Commento su Isaia 13:4

קול המון A resounding voice.⁴A. V., The noise of a multitude. It is the nature of mountains to echo the sound of words uttered by any person, and this echo is alluded to by the expression קול המון. The root of המון is המה resound; comp. הומה being in an uproar (1 Kings 1:41). The prophet explains also what this noise among the kingdoms of the heathen people signifies; Cyrus, the king of Persia, and Darius, the king of Media, became allies in a war against Babylon; this is distinctly stated in Daniel.⁵The passages referred to are : The kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians (Dan. 5:28), And Darius, the Mede, took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old (ib. 6:1.) On the latter verse I. E. remarks, It is known that Cyrus took Babylon, as stated in Isaiah; Cyrus is therefore called the king of Babylon (Ezra 5:13), but Darius the Mede, his father-in-law, was, as we learn from the history of Persia and Media, his ally, and was made by him viceroy of Babylon. They were both kings of Babylon at the same time, but it was by order of Cyrus, the king of kings, that the Jews returned to Jerusalem after the fall of Babylon.

מפקד He is appointing officers, or, he is causing to number; comp. פקודים number. The word מפקד governs two accusatives.⁶According to the first explanation, מפקד is a denominative from פקיד officer; according to the second it is derived from פקד to number. מפקדים in the Hebrew text is probably a corruption of מגזרת פְּקֻדִים.