Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 48:19
O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, [and] say, What is done?
19. Aroer ] now ‘ Ara‘ir, not to be confounded with the Aroer of Num 32:34, a Gadite city, or with an Aroer belonging to Judah (1Sa 30:28). The Aroer of the text was a few miles S.W. of Dibon. Mesha records on the “Moabite stone” that he “built (i.e. restored) the city and made the road over the Arnon.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Aroer – On the Arnon, due south of Dibon. If Dibon falls, the turn of Aroer will come next, and therefore its inhabitants are to be on the look out, asking for news.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 19. O inhabitant of Aroer] See Clarke on Jer 48:6. This place, being at a greater distance, is counselled to watch for its own safety, and inquire of every passenger, What is done? that it may know when to pack up and be gone.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Aroer was a city in the lot of Gad and Reuben, Num 32:34. In Davids time it was in the hand of the Jews, 1Sa 30:28, but in Isaiahs time it belonged to Syria, Isa 17:2, and here it is reckoned to the Moabites. The inhabitants of it are called to
stand by the way, and seeing the Moabites fleeing, to ask what news. Others think that Aroer was at this time a city of the Ammonites, and here called unto to see their neighbours the Moabites fleeing before their enemies.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. Aroeron the north bank ofthe Arnon, a city of Ammon (Deu 2:36;Deu 3:12). As it was on “theway” of the Moabites who fled into the desert, itsinhabitants “ask” what is the occasion of Moab’s flight,and so learn the lot that awaits themselves (compare 1Sa 4:13;1Sa 4:16).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
O inhabitant of Aroer,…. Another city that belonged to Moab, situated on the border of it towards Ammon, near the river Arnon;
[See comments on Isa 17:2];
stand by the way, and espy; get to the road side where travellers pass, and look out for them:
ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth; whether man or woman you see fleeing, having escaped the army of the Chaldeans:
[and] say, what is done? by the Chaldeans; ask what cities they have taken; what progress they have made; what is done to their cities, that they flee from them? tell all the particulars of things.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
We have stated elsewhere why the prophets in describing calamities spoke in so elevated a style; for their object was not to seek fame or the praise of eloquence. They are not these rhetorical ornaments which the prophets used; but they necessarily spoke in a lofty style of the punishments which awaited the ungodly, because such was the hardness of their hearts that they hesitated not to despise God’s threatenings, or to regard them as fables. That God’s threatenings then might penetrate into the hearts of men, it was necessary to exaggerate them by means of various comparisons, as it is done here and in many places. We ought at the same time to bear in mind what I have said, that the Prophet had a regard to his own people. As the Moabites were like a hid treasure, the Jews could never have thought it possible, that the Chaldeans would at length make an inroad there; but the Prophet declares that the thing was so certain, as though it was seen by their own eyes. In order then to lead the Jews to the very scene itself, the judgments of God are here not only described, but as it were painted.
Stand, he says, on the way, and look, thou inhabitant of Aroer This was another city of the Moabites, of which mention is made in many places; and then he mentions others, as we shall see. Ask him, he says, who fleeth and her who escapes He, indeed, changes the gender of the nouns; but when he mentions many, and then one person, he did this for the sake of amplifying; because, on the one hand, he wished to show that so great would be the number of exiles, that the whole land would become empty; and then, on the other hand, when he says that this and that person would flee, he means that they would be so scattered that they would not go in troops; but as it is usual in a disordered state of things, one would flee on this side, and another on the other side. Ask him who fleeth, or as we may render the words, Ask all who flee; and then, ask her who escapes; because not only men, but also women would flee, so that no sex would be spared. In short, he intimates, that those who dwelt in cities well fortified, would be all anxiety on seeing enemies irresistibly advancing through every part of the country.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(19) O inhabitant of Aroer.There seems to have been two cities of this name: one which had belonged first to the territory of Sihon, then to Reuben, then to Moab, on the north side of the Arnon (Deu. 2:36; Deu. 3:12; Deu. 4:48; Jos. 12:2); another in the Ammonite territory belonging to Gad, near Rabbath-Ammon, in the valley of the Jabbok (Num. 32:34; Jos. 13:25; Jdg. 11:33). Both are probably comprised under the cities of Aroer in Isa. 17:2. The name exists in the modern Arair. As lying on the frontier, the inhabitants of the Northern Aroer are represented as seeing the fugitives, male and female, from Dibon, and asking what had happened to drive them from their city. Miltons lines (Par. Lost, L 407) may be quoted as illustrating the topography :
From Aroer to Nebo, and the wild
Of Southmost Abarim; in Hesebon
And Horonaim, Seons realm . . .
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. Aroer A town on the northern bank of the Arnon, once belonging to Ammon, but now, apparently, to Moab.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 48:19 O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, [and] say, What is done?
Ver. 19. Stand by the way and espy, &c. ] What brave rhetoric is here? Tenendum quidem, prophetas et apostolos non affectasse artem dicendi: vide tamen quanta etoquentia peroret Spiritus, Sanctus. a
a Egregia est prosopopoeia.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
inhabitant = inhabitress. Reference to “daughter’ (Jer 48:18).
Aroer. Now ‘Ar’air, on the north bank of Wady, Mojib (Arnon).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
inhabitant: Heb. inhabitress
Aroer: Num 32:34, Deu 2:36, 2Sa 24:5, 1Ch 5:8
ask: 1Sa 4:13, 1Sa 4:14, 1Sa 4:16, 2Sa 1:3, 2Sa 1:4, 2Sa 18:24-32
Reciprocal: Isa 17:2 – Aroer
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 48:19. The countries of the ancient world counted much on their cities, and for that reason many of the military conflicts were directed towards those centers, Aroer was a city of Moab and its inhabitants were warned of the destruction to come upon the city. Espy means to look on and see the people fleeing from the city. They were then to ask the meaning of the excitement and would wonder what is donet
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jeremiah appealed to the inhabitants of Aroer to inquire from fleeing residents what had happened. The answer was that Moab had fallen and was, therefore, humiliated. The news would go out in the Arnon Valley, Moab’s northern border. Aroer stood southeast of Dibon on the southern boundary of the old Amorite kingdom, which was the Arnon River (Jdg 11:18-19).