8 Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas; I have brought on them against the mother of the young men a destroyer at noonday: I have caused anguish and terrors to fall on her suddenly.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
He says first, Multiplied have been his widows; because the men had been almost all kined, in battle. If the Prophet is the speaker, the particle ly li, is redundant, but if the words be referred to God, we know that the people were in such a way under the government of God that he calls the widows his, as he calls the children his who were born Israelites. But in this there is no great importance, only that if we consider God to be speaker the sense will be this, "Behold, it is by no means unknown to me how numerous his widows are: as then I am merciful I have not heedlessly and without reason suffered such slaughters among the people." The Prophet intended to shew that so great was the obstinacy of the Jews that they struggled against all the judgments of God; and it is a proof of dreadful impiety when men rush on heedlessly and pay no attention to any punishments. And this is what the Prophet means when he says that the widows were multiplied. And he adds, More than the sand of the sea This was surely a strange thing; so many slaughters were presented to their view that their great perverseness might become more evident, and yet he says that they were not moved. What follows must be applied to God, I have made to come to them, on the troop of youths, a waster [1] This is an explanation of the former clause, as though he had said, "The reason why there are so many widows is, because God has destroyed all the men." As the Jews might have ascribed this to their enemies, God declares that he was the author of all the slaughters which they had suffered. He then shews that these slaughters were not fortuitous as men suppose who think that fortune prevails mostly in war, for they do not ascribe so much to the wisdom and valor of men as to fortune, being ignorant of the Providence of God. Here then God shews that the whole of the flower of the people had been indeed cut off by the swords of enemies, but that the Chaldeans or the Assyrians had not come of their own accord, or by an impulse of their own, but by a hidden impulse, and that of God, who had resolved to punish that irreclaimable people. This then is the reason why God not only speaks of a waster, but also intimates that the enemies were impelled by his influence, and carried on the war as it were under his banner, authority, and guidance. He says, at mid-day, even when the Jews might have exercised greater watchfulness. But he shews that he was against them, for they were not taken by the craft of their enemies, as had often been the case, nor were they surprised by secret designs, but their enemies attacked them openly and boldly, even at the time when many of their cities were fortified, and the people thought that they had sufficient defences. As the enemies then dared to assail them in the middle of the day, (for such is the meaning of the Hebrew word) and during the clearest light, it was certainly a fuller proof of God's vengeance; for under such a circumstance the contrivance and counsel of men were not so evident, but the hand of God, which he stretched forth from heaven as it were in an open and visible manner. He afterwards adds, And I have cast, or caused to fall, upon them suddenly; some say, the city; others, the enemy; and yr oir, means a city, and sometimes an enemy; but another explanation seems more probable, that God had sent on them a tumult and terrors, for the word yr, oir, conms from the verb vr, our, which signifies to excite. It may therefore be taken for tumult, and this sense I prefer, for they who render the word city, are constrained to adopt a forced and far-fetched explanation, "To fall have I made suddenly the city," that is, cities, "upon them." There is first a change of number, and then, to fall have I made cities, that is, the ruins of cities, upon them, seems an unnatural phrase; but the sense would be most suitable were we to render the word tumult, for what immediately follows is, and terrors Some however render the word vhlvt, belut, adverbially suddenly, and consider that the same thing is said twice. He had said just before, "I have cast upon her suddenly;" but now he says, "hastenings." Such is the version, but not suitable, for the two words yr oir, and vhlvt, belut, are joined together. I therefore give this simple explanation -- that the Jews were suddenly smitten with despair because they thought that their enemies were afar off, and that they had to apprehend no danger. Then it is, suddenly have I sent upon them a tumult and terrors [2] He then adds --
1 - This rendering is the Targum; "the mother (and) the youths," is the Septuagint; "the mother of a youth," the Vulgate; "both mother and youths," the Syriac; "the mother and the youths," the Arabic, Junius and Tremellius, Piscator, and Gataker take the "mother" for the chief city, the metropolis, and consider the "youth," or "the chosen one," to be the "waster," signifying Nebuchadnezzar, -- "And I will bring to them, against the mother-city, a chosen one, a waster at mid-day." So Blayney substantially, only he renders the verb in the past tense. -- Ed.
2 - Trembling and haste, (spouden,)" is the version of the Septuagint; "tumult and trembling," of the Syriac; "terror and trembling," of the Arabic; the Vulgate retains only the word "terror." Various have been the explanations of the word yr, which Calvin renders "tumult," consistently with the general tenor of the ancient versions. Gataker renders it "watcher;" Blayney, "enemy;" and others "city;" but the most suitable to the passage is "tumult," or commotion. -- Ed
Translate, "I have brought upon them, even upon the mother of the young man, a spoiler etc." The word rendered "young man" means a picked warrior. The mother has borne a valiant champion; but neither his prowess nor the numerous offspring of the other can avail to save those who gave them birth; war bereaves both alike.
At noonday - i. e., unexpectedly, as armies used to rest at noon (see Jeremiah 6:4 note).
I have caused him - Rather, "I have brought suddenly upon her," the mother of the young warrior, "anguish and terrors."
The mother of the young men - The metropolis or mother city, Jerusalem.
Their widows (g) are multiplied to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused [him] to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.
(g) Because I had slain their husbands.
Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas,.... Their husbands being slain; not in the times of Ahaz, when a hundred and twenty thousand men were slain in one day in Judah, by Pekah the son of Remaliah, 2-Chronicles 28:6, as Kimchi thinks; but in the times of Zedekiah, at the siege of Jerusalem, and the taking of it, and in the Babylonish captivity before predicted. The children of Israel were to be as the sand of the sea, and were very numerous; and here the widows are said to be so too, their husbands, who were numerous, being dead; and this, as it was of the Lord, so it was in his sight, and according to his counsel and will. Mention is made of "seas", in the plural, number, there being many in or near Judea, as the Red sea, the sea of Galilee, and the Mediterranean sea:
I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler, at noonday; that is he would bring upon the Jews, against the mother of the young men, or mothers of them; for the young men being destroyed by the spoiler, it was against them; a calamity upon them, and a distress unto them, who have generally a tender concern for them. The Targum is,
"against the company of their young men;''
the Jews; or against Jerusalem, the mother city, the metropolis of the nation, full of young men fit for war: or, "against the mother", that is, Jerusalem, a "young man" (e); meaning Nebuchadnezzar, who came against Jerusalem in the first year of his reign; and, as some say, in the eighteenth year of his age; and who came not as a thief in the night, but as a spoiler at noonday; not in a secret insidious manner, but openly and with force of arms making his way through the land to Jerusalem, in defiance of the Jews, and in the face of them:
and I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly; that is, upon the city of Jerusalem: for though he came openly, his march was quick, and he was presently at Jerusalem, and laid siege to it at once:
and terrors upon the city; or, "city and terrors" (f); the city was immediately filled with terrors at the appearance of Nebuchadnezzar and his army. R. Joseph Kimchi interprets it, "an army and terrors", from 1-Samuel 28:16, the Babylonian monarch, at the head of his army, which spread terrors where he came. Some render the word, from Daniel 4:13, "a watcher and terrors" (g): meaning the Chaldean army, called watchers, Jeremiah 4:16. The Targum is,
"I will bring an army upon them suddenly, and destroy their cities;''
it should be rendered "alienation of mind and terrors": from the use of the word, in the Arabic language (h).
(e) "contra metropolin, juvenem", Junius & Tremellius, De Dieu; "contra matrem", Piscator; "super matrem, juvenem", Cocceius. (f) "civitatem et terrores", Montanus; so Schmidt. (g) "Vigilem, vel vigiles et terrores", Gataker; "vigilias et terrores", Coeceius. (h) Ab "alteravit, mutavit et turbavit", Golius, Castel. Schindler.
Their widows--My people's (Jeremiah 15:7).
have brought--prophetical past: I will bring.
mother of the young men--"mother" is collective; after the "widows," He naturally mentions bereavement of their sons ("young men"), brought on the "mothers" by "the spoiler"; it was owing to the number of men slain that the "widows" were so many [CALVIN]. Others take "mother," as in 2-Samuel 20:19, of Jerusalem, the metropolis; "I have brought on them, against the 'mother,' a young spoiler," namely, Nebuchadnezzar, sent by his father, Nabopolassar, to repulse the Egyptian invaders (2-Kings 23:29; 2-Kings 24:1), and occupy Judea. But Jeremiah 15:7 shows the future, not the past, is referred to; and "widows" being literal, "mother" is probably so, too.
at noonday--the hottest part of the day, when military operations were usually suspended; thus it means unexpectedly, answering to the parallel, "suddenly"; openly, as others explain it, will not suit the parallelism (compare Psalm 91:6).
it--English Version seems to understand by "it" the mother city, and by "him" the "spoiler"; thus "it" will be parallel to "city." Rather, "I will cause to fall upon them (the 'mothers' about to be bereft of their sons) suddenly anguish and terrors."
the city--rather, from a root "heat," anguish, or consternation. So the Septuagint.
Their widows - The prophet still speaks of things to come as if present. In Jehoiakim's time we read of no such plenty of widows; they were multiplied when the city was besieged and taken in Zedekiah's time, to a great number, hyperbolically compared to the sands of the sea. The mother - Jerusalem was the mother of the Jewish people, against whom, Nebuchadnezzar the spoiler, at noon - day, was sent.
*More commentary available at chapter level.