It shall be even as when a hungry [man] dreameth, and,
behold, he eateth
That is, he dreams of food, and imagines it before him, and that he is really eating it: but he awaketh, and his soul is empty;
his stomach is empty when he awakes, and he finds he has not ate anything at all: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh:
who fancies that he has got a cup of liquor in his hand, and at his mouth, and is drinking it with a great deal of eagerness and pleasure: but he awaketh, and, behold, [he is] faint, and his soul hath
appetite;
when he awakes, he is not at all refreshed with his imaginary drinking, but still desires liquor to revive his fainting spirits, and extinguish his thirst: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against
Mount Zion;
either shall quickly perish; or, having raised their expectations, and pleased themselves with the booty they should obtain, of which they thought themselves sure, shall find themselves mistaken, and all like an illusive dream. Some interpret this of the disappointment of Sennacherib's army; and others of the insatiable cruelty of the Chaldeans; but rather, if the above sense pleases not, it would be better to understand it of the Jews, who, amidst their greatest danger, flattered themselves with the hope of deliverance, which was all a dream and an illusion; and to which sense the following words seem to incline.