Jeremiah 49:27

And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(27) It shall consume the palaces of Ben-ha-dad.—Three kings of the name appear in Old Testament history; one as warring against Omri (1Kings 20:34), another as a contemporary of Elisha (2Kings 8:7), a third as the son of Hazael, and therefore belonging to a different dynasty (2Kings 13:3). It is possible, as the name was thus associated with the greatness of the kingdom, that it may have been borne also by later kings. It appears in the form Ben-hidri in Assyrian inscriptions. The prophet’s words are, at any rate, a proof that the palaces of Damascus were either built by one of them, probably the first, or at any rate bore their name.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

49:23-27 How easily God can dispirit those nations that have been most celebrated for valour! Damascus waxes feeble. It was a city of joy, having all the delights of the sons of men. But those deceive themselves who place their happiness in carnal joys.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the marginal reference and 1 Kings 11:14 note.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

27. palaces of Ben-hadad—that palace from which so many evils and such cruelty to Israel emanated; thus implying the cause of Damascus' overthrow. Not the Ben-hadad of 2Ki 13:3; Am 1:4; it was a common name of the Syrian kings (compare 1Ki 15:18; meaning "son of Hadad," the idol).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I will bring a judgment that shall burn in Damascus like a consuming fire, and it shall reach to the royal seat of Benhadad; either that which was the royal seat of Ben-hadad, 2 Kings 8:7, or else Ben-hadad (signifying the son of Hadad, which was their idol) was the common name of all the kings of Syria, as Pharaoh was to the kings of Egypt, Amos 1:4

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,.... Signifying either that, a breach being made there the destruction of the city should begin, and be carried on until it was completed; or it may be understood literally, that first the houses built upon the wall should beset on fire by the Chaldeans, through the divine permission, and according to his order and wilt, and therefore ascribed to him, which should proceed further. Compare with this 2 Corinthians 11:32;

and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad; not only the houses of the common people in general, but particularly the palaces of their king and his nobles; Benhadad being a name of one of the kings of Syria, 1 Kings 20:1; and which, according to Kimchi, was the name of the king of Syria at the time of the destruction of Damascus by Nebuchadnezzar. Some think that this was a common name of the kings of Syria, as Pharaoh and Ptolemy with the Egyptians. It signifies the son of Hadad, which was the name of their idol; from whence their kings might be called, as was usual with the Assyrians and Babylonians.

Geneva Study Bible

And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of {b} Benhadad.

(b) Who was king of Syria, 1Ki 20:26 and had built these palaces which were still called the palaces of Benhadad.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

27. I will kindle a fire] Cp. Numbers 21:28; Deuteronomy 32:22. Benhadad (son of Hadad) was the name of several kings of Syria.

palaces] See on Jeremiah 6:5.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 27. - And I will kindly, etc. A combination of clauses from Amos 1:14 and Amos 1:4. Three several kings of Damascus bore the name of Ben-hadad: one the contemporary of King Baasha of Samaria; another, of Ahab; a third, of Joash. (Ben-hadad, however, should rather be Ben-hadar, agreeably to the Assyrian inscriptions and the Septuagint.) Jeremiah 49:27

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Jeremiah 49:27 has been imitated from Amos 1:4 and Jeremiah 49:14 conjointly. בּחמת, not "on," but "in," i.e., "within the wall." "The palaces of Benhadad" are the palaces of the Syrian kings generally, because three kings of Damascus bore this name.

The fulfilment of this threat cannot be proved historically, from want of information. Since Pharaoh-Necho had conquered Syria as far as the Euphrates, it is very possible that, after the defeat of the Egyptians at Carchemish, in the conquest of Syria by Nebuchadnezzar, Damascus was harshly treated. The prophecy is, however, so general in its statement, that we need not confine its fulfilment to the conquest by Nebuchadnezzar.