20 Lift up your eyes, and see those who come from the north: where is the flock that was given you, your beautiful flock?
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
We here see that Egypt and Chaldea are set in opposition, the one to the other; as though the Prophet had said, "Whenever anything is said to you about the Chaldeans, ye turn your eyes to Egypt, as though that would be a quiet residence for you; but God will prevent you from having any escape there. Now see, see your enemies who are coming from another quarter, even from Chaldea. Lift up then your eyes." As they were so very intent on their present ease, he bids them to lift up their eyes, that they might see farther than they were wont to do. He then says, Where is the flock which had been given to thee? and the sheep of thy glory? It is through pity that the Prophet thus speaks; for he saw by the Spirit the whole land deserted, and in wonder he asks, "What does this mean, that the flock is scattered which had been given to thee?" He addresses the people under the character of a woman, as he does often in other places. [1] In short, he confirms what he had said before, -- that he would go to some secret place, if the people were not influenced by his doctrine, and that he would there by himself deplore their calamity; but he employs other words, and at the same time intimates, that he alone had eyes to see, as others were blind, for God had even taken from them understanding and discernment. The Prophet then shews here that he saw the dreadful desolation that was soon to come; and therefore as one astonished he asks, Where is the flock with which God had enriched the land? and further he asks, Where are the sheep which possessed a magnificent honor or beauty? It follows --
1 - May not the queen regent, or governess, mentioned with the king in Jeremiah 13:18, be here meant? Sovereigns are called shepherds, and hence "flock" and "sheep" are here mentioned. -- Ed.
Jerusalem is asked where the cities, which once lay grouped round her, like a goodly flock of sheep, are gone? The question implies blame.
Where is the flock - thy beautiful flock? - Jerusalem is addressed. Where are the prosperous multitudes of men, women, and children? Alas! are they not driven before the Babylonians, who have taken them captive?
Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north: where [is] the (i) flock [that] was given thee, thy beautiful flock?
(i) He asks the king, where his people is become.
Lift up your eyes, and behold them that come from the north,.... There are a Keri and a Cetib of the words "lift up" and "behold"; they are written in the singular number, and may be considered as directed to the king, as the words following are; and they are read in the plural number, the state and whole body of the people being called upon to observe the Chaldean army, which came from the north; and is represented as on the march, just at hand to invade, besiege, take, and carry them captive. The Septuagint version renders it, "lift up thine eyes, O Jerusalem"; and the Arabic version, "O Israel: where is the flock that was given thee, thy beautiful flock?" that is, the people, as the Targum interprets it, which were committed to the care and charge of the king, as sheep into the hands of a shepherd; and were a fine body of people, chosen of God and precious, distinguished above all others by wholesome and righteous laws and statutes, and special privileges; a people who were a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, and a peculiar people, the glory of the whole earth; but now carried, or about to be carried, captive. It is no unusual thing to represent a king as a shepherd, and his people as a flock, guided, governed, and protected by him, and who is accountable for his trust to the King of kings; see Psalm 78:71.
from . . . north--Nebuchadnezzar and his hostile army (Jeremiah 1:14; Jeremiah 6:22).
flock . . . given thee--Jeremiah, amazed at the depopulation caused by Nebuchadnezzar's forces, addresses Jerusalem (a noun of multitude, which accounts for the blending of plural and singular, Your eyes . . . thee . . . thy flock), and asks where is the population (Jeremiah 13:17, "flock") which God had given her?
Where - The prophet speaks to the king, or to the rulers. In the multitude of the people is the king's honour.
*More commentary available at chapter level.