5—9. Prepare the table, &c.] The Prophet describes the carelessness of the Babylonians, and in the midst of their feasting the sudden alarm of war. The event is then declared in a very singular manner: God orders the Prophet to set a watchman to look out, and to report what he sees; and though the passage, which relates what he sees, is extremely obscure, (owing to the ambiguity of a word which occurs three times, and may signify a chariot or the rider in it; or a rider on a horse or other animal; or a company of chariots or riders; it is pretty clear, that Darius and Cyrus, the Medes and the Persians, are intended to be distinguished by the two riders, or two sorts of cattle. Bp. Lowth. 8. And he cried, A lion:] The marginal reading, "as a lion," gives an easier sense; with a strong voice, like a lion: the particle as is frequently understood; see chap. xv. 5. W. Lowth, Bp. Hall. 9. — answered] That is, continued his discourse; for similar use of the word "answer," see particularly Matt. xi. 25, and the Gospels elsewhere. W. Lowth. — all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.] Xerxes, on his return from Greece, passing through Babylon, pillaged the temples, and pulled down all the images, thus completing this and other prophecies; see Jer. 1. 2; li. 44. 47. 52. Dean Prideaux. 10. O my threshing, and the corn of my floor:] The application, the end, and design of the prophecy are here admirably given in a short expressive address to the Jews: O my people, whom I shall make subject for your punishment to the Babylonians, to try and prove you, to separate the chaff from the corn, the bad from the good among you, hear this for your consolation; your slavery and oppression will have an end in the destruction of your oppressors. The Prophet abruptly breaks off, and, instead of continuing the speech in the person of God, adds in his own, This I declare unto you from God. Bp. Lowth. It constantly occurs in the prophecies that the persons speaking are changed, and that God's discourse is intertwined with that of the Prophet. Vitringa. The word threshing is used here to express the object or matter that is threshed: for "corn of my floor," in the original it is, as the margin gives, son. It is an idiom of the Hebrew language to call the effect, the object, any thing that belongs in almost any way to another, the son of it. Bp. Lowth. See chap. v. 1, and margin there. 11. The burden of Dumah.] That this is to be understood of Edom or Idumea, may be inferred from the mention of Seir; this last being a name by which Edom is commonly denoted in Scripture. Dr. Wells. The set time of Arabia's calamity. CHAP. XXI, XXII. The invasion of Jewry lamented. Before CHRIST about 714. calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? 13. The burden upon Arabia.] This prophecy was to be fulfilled within a year of the time of its delivery, ver. 16; and was probably delivered about the same time with the rest in this part of the book, soon after or before the fourteenth of Hezekiah, the year of Sennacherib's invasion. In his first march into Judea, or in his return from the Egyptian expedition, he might overrun the several clans of Arabians mentioned here: their distress on some such occasion is the subject of the prophecy. Bp. Lowth. — travelling companies] See the notes on Gen. xvi. 12; xxxvii. 25; Job xli. 6. Those of Dedanim were the posterity of Dedan, Abraham's grandson; those of Tema and Kedar, descended from two of Ishmael's sons, Gen. xxv. 3. 13. 15. These people were famous for the use of the bow, (ver. 17.) like their ancestor Ishmael, Gen. xxi. 20. W. Lowth. 14. — brought water &c.] Pitying their chased neighhuman wisdom and worldly joy. 15 He prophesieth Shebna's deprivation, 20 and Elinkim, prefiguring the kingdom of Christ, his substitution. Before CHRIST about 712. THE burden of the valley of vision. What aileth thee now, that thou art wholly gone up to the housetops? 2. Thou that art full of stirs, &c.] Thou, O Jerusalem, that art so full of people, and full of noise, a populous and jolly city, how is it that thy citizens are so base that they do not stand it out in fight; neither are they dead by the sword, but with fear rather? Bp. Hall. 6. — Elam bare the quiver &c.] See note on chap. xiii. 18. The Kir mentioned here was a city of the Medes. W. Lowth. Both Medes and Elamites were allies or tributaries to The Persian invaders reproved. The downfall of Shebna, Before CHRIST about 712. Or, I wards. chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array || at the gate. 8. And he discovered the covering of Judah, &c.] The meaning is, When the enemy hath dismantled the fortified cities of Judah, then you will bethink yourselves of providing arms for your defence. "The house of the forest" was an armoury within the city of Jerusalem; see 1 Kings x. 17. It was built by Solomon; and thus called, probably, from the great quantity of cedar from Lebanon employed in the building, 1 Kings vii. 2, 3. W. Lowth, Bp. Lowth. 11. Ye made also a ditch between the two walls &c.] This agrees with the circumstance of Hezekiah's stopping up all the waters of the fountains without the city, and bringing them into the city by a subterraneous passage cut through the rock: those of the old pool to a place where he made a double wall, so that the pool was between the two walls. This great work is particularly mentioned by the sacred historians, 2 Kings xx. 20; 2 Chron. xxvii. 2, 3, 5, 30; and celebrated by the son of Sirach, Ecclus. xlviii. 17. Bp. Lowth. — neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago.] That is, to God; who enabled David at first, and his successors, to increase and fortify this city, chose it to be the place of his temple, and promised to continue his special protection over it. Dr. Wells, W. Lowth. 15. — Get thee unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna.] The relation which the following prophecy concerning Shebna has to the foregoing seems to be, that it might have been delivered about the same time, and Shebna might be a principal person among those whose luxury and profaneness is severely reprehended by the Prophet, ver. 11—14. Shebna the scribe, mentioned in the history of Hezekiah, chap. xxxvi, seems to have been a different person from this Shebna, the treasurer, or steward of the household. The Eliakim here mentioned was probably the person who, at the time of Sennacherib's invasion, was actually treasurer, the son of Hilkiah. Bp. Lowth. Concerning this Shebna, (for we can hardly conceive him to be the same, though some interpreters have, with Shebna the scribe,) history affords no information; we may suppose him, from what is said, ver. 18, after the deprivation of his office, removed into a foreign country, and dying there in disgrace and ignominy. Vitringa. 16. — that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre—on high.] See note on chap. xiv. 9. 17. — will surely cover thee.] Persons under disgrace or condemnation had their heads covered; see Esther vii. 8; Jer. xiv. 3. W. Lowth. See also note on Job ix. 24.