Ninevites. (59) Isaiah bewails and predicts the calamities, and hails the
restoration not only of the Jews but also of other nations, for he says
(chap. xvi:9), "Therefore I will bewail Jazer with weeping;" and in chap.
xix. he foretells first the calamities and then the restoration of
the Egyptians (see verses 19, 20, 21, 25), saying that God shall send them a
Saviour to free them, that the Lord shall be known in Egypt, and, further,
that the Egyptians shall worship God with sacrifice and oblation; and, at
last, he calls that nation the blessed Egyptian people of God; all of which
particulars are specially noteworthy.

(60) Jeremiah is called, not the prophet of the Hebrew nation, but simply
the prophet of the nations (see Jer:i.5). (61) He also mournfully foretells
the calamities of the nations, and predicts their restoration, for he says
(xlviii:31) of the Moabites, "Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will
cryout for all Moab" (verse 36), "and therefore mine heart shall sound
for Moab like pipes;" in the end he prophesies their restoration, as also
the restoration of the Egyptians, Ammonites, and Elamites. (62) Wherefore it
is beyond doubt that other nations also, like the Jews, had their
prophets, who prophesied to them.

(63) Although Scripture only, makes mention of one man, Balaam, to whom the
future of the Jews and the other nations was revealed, we must not suppose
that Balaam prophesied only once, for from the narrative itself it is
abundantly clear that he had long previously been famous for prophesy and
other Divine gifts. (64) For when Balak bade him to come to him, he said
(Num. xxii:6), "For I know that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he
whom thou cursest is cursed." (65) Thus we see that he possessed the gift
which God had bestowed on Abraham. Further, as accustomed to prophesy,
Balaam bade the messengers wait for him till the will of the Lord was
revealed to him. (66) When he prophesied, that is, when he interpreted