Dan - i. e. the northern boundary of the land.

His strong ones - i. e., "his war-horses."

The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan - From this to the end of Jeremiah 8:15 is repeated from Babylon to Jerusalem; and it was by this city, after the battle of Carchemish, that Nebuchadnezzar, in pursuing the Egyptians, entered Palestine.

The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones - Of his war horses. This is a fine image; so terrible was the united neighing of the cavalry of the Babylonians that the reverberation of the air caused the ground to tremble. This is better, and more majestic, than the celebrated line of Virgil: -

Quadrupe - dante pu - trem soni-tu quatit ungula campum.

It would be much easier to shake the ground with the prancings of many horses, than to cause an earthquake by the sound of the neighing of the troops of cavalry.

The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan,.... That is, was heard at Jerusalem. It seems to be a hyperbolical expression, showing the certainty of the coming of the Assyrian monarch and his army, to invade Judea, and besiege Jerusalem; the news of which was brought from Dan, which lay in the further part of the land; see Jeremiah 4:15, and pointing at the way in which they should come northwards, through Phoenicia and the tribe of Dan, with a numerous cavalry of horses and horsemen: for, by "his" horses are meant Nebuchadnezzar's; unless, with Calvin, it can be thought that they are called the Lord's, because ordered and sent by him, whose war it was against the people. The Targum paraphrases the words thus,

"because they worshipped the calf that is in Dan, a king with his army shall come up against them, and carry them captive;''

and so Jarchi interprets it.

The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; his horses, strong and mighty; see Judges 5:22 where we read of the prancings of the mighty ones; and here the Targum,

"at the voice of the treading of his strong ones, all the inhabitants of the earth shall be moved;''

and by the land trembling undoubtedly are meant the inhabitants of the land, filled with dread and consternation at the noise and near approach of the Chaldean army.

For they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; or, "the fulness of it"; which because of the certainty of it, is represented as then done: the city, and those that dwell therein; meaning not only the city of Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of it, but other cities also, the singular being put for the plural; and so the Targum,

"the cities, and they that dwell in them.''

From the northern borders of Canaan (from Dan; see on Jeremiah 4:15) is already heard the dreadful tumult of the advancing enemy, the snorting of his horses. The suffix in סוּסיו refers to the enemy, whose invasion is threatened in Jeremiah 6:22, and is here presumed as known. אבּיריו, his strong ones, here, as in Jeremiah 47:3; Jeremiah 50:11, a poetical name for strong horses, stallions; elsewhere for strong animals, e.g., Psalm 22:13; Psalm 50:13. The whole earth, not the whole land. With "devour the land," cf. Jeremiah 5:17. עיר and ארץ have an indefinite comprehensive force; town and country on which the enemy is marching.

The snorting of his horses was heard from {l} Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they have come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell in it.

(l) Read Geneva Jer 4:15

8:16 The snorting - The fury of the Chaldeans march is described by the snorting of their horses, which is a noise they make through their nostrils. Heard - Even to Jerusalem. Have devoured - It is spoken in a prophetical style, who use to express the certainty of what shall be, as if it actually were already.

all...: Heb. the fulness thereof

16. his horses-the Chaldean's.

was heard-the prophetical past for the future.

from Dan-bordering on Phonicia. This was to be Nebuchadnezzar's route in invading Israel; the cavalry in advance of the infantry would scour the country.

strong ones-a poetical phrase for steeds, peculiar to Jeremiah (Jer 47:3; compare Jer 4:13, 29; 6:23).

8:14-22 At length they begin to see the hand of God lifted up. And when God appears against us, every thing that is against us appears formidable. As salvation only can be found in the Lord, so the present moment should be seized. Is there no medicine proper for a sick and dying kingdom? Is there no skilful, faithful hand to apply the medicine? Yes, God is able to help and to heal them. If sinners die of their wounds, their blood is upon their own heads. The blood of Christ is balm in Gilead, his Spirit is the Physician there, all-sufficient; so that the people may be healed, but will not. Thus men die unpardoned and unchanged, for they will not come to Christ to be saved.