John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 17. Thy crowned men [are] as the locusts , etc.] Tributary kings, and hired officers, as some think, who might be distinguished by what they wore on their heads; or their own princes and nobles, who wore coronets or diadems; unless their religious persons are meant, their Nazarites and devotees, their priests; these were like locusts for their number, fear, and flight in time of danger, and for their spoil of the poor; and some locusts have been seen with little crowns on their heads, as those in ( Revelation 9:7) “which had on their heads as it were crowns like gold”. In the year 1542 came locusts out of Turkish Satmatia into Austria, Silesia, Lusatia, and Misnia, which had on their heads little crowns f125 . In the year 1572 a vehement wind brought large troops of locusts out of Turkey into Poland, which did great mischief, and were of a golden colour f126 ; and Aelianus f127 speaks of locusts in Arabia, marked with golden coloured figures; and mention is made in the Targum on ( Jeremiah 51:27), of the shining locust, shining like gold: and thy captains as the great grasshoppers ; or “locusts of locusts” f128 ; those of the largest size. The Vulgate Latin renders the word for captains “thy little ones”, junior princes, or officers of less dignity and authority; these were, as the Targum paraphrases it, as the worms of locusts; but rather as the locusts themselves, many and harmful: which camp in the hedges in the cold day ; in the cold part of the day, the night; when they get into the hedges of fields, gardens, and vineyards, in great numbers, like an army, and therefore said to encamp like one: [but] when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where they [are] ; whither they are fled, as the Targum; so these captains, or half pay officers, swarmed in great numbers about the city, and in the provinces, while it was a time of peace, and they were indulged in sloth, and enjoyed much ease and prosperity; but when war broke out, and the heat of it began to be felt, these disappeared, and went into their own countries, from whence they came, with the auxiliaries and hired troops; nor could they be found where they were, or be called upon to do their duty: this is true of locusts in a literal sense, who flee away when the sun rises; hence the Arabs, as Bochart says elegantly express this by the word “ascaara”; signifying, that when the sun comes to the locust it goes away, According to Macrobius f130 , both Apollo and Hercules are names for the sun; and both these are surnamed from their power in driving away locusts: Hercules was called Cornopion by the Oeteans, because he delivered them from the locusts f131 : and Apollo was called Parnopius by the Grecians, because, when the country was hurt by locusts, he drove them out of it, at Pausanias relates; who observes, that they were drove out they knew, but in what manner they say not; for his own part, he says, he knew them thrice destroyed at Mount Sipylus, but not in the same way; one time a violent wind drove them out; another time a prodigious heat killed them; and a third time they perished by sudden cold; and so, according to the text here, the cold sends them to the hedges, and the heat of the sun obliges them to abandon their station.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 8-19 - Strong-holds, even the strongest, are no defence against the judgment of God. They shall be unable to do any thing for themselves. The Chaldeans and Medes would devour the land like canker-worms. The Assyrians also would be eaten up by their own numerous hired troops which seem to be meant by the word rendered "merchants." Those tha have done evil to their neighbours, will find it come home to them Nineveh, and many other cities, states, and empires, have been ruined and should be a warning to us. Are we better, except as there are some true Christians amongst us, who are a greater security, and a stronge defence, than all the advantages of situation or strength? When the Lord shows himself against a people, every thing they trust in mus fail, or prove a disadvantage; but he continues good to Israel. He is strong-hold for every believer in time of trouble, that cannot be stormed or taken; and he knoweth those that trust in Him _________________________________________________
Original Hebrew מנזריך4502 כארבה697 וטפסריך2951 כגוב1462 גבי1462 החונים2583 בגדרות1448 ביום3117 קרה7135 שׁמשׁ8121 זרחה2224 ונודד5074 ולא3808 נודע3045 מקומו4725 אים׃335
