he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath
JOHN CALVIN
a little while, and I will shake the heaven and the earth.''
(Haggai 2:7)
But this was not fulfilled till many years after. But we must remember what is in
Habakkuk, ---
the vision delays, wait for it, for it will come *
*and will not be slow.'' (Habakkuk 2:5)
He says that prophecies delay, that is, according to the judgment of men, who make too much haste, and are even carried away headlong by their own desires.
But God performs his work with sufficient celerity, provided we allow him to arrange the times according to his own will, as it is just and right for us to do. Whenever, then, the ungodly enjoy ease and securely indulge themselves, let this fact come to our own minds, that the threshing-floor is not always trodden, but that the time of harvest will come whenever it pleases God. This is the use we ought to make of what is here said. It follows, ---
Jeremiah 51:34
34. Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.
34. Comedit me, contrivit me Nabuchadnezer rex Babylonis; posuit me (locavit, ad verbum) vas inane; diglutivit me tanquam draco, implevit ventrem suum deliciis meis, ejecit me.
Here is mentioned the complaint of the chosen people, and this was done designedly by Jeremiah, in order that the Jews might feel assured that their miseries were not overlooked by God; for nothing can distress us so much as to think that God forgets us and disregards the wrongs done to us by the ungodly, hence the Prophet here sets the Israelites in God's presence, that they might be convinced in their own minds that they were not disregarded by God, and that he was not indifferent to the unjust and cruel treatment they received from their enemies. For this complaint is made, as though they expostulated with God in his presence.
He then says, Devoured me and broken me in pieces has Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon 456 The word, to eat, or devour, was enough; but Jeremiah wished to express something more atrocious by adding the word, to break in pieces; 457 for he intimates that Babylon had not been like a man who devours meat set before him, but that she had been a cruel wild beast, who breaks in pieces the very bones.
We now, then, understand the design of the Prophet; he amplifies the savageness of the king of Babylon, by saying that God's people had not only been devoured by him as men swallow down their food, but that they had also been torn in pieces by his teeth, as though he had been a lion, or a bear, or some other wild animal; for these not only devour their prey, but also with their teeth break in pieces whatever
456The pronoun after the verbs in this verse is in the plural number, us, according to the present Hebrew text, but according to the Keri and several copies, it is in the singular number, me. The authority as to MSS. is nearly equal; only the latter reading is favored by the versions and the Targ, and also by the verse which follows. — Ed.
457The common meaning of the verb is, violently to disturb, but it is evidently used in the sense of breaking, crushing, or breaking in pieces, in Isaiah 28:28; and this is the most suitable sense here, as it follows "devouring." — Ed.