Therefore hell hath enlarged herself
That is, the grave, to receive the dead which die with famine and
thirst; signifying that the number of the dead would be so great,
that the common burying places would not be sufficient to hold
them; but additions must be made to them; or some vast prodigious
pit must be dug, capable of receiving them; like Tophet, deep and
large: or "hath enlarged her soul" F4; her desire after the
dead, see ( Habakkuk 2:5
) being insatiable, and one of those things which are never
satisfied, or have enough, ( Proverbs
30:15 Proverbs
30:16 ) wherefore it follows: and opened her mouth
without measure;
immensely wide; there being no boundary to its desires, nor any
end of its cravings, or of filling it. And so the Targum renders
it, "without end". Moreover, by "hell" may be meant the miserable
estate and condition of the Jews upon the destruction of
Jerusalem, when they were in the utmost distress and misery,
(See Gill on Luke
16:23). And their glory;
their glorious ones, their nobles, as the Septuagint, Syriac, and
Arabic versions; and the Targum, their princes, rulers, civil and
ecclesiastical; which were the glory of the nation: and
their multitude;
meaning the common people; or rather their great and honourable
ones, as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions render the
word; and in which sense it may be used in the preceding verse (
Isaiah 5:13 )
; since not of the poor, but of the rich, the context speaks;
even of such who indulged themselves in luxury and pleasure:
and their pomp;
the Septuagint version, "their rich ones"; such who live in pomp
and splendour: but the word F5 signifies noise and tumult;
and so the Targum renders it; and it designs noisy and tumultuous
ones, who sing and roar, halloo and make a noise at feasts; and
who may be called (Nwav
ynb) , "sons of tumult", or "tumultuous ones"; ( Jeremiah
48:45 ) ( Isaiah
24:6-9 ) wherefore it follows: and he that
rejoiceth,
that is, at their feasts, shall descend into
it;
into hell, or the grave: or, "he that rejoiceth in it", that is,
in the land or city; so the Targum,
``he that is strong among them;''so Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it.