Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech
Meshech was a son of Japheth, ( Genesis 10:2
) ; whose posterity are thought by some to be the Muscovites
F26 and Scythians, a barbarous sort of
people: Mesech is frequently mentioned with Tubal and his
brother, and with Gog and Magog, ( Ezekiel 38:2
Ezekiel
38:3 ) ( 39:1 ) ; the
Targum here calls them Asiatics. Rather the Cappadocians,
according to Josephus F1; and Strabo F2 makes
mention of a city of theirs, called Mazaca: and the rather, since
they are mentioned with the Kedarenes, or Arabian Scenites, and
were nearer to the land of Judea than the former;
[that] I dwell in the tents of Kedar;
Kedar was a son of Ishmael, ( Genesis
25:13 ) ; whose posterity were Arabians, as the Targum here
renders it; and Suidas F3 says, they dwelt not far from
Babylon, when he wrote; they lived a pastoral life, and dwelt in
tents: Pliny F4 makes mention of Arabs, called
Cedrei; and also of Scenite Arabs, from the tents they dwelt in,
which they could remove from place to place for the sake of
pasturage. And among these David dwelt, when in the wilderness of
Paran, ( 1 Samuel
25:1 ) ; though some think David never dwelt among any of
those people, but among such who were like unto them for
ignorance, idolatry, and barbarity. Some render the words, "woe
is me, that I sojourn so long, dwelling as in the tents of Kedar"
F5; as when he was among the
Philistines and Moabites; nay, even he may compare his own people
to those, many of whom it was as disagreeable dwelling with as
with these: and we find Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, speaking
of them in their times in like manner, and making the same
complaints, ( Isaiah 6:5 ) ( Jeremiah 9:2
) ( Ezekiel
2:6 ) . And very grieving and distressing it is to good men
to have their abode among wicked men; as well as it is infectious
and dangerous: to hear their profane and blasphemous talk, to see
their wicked and filthy actions, and to observe their abominable
conversation, is very vexatious, and gives great uneasiness, as
it did to righteous Lot, ( 2 Peter 2:7 2 Peter 2:8 ) . The
first clause is rendered by the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and
all the Oriental versions, "woe is me, that my sojourning is
prolonged"; to which the next words agree, ( Psalms 120:6
) .