eam quae elapsa fuerit, dic, Quid factum est (quid accidit?)
JOHN CALVIN and the condition of the whole people. It follows ---
Jeremiah 48:18
18. Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strong holds.
18. Descende e gloria, sede in sit habitatrix filia Dibon; quia vastator Moab ascendit contra to, destructor munitionum tuarum (vel, quia vastatus est Moab, et supra to ascendet, etc.)
Here the Prophet turns to address the city Dibon, which was renowned among that people. The mode of speaking is well known; he calls the people of the city the daughter of Dibon; and he calls the daughter an inhabitant, because the Moabites, as it has been said, ever rested in safety and quietness in their own habitations, for no one disturbed them. It is, then, the same as though he had said, ``Ye who have hitherto been in a quiet state, descend now from your glory, and dwell in thirst.'' 370
By thirst he means the want of all things. Thirst is set in opposition to glory; but it is more than if the Prophet had mentioned disgrace or poverty; for there are many who are otherwise oppressed by want, and yet find fountains or streams; but when there is no drop of water to quench thirst, it is an extreme misery.
We hence see that the Prophet exaggerates the punishment of the Moabites, when he says that the citizens of Dibon would sit in thirst, because, he says, ascended against thee has the waster, 371 and the destroyer of thy fortresses. We may hence conclude that the city was on all sides fortified, so that it thought its defences sufficient to keep off enemies. But the Prophet derides this presumption, because the
Chaldeans would come to pull down and destroy all these strongholds. It follows ---
Jeremiah 48:19
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. Super viam consiste et speculare habitatrix Aroer; interroga fugientem et eam quae elapsa fuerit, dic, Quid factum est (quid accidit?)
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
370The verb "dwell" favors the idea adopted by some, that {{צמאmeans here a dry or thirsty land. - Ed 371{{עלהhere, as in Jeremiah 48:15, is a participle, and so the verb which follows. The ``waster'' is represented as then on his way, --- For the waster of Moab is ascending against thee, The destroyer of thy fortresses. --- Ed