And they shall scoff at the kings
Or, "he shall" F21, Nebuchadnezzar king of the
Chaldeans, and the army with him; who would make a jest of kings
and their armies that should oppose them, as being not at all a
match for them; as the kings of Judah, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah,
they carried captive, and all others confederate with them, in
whom they trusted, as the king of Egypt particularly; and which
is observed to show the vanity of trusting in princes for safety;
though it may also include all other kings the Chaldeans fought
against, and the kingdoms they invaded and subdued: and the
princes shall be a scorn unto them;
the nobles, counsellors, and ministers of state; or leaders and
commanders of armies, and general officers, in whom great
confidence is often put; but these the king of Babylon and his
forces would mock and laugh at, as being nothing in their hands,
and who would fall an easy prey to them: they shall deride
every strong hold;
in Jerusalem, in the whole land of Judea, and in every other
country they invade, or pass through, none being able to stand
out against them: for they shall heap dust, and take
it;
easily, as it were in sport, only by raising a dust heap, or a
heap of dirt; by which is meant a mount raised up to give them a
little rise, to throw in their darts or stones, or use their
engines and battering rams to more advantage, and to scale the
walls, and get possession. There are two other senses mentioned
by Kimchi; as that they shall gather a great number of people as
dust, and take it; or they shall gather dust to till up the
trenches and ditches about the wall, that so they may come at it,
and take it.