Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 49

Concerning the Ammonites. —The history of this people was, to a great extent, parallel with that of the Moabites. They had been conquered by Sihon, the great Amorite king, and when that monarch was, in his turn, conquered by the Israelites (Numbers 21:21–31), their territory was assigned to the tribes of Gad and Reuben (Numbers 32:34–38). In Judges 11:12-33 we have the record of an unsuccessful attempt to recover their lost territory, and like attempts appear to have been made by Nahash (1 Samuel 11:1–11) and Hanun (2 Samuel 10:6–14; 2 Samuel 12:26–31).

On the deportation of the Trans-jordanic tribes by Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 15:29; 1 Chronicles 5:6; 1 Chronicles 5:26), they made a more successful effort, and their king Baalis appears as prompting the conspiracy of Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah (Jeremiah 40:14). The prophecy we are now considering was probably delivered before that time, in or about the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 25:21). Its opening words recall the long-standing territorial controversy. “Had Israel no heir?” Was the land he had occupied so long to pass into the possession of a stranger?

Why then does their king inherit Gad...? —Better, with the margin and all the older versions, Melcom. The name, all but identical with the “Malcham” of Zephaniah 1:5, and connected with Moloch, was that of the god of the Ammonites, as Chemosh was that of the Moabite deity. He, as his very name implied, was their true king; and the complaint of the prophet is that he inherits Gad, which had been in the possession of Israel.

Rabbah of the Ammonites. —More fully, of the children of Ammon.— Rabbah, or Rabbath, the “city of waters” (the word signifies “Great,” and the city was, as it were, the Megalopolis of Ammon), was the capital, and this was its full and formal title (Deuteronomy 3:11; 2 Samuel 11:1; 2 Samuel 12:26).

It had been captured by Joab after the siege made memorable by the death of Uriah the Hittite. Jeremiah now predicts its destruction, as Amos (Jeremiah 50:14) had done before him. Israel shall then re-occupy it.

Its site is now marked by ruins of a stately temple and theatres of the Syrian period (Tristram, Land of Israel, p. 540).

Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled. —Heshbon has appeared in Jeremiah 48:2; Jeremiah 48:45, as connected with the fortunes of Moab, but it was strictly an Ammonite city. The “Ai” here is obviously not the city near Jericho of Joshua 8:28, and unless we assume an error in the text (“Ai” for “Ar” = city), we must infer the existence of a Trans-jordanic city of the same name.

Run to and fro by the hedges. —Hedges, in the English sense of the word, have never been common in the East, and the word here denotes either the palings round the sheepfolds, or the walls round the vineyards of the villages that are described as the “daughters of Rabbah.” The word is never used for the walls of a city, but appears in Numbers 22:24; Numbers 32:16; Numbers 32:24; Numbers 32:36 in the sense of “sheepfolds.”

Their king shall go into captivity. —Better, as before, Melcom. As in Jeremiah 48:7, the captivity of the national deity with his priests (the fact that they are named is decisive as to the meaning) involves the captivity of the people.

In the valleys. —The word exactly describes the conformation of the Ammonite country, as a high plateau intersected by streams which make their way to the Jordan. For “thy flowing valley” read “thy valley” (this is, of course, the valley in which Rabbah was situated) “that floweth with plenty.” The words admit, however, of being rendered, “Thy valley floweth away,” i.e., is wasted and emptied.

O backsliding daughter. —There is something suggestive in the fact that the prophet applies to Ammon the epithet which he had applied before to the kingdom of the Ten Tribes (Jeremiah 3:6; Jeremiah 3:8; Jeremiah 3:11; Jeremiah 3:14). Ammon also had the opportunity of worshipping the God of Israel, and had probably, as long as the Israelites were her rulers, adopted that worship wholly or in part, and so she also was an apostate. The question which follows, as in Jeremiah 21:13, implies that the people of Rabbah looked on their city as impregnable.

I will bring a fear upon thee ... — As in the case of Moab, there is the doom of exile for Ammon also, but the sentence of punishment is tempered with mercy, and there is to be a return from the seemingly hopeless captivity.