O Lord, to thee will I cry
Or pray, as the Targum; with great vehemency and earnestness, commiserating the case of man and beast: these are the words of the prophet, resolving to use his interest at the through of grace in this time of distress, whatever others did: for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness;
or, "of the plain" F3 though in the wildernesses of Judea, there were pastures for cattle: Kimchi interprets them of the shepherds' tents or cotes, as the word F4 is sometimes used; which were will not to be pitched where there were pastures for their flocks: and so the Targum renders it, "the habitations of the wilderness"; these, whether pastures or habitations, or both, were destroyed by fire, the pastures by the locusts, as Kimchi; which, as Pliny F5 says, by touching burn the trees, herbs, and fruits of the earth; see ( Joel 2:3 ) ; or by the Assyrians or Chaldeans, who by fire and sword consumed all in their way; or by a dry burning blasting wind, as Lyra; and so the Targum interprets it of a strong east wind like fire: it seems rather to design extreme heat and excessive drought, which burn up all the produce of the earth: and the flame hath burnt all the trees of the field;
which may be understood of flashes of lightning, which are common in times of great heat and drought; see ( Psalms 83:14 ) .