To make their land desolate
Not that this was the intention either of those that led them out
of the right way into those wrong paths, or of them that went
into them; but so it was eventually; this was the issue of
things; their idolatry and other sins were the cause of their
land being desolate; through the ravage of the enemy, let in upon
them by way of judgment; and through the destruction of men by
them; so that there were few or none to cultivate and manure it:
[and] a perpetual hissing;
to be hissed at perpetually by the enemy, whenever they passed by
it, and observed its desolation; thereby expressing their hatred
at its inhabitants; their joy at its desolation; and their
satisfaction in it, which would be for ever; or, as Kimchi
interprets, a long time. This is the present case of the Jews;
and has been ever since their destruction by the Romans; and will
be until the fulness of the Gentiles is gathered in:
everyone that passeth thereby shall be
astonished:
to see the desolations made, and the strange alterations in a
place once so famous for fruitfulness and number of inhabitants:
and wag his head;
either out of pity, or rather in a way of derision and
exultation; see ( Lamentations
2:15 Lamentations
2:16 ) .