And Huzzab shall be led away captive
The Targum translates it the queen; and Jarchi and Aben Ezra,
after R. Samuel, take it to be the name of the queen of Assyria;
so called, as every queen might, from her standing at the king's
right hand, ( Psalms 45:9 ) who, when
the royal palace was destroyed, was taken out, and carried
captive with the rest, who before was in a well settled and
tranquil state and condition: or perhaps the king himself is
designed, who may be represented as a woman, as follows, for his
effeminacy; conversing only with women; imitating their voice;
wearing their apparel; and doing their work, spinning which is
the character historians F12 give of the last king of the
Assyrians: some F13 take it to be the idol Venus,
worshipped by the Ninevites: though it may be meant either of the
palace itself, as Kimchi's father, which was firm and well
established; or rather Nineveh itself, thought to be stable and
secure, the inhabitants of which should be carried into a strange
land: she shall be brought up;
the queen, or the king, out of the palace or private retirement,
where they were in peace and safety; or Nineveh, and the
inhabitants of it, out of their secure state and condition:
and her maids shall lead [her];
her maids of honour, supporting her on the right hand and left,
ready to sink and faint under her misfortunes: this may also be
understood of towns and villages, and the inhabitants of them,
that should go into captivity along with Nineveh: as with
the voice of doves, tabering upon their breasts;
mourning like doves, inwardly and secretly, not daring to express
their sorrow more publicly, because of their enemies; but
knocking and beating upon their breasts, as men do upon tabrets
or drums, thereby expressing the inward grief of their minds; see
( Ezekiel
7:16 ) .
F12 Diodor. Sicul. l. 2. p. 109, 110.
F13 Gebhardus apud Burkium in loc.