Here Jeremiah uses another figure, that the weeping would be everywhere heard
JOHN CALVIN had been completed. He says that the little ones of Moab so cried as to be heard. 365 This is much more emphatic than if he had said that men and women cried out; for children do not soon perceive what is going on, for their understanding is not great. Men and women howl when threatenings only are announced; but little children are not moved but by present evils, and except they are actually beaten, they are not affected; and then they hardly distinguish between some slight evil and death. Hence, when the Prophet says that the little ones of Moab were heard in their crying, he means that the grievousness of its calamity would be extreme, as that little children, as though wise before their time, would perceive the atrocious cruelty of their enemies. It follows, ---
Jeremiah 48:5-6
5. For in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up; for in the going down of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction.
5. Quoniam in ascensu Luhith cum fletu ascendet fletus, quia in descensu Choronaim hostes clamorem contritionis audierunt (conjungi debet proximus versus,)
6. Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness.
6. Fugite, eripite animas vestras; et eritis quasi Aroer (vel, myrica) in deserto.
Here Jeremiah uses another figure, that the weeping would be everywhere heard in the ascent to Luhith. It is probable, and it appears from the Prophet's words, that this city was situated on a high place. He then says, that men would go up with weeping in the ascent to Luhith; literally, In (or with) weeping shall weeping ascend But some read as though it were written {,}בכהbeke, weeping; nor is there a doubt but that the verb {,}יעלהiole, refers to a person. But Jeremiah seems to have mentioned weeping twice in order to show that men would not only weep in one place, but during the long course of their ascent, as though he had said, ``They who shall be near the city shall weep, and they in the middle of their course, and those at the foot of the mountain;'' that is, there shall be weeping in every place.
We now then perceive the meaning of the Prophet.
He afterwards says, In the descent to Horonaim It hence appears that this city was situated in a low place or on a plain; and therefore I know not why they say that one part of it was higher than the other. It might indeed be that it had a hill in it; but the place was in a level country, and had mountains around it, as we learn from the Prophet's words, In the descent to Horonaim the enemies shall hear a cry of distress By saying that enemies would hear a cry, 366 he means that the citizens of
Horonaim and their neighbors would become frantic through grief. For fear restrains weeping, and when any one sees an enemy near, the very sight of him checks him, so that he dares not openly to show his grief; and then shame also restrains tears as well as sighings, for an enemy would deride our weepings in our misery. There is
365Here all the versions and the Targum differ. The Vulg. only has "little ones;" the Syr. has "her poor," the Sept. take "Zoar" to be intended, according to Isaiah 15:5, the word {,{צוערה instead of .{}צעוריהThe passage in Isaiah confirms this reading, though not found in any copies. Then the verse would read thus,
--- Broken is Moab, They made the cry heard at Zoar. This is substantially the version of Venema. --- Ed.
366The word enemies is given only by the Vulg.; the other versions render it "distress." The literal rendering of the verse is, — For in the ascent to Luhith, With weeping ascends weeping; For in the descent to Heronaim, The distress of the cry of ruin have they heard. This version materially corresponds with Isaiah 15:5. Weeping ascending with weeping, shews that all wept as they ascended. "The distress of the cry" is a Hebraism for distressing cry — Ed.