ventilabunt ipsam,) et exinanient terram ejus (vel, spoliabunt; {}בקק enim significat
JOHN CALVIN the heart; for as the word {,}ישביishebi, is in construction, another word necessarily follows it, as for instance, the country of the Chaldeans. But the relative, {,}הHe, referring to Babylon, ought to have been put down. Yet as the words occur, we are compelled to read, and against the inhabitants of the heart Some will have the relative, {,}אשרasher, to be understood, but that is harsh, for it is an unnatural mode of speaking. They, however, give this rendering of {,}אשר{ }לבasher leb,
who in heart rose up against me.'' But what if we read the words inhabitants of the heart metaphorically, as meaning those who gloried in their own wisdom? for the Babylonians, as it is well known, thought other men dull and foolish, and were so pleased with their own astuteness, as though they were fortified by inclosures on every side. They dwelt then in their own heart, that is, they thought themselves well fortified around through their own wisdom. In this sense the Prophet seems to call the Babylonians the inhabitants of the heart 440
He adds, at the same time, that they rose, up against God, even because they had cruelly treated his people, and nearly destroyed them. And we know that God undertook the cause of his Church, and therefore complained that war was made on him by the ungodly, whenever they molested the faithful. It is also at the same time generally true, that all who arrogate to themselves wisdom rise up against God, because they rob God of the honor due to him. But it ought properly to be referred to the union which exists between God and his Church, when he charges the Chaldeans, that they rose up against him. It follows,---
Jeremiah 51:2
2. And will send unto Babylon fanners, that shall fan her, and shall empty her land: for in the day of trouble they shall be against her round about.
2. Et mittam contra Babylonem ventilatores, qui ventilent ipsam (ad verbum, et ventilabunt ipsam,) et exinanient terram ejus (vel, spoliabunt; {}בקקenim significat proprie exinanire, evacuare, ut vulgo dicunt; et significat etiam spoliare et proedari; qui ergo exinanient terram;) quia erunt contra eam in circuitu in die mali (hoc est, in die adversa.)
Here he explains himself more clearly, without the metaphor he had used. He no longer uses the similitude of wind when he declares that he would send fanners At the same time some take {,}זאריםzarim, in the sense of aliens, who would banish her; but this would be harsh. I then doubt not but that the Prophet alludes to the wind before mentioned. He does not indeed continue that metaphor; but yet what he says corresponds with it. Instead of wind he now mentions fanners, or winnowers; but this cannot be understood except of enemies. A clearer explanation is still found in the word empty, after having said that the Persians and the Medes would fan or winnow
Babylon. He compares her, no doubt, to chaff. As then the chaff, when ventilated, falls on the ground, so he says a similar thing would happen to the Babylonians.
440The Targ. and the versions widely differ from one another. The cabbalistic solution is very frivolous, by which the two words {{לבand {}קמיare made one, and made to signify ``Chaldeans,'' according to what was called ``Athbash,'' by which aleph, the first letter, was taken for tau, the last letter, and beth, the second, for shin, the last but one; and so on through the whole alphabet. But Blayney and others, such as Gataker and Venema, give a satisfactory explanation of the words. The word ,{}לבthe heart, often means the middle of anything, as ``the heart of heaven,'' in Deuteronomy 4:11 means the midst of heaven; and ``the heart of the seas,'' in Psalm 46:2, means the midst of the seas. So here, ``the heart of my adversaries,'' means the centre of the country of his adversaries. i.e., Babylon, --- Against the inhabitants of the metropolis of my adversaries. --- Ed.