Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 51:27

"Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz: appoint a marshal against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough canker-worm." — Jeremiah 51:27 (ASV)

Prepare the nations. — The word here and in Jeremiah 51:29 conveys, as in Jeremiah 22:7, the idea of consecration.

Call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz. — The first of these names was unknown to Greek and Roman geographers. Although rendered Arareth by the Septuagint here, it is elsewhere translated as Armenia, for example, in the English version of Isaiah 37:38. The name Ararat is Sanskrit and means “the holy land.” The site of Minni has not been identified, and the name does not occur elsewhere, unless, with some scholars, we find it in Psalms 45:9 and translate “out of the ivory palaces of Minni.” The name “Minyes” is found in Josephus (Antiquities 1.3, p. 6), and Minnai in the Assyrian inscriptions.

Rawlinson (Herodotus, Book 1, p. 464) places them above Lake Urumiyeh. It is clear from the context that their country formed part of Armenia.

Ashchenaz appears in Genesis 10:3 as connected with Gomer, that is, with the Scythians. The first syllable has been supposed to contain the root of the name Asia, which has gradually been extended to the continent. Modern Jews apply the name Ashkenazim to those of their people who are settled in Germany and Eastern Europe, while the name Sephardim is applied to those of Spain and the West.

Appoint a captain against her. — The word for “captain” is found only here and in Nahum 3:17. It was probably an Assyrian word, meaning either “captain” or “host.”

Cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers. — A better translation is as the bristly locusts. The word describes the insect in its third stage of growth, when its wings are not yet unfolded from their cases, and when it is most destructive in its ravages.