It shall be even as when a hungry [man] dreameth,
and,
behold, he eateth
That is, he dreams of food, and imagines it before him, and that
he is really eating it: but he awaketh, and his soul is
empty;
his stomach is empty when he awakes, and he finds he has not ate
anything at all: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and,
behold, he drinketh:
who fancies that he has got a cup of liquor in his hand, and at
his mouth, and is drinking it with a great deal of eagerness and
pleasure: but he awaketh, and, behold, [he is] faint, and
his soul hath
appetite;
when he awakes, he is not at all refreshed with his imaginary
drinking, but still desires liquor to revive his fainting
spirits, and extinguish his thirst: so shall the multitude
of all the nations be, that fight against
Mount Zion;
either shall quickly perish; or, having raised their
expectations, and pleased themselves with the booty they should
obtain, of which they thought themselves sure, shall find
themselves mistaken, and all like an illusive dream. Some
interpret this of the disappointment of Sennacherib's army; and
others of the insatiable cruelty of the Chaldeans; but rather, if
the above sense pleases not, it would be better to understand it
of the Jews, who, amidst their greatest danger, flattered
themselves with the hope of deliverance, which was all a dream
and an illusion; and to which sense the following words seem to
incline.