One thousand [shall flee] at the rebuke of one
A troop of horse, consisting of a thousand men, shall flee upon the attack and onset of a single person, so dispirited should they be, and so possessed of the fear of the enemy; what was promised to them with respect to their enemies is here turned against them, ( Leviticus 26:7 Leviticus 26:8 ) ( Deuteronomy 32:30 ) : at the rebuke of five shall ye flee;
being attacked by a very small number, the whole army should run away: this denotes with what ease they should be routed, and put to flight; and is to be understood, not of what would be at the present time, but of what should come to pass hereafter, when the Chaldean army should come against them; till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain;
or, "as the mast of a ship", so the Septuagint and other versions. Jarchi says it signifies a high tree, or tall piece of wood fixed in the earth, like a ship's mast F16, set up to give warning of an enemy's approach, and when, and where, sometimes fires used to be kindled; hence the Targum is,
``till ye are left as a burning torch on the top of a mountain.''The Syriac version renders it, "as a wild ass", solitary and alone: and as an ensign on a hill;