Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 6:23
They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they [are] cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.
23. set in array, as a man to the battle ] equipped as a man for war.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
23, 24. A large part of ch. 50 reads as an expansion of these vv.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Spear – Properly, a javelin for hurling at the enemy (see 1Sa 17:6 note): an ordinary weapon of the Babylonians.
Cruel – ruthless, inhuman. In the Assyrian monuments warriors put the vanquished to death; rows of impaled victims hang round the walls of the besieged towns; and men collect in heaps hands cut from the vanquished.
Horses, set in array – A full stop should be put after horses. It – the whole army, and not the cavalry only – is set in array.
As men for war against thee – Rather, as a warrior for battle against thee.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 23. They shall lay hold on bow and spear] Still pointing out the Chaldeans: or according to Dahler, the Scythians, who had before their invasion of Palestine overrun many parts of Asia, and had spread consternation wherever their name was heard.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
They shall lay hold on bow and spear; or, They shall carry; they shall not want military ammunition of all sorts for the despatch of this great work; synecdochically expressed for all sorts of weapons. So Psa 35:2,3.
Have no mercy; see Jer 50:42; not be entreated, or have any pity to sex or age, poor or rich, Jer 21:7. See the like Isa 13:17,18. And this was as duly executed as here prophesied, 2Ch 36:17.
Their voice roareth like the sea; which, as it is very violent, so it causeth great consternation by its noise, compared to the roaring of the devils, Jam 2:19. Possibly it may intimate, they would not hearken to the voice of his prophets, now they shall hear the terrifying noise of armies, like the roaring of the sea.
They ride upon horses; which is a creature in especial manner adapted by God for war, as he is described. Job 9:19,20, &c.; implying their speed, strength, and fierceness, Jer 50:42.
Set in array; the whole nation set as it were in battalia against them, that they may perceive they have to do with soldiers. The LXX. reading esh, fire, for ish, man, render it, as fire to the war.
O daughter of Zion, or Jerusalem; for these two titles are promiscuously used for the same place; and the term daughter is often given to cities and countries, as Psa 45:12; 137:8; Isa 23:12; 47:1.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
23. like the sea (Isa5:30).
as men for warnot thatthey were like warriors, for they were warriors; but”arrayed most perfectly as warriors” [MAURER].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
They shall lay hold on bow and spear,…. That is, everyone of them should be furnished with both these pieces of armour, that they might be able to fight near and afar off; they had bows to shoot arrows at a distance, and spears to strike with when near. The Targum renders it bows and shields. “They are cruel, and have no mercy”; this is said, to strike terror into the hearts of the hardened Jews:
their voice roareth like the sea; the waves of it, which is terrible,
Lu 21:25:
and they ride upon horses; which still made them more formidable, as well as suggests that their march would be quick and speedy, and they would soon be with them:
set in array as men for war; prepared with all sorts of armour for battle: or, “as a man” a; as one man, denoting their conjunction, ardour, and unanimity; being not only well armed without, but inwardly, resolutely bent, as one man, to engage in battle, and conquer or die; see Jud 20:8,
against thee, O daughter of Zion; the design being against her, and all the preparation made on her account; which had a very dreadful appearance, and threatened with ruin, and therefore filled her with terror and distress, as follows.
a “tanquam vir”, Pagninus; “ut vir”, Schmidt; “quam unus vir”, Grotius.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He adds other particulars, in order more fully to render the Chaldeans objects of dread: They shall lay hold, he says, on the bow and the lance They who render the last word shield, do not sufficiently attend to the design of the Prophet. For there is no mention here made of defense; but it is the same as though the Prophet had said, that they would come furnished with bows and spears, that they might shoot at a distance. The word כידון, kidun, means a spear and a lance; (182) and it means also a shield: but in this place the Prophet, I doubt not, means a spear; as though he had said, “They will strike at a distance, or near at hand.”
He afterwards adds, that they would be cruel, according to what Isaiah says, when he speaks of the Persians and Medes,
“
They will covet neither gold nor silver,” (Isa 13:17)
and yet they were a rapacious people. This is indeed true; but the Prophet meant both these things, that as the Persians and Medes were to be the executioners of divine vengeance, they would come with a new disposition and character, despising gold and silver, and other kinds of spoil, and seeking only blood. And they will shew, he says, no mercy; and then he adds, their voice shall make an uproar, or sound, like the sea He touches, I have no doubt, on the stupor of the people in not attending to the voice of God; for the teaching of Jeremiah had for many years sounded in their ears: Isaiah and others had preceded him; but the people had continued deaf. He says now, “Ye shall hereafter hear other teachers; they will not warn you, nor give you counsel, nor be satisfied with reproofs and threatenings, but they will come like a tempest on the sea; their voice shall make an uproar ”
He adds, Ascend shall they on horses, (183) and be set in order as a man for war; that is, “Thou, Jerusalem, shalt find that thou wilt have to do with military men.” The Prophet means, in short, that the Jews most foolishly trusted in their own strength, and thus heedlessly despised the threatenings of the prophets. But as their security was of this kind, he says that they would at length really find out how stupid they had been, for the Chaldeans would come with dreadful violence, prepared for war — against whom? Against thee, he says, O daughter of Sion I cannot proceed further, on account of some other business.
(182) It is rendered “a spear,“ or a lance, by the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Arabic; but improperly “a shield” by the Vulgate and the Targum. It is not true that it ever means a shield. It was a short spear or javelin. “It is evident,“ says Parkhurst, “ that this word signifies neither the larger spear nor the shield, because it is distinguished from both. See 1Sa 17:6; 41:45 [ sic ]; Job 39:23.” — Ed.
(183) Literally it is, “And on horses shall they ride.” Then the following line is, referring to the nation in verse 21, —
Set in order it shall be, like a man for war, Against thee, daughter of Sion.
Then the next verse refers to the same, the nation, —
Heard have we the report of it; Relaxed have become our hands, Distress has laid hold on us, The pain like that of one in travail.
The effect is first stated, the relaxation of the hands; then the cause, the distress and anguish they felt. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(23) Bow and spear.As before (Jer. 5:16), the special weapons of the Chaldans. The spear was a javelin, shot or hurled against the enemy.
Cruel.The ferocity of the Chaldans seems to have been exceptional. Prisoners impaled, or flayed alive, or burnt in the furnace (Jer. 29:22; Dan. 3:11), were among the common incidents of their wars and sieges.
They ride upon horses.This appears to have been a novelty to the Israelites, accustomed to the war-chariots of Egypt and their own kings rather than to actual cavalry. (Comp. Jer. 8:16; Job. 39:21-25; Hab. 1:8; Isa. 30:16.) Both archers and horsemen appear as prominent in the armies of Gog and Magog, i.e., of the Scythians, in Eze. 38:4; Eze. 39:3.
Set in array . . .The Hebrew is singular, and implies a new clause. It (the army of bowmen and riders) is set in array as a warrior, for war against thee.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. Spear Rather, javelin. These bows and javelins are abundantly illustrated in the Assyrian monuments. And these monuments fully justify the epithet cruel, as applied to these peoples.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 6:23 They shall lay hold on bow and spear; they [are] cruel, and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for war against thee, O daughter of Zion.
Ver. 23. They shall lay hold on bow and spear. ] To destroy et eminus et comminus, both afar off and at hand.
Their voice roareth like the sea.
a .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
roareth = will roar. Compare Isa 5:29, Isa 5:30. Compare Isa 5:29-30.
men. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
They shall: Jer 5:16, Jer 50:42, Isa 13:18, Eze 23:22-25, Hab 1:6-10
cruel: Jer 30:14, Isa 13:18, Isa 19:4
their: Jer 4:13, Isa 5:26-30, Luk 21:25, Luk 21:26
Reciprocal: Isa 5:30 – like Isa 13:9 – cruel Isa 17:12 – make a noise Jer 4:31 – the voice Jer 8:16 – at the Jer 30:5 – a voice Jer 50:41 – General Eze 21:31 – and skilful Eze 26:3 – as the sea Eze 26:7 – with horses
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 6:23. This entire verse is a prediction of the Babylonian siege, with a description of the kind of people who compose that array. Lay hold on bow and spear refers to some of the weapons that will be used against the men of Jerusalem and Judah. The bow was used to shoot arrows and the spear was a larger dart that was cast by hand. The Baby Ion tans are described as being cruel and merciless and secular history bears out the description.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
They would be cruel warriors, riding on instruments of warfare, shouting loud battle cries, and making as much noise as the roaring sea. Their target would be God’s beloved residents of Jerusalem.