The fall of Babylon is recorded after the ruin of Assyria, because it was Babylon that conquered Assyria.¹

footnotes: ¹ According to Ktesias, the Babylonians under Nabopolassar, with the Medes under Cyaxares, captured and destroyed Nineveh about 606 B.C.

נשפה High. According to some related to נֶשֶׁף (5:11) dimness;² more correctly it may be compared with שְׁמׇיׅם heights (41:18), נ in that case being the characteristic of the Niphal; in both cases it means high; or the word must be considered as hap. leg.

footnotes: ² הד נשפה Lit. dark mountain, that is, a high mountain, the summit of which seems to be dark.

For them. For those that come to attack Babylon.

That they may go into the gates of the nobles. They shall come and march at once into the country; they will undoubtedly conquer it.

I. God is speaking.

למקדשי Those that are appointed by me for the purpose. ³

footnotes: ³ A. V., My sanctified ones.

That rejoice in my highness. That are glad to show my might, or, whom I caused to rejoice in the power I gave them.

קול המון A resounding voice.⁴ It is the nature of mountains to echo the sound of words uttered by any person, and this echo is alluded to by the expression קול המון. The root of המון is המה resound; comp. הומה being in an uproar (1 Kings 1:41). The prophet explains also what this noise among the kingdoms of the heathen people signifies; Cyrus, the king of Persia, and Darius, the king of Media, became allies in a war against Babylon; this is distinctly stated in Daniel.⁵

footnotes: ⁴ A. V., The noise of a multitude. ⁵ The passages referred to are : The kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians (Dan. 5:28), And Darius, the Mede, took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old (ib. 6:1.) On the latter verse I. E. remarks, It is known that Cyrus took Babylon, as stated in Isaiah; Cyrus is therefore called the king of Babylon (Ezra 5:13), but Darius the Mede, his father-in-law, was, as we learn from the history of Persia and Media, his ally, and was made by him viceroy of Babylon. They were both kings of Babylon at the same time, but it was by order of Cyrus, the king of kings, that the Jews returned to Jerusalem after the fall of Babylon.

מפקד He is appointing officers, or, he is causing to number; comp. פקודים number. The word מפקד governs two accusatives.⁶

footnotes: ⁶ According to the first explanation, מפקד is a denominative from פקיד officer; according to the second it is derived from פקד to number. מפקדים in the Hebrew text is probably a corruption of מגזרת פְּקֻדִים.

They come from a far country. They come from the country of Elam.⁷ From the end of heaven. As if they came from the extremity of heaven; that is, they come from a great distance.

footnotes: ⁷ The Elam mentioned by I. E. cannot be the Elam of Dan. 8:2, the Persian province with the capital Susa, which is in the immediate neighbourhood of Babylonia, and by no means more entitled to be called a far country with regard to Babylon than Media, named in this same chapter (ver. 17.) The remark of I. E. is probably based on Is. 21:2, Go up, Elam, c. and he seems to suppose that there was, besides the west Persian province Elymais, including Susiana, Dan. 8:2, another Elam or Elymais, an independent state in the north and east of Media and Persia (comp. Jer. 49:34, Ez. 32:24). The Elamites, warlike Semitic tribes (comp. Gen. 14:1, 10:22), had spread over the whole of the country between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, and left here and there traces of their conquests. Hence the Elymais, in the west of Persia, and another Elymais, in the north of Media; hence the great uncertainty and discrepancy among the ancient geographers and historians concerning the extent and position of Elymais. (See Smith’s Dict. of Greek and Rom. Geogr. sub voce Elymais; Niebuhr, Assur and Babel, p. 382, ff.)

The Lord cometh. The decrees of the Lord are coming, they will soon be fulfilled. And the weapons of His indignation. Persia and Media.

משדי From the Almighty. This destruction shall come from the Almighty, and who shall be able to prevent it? According to others: From a destroying hero (שודד ═ שדי), but the former explanation is the right one.⁸

footnotes: ⁸ The second explanation is rejected, probably because there is no instance of שדי being used in that sense.

All hands, viz., of the Babylonians.

פני להבים A face of flames. A face burnt by the intensity of the pains. According to others: The face of the Lehabim;⁹ Lehabim being the name of a nation similar to the Ethiopians.

footnotes: ⁹ Comp. Genesis 10:13.

אכזרי Cruel. The י is paragogic, as in ¹⁰) not radical but formative; (b) not essential but superfluous. פנימי inner (1 Kings 6:27).

footnotes: ¹⁰ The י in פנימי is not of the same kind as that in אכזרי, as stated by I. E. himself (Moznaim, On the Hirek); in his commentary on Lev. 16:21, he quotes פנימי as an instance of an adjective with יו״ד להתיחס, a formative י to indicate relation. In his Safah Berurah (p. 29), however, he quotes פנימי and אכזרי as two instances of the paragogic יו״ד נוסף) י). This discrepancy seems to have its origin in the use of the word נוסף additional in two different meanings, (a

The land, viz., of the Chaldæans.

וכסיליהם According to some, כְּסִיל is the name of the star which is nearest to the south pole, at the sight of which the camels die.¹¹ My opinion is¹² that כסיל is the Heart of the Scorpion constellation; it is, however, possible that כסילים in this verse—comp. כְּסׇלִים flanks (Lev. 3:4)—signifies the stars near the poles.¹³ R. Jonah remarks that there is only one star named כסיל, and that here, in the plural כסילים, other stars are included; comp. בתי השן the houses of ivory (Am. 3:15).¹⁴

footnotes: ¹¹ The star near the south pole is seen by the inhabitants of the northern hemisphere only in the midst of the summer, when the camels are exposed to the greatest heat. The name of the star is, according to I. E. (on Amos 5:8) Edom in Hebrew, Sahil in Arabic; it is now known by the name Kanopus. ¹² Concerning the four constellations mentioned in the Bible חַדְרֵי תֵימׇן עׇשׁ כְּסִיל כִּימׇה (Amos 5:4, Job 9:9, 38:31), I. E. gives the following explanation: חדרי תימן Kanopus and the stars round him; עש the Great Bear; כסיל the Heart of the Scorpion; כימה the left eye of the Taurus. (In his Kele Nehosheth, a description of an astronomical instrument and its use, כימה is identified with Algadia, or the Haedi in the Auriga.) These four constellations occupy, according to I. E. the four most important spots of the celestial sphere; namely, עש is near the north pole; חדרי תימן near the south pole; כסיל near the south equinoctial point; כימה near the north equinoctial point. At present, however, the latter two are not near the mentioned points, because of the eastward motion of the Zodiac, which amounts in a hundred years nearly to one degree and a half. ¹³ This derivation is also mentioned, and, as it seems, adopted by I. E. in his commentary on Lev. (3:4.) A distinction is therefore to be made between the singular כסיל the Heart of the Scorpion, and the plural כסילים the stars on the sides or flanks of the two poles, hinted at in the dual form of the preceding שׇׁמַיׅם. (Comp. I. E., Sefer hashem, 100:1.) ¹⁴ R. Jonah is here not censured so severely as in the commentary on Amos 4:15. I. E. says there—of course only for the sake of a play of words, in which he frequently indulges, not with the intention to offend—הוא בשמים רבים הם בארץ והוא אחד מהם אם כסיל אחד. R. Jonah thinks that there was only one house of ivory in the days of Amos, namely the one built by king Ahab (1 Kings 22:39), because no mention is made of any other such house. The plural בתי השן houses of ivory must, according to his opinion, include houses which were not of ivory. This opinion is justly—though too harshly—rejected by I. E.

יׇהֵלּוּ They will let shine.¹⁵ Its form is like that of וַיׇחֵלּוּ and they began (Judg. 20:31). Its root is הלל, and it is a transitive verb; comp. בהלו גרו when he lights his candle (Job 29:3).¹⁶ יַגִּיהַ Shall cause to shine. Likewise a transitive verb, as proved by יַגִּיהַ חׇשְׁכִּי He will enlighten my darkness (Ps. 18:29)

footnotes: ¹⁵ A. V. Will shine. ¹⁶ A. V. When his candle shined.

The world. Cyrus conquered many countries, as he says; All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord, the God of heavens, hath given me (Ezr. 1:2)

אוקיר I will make precious. A transitive verb; it is Hiphil of יקר to be precious; comp. הוקר רגלך Withdraw (lit.: make rare) thy foot (Prov. 25:17).

A man. The male population, which will perish in war.

Therefore I will shake it, etc. A figurative expression for the fugitive will nowhere find rest.

And it will be. And the army of the Chaldæans will be

מ֭דׇּח chased, by the pursuers. מֻדׇּח is participle Hophal, like מוקטר burnt¹⁷ (Mal. 1:11 ) מֻגׇּשׁ offered (ibid.) מֻצׇּב set up (Gen. 28:12)

footnotes: ¹⁷ A. V. Incense.

He will be pierced. He will find no mercy.

נספה That is joined. Participle Niphal.¹⁸

footnotes: ¹⁸ The participle Niphal is called by I. E. adjective (שם התואר). Comp. Zahoth, On the Niphal.

תשגלנה They will be ravished. It is read תשכבנה by euphemism.¹⁹

footnotes: ¹⁹ שנל had originally a loss offensive meaning. Comp. שֵׁגֶל wife, queen. (Ps. 45:10.); but in the course of time it became a more common and vulgar expression; the Massorites recommended therefore to replace this verb by the less offensive שבב to lie, but only in reading; the written text was of course not altered by them.

The Medes, who are the most cruel people.

They shall not regard silver, as being of any value; they shall only desire to slaughter.

תרטשנה They shall dash to pieces.

And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms. And Babylon that HAS BEEN the glory of kingdoms; comp. הבית הזה יהיה עליון this house which will HAVE BEEN high (1 Kings 9:8).²⁰

footnotes: ²⁰ The point of comparison seems to be the different use made of the future tense in two successive parts of the same verse. In the verse of the Book of Kings referred to, יהיה is used for the past, while ישום is a proper future; (in the corresponding passage of 2 Chron. 7:21, יהיה is replaced by אשר היה). Here even the same word והיתה is used once as a past and once as a future.

לא תשב It shall not be inhabited.

יהל Shall pitch his tent. יאהל ═ יהל Comp. מאזין ═ מזין listening (Prov. 17:4).

ערבי The Arabian. The word has here the same meaning as ערב Jer. 25:22 and Is. 21:3. Even the Arabian, who is accustomed to move from place to place, will not pitch his tent there.

ציים Beasts that dwell in the desert (צִיׇה)

אוחים hap. leg. Beasts at whose sight everyone is terrified.²¹

footnotes: ²¹ This is not the opinion finally adopted by I E.; at the end of the verse he gives another explanation. A. V. Doleful creatures.

בנות יענה Owls. A well known kind of birds.

שעירים Beasts like Shedim;²² wild goats.²³

footnotes: ²² In his commentary on Lev. (17:7) I. E. explains שעירים according to the context by שֵׁדִים imaginary beings similar to wild goats, worshipped by superstitious peoples; but here, being mentioned together with wild beasts, it is explained by beasts in the form of Shedim (כדמות שדים). ²³ A. V. Satyrs.

אוחים might also be taken as a kind of birds.

איים Vultures.²⁴ Plural of אַיׇה Vulture (Lev. 11:14).

footnotes: ²⁴ A. V. The wild beasts of the islands.

וענה And will sing²⁵ or And will dwell; comp. מעון habitation (Ps. 26:8). ²⁶

footnotes: ²⁵ A. V. Cry. ²⁶ A. V. In their desolate houses.

באלמנותיו According to some the same as בארמנותיו in his palaces; comp. Ez. 19:7; but as the letters—with the exception of אׄ הׄ וֹ יׄ—do not interchange;²⁷, Moznaim, sub voce המתהפכים. it is better to explain the expression thus : And every one of the vultures will sing with his widows.

footnotes: ²⁷ This rule is not only not always home in mind by I. E., but often directly contradicted, as e.g.

ותנים And dragons. Comp. Job 30:29