I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.

As a burning will I scatter them before the enemy: I will shew them the back, and not the face, in the day of their destruction.

As an east wind I scatter them before an enemy, The neck, and not the face, I shew them, In the day of their calamity.'

I will send them in flight, as from an east wind, before the attacker; I will let them see my back and not my face on the day of their downfall.

Like a burning wind, I will disperse them in the sight the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their perdition."

In vento orientali, (vel, per ventum orientalem; quidam legunt k loco v, et dicunt, tanquam ventus orientalis; sed quod ad mentem Prophetoe spectat nulla est ambiguitas, per ventum ergo orientalem,) dispergam eos coram facie inimici; cervicem, non faciem ostendam ipsis (videre ipsos faciam) in die calamitatis ipsorum, (vel, interitus, ut alii vertunt.)

Though no word of comparison is expressed, if we read v, beth, and not k, caph, yet the Prophet employs a comparison, for God did not drive away the Jews by an eastern wind, but as the force of that wind is violent in Judea, the eastern wind often means a storm or a whirlwind, as though he had said, "As by a whirlwind or a storm will I cast them out." [1] I will disperse or dissipate them, he says, before the face of the enemy. He means that enemies would come to exterminate the Jews from the land; and he adds another thing, that these enemies would be full of terror, for God would give them the force of a whirlwind or a storm to disperse and scatter the Jews, for being terrified by God they would not dare to withstand. Then follows a commination, that God would turn to them the neck, or the back, and not the face in the day of calamity. It sometimes happens that we are severely chastised by God, he thus often tries his faithful people when he subjects them to the will of the ungodly; but yet all remedy is not taken away from them, as they find consolation in God's mercy, for as he casts down so he raises up, as he puts to death so he gives life, according to what is said in 1 Samuel 2:6. But God here denounces a punishment without any prospect of pardon or alleviation, I will scatter them, he says, as by an east wind before their enemies. Then he adds, "In vain shall they flee to me and seek my mercy, though otherwise it is offered to all, yet then they shall implore it in vain, for it is decreed not to pardon them. I will shew to them my back, (or neck, for rph, oreph, is the hinder part of the head, but here it means the back,) they shall then find that I am turned away from them, so that they shall not be set before my eyes." For it is an invaluable consolation when God is pleased to look on our miseries, but he deprives the Jews of this hope, for he would turn to them his back in the day of slaughter. I cannot proceed farther now.

Footnotes

1 - Many copies read v, though all the versions retain the k; "As a burning wind will I scatter them," is the version of the Septuagint and the Vulgate; "As a hot wind," etc, is the Syriac. -- Ed

I will shew them the back - The hiding of God's face is the sure sign of His displeasure Isaiah 1:15; Isaiah 59:2.

I will scatter them as with an east wind - It is the property of this wind, almost every where, to parch up, blast, and destroy grain and trees, and even cattle and men suffer from it. Hence the old metrical proverb: -
"When the wind blows from the east, 'Tis good for neither man nor beast."

I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and (f) not the face, in the day of their calamity.
(f) I will show my anger and not my favour toward them.

I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy,.... As the east wind, which is generally strong and boisterous, drives the chaff and stubble, and anything that is light, before it, and scatters it here and there; so the Lord threatens to scatter the people of the Jews over the face of the earth, before their enemies, whom they should not be able to withstand. It denotes the power of the enemy God would make use of; the ease with which this should be done; and the utter dispersion of them; and is their present case:
I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity; that is, will not look upon them in a favourable way, nor with any pity and compassion for them, nor hear their cries; but turn his back upon them, and a deaf ear unto them, and give them no help and relief, or deliver them out of their calamities; but suffer them to continue upon them, and them to sink under them; see Proverbs 1:26; which refers to the same time of calamity as here.

as with an east wind--literally, "I will scatter them, as an east wind (scatters all before it)": a most violent wind (Job 27:21; Psalm 48:7; Isaiah 27:8). Thirty-two manuscripts read (without as), "with an east wind."
I will show them the back . . . not . . . face--just retribution: as "they turned their back unto Me . . . not their face" (Jeremiah 2:27).

East wind - The east wind was in those parts the fiercest wind. As the east - wind scatters the chaff, so saith God, I will scatter them. In their calamity - And when they shall be in great calamity, I will turn my back upon them, I will not regard their prayers.