Jeremiah 50:3 - Exposition

Out of the north. There was a peculiar mystery attaching to the north in the Hebrew mind, as, in fact, the word very for "north" in Hebrew (literally, the hidden ) indicates. The burnt offering was to be sacrificed on the north side of the altar (Le Jeremiah 1:11 ), and the four cherubim, in the vision of Ezekiel, are described as coming from the north ( Ezekiel 1:4 ). The horror with which Babylon was regarded was intensified, apparently, by its northern position ( Jeremiah 1:14 ), and now the "hidden" north again pours forth its swarms of warriors against Babylon herself. They shall remove, they shall depart; rather, they are fled, they are gone ; almost the same clause occurs in Jeremiah 9:10 . The prediction is realized as past.