto il mattino, e la notte: se voi cercate, cercate, e di nuovo venite.The watchman said: morning is come & night: if you seeke, seeke: returne, come.Dixit custos: / Venit mane et nox; / si quæritis, quærite; / convertimini, venite. 13The burden in Arabia. In the forest at evening you shall sleep, in the paths of Dedanim.Annunzio pesante contro l'Arabia: Voi dormirete la sera nella boscaglia sulla strada di Dedanim.The burden in Arabia. In the forest at euen you shal sleepe, in the pathes of Dedanim.Onus in Arabia. In saltu ad vesperam dormietis, / in semitis Dedanim. 14Meeting the thirsty bring him water, you that inhabit the land of the south, meet with bread him that fleeth.Voi, che abitate dalla parte di mezzodì, andate incontro, portate acqua all'assetato, e andate incontro al fuggitivo, portando pane.Meeting the thirstie bring water, you that inhabite the land of the South, with bread meete him that fleeth.Occurrentes sitienti ferte aquam, / qui habitatis terram austri; / cum panibus occurrite fugienti. 15For they are fled from before the swords, from the sword that hung over them, from the bent bow, from the face of a grievous battle.Perocché fuggono il terror delle spade, il terrore della spade pendente, il terrore dell'arco teso, il terrore del duro combattimento:For they are fled from the face of the swordes, from the face of the sword hanging ouer, from the face of the bow bent, from the face of a greuous battel.A facie enim gladiorum fugerunt, / a facie gladii imminentis, / a facie arcus extenti, / a facie gravis prælii. 16For 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.Imperocché così dice a me il Signore: Ancor un anno, anno qual è quello di un bracciante, e sparirà tutta la gloria di Cedar.Because thus sayth our Lord to me: Yet in one yeare, as in the yeare of an hyred man, and al the glorie of Cedar shal be taken away.Quoniam hæc dicit Dominus ad me: / Adhuc in uno anno, quasi in anno mercenarii, / et auferetur omnis gloria Cedar. 17And the residue of the number of strong archers of the children of Cedar shall be diminished: for the Lord the God of Israel hath spoken it.E il numero, che resterà de' forti arcieri di Cedar, sarà piccolo; perocché il Signore Dio d'Israele ha parlato.And the remnant of the number of the strong archers of the children of Cedar shal be diminished: for our Lord the God of Israel hath spoken it.Et reliquiæ numeri sagittariorum fortium / de filiis Cedar imminuentur; / Dominus enim Deus Israël locutus est.
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Challoner
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. (Challoner)
After its fall, it was mostly inundated, Isaias 13:20.
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Calmet
Spoileth. Baltassar is incorrigible, or his opponents must proceed. (Calmet)
Worthington
The former nation was weak, and the latter strong. (Worthington)
Haydock
Cease. The enemy will shew no pity; nor shall I; as Babylon did not heretofore. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Pain. He bewails the crimes and the fall of Babylon, which at this time was in amity with Ezechias, ver. 10. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Babylon. Protestants, "the night of my pleasure hath he turned into fear unto me." Septuagint, "My soul is turned into fear." (Haydock)
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Drink. Persians refresh yourselves.
Take up. Hebrew, "anoint." He may also allude to the Babylonians, who were feasting.
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Challoner
Camel. These two riders are the kings of the Persians and Medes. (Challoner)
Calmet
The sentinel, placed by Isaias, in spirit, or rather by the king of Babylon, brings these tidings. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Out. Literally, "He cried, a lion." (Haydock)
Cyrus appears like one. Septuagint, "And call Urias to the watch-tower," etc., Isaias 8:2.
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Horsemen, drawn by the ass and camel, ver. 7. This was verified long after.
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Calmet
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. (Calmet)
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St. Jerome
It was a city of that country, twenty miles from Eleutheropolis. (St. Jerome)
Calmet
Assaradon desolated Idumea the year following, ver. 16. The Jews absurdly apply to Rome what is said of Edom. (St. Jerome) (Calmet)
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Haydock
Night. Instead of joy, I must announce dreadful things. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Arabia. This sentence is not in the Roman (Calmet) or Alexandrian Septuagint, (Haydock) and Dedan is a city of Idumea. (Calmet)
Worthington
The Ismaelites are threatened. (Worthington)
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Water. To neglect this was to be accessary to another's death, in those dreary regions, Isaias 16:3., and Deuteronomy 23:2.
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Calmet
Hireling; counting precisely, Isaias 16:14. (Calmet)
Calmet
Cedar: Arabia, (Challoner) near to Edom. (Calmet)
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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.
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A rider upon an ass, etc.... These two riders are the kings of the Persians and Medes.
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And a lion cried out.... That is, I Isaias seeing the approaching ruin of Babylon, have cried out as a lion roaring.
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The sixt commination was against the Assirians, & specially the Babylonians.
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Cyrus king of the Persians a people of smal powre, & of the Medes, of great streingth.
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Concordance Iere. 51. Apoc. 14.
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The seuenth prophetical commination was against the Idumeans.
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The eight against the Ismaelites Arabiam.
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.11
11. Perchance He will say to me, who am not reformed even by blows, I know that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, the heedless is heedless and the lawless man acts lawlessly,
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 32
… but One Light and One God. This was what David represented to himself long before when he said, In Thy Light shall we see Light. And now we have both seen and proclaim concisely and simply the doctrine of God the Trinity, comprehending out of Light (the Father), Light (the Son), in Light (the Holy Ghost). He that rejects it, let him reject it;
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.17
… Why is this, and what is the cause of the breach? Let us not wait to be convicted by others, let us be our own examiners. An important medicine for evil is confession, and care to avoid stumbling. I will be first to do so, as I have made my report to my people from on high, and performed the duty of a watcher.
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 113
… And therefore he has rightly come to hear the words of doom: “Babylon is fallen, is fallen.”
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Second, he calls Babylon a desert, substantively, that is a wilderness and solitude: for this is what the Hebrew מדבר midbar signifies; because into a desert and into a solitude by God the avenger was it to be reduced. Thus St. Jerome. The sense therefore is, as if to say, This is a burden, that is a threatening and burdensome prophecy against Babylon, which when it shall have been a sea of nations, now shall be laid waste by God, so that it may be seen to be a wilderness and desert. Note: Prophecies by the Prophets, at different and various times have been published: whence it is not surprising, if the same things they repeat more obscurely; as Isaiah what in chapter XIII and XIV he clearly predicted concerning the destruction of Babylon, here he repeats and replicates obscurely. See Canon III and IV. Add, it is not established whether this prophecy is prior or that one of chapter XIII is posterior; for neither in the collection of prophecies has the order of time been observed, as is evident in Jeremiah. Mystically St. Bernard, On the Burden of the Desert Sea, sermon 6, thus discourses: "The desert sea is the multitude of the reprobate, who abandoned by God, and separated from the number of the saints, by their weight and persecution press upon the holy Church, they themselves to be punished afterwards by the weight of punishments, which in this burden are cast forth by the Prophet. Furthermore the sea are those, who are shaken by diverse tumults of passions and vices. Who are always in motion, and always wandering, never stable, never remaining in the same state, now they swell with pride, now they burn with anger, now they are sad, now they are light, now they are pressed with silence, now dissolved with laughter, they transgress the precepts of the elders, and disturb the peace of the brethren. As long as they fear, as long as they grieve, as long as they admit correction, and do not flee satisfaction, they are not a desert sea. But if coming into the depth of evils, they despise; if corrected they cry out against, they answer nothing honest, nothing quiet, nothing moreover ordered, but swollen, but puffed up even against him by whom they are corrected, they have risen up with words of indignation, so that it is necessary to leave them to themselves, do not hesitate to call them a desert sea. Then exaggerating the burden and punishments of these, he adds: "Woe to those who are abandoned by God and left by men according to the desires of their heart, that they may go in their own inventions. To whom also the Lord through the Prophet: I will take away my zeal from you, and I will be angry no more. You know, dearest brethren, how heavy a burden those who are such impose upon the shoulders of the saints. Under this burden the Prophet groaned, who said: Upon my back the sinners have wrought. Truly upon our back they work, who are of this sort, burdening us with their daily insults, who add sins to sins, join contempt to contempt, insulting, haughty, detractors, hateful to God, disobedient to elders, not temperate with companions. Such as these know that they shall incur the weight of punishments which is beheld in the burden of the desert sea." AS WHIRLWINDS FROM AFRICA COME, FROM THE DESERT IT COMES. — The "to" from the desert is to be referred both to "come whirlwinds" and to "it comes." Africus is a wind blowing from Africa, and therefore Western; but lateral turning toward the South. This is turbulent and stormy, whence Horace, book I Carm., ode 3, calls the storms from Africa excited by Africus, and Virgil in Aeneid I: "And frequent with storms Africus." The sense is, as if to say, Just as, with Africus blowing, there arises a huge, sudden and stormy tempest of sand from the desert, so (for by a Hebraism commonly used the note of similitude is understood thus or so) this burden, and this whirlwind of the Persians comes, that is shall come, from a similar desert, which shall bring a like tempest to Babylon. Thus St. Jerome. For a whirlwind is a most rapid and violent wind, which turns and sweeps away all things in its path in a circle. He calls Media and Persia a desert, both properly, because namely vast deserts lie between them and Babylon; and metaphorically, because namely the Medes and Persians shall be destructive to Babylon like a whirlwind, which comes from the desert. He alludes to the sands of the desert, for example Pharan and Arabia, which the Hebrews crossed coming from Egypt into Chanaan, which was therefore well known to them; or the province of Cyrenaica, which when the South wind blows rolls up huge waves of sand like a raging sea, as Pliny testifies, book II, chapter XLV; Pomponius Mela, book I, chapter VIII; Solinus, chapter XI, and Herodotus in Thalia, where he relates that an army led into the Ammonites, when the South wind blew, was so buried in sands, that not even one escaped, or remained alive. In a similar manner therefore he teaches that the Chaldeans are to be buried by the Persians; for this is what Jeremiah predicted concerning the same in chapter LI, 36: "And I will make his sea a desert, and I will dry up his veins, and Babylon shall be in heaps, namely of sand," says St. Jerome here.
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2. A HARD VISION (concerning Babylon in the future) HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED TO ME, — These are the words of Isaiah; not of Babylon, as some wish. WHO IS UNFAITHFUL, ACTS FAITHLESSLY (In Hebrew, He who is a transgressor to others, is a transgressor to Babylon: The Hebrew בגד bagad means to transgress, to break faith, to rebel, to shake off the yoke): AND HE WHO IS A SPOILER, SPOILS, — that is to say, the Persians and Medes, a faithless and covenant-breaking people, do not keep faith with the Babylonians, as they do not with other nations; and just as they are accustomed to spoil other nations, so they will also lay waste Babylon. For that the Medes and Persians were confederates of the Babylonians is evident from the fact that Nebuchadnezzar with Cyaxares king of the Medes conquered Nineveh and overthrew the monarchy of the Assyrians, as St. Jerome, Eusebius and others whom I shall cite at Jeremiah cap. I, 2 teach. Whence also Nebuchadnezzar took as wife Nitocris the daughter of Cyaxares: hence also the Elamites, that is the Persians, came with the Chaldeans against Jerusalem, as is said in the following chapter, verse 6. Wherefore this sense is the genuine one. Thus Adam and others. Secondly, Sanchez thinks these things are to be understood of Godata and Gobrias, who deserted from Belshazzar to Cyrus, and were the first to creep into Babylon and into the royal palace, and there slew Belshazzar, as Xenophon teaches, lib. VII of the Education of Cyrus. And Sanchez adds that in the word שדד sadad, that is spoils, there is an allusion to כשדים Casdim, that is Chaldeans, as if to say: Two Chaldean princes already mentioned will transgress against their king, and according to their name they will be Thirdly, the same Sanchez prefers this explanation to all others, in which the first part is applied to the Babylonians, the second to the Medes and Persians, that is to say, As the Babylonian is unfaithful and acts faithlessly, so the Persian or Mede is a spoiler and lays waste. Whence in Hebrew it is, transgressor transgressor, and spoiler spoiler, that is, as he, namely the Babylonian, stubbornly transgresses and sins against God and men: so he, namely Cyrus, stubbornly will lay him waste. Fourthly, Vatablus translates, transgressor to transgressor, and to the spoiler a spoiler, namely will be, or will come. It is a proverb, that is to say, The Chaldean, who was doing injury to others, will be injured by the Persians; he who was laying waste others will himself be laid waste. Fifthly, Forerius translates, the spoiler is spoiled, and the waster wastes, and St. Jerome in the Commentary: He who smites with the sword, smite with the sword, he who lays waste, lay waste, that is to say, O Medes and Persians who smite and lay waste other nations! smite and lay waste the Babylonians; this is your duty, this is your task, prepare it. ARISE, ELAM; BESIEGE, MEDE, — that is to say, Come now, O transgressor, O spoiler of Babylon! thou, I say, O Elam! that is the Persian, and thou, O Mede! invade the city hateful to me, and devoted to your slaughter. The Septuagint for Mede translates Persian, perhaps, says Leo Castrius, alluding to the Greek πέρθειν, that is to lay waste and destroy, that is to say, The Medes will be Persians, that is destroyers of Babylon. Thus in the Apocalypse IX, that angel is called in Hebrew Abaddon, in Greek ἀπολλύων, in Latin destroyer or exterminator. I HAVE MADE ALL HER GROANING TO CEASE, — "her," namely of the Persian and Mede: thus some; secondly, "her," namely of the people of Judah, whom Isaiah always bore in mind and heart; thirdly, and more aptly, "her," namely of Babylon, I have made her groaning to cease, because thus suddenly will she be overwhelmed by the Persians, that struck with stupor she cannot weep and groan, or I take away her groaning, that is her lamentation, public and funeral, that is to say, I will make it so that the Chaldeans slain by the Persians lack funeral rites and funeral procession and lamentation. Thus Sanchez; fourthly, and most excellently Vatablus takes these things actively, that is to say, I have made her groaning to cease, namely of Babylon, which by her tyranny and oppression forced others to weep and groan. Whence the Chaldean translator renders it, all who groaned before the face of the king of Babylon, I have made to cease, namely with him being slain.
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3. THEREFORE MY LOINS ARE FILLED WITH PAIN. — Cyril and Adam think this is mimesis, for the Prophet speaks in the person of Belshazzar, when he saw the hand writing on the wall: Mene tekel phares, and from these things Daniel explaining, he knew that destruction and ruin were impending upon him and his kingdom. But, because it follows, set the table, which was done before this hand wrote these things: hence St. Jerome more rightly judges these to be the words of Isaiah loving Babylon, although an enemy to his own nation, and compassionating it after his manner, when he foresaw in spirit it being besieged by Cyrus, and placed in a marvel, that is constrained by admirable straits. He mentions the pain of the loins, because he alludes to the pains of women in travail, as he immediately explains, which are most violent in the loins; for these are wonderfully convulsed in childbirth, so that they seem plainly to be dislocated and torn apart. I WAS TROUBLED WHEN I SAW. — Hence the appearance of Babylon burning seems to have been set before the eyes of the mind of Isaiah by God.
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4. DARKNESS HATH ASTONISHED ME, — from sorrow and fear a mist was cast over my eyes, and from this came stupor and horror to my mind. BABYLON MY BELOVED. — In Hebrew for Babylon there is נשף neseph, that is, mist, darkness. Thus he called Babylon "the misty mountain," cap. XIII, 2, for the reasons set forth there. St. Jerome adds that it is called "mist," because it raised the summit of pride even to heaven (where our eye grows dim). Whence secondly, Vatablus, Adam and others translate it, twilight, or the night of my desire he hath set for me in fear, and they explain it thus, that these are the words of Belshazzar, as if to say, The last night, in which I thought to feast and rejoice, God hath turned for me into mourning and horror: this sense is very fitting, if we regard the Hebrew; thirdly, Sanchez thinks the destruction of Babylon is called twilight, because it was as the dawn of light, that is, the beginning of joy, which was about to arise for the Jews from their freedom under Cyrus. Twilight therefore of desire is the beginning of the long-desired freedom: this verse is turned for Isaias into fear and mourning, because it grieved the Jews that they were to be freed with such great sorrow and loss to the Chaldeans. The Septuagint, reading for neseph by metathesis נפש nephes, that is, soul, translate: My soul hath stood in fear. BELOVED. — Some think this is said ironically and by antiphrase, beloved, that is, a city hated by me and the Jews. Secondly, Sanchez thinks my, to be paragogic; for it corresponds to the Hebrew yod, which here is not an affixed pronoun, but a paragogic letter. A similar case is Cant. I, 9, סוסתי susati, that is, to my horses, where yod, that is, my, seems to be paragogic. Babylon therefore is called absolutely beloved, in Hebrew חשקי chiski, that is, desirable, on account of its riches, beauty and delights. HATH BEEN SET FOR ME IN A WONDER. — Babylon, on account of the splendor of its walls and buildings, was one of the seven wonders of the world: now it is a wonder of ruin, distress, fear and trembling; for this is the Hebrew חרדה charada.
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5. SET THE TABLE, LOOK IN THE WATCHTOWER. — It is irony, as if to say, Come, Belshazzar, prepare the table, feast, and meanwhile station watchers, who from the watchtower may look out, lest Cyrus, who besieges it, attempt any irruption into the city. These shall cry out with me to you and yours: Arise, princes, who feast and drink luxuriously with Belshazzar, take up the shield, the enemy is at hand, Babylon is entered, he rushes to the palace; meet the one raging in the city, say Vatablus, Adam and others. Thus it happened, as Xenophon narrates, lib. VII, where he says Belshazzar stationed these watchers: whence the Persians who broke into the palace found the king with drawn sword, and there slew him. Otherwise the watchtower is understood by St. Thomas, Hugh and Sanchez, namely for a wall, as if to say, Look, O Belshazzar! and behold in the wall the hand of God writing: Mane tekel phares, and threatening you with destruction; whence in Hebrew it is, look at a looking, or see a vision. Secondly, Sanchez, referring to the feasting Babylonians, arise to the Persians, as if to say, While the Babylonians feast and drink, arise, princes of the Persians, take up arms, invade the city. But the sense which I gave a little before seems more connected and genuine. TAKE UP THE SHIELD. — It appears the Interpreter read משכו mischu, that is, draw, pull, seize; whence also the Septuagint translate, prepare: now they read משחו misichu, that is, anoint the shield, as if to say, Do not anoint your head and body after the manner, O guests of Belshazzar! do not season your foods more luxuriously, but anoint the shields, take up arms; it is not a time for feasting, but for fighting. Again, anoint the shield; for soldiers were accustomed to anoint their arms, that they might be polished and gleaming. Whence Virgil, lib. VII Aeneid: Some polish the light shields and bright spears With unctuous fat. And Vegetius, lib. II, cap. XIV: "The decurion," he says, "compels the soldiers to frequently wipe their breastplates, spears and helmets; for the splendor of arms brings great terror to the enemy;" and: "Who would believe a warlike soldier whose dissimulation allows iron and arms to be fouled by rust and decay?" Wherefore the Chaldean translator renders it, wipe, and make the arms bright. Thus Sanchez. He notes the sloth of the Babylonians, who allowed their arms to be covered with rust, so that they themselves would need to sharpen and polish them when they had to use them, and when they had to join battle with the enemy. Again, anoint the shield; perhaps with oil the shield becomes light and slippery, and will elude the javelins of the enemy, and turn aside the blows, to which roughness usually opens the way. For this reason the ancients anointed shields, says Forerius, R. Solomon and Vatablus. Secondly, Hector Pintus and Pagninus: Anoint the shield, they say, that is, anoint another king in place of Belshazzar, who is about to be slain, who may be a shield to you: namely, anoint Cyrus, submit yourselves to him. For they were accustomed in the creation of a king to anoint him and his shield, say Vatablus and R. Solomon, and thus they explain that passage II Kings I, 21: "Because there the shield of the mighty hath been cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil." But there the anointed is to be referred to Saul, not to shield.
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6. GO, AND SET A WATCHMAN. — These things are said comically or rather tragically, as if to say: I have told you, O Belshazzar! Behold in a mirror; now on account of the impending danger I say again: Set a watchman, and me, if you please, set, as if to say: If you wish to read or hear this prophecy of mine, I Isaiah will be to you a most true and faithful watchman. Wherefore, in the following verse, Isaiah announces that he has watched a chariot of the enemy, which was drawn by an ass and a camel, with two horsemen. Therefore, some less fittingly understand by watchman God, or an Angel, who observes these things and says to Isaiah, so that he himself might announce them to the Chaldeans.
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7. AND HE SAW A CHARIOT OF TWO HORSEMEN. — These two horsemen are Darius and Cyrus, who in one chariot as it were, that is in one army, and with joined forces, invaded Babylon and conquered it. This chariot was drawn by an ass and a camel; the ass signified the Persians, the camel the Medes. Secondly and more fittingly, I saw a chariot, that is I saw a chariot of two horsemen, namely a chariot drawn by asses, upon which sat Cyrus the Persian; and another chariot drawn by camels, upon which sat Darius the Mede: yet these chariots were similar and equal, so that they appeared to be one and the same chariot; whence in Hebrew it is, I saw a chariot of equal horsemen; or of equal horsemen. Each king therefore had his own chariot, as is evident from Achab and Josaphat fighting against Ramoth Galaad. Again, the same chariot could not be drawn by an ass and a camel, which is far larger and has a completely different gait than an ass. Whence Symmachus for two riders or horsemen translated, two chariots. For in Hebrew it is, I saw a chariot, that is chariots, of equal horsemen, namely, a chariot of an ass and a chariot of a camel, as if to say: I saw two chariots: one was drawn by asses, the other by camels. Thus Vatablus, Forerius, Pagninus, and indeed Cyril and Procopius. The Medes are compared to a camel, and Darius their king; because the Medes were warlike and powerful, and rode upon camels, and Darius, sprung from the royal blood of the Medes, was illustrious and magnanimous. Thus St. Jerome. But Cyrus and the Persians are compared to an ass, because up to this day they had been abject and ignoble: secondly, because the nation was laborious and patient of evils; thirdly, because not so much by military skill as by the strength of bodies and a multitude of men, or by the cowardice of those with whom they waged war, they obtained their empire. For the same reasons they are compared by Daniel, cap. VII, 5, to a bear; fourthly, because, although the earlier Persians were most continent and exceedingly frugal, as Xenophon testifies; yet the later ones were dissolved into luxury and lusts, as is evident in the time of Xerxes and Darius Codomannus, etc.; indeed Theodoret, in Levit. Quæst. XXIV: "The Persians," he says, "even to this day mingle not only with sisters, but also with mothers and daughters by the law of marriage." Thus also Augustine there, Quæst. LVIII. For the lascivious are compared to asses. Whence Ezech. XXIII, 20, it is said of the Egyptians and Chaldeans: "Whose flesh is as the flesh of asses:" "flesh," that is the pudenda so large, says St. Jerome. Finally Eusebius, lib. IX De Præparat., cap. ult., from Alphaeus and the annals of the Chaldeans, teaches that Nebuchadnezzar, seized by enthusiasm, predicted to the Chaldeans: "There shall come a Persian half-ass, who shall impose upon you the yoke of servitude: there shall come Cyrus, who is called half-ass, that is a mule, born from a mare and an ass, or a camel and an ass, because Cyrus was born of his mother Mandane, daughter of Astyages king of the Medes, but of a father of obscure Persian lineage. Whence also some think that one and the same Cyrus is called here a rider of an ass, because born of the Persians he ruled over them; and a rider of a camel, because born of a Median mother, after the death of Darius his uncle, he entered into the kingdom of the Medes. But it is more true that two riders or horsemen are set here, namely Darius and Cyrus. Allegorically, Isychius, lib. II in Levit. XI: Christ, he says, is the rider of a camel, that is of the people of Judah, who bore the heavy yoke of the law, and were of distorted and proud manners, like a camel: and he is the rider of an ass, an unclean animal, that is of the people of the Gentiles, and from them he made one chariot for the Church: or, as Castrius says, Christ is the rider and lord of a camel, that is of the heavenly Angels; and of an ass, that is of earthly men. Finally Alcazar, in Apocal. XVII, not. 1, beautifully adapts this to SS. Peter and Paul, who overthrew Babylon the mystical, that is Rome and idolatry, and subjected it to Christ. The rider of an ass is St. Peter, as the Apostle of the Jews, who like asses were accustomed to the burden of the law. The rider of a camel is Paul, as the Apostle of the proud and untamed Gentiles: indeed he himself contends that this sense is literal; but from what has been said it is evident that it is mystical. AND HE CONTEMPLATED. — Not Cyrus, but the watchman, namely Isaiah, who here according to the office assumed a little before watches and announces the coming of Cyrus; whence he cries out like a lion, as follows. Isaiah speaks of himself in the third person, which is frequent in Scripture and among the Hebrews.
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8. AND THE WATCHMAN CRIED. — Some, such as Vatablus, explain it thus: The watchman cried: A Lion, namely Cyrus, approaches, preparing destruction for you, O Chaldeans! Whence Aquila translated, call the lion; Symmachus, call the lioness; Theodotion, call ariel, that is to say, call Cyrus, that as a lion he may rush upon Babylon; secondly, and better, Isaiah cried out and roared as a lion: For Isaiah, placed as a watchman and Prophet, and always keeping watch for the visitation of God, and most mightily foretelling future things, is rightly compared to a lion as a guardian of men; because the lion is ever watchful, in that it has the shortest eyelids, and shining pupils, so that even while sleeping it appears to be awake. Hence it was believed by the ancients that the lion never sleeps: for which reason the Greeks were accustomed to paint two lions on the doors of temples, as it were guardians of the place, as we still see done on many doors of palaces, cities and temples. Indeed here in Rome in the palace of the Pontiff in the Vatican I saw the image of a sleeping lion with this inscription: Sleeping, it keeps watch. Again, of all animals having curved claws, the lion alone sees when first brought into the light, whence by Plutarch it is called a solar animal. Thus the Egyptians, says Horus Apollo, Hieroglyph. 19: "Showing a watchful man and one of the age, or even a guardian, they paint the head of a lion: because the lion while awake closes its eyes, the same when it sleeps, it has open, which is a sign of watchfulness and vigilance. For which reason they paint lions in the cloisters of temples in the place of guardians." The Septuagint retains the Hebrew, אריה arie, that is, lion, as it were a proper name; whence others reading with different points translate, call Uriah to the watch of the Lord, as if this watchman were called Urias, and he were Christ, who in Hebrew is called Urias, that is, the light of the Lord, says St. Jerome. I AM UPON THE WATCH OF THE LORD. — That is to say, I Isaiah am the watchman and Prophet of the Lord already mentioned, who according to the requirement of the office committed to me, night and day constantly keep watch, that I may receive the word of the Lord, and foresee future things, and announce them to others, just as watchmen in a watch, and sentries in their posts announce to citizens the coming of soldiers and enemies. Morally, let the preachers and leaders of the faithful learn here, and the faithful themselves, to watch for future dangers and calamities. This most vigilant watchman heard: "Fallen, fallen is Babylon, the threshing of me, and the sons of the threshing floor of me," that is, Babylon, and you Babylonians sons of the threshing floor in which threshing shall be made, all are to be threshed: we likewise, as from a watch, may foresee the ruin of the impious, and eternal punishment, and behold the wonderful threshing, which shall be in the valley of Josaphat and in death, and avoid it. To this Christ admonishes, Matt. XXIV, 42: "Watch ye, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come." St. Ambrose, lib. V On Faith, cap. VIII: "We know not," he says, "the certain moments of the future judgment, so that always as if placed in watches, and set upon a certain watch-tower of virtue, we may decline the habit of sinning, lest the day of the Lord find us among vices." Peter Chrysologus, serm. 23: "That vigils," he says, "are salutary for all things, no one is ignorant: to watch more, is to live more; for what is similar to death, than the appearance of one sleeping? The watchful king guards against the snares of the enemy; the soldier repels nocturnal attacks by careful watching through the night: the sailor enters uncertain ways by watching: the shepherd joins nights to days, lest any opportunity be given to wolves to ravage the flock: the careful traveler by the breezes of night prevents the heat of the sun." Thus watch thou also, O Christian, who art a soldier, sailor, shepherd, and traveler to heaven! The Bride, Cant. V, 2, says: "I sleep, and my heart watcheth:" the mind sleeps, which prepares itself for judgment: it sleeps, I say, to fleeting things, and the laments of the world; but it watches for eternal things. In the same place, chapter III, verse 7: "The bed of Solomon sixty strong men surround, because of the fears of the night." The animals which John sees, Apoc. IV, are full of eyes before and behind: thus it behooves Christians to be Argus and hundred-eyed, lest death and judgment oppress them sleeping. Thus Is-boseth, that is, a man of confession, sleeping was struck by death, and cast down to the underworld, II Reg. IV. Thus Holofernes sleeping, Judith cap. XIII, the watchful woman overcame. Sisara the commander of the army was by Jahel a woman lulled to sleep with milk and slain, Judg. IV. Samson oppressed by sleep by Dalila was shorn, and despoiled of his strength, Judg. cap. XVI. David took the spear and cup from Saul sleeping, I Reg. XXVI. Wherefore think constantly on this: "The life of mortals is a vigil." Be therefore watchful, and watch continually with St. Vigil. Say with the Psalmist: "O God, my God, to thee do I watch from the light."
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9. BEHOLD, HE COMETH, A RIDER ON A CHARIOT OF HORSEMEN. — Here the watchman announces what he saw, and roars like a lion, crying out: I see the Persian armies approaching, and them bursting into the city; I see Babylon overturned by them falling and collapsing. Note "rider," that is riders, that is two horsemen, namely Darius and Cyrus. Thus we commonly say, a soldier or horseman is present, that is, soldiers or horsemen are present: "A man," that is any one of them (for in Hebrew שיא isch, that is man, distributes, and is the same as privis, any one) sits upon his "chariot of horsemen," that is equestrian and warlike, in which or from the chariot itself, or from its horses, asses or camels, horsemen fight: for there are other chariots rural and for burden, which are for carrying burdens and merchandise, not for fighting. Whence in Hebrew it is, behold there comes a chariot, or chariot of men, a chariot, I say, of a pair of horsemen. Thus Vatablus, chariot, that is two chariots, and two chariots of two horsemen. Our Interpreter for רכב recheb, that is chariot, reads רכב rocheb, that is rider or horseman. It could, secondly, "rider" be taken properly in the singular, so as to denote one Cyrus, who accomplished this war: he is called a man of a chariot of horsemen, because with the joined army of two things, namely of the Medes and Persians, he comes against Babylon: for although in verse 7, he places two horsemen, namely Darius the uncle of Cyrus, sixty years old, and Cyrus himself; yet here he places one Cyrus, who was a young man spirited and warlike, and almost alone accomplished this thing. AND HE ANSWERED. — Namely the watchman Isaiah, answered, that is cried out of his own accord; for no one here questions him. Thus often Christ in the Gospel is said to have answered, that is spoken, begun to speak.
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10. MY THRESHING, AND THE CHILDREN OF MY THRESHING FLOOR. — Threshing is the same as children of the threshing floor, namely grain and seeds beaten out on the threshing floor (thus "daughters of the quiver" are called arrows, Lamentations III, 13), thus he calls either Babylon, or rather, as St. Jerome says, Jerusalem and the Jews, who were threshed, trampled, worn down by the Assyrians and Chaldeans, and reduced to few in number. Hence the Septuagint translates it, forsaken and sorrowful, as if to say: I will not thresh the Babylonians, but I will crush and scatter them; but you, O Jews! who are my people, I will thresh, as grain is threshed on the threshing floor; so that from a great heap of grain, with the chaff winnowed away, and the stalks and straw rejected, few grains remain, which have been beaten out from them: thus also you Moreover, "children of the threshing floor" is precisely the same as what is threshed on the threshing floor, from the customary idiom of the Orientals. Thus for the Arabs, "son of clouds" is rain, "son of the sheath" is the sword, "son of the lip" is speech, discourse. through so many disasters I will thresh you, not to destroy, but to test and purify, and to store you as selected grain in the granary of my Church and commonwealth. Secondly, he alludes to the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, where the temple was built: for there, as it were on his threshing floor, God winnowed away the chaff of the vices and errors of his people by his true law, doctrine and worship, and stored him as grain beaten out and purified in his granary. Morally here and in Jeremiah LI, 33, and often elsewhere, threshing is called tribulation, and a people or soul that is tribulated: for tribulation is called from tribula, by which grain is tribulated and threshed, so that grain is beaten out. But tribula is called from grinding, as if teribula, because it grinds grain, so that it beats out the grain. Wherefore learn here how useful tribulation is, namely that it is threshing, and makes us children of God's threshing floor, while it separates us from the chaff, so that we may say with St. Ignatius: "I am the grain of God, I am ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may be found pure bread of Christ." This is what the Wise Man says, chapter III, verse 5: "Being afflicted in few things, they shall be well ordered in many: for God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace he proved them, and as a victim of holocaust he received them, and in time there shall be respect had to them." Beautifully St. Augustine in Psalm LXI: "In the furnace," he says, "the chaff burns, and gold is purified; that is turned to ashes, and it is stripped of filth: the furnace is the world, gold is the just, fire is tribulation, the goldsmith is God. What therefore the goldsmith wills, I do: wherever the goldsmith places me, I endure. I am therefore commanded to endure, he knows how to purify. Let the chaff burn even to inflame me, and as if to consume me, it is turned to ash, I am free from filth. Why? because my soul shall be subject to God, for from him is my patience. Who is this to you, from whom is your patience? for he himself is my God, and my savior, my protector, I will not depart." The same again: "No servant of Christ is without tribulation; if you think you do not have persecutions, you have not yet begun to be a Christian." The same elsewhere: "Scourging," he says, "interior and exterior glorifies the sinner, compels the unwilling, instructs the ignorant, guards the runner, protects the weak, stirs up the sluggish, initiates toward death the ever-living." The same, On the Barbarian Age, chapter III, volume IX: "If you are gold, why do you fear fire? if you are grain, why do you fear the threshing sledge? you will not appear what you were before in the ear, unless the threshing sledge grinding separates the chaff from you; if you are oil, why do you fear the pressure of the press? your nature will not be declared, unless the weight of the stone also separates the refuse from you."
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11. THE BURDEN OF DUMAH. — The Septuagint: the burden of Idumaea, which from its parent the red one, Edom or Idumaea; from the same hairy one, is called Seir. The Jews act foolishly, when they read Roma for Dumah, as if the Romans were not descended from Aeneas and Troy, but from Esau and the Idumeans, so that as often as the Prophets prophesy against the Idumeans, so often they prophesy against the Romans. St. Jerome laughs at this here and elsewhere. Note: Proper names often suffer aphaeresis: for thus Idumaea is called Dumah, thus Jerusalem is called Salem, thus Abraham is called Ram, Job XXXII, 2; thus Benjamin is called Jemini; for son of Jemini is the same as Benjaminite, as the Septuagint translates it. And Cajetan, in Judges III, says this is undoubted among the Hebrews; thus Adeodatus of Bethlehem is called in Hebrew Lemites, I Paralipomenon XX, 5, as St. Jerome noted there in the Hebraic Tradition. Thus the Belgians commonly curtail proper names, so that for Nicolaus they say Claes, for Elisabeth Enfet, for John Sans, for Dorothy Ghegie, for Sebastian Bastiaen, for Caelia Cilie. Mystically St. Bernard, On the Burden of Dumah, sermon 7, thus comments: "Dumah is interpreted silence. You know, brothers, that silence burdens many, and rest oppresses: so that for those keeping silent and resting all things are a burden; the head aches, the belly rumbles, the eyes grow dim, and the loins are almost loosened; but for those going out, wandering hither and thither and speaking, all things are pleasant, sorrows are delivered to oblivion, to each member its functions are restored. O how great is the power of the tongue, which clears the eyes, relieves the head, strengthens the loins, fortifies the weakened knees! This makes the weak man tireless in labors, patient in injuries, ready for the journey, prompt to obedience. Therefore if you see a monk sitting in the cloister looking hither and thither, yawning frequently, stretching his hands and feet, now putting down a book, now taking it up again: finally, as if driven by certain goads from place to place, from one room to another, running about, do not doubt that he sighs under the burden of Dumah. There is moreover another kind of silence, which imposes upon many the weight of eternal punishment. It is that silence which, proceeding from shame and confusion, obstructs the confession of sins, or excludes remission; that such a burden of punishment silence may deserve, the prophetic word does not keep silent." TO ME ONE CRIES OUT FROM SEIR (wrongly Plantina reads, king of Seir, as is evident from the Hebrews, Greeks and Romans). The sense is, as if to say, I Isaiah seem to be constituted by God as a watchman, to see the terror and noise of war, and to hear the Idumeans dismayed at the coming of Nebuchadnezzar, anxiously asking their sentries): WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT, — namely, have you seen, or heard anything of the enemies? or rather "what of the night?" that is, what hour of the night is it? For in this fear and terror we anxiously await day and light: for at night even silence itself terrifies, especially where danger threatens from the enemy or elsewhere. Thus commonly we Belgians and Germans say: What is't of the day: what is it of the day? that is, what hour of the day is it? What is't of the night? what is it of the night? that is, what hour of the night is it? Thus Arkanus. Others, as if to say, "What of the night," that is, how shall this night of ours end? that is, affliction and danger; will it be perpetual, or will it turn into light?
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12. THERE COMETH MORNING AND ALSO NIGHT. — First, some expound it thus, as if the watchman should answer: Indeed the morning breaks; but for us the night will endure, that is, affliction and calamity impending from the enemy. Secondly, others, as if to say: Morning and night you ask in turn: "Watchman, what of the night?" Come now, as often as you please going and returning ask the same thing, beat my ears with the same question. For you ask in vain, you waste your effort, it is all over with you, you must perish. Thus Vatablus. As if the watchman by impatience repeats, and hurls back at them in their faces what they themselves had asked so many times, and says: "It comes, it comes, morning and night, it comes, it comes." Thirdly, Sanchez, as if to say: Why like children do you ask so many times morning and night: "Watchman, what of the night?" and meanwhile you do not take up arms, you do not draw up your forces, so as to resist the enemy? For the enemy is not to be repelled by wailing and questioning, but by swords and fighting. Whence he adds: "If you seek, seek, turn yourselves, and come," as if to say: If you ask and seek seriously and with understanding, seek from the watchman by what way and manner the enemy is to be met, by what defenses the city is to be fortified, by what arms to be used; and then at last come equipped with suitable arms, not with soft and womanish wailing; thus we commonly say: "Do what you do: do it," namely seriously and vigorously. Fourth and most plainly, Arias Montanus: The Edomites, he says, asked their watchman: "Watchman, what of the night?" that is, what hour of the night is it? the watchman answers: "There cometh morning and also night," as if to say: Morning is at hand, and yet still it is night; wherefore if you seek, seek," as if to say: If therefore you wish to go out for plunder or for any other reason, make haste, "turn yourselves and come," that is come again, and quickly return to the city, before the enemies perceive you in the morning. It is a Hebraism, by which a verb is put for an adverb or participle, "turn yourselves and come," that is come again, or coming back come. Fifth, Procopius and Theodoret expound it, as if to say: O Edomites! you do well that you stand guard for your walls, and ask your watchman about the night and about the morning: if however you seek salvation and the sure way to it, come to me who am your God and watchman, do penance, cast away your sins, strive for justice, and thus reconcile yourselves to me; I will defend you, because you are the sons of Abraham and Isaac. But truly if this counsel and these words were of God or of Isaiah, it would be clear that they are of the watchman of the Edomites, as I have said. Mystically St. Gregory, in the sixteenth book of the Morals, chapter XXV, and St. Augustine, tract. 43 on John, and from them Leo Castrius expound it, as if to say: The Prophet: O God! who art a Samaritan, that is a keeper of men, to thee cries out Seir, that is the Gentile and sinful people: "What of the night?" what will become of such tribulation? how long shall we be turned about in this night of ignorance, of sins and miseries? when will morning come, when the sun of justice Christ shall rise? to which God answers: If you seek Christ sincerely and from your heart, persevere in seeking, and you shall find. Again St. Gregory, in the sixth book of the Morals, chapter XIII: "Of the night, he says, the watchman comes, because the protector of mankind appeared manifest in the flesh; and yet Judea in the darkness of its perfidy did not know him at all. Where well from the voice of the watchman is added: There cometh morning and also night, because through his presence a new light shone forth to the world, and yet in the heart of the unfaithful the ancient blindness remained."
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13. THE BURDEN IN ARABIA. — That is, a threatening prophecy against the Arabs dwelling in Arabia, who are called from their forefathers Ishmaelites and Cedarenes. For Cedar was the son of Ishmael, Gen. XXV, 13. These were, as they still are, fierce men, dwelling in tents in desert places: they occupy themselves with pasturing flocks, hunting and plundering; for they are most excellent archers, as is said in verse 17, and Jer. XLIX, 28. According to what the Angel predicted concerning their father Ishmael to their mother Hagar, Gen. XVI, 12: "This one shall be a wild man, his hand against all, and the hands of all against him." Wherefore even now the Turk, although he rules Arabia, cannot nevertheless subdue the Arabs with all his power, nor restrain them from plundering. Mystically, St. Bernard, On the Burden in Arabia, sermon 8: "Arabia," he says, "is interpreted as evening, which is the end of day and the beginning of night: signifying not unfittingly, as I think, the hour of death, which imposes no light burden of fear upon almost all mortals. For who among men avoids this burden, to which the Savior submitted Himself of His own free will by way of example? For when death was imminent, as the Evangelist says, He began to fear and to be troubled. Under this fear the whole human race lives: unless perhaps someone be such that he has certainty of blessed life after death, by the desire of which he does not even feel the bitterness of death. Furthermore, evening (which, as we have said, is the end of day and the beginning of night) expresses his fall, who after works of light, begins those things which are of darkness, whose last things become worse than the first: who shall certainly be oppressed by that weight which is contained in the burden of Arabia." IN THE THICKET AT EVENING YOU SHALL SLEEP. — St. Jerome, Haymo, Forerius, Hugo and Sanchez understand this of the Jews, who, when Jerusalem was laid waste, fled from the hands of the Chaldeans into neighboring Arabia; therefore the Arabs are warned to meet them, and to refresh and restore them in hunger and thirst, and because they did not do this, hence in verse 16, a like destruction is threatened to them. But, because this burden is against Arabia, not against Jerusalem, hence I say there is a metalepsis, by which is signified the hasty flight of the Arabs when the enemy comes, from the fact that they are forced to flee under cover of night, and to sleep in the forest, and on the way which leads to the city of Dedan. Note: It is altogether probable that not Salmanasar, as Forerius wishes, but Nebuchadnezzar, when he laid waste the neighboring Idumea, Judea, Ammonitis and all other things, also laid waste Arabia: for Jeremiah predicted the same destruction of Arabia in cap. XXV, verse 23, and cap. XLIX, verse 28, and Ezekiel in cap. XXV, verse 13. But these announce the scourge of Nebuchadnezzar impending upon all nations. Cyril, however, attributes it to Darius the Mede, when with Cyrus he took Babylon. For "at evening" in Hebrew is בערבוד baaraba, which can first be translated "in Arabia"; secondly, "at evening"; thirdly, "at sunset." It alludes to the name of Arabia, which signifies the destruction of the Arabs, as if to say: O Arabs! in Arabia, that is at evening, at sunset you shall sleep, when namely the light and day shall set for you, both of the sun and of happiness, joy and glory; when in the sunset of your kingdom you shall say: We were Trojans, Troy was, and the great glory of the Teucrians. Fourthly, baaraba alludes to ערב oreb, that is raven, as if to say: You shall sleep in Arabia, that is in a region of ravens, that is you shall be hanged on the gallows, you shall feed ravens on the cross; or you shall descend and DEDAN. — Dedan and Theman, says St. Jerome, are in the wilderness, and they appear to have been the principal provinces of the Ishmaelites.
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14. MEETING THE THIRSTY (Arab fleeing from terror and fatigue in flight) BRING WATER (give drink), YOU WHO DWELL IN THE LAND OF THE SOUTH, — who dwell toward the South (in which direction they were fleeing from the enemy coming from the opposite direction), and are neighbors to Arabia.
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16. YET IN ONE YEAR, AS THE YEAR OF A HIRELING, — that is, after a certain and fixed time appointed by God, and a brief one, and perhaps after a year from the destruction of Jerusalem, the glory of Cedar, that is of the Arabs, as I said in verse 13, shall be taken away, and shall expire, just as the time and gain of a hireling expire when the year is finished: or "as the year of a hireling," that is in the year in which they shall be given as prey, as it were as a reward, to their enemies the Chaldeans, for the labor by which the Chaldeans served the vengeance of God in destroying other nations. See what is said in cap. XXVI, at the end.
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17. THE REMNANT OF THE NUMBER (that is, those counted, that is few of the Arabs) (who otherwise are wont to be innumerable and most skilled archers) which survived from the slaughter of the Chaldeans) SHALL BE DIMINISHED, — that is shall be of small and scanty number. Whence Forerius clearly translates, and the remnant of the number of the bow of the mighty sons of Cedar shall be few. But, because it was not easy to believe that such a nation could be conquered, which accustomed to deserts, skilled in archery, by the course of swiftest horses was wont easily to elude enemies, nor had cities which could be besieged; hence for confirmation he adds: "For the Lord God of Israel has spoken," and whose wrath no forces or arts can avoid. Thus Forerius. you shall perish in hell among dark and gloomy demons. For this is Arabia, that is the region of ravens.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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Hic comminator contra hostes, qui gravabant eos per rerum subtractionem, qui tamen erant eis aliquo federe juncti: et dividitur in partes tres. Primo contra illos qui erant juncti amicitiae foedere; secundo contra illos qui erant juncti praelationis jure: cap. 22, ibi, Onus vallis visionis; in tertia contra illos qui erant eis juncti in negotiationis societate: 25 cap. Onus Tyri. Prima in duas. In prima contra amicos extraneos, scilicet Babylonios, qui erant amici, et rebus tandem spoliaverunt, sicut patet infra 59. In secunda contra amicos cognatos, ibi, Onus Duma etc. Circa primum duo facit. Primo ponitur titulus, Onus maris, idest Babylonis, propter sonitum multitudinis populorum deserti, quia in solitudinem redigetur. Jer. 51: «Desertum faciam mare ejus, et siceabo veniam «ejus.» Secundo ponitur ipsa prophetia: et primo ponitur visio comminationis; secundo modus accipiendae visionis, ibi, Haec enim dixit mihi Dominus. Circa primum quatuor designat. Primo tribulationis gravitatem, ponendo similitudinem. Sicut turbinis, vox Babylonis, Ab africo de deserto, quod erat ad meridiem, Ita venit, contra me vastitas, de terra, scilicet Perside, horribilis mihi. Nahum 4: «Dominus in tempestate et turbine viae ejus.» Visio dura: in persona Babylonis. Joan. 6: «Durus est hic sermo.» Secundo designat vastationem. Et primo quantum ad ducis conditionem in infidelitate. Cyrus, qui incredulus, idest infidelis domino suo Balthassar, rebellans, et Babylonem obsidens, confidens de ipsius effeminazione, infideliter agit, idest aget, videns non posse civitatem capi vi, fraude pacem faciens, et jurans omnium regi Babylonis; a quo invitat us ad convivium (de quo Daniel. 5), interficit eum, et cepit civitatem in ducentis militibus per foramen muri, unde fluvius intrabat, aqua ipsius in multas partes divisa. In crudelitate, Qui depopulator est. Unde in poenam crudelitatis suffocatus est in sanguine, et dictum est sibi: Sanguinem sitisti, sanguinem bibe. Habac. 2: «Ecce qui incredulus est, non erit recta anima «ejus in semetipso.» Secundo quantum ad exitus regionem: Ascende Aelam, civitas Persidis, et provincia, Medaba civitas in Media, obside, Babylon: vox Domini. Jer. 51: «Ascendite contra eam omnes gentes.» Tertio hostis potestatem. Omнем gemitum ejus, idest Babylonis, ut nec etiam plan-gere audeat. Supra 10: «Non fuit qui moveret pen«nam, et aperiret os, et ganniret.» Vel quia suos gemere faciet.
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Quarto designat ipsius prophetae compassionem, quam designat quantum ad corpus, ad quod redundant affectiones mentis: et hoc quantum ad doloris sensum: Propterea repleti sunt lumbi mei dolore, idest, ita dolore sicut qui patitur dolorem in renibus. Psal. 47: «Ibi dolores ut par-turientis.» Et quantum ad casum, Corrui; et quantum ad turbatum vultum, Turbatus. Psalm. 76: «Turbatus sum, et non sum locutus.» Psal. 54: «Turbatus sum in exercitatione mea.» Secundo quantum ad affectum, Emarcuit cor meum, idest affectus tristitia. Jerem. 4: «Ventrem meum «doleo.» Tertio quantum ad intellectum stupentem, Tenebrae, idest turbationes praecisae, ac si essem in tenebris.
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Jerem. 50: «Omnis qui trans-sibit per Babylonem stupebit, et silebit super «universis plagis ejus.» Babylon dilecta, tune temporis, quamvis postea inimica, in miraculum, idest in admirationem.
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Apocaly. 17: «Admiratus sum «cum vidissem illam admiratione magna.» Quarto designat destructionis modum et conditionem, dicens: O Babylon, pone mensam, invitando Cyrum et Darium ad convivium, contemple, idest vide in specula, idest in Scriptura manus scribentis: «Mane, thecel, pha-res.» (Dan. 5): clara luce Domini: scilicet, o Cyre, o Dari, Principes comedentes et bibentes, cum eo, surgite, confortati visione, arripite clypeum; et interficite eum. Jerem. 46: «Praeparate scutum «et clypeum.» Vel aliter, ut sint verba Domini. O propheta, pone men am, idest ponendam prae-dica, in specula, idest in spiritu prophe-tiae etc. ut supra. Vel verba Cyri: Pone mensam, vel: Persae accurrite, datae equis annonam, ut sitis parati; tu speculator, contemple, quid fiat in tractatu: vos, principes, mei, comedite. Et hoc stat etiam si non sustineatur quod Cyrus et Darius fuerint in convivio, ut quidam dicunt, sustinentes festum fieri in civitate, et deliciis vacare. Vel per festum dis-semblebant; vel propter treguas; vel propter victoriam semel habitam; vel propter adjutorium quod receperant de nocte aggressi sunt civitatem.
Nota super illo verbo, Contemplate in specula, quia debet homo in specula mentis contemplari primo peccata quae commisit, ut doleat. Jer. 51: «Statue tibi speculam, pone tibi amaritudines, «dirige cor tuum in viam rectam.» Secundo supplicia quae meruit, ut timeat. Michaeae 7: «Dies «speculationis, visitatio tua venit.» Tertio beneficia quae Deus contulit, ut gratias agat. Infra 52: «Vox speculatorum tuorum; levaverunt vocem, simul «laudabunt; quia oculo ad oculum videbunt, cum «converterit Dominus Sion.» Quarto mandata quae praecepit, ut impleat. Oscae 19: «Speculator E-phraim.» Quinto praemia quae promisit ut comprehendat. 2 Pet. 1: «Speculatores facti illius ma-gnitudinis. Accipiens enim a Deo patre gloriam «et honorem.»
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Haec enim dixit mihi Dominus. Hic ponit modum acceptionis hujus visionis: et circa hoc quatuor facit. Primo ponitur divina visio, Pone speculatorum, teipsum, vel discipulum tuum, quem hebraei, Habacuc dicunt fuisse. Videret spiritu prophetali, vel corporaliter.
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Ezech. 5: «Fili hominis, «speculatorem posui te domui Israel.» Secundo ponitur visio: et primo ponit rem visam: Et vidit currum duorum equitum: quia duobus equis consuevit trahi, exer-citum duorum regnorum significatione: ascensorem, scilicet currum, asini, regni Persarum, quod primum ignobile, cameli, Medorum; quasi haec duo animalia, loco duorum equorum, currui adjungerentur. Secundo videntis diligentiam, Et contemplatus est. Ezech. 40: «Pone cor tuum «in omnibus quae ego ostendo tibi.» Tertio ponitur denuntiatio, Et clamavit ut Ivo, servitutem animi, qui prius speculator per eminentiam contemplationis.
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Et primo denuntiat suam diligentiam, Super speculam Domini. Habacuc 2: «Super «custodiam stabo.» Secundo denuntiat rem visam, Ecce venit, ut supra 5 Babylonis poenam. Cecidit.
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Jerem. 50: «Capta es et nesciebas.» Quarto ponitur prophetae ad populum denuntiatio: Tritura mea, verba prophetae, vel Christi, quia Jerusalem tritura ta multis tribulationibus, filia arcae, idest templum quod situm est in area Ornam, 2 Regum ultimo, Onus Duma etc. Hic comminatur contra amicos et cognatos. Et primo contra Idumaeos, qui de progenie sunt Esau fratris Jacob, Genes. 23, quandoque amici, sicut dicitur Deuter. 25. Ezech. 53: « Audivi universa approbria quae locu- tus es de montibus Israel. » Secundo contra Arabes; qui de genere sunt Ismaelis, qui fuit filius Abraham, Genes. 16, ibi, Onus in Arabia etc. Circa primum duo facit. Primo ponitur inscriptio, Onus Duma, idest Idumaeae; secundo comminatio; circa quam tres. Primo ponitur eorum oratio: et sunt verba Dei haec Idumaeis: Ex Seir clamat ad me. Liberatis Judaeis, post septuaginta annos captivitatis custos, qui custodis populum Israel, quasi eis dormientibus, quid de nocte? idest, quare nos non liberas de nocte captivitatis, sicut et eos? Et ostendunt magnum desiderium liberationis, ex in tentione verborum et decantatione. Psal. 120: « Ecce non dormitabit neque dormiet qui custodit I- srael. » Secundo ponitur petitionis refutatio. Dixit custos, scilicet Deus: Venit mane, liberationis tempus Judaeis, et nox captivitis adhuc Idumaeis manet. Sapient. 17: « Solis autem illis superposita erat gravis nox. » Tertio adhibet remedium: Si quaeritis, me, quaerite, toto corde relinquendo i-dola. Vel sicut in tribulatione, ita et in prosperitate. Infra 53: « Quaerite Dominum dum in- veniri potest. » Convertimini. Joel. 2: « Conver-timini ad me in toto corde vestro. »
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Nota supra illo verbo, Custos quid? quia homo debet se custodire in die prosperitatis a divitiis. Primo ne eas eligat, considerando earum utilitatem. Philp. 5: « Quae mihi fuerunt lucra, haec arbitratus sum detrimenta. » Secundo ne in
eis confidat, considerando earum vanitatem. Eccle. 2: « Vidi in omnibus vanitatem. » Tertio ne de eis superbiat, considerando earum imminen-tem adversitatem. Eccli. 11: « In die bonorum ne immeror sis malorum. » Item debet se custodire in nocte adversitatis. Primo considerando percutientis affectum. Proverb. 3: « Disci-plinam patris, fili mi, ne abijcias; ne deficias, cum ab eo corriperis. » Secundo consideran-do percussi Christi exemplum.
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Hebr. 12: « Recogitate eum qui talem sustinuit a peccatoribus adversum semetipsum contradictionem. » Tertio considerando percussionis fructum. 2 Corinth. 4: « Id enim quod in praesenti est momentaneum et leve tribulationis nostrae, supra modum in sublimitate aeternum gloriae pondus operatur in nobis. » Onus in Arabia etc. Hic comminatur contra Arabes. Et primo innuit destructionis causam: quia filiis Israel fugientibus, panem porrigen-tibus, aquam subtrahebant. Unde ponit Judaeorum fugam. O vos, Judaei, in saltu, Arabiae, Dodanim, nomen loci. Psalm. 106: « Erraverunt in solitudine in inaquoso, viam civitatis « habitaculi non invene-runt. » Hortatur ad misericordiam, Occurrentes, vos Arabes.
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Terram Austri, idest meridiei. Infra 58: « Frange esurienti panem tuum. » Et ponit misericordiae causam, A facie enim, ut moveantur ad misericordiam. Jer. 4: « A voce equitis immit-tentis sagittam fugit omnis civitas. » Secundo, quia hoc facere noluerunt, comminatur poenam, Quoniam haec dicit Dominus.
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Et primo per Assyrios a quibus praelatio vastationis Judaearum, et ipsa vastitas, Quasi in anno mercenarii, qui sibi videtur brevis, spe mercedis. Secundo per Chaldaeos: Reliquiae, ab Assyriis derelictae, imminuen-tur, a Chaldaeis, Cedar, filii Ismaelis. Sagittariorum, sequentes artem patris sui. Gen. 21, dicitur de Ismaele, quod factus est vir sagittarius.
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v. 4 « Sicut turbines ab africo veniunt, de deserto venit, de terra hor- Tibili »; — « hic autem abruptus inchoandi vaticinii modus maximam indicat celeritatem, qua tanti imperii moles collapsa est » (Sanet.) ; uti enim ab australi plaga concitati ac violenti turbines feruntur qui obvium quodque turbant et involvunt et quibus obsistere nihil potest, ita hostilis impetus et vastitas in onere significata ingruet in Babylonem de solitudine, « de terra horribili, cuius ne nomen quidem audire pos sum absque formidine » (S. Hier.). Cum vates in visione prophetica (cf. v. 5. 6) sibi consistere videtur in regione babylonica, turbines illi ex plaga australi saevientes concitantur et afferuntur ex deserto Arabiae quod inter meridiem et occidentem a Babylone inimmensum protenditur. Venti ex deserto irruentes vehementissimi reputantur (cf. Iob 1, 19. Ier. 4, 11; 13, 24. Os. 13, 15), itemque tempestates ab austro ingruentes (Zach. 9, 14). Indeterminatum illud ac vagum venit ad augendum horrorem aptum est, uti etiam quod additur de deserto, de terra horribili; facile enim in. terrae indole dura et aspera feri quoque ac feroces militum animi et crudelia pectora intelliguntur et saevi mores describuntur, cum in regione dura et horrida etiam homines indurescere ac quasi silvescere et feritatem induere videantur. Impetum exercitus Persarum Medorumque vates ob oculos habet. Et cum Persae olim fuerint nomades regionem incolentes asperam, montanam, inopem, quae ratione habita camporum babylonicorum amoenitate ac fertilitate maxima insignium facile terra terribilis Babyloniis videri poterat, comparatio illa aptissime inducitur et ad terrorem describendum et vastitatem exhibendam omnino est consentanea. Quomodo de deserto iungendum sit, disceptatur. Coniunxi in interpretatione textus lat., uti ferunt accentus mas. et multi explicant (cf. S. Hier. Mar. Men. For. Net. Ges. Ros. Drechsl. Del.). Alii vero testum hebr. exponunt : sicuf turbines in austro irruunt e deserto, ita venit ex terra terribili; ita iam Sanct. Malv. Mald. Calm. Rohl. Kn. Naeg. ; pro qua tamen iunctione afferri nequit quod Sanct. et Naeg. ponunt, comparationem institui et depromi de terra palaestinensi, 232 esse regionem Palaestinae australem, in quam irruant tempestates ex noto illo deserto quod toties ^22 in s. literis vocetur ; nam nulla re indicatur a Palaestina comparationem procedere; e contra vatem in oraculo isto versari in Babylonia, ex v. 2 seq. v. 6 seq. indubie constat et pro regione quoque babylonica verum est tempestates a regione australi et deserto Arabiae ingruere. Cum igitur turbines i? austro eo ipso e regione deserti irrumpant, non multum interesse videtur, utro modo iungas; desertum enim in priore membro e rei natura subintelligitur, si illud ad alterum trahas; latet . vero in terra horribili et ipsa applicatione innuitur, si ad prius referre malueris. Praefero illud, quia tria membra concisa, brevia, cursu citato incedentia magis ad impetum adumbrandum et celeritatem irruptionis describendam apta mihi videntur, quam duo longiora et ipsa longitudine sua illam velocitatem et cursum quasi impedientia et intercipientia. Neque contra hane iunctionem excipi potest quod Kn. obiicit : Cyrum in sua expeditione transiisse Gyndem fluvium (Herod. 1, 189), venisse igitur ab oriente ; sed regiones a Babylonia orientales haud apte nominari desertum ; regionem enim elymaiticam esse montanam et ab agricolis et militibus incoli, Susianam autem et Sittacenen regiones esse valde fertiles (Strabo, 19 p. 731. 16 p. 839. 744). Hisce Del. quidem respondet, fieri potuisse, ut pars exercitus secundum Choaspem fluvium itinere capto descenderet in regionem campestrem Chuzistan et inde Babylonem aggrederetur ; regionem autem eam campestrem apte vocari 1372 et eam partem revera tunc venisse Babylonem e regione inter meridiem et orientem spectante. Verum id, utut est, operosius responderi videtur. Àd comparationem enim solum requiritur et sufficit, ut hostes veniant ez terra horribili, quae eo ipso deserti nomine designari potest, et ut ingruant impetu facto, sicut turbines in regione australi furere et cuncta obvolvere solent. Neque enim ea est vel prophetiae vel visionis natura, ut quo itinere vel qua via Cyrus ad ipsam urbis expugnationem accedat, adeo accurate exhiberi debeat; sufficit, ut qua indole sit eius exercitus, quo terrore irruat, quam vastationem efficiat, comparatione adhibita ad modum visionis cuiusdam symbolicae et imaginariae proponatur, praesertim cum statim explicite efferatur visionis indoles. — Syrus ipsam quam habet visionem vates, ea comparatione designare videtur : sicut turbo ex austro volat ex deserto et venit ex terra longinqua, visio dura apparuit mihi. Sim. LXX. Ita rei argumento breviter praemisso ad particularia vates descendit
Anc. — Vehementissimae tempestatis instar exercitus hostilis omnia devastans congregatur ad obsidionem Babylonis, ut tyrannidem eius ulciscantur. Talis autem est belli apparatus, ut qui eum cernit totus horrore et commiseratione urbis infelicis concutiatur. Ipsi vero Babylonii comessationibus se dedunt, donec subito clamore bellico perterrentur (21, 1-5). Iam prophetae urbis expugnatio ita ostenditur, ut speculatorem ex edito loco prospectantem ponere iubeatur, qui exercitum hostilem in urbem properantem videt et cui tandem collapsam esse Babylonem nuntius affertur. Haec quae vates visione accepit cum popularibus contificio est efformatum et ratio visionis propheticae in eo quam maxime cernitur; «nune enim velut futurorum oculatus testis et spectator a Deo sibi ostensa enarrat, nunc et quid temporum decursu et delapsu contingeret spiritu prophetico ante denuntiat, nunc introducit insuper personam Babyloniorum sese ob tam acerbas et inopinatas calamitates deplorantium ; proinde quasi contemplatus Persarum et Medorum et Elamitarum contra Babylonem expeditionem ita ait : obequitabunt et peragrabunt eremum » (S. Cyr.). Fere ad genus quod dramaticum vocant accedit oraculi forma et propheta in visione res coram agi cernens simul suis se affectibus intime cum perpetratione rerum quasi commis-
Titulus obscurior est « Onus deserti maris »; — intelligi Babylonem, indubie ex v. 9(cf. 13, 11) et v. 9 colligitur. Sed unde Babylon desertum maris appellatur? Mare intelligi Euphratem facile concesseris, si adverteris maiora flumina eo nomine appellari; vide ad 19, 5; idque eo magis pro Euphrate quoque valere debet quippe qui canalibus, lacubus, paludibus regionem longe lateque opplere videbatur. Unde Ieremias babylonem vocat habitantem super aquas multas (Ier. 51, 13) et similiter minatur : desertum faciam mare eius (31, 36). Cum qua designatione maris optime congruit nomen in inscriptionibus cuneiformibus regionr Babylonicae inditum : mare, regio maris (tihamtu, mat tihamtiv) et eius regi : rex maris (sar tihamtiv), congruit quoque quod Herodotus (1, 148) narrat, antequam aquae fluminis aggeribus continerentur, flumen omnem planitiem maris instar operuisse (260:s £ z2:2gà; &yX x6 i210) y meAa[itev) et etiam melius quod ex Abydeno Eusebius affert (praeparat. ev. 9, 41), nomen maris ei regioni esse impositum. Unde ratio nominis satis declaratur neque opus erit cum S.Hier. Cyr. Sanct. For. Men. Tir. aliisque mare interpretari de incolarum multitudine nationumque confluxu et immensa opum ac divitiarum copia. Obscurius autem est, cur desertum maris vocetur. Cum oraculum in urbem adhue pompa et opibus florentem denuntietur, planum esse videtur et consequens, ipsam urbem eo designari nomine, quo appareat quid coram Deo eiusque propheta valeant et in quo censu reponantur fastus ille ac pulchritudo, thesauri et ornamenta, palatia et arces, quibus Babylon mundi miraculum habebatur; sunt et appellantur igitur haec omnia desertum, amplissima urbs et splendidissima censetur vasta solitudo, horridum desertum. Continetur ergo ipso titulo urbis abiectio ac condemnatio. Aliis placet desertum explicare non de statu praesenti, sed quàsi nomen a conditione futura et punitione depromptum ; cf. Euseb. S. Hier. Cyr. Thom. Sanct. Lap. Men. Tir. Calm. Kn.; sed cum onus annuntietur urbi florenti, non ruinis, et cum emphasi non careat ipsum illum splendorem adliuc exstantem eo nomine contemptibili vocari, haec interpretatio non placet. Cum Isaias nomina symbolica indere saepius soleat (cf. 7, 3. 14; 8, 1; 92, 4; 29, 1; 30, 1), certe etiam in «eo nomine symbolum erit admittendum. Quare interpretatio ex ipsa regionis locique indole petita probari nequit. Volunt enim aliqui Babylonem vocari desertum propterea, quia regio illa, in qua Babylon condita est, revera sit 3272 i. e. magna quaedam planities quae demum meridiem versus in Arabiam desertam protendatur (Del.) vel quia inter Babylonem et mare iaceat desertum (For.), vel quia olim regio fuerit desertum (Drechsl.Y. Sed hae rationes ad dignitatem sermonis prophetiei parum aptae videntur. Etiam minus aptum, quod praefert Naeg. titulum esse depromptum ex v. 1 in quo desertum oecurrit. Vates primo statim versu comparatione inducta totum rei argumentum breviter et nervose proponit : hostem terribilem vehementissimi turbinis instar.impetum facturum in Babylonem et omnia obvoluturum':
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V. 9 « visio dura nuntiata est mihi; qui incredulus est, infideliter agit et qui depopulator est, vastat; ascende Aelam, obside Mede; omnem gemitum eius cessare feci »; — durum et calamitosum spectaculum mihi ostensum est ; tale videri non sine dolore potest ac commiseratione ; unde ipsa visio est dura. Quid ei ostensum sit, subdit : raptor rapit et vastator vastat (hebr. cf. For. et recentiores). Obversatur ergo menti prophetae invasionis hostilis ac direptionis species, cui alia succedit imago determinata ; cernit scil. exercitum aelamiticum contra Babylonem ascendentem et simul cum Medis obsidionem urbis instruentem, cui exercitui, ut ministro vindictae Dei (cf. 13, 3), acclamatione sua stimulos addit, nisi haec acclamatio ab ipso vate potius audiri censenda sit ; id quod forte praeferendum erit, quia quae sequuntur cessare feci... verba Dei reputari debent quibus edicit omnem oppressionem qua Babylon reliquas gentes vexaverit se ablaturum (cf. Mald. Men. Tir.) ; « significat se videre velocissimos Medos et Persas qui excursionibus et depopulationibus faciendis praestantissimi habebantur, in Babylonem properare... videbat autem Deum tamquam summum imperatorem Medos et Persas adversus Babylonem incitantem » (For.). Ascende idem est quod aggredere expeditionem, suscipe; vel dicitur ascendere quia Babylon in fastigio imperii collocata consideratur (cf. RoAl.); si enim regionem spectas, in Babyloniam ab Aelam potius descenditur, uti a regione montana in planitiem. que in visione tam iudieia de rebus hominibusque pronuntiantur quam facinora cernuntur. Visionem esse duram non solum quia rebus duris continetur, sed etiam quia ipsum videntem dolore complet, declaratur
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v. 3 « propterea repleti sunt. lumbi mei dolore, angustia possedit me sicut angustia parturientis; corrui, cun | audirem; conturbatus sum, cum viderem;
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v. 4 emarcuit cor mewm, tenebrae stupefecerunt me; Babylon dilecta mea posita est mihi in miraculum » ; — ulümum membrum in hebr. noctem desiderii mei (i. e. noctem cuius quietem desidero et exopto) vertit mihi in horrorem (cf. For. Mald. Vat. Mar. et recentiores); ita scil. se dicit visione dura cruciatum, ut tempus noctis et quietis omnibus desideratissimum sibi ponatur horrori. Sed unde affectus adeo vehemens ? Num adeo deflere ac lamentari censendus est populi inimici stragem ? Nonnulli id affirmant (cf. S. Hier. Thom. Sanct. Men. Calm. Rohl.). Alii in his vocibus Babyloniorum audiri lamenta et eiulatus existimant ; lta lam monet S. Cyr. : « prosopopoeiae vim habet oratio »; sim. Euseb. Osor. Vat. Mar. Sasb.; idque propius ad rem accedere videtur. In visione enim dum ingentem cernit afflictorum miseriam, haec apte ei ita exhibetur, ut simul eam in se experiri videatur, non quidem quasi tam vehementi commiseratione urbis impiae commoveretur, sed ut doloris magnitudine in se depicta repraesentet, quanta afflictione prosternenda sit Babylon urbs superba. Ad quod accedit maximae miseriae aspectu omnes etiam inimicos si non omnem humanitatem exuerint commoveri et dolore affici. Unde ex dolore visione percepto ihgens clades depingitur. Dolores parturientis saepius exemplo sunt dolorum quam maxime acerborum vel subito irruentium (cf. Deut. 2, 25. Ps. 41, 6. Eccli. 48, 21. Is. 13, 8. Ier. 4, 31; 6, 94; 13, 91; 22, 23; 30, 6. Ez. 30, 16. Os. 13, 13. Mich. 4, 9 etc.). Hisce doloribus corpus distorquetur (hebr., ubi vulg. corrui), sensus perturbantur, cor errat (hebr.) vel vehementer titubat; unde visio dura satis superque constat, qua insuper quies noctis quae adeo grata hominibus illabitur ei in terrorem commutatur. Ad versionem suam adnotat S. Hier. : « pro eo quod nos vertimus Babylon dilecta mea in hebr. legitur neseph esci CpEn n3), et est ipsum. verbum quod in principio babylonii oneris posuimus super montem caliginosum ; pro caligimoso enim seu tenebroso scriptum est neseph ». Unde patet cur vocem Babylonis textui inseruerit; ibi enim montem caliginosum interpretatus est Babylonem. — Plerique hebr. vertunt : distorqueor ita ut non audiam ; conturbor ia ut non videam (cf. Ros. Drechsl. Kn. Del. Rohl. Troch.); sed praeferendum videtur : distorqueor ex auditu, ex visu (cf. Net. Naeg.) i. e. ex iis quae visione percipiuntur ; id enim ad rationem visionis accommodatum est ; in altera acceptione mirum illud habetur, quod vates dum in visione audiat et videat horrenda illa, simul profitetur se ita conturbari ut usum sensuum iani non habeat. Unde quaeri potest : sed si sensus actione sua destituuntur, quomodo iisdem sensibus cladem illam percipere potest, ex qua tamen perceptione terror ille oritur? Idque eo magis valet, quia statim subsequitur scena, ad quam percipiendam usus sensuum requiritur. Unde non satis concinnum videtur vatem in visione fingere sensibus destitutum prae terrore, cui tamen iisdem, sensibus visus et auditus etsi vi imaginaria varii eventus exhibendi sint. Neque obstat Y'2, quae particula sua nativa significatione omnino usurpatur, si verteris ez auditu. Eius terroris ratio redditur. Cernit enim propheta Babylonios obsidione hostili cinctos nihilominus consuetis comessationibus (cf. 44, 11. Curtius 5, 6) operam dantes, at mediis in deliciis, luxuriis, ebrietate irruptione hostium exturbari :
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v. 5 « pone mensam, contemplare in specula, comedentes el bibentes ; surgite principes, arripite clypeum » ! — in hebr. ponitur in quattuor primis verbis infinitivus, qui ad rem describendam aptissimus est ; intellige igitur Babylonios mensam instruere et convivia parare et suae securitati satis superque esse consultum existimare, si speculator speculatur 1. e. si excubiae dispositae sunt ; quare libere se dant comessationibus ac compotationibus. At subito irruentibus hostibus ex temulentia excitantur clamoribus : surgite principes, clypeum ungite (hebr.) i. e. tergite et expolite arma (Chald.). Adeo ergo secure degebant adeoque timoris expertes, ut ne arma quidem haberent ad pugnandum satis parata ; clypei non sunt uncti, non sunt tersi, vel si corio erant inducti, eo magis inungendi erant ne siccitate rigidiores facti fatiscerent et ictu gladii dissilirent (cf. Ros. Malv. Troch.). Quam praeclare hisce describatur expugnatio Babylonis, vide apud Danielem 5, 30 et apud profanos auctores (Herod. 1, 191. Xenoph. Cyrop. 1, 23) et ad idem refer Ier. 51, 39. 57. dum ipsi velint conviviis et luxuriis indulgere. Insuper Xenophon l. c. explicite refert excubias positas fuisse ad arcem regiam, verum illas ebrietati fuisse immersas. Adde alias verborum I*2xn nx ' explicationes satis esse vel ridiculas vel a verborum usu alienas. Ita sane quod vult Ewald : stellas speculari (de iis qui mensis accumbunt et largfssime Baccho libant !); alii stragulas ponere (Hitz. Cheyne, Kn.), sed NZ^X, NDEN storea in usu talmudico, non vero biblico invenitur, neque ad eam significationem adstruendarn sufficit 2Y quod in piel et pual in notione obducere adhibetur. Alii alias adhue expositiones commenti sunt : affluimus rerum abundantia; depuratur vinum defaecatum (utraque ex arabico ?), ef. Sehulzii scholia in V. T. continuata a Bauer; vel : accenditur candelabrum (Kimchi, Iarchi apud Ges.) ; pulsantur fides (Abenesra), instruuntur ordines (Saadias et Abulwalid apud Ges. — aliqua iam apud Malv.). — Conceptis verbis Herodotus l. c. refert exercendis choreis atque oblectationibus Babylonios operam dedisse, ita ut urbem captam esse eos latuisset aliquamdiu qui in extremis essent, donec maxime id rescirent. Similiter narrat Xenophon Cyrum cum intellextsset eiusmodi festum apud Babylonios celebrari quo per totam noctem potare et comessationibus se dedere solerent, cum advesperasset, recludi iussisse paludem Nitocris in quam abducendus esset Euphrates; Cyrum ipsum ita facit alloguentem milites : nunc adversus illos imus, quo tempore multi illorum dormiunt, multi eorum ebrii sunt, omnes vero incompositi etc. de quibus vide Ros. Sanct. Malv. Vigourouz 1l. c. p. 480. Rohling, Buch des Proph. Daniel p. 154. Brunengo ii Civiltà cattolica XII. 4, 291. 668 seq.
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v. 6 « Haec enim dixit mihi Dominus : vade et pone speculatorem et quodcumque viderit, aununtiet » ! — hebr. accuratius annuntiabit; ipsum prophetam esse speculatorem quem hoc loco ponere iubetur a Domino fere omnes iure statuunt (cf. S. Hier. Cyr. Thom. Mald. Sanct. Men. et recentiores). Est igitur huic visioni proprium, ut sicut vates v. 3. 4 quasi personam Babyloniorum induit, ita nunc non tam ipse per se agat quam per alium agere et res annuntiare videatur. Propheta est speculator in specula positus ; cf. Ez.3, 1*1; 33,9 seq. Hab. 2, 4 ; est expressio symbolica, qua sublimiorem cognitionem qua longinqua quoque comprehendantur ei a rebus terrenis avulso et ad Deum appropinquanti infundi declaratur. Unde Mald. notat: « vocat autem speculam visionem ipsam aut spiritum propheticum, quo qui arreptus est non solum praesentia sed etiam quae longissime absunt in- .1. De excubiis intelligunt Syrus, Chald. et plerique recentiorum cum vulg. tuetur, sicut qui in specula constitutus est. » Tale schema autem hocloco eo aptius adhibetur, quia de expeditione bellica et de itinere exercitus hostilis nuntius est perferendus, pro qua re custodes in speculis constituebantur ; cf. 2 Reg. 18, 24. 4 teg. 9, 4'1. — Censet Osor. speculatorem illum esse angelum qui res communicet Isaiae eodem modo quo angelus interlocutor apud Zachariam (cf. ad Zach. 1, 13. 14 ; 2, 3 etc.) ; sed minime placet vati praecipi, ut ponat angelum et mittat eum speculatorem. Quid in specula positus videat, annuntiat v. '1 « et vidit currum duo- . rum equitum, ascensorem asini et ascensorem cameli, et contemplatus est diligenter multo intuitu » ; — i. e. ut S. Hier. textum lat. exponit : « vidit venientem bigam et aurigam desuper asinumque et camelum currum trahere ». Hebr. verte e£ vidit agmen, paria equorum (equitum), agmen asinorum, agmen camelorum i. e. agmen cernit proficisci Babylonem versus, quod agmen iam clarius describitur: paria equitum, agmina asinorum et agmina camelorum. Tali agmine exercitum designari medo-persicum fere omnes consentiunt. Equis utebantur ad equitandum, asinis et camelis ad onera portanda et quandoque etiam in pugna, quibus scil. equi hostium terrerentur. Memoriae insuper proditum est Cyrum equitatui curam impendisse peculiarem (cf. Xenophon, Cyrop. 4, 6. 10 ; 4, 3. 3 ; 6, 1. 26 etc.) et Persas asinorum et camelorum magnam habuisse multitudinem vel ad onera portanda vel etiam ad hostium agmina perturbanda ; ita ope camelorum Cyrum victoriam reportasse dieunt de Lydiis (Herod. 1, 80), ope asinorum Darium Scythis intulisse cladem (Herod. 4, 129) ; gentes aliquas iisdem animalibus vehi esse solitas referunt, ita Arabes qui fuerint in exercitu Xerxis camelis, Caramanios asinis vectos esse (cf. Malv. Ges. Del. Naeg.). Unde eiusmodi symbolo agmen Medorum et Persarum apte exhiberi indubie constat, neque plus pro ratione visionis erit postulandum. — Alii explicant 322 currus et currus asinis et camelis vectos intelligi volunt ; ita iam Sym. dpa, Ce!xog Uxxov vertit ; ita vulg. et For. Mald. Malv. Mar. Lap. ete recentioribus Drechsl. ; pro qua explicatione usus vocis adduci potest alias conspicuus et etiam quod Herod. 1, 188 et i, 86 narrat, fuisse in exercitu Cyri currus mulis vectos quibus aqua Choaspis fluminis ad usum regis vehebatur et in exercitu Xerxis Indos adfuisse, quorum currus ab onagris traherentur ; sed quidquid est etiam camelos ad currus traheudos esse adhibitos incredibile videtur ; quare priori explanationi planiori acquiescendum erit !. Diligenti consideratione istud agmen vates prosecutus est, ut quid tandem portenderet et quid rei esset addisceret. Verum agmen illud praeteriit neque speculator de eius significatione edocetur statim. Quare ardens manifestat desiderium discendi quid illo symboli involucro contineatur
Hic novam vati communicari visionem, quae sit maior quaedam dgclaratio prioris (unde a *2 quia incipit), ex mentione locutionis divinae interposita sequi videtur ;
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v. 8 « et clamavit leo : super speculam Domini ego sum stans iugiler per diem et super custodiam meam ego sum. stans totis noctibus » ; — i. e. voce forti tamquam si leo rugit desiderium suum, immo ius quod habet, ut speculator constitutus de obiecto spectaculo edoceatur, intrepide ac confidenter Domino proponit et in mentem revocat, quanta fidelitate et constantia, quanto desiderio revelationem Dei praestoletur eamque in specula constitutus 1. e. munere suo prophetali fungens expetat. Is vero qui ita in specula consistere ab ipso Domino iussus adeo fideliter imperio Domini est obsecutus, etiam summa fiducia postulare potest, ut visio symbolica el explicetur ; nam « non facit Dominus Deus verbum, nisi revelaverit secretum suum ad servos suos prophetas » (Am. 3, 71). Mox ei panditur quid agminibus illis sit effectum. Cernit agmen equiium, e cuius numero unus ipsi optatum affert nuntium
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v. 9 « ecce iste venit ascensor vir bigae equitum et respondit et dixit : cecidit, cecidit Babylon, et omnia sculptilia eius contrita sunt in terram »! — hebr. verte ecce venit agmen virorum, paria equitum.. nuntio allato de casu Babylonis etiam patet, ad quid agmina illa v. 1 sint profecta. Magna emphasi repetitione expressa ruina urbis talis tantaeque annuntiatur; simul cum ea destructio idolorum promulgatur faeta (cf. 4, 1), qua destructione casus urbis theocratiae inservire dicitur. Unde eo quoque vaticinio vates ostendit omnia in hae parte ad Dei gloriam manifestandam dirigi; potentiae enim mundanae deiectio praevia est et esse debet regno messianico atque ut unius Dei gloria ubique fülgeat et agnoscatur, idola corruant et deleantur necesse est. Dei victoria in hebr. clarius effertur : omnia simulacra deorum eius confregit (Dominus scil.) in terram i. e. confregit et deiecit in terram. Ruinam Babylonis esse simul cladem deorum vide Ier. 50, 2. 38; 51, 44. 41. 8B2;cf. Ex. 19, 19. — Potest quaeri, quis responderit, utrum ipse speculator Isaias, an equitum advenientium unus. Prius plures affirmant; cf. S. Hier. Euseb. Sanct. Malv. Mald. Sa, Lap. Men. Tir. Kn. Drechsl. Naeg. ; alterum tenent For. Mar. Calm. Troch. Rohl. Del. iisque accedendum esse puto; nam postquam speculator v. 8 prima persona quid sentiat locutus est, pergit in v. 9 narrare quid mentis acie perspexerit, unde satis durum esset atque inconcinnum, si in hae narratione de aliis aliaque re instituta subito iterum de se in tertia persona loqueretur et respondit et dixit ; dein ipsa voce ecce Aoc v. 9 indicatur, vatem referre id quod sensibus eius oblatum fuerit; neque ullum adest indicium, vatem ex agmine illo adventante collegisse Babylonem esse captam, immo ne apparet quidem, unde hoc coniicere potuisset. Ergo multo simplicius fluit altera haec acceptio. Ruinam Babylonis deorumque eius peculiari ratione ad populum Dei spectare de qua re Isaias in altera libri parte adeo explicite agit, iam hoc "loco indicat ibique solatium contineri pro afflicto Israel clare enuntiat (ita semina spargens quae in altera. parte ad plenam frugem maturescent)
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v. 10 « tritura mea et filii areae meae, quae audivi a Domino exercituum annuntiavi vobis » ; — populum alloquitur afflictum, miseriis attritum et quasi trituratum, filios areae meae, quos simul calamitalibus purgari innuit (hebraismum explica : mei filii areae) et ideo a Deo ventilari ac percuti, ut remotis sordibus ac quisquiliis purum exsistat frumentum, in qua concussione « non cadet lapillus super terram » (cf. ad Am. 9, 9). Quos ita nomine appellat longa afflictione multisque miseriis esse ad meliorem frugem reducendos indicat, sed ruina Babylonis facta iis fore respirationem ac liberationem vaticinatur. Unde verba ea non cum Mald. Calm. Schegg ad Babylonem referri possunt sed cum plerisque (cf. S. Hier. Theod. Cyr. Thom. For. Sanct. Lap. eic.) ad Iudaeos dicta esse statuendum erit; alii ad utros referant ancipites haerent (cf. Sasb.).
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v. 11 « Onus Duma » ; — intelligi Edom, Idumaeam, communi fere omnium interpretum et antiquorum et recentiorum sententia asseritur. Atque revera iam LXX ferunt «3 &papa vs looopatzg et Edom intelligi eo ipso constat quia quaestio cui respondetur fit ex Seir i. e. ex montibus Edom. Sed unde nomen Duma? S. Hier. asserit : « est Duma non tota Idumaea provincia, sed quaedam eius regio quae ad austrum vergit et ab urbe Palaestinae quae hodie dicitur Eleutheropolis viginti distat millibus, iuxta quam sunt montes Seir »; quod cum adeo determinate et accurate dicatur ipso regionis situ sedulo indicato, certo dici nequit cum Del. sine ullo fundamento solum ex hoc Isaiae loco esse coniectura ortum. Unde saltem probabile est eam regionis appellationem vatem prae communi et magis generali selegisse, ut ipso vocis sono silentium, locus silentii (de orco Ps. 94, 11; 115, 17) ad quam sortem gens et regio Edom apud Deum iam redacta esset, audientibus ingereret. Ad quam appellationem symbolicam etiam praeter 21, 1 refer 22, 1. Ceterum Duma etiam invenitur Gen. 95, 14. 4 Par. 1, 30 inter filios Ismael ; nomen igitur etiam significare videtur tribum et regionem in Arabia spectante inter septemtrionem et occidentem, quae regio hodie Duma saxea (Dumat eldschandal) vel Duma syriaca nominatur ; ea in confiniis deserti syriaci et Arabiae propriae sita est (cf. Ges. in com. et Thes. p. 327; Riehm, Handwoerterb. I p. 290). Hanc tribum ismaeliticam hoc loco designari Ges. et JVef. existimant. Et ille quidem de Seir clamat ita exponit, ut verbis istis vox non eregione in montibus Seir sita dicatur afferri, verum solum e regione quae sit ultra Seir perferatur ; hie vero tribum censet e sede sua pulsam in Seir domicilium fixisse. É Contra Edom iam vaticinatus est Amos (1, 11. 12). Edomitas quoque ab Assyriis esse subiectos certum est. lam ex inscriptione aliqua Theglathphalasar regis discimus Kausmalaka Udumuai regi Assyriorum fuissesubiectum et ex alia inscriptione Aburammu rex Edom regi Sennacherib sese subiecit. Quare Edomitas varie ab Assyriis afflictos esse iure merito supponere licet. In tali ergo afflictione iam quaerunt a propheta Domini, cum Dominus miserias illas esset minatus, sitne spes emergendi et quando tempora oboritura sint faustiora : « Ad me clamat ex Seir : custos quid de nocte? custos quid de nocte » ? — i. e. « videor mihi spiritu prophetico audire Idumaeos clamantes ex Seir » ( Mald. Men.) et aegrotorum more quibus ob morbi molestiam tardior nox trahitur et qui ab aurora aliquid levaminis sibi promittunt, sedulo quaerunt : quantum nox processerit, quota sit quasi hora noctis (cf. Sasb. Tir.). Iterata autem interrogatio maxime declarat solliciti pectoris angorem et metum (Sanct. Malv.) et quam acerba quoque calamitate premantur. In hebr. alterum membrum brevius est priore; qua re anxietatem et festinationem qua interrogant et aviditatem qua responsum extorquere velint fere depingi et adumbrari haud inepte quis cum Del. affirmaverit. Propheta est custos, utpote in specula positus; cf. v. 6. 8. : Ad quod respondet vates
Anc. — Edomitae nocte et tenebris calamitatum oppressi ex vate quaerunt de conditione et fine malorum. Respondet vates salutem quidem venturam, at pro malis permansuram noctem ; unde mente mutati et conversi redeant ad Dominum interrogandum. — Postquam Assyrios, Aegyptios, Babylonios a Domino esse et sede et potestate deiiciendos propheta demonstravit, iam ad minores quoque gentes Dei iudicium, utpote universale, pertinere docet oraculo prolato primum in Edomitas, dein in Arabes. Hisce Dominum omnium curam gerere et cuncta, magna et parva administrare edocet et praesertim iudicium Dei universale fore ad oculum demonstrat. Etiam huius vaticinii titulus, uti 21, 1, symboli rationem prae se ferre videtur :
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v. 129 « dixit custos : venit mane et noz ; si quaeritis, quaerite, convertimini, venite »! — i. e. post noctem miseriae veniet utique mane, tempus felicitatis et salutis (ef. 9, 2; 8, 20); ita tamen ut etiam nox perduret ; ergo felicitas illa post miseriam non omnibus obtinget neque necessitate quadam ex oppressione et miseria salus orietur; proinde ne sibi nimium promittant : venit mane, sed illud mane simul pro aliis est nox ! Qua ratione autem se salutis lucisque socios reddere possint, subiuncta adhortatione declarat; scil. ut serio ac sedulo quaerant, instanter scil. a Domino petant et quaerentes ac pulsantes perseverent, ut redeant vel convertantur, mentes animosque mutent et dein denuo ad Dominum accedant opem expostulaturi et de futura sorte inquisituri. Unde eo responso vates illis simul aperit, quid adhuc desit in eorum agendi et quaerendi modo et spem aperit iis, dummodo velint resipiscere (cf. Sasb. Men. Gord. Troch. Rohl.). Qua conditione non impleta illis nihil relinquitur nisi nox, nisi interitus. Sim. S. Hier. : « venit mane populo meo et nox genti Idumaeorum ; illis praebebo lucem, vos in tenebris derelinquam ; vel certe ita : venit lux nocte transacta; si meum invocatis auxilium, nolite me tantum in necessitatibus quaerere, sed toto ad me animo convertimini; venite et suscipiam poenitentes ». Certe loquendi modo : si quaeritis, quaerite, nil aliud poterit intelligi, quam ut serio ac vere quaerere iubeantur, sicuti dici solet : age quod agis. succedere nocti diem, diei autem noctem ; proinde illos cum irrisione remitti atque abiici (cf. For. sim. Kn.). 'At hoc quoque nimis durum est nedum propheta plane indignum. Accedit quod ipso textu hebr. haec explicatio verborum excludi videtur ; legimus enim D231 quae particula sua collocatione significationem induit et tamen, etiam tum (cf. Ez. 16, 98. Eccl. 8, 49. Ps. 199, 9 hebr.) et generatim aliquid addi, augeri connotat. Unde accurate explicaveris : venit mane ct tamen nox, vel etiam tum nox i. e. mane venit pro aliquibus, idem autem tempus aliis etiam est nox. Hane noctem ingruere Edomitis, ipso titulo onus et nomine symbolico Dwma indicatur ; utrum autem nox illa futura sit perennis (i. e. utrum Edom populus interiturus sit),an eam lux et felicitas subsecutura, vates non praedicit ; sufficit ut viam ostendat qua ipsi quoque ad meliora emergere possint, dummodo serio voluerint.
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v. 13 « Onus in Arabia. In saltu ad vesperam dormietis, in semitis Dedanim » ; — hebr. verte in saltu ad vesperam pernoctatis catervae Dedanim; erant Dedanim vicini Edomitarum (cf. Ier. 95, 23; 49, 8. Ez. 25, 13), qui commercio cum Phoenicibus operam dabant (vide Ez. 21, 13. 20; 38, 13) ; ex Gen. 95,3 et 1 Par. 1, 32 apparet eos adnumerandos esse Arabibus qui dicuntur ceturaei quique partem Arabiae spectantem inter septemtrionem et occidentem incolebant. Exhibentur nobis catervae viatorum vel peregrinantium Dedanim pernoctantes non in via qua mercatorum turmae per desertum incedere solent, sed in sal(u, in solitudine, in latibulis, ubi arbusculis et vepretis obtecti persequentium hostium insidias effugiant. Ibi misere latitantes inedia conficiuntur; quare habitatores Thema admonentur, ut iis cibos et aquam afferant
Anc. — Tribuum arabicaram cladem uno exemplo vates describit. Exhibet enim nobis Dedanitas, bello e suis sedibus pulsos, in locis inviis pernoctantes, quibus meridiem versus fugientibus incolae Thema panes et aquam in refocillationem afferunt. Dominus enim statuit, ut gloria Cedar et apparatus bellicus intereat. — Cum tribus quoque per Arabiam longe lateque vagantes affligantur et sua prosperitate deiiciantur, quam universale futurum sit Dei iudicium bene depingitur. Eo enim gentes omnes comprehendi, sive sint imperio regio subditae, sive nomades et libere vagantes, ad oculum demonstratur hac cladis arabicae inter reliqua regna enumeratione. Etiam hoc oraculo, uti 21, 4 seq., vates scena depicta nos rapit in medias res :
21:14
V. 14 « occurrentes sitienti ferle aquam, qui habitatis terram austri, cum panibus occurrite fugienti »! — terra austri i. e. Thema apte inducitur, quia hostibus a septemtrione ingruentibus meridiem versus fuga arripitur. Regionem eam esse censent quae Taima vocatur, itinere trium dierum a Syria distans (cf. Kn. Del.) in via quae a Damasco Meccam ducit. Hebr. obviam eunt in pane eius fugienti i. e. cibo illo qui fugienti est necessarius. Titulus 2373 et alterum oraculi verbum aa consulto selecta videntur, ut vespera tribulationis statim ipsa inscriptione innuatur. Accedit quod Nt». onus alias vix cum 2 (Zach. 9, 1 ?) iungatur, sed cum pi vel 5x. In inscriptione igitur ille mos observari videtur, qui quandoque occurrit, ut scil. ex ipso carmine nomen vel inscriptio carminis petatur, quod aliqui etiam 21, 4 factum esse existimant idemque 2 Reg. 1, 18 forte invenitur. — Ex titulo aliqui inducti sunt, ut. verba priora oraculi verterent : in saltu in Arabia (Ges. Ros. Maurer, Umbreit, Drechsl. Del. Rohl. Net. ct iam apud Malv. Mald. Sanct.); sed cum de viatoribus Dedanim mentio fiat et cum titulus praecesserit onus in Arabiam, valde superfluum est ut denuo Arabia textui ingeratur; hanc enim regionem et non aliam intelligi iam clarissimum est. Unde versio LXX, Syri, S. Hier, Chald. omnino retineri debet. Fuga scil. dilapsi et fatigati ad vesperam non ibi audent pernoctare, ubi mercatorum et viatorum catervae in viis solitis diversoria quaedam invenire solent, sed in solitudinem et in saltum sese abdunt ; ó?' complures non de silva, sed de condensis vepretis vel vepreculis, de latibulis etc. intelligunt (cf. Kn.), cum negent silvas in deserto illo Arabiae inveniri (cf. Ges.) ; unde alii vocem accipiunt generatim de regione dura et aspera, invia etinculta (cf. Del.). — Textus mas. in ultimo membro fert. »2Tp antever- tunt, obviam eunt, ita ut enallage. personae assumenda sit; prius enim membrum per imperativum etiam in textu mas. accipi potest ; sed pro descriptionis ratione et vigore maiore omnino praeferri debet imperativus in membro utroque quem LXX, Syrus, S. Hier. Chald. praebent ; lege ergo in hebr. »27p. Cur praecipiti fuga dispergantur, exponitur
21:15
v. 15 « a facie enim gladiorum fugerunt, a facie gladii imminentis, a facie arcus extenti, & facie gravis proelii » ; — quadruplici modo hostem ingruentem et persequentem exhibet, cui resistere nihil possit, et qui omni armorum genere quibus et cominus et eminus prosternentur victi optime est instructus. Periculi magnitudinem describens simul rationem affert vates efficacem, qua habitatores Thema ad misericordiam flectat ; « neque enim mediocre malum eos perculit ; fugiunt enim micantes gladios, fugiunt arcus intentos, fugiunt bellum pestem » (Osor. sim. Sanct.) ; nam « quos non inanis metus fugat, sed ingentia pericula extra suos lares exsulare compellunt digni sunt, quorum alii misereantur » (For.). Uti supra in oraculo contra Moab (16, 14) et in vaticinio contra Aegyptum (cp. 20), ita hic quoque vates addit tempus determinatum, quando iudicium illud incipiendum sit. Cum emphasi effert. Dominum id statuere ; Assyrii quidem illis tribubus bellum intulerunt, ut viam in Aegyptum sibi tutam redderent et securam, vel ut imperium suum undequaque firmarent, vel ut divitias tribuum illarum commerciis sane locupletum sibi compararent vel eas ob auxilium rebellibus praestitum castigarent, vates vero in Dei specula positus Deum cernit rerum omnium moderatorem qui ad suos fines cuncta sapienter et efficaciter dirigit ; unde
21:16
v. 16 « quoniam haec dicit Dominus ad, me : adhuc in uno anno quasi in anno mercenarii et auferetur omnis gloria Cedar ;
21:17
v. 171 et reliquiae numeri sagittariorum fortium de filiis Cedar imminuentur ; Dominus enim Deus Israel locutus est » ; — de anno mercenarii vide 16, 14. Post annum primum fieri initium iudicii descripti, quod deinde per varios gradus casusque variis temporum intervallis erit devolvendum, ex eo quoquecolliges, quia postmodum simile vaticinium a leremia fit contra Cedar (ler. 49, 30). Cedar, filius Ismael (Gen. 25, 13), nomen dedit tribui in Arabia septemtrionali, quae tribus simul cum Nabataeis praecipua fuisse videtur in ea Arabiae parte (cf. Is. 42, 11 ; 60, 1. Cant. 4, 5) et ex Ez. 21, 91 principes Cedar negotiatores erant Tyri, ad quam urbem venerunt cum agnis, arietibus et hoedis. In una tribu etiam hoc loco vates declarat, quid cognatis omnibus instet. Cum filii Cedar laudentur utpote sagittarii periti et gregibus fuerint divites, gloria eorum quae auferenda sit, in libertate, in felici usu armorum, in gregibus censenda erit consistere etin terrore illo, quem suae fortitudinis fama aliis tribubus iniecerint. In inscriptionibus cuneiformibus haud raro reges quoque Arabiae recensentur qui devicti vectigalia solverint Assyriis. Ita Sargon varias tribus Arabiae recenset quas subiecerit et caede magna facta transtulerit in regionem Samariae ; ab aliis se tributa accepisse, aurum, lapides preiiosos, ebur, ligna, aromata etc. gloriatur (cf. Vigourouz 1. c. IV p. 149). Sennacherib quoque Arabibus bellum intulit ; quare iam Herodotus (2, 141) eum vocat regem Arabum et Assyriorum, Asarhaddon Arabiam imperio continere studuit, Asurbanipal bella gessit inter alia contra Arabes, quos frater eius ad rebellionem excitaverat; inter alia narrat de ingenti clade qua Arabes sint prostrati, de incendio quo tentoria eorum et domicilia sint absumpta ; meminit regis Cedar, quem rebellem simul cum militibus occiderit, cuius tabernacula et domicilia igne combusserit, greges abduxerit (cf. Vigourouz |l. c. p. 93-211). Unde de oraculi impletione satis constat. Alia vide quae recensuit de Hwmumelauer, Stimmen aus Maria Laach 1813 IV. p. 153 ; Busch, Geschichte des Orients I p. 326. III p. 'i2 etc.
21:1
The Prophets highlight the hostility of the Gentiles, whose kings represent peoples rather than individuals (cf. Is. 34): "Pharaoh" is the first enemy king conquered by Yahweh; there follow the king of Babylon (Is. 14:4-17; 21:1-10), Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Pompey. …
21:2
… Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel raise their voices against E., as against all the other regions then in prominence (cf. Is. 11:11; 21:2; 22:6; Ier. 25:25; 49:34 agg.; Ex. 32:24). A few years before the annihilation of E. the prophet Jeremiah announces it (Ier. 49:34-39); he foretells finally the return of the Elamite …
21:13
The D. are named in Is. 21:13; Jer. 25:23; Ez. 38:13; 25:13 and Jer. 49:8. The last two texts consider D. as situated to the south of Edom (v.); it would be an oasis corresponding to the position of the one called el-'Ola. …
21:14
… Tēma'; Gr. Θαψάν). - Name of an Ishmaelite tribe (Gen. 25:15; 1 Chron. 1:30) and of the district they inhabited, in northern Arabia, on the borders of the Syrian desert and west of the Gulf of Aqaba (Isa. 21:14; Jer. 25:23).
21:16
Cedar (Hebrew Qēdhār = "Bronzed by the Sun")
… They were a pastoral people with black tents, similar to those of present-day Bedouins, made from the hair of goats or camels (Song 1:4 [Heb. 5]). They also had villages (Isa. 42:11). Flocks were their wealth (Isa. 60:7; Jer. 49:28; Ezek. 27:21). Famous archers (Isa. 21:16 f.) and cruel raiders (Ps. 119 [120]:5), they are mentioned together with the Nabateans in the cuneiform monuments (Qidri and Qadri) and by Pliny (Nat. …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.