This list is remarkable both for what it includes and what it omits. In order to understand the reference to Tyre and Zidon, we must remember that Nebuchadnezzar's expedition was partly directed against these cities, with which the Philistines had evidently been allied. The Chaldean king would hasten the submission of the Phœnicians, by cutting off all hope of succour from without. There are various possible reasons why out of the five Philistine cities only two--Ashkelon and Gaza--are mentioned; Ekron, Gath, and Ashdod may have been reduced to comparative insignificance. Ashdod had recently been taken by Psammetichus after a twenty-nine years' siege. Or the names of two of these cities may be given by way of paronomasia in the text: Ashdod may be suggested by the double reference to the _spoiling_ and the _spoiler_, _Shdod_ and _Shoded_; Gath may be hinted at by the word used for the mutilation practised by mourners, _Tithgoddadi_, and by the mention of the Anakim, who are connected with Gath, Ashdod, and Gaza in Joshua xi. 22. As Jeremiah contemplates this fresh array of victims of Chaldean cruelty, he is moved to protest against the weary monotony of ruin:-- "O sword of Jehovah, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard; rest, and be still." The prophet ceases to be the mouthpiece of God, and breaks out into the cry of human anguish. How often since, amid the barbarian inroads that overwhelmed the Roman Empire, amid the prolonged horrors of the Thirty Years' War, amid the carnage of the French Revolution, men have uttered a like appeal to an unanswering and relentless Providence! Indeed, not in war only, but even in peace, the tide of human misery and sin often seems to flow, century after century, with undiminished volume, and ever and again a vain "How long" is wrung from pallid and despairing lips. For the Divine purpose may not be hindered, and the sword of Jehovah must still strike home. "How can it be quiet, seeing that Jehovah hath given it a charge? Against Ashkelon and against the sea-shore, there hath He appointed it." Yet Ashkelon survived to be a stronghold of the Crusaders, and Gaza to be captured by Alexander and even by Napoleon. Jehovah has other instruments besides His devastating sword; the victorious endurance and recuperative vitality of men and nations also come from Him. "Come, and let us return unto Jehovah: For He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up."[213] FOOTNOTES: [211] Referring to their ancient immigration from Caphtor, probably Crete. [212] Kautzsch, Giesebrecht, with LXX., reading 'Nqm for the Masoretic 'Mqm; Eng. Vers., "their valley." [213] Hosea vi. 1. CHAPTER XIX _MOAB_ xlviii.