all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea;
As to the word Island, the number is to be changed; for the Prophet means not one island, but the countries beyond the sea. Some restrict the reference to Cyprus, Crete, Mitylene, and other islands in the Mediterranean; but it is a common way of speaking in Hebrew, to call all countries beyond the sea islands.
Under the similitude of a cup going round, which all the company must drink of, is here represented the universal desolation that was now coming upon that part of the world which Nebuchadrezzar, who just now began to reign and act, was to be the instrument of, and which should at length recoil upon his own country.
Commenting on Jeremiah 25:15-29
Dedan, and Tema, and Buz,.... These seem to be places in Edom or Idumea, of whose destruction Jeremiah prophesies in Jer 49:7; or rather in Arabia and Mesopotamia. Jerom reckons them among the Ishmaelites and Saracens, The persons from whom they descended are mentioned in Gen 22:21; and all that are in the utmost corners; that is, either of the above countries, or of the...