I will scatter them as with an east wind before the
enemy,
&c.] As the east wind, which is generally strong and
boisterous, drives the chaff and stubble, and anything that is
light, before it, and scatters it here and there; so the Lord
threatens to scatter the people of the Jews over the face of the
earth, before their enemies, whom they should not be able to
withstand. It denotes the power of the enemy God would make use
of; the ease with which this should be done; and the utter
dispersion of them; and is their present case: I will show
them the back, and not the face, in the day of their
calamity;
that is, will not look upon them in a favourable way, nor with
any pity and compassion for them, nor hear their cries; but turn
his back upon them, and a deaf ear unto them, and give them no
help and relief, or deliver them out of their calamities; but
suffer them to continue upon them, and them to sink under them;
see ( Proverbs
1:26-28 ) ; which refers to the same time of calamity as
here.