Иеремия 49:23

Prophecy as to Damascus, &c. (Isa 17:1; Isa 10:9). The kingdom of Damascus was destroyed by Assyria, but the city revived, and it is as to the latter Jeremiah now prophesies. The fulfilment was probably about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 10.9,7]. Hamath is confounded--at the tidings of the overthrow of the neighboring Damascus. on the sea--that is, at the sea; the dwellers there are alarmed. Other manuscripts read, "like the sea." "There is anxiety (restless) as is the sea: they cannot quiet it," that is, it cannot be quieted (Isa 57:20). it--Whatever dwellers are there "cannot be quiet."

Concerning Damascus,.... Or, "unto Damascus" (d); or, "against Damascus" (e); that is, "thus saith the Lord"; which is to be repeated from the foregoing instances, Jer 49:1. This is to be understood, not only of the city of Damascus, but of the whole kingdom of Syria, of which Damascus was the metropolis; see Isa 7:8; Hamath is confounded, and Arpad; two cities in Syria; the first is generally thought to be Antioch of Syria, sometimes called Epiphania; and the other the same with Arvad, inhabited by the Arvadim, or Aradians; see Kg2 18:34; these, that is, the inhabitants of them, as the Targum, were covered with shame, thrown into the utmost confusion and consternation: for they have heard evil tidings; of the Chaldean army invading the land of Syria, and of their coming against them; and perhaps of their taking of Damascus their capital city; all which must be bad news unto them, and give them great uneasiness: they are fainthearted; or "melted" (f); their hearts melted like wax, and flowed like water; they had no heart nor spirit left in them, through fear of the enemy; there is sorrow in the sea, it cannot be quiet: the Targum is, "fear in the sea, carefulness hath taken hold on them, behold, as those that go down to the sea to rest, and cannot rest;'' or, as other copies, cannot flee. So Jarchi, and Kimchi interpret it, as if the note of similitude was wanting, and the sense this, that the inhabitants of the above places were either like the troubled sea itself, which cannot rest; or like persons in a storm at sea, who are in the utmost uneasiness and distress: or else it designs such that belonged to the kingdom of Syria, that dwelt in the isles of the sea; who were in great fright when they heard of the invasion of their country by the Chaldeans, particularly the…

Concerning Damascus. - Aram, on this side of the Euphrates, or Syria, was divided, in the times of Saul and David, into the kingdoms of Damascus, Zobah, and Hamath, of which the second, extending between Damascus and Hamath (see on Sa2 8:3), or situated north-eastward from Damascus, between the Orontes and the Euphrates, was the most powerful; its kings were defeated by Saul (Sa1 14:47), and afterwards conquered and made tributary to the kingdom of Israel by David, who did the same to the Syrians of Damascus that had come to the assistance of Hadadezer king of Zobah (2 Sam 8 and 10). After the death of David and during the time of Solomon, a freebooter named Rezon, who had broken away from Hadadezer during the war, established himself in Damascus (see on Kg1 11:23-25), and became the founder of a dynasty which afterwards made vassals of all the smaller kings of Syria, whose number is given Kg1 20:1. This dynasty also, under the powerful rulers Benhadad I and II and Hazael, long pressed hard on the kingdom of Israel, and conquered a great part of the Israelite territory (Kg1 15:18., Jer 20:1., Jer 22:3.; Kg2 5:1., Jer 6:8., 8:28f., 10:32f., 12:18ff., Jer 13:3.). At last, King Joash, after the death of Hazael, succeeded in retaking the conquered cities from his son, Benhadad III (Kg2 13:19.); and Jeroboam II was able to restore the ancient frontiers of Israel as far as Hamath (Kg2 14:25). Some decades alter, Rezin king of Damascus, in alliance with Pekah of Israel, undertook a war of conquest against Judah during the time of Ahaz, who therefore called to his aid the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser. This monarch conquered Damascus, and put an end to the Syrian kingdom, by carrying away the people to Kir (Kg2 15:37; Kg2 16:5-9). This kingdom of Syria is called "Damascus" in t…

The kingdom of Syria lay north of Canaan, as that of Edom lay south, and thither we must now remove and take a view of the approaching fate of that kingdom, which had been often vexatious to the Israel of God. Damascus was the metropolis of that kingdom, and the ruin of the whole is supposed in the ruin of that: yet Hamath and Arpad, two other considerable cities, are names (Jer 49:23), and the palaces of Ben-hadad, which he built, are particularly marked for ruin, Jer 49:27; see also Amo 1:4. Some think Ben-hadad (the son of Hadad, either their idol, or one of their ancient kings, whence the rest descended) was a common name of the kings of Syria, as Pharaoh of the kings of Egypt. Now observe concerning the judgment of Damascus, 1. It begins with a terrible fright and faint-heartedness. They hear evil tidings, that the king of Babylon, with all his force, is coming against them, and they are confounded; they know not what measures to take for their own safety, their souls are melted, they are faint-hearted, they have no spirit left them, they are like the troubled sea, that cannot be quiet (Isa 57:20), or like men in a storm at sea (Psa 107:26); or the sorrow that begins in the city shall go to the sea-coast, Jer 49:23. See how easily God can dispirit those nations that have been most celebrated for valour. Damascus now waxes feeble (Jer 49:24), a city that thought she could look the most formidable enemy in the face now turns herself to flee, and owns it is to no more purpose to think of contending with her fate than for a woman in labour to contend with her pains, which she cannot escape, but must yield to. It was a city of praise (Jer 49:25), not praise to God, but to herself, a city much commended and admired by all strangers that visited it. It was a city of joy,…

49:23-27 Damascus, the capital of Aram (ancient Syria), and the Aramean cities of Hamath and Arpad, indicate Aram as the next object of the Lord’s judgment.