Jer 25:15-26 | Clarke

Jeremiah 25:15-26

Verse 16

Take the wine cup of this fury - For an ample illustration of this passage and simile, see the note on Isa 51:21. Verse 17

Then took I the cup - and made all the nations to drink - This cup of God's wrath is merely symbolical, and simply means that the prophet should declare to all these people that they shall fall under the Chaldean yoke, and that this is a punishment inflicted on them by God for their iniquities. "Then I took the cup;" I declared publicly the tribulation that God was about to bring on Jerusalem, the cities of Judah, and all the nations. Verse 19

Pharaoh king of Egypt - This was Pharaoh-necho, who was the principal cause of instigating the neighboring nations to form a league against the Chaldeans. Verse 20

All the mingled people - The strangers and foreigners; Abyssinians and others who had settled in Egypt.

Land of Uz - A part of Arabia near to Idumea. See on Job 1:1 (note). Verse 22

Tyrus and - Zidon - The most ancient of all the cities of the Phoenicians.

Kings of the isles which are beyond the sea - As the Mediterranean Sea is most probably meant, and the Phoenicians had numerous colonies on its coasts, I prefer the marginal reading, the kings of the region by the sea side. Verse 23

Dedan - Was son of Abraham, by Keturah, Gen 25:3.

Tema - Was one of the sons of Ishmael, in the north of Arabia, Gen 36:15.

Buz - Brother of Uz, descendants of Nahor, brother of Abraham, settled in Arabia Deserta, Gen 22:21. Verse 24

The mingled people - Probably the Scenite Arabians. Verse 25

Zimri - Descendants of Abraham, by Keturah, Gen 25:2, Gen 25:6.

Elam - Called Elymais by the Greeks, was on the south frontier of Media, to the north of Susiana, not far from Babylon. Verse 26

The kings of the north, far and near - The first may mean Syria; the latter, the Hyrcanians and Bactrians.

And the king of Sheshach shall drink after them - Sheshach was an ancient king of Babylon, who was deified after his death. Here it means either Babylon, or Nebuchadnezzar the king of it. After it has been the occasion of ruin to so many other nations, Babylon itself shall be destroyed by the Medo-Persians.