What Does Jeremiah 49:19 Mean?

(19) **Like a lion from the swelling of Jordan.—**Better, as in Jeremiah 12:5, *the pride of Jordan*—*i.e.,* the thick jungle-forests which were the glory of its banks. **Against the habitation of the strong.**—Better, *against the evergreen pasturage. *The word for “habitation” is that used in Jeremiah 6:2 for the place where shepherds encamp, the other substantive conveys the idea of permanence rather than strength, and the image by which the prophet paints the Chaldæan invasion is that of a lion (comp. Jeremiah 5:6) making its way through the jungle, and rushing upon the flocks and herds in one of the meadow tracts along the course of the Jordan. **But I will suddenly make him run away from her.**—Literally, *I will wink, I will make him . . .* The pronouns are obscure in the Hebrew as in the English, but the meaning seems to be, “I will, as in the twinkling of an eye, drive him (Edom) away from it” (his pasturage, or habitation). **And who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her?**—Better, *who is a chosen one, and I will appoint him** . . .***? The word translated “chosen one” is commonly associated with the idea of youth, the flower of a nation’s strength, its chosen champions. Commentators for the most part apply it to Nebuchadnezzar as being, in the full vigour of his strength, the chosen ruler whom Jehovah would appoint over Edom. The interrogative form, however, and the implied negative answer to the questions that follow suggest a different interpretation. “Who,” the prophet asks in a tone of scorn, as though Jehovah spoke by him, “is a chosen champion of Edom? and I will appoint him.” The implied answer is that Edom has no such champion. Compare the taunting words uttered by Jehu (2Kings 10:2-3)—“Look even out the best and meetest of your master’s sons”—and Rabshakeh (2Kings 18:23). **Who is like me? and who will appoint me the time?**—The questions follow rapidly one on another in the same tone. To “appoint a time” was the technical phrase, as in Job 9:19, for the notice by which a prosecutor summoned the accused to trial. “Who,” Jehovah asks, “will thus summon Me, and before what tribunal?” “What shepherd (*i.e.,* what ruler) will stand before Me to defend his flock against My power?”