2:1a He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face:
keep the munition, watch the way, make [thy] loins strong,
fortify [thy] power mightily.
(a) That is, Nebuchadnezzar is in readiness to destroy the
Assyrians: and the Prophet derides the undertakings of
the Assyrians who prepared to resist him.
2:2 For the LORD hath b turned away the excellency of Jacob,
as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied
them out, and c marred their vine branches.
(b) Seeing God has punished his own people Judah and Israel,
he will now punish the enemies by whom he scourged them;
read (Isa 10:12).
(c) Signifying that the Israelites were utterly destroyed.
2:3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, d the valiant
men [are] in scarlet: the chariots [shall be] with flaming
torches in the day of his preparation, and e the fir trees
shall be terribly shaken.
(d) Both to put fear into the enemy, and also that they
themselves should not so soon detect blood among one
another, to discourage them.
(e) Meaning their spears would shake and crash together.
2:5f He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in
their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and
the defence shall be prepared.
(f) Then the Assyrians will seek by all means to gather
their power, but all things will fail them.
2:8 But Nineveh [is] of g old like a pool of water: yet they
shall flee away. Stand, stand, [shall they cry]; but none
shall look back.
(g) The Assyrians will flatter themselves and say that
Nineveh is so ancient that it can never perish, and is
as a fishpool, whose waters cannot be touched by those
that walk on the banks. But they will be scattered, and
will not look back, even if men call them.
2:9h Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold: for
[there is] none end of the store [and] glory out of all the
pleasant furniture.
(h) God commands the enemies to spoil Nineveh, and promises
them infinite riches and treasures.
2:10i She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart
melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain [is]
in all loins, and the faces k of them all gather
blackness.
(i) That is, Nineveh, and the men of it will be after this
manner.
(k) )Read Geneva "Joe 2:6")
2:11 Where [is] the l dwelling of the lions, and the
feedingplace of the young lions, where the lion, [even] the
old lion, walked, [and] the lion's whelp, and none made
[them] afraid?
(l) Meaning, Nineveh, whose inhabitants were cruel like the
lions, and given to all oppression, and spared no
violence or tyranny to provide for their wives and
children.
2:13 Behold, I [am] against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I
will burn her chariots in the m smoke, and the sword
shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey
from the earth, and the voice of thy n messengers shall
no more be heard.
(m) That is, as soon as my wrath begins to burn.
(n) Signifying the heralds, who were accustomed to proclaim
war. Some read, "of you gum teeth", with which Nineveh
was accustomed to bruise the bones of the poor.
