XLIX.

(1) Concerning the Ammonites.--The history of this people was, to a great extent, parallel with that of the Moabites. They had been conquered by Sihon, the great Amorite king, and when that monarch was, in his turn, conquered by the Israelites (Numbers 21:21-31) their territory was assigned to the tribes of Gad and Reuben (Numbers 32:34-38). In Judges 11:12-33 we have the record of an unsuccessful attempt to recover their lost territory, and like attempts appear to have been made by Nahash (1Samuel 11:1-11), and Hanun (2Samuel 10:6-14; 2Samuel 12:26-31). On the deportation of the Trans-jordanic tribes by Tiglath-pileser (2Kings 15:29; 1Chronicles 5:6; 1Chronicles 5:26), they made a more successful effort, and their king Baalis appears as prompting the conspiracy of Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah (Jeremiah 40:14). The prophecy on which we now enter was probably delivered before that time, in or about the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 25:21). Its opening words recall the long-standing territorial controversy. "Had Israel no heir?" Was the land he had occupied so long to pass into the possession of a stranger?

Why then doth their king inherit Gad . . .?--Better, with the margin and all the older versions, Melcom. The name, all but identical with the "Malcham" of Zephaniah 1:5, and connected with Moloch, was that of the god of the Ammonites, as Chemosh was that of the Moabite deity. He, as his very name implied, was their true king; and the complaint of the prophet is that he inherits Gad, which had been in the possession of Israel.

Verses 1-3. - The violence of the Ammonites shall be severely punished. Verse 1. - Hath Israel no sons! The violent seizure, perpetrated before his eyes, of parts of the sacred territory, forces the indignant question from the prophet, "How can these things be?" It was so on a former occasion (see Jeremiah 2:14), and it is so again, now that the Ammonites are occupying the land of the Gadites. True, the present generation has lost its property, but the next is the heir to all its rights and privileges. Their king; rather, their King - their Melech or Moloch; it is the heavenly, not the earthly king who is referred to (so in Amos 1:15; Zephaniah 1:5). The Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Vulgate, however, read Milcom, which was the name of the Ammonite deity; this is only a different vocalizing of the consonants of the text. The actual vowel points give "malcam." This reading may, of course, be interpreted of the earthly king of the Ammonites. But this view ignores the obvious parallelism of Jeremiah 48:7, "Chemosh shall go forth into captivity." Inherit. The primary meaning of the word is "to take possession of, especially by force, 1 Kings 21:6" (Gesenius, ad voc.), and this is the sense evidently required here (comp. Jeremiah 8:10).

49:1-6. Might often prevails against right among men, yet that might shall be controlled by the Almighty, who judges aright; and those will find themselves mistaken, who, like the Ammonites, think every thing their own on which they can lay their hands. The Lord will call men to account for every instance of dishonesty, especially to the destitute.Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the Lord,.... Or, "to the Ammonites" (u); or, "against" them (w); it will bear to be rendered either way, and all is true; for what is said by the Lord, as follows, is concerning them, their sins, and their punishment, and is directed to them, and is a threatening against them:

hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? certainly he has, and who ought to possess the land; this is to be understood not of the ten tribes, sometimes called Israel, as distinct from the other two; for these had been long ago carried captive, and left no heirs of their tribes; but of all Israel, including the tribes of Judah and Benjamin; who, though their brethren of the ten tribes were carried captive, and left no children to inherit, yet, being next in blood, were the lawful heirs of their lands and possessions:

why then doth their king inherit Gad? that part of the land of Israel which belonged to the tribe of Gad; this, when the ten tribes were carried captive by the king of Assyria, and the Gadites among the rest, was seized on by the Ammonites, with their king at the head of them, lying near unto them; who might also pretend relation, as being the children of Lot, the brother's son of Abraham; or claim it, as having been their own formerly, and so were the lawful heirs of it, as they imagined; when it of right belonged to the children of Judah and Benjamin: or, "why doth Malcam inherit Gad?" (x) the same with Milcom or Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites, the idol they worshipped, 1 Kings 11:5; so Jarchi interprets it. The Ammonites having got possession of the land, set up their idol in it, where temples were built for him, and altars erected, and sacrifices offered to him, so that he might be said to inherit it; and which must be very offensive to, and highly resented by, the God of Israel:

and his people dwelt in his cities: the Ammonites dwelt in the cities belonging to the tribe of Gad, as if they were their own; who are called the people of Milcom, or Molech, just as the Moabites are called the people of Chemosh, from the idol they worshipped, Jeremiah 48:46.

(u) "ad filios Ammon", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus. (w) "Contra filios Ammonis", Schmidt; "de vel contra", Vatablus; "contra", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (x) "cur igitur haereditate possedit Melchom Gad?" V. L. Lutherus, Sanctius, Castalio.