Jeremiah 46 commentary

The whole word of God is against those who obey not the gospel of Christ; but it is for those, even of the Gentiles, who turn to Him. The prophecy begins with Egypt. Let them strengthen themselves with all the art and interest they have, yet it shall be all in vain. The wounds God inflicts on his enemies, cannot be healed by medicines. Power and prosperity soon pass from one to another in this changing world.

Those who encroached on others, shall now be themselves encroached on. Egypt is now like a very fair heifer, not accustomed to the yoke of subjection; but destruction comes out of the north: the Chaldeans shall come. Comfort and peace are spoken to the Israel of God, designed to encourage them when the judgments of God were abroad among the nations. He will be with them, and only correct them in measure; and will not punish them with everlasting destruction from his presence.

Jeremiah begins here to prophesy against foreign nations, and continues to do so to the last chapter but one, not that he then for the first time began to announce these oracles, but as I have already said, a volume was at length formed, including his prophecies, the order of time being not everywhere observed; for we see in the 25th chapter that he threatened heathen nations with the punishments they had deserved before Jehoiakim was made king. But as I have said, the prophecies respecting heathen nations have been separated, though as to time Jeremiah had predicted what afterwards happened.

He then says that he had prophesied of the destruction of the Egyptian army which King Nebuchadnezzar overthrew in the fourth year of Jehoiakim Jeremiah had then foretold before this time what was to be. It might have been that before Pharaoh-necho prepared his army, Jeremiah predicted what would take place; but it is probable that this prophecy was announced at the time when Pharaoh-necho went forth against the Chaldeans, for he was fighting then for the Assyrians. As they were not equal to the Chaldeans they made a treaty with the Egyptians. They then had come for a subsidy to drive away the Babylonians, and thus to defend the Assyrians against their forces. But at first the expedition met with success; yet at last what had been predicted by the Prophet was fulfilled.

It is not known whether or not the design was to alleviate the sorrow of the people by this prophecy; and yet I am disposed to receive what the greater part of interpreters have held, that as at that time the people were in the greatest trouble, this prophecy was given in order that the faithful might know that God had not ceased to care for his people. But we must especially attend to the truth of history, for when Pharaoh-necho was induced, as it has been said, by the Assyrians, to lead his army to the Euphrates, the pious king Josiah met him, and he was then a confederate with the Babylonians, because there had been a friendly intercourse between the Chaldeans and the Jews since the reign of Hezekiah. As then Josiah wished to render service to a king who was his friend, he opposed the army of Pharaoh; but he was conquered and slain. Now the expedition of Pharaoh was fortunate and successful for a time, but when he began to boast of victory he was suddenly cast down; for King Nebuchadnezzar not only checked his audacity, but having routed his army, compelled him to return into Egypt, and occupied the whole country from the Euphrates to Palusium. That country had not yet been exposed to those continual changes which afterwards happened, that is, when those robbers who had succeeded Alexander the Great boasted that they were the kings of kings, and when every one strove to draw all things to himself. For hence it happened that now Egyptian kings, and then Asiatic kings, often shook that land as far as they could. This had not yet happened when Jeremiah prophesied, nor had Alexander been yet born, but it yet appears that these regions were even then subject to changes, so that there was nothing fixed or permanent connected with them. We must then bear in mind that the events of wars were dubious, so that, one while, the Egyptians forcibly seized a portion of Asia, and at another time the Assyrians diminished their power, and again the Chaldeans. Pharaoh-necho was then so repulsed that he never dared again to come forth, as sacred history testifies in 2 Kings 24:7.

Let us now come to the Prophecy of Jeremiah. He says that he prophesied against the army of Pharaoh-necho, when it was at Euphrates, that is when he fought there and thought that he would be a conqueror, as he had far and wide desolated a hostile land, and brought under his authority many cities. When therefore he had met with great successes, Jeremiah was then bidden to prophesy against his army, so that the Jews might know that the death of pious Josiah would not go unpunished, because God had purposed to destroy that great army by which Josiah had been killed, and so to break down and lay prostrate the power of Egypt, that King Pharaoh would hereafter remain as shut up in prison as it afterwards happened. The rest to-morrow.

PRAYER

Grant, Almighty God, that since thou hast been pleased to call us to the spiritual warfare, we may never be wearied; and that, as our weakness is so great that we are unequal to our conflicts, grant, that being supported by the power of thy Spirit, we may persevere in the course of thy holy calling, and never be broken down by anything that may happen to us, but learn so to break through all dangers as to commit our life into thy hands, and be in the meantime prepared to live or to die, until thou gatherest us into that blessed rest which is laid up for us in heaven, through Christ our Lord. — Amen.

Lecture One Hundred and Sixty-Fifth

Jeremiah 46:3-5

3. Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.

3. Preparate scutum et clypeum et accedite ad praelium.

4. Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines.

4. Ligate equos et ascendite equi-tes, et state (statute vos) in galeis vestris, abstergite lanceas, induite loricas.

5. Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: for fear was round about, saith the LORD.

5. Quare vidi ipsos fractos, aver-sos retrorsum? et fortes eorum per-cutientur (percussi sunt) et fuga fugerunt, et non respexerunt; terror undique, dicit Jehova.

Jeremiah uses now a form of speaking very common in the Prophets though remote from common use. For the Prophets, when they denounce God’s judgments and punishments on the ungodly, do not speak in a simple language, as though they were giving a narrative, but they employed figurative expressions, as though they wished to introduce men into the very scene itself. And that their doctrine might more effectually penetrate into the hearts of men, they bring forward various persons; they at one time introduce God as speaking, and at another they pronounce this or that according to the sentiments of others; and again, they declare the commands of God.

Jeremiah begins here by summoning the Egyptians, as though he were the herald of Pharaoh, and thus borrows the name of another person. He says, Prepare The verb ערך, orec, properly means to set in order, but here it signifies to prepare; Prepare, then, the buckler and the shield The word צנה, tsane, was a shield of a larger form, and מגן, megen, seems to have been a buckler carried by horsemen of light armor. And come near to battle: He then adds, Bind or he the horses The manner of fighting is not the same now as it was formerly; they fought in chariots, as heathen authors abundantly shew. He therefore says, he the horses, that is, join them together that they may draw the chariots. Go up, ye horsemen, stand in your helmets, clean your lances, and put on your coats of mail. The meaning is, that Egyptians would come well prepared with all kinds of arms that they might be formidable to their enemies. And hence the vengeance appeared more clearly, because they had been well furnished, so that they might seem to have gained the victory before they engaged with their enemies. This is the reason why the Prophet enumerates their complete armor, having omitted no material part; he mentions the lances, the helmets, the coats of mail, the chariots, the horses, and the shield, so that victory, according to the judgment of men, was already theirs. This is the first thing.

But we must observe the design of the Holy Spirit; it was his purpose to remove the veil from the eyes of the faithful, which for the most part prevents us to see as clearly as we ought the power of God; for when we fix our attention on warlike preparations, we do not think that anything is left for God to do; for they who are well prepared seem to be beyond the hazard of losing the day. That the Jews then might know that it would be nothing for God to punish the Egyptians, he records this preparation. And there is a kind of concession when he says, They shall indeed be furnished with a helmet, a coat of mail, a shield, a sword, and a lance; but all this would avail nothing as to the issue. Then from this prophetic word let us learn, that God makes no account of all those things which men prepare when they wish to effect anything. For smoke is everything that dazzles our eyes; so forces and arms have no importance before God; for by a single blast he can dissipate all such clouds. And this truth is very useful; for we look on external things, and when anything specious presents itself to us, we are immediately taken up with it, and rob God of all power; for we transfer his glory to these masks which appear before us. We now then understand why the Prophet speaks here of bucklers, and shields, and lances, and chariots, and helmets, and coats of mail.

For it immediately follows, Why, or how, have I seen them broken? Here the Prophet, on the other hand, disregards all the things which he before enumerated in such high terms, for he spoke, as it were, according to the common judgment of men. And, as I have said, he undertook the person of a herald, as though Pharaoh himself had commanded the Egyptians immediately to take up arms. This then was apparently very formidable. But the Prophet now speaks as though standing on an eminence, and says, How or what is this? for מדוע, meduo, is a particle of wonder, How! He then passes over from the common opinion of the flesh to the prophetic Spirit, as though he had said, “Were any one to judge of the Egyptians by their external splen-dour, he would say that they would be victorious over their enemies; but were any one to ascend higher and to form a judgment, not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit, he would see that all this is frail and evanescent.”

But the question, How? is to be taken as emphatical; for it could have been hardly believed that an army so well equipped could have become a prey to the Babylonians, and that it was hastening to its own ruin. As then this seemed incredible to any one attending to the subject, the Prophet asks, How have I seen them? He however says that he saw them, even because God had set him, as we have said, as it were on a watch-tower. This, however, may be applied to the body as well as to the mind. I saw them turned backward:, when yet they were rushing forward, as he says afterwards, like a flood. Their valiant men, he says, have been smitten, and by flight they have fled. He means, in short, that there would not be so much courage in the Egyptians as to withstand the onset of their enemies, because they would be broken down by the hidden power of God. He also adds, that their flight would be accompanied with so much dread, that they would not dare to look behind, so that their danger would increase their haste.

He at length adds in God’s name, Terror on every side, says Jehovah Here he changes the person the third time, for he declares as from God’s mouth that there would be terror on every side; and thus it is an answer to the question, How, or why? even because God, he says, executes his judgment on them. Whenever, therefore, we see that nothing is wanting to our enemies for victory even over the Church of God, let what the Prophet says here be remembered by us, that there is no reason why we should despond, though we may be filled with wonder and amazement; for God will so work as to break down, without the hand of man, those who shake the whole world with terror. It afterwards follows, —

Jeremiah 46:6

6. Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.

6. Ne effugiat volex, et ne servetur fortis; in Aquilone (in Septentrione) super ripam fluvii Euphratis impingent (vel, impegerunt, est proeteriti temporis,) et ceciderunt (כשל significat etiam corruere, ideo vertunt alii, corruerunt, sed videtur esse species gradationis.)

He then says first that they would gain power, but he speaks presently of their fall, unless it be thought that the same thing is repeated: and the beginning of the verse may be read affirmatively, “The swift shall not flee,” etc. But as the particle אל, al, is often used in a prohibitory sense, the verse may be evidently explained as spoken by God, and thus it may be read in connection with the previous verse, Let not the swift flee, nor the brave escape For God here declares authoritatively, that celerity and courage would be of no avail to the Egyptians, because the swiftest would be taken by their enemies, and the bravest would fall. It is more consistent with the passage to render the verbs in the future tense, —

Not flee shall the swift, Nor escape shall the strong; In the north, by the side of the river Euphrates, Have they stumbled and fallen.

— Ed.

He says, In the land of the north, on the bank of the river We know that Babylon and Assyria and Chaldea and those countries, were northward with respect to Judea. Whenever then the Prophets speak of the Babylonians, they call them Northlanders; but Egypt was to the south, as it is clear from many parts of Scripture. But as the Prophet here speaks of the Egyptians, he rightly makes Chaldea to be northward. Then he says, On the bank of the river Euphrates they shall stumble, or fall. The meaning is, that the event of war is in the power of God, so that he would tear in pieces and lay prostrate or scatter the Egyptians, however well equipped they might be, and trust in their own strength.

We must also observe, that whatever subsidies men pro-cum for themselves in order to protect their safety, they are nothing when God is opposed to them. The Prophet indeed mentions only two things; but he means that though men may excel in many things and possess many endowments, they must yet perish, when that is God’s will: flight cannot save the swift, nor strength the valiant. It follows —

Jeremiah 46:7-8

7. Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?

7. Quis iste tanquam lacus ascendet (vel, ascendit, ad verbum) tanquam fluvii sese agitant (aut, moventur) aquae ejus?

8. Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.

8. Aegyptus tanquam lacus ascendit (ascendet, ad verbum, sed significat continuum actum,) et tanquam fluvii sese movent aquae: dixit enim, Ascendam et operiam terram; perdam urbem et qui habitant in ea.

The Prophet again meets those doubts which might have possessed the minds of the godly, so as to prevent them to receive this prophecy in faith and with due reverence: for we have said, that when our thoughts are occupied with external things, the power of God is disregarded. When, therefore, we speak of some impregnable kingdom, it does not come into our minds, that all strongholds are of no account with God. It was therefore necessary highly to extol the power of God, when the Prophets spoke of his judgments: otherwise the flesh, as we have stated, would have said, “They who are well fortified must be free from evils, and as it were beyond the reach of weapons, and hence there is nothing for them to fear.” And it is with this false imagination that the proud deceive themselves, for they set up their forces, their auxiliaries, and all the things which they deem, according to the judgment of the flesh, as sufficient to protect their safety. Titus it happens, that they heedlessly disregard all threatenings, even because they think that the subsidies which they have are so many fortresses against all attacks.

It is for this purpose that the Prophet now says, Who is this that as a lake rises, or swells, as rivers are moved, or, whose waters are agitated? But he speaks according to the common judgment of men, for the very sight could not but fill men with fear; and so the Jews could never have thought that possible which the Prophet here asserts. He then, as it were, introduces them all as anxiously inquiring according to their own judgment, Who is this? as though Pharaoh was not a mortal, but something above human. For the drift of the question is this, that Pharaoh was as it were exempted from the common condition of men, because his power increased like a river rising or swelling; and its waters, he says, make a noise

Then he adds, Egypt is like rivers and like a lake: it made a noise with its forces, as though a river were rolling along its waters. But all this would be nothing, as he afterwards tells us he adds, he hath said, I will ascend, I will cover the land, I will destroy the city, etc. He puts city in the singular instead of the plural number; The city here is put in opposition to the land, — And it (Egypt) said, I will ascend, I will cover the land; I will destroy (every) city, and the dwellers in it.

I will destroy cities, he says, and all who dwell in them. He in short sets forth Pharaoh here as one who triumphed before he fought, because he could cover the land with the multitude of his footmen and horsemen. It now follows, —

Jeremiah 46:9

9. Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.

9. Ascendite equi (quidam vertunt, insanite, sed dura esset metaphora, ideo simpliciter accipio,) jactate vos currus (ponit in singulari numero, cum tamen verbum sit pluralis numeri,) egredientur fortes, nempe Aethiopes et Lybes, qui tenent clypeum, et Lydi, qui tenent et tendunt arcum.

He goes on with the same subject, and enumerates whatever might discredit his prophecy. For when the faithful saw that the Egyptians went on that expedition not only with immense forces, but had also, as foreign aids, the Ethiopians and the Libyans, and even transmarine soldiers from Lydia, — when they saw hired soldiers from all parts joined to the Egyptians, it was hardly credible that such an army could be put to flight. Then the Prophet says here, that though Pharaoh hired the Ethiopians, the Libyans, and the Lydians, yet with all these forces he would perish.

He again speaks in the name of Pharaoh, Ascend, ye horses; toss, ye chariots, and let the valiant come forth This coming forth may refer to the lands whence they came. He mentions first the Ethiopians, who were near the Egyptians, though separated from them. Then he adds the people of Libya, who were Africans, or who were in the middle between Egypt and Africa. Then he says, that they laid hold on the shield. He points out their principal armor, not that they were without a helmet and sword and other arms, but they mainly trusted in their shields. As we know that the Macedonians wore the pelta, and were remarkable for that piece of armor, so the Prophet says that the Ethiopians and Libyans were furnished with bucklers or shields. He mentions also the Lydians, who were from another part, even from the opposite shore of the sea; for we know that the Lydians were in Asia Minor, while the Egyptians were in the middle between Africa and Judea. The Mediterranean Sea was therefore between them. It hence appears, that auxiliaries from a distance, and with great expense, were procured by Pharaoh when he undertook this war. And it is also probable that other nations were hired; but the Prophet mentions only the Ethiopians, Libyans, and Lydians: and he says, that those named last laid hold on the bow, because they were the best archers. It now follows, —

Jeremiah 46:10

10. For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.

10. Verum (copula enim hic adversative exponi debet, atqui) dies ille Domino Jehovae exercituum, dies ultionis ad ulciscendum de adversariis suis; et vorabit gladius et saturabitur et inebriabitur sanguine ipsorum; quia victima Domino Jehovae exercituum in terra aquilonis ad fluvium Euphratem.

The Prophet having described the terrible forces of Pharaoh, in which he so trusted, that he dared to boast of a certain victory, now says that the event would be very different: But this day, he says, will be the day of Jehovah’s vengeance; as though he had said, that Pharaoh would look only on his chariots and horsemen, his hired soldiers, their arms and warlike preparations, and that he would not at the same time look to God, who is not without reason called the God of hosts. Though the Scripture in many places ascribes this title to God, yet here it has a special application. For the Prophet derides the folly of Pharaoh, because he thought the issue of the war was in his own hand, as though the over-ruling of all things was not in God’s hand. He then says, that victory depended on God only; and farther, he announces what was to be: This day, he says, will be the day of God’s vengeance.

By these words he intimates that God was incensed with the Egyptians, and the cause we referred to yesterday, even because Pharaoh-necho had in passing through slain the pious King Josiah. He then deserved that God should lay prostrate his arrogance, and also chastise his cruelty and check his tyranny. But when he calls the Egyptians God’s adversaries, this was said for the consolation of the chosen people, to shew that God would undertake their cause. For whence was it that he was an enemy to the Egyptians? even because he would not suffer the pious king to be killed with impunity. We now then understand what these words mean, that this day would be a day of vengeance to the God of hosts; as though he had said, that God would preside over and regulate that war, so that all the forces of Pharaoh would avail him nothing.

he afterwards expresses more clearly, for confirmation, what he had said: The sword, he says, shall devour, and shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood But at the end of the verse he says, that this would be the righteous judgment of God. For God so extols his own power, that he yet would have himself acknowledged to be just whenever he inflicts punishment on the ungodly; for as his severity often appears extreme, hence the Prophets, when they speak of acts of vengeance which God executes, at the same time adds some testimony as to his judgment being righteous, as in this place, when it is said, that the God of hosts had a sacrifice

By sacrifice the Prophet means, that the slaughter would be free from every stain; for it is the same thing as though he had said, “God will be glorified in that slaughter, when all the Egyptians shall be destroyed.” For why do we offer sacrifices to God except that his glory may be proclaimed, that he is just as well as merciful, and almighty, and the fountain of all wisdom and uprightness? We hence see the purpose for which the word sacrifice is used, even that none should dare to blame that slaughter, as though God were too rigid and exceeded the limits of justice in shedding that blood. He then says that all the slaughters would be as so many sacrifices, in which God’s justice as well as his power would shine forth, he again points out the place, the land of the north, nigh Euphrates, in order that more credit and certainty might be given to the prophecy. It now follows, —

Jeremiah 46:11

11. Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured.

11. Ascende in Guilead, et sume resinam virgo filia Aegypti; frustra multiplicas medicamina; sanitas nulla tibi.

The Prophet adds here nothing new, but confirms by another metaphor what he had said before. He then says, that the slaughter would be like a fatal plague, as though God would take away from the Egyptians every hope. We indeed know that the kingdom of Egypt did not then perish; for the nation itself remained. But the kingdom was so depressed, that, as it was stated yesterday, they kept themselves as shut up within their own borders, and did not afterwards bring out their forces. And yet it is well known how great was the pride and audacity of that nation; but they saw that they were wholly broken down and weakened. Hence the Prophet says, not without reason, that that would be an incurable wound, by which God would so smite Egypt, that it would no more recover its ancient strength; for after that time the kingdom of Egypt never flourished; and after a few years, as we shall see in another prophecy, it was brought under the power of Babylon.

he now turns his discourse to Egypt: he says, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt, a mode of speaking common in the Prophets. They call Babylon, The daughter of Babylon; they call Judea, The daughter of Judah. But this may be applied to the people or to the kingdom. And he calls Egypt virgin on account of its delicacies, as though he had said, that the Egyptians were tender and delicate, because they had during a long peace gathered strength and all kinds of wealth. As then they were so inebriated with their pleasures, Egypt by way of mockery is called a virgin.

Ascend, he says, into Gilead, and take rosin, or, as some render it, “balm.” Jerome, in another place, rendered it “honey,” but without reason; and it is probable that the word means rosin rather than balm. It may be also concluded from other places that the best rosin was found on Mount Gilead, as we have also stated in the eighth chapter of this book (Jeremiah 8). The rosin was a juice flowing from trees, especially from the terebinth; and hence the best rosin is the terebinthine, which we call terebenthine. There is at the same time a rosin from firs and other trees. But as I have already said, Mount Gilead was fruitful in rosin, and is celebrated not only for the abundance of its rosin but also for its excellency; and its medicinal qualities are found better and more efficacious in some places than in others.

According, then, to the common mode of speaking, he says, O daughter of Egypt, ascend into Gilead, and take to thee rosin; but it will be, he says, in vain; that is, “Wert thou earnestly to seek a remedy for thy evils, thou couldst never find it; for thy stroke is incurable.” Not that the kingdom of Egypt perished or was wholly overthrown, but that its strength would be lost, so that the Chaldean king would take possession of all that part of Asia which the Egyptians had occupied, even as far as Pelusium, to the very borders of the Nile. He at length adds, —

Jeremiah 46:12

12. The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together.

12. Audierunt gentes opprobrium tuum, et clamore tuo repleta est terra; quia fortis contra fortem impegit, et simul ceciderunt ambo.

He concludes this prophecy by saying that the report of this slaughter would be everywhere known among all nations. Had the Egyptians sustained only a small loss, the thing might have been unknown, as when a small engagement takes place the report does not spread far and wide; but when by one battle a nation is so conquered that a remarkable change follows, the event then is proclaimed everywhere. The Prophet then intimates by these words, that the stroke of Egypt would not be common, as also he said before, because the report would fly through all nations.

Heard then have all nations of thy reproach, even that the Egyptians had, to their great disgrace, been conquered by the Chaldeans, and that they had not only been put to flight, but that the greatest part of them had been slain, so that the kingdom of Egypt had been nearly lost; that at least they had been reduced to such straits, that they lost their chief eries and a very wide country, even throughout Asia to the river Euphrates.

He says that the land was filled with their cry: by voice or cry he means lamentations. Then he adds, Because the valiant hath stumbled against the valiant This may be thus explained, “The valiant hath contended with the valiant;” but. that the Chaldean proved stronger than the Egyptian: but I prefer to apply this to the Egyptians; and this may be inferred from the end of the verse, where he says, that both fell. So the Prophet means that the multitude, in which the Egyptians gloried, would be a hindrance to them, as usually is the case, when the army is too crowded, for the larger and the more numerous the army is, the greater is the disorder and confusion. When an army is small, they can by degrees recede, or stand still, until they take flight in safety: but in a great multitude there is also great trepidation, and hence a great disorder and confusion. This then is what the Prophet points out, when he says, The valiant stumbled against the valiant, and they both fell together; that is, that while they were fighting, they would clash with one another, and produce such disorder, as to occasion the fall of both.

PRAYER

Grant, Almighty God, that since we see that the most opulent kingdoms have not escaped thy hand, we may learn to recumb only on thine aid, and to submit ourselves to thee, with due hu-milky, so that we may be protected by thy hand, and that this only true confidence may sustain us in all perils, that thou hast undertaken the care of our salvation; and that we may, in the meantime, fight under thy banner with sincerity and uprightness of life, until we shall at length enjoy the fruit of our victory, in the celestial kingdom, through Christ our Lord. — Amen.

Lecture One Hundred and Sixty-Sixth

Jeremiah 46:13

13 The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.

13. Sermo quem locutus est Jehova ad Jeremiam Prophetam ad veniendum (vel, de veniendo,) de adventu Nabuchadnezer regis Babylonis ad percutiendam terram Aegypti.

The former prophecy was respecting the slaughter of the Egyptian army, when Pharaoh came to assist the Assyrians, with whom he was then confederate. But this prophecy extends farther; for Jeremiah declares that the Egyptians themselves would have their turn; for we know even from other Prophets, that punishment had been denounced on them, (and Ezekiel pursues this subject through many chapters,) because they had, by their allurements, deceived the people of God. And God punished them not only for the evils by which they had themselves provoked his wrath, but because they had corrupted the Jews and confirmed them more and more in their obstinacy.

We now then perceive the design of the Prophet: the meaning is, that God, after having executed his judgment on the Israelites and the Jews, would become also the judge of the Egyptians and of other nations. We must further observe, that this prophecy was announced before the city was taken. At the time, then, that the Egyptians were secure, and that the Jews, relying on their aid, thought themselves safe from the violence of Nebuchadnezzar, it was then that this prophecy was delivered. But we see again, that the order of time is not observed as to these prophecies; for he had spoken of the slaughter of the army, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. And it is probable, though the time is not pointed out here, that the destruction of Egypt had then been predicted; for before Jeremiah began to discharge his prophetic office, Isaiah had spoken against Egypt. Ezekiel, also, when an exile in Chaldea, at the same time confirmed the prophecies of Jeremiah, and said many more things against Egypt. We must however remark, that Jeremiah had not once only prophesied of the ruin of Egypt; for after he was forcibly led there, he confirmed, as we have before seen, what he had said previously.

Jeremiah then had predicted what we read here many years before the taking of the city. But as the Jews disregarded what he had said before, he again confirmed it, when he was in Egypt, though it was not without great danger to his life, for he spared neither the king nor the nation.

He then says, that the word came to him respecting the coming of Nebuchadnezzar to smite the land of Egypt Hitherto he has spoken of the punishment which God inflicted on the Egyptians, beyond their own kingdom, on the bank of the Euphrates; but, now he records the punishment of Egypt itself, when Nebuchadnezzar not only went to meet the Egyptians, to drive them from his own borders, but when he made an irruption into their kingdom, and plundered many cities, and so afflicted the whole kingdom, that the Egyptian king afterwards reigned only, as it were, by his permission. It follows, —

Jeremiah 46:14

14. Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee.

14. Annuntiate in Aegypto, et promulgate in Migdol, promulgate in Noph et in Taphnees, dicite, Sta, et para te; quia voravit (vel, consumpsit) gladius circuitus tuos.

He pursues the same mode of speaking as we observed yesterday; and the reason was explained, even because, as men are very inattentive to God’s judgments, the message of Jeremiah would have been ineffectual, had he spoken plainly, and in an ordinary way. It was therefore necessary to adopt an elevated style, and to speak, as he does, in a manner striking and forcible. Public speakers affect fine speaking, but only to catch applause, or to fill men with empty fear or joy: but the Prophets had in view another thing, even to teach, to exhort, to reprove, to threaten, in a way calculated to be effectual.

He says, Declare ye in Egypt, as though he pronounced a sentence from a tribunal, being endowed with divine authority. He then bids this message to be brought to the Egyptians. He afterwards mentions some cities, Migdol, Noph, and Tahpanhes. Some think Noph to be Alexandria; but it was probably Memphis, and this appears evident from other parts of Scripture. But they are mistaken who think that the same was Migdol, for the Prophet here refers to them as different places. Of Tahpanhes we have spoken elsewhere. Now these were celebrated cities and known to the Jews, as they were not far from them.

We know that Memphis was a renowned city; but this was much more known to the Israelites, for it was not far from their passage from Egypt, as we may learn from the second book of Moses and other parts of Scripture. Then we have seen that the Jews dwelt in Tahpanhes when they became fugitives from their own land, and were received there as guests.

It is then the same as though the Prophet had said, that God was now armed against the Egyptians; but as he was not a teacher set over them, he speaks of them as of foreign nations, Declare, he says, in Egypt, that is, let the Egyptians know this. Say, Stand, and prepare thyself, for the sword has devoured thy borders, and everything around thee. By these words the Prophet intimates, that though the Egyptians, being warned in due time, should exercise vigilance, yet their care would be useless, for they could not prevent God from executing what he had determined, he speaks, however, of what was incredible, for the Egyptians thought themselves far from every danger: hence the Prophet says, that how much so ever they might prepare themselves, yet it would all be in vain. He then derides their security, because they thought themselves beyond the reach of danger. It follows —

Jeremiah 46:15

15. Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.

15. Quomodo dispersus est fortis tuns (ad verbum, fortes tui, est mutatio numeri,) non stabit (vel, non stetit,) quia Jehova impulit eum (iterum mutatur munerus, designat enim fortes tuos.)

By these words the Prophet expresses more clearly what I have just referred to, that the Egyptians would not be able to resist, though they might have gathered auxiliaries on every side, because God would carry on war against them. In astonishment he asks, “How has it happened, or, how is it, that thy valiant men have been thus scattered?” The verb, indeed, means to sweep, but here it means to scatter. He immediately answers, Because God has driven them, they could not stand The reason for such a question we explained yesterday, even because the unbelieving regarded as a fable whatever they heard from the Prophets; and as long as things went on prosperously, they slept, in a manner, over their good fortune, and became inebriated with it, so that they feared nothing, and did not think themselves exposed to any adversities. As then ungodly men proudly disregarded God, the Prophets, appealing to common sense, asked them, How comes this? For Jeremiah spoke of things as yet hidden, and which had not fallen under the observation of men. We hence see why this wonder was expressed, How have thy valiant fallen? Then he says, Because Jehovah has driven them, they could not stand

Here, again, we must bear in mind, what we briefly referred to yesterday, that ungodly men deceive themselves by a false confidence, when they set up in opposition to God’s power their earthly helps and subsidies, and think that they are well secured when they possess many forces and strongholds, and when they can procure auxiliaries for themselves from every quarter. Let us know that nothing is more fatal than to confide in earthly helps, when God declares that he is our adversary. Hence the Prophet says, that they did not stand, because Jehovah drove them; as though he had said, that Egyptians would have to do not only with the king of Babylon, but with God himself, whom they had provoked. It follows, —

Jeremiah 46:16

16. He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.

16. Multiplicavit, impingent, etiam cecidit quisque in socium suum; et dixerunt, surge et revertamur ad populum nostrum, et ad terram nativitatis nostrae a facie gladii populantis.

Brevity of expression renders this sentence obscure or ambiguous. The verb הרבה, erebe, is put without a nominative case; but it is to be applied to God. God, then, has multiplied. And then there is a change of number, for the singular is to be taken as a plural when he says, he falls, כושל, cushil: the meaning is, that many would stumble, because God would drive them, as it was said in the last verse. Hence comes what immediately follows, Even fall shall every one on his friend, that is, before the enemy smote them; by crowding together they would of themselves dash one against another, so that each would fall by the pushing of his associate.

He afterwards adds, And they shall say, Rise Here he speaks not of natives. Some think that the reference is to foreigners, who had come into Egypt on account of the fruitfulness of the land; for a dwelling in Egypt, which we know was very fertile and full of all abundance, was especially advantageous to them. As, then, Egypt had in it many strangers and sojourners, some interpreters think that the Prophet here speaks of them, as though he had said, “They who came into Egypt, to live well there through the affluence of all good things, shall find nothing better for them than to flee away:” They shall then say, Rise; that is, every one will exhort one another, and say, Let us go into the land of our nativity, that is, “Let us be satisfied with our own native soil; for the very richness of Egypt will prove fatal to us if we remain in it.” But I rather think that the Prophet refers to the hired soldiers. We saw yesterday that when Pharaoh carried on war on the banks of Euphrates, he had with him Ethiopians, and Lydians, and many from Libya, and we shall see again presently that there were hired soldiers in Egypt when Nebuchadnezzar conquered it. It was then very suitable for the Prophet to mention these foreign soldiers whom Pharaoh had hired; for at the beginning of the verse he said, Every one shall stumble on his neighbor, and then it follows, And they shall say, Let us return to our own people and to the land of our nativity When he says, Every one shall stumble on his neighbor, he means, no doubt, those valiant men, called to defend Egypt; of the same also he speaks when he says, Rise, let us return to the land of our nativity.

He says, From the face of the devastating sword. The word היונה, eiune, is derived by some from יין, iin, wine; and they give this explanation, “from the inebriated sword.” Jerome renders the word “Dove,” but without reason. He then calls the sword wasting or destroying, which had already been inebriated with much blood, and which had done many slaughters. By the sword, he means that of the soldiers of Nebuchadnezzar. Some render the words, “saddening sword,” but this rendering appears to me unmeaning. They then say, “As we have been already broken down, and see our enemies committing slaughters with impunity, and kill all who meet them, nothing is better for us than to return to our own land.” It follows, —

Jeremiah 46:17

17. They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.

17. Clamarunt illic, Pharao rex Aegypti perturbationis, praeteriit tempus statutum (vel, condictum.)

This verse ought to be joined with the preceding, for he refers to the cries of the soldiers who had been deceived by their own hopes: they at length cried, Pharaoh is to us a king of confusion. The Prophet predicts what was to be; but he speaks, according to what was usually done, in the past time; for the Prophets announce unknown things as before their eyes, in order to gain credit to their prophecies. He then says, that there would be a cry among the soldiers, Pharaoh the king of Egypt is a king of confusion; for the word שאון, shaun, is to be read in the genitive case; as though the Prophet had said that the soldiers would really find that Pharaoh would not turn out according to his boasting. The name of Egypt first filled him and the whole nation with arrogance; and further, it was dreaded by the neighbouring nations. When, therefore, they came to Pharaoh, they thought that they were coming to some sort of a god. The Prophet derided that foolish confidence unreasonably entertained, and says, “They shall cry there, O Pharaoh, magnificent king, thou art now a king of tumult,” or confusion.

What follows is not well explained, as I think, by interpreters; for they all, with one consent, think that Pharaoh is derided, because he delayed time, after having before said that he would go against Nebuchadnezzar; as earthly kings, when they think themselves sufficiently prepared, do not wait until the enemy is at hand, or finds them at home, but go to meet him at a distance. Others think that the time for war had been proclaimed, as it was usual formerly for both sides to proclaim a certain day on which they were to come to a conflict. But from the last verse we may gather that the Prophet meant another thing, he then derides, if I am not mistaken, the folly of Pharaoh for another reason, even because he thought that those threatenings were vain and empty, which had been dispersed by the Jews; for the Egyptians were not ignorant of what had been predicted by the Prophets. Isaiah had long before cried out against the Jews, because they made treaties with the Egyptians, and fled there for aid. There is no doubt but the courtiers, in order to gain favor, said to them, “Behold, our Prophets hinder us as much as they can, and we must take care lest they turn aside the people: while then there is time, let us make the treaty, which will be useful to you as well as to us.” As, then, the destruction of Egypt had been predicted many years before, and as the Egyptians remained in safety after Judea was overthrown and laid waste, it is probable that they became more hardened, thinking that the time had elapsed. And this view, as I have said, is confirmed by the context. For it follows, —

Jeremiah 46:18

18. As I live, saith the King, whose name is The LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.

18. Vivo ego, dicit rex (cui nomen est rex) Jehova exercituum, quoniam sicut Thabor in montibus, et sicut Carmelus in mari, veniet.

Why did the Prophet say this, except that the Egyptians thought they had escaped, because the time had been delayed? As, then, the length of time had deceived them, thinking, as they did, that God had told what was false, or that he had forgotten what he had predicted by his Prophets, he says, I live, saith Jehovah, that is, by my life; for God here swears by his life, that what he now declares would come. This seems to be the true meaning. Igor did the Prophet speak thus only for the sake of the Egyptians, but also for the sake of the Jews; for we know that it was usual and common with them proudly to assert that what the Prophets had spoken from God’s mouth was all vain: hence that proverbial saying,

“To-morrow we shall die, let us eat and drink.” (Isaiah 22:13)

They also called the prophecies burdens, by way of reproach and contempt. As the ungodly promised themselves impunity through God’s forbearance, it was necessary to testify to them what we here read, even that whatever God had threatened would come to pass, though he delayed it for a time. For he suspends his punishment, but his vengeance at length breaks out, when the unbelieving think that all things will turn out prosperously; yea, when they say,

“Peace and security, then sudden destruction overtakes them.” (1 Thessalonians 5:3)

By the word מועד, muod, then, the Prophets mean a fixed time, not that they had pointed out a certain day, but that they had spoken of the destruction of Egypt, as though God had already gone forth as the judge.

As, then, they said that the time had passed by, God here swears by his life; and hence he says, whose name is King, Jehovah of hosts God here sets forth his own greatness in opposition to the power of Pharaoh and of all other kings; for prosperity commonly brings pride with it, and those who excel in dignity and power become self-willed and insolent. Hence to repress this haughty insolence, he says, that the name of King, the God of hosts, belongs not properly to any but to himself alone.

It shall come, he says, as Tabor is in the mountains, and Carmel in the sea Their exposition is not suitable who say, “As wild beasts fleeing from hunters, pass over from neighboring mountains to Mount Tabor, and as trees cut on Carmel are carried to the sea.” This is an extremely forced explanation, and cannot be adapted to the present passage. For what is the design of the Prophet? even to shew that what he had just declared would be immutable, and so fixed that it could not be reversed, that though the whole world attempted to frustrate what God had decreed, yet nothing could be done. Then he says, As Tabor is in the mountains, that is, As Mount Tabor is surrounded by other mountains, and has there its deep roots, so that it cannot be torn up; and as Carmel is in the sea Now this Carmel was not understood by the Jews to have been that mount where Nabal dwelt, but a mountain not far from Ptolemais, and it was girded and washed by the sea: hence he says, As Carmel is a mountain in the sea. Tabor as well as Carmel remain fixed, and cannot be transferred to another place; so he says, shall this prophecy come to pass; it is valid and shall be accomplished; as though he had said, “This immutable decree cannot be refixed, as Carmel cannot be moved, nor Tabor, so as to be transplanted elsewhere.” It now follows, —

Jeremiah 46:19

19. O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.

19. Vasa migrationis fac (vel, para) tibi habitatrix Aegypti; quia Noph (id est, Memphis,) in solitudinem erit, et vastabitur, ut non sit habitator.

The Prophet exults over the Egyptians, in order that he might more and more confirm his doctrine; for we have said, and experience teaches the same, that the unbelieving are but little moved when God summons them to his tribunal, and gives evidence of his vengeance; for they remain stupid, except their torpor is by force shaken from them. This is the reason why the Prophet sharply assails the wicked, even that they might awake from their drowsiness.

Hence he says, Take to thee the furniture of transmigration, that is, prepare for thyself garments and other things for the purpose of removing. The Egyptians, having a fruitful land, remained quietly in their own country, and led, as it were, a sedentary life. Now the Prophet intimates that they were to move elsewhere; and he bids them to prepare for a long journey, or a long peregrination: Make to thee, then, furniture for transmigration; for Memphis shall be reduced to solitude, and laid waste without an inhabitant

He mentions Memphis again, which, as we have said, was a very celebrated city and a royal residence. He says that it would be laid waste, and yet we know that the Pyramids there were reckoned among the wonders of the world. The city was populous, and had many advantages. The Prophet dooms it to desolation. If, then, such solitude awaited the most celebrated city, what was to become of the smaller towns? what was to become of the villages? We now, then, see what was the purpose of the Prophet, even to shew, that when Nebuchadnezzar made an irruption into Egypt, all things would be under his power, so that he would, at his pleasure, seize on, plunder, and lay waste the whole land. It now follows, —

Jeremiah 46:20

20. Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.

20. Vitula formosa Aegyptus, afflictio ab aquilone venit, venit.

Jeremiah intimates here, that though Egypt indulged in pleasures, it could not yet escape the vengeance of God. We reminded you yesterday why the Prophets mentioned the wealth, the riches, and the power of the ungodly, even because they are blinded by all the good things in which they abound; for they fear nothing, nor feel any anxiety, but through a false notion they exempt themselves from every evil. As, then, the unbelieving are thus presumptuous and proud, the Prophets, on the other hand, warn them and say, that however they may exult in their own strength and defenses, they would yet, when it pleased God to make them prey, become the most miserable of all.

The Prophet, then, in short, takes away the false conceit of the Jews, as well as of the Egyptians; as though he had said, “The Egyptians trust in their prosperity, even as though they were like a heifer frisking in the fields; but calamity,” he says,.” is coming, is coming from the north.” He repeats the same word, in order to remove every doubt: coming, then, is distress, it is coming from the north, that is, from the Babylonians, who were situated northward to Judea, as we stated yesterday.

Jeremiah 46:21

21. Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.

21. Etiam mercenarii ejus in medio ejus tanquam vituli saginati, quia etiam ipsi vertent terga, fugient simul, non steterunt, quia dies calamitatis (vel, miseriae) venit super eos, tempus visitationis ipsorum.

Here the Prophet represents the mercenaries of Egypt, as we have already said, as being foreign soldiers, who had been hired here and there, and from far countries, such as Lydia was. It may yet have been, that there were not many at that time who had come from beyond the sea to the Egyptians; but they had the Ethiopians, for Ezekiel says that many came from Cush, that is, Ethiopia; and then they had some from Libya and the neighboring countries. Then Jeremiah includes them under one name, and says that they were mercenaries. Now, they who hire themselves seem to be more warlike than others; for they who defend their own country do this from necessity; but those who of themselves seek war, and depart from their own borders for the purpose of engaging in war, seem to be men fit for any bold undertaking.

But the Prophet says, also, גם, gam, also mercenaries; that is, not only the Egyptians were accustomed to a delicate and indulgent life, but also the Ethiopians and others who had been hired, They are also in the midst of it as fatted bullocks, that is, they fill themselves with the abundance of Egypt; and hence it was that they became a prey to their enemies; for we know that nothing is more injurious to soldiers than to live delicately and luxuriously. Of all ancient generals, the most celebrated is Hannibal; but how did it happen, that having an invincible army, by which he had terrified all Italy, he afterwards fell? because Campania, with its luxuries, enervated him, for he lived there not like a soldier, but had tables richly furnished for himself and for his army. Hence it was, that they were no more what they had been. So also the Prophet says, “Egypt will ruin its hired soldiers; for she will satiate them with luxuries.” What did at length happen to them? he compares them to bullocks of the stall, מרבק, merebec; some read bullocks of the pasture, but not correctly; for רבק, rebec, is properly to fatten. He then calls them the bullocks of the stall, which are fed that they may become fat and be soon slaughtered. He therefore says, They also shall turn their backs; and then he says, They shall not stand, because the time of calamity is come I cannot finish this subject now.

PRAYER

Grant, Almighty God, that when thou indulgest us, we may not abuse thy patience, nor become wanton in prosperity, but learn so to subdue ourselves of our own accord, that we may obey thee through the whole course of our life, and mortify our flesh, lest we be elated by pride and false confidence, but so live in thy fear as to reverence thee when we regard thee as the righteous Judge of the world, and recumb at the same time on thee, when we acknowledge thee as our Father, as thou hast been pleased to adopt us in thine only-begotten Son our Lord. — Amen.

Lecture One Hundred and Sixty-Seventh

Jeremiah 46:22

22. The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

22. Vox ejus tanquam serpentis incedet, quia in potentia incedent; et cum securibus venient contra eam, sicuti caesores lignorum.

To study elegance was not so much the object of the Prophet, as to confirm what he had taught. The figures, then, which he now uses, were not intended as ornaments of speech, but rather for the purpose of giving force and power to what he had said; for, as it has been said, prophecies had no credit with stupid men, unless stimulants were added to them.

He says now, that the voice of Egypt would go forth like that of a serpent: some read, “as though it were a serpent;” but I prefer to render it in the genitive case, and it is more suitable; for the Prophet means that the complaints of Egypt would not be obstreperous; as serpents, in creeping, send forth their hisses, so he intimates that the Egyptians, being overthrown, would be so broken down, as not to dare to utter open complaints, as those who freely cry out, but such as would remain alive would be so smitten with fear as only to mutter, as it has been said of serpents, who hiss as they creep. We now understand the real meaning of the Prophet: he says that the Egyptians would be so east down as not to dare openly to complain of their miseries, for they would only mutter, not otherwise than serpents who, on the ground, indistinctly hiss: its voice, then, shall advance, or go forth, like that of a serpent; and thus he points out their uneasiness, for they would seek hiding-places, and flee here and there, and never dare to remain in the same place. It is, indeed, a proof of the most miserable trepidation, when he who succumbs under his evils finds no place to set his foot on, but is forced, like serpents, to wander here and there. Jerome’s rendering is, “as that of brass,” as though it was written, נחשת, nuchashet; but I have already shewn what the Prophet meant.

He adds, For they shall come with an army, or with power. The word חיל, chil, means both. He now speaks of the Chaldeans. He said that the Egyptians would tremble, and be so broken down, as not to dare to utter their groans openly. Now follows the reason, because the Chaldeans would come with power, or with an army; they would come not only as soldiers to fight, but also as hewers of wood with their axes He intimates that the issue of the war would by no means be doubtful, but that the Chaldeans would come into Egypt as hired men come to cut down trees. Soldiers are, indeed, armed with swords and lances; for they have to do with enemies, nor can they overcome without danger, at least they cannot conquer without striving; but the Prophet says that the Chaldeans would be so filled with confidence, that they would not regard the Egyptians as enemies, for they would come, as it were, to cut down trees which offer no resistance: They shall come, then, as hewers of wood There is here an implied contrast between swords, lances, and axes, as there is between soldiers and hewers of wood. It follows, —

Jeremiah 46:23

23. They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.

23. Exciderunt sylvam ejus, dicit Jehova, quia non investigabitur, quia multiplicati sunt prae locusta (phsquam locustrae) et non illis numerus.

He goes on here with the same subject. He indeed uses the past tense, but we know that this was commonly done by the Prophets. He compares the people of Egypt to a forest, as he had said that individual men would be like trees: They have then cut down, that is, they shall cut down its forest, saith Jehovah For the sake of confirmation he ascribes the words to God; as though he had said, that he predicted nothing but what God had determined to do. His object then was to remove every doubt; because the Jews might on the one hand have refused to believe this prophecy on considering the power of Egypt; and the Egyptians on the other might have disregarded these threatenings, confiding in their own strength. Hence the Prophet introduces God as the speaker, as though he had said, “This decree cannot be revoked, because God hath spoken.”

And he says, that they had multiplied more than locusts, so there could be no number I have omitted one previous sentence, It shall not be searched. As the particle כי, ki, is read twice, some think that both clauses refer to the Chal-deans. Others read, “It shall not be numbered;” but the verb חקר, chekor, properly means to inquire, to investigate; and the sentence may be thus suitably rendered, “That the forest may not be investigated.” Yet another meaning has been more approved, that the Chaldeans shall not be numbered. If this view be received, there is a Change of number, for it immediately follows, “They shall multiply,” רבו, rebu; and then, there shall not be a number to them, להם, laem. But what I stated in the first place, as it appears to me, does not ill suit the passage, that is, that there would be no investigation of the forest of Egypt, that is, of the people; for when a forest is cut down, it appears a naked plain, nor can the place of any tree be pointed out. As to the general meaning, there is not much difference. The Prophet, in short, means, that the slaughter, of which he prophecies, would be so great, that Egypt would be reduced to a waste, because the Chaldeans would come with a numerous army: and he sets up this number in opposition to the Egyptian forces, that they might know that their enemies would be far superior to them. It follows —

Jeremiah 46:24

24. The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.

24. Pudefacta est filia Aegypti, tradita in manum populi Aquilonis.

He says that Egypt would be ashamed, because it would be brought into the greatest disgrace, for their enemies would treat them reproachfully. By the people of the north he means the Chaldeans, as in many other places; for Babylon was northward of Egypt. he intimates, in short, that the Chaldeans would be proud conquerors, so that they would in a reproachful manner oppress the Egyptians, after having conquered them. It is no wonder that the same thing is often repeated by the Prophet, because the thing was incredible at that time, as we have before said. As then it was difficult to make the Jews believe, that the Chaldeans would become victorious over that nation and land, Jeremiah confirms at large the same thing, for he resolutely struggled with the obstinate unbelief of the people. Let us proceed, —

Jeremiah 46:25

25. The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith, Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:

25. Dicit Jehova exercituum, Deus Israel, Ecce ego visito super multitudinem quae ab Alexandria, et super Pharaonem, et super Aegyptum, et super deos ejus, et super reges ejus, et super Pharaonem, et super eos, qui confidunt in ipso.

The Prophet speaks again in God’s name, and sets God’s glory in opposition to the perverseness of his own nation; for, as it has been said, he effected but little when he threatened the Egyptians. For the Jews, believing that land to be impregnable, were secure; because they thought that the Egyptians would come to their aid, and so they believed that they were fortified against any hostile power. As then the Jews were inebriated with this false confidence, the Prophet was constrained, not only with many words to enlarge on this subject, but also to introduce God as the judge.

He then does not speak here in his own words, but says, Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, hath spoken, Behold I, etc. It was a form of speaking much more forcible than if the Prophet had repeated in his own name what God had committed to him; and yet the Jews were not moved: but still this mode of speaking was calculated to break down their obduracy. he then says, Behold, I will visit the multitude, etc. The word אמון, amun, is to be taken here for המון, emun; א, aleph, is put for ה, he; though some render it “king,” but improperly: I will visit the multitude which is from Alexandria We know that this was a celebrated city of Egypt, though it had not yet this name; for Alexander was not born, who called it by his own name; but it had its old name נא, na, and it was so called by the Hebrews. In after time it was called Alexandria, its name having been changed.

But there is here a statement of a part for the whole, for the Prophet included the whole of Egypt; what is general is comprehended under what is particular; for God spared not the other cities of Egypt; and it appears from the context that the prophecy extended to all parts of that land, not one angle, even the least, being excepted. But as Alexandria might have remained safe, while the other cities were destroyed, it is here especially mentioned, as though he had said, that nothing would be safe in Egypt. Behold, he says, I will visit the multitude, etc. It was a very populous city, as we gather from heathen writers; and hence it was that it was full of pride, for they thought it sufficiently safe when they had as it were a proportionate army. But the Prophet derides this vain glory, and says that the vast number of people in Alexandria would avail nothing to prevent the Chaldeans to take possession of it.

I will visit, he says, the whole people, and then Pharaoh and Egypt We now clearly see that the city named was the chief city, and that its multitude was expressly mentioned, that the Egyptians might know, that they could not escape destruction, because they had war with God, and not with men; for as long as they looked on the Chaldeans alone, they remained secure. But the Prophet awakens them from their lethargy, and says, that they were not to look on what the Chaldeans of themselves could do, for they would carry on war under the banner of God, and under his guidance would, without any difficulty, penetrate through the whole of Egypt. Hence he says, I will visit Pharaoh and Egypt

He adds, and her gods. We know that that land was very much given to superstitions, that the Egyptians had imbibed gross and shameful errors, though otherwise remarkable for their wisdom and knowledge. But God had smitten them with madness, so that they were become almost like brute beasts. Besides, as they thought that they had perfect safety in their idols, the Prophet shakes off this confidence, and declares that God would not only be the judge of men but also of the idols. For we know that men strengthen themselves against God’s threatenings either by superstition or by confidence in their own strength: as long as they depend on the world, they gather from all quarters some grounds of hope; and hence it is, that they think that they will be safe though in opposition to God’s will. The Prophet beats down this folly when he says, Behold, I will visit the multitude of Alexandria, and adds, I will visit the gods of Egypt. As the unbelieving, when they find earthly aids not sufficient for them, flee to God, but not in the right way, for they become vain in their foolish thoughts; hence is the reason why the Prophet threatens the idols of Egypt.

He adds, her kings. There was indeed but one king in Egypt, why then does he mention kings? This may be explained of successors; but I prefer taking “kings” here as meaning the satraps and princes, for we know that the kingdom was very opulent, that it had many equal to kings. I therefore think that the Prophet adorned the princes and satraps of Egypt with this high title; and he confirms this opinion by what immediately follows, even — Pharaoh and those who trust in him He repeats the name of Pharaoh, and when he says that he would visit those who trust in him, I doubt not but that the Prophet points out those whom he had before designated “kings.” We now then perceive the real meaning, that though Pharaoh had many defenses, being strengthened by a great multitude of men, and had also mighty satraps, yet all this would prove fading and evanescent, when he would have to carry on war with God: and God declares here that he would be the general of the whole war guiding and directing the Chaldeans. It now follows, —

Jeremiah 46:26

26. And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.

26. Et dabo illos in manum quaerentium animam ipsorum, et in manum Nabuchadnezer regis Babylonis, et in manum servorum ejus, et postea habitabitur sicut diebus antiquis, dicit Jehova.

Jeremiah pursues the same subject, and continues to speak in God’s name, that he might more powerfully impress minds otherwise tardy; I will give them, he says, into the hand of enemies, and those deadly enemies; for we have said elsewhere that to “seek life” is not to spare it. Expressed here then is the cruelty of the Chaldean army, as though he had said that they would be deadly enemies to the Egyptians. And he explains himself more fully, and says, Into the hand of the king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants, so that not only Nebuchadnezzar was to be victorious over Egypt, but also his servants, which was still more degrading.

A promise is at length added, not to shew favor to that heathen nation, but that God might shew that he would be so far merciful towards the Egyptians as not wholly to destroy them. It shall be inhabited, he says, as in ancient days. Ezekiel says that the kingdom would be small and humble or abject. (Ezekiel 29:14, 15.) But our Prophet seems to promise to Egypt the same prosperity as it had before its overthrow. We have already said that restoration was promised to the Egyptians, not because God was pacified towards them, but because his purpose was that his mercy should be made evident in the judgments he executed even on foreign nations; and further, it served to confirm prophecy, when to Egypt, after having been destroyed, was granted that restoration of which Jeremiah had prophesied. The truth, then, of what the Prophet had said became more evident through the two changes, than if he had only said, “God shall destroy Egypt.” We now, then, perceive why the Prophet spoke of the future condition of Egypt. It follows, —

Jeremiah 46:27

27. But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.

27. Et tu ne timeas, serve mi Jacob, et ne expavescas (vel, frangaris animo, חתת significat conteri et frangi, sed magis refertur ad animum metaphorice, ne ergo frangaris animo,) Israel; quia ecce ego servo te a longinquo, et semen tuum e terra captivitatis ipsorum; et revertetur Jacob et quiescet et securus erit, et nemo exterrebit (nemo qui exterreat, ad verbum.)

The Prophet now directs his discourse to the Israelites; for we have already said that he was not appointed a teacher to heathen nations. Whatever, then, he spoke of heathen nations had a reference to the benefit of his people; and for this purpose, as we have said, the Prophets extended their prophecies respecting God’s judgments to all nations; for otherwise the Israelites would have been disheartened, as though their condition was worse than that of others: “What can this mean? God has chosen us as his peculiar people; in the meantime we alone are miserable: God pours forth on us his whole rigor, and yet he spares the unbelieving. It would have been better for us to have been rejected wholly by him, for the covenant which he has made with us only renders us more miserable than others.” Thus the miserable Israelites might have rushed headlong into despair, had nothing been done in time to relieve them. And then the Prophets, or rather the Spirit of God who spoke by them, regarded another thing; for if nothing had been predicted they would have passed by, with closed eyes, those judgments which God executed on all their neighbors, for all that Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel had predicted was fulfilled. Had they been silent respecting the ruin of Egypt, of the Philistines and the Moabites, the people, owing to their torpor, would not have considered God’s judgments, but would have thought them to have all happened by chance. The Prophets then represented as in a mirror the power of God, that the Israelites might know that it extended to the whole world and to every nation.

This is the reason why Jeremiah now turns his discourse to the chosen people, and says, Fear not, my servant Jacob He still speaks in God’s name. Now God calls Jacob his servant, not on the ground of obedience, but because he had chosen him. Then by this word God sets forth the favor of adoption, and not the obedience of the people, for we know how refractory and disobedient they were; we know that they were continually shaking off the yoke, that they insulted as it were God himself; very far were they from quietly submitting to his authority as it became servants. Here, then, the obedience of the Israelites is not commended, but that election is set forth by which God had set them apart from other nations. How then was Jacob God’s servant? not because he deserved that honor by his own merits, but because God had been pleased gratuitously to choose him for himself. So also David says,

“I am thy servant, the son of thy handmaid,” (Psalm 116:16)

He means that he was as it were a hereditary servant, who had been already dedicated to God before he was conceived in his mother’s womb. But as this mode of speaking often occurs, I pass it by with only a few words.

Fear not, O Jacob, he says, and be not broken in mind, O Israel There are indeed two names used, but God thus addresses his people often; and why? because I wall save thee We now then see why God called Jacob his servant, even because the salvation of the elect people depended on this peculiar privilege, that God had chosen them for himself; I will save thee, he says, from far The ten tribes, as it is well known, had already been driven far, and a part of Judah had been led into exile. Distance took away the hope of a return. Hence God here declares that a long distance would be no hindrance to him to restore his people when it seemed good to him; Behold, I will save thee He then obviates this objection; “What! why then does God thus suffer us to be driven to foreign lands? why have we not staid in our own land?” God, he says, will not be less able to save thee in the remotest places, than if thou hadst remained in thy native country, and in thine own habitation. And he adds, and thy seed, from the land of their captivity

We hence learn, that though the Prophet spoke of the temporal restoration of the people, he yet had a regard to higher and greater things, even that the captives should recumb on God’s mercy, and believe that he would be propitious to them even when dead. This passage then shews that the hope of God’s children is not confined to this life, but extends farther, in order that they may know that God will be propitious to them after death, and that they may sustain themselves with the assurance of his favor, for otherwise this promise that God would restore their children after their death would have been absurd. “But why is he implacable to us? why does he not restore us sooner?” The Jews might have raised this objection; but the Prophet reminds them, that though they were not to be restored immediately to their country, yet the covenant of God would remain valid, and its stability would appear after seventy years.

We now perceive why the Prophet said, Jacob shall return and rest, and shall be secure I wonder that some have rendered the last words, “and shall be happy,” for שאנן, shanun, means to be secure, or to rest; and then the Prophet explains himself, nor will there be any to terrify We indeed know that it is the main part of happiness when no fear disturbs us, when our minds are in a composed and quiet state. Further, by these words he intimates the continuance of God’s favor, as though he had said that his favor would not only be evident in restoring the people from exile, but in restoring the miserable in such a way as to grant them full and continued happiness. It follows, —

Jeremiah 46:28

28. Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.

28. Tu ne timeas, serve mi Jacob, dicit Jehova, quia ego tecum, quia faciam consumptionem in cunctis gentibus ad quas te expulero illuc (est supervacuum שמה;) et tecum non faciam consumptionem; et castigabo te in judicio, et excidendo non excidam te (alii vertunt, non faciam te innocentem, sed male, ut postea dicemus.)

He repeats the same thing, and no wonder, for under circumstances so hopeless it was not easy to raise up and sustain the minds of the people, so that they might patiently wait for the time of their redemption. He had to raise them to light as it were from the lowest depths, for captivity was little short of death, according to what Ezekiel says, (Ezekiel 37) who shews that the common saying among them was,

“Can God raise the dead from their graves?”

Whenever the Prophets promised that God would become their Redeemer, they said, “Oh, will God raise us up again? It is all a fable.” For this reason God commanded dead and dry bones to rise and to assume their own skin and flesh, at least this was shewn to the Prophet in a vision.

We now then understand why the Prophet repeated twice what was in itself sufficiently clear, Fear not, my servant Jacob, even because they could not apprehend God’s mercy, except they looked off from their great difficulties, and further, because it was not enough for them once to embrace this promise, without recumbing on it constantly. Hence the Prophet, in order to encourage them firmly to hope, and at the same time to render them persevering, and to confirm them, says twice, Fear not, my servant Jacob He then adds, I am with thee And this promise, as it has been said, depends on gratuitous adoption, because God had chosen that people for himself, that they might be a priestly kingdom.

He afterwards adds, For I will make a consummation among all the nations, etc. By this comparison he softens and alleviates all sorrow: for however bitter the condition of the people might be, yet when they considered that fled would deal milder with them than with other mortals, it was a cause of ample consolation. The Prophet, then, seeing that the Jews, while their minds were embittered, could not accept God’s favor, shews here, that however severely God might chastise them, he yet would be more merciful to them than to other nations: how so? because, he says, I will make a consummation among other nations, that is, they shall be destroyed without any remedy; as though he had said, that the wound he would inflict on other nations would be deadly, but that he would not make a consummation as to his chosen people.

This seems not to agree with what he had said before, that Egypt should be again inhabited as in days of old. How can the restoration of Egypt be consistent with the words of the Prophet here? To this I answer, that when God mitigates his rigor towards the unbelieving, he is not yet propitious to them, nor is the indulgence shewn to them a proof of his paternal favor, as I have before observed. Though then there were Egyptians who remained alive after the ruin of their kingdom, yet God made a consummation in Egypt, for there his vengeance continued after that, time. Now, when we come to the chosen people, God says in many places, I will not make a consummation There seems to be here again some contrariety, when any one attends only to the words; for God is said to have made a consummation as to his elect people: but this was the case, when he destroyed the whole body of the people; and that consummation was external; there ever remained at the same time some hidden root.

In short, when God says, that he makes a consummation as to heathen nations, it ought to be understood, that God curses them from the root. As when a tree stands, when its root is dead; so also heathen nations, as it were, stand, but in the meantime they are consumed, for God has doomed them to eternal ruin. But consummation is said to be as to God’s children, when nothing appears on the surface, but perhaps a dry trunk; yet a living root remains, which will again grow up, and from it branches will arise. We hence see how God makes a consummation as to all the unbelieving, and yet does not make a consummation as to his chosen people.

PRAYER

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast testified that thou wilt be a Father to us, and hast given us a pledge of thy adoption, thine only-begotten Son, — O grant, that we, trusting in thy promise, may never doubt, even when thou severely chastisest us, but that thou wilt at length be merciful to us, and that we may thus never cease to flee to thy mercy, and thus submit to thee, and suffer ourselves to be corrected; and may, in the meantime, this hope sustain us, and alleviate all our sorrows, that in all our miseries we shall yet ever glorify thy name, through the same, thy Son our Lord. — Amen.

Lecture One Hundred and Sixty-Eighth

WE explained yesterday what is meant by not making a consummation. The meaning is, that sometimes God’s vengeance is such towards his Church, that it seems to be consumed, while yet some hidden hope remains, for God raises his own as it were from death. We said, that in this sense is to be understood what Jeremiah now promises to the chosen people: for God makes a distinction between the Israelites and strangers; for on account of the covenant he had made with them, he would spare them, so that some hope remained, though the Church itself seemed for a time to be lost.

And he explains himself in other words, I will chastise thee, he says, in judgment; for to chastise in judgment is to exercise moderation, so that rigor may not issue in destruction. In the tenth chapter, Jeremiah says the same, “Chastise me, O Jehovah, but in judgment, and not in thine anger.” The Prophet, then, in the person of the faithful submitted himself to the scourges of God, because it was useful for them to be corrected, for had the Lord spared them, they would have abused his indulgence, and have become thus putrid in their vices. Hence the Prophet offered himself to be chastised by God, but deprecated his anger, which he set in opposition to judgment. The word judgment, in Hebrew, is taken in various senses; but in that passage, as I explained there, it means due measure, or moderation. When God punishes the unbelieving, he cannot be charged with extreme severity, for he is ever just and regards a due measure. But, as I have already said, judgment means not only rectitude, but also the paternal love of God, when he moderates punishment, so as to render it medicinal and salutary to his elect. Hence he promises to punish his Church moderately, not only because he is just, but also because he mercifully spares his own, and regards what they can bear, and what is useful for them.

Now this passage ought to be especially noticed, from which we may derive great consolation; for we are here taught that punishments inflicted on us are temporary, and that God prescribes limits to them, such as he knows to be best for us: for whence comes despair which overwhelms the unbelieving, except that being sunk in the deep, they know not that God will be merciful to them, but apprehend nothing but his wrath? Hence then it comes that they have no comfort in their evils and sorrows. Whenever, then, excessive anxiety lays hold on us, or our evils drive us into despair, let us learn to flee to this consolation, even that the punishments by which we are chastised are only for a time.

He afterwards adds, And cutting off I will not cut thee off There are some who give another rendering, “I will not make thee innocent:“ and in this sense the verb נקה, nuke, is sometimes to be taken; but it is not suitable to the context here, unless the copulative be rendered as an adversative, “Though I shall not make thee innocent, I shall yet chastise thee with paternal moderation.” As this, however, seems forced, I doubt not but that the Prophet means, that chastisement would be moderated, because God would not wholly cut off his chosen people, according to the exposition I gave on the thirtieth chapter of this book; and thus the Prophet confirms what I have already said, that God spares his children, because he purifies them by afflictions, as gold is melted and purified by fire, so that punishment does not issue in their destruction. Now follows the forty-seventh chapter:

CHAPTER 47

Jeremiah 47:1

1. The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.

1. Qui fuit sermo Jehovae ad Jeremiam Prophetam contra Philistim antequam percuteret Pharao Azah.

CHAPTER 46

Jr 46:1-28. The Prophecies, Forty-sixth through Fifty-second Chapters, Refer to Foreign Peoples.

He begins with Egypt, being the country to which he had been removed. The forty-sixth chapter contains two prophecies concerning it: the discomfiture of Pharaoh-necho at Carchemish by Nebuchadnezzar, and the long subsequent conquest of Egypt by the same king; also the preservation of the Jews (Jr 46:27, 28).

1. General heading of the next six chapters of prophecies concerning the Gentiles; the prophecies are arranged according to nations, not by the dates.

2. Inscription of the first prophecy.

Pharaoh-necho--He, when going against Carchemish (Cercusium, near the Euphrates), encountered Josiah, king of Judah (the ally of Assyria), at Megiddo, and slew him there (2Ki 23:29; 2Ch 35:20-24); but he was four years subsequently overcome at Carchemish, by Nebuchadnezzar, as is foretold here; and lost all the territory which had been subject to the Pharaohs west of the Euphrates, and between it and the Nile. The prediction would mitigate the Jews' grief for Josiah, and show his death was not to be unavenged (2Ki 24:7). He is famed as having fitted out a fleet of discovery from the Red Sea, which doubled the Cape of Good Hope and returned to Egypt by the Mediterranean.

3. Derisive summons to battle. With all your mighty preparation for the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, when ye come to the encounter, ye shall be "dismayed" (Jr 46:5). Your mighty threats shall end in nothing.

buckler--smaller, and carried by the light-armed cavalry.

shield--of larger size, and carried by the heavily armed infantry.

4. Harness the horses--namely, to the war chariots, for which Egypt was famed (Ex 14:7; 15:4).

get up, ye horsemen--get up into the chariots. Maurer, because of the parallel "horses," translates, "Mount the steeds." But it is rather describing the successive steps in equipping the war chariots; first harness the horses to them, then let the horsemen mount them.

brigandines--cuirasses, or coats of mail.

5. (See on Jr 46:3). The language of astonishment, that an army so well equipped should be driven back in "dismay." The prophet sees this in prophetic vision.

fled apace--literally, "fled a flight," that is, flee precipitately.

look not back--They do not even dare to look back at their pursuers.

6. Let not--equivalent to the strongest negation. Let not any of the Egyptian warriors think to escape by swiftness or by might.

toward the north--that is, in respect to Egypt or Judea. In the northward region, by the Euphrates (see Jr 46:2).

7. as a flood--(Jr 47:2; Is 8:7, 8; Da 11:22). The figure is appropriate in addressing Egyptians, as the Nile, their great river, yearly overspreads their lands with a turbid, muddy flood. So their army, swelling with arrogance, shall overspread the region south of Euphrates; but it, like the Nile, shall retreat as fast as it advanced.

8. Answer to the question in Jr 46:7.

waters ... moved like the rivers--The rise of the Nile is gentle; but at the mouth it, unlike most rivers, is much agitated, owing to the sandbanks impeding its course, and so it rushes into the sea like a cataract.

9. Ironical exhortation, as in Jr 46:3. The Egyptians, owing to the heat of their climate and abstinence from animal food, were physically weak, and therefore employed mercenary soldiers.

Ethiopians--Hebrew, Cush: Abyssinia and Nubia.

Libyans--Phut, Mauritania, west of Egypt (compare Ge 10:6).

shield--The Libyans borrowed from Egypt the use of the long shield extending to the feet [Xenophon, Cyropædia, 6 and 7].

Lydians--not the Lydians west of Asia Minor (Ge 10:22; Eze 30:5), but the Ludim, an African nation descended from Egypt (Mizraim) (Ge 10:13; Eze 30:5; Na 3:9).

handle and bend the bow--The employment of two verbs expresses the manner of bending the bow, namely, the foot being pressed on the center, and the hands holding the ends of it.

10. vengeance--for the slaughter of Josiah (2Ki 23:29).

sword shall devour ... be ... drunk--poetical personification (De 32:42).

a sacrifice--(Is 34:6; Eze 39:17). The slaughter of the Egyptians is represented as a sacrifice to satiate His righteous vengeance.

11. Gilead ... balm--(See on Jr 8:22); namely, for curing the wounds; but no medicine will avail, so desperate shall be the slaughter.

virgin--Egypt is so called on account of her effeminate luxury, and as having never yet been brought under foreign yoke.

thou shalt not be cured--literally, "there shall be no cure for thee" (Jr 30:13; Eze 30:21). Not that the kingdom of Egypt should cease to exist, but it should not recover its former strength; the blow should be irretrievable.

12. mighty ... stumbled against ... mighty ... fallen both together--Their very multitude shall prove an impediment in their confused flight, one treading on the other.

13-26. Prophecy of the invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, which took place sixteen years after the taking of Jerusalem. Having spent thirteen years in the siege of Tyre, and having obtained nothing for his pains, he is promised by God Egypt for his reward in humbling Tyre (Eze 29:17-20; 30:1-31:18). The intestine commotions between Amasis and Pharaoh-hophra prepared his way (compare Note, see on Is 19:1, &c.).

27-28. Repeated from Jr 30:10, 11. When the Church (and literal Israel) might seem utterly consumed, there still remains hidden hope, because God, as it were, raises His people from the dead (Ro 11:15). Whereas the godless "nations" are consumed even though they survive, as are the Egyptians after their overthrow; because they are radically accursed and doomed [Calvin].

The word of the Lord - against the Gentiles - This is a general title to the following collection of prophecies, written concerning different nations, which had less or more connection with the Jews, either as enemies, neighbors, or allies.

They were not written at the same time; and though some of them bear dates, yet it would be difficult to give them any chronological arrangement. Dahler's mode of ascertaining the times of their delivery may be seen in the table in the introduction.

Pharaoh-necho - This was the person who defeated the army of Josiah, in which engagement Josiah received a mortal wound, of which he died, greatly regretted, soon after at Megiddo. After this victory, he defeated the Babylonians, and took Carchemish; and, having fortified it, returned to his own country. Nabopolassar sent his son Nebuchadnezzar with an army against him, defeated him with immense slaughter near the river Euphrates, retook Carchemish, and subdued all the revolted provinces, according to the following prophecies.

Order ye the buckler - This is the call to the general armament of the people against the Chaldeans.

Furbish the spears - Cleanse, brighten, and sharpen them; from the Franco-Gallic fourbir, to polish, brighten.

Brigandines - A coat of mail, especially that which was made scale fashion; one plate overlapping the other, like the scales of fish.

Wherefore have I seen them dismayed - What! such a numerous, formidable, and well-appointed army panic-struck? So that they have turned back - fled apace, and looked not round; while their mighty ones - their generals and commanders, striving to rally them, are beaten down.

Let not the swift flee away - Even the swiftest shall not be able to escape.

They shall - fall toward the north - By the Euphrates, which was northward of Judea. Here the Egyptian army was routed with great slaughter.

Who is this that cometh up as a flood - The vast concourse of people is here represented as a river: for instance, the Jordan, suddenly swollen with the rains in harvest, rolling its waters along, and overflowing the whole country. A fine image to represent the incursions of vast armies carrying all before them. Such was the army of Pharaoh-necho in its march to Carchemish.

The Ethiopians - Hebrews Cush, Phut, and the Ludim. This army was composed of many nations. Cush. which we translate Ethiopians, almost invariably means the Arabians; and here, those Arabs that bordered on Egypt near the Red Sea. Phut probably means the Libyans; for Phut settled in Libya, according to Josephus. Phut and Cush were two of the sons of Ham, and brothers to Mitsraim, the father of the Egyptians, Gen 10:6; and the Ludim were descended from Mitsraim; see Gen 10:13. Bochart contends that the Ludim were Ethiopians, and that they were famous for the use of the bow. Phaleg, lib. 4:26.

For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts - The prophet represents this as a mighty sacrifice, where innumerable victims were slain.

Go up into Gilead, and take balm - An irony. Egypt is so completely enfeebled by this overthrow, that her political wound is utterly incurable. This figure is used with the more propriety here, as the Egyptians have been celebrated from the remotest antiquity for their knowledge of medicine.

The nations have heard of thy shame - Of thy disgrace, by this prodigious slaughter of thy troops.

How Nebuchadrezzar - should come and smite the land of Egypt - See on Jeremiah 44 (note). This was after Amasis had driven Pharaoh-necho into Upper Egypt. See Jer 44:30.

Migdol - Magdolum, a city of Lower Egypt. Noph, Memphis. Tahpanhes, Daphne. See before, Jer 44:1 (note).

Round about thee - The Phoenicians, Philistines, Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites, all prostrated by the arms of the Chaldeans.

They stood not, because the Lord did drive them - The Lord panic-struck them, and drove them back.

One fell upon another - In their terror and confusion ranks fell on ranks, and overturned each other.

Let us go again to our own people - Let us flee to our own country with all possible speed. These were the auxiliaries.

They did cry there - Dr. Blayney translates this cry thus: - - "O Pharaoh, king of Egypt, A tumult hath frustrated the appointed meeting."

These allies sent their excuse to Pharaoh, that the disasters they had met with had prevented them from joining him as they had intended.

As Tabor is among the mountains - This mountain is situated in the plain of Esdraelon in Galilee, on the confines of the tribes of Zebulun and Issachar, Jos 19:22. It stood by itself, separated from all the other mountains by deep valleys, and is the highest of the whole.

And as Carmel by the sea - Carmel is a mountain on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, on the southern frontier of the tribe of Asher. Were the Egyptians as distinguished for valor and strength as the mountains Tabor and Carmel are for height among the other mountains in their vicinity, they should not be able to stand the shock of the Chaldean army.

Furnish thyself to go into captivity - The thing is unavoidable; prepare for this calamity.

Egypt is like a very fair heifer - Fruitful and useful; but destruction cometh out of the north, from Chaldea. It may be that there is an allusion here to Isis, worshipped in Egypt under the form of a beautiful cow.

Are fled away together - Perhaps there is a reference here to the case of a cow stung with gnats. She runs hither and thither not knowing where to go; so shall it be with this scattered people.

The voice - shall go like a serpent - See Isa 29:4 (note), and the note there.

They shall cut down her forest - Supposed to mean her cities, of which Egypt had no fewer than one thousand and twenty.

The hand or the people of the north - The Chaldeans.

The multitude of No - אמון מנא Amon minno, the Amon of No, called by the Greeks Διοσπολις, or Jupiter's city. It was the famous Thebes, celebrated anciently for its hundred gates. Amon was the name by which the Egyptians called Jupiter, who had a famous temple at Thebes.

The word Pharaoh is twice repeated here; and Dr. Dahler thinks that one may design Pharaoh Hophrah, and the other Amasis, the new king.

Afterward it shall be inhabited - That is, within forty years, as Ezekiel had predicted, Eze 29:13.

Fear not - my servant Jacob - In the midst of wrath God remembers mercy. Though Judah shall be destroyed, Jerusalem taken, the temple burnt to the ground, and the people carried into captivity, yet the nation shall not be destroyed. A seed shall be preserved, out of which the nation shall revive.

I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee; but I will not make a full end of thee - The Jews still remain as a distinct people, while the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Egyptians, etc., are no more!

On this subject, I cannot withhold from my readers the following very judicious remarks of Bp. Newton, in his Dissertations on the Prophecies. "The preservation of the Jews through so many ages, and the total destruction of their enemies, are wonderful events; and are made still more wonderful by being signified beforehand by the spirit of prophecy, as particularly in the passage before us. Their preservation is really one of the most illustrious acts of Divine Providence. They are dispersed among all nations, yet not confounded with any. The drops of rain which fall, nay the great rivers which flow into the ocean, are soon mingled with and lost in that immense body of waters. And the same, in all human probability, would have been the fate of the Jews; they would have been mingled and lost in the common mass of mankind: but, on the contrary, they flow into all parts of the world, mix with all nations, and yet keep separate from all. They still live as a distinct people; and yet they nowhere live according to their own laws, nowhere elect their own magistrates, nowhere enjoy the full exercise of their religion. Their solemn feasts and sacrifices are limited to one certain place; and that hath been now for many ages in the hands of strangers and aliens, who will not suffer them to come thither. No people have continued unmixed so long as they have done; not only of those who have sent colonies into foreign countries, but even of those who have remained in their own country. The northern nations have come in swarms into the more southern parts of Europe: but where are they now to be discerned and distinguished? The Gauls went forth in great bodies to seek their fortune in foreign parts; but what traces or footsteps of them are now remaining any where? In France, who can separate the race of the ancient Gauls from the various other people who from time to time have settled there? In Spain, who can distinguish between the first possessors, the Spaniards, and the Goths and Moors, who conquered and kept possession of the country for some ages? In England, who can pretend to say certainly which families are derived from the ancient Britons, and which from the Romans, Saxons, Danes, and Normans? The most ancient and honorable pedigrees can be traced up only to a certain period; and beyond that there is nothing but conjecture and uncertainty, obscurity and ignorance. But the Jews can go up higher than any nation; they can even deduce their pedigree from the beginning of the world. They may not know from what particular tribe or family they are descended; but they know certainly that they all sprang from the stock of Abraham. And yet the contempt with which they have been treated, and the hardships they have undergone in almost all countries, should, one would think, have made them desirous to forget or renounce their original: but they profess it; they glory in it; and after so many wars, massacres, and persecutions, they still subsist; they are still very numerous. And what but a supernatural power could have preserved them in such a manner as no other nation upon earth has been preserved? Nor is the providence of God less remarkable in the destruction of their enemies, than in their own preservation. For, from the beginning, who have been the great enemies and oppressors of the Jewish nation, removed them from their own land, and compelled them into captivity and slavery? The Egyptians afflicted them much, and detained them in bondage several years. The Assyrians carried away captive the ten tribes of Israel; and the Babylonians, afterwards, the two remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The Syro-Macedonians, especially Antiochus Epiphanes, cruelly persecuted them; and the Romans utterly dissolved the Jewish state, and dispersed the people so as that they have never been able to recover their city and country again. And where are now those great and famous monarchies, which in their turn subdued and oppressed the people of God? Are they not vanished as a dream; and not only their power, but their very names, lost in the earth? The Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians were overthrown and entirely subjugated by the Persians; and the Persians, it is remarkable, were the restorers of the Jews as well as the destroyers of their enemies. The Syro-Macedonians were swallowed up by the Romans; and the Roman empire, great and powerful as it was, was broken into pieces by the incursions of the northern nations; while the Jews are subsisting as a distinct people at this day. And what a wonder of providence is it, that the vanquished should so many ages survive the victors; and the former be spread all over the world, while the latter are no more! Nay, not only nations have been punished for their cruelties to the Jews, but Divine vengeance has pursued even single persons who have been their persecutors and oppressors. The first-born of Pharaoh was destroyed; and he himself with his host, drowned in the sea. Nebuchadnezzar was stricken with madness, and the crown was transferred from his family to strangers. Antiochus Epiphanes and Herod died in great agonies, with ulcers and vermin issuing from them. Flaccus, governor of Egypt, who barbarously plundered and oppressed the Jews of Alexandria, was afterwards banished and slain; and Caligula, who persecuted the Jews for refusing to do Divine honors to his statue, was murdered in the flower of his age, after a short and wicked reign. But where are now, - since they have absolutely rejected the Gospel. and been no longer the peculiar people of God, - where are now such visible manifestations of a Divine interposition in their favor? The Jews would do well to consider this point; for, rightly considered, it may be an effectual means of opening their eyes, and of turning them to Christ our Savior." See Bp. Newton on the prophecies, dissert. 8 sect. 2. And see the notes on Ezekiel, where the calamities of these miserable people are largely detailed.

The word - This verse contains the title of all the ensuing discourses; for, tho' there be some verses in these chapters that relate to the Jews, yet they are all concerning their restoration. The prophecies of judgments from the beginning of this chapter to the fifty - second, are all against foreign nations, which are called Gentiles.

Brigandines - Coats of mail.

Let not the swift - It is in vain for the swift to flee away, the mighty men shall not escape, but they shall stumble and fall at Carchemish, which was near the river Euphrates, and northward from Egypt.

And the Lydians - They were all auxiliaries to the Egyptians in this expedition.

Made drunk - These phrases only metaphorically signify, the great slaughter God would make that day amongst the Egyptians.

Stumbled - Stumbling one upon another, so that both those that went before, and those who followed after, should fall together.

Declare - Publish this over all the land of Egypt.

Pharaoh - Hath made a great noise, but it cometh to nothing. Passed - That is, he hath passed the time himself fixed when he would cone, and fight the Chaldeans.

Surely - He shall as certainly come and encompass you with his armies, as Tabor is encompassed with mountains, and as Carmel is by the sea.

A serpent - Egypt is now like an heifer that makes a great bellowing, but the time shall come when she shall make a lesser noise like the hissing of a serpent. With axes - For the Chaldeans shall come with an army, armed with battle - axes, as if they came to fell wood in a forest.

Tho' - Tho' it seem impenetrable.

1 THE word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles .

This verse contains the Title to all the ensuing discourses of this Prophet, for though there be some particular verses in these chapters that relate to the Jews, yet they are all concerning their restauration. The Prophesies of Judgments from the beginning of this chapter to the 52. chapter are all against forreign Nations, which are called Gentiles. As to whom God revealed his Will for the punishment of them for the relief and satisfaction of his people to whom the most of them had been bitter Enemies. The 52 chapter is by most concluded not to have been wrote by Ieremiah, who it is not probable would have repeated what he had related before chap. 39, but it was wrote (as it is supposed) by some of the Captives in Babylon, as a preface to the Book of Lamentations. This particular chapter containeth the Revelation of the Will of God, concerning Egypt whither some of the Jews fled for refuge after this time, and which had been a great occasion of sin to the Jews before not onely through the Jews too many leagues with them, and confidence in them, but from their communicating their Idolatry to them, Ier. 2.16. The children of Noph and Tahpan[illegible: 1 letter]es, brake the crown of their head.

2 Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehojakim the son of Josiah king of Judah .

Pharaoh Necho was King of Egypt in Iosiahs time, it was by his Army that Iosiah was killed at Megiddo, 2 Kings 23.29. it was he that made Iehojakim King of Iudah taking away I[illegible: 1 letter]hoahaz, ver. 34. but though he prevailed at that time, and that was one time when he came out against Carchemish, 2 Chron. 35.20. yet he was overthrown by N[illegible: 1 letter]buchadnezzar in a Battel with him afterwards as appears from 2 Kings 24.7. and Iehojakim was made Tributary to Nebuchadnezzar as we read 2 Kings 24.1. and the King of Egypt, was brought so low by that victory that he stirred no more out of Egypt for the King of Babylon had taken from him all from Nilus, the great River of Egypt to Euphrates, and this saith this verse was in the 4th. year of Iehojakim. This prophesie must be before that time. Carchemish appeareth from Isa. 10.9. to have been a place in Syria where the Egyptian Army had been in Iosiahs time and then went away conquerers as appears from 2 Chron. 35.20, &c.

4 Harness the horses, and get up ye horsemen and stand forth with your helmets, furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines .

Art hath so much improved all things, in latter ages, that it is very hard to determine of what form the several weapons, and pieces of Armour, whether offensive or defensive in use at this time were, the most here mentioned seem to have been defensive, and the whole speech of the Prophet directed to the Egyptians, seems to be Ironical, calling to this Army of Pharaoh Necho to get ready to defend themselves, for they were to encounter with an Enemy would put them very hard to it, so as they had need, to have their Helmets and Bucklers and Shields, and Brigandines, all in a readiness, and know the use of them well, the horses for War had need be Harnessed, the Spears furbished, and the riders got up.

5 Wherefore have I seen them dismayed, and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down and are fled apace, and look not back for fear was round about, saith the LORD .

God had either in a vision shewed Ieremiah this Army of the Egyptians flying, or else had revealed to them that they should be put to flight, which the Prophet here publisheth, God made a fear to fall upon the Egyptians, so as when the King of Babylon came to join Battel with them, they were not able at all to stand, but turned their backs and their greatest commanders, were either kil[illegible: 2 letters]d, or fled away as fast as they could.

Marginal references: Heb. broken in pieces.; Heb. fled a flight.

6 Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape, they shall stumble and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates .

That is, it is in vain for the swift to flee away, the mighty men shall not escape, but they shall stumble, and fall at Carchemish which was near the River Euphrates and Northward from Egypt.

7 Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers .

The next verse expoundeth this.

8 Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers, and he saith I will go up, and will cover the earth, I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof .

The Prophet compareth the Egyptians fleshed with their former victory obtained against Iosiah at M[illegible: 1 letter]gi[illegible: 1 letter]do, and now preparing to another expedition to a flood (with allusion probably to the River Nilus, whose waters used to rise to a great height) both for the multitude of their Souldiers, and for their [illegible: 1 letter]age; they were resolved to carry such numbers us should cover the Earth▪ and to take Carchemish, or some other City which their design was against. It should seem both by this Text and that Exod. 15.9, 10. That the Egyptians were a people much given to vaunt and boast of the great things they would do, boasting when they were putting on their Harness as if they were putting it off, not considering how incertain the events of War were, nor yet that wherein they talked proudly there was one that could be abo[illegible: 1 letter]e them.

9 Come up ye horses, and rage ye chariots, and let the mighty men come forth , the Ethiopians, and the Libyans that handle the shield , and the Lidyans that handle and bend the bow .

Their ancient way of fighting was with Chariots▪ and Bows, the Prophet calls in the name of the Commanders of the Egypt[illegible: 2 letters]n Armies, to the Horses and Chariots to come on, and ingage in the fight.

The Ethiopians were the Cushites who were neighbours to the Egyptians, so were the Lybians both of them it should seem were famous for handling the Shield, the Lybians were descended from Put, both the Cushites and the P[illegible: 1 letter]ti[illegible: 2 letters]s or Lybians were descended from Ham, Gen. 10.6.

The Lydians were as famous for the use of the Bow in War, they were descended from Misraim or Shem, Gen. 10.13.22. the Lydians here meant are thought to be those descended from Misraim, and some think these were Ethiopians. They were all auxilla[illegible: 2 letters]es to the Egyptians in this expedition.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word].; Heb. [illegible: 1 word].; Isa. 66.[illegible: 2 letters].

10 For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries : and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate, and made drunk with their blood : for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north countrey, by the river Euphrates .

Or, But this is the day of the Lord, &c. Pharaoh ▪ is mistaken in accounting this day his own, because of the multitude of his Forces, this is the day of the Lord, who as he is the Lord of all the hosts of his Creatures, so hath a particular rule and government over hosts of men; this is further explained by the next words, a day of vengeance, which God hath set apart, in it to be avenged upon his Enemies.

These phrases only metaphorically signifie, the great slaughter God would make that day amongst the Egyptians.

This the Prophet declares that God would do for his honour and glory, therefore he calls it a sacrifice by which also he declareth his Justice in this punishment of the Egyptian, and for the further repute and credit of his Prophesie, telleth them to whom he spake and the place it should be in, viz. near the River Euphrates, where Iosiah was slain by him, 2 Kings 23.29.

Marginal references: Zeph. 1.7. see Ezek. 39.1[illegible: 1 letter].

11 Go up into Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt : in vain shalt thou use many medicines: for thou shalt not be cured .

Great states are ordinarily in Scripture called Virgins for their beauty, and pleasant state; Gilead was a most famous place for Balm. The Prophet ironically calls to the Egyptians to go to Gilead for Balm.

But tells them it would be to no purpose, God was about to wound them beyond all help of medicines.

Marginal references: chap. 8.22.; Heb. no c[illegible: 1 letter]re shall be [illegible: 1 letter]nto thee.

12 The nations have heard of thy shame , and thy cry hath filled the land, for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together .

The Prophet keepeth to his old prophetick stile, speaking of things that were to come to pass some years after, as if they were already past, because of the certainty of them, in this sense he saith other Nations had seen, because they should see the shame and confusion of the Egyptians upon their overthrow, and the cry of their slain and wounded men would fill other Lands.

For the Egyptians should certainly be overthrown, either by the Chaldeans stumbling upon the Babylonians, or the Babylonians on them, or they (flying) for haste stumbling one upon another, so as both those that went before, and those who followed after, should both fall together.

13 ¶ The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the Prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt .

A Revelation different from the former in this, that the former only foretold the overthrow of the King of Egypt in a particular Battel in Carchemish near Euphrates, of which we read that the thing was done, 2 Kings 24.7. This foretells the Kings of Babylons overrunning all the Land of Egypt, and was not fulfilled till some years after Zedekiah was carried away Captive, but prophesied of chap. 43.10. and 44.30. to come to pass in the time of Pharaoh Hophra as we heard before, and more largely foretold by the Prophet Ezekiel, Ezek. 29. and 30, and 32. to happen after the overthrow of Tyrus, Ezek. 29.18, 19.

Marginal references: Isa. 19.[illegible: 1 letter].

14 Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph, and in Tahpanhes say ye, Stand fast, and prepare ye, for the sword shall devour round about thee .

Concerning these three Cities of Egypt, see the Notes on chap. 44.1. the meaning is publish this Prophesie over all the Land of Egypt, or perhaps these three were the chief places whither the Jews that went with Iohanan the son of Kareah, &c. went, and where they fixed themselves, many more places in Egypt are named by Ezekiel, chap. 28.29.

Look to your selves and prepare your selves for Battel, for the Nations are destroyed round about you, (so it is in the Hebrew) and you have reason to expect that the Sword should come next into your Countries.

15 Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them .

The Prophet first propoundeth a question, then returneth answer to himself. Egypt was full of valiant men, yet saith the Prophet they shall be swept away, or broken down as fruit, or grass is beaten down with a violent storm of Hail, (so the word is used, Prov. 28.3.) how comes this to pass (saith the Prophet) he answereth himself because it was of God to destroy Egypt, who worketh and none can let him, when he strikes none can stand before him; none can stand up against him.

16 He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another , and they said, Arise, let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity from the oppressing sword .

God before spoken of and Nebuchadnezzar, as an instrument in the hand of God, and being armed with his commission and power, made many to fall, yea God caused such a fear to fall upon them, that in their flight they fell upon one another.

And though they had many Souldiers that came to help them from Cush, and Put, and Lybia, yet all was too little, the Prophet foretells they should all be glad to go home again, and should speak to one another to that purpose for the success of the King of Babylons Sword, should be such, as they should quickly see there would be no standing before it.

Marginal references: Heb. multiplyed the [illegible: 1 letter]allers.

17 They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise , he hath passed the time appointed .

That is the Ethiopians and Lubims that should come to help the king of Egypt should cry, or the Caldeans, or the Egyptians themselves should cry Pharaoh is but a noise, that is, hath made a great noise but it cometh to nothing, others make the sense Pharaoh is a man of noise, or tumult, that hath made a great deal of disturbance to himself and us.

That is say the most he hath passed the time himself fixed whereat he would come, and fight the Caldeans. But these words compared with the next verse incline others to think, that either Pharaohs Souldiers, or his Allies are here brought in mocking at Pharaoh, promising himself that the King of Babylon would not come, and laughing at Ieremiah's Prophesie, saying, the time appointed was past, that is the time of his coming mentioned by Ieremiah was past. Ieremiah foretells that Pharaohs Army and Confederates would see reason to cry out, Pharaoh, in saying so, was but a noise.

18 As I live, saith the king, whose name is the LORD of hosts, surely as Tabor is amongst the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come .

That is, he shall as certainly come and incompass you with his Armies as Tabor is encompassed with mountains, and as Carmel is by the Sea, or as Barak going down from mount Tabor destroyed Sisera's Army, or as surely as the Rain came which Elijah first discovered from Mount Carmel, 1 Kings 18.41, 42. there are other guesses at the sense of this comparison, but the sense is undoubtedly no more then that Nebuchadnezzar should certainly come against Egypt, how vainly soever the Egyptians flattered themselves to the contrary supposing the time past which the Prophet spake of.

19 Oh thou daughter dwelling in Egypt , furnish thy self to go into captivity : for Noph shall be wast and desolate without an inhabitant c..

That is, O you inhabitants in the Land of Egypt.

Make ready to go into another Countrey as Prisoners of War, for your Cities shall be destroyed. Noph particularly shall be wholly depopulated, and laid wast and have none to dwell in it.

Marginal references: Heb. make thee instruments of captivity.

20 Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh: it cometh out of the north .

That is, Egypt is now in a thriving prosperous condition, having not used to be under any yoke like an Heifer, that is fair, and fat but she will not be so long, she is but as a beast fatted for the slaughter, and there are slaughter men, coming out of Caldea that will kill this fair Heifer and make her a sacrifice to the Justice of God.

21 Also her hired men are in the midst of her, like fatted bullocks , for they also are turned back, and are fled away together; they did not stand because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation .

The mercenary Souldiers also which the Egyptians have hired from Cush and Put, and other parts are at present in a flourishing prosperous state.

We have translated [non-Latin text not transcribed] here ill, it had been better translated but, for that is manifestly the sense. Though they at present lying in Garrisons be fat and flourishing, like bullocks in the stalls, yet when it cometh to it they shall not stand but turn back, and flee as well as the rest.

Because the time is come when God resolveth to punish them, and bring calamity upon them. When the time is come which God hath set in his counsels, wherein he will punish persons or nations: no probabilities to the contrary are much considerable.

Marginal references: Heb. b[illegible: 1 letter]llocks of the [illegible: 1 word].

22 The voice thereof shall go like a serpent , for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood .

Egypt is now like an [illegible: 1 letter]eifer that makes a great bellowing, but the time shall come when she shall make a lesser noise like the hissing of a Serpent, when it seeth it self set upon.

For the Caldeans shall come with a great Army, armed with Battle-Axes, as if they came to fell down some Wood in a Forest, or Wood.

23 They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched , because they are more then the grashoppers, and are innumerable .

Egypt is compared to a forest either for the multitude of Cities, or of people in that Countrey, and to a thick Forest, because as it is an hard thing to make ones way through a Forest, so it was judged as hard for an Enemy to make his way into that Country, in humane probability Egypt could not be searched, yet (saith God) the Caldeans shall cut down this Forest, and it shall be no more to them then for hewers of Wood, with Tools fitted for the purpose, to make their way through a forest.

For the Army of the Caldeans shall be as numerous as the inhabitants of Egypt, more then the Grashoppers which come in such Troops, as in a short time they devour every green Herb in a place.

24 The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded, she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north .

That is, into the hand or power of the Caldeans, it is the same thing which the Prophet had before said again and again, and repeats it so often only for the further confirmation of the truth of the prediction, notwithstanding the appearing improbability of any such thing.

25 The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel saith , Behold, I will punish the multitude of No , and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings, even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him .

These names are often in conjunction given unto God, the first signifying his Power, or ability to do what he either promiseth or threatneth, the other speaking his kindness and near relation to the Jews.

There are great critical disputes about this phrase, whether the word translated multitude, signifies so (as it doth, chap. 52.15.) and if so whether it should not be the multitude from No. Or whether it signifies the nourisher, (as some would have it) because No (which most think is the same City with that at this time called Alexandria, being a great place of Merchandise) nourished all the adjacent parts, but it is no easie thing to resolve the question, nor is the resolution of it of much moment to us.

By those that trusted in Pharaoh the Jews are most probably meant, who all along in their prosperity put too much confidence in Egypt, and after that Hierusalem was taken, some of them (as we before heard) fled into Egypt for Sanctuary.

Marginal references: Or, nouri[illegible: 1 letter]her.; Heb. [illegible: 1 word].; chap. 43.12, 13. Eze. 30.13.

26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: And afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the dayes of old, saith the LORD .

The former part of this verse is but the same which the Prophet hath often before said. The latter part is a promise for the restauration of Egypt to some degrees of its former prosperity, and Liberty. The determinate time for the fulfilling of this Prophesie is told us, Ezek. 29.13, 14. viz. at the end of forty years; this we are to[illegible: 2 letters] by Civil Historians fell out in the time of Amasis a King of Egypt coaevous with Cyrus, who was overcome by Cyrus his son Camb[illegible: 2 letters]es, who brought Egypt to be a Province belong[illegible: 1 letter]ng to the Medes and Pe[illegible: 1 letter]sians, by the fulfilling of which prophesie the truth both of Ieremiahs and Ezekiels prop[illegible: 1 letter]esies are justified.

28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD, for I am with thee, for I will m[illegible: 1 letter]ke a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee, but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure, yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished .

See the notes on chap. 30.10, 11. where is the substance of what is said in these two verses, and almost the very words are repeated: the great thing to be observed by us, is the difference which the just and righteous God maketh betwixt his puni[illegible: 2 letters]m[illegible: 1 letter]nts of his Church and own people▪ and his punishments of wicked men who are their Enemies a[illegible: 1 letter] there is a great difference in the root of such dispensations, God dealing them out to his people out of love, that they might not be condemned with the wicked; so there is a great deal of difference in the measure and duration of their punishments, the rod of the wicked shall not alwayes lye upon the backs of the righteous, and they are corrected in measure.

Marginal references: chap. 10.24.; Or, not utter[illegible: 1 letter]y [illegible: 1 word] thee off ▪ Or, in making thee empty I will not make thee empty.

Jer 46:1-2 Superscriptions. - Jer 46:1 contains the title for the whole collection of prophecies regarding the nations (הגּוים, as contrasted with Israel, mean the heathen nations), Jer 46-51. As to the formula, "What came as the word of Jahveh to Jeremiah," etc., cf. the remarks on Jer 14:1. - In Jer 46:2, the special heading of this chapter begins with the word מצרים .למצרים is subordinated by ל to the general title, - properly, "with regard to Egypt:" cf. למואב, etc., Jer 48:1; Jer 49:1, Jer 49:7,Jer 49:23, Jer 49:28, also Jer 23:9. This chapter contains two prophecies regarding Egypt, Jer 46:2-12, and vv. 13-28. למצרים refers to both. After this there follows an account of the occasion for the first of these two prophecies, in the words, "Concerning the army of Pharaoh-Necho, the king of Egypt, which was at the river Euphrates, near Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah." נכו, as in 2Ch 35:20, or נכּה, as in 2Ki 23:29, in lxx Νεχαώ; Egyptian, according to Brugsch (Hist. d'Egypte, i. p. 252), Nekaaou; in Herodotus Νεκώς, - is said by Manetho to have been the sixth king of the twenty-sixth (Saïte) dynasty, the second Pharaoh of this name, the son of Psammetichus I, and grandson of Necho I. Brugsch says he reigned from 611 to 595 b.c. See on 2 Chr. 23:29. The two relative clauses are co-ordinate, i.e., אשׁר in each case depends on חיל. The first clause merely states where Pharaoh’s army was, the second tells what befall it at the Euphrates. It is to this that the following prophecy refers. Pharaoh-Necho, soon after ascending the throne, in the last year of Josiah’s reign (610 b.c.), had landed in Palestine, at the bay of Acre, with the view of subjugating Hither Asia as far as the Euphrates, and had defeated the slain King Josiah, who marched out against him. He next deposed Jehoahaz, whom the people had raised to the throne as Josiah’s successor, and carried him to Egypt, after having substituted Eliakim, the elder brother of Jehoahaz, and made him his vassal-king, under the name of Jehoiakim. When he had thus laid Judah under tribute, he advanced farther into Syria, towards the Euphrates, and had reached Carchemish on that river, as is stated in this verse: there his army was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim (606 b.c.); see on 2Ki 23:29. Carchemish is Κιρκήσιον, Circesium, or Cercusium of the classical writers,See the opinion of Rawlinson in Smith’s Bible Dictionary, vol. i. p. 278. - Tr.

Arabic karqi=si=yat, a fortified city at the junction of the Chebar with the Euphrates, built on the peninsula formed by the two rivers (Ammian. Marc. xxiii. 5, Procop. bell. Pers. ii. 5, and Marasç. under Karkesija). All that now remains of it are ruins, called by the modern Arabs Abu Psera, and situated on the Mesopotamian side of the Euphrates, where that river is joined by the Chebar (Ausland, 1864, S. 1058). This fortress was either taken, or at least besieged, by Necho. The statement, "in the fourth year of Jehoiakim," can be referred exegetically only to the time of the defeat of the Egyptians at Carchemish, or the year of the battle, and is actually so understood by most interpreters. No one but Niebuhr (Gesch. Ass. u. Babl. S. 59, 86, 370ff.) alters the date of the battle, which he places in the third year of Jehoiakim, partly from consideration of Dan 1:1, partly from other chronological calculations; he would refer the date given in our verse to the time when the following song was composed or published. But Dan 1:1 does not necessarily require us to make any such assumption (see on that passage), and the other chronological computations are quite uncertain. Exegetically, it is as impossible to insert a period after "which Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon smote" (Nieb. p. 86, note 3), as to connect the date "in the fourth year of Jehoiakim" with "which word came to Jeremiah" (Jer 46:10). The title in Jer 46:1 certainly does not refer specially to the prophecy about Egypt, but to על־הגּוים. But if we wished to make the whole of Jer 46:2 dependent on 'אשׁר היה דבר , which would, at all events, be a forced, unnatural construction, then, from the combination of the title in Jer 46:1 with the specification of time at the end of Jer 46:2, it would follow that all the prophecies regarding the nations had come to Jeremiah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, - which would contradict what is said in the heading to the oracle against Elam (Jer 49:34), not to mention the oracle against Babylon.

Moreover, there is nothing to prevent us from assuming that the first prophecy against Egypt was revealed to Jeremiah, and uttered by him, in the same fourth year of Jehoiakim in which Necho was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar. In this way, the argument brought forward by Niebuhr in support of his forced interpretation, viz., that all specifications of time in the addresses of Jeremiah refer to the period of composition, loses all its force. In Jer 45:1 also, and in Jer 51:9, the time when the event occurred coincides with the time when the utterance regarding it was pronounced. Although we assume this to hold in the case before us, yet it by no means follows that what succeeds, in Jer 46:3-12, is not a prophecy, but a song or lyric celebrating so important a battle, "the picture of an event that had already occurred," as Niebuhr, Ewald, and Hitzig assume. This neither follows from the statement in the title, "which Nebuchadnezzar in the fourth year of Jehoiakim smote," nor from the contents of the succeeding address. The superscription does not naturally belong to what Jeremiah has said or uttered, but must have been prefixed, for the first time, only when the address was committed to writing and inserted in the collection, and this not till after the battle had been fought; but it is evident that the address is to be viewed as substantially a prophecy (see Jer 46:6 and Jer 46:10), although Jeremiah depicts, in the most lively and dramatic way, not merely the preparation of the mighty host, Jer 46:3, and its formidable advance, Jer 46:7-9, but also its flight and annihilation, in Jer 46:5 and in Jer 46:10-12.

Jer 46:3-4 "Prepare shield and target, and advance to the battle. Jer 46:4. Yoke the horses [to the chariots]; mount the steeds, and stand with helmets on; polish the spears, put on the armour. Jer 46:5. Why do I see? they are terrified and turned back, and their heroes are beaten, and flee in flight, and do not turn: terror is round about, saith Jahveh. Jer 46:6. Let not the swift one flee, nor let the hero escape; towards the north, by the side of the river Euphrates, they stumble and fall. Jer 46:7. Who is this that cometh up like the Nile? his waters wave like the rivers. Jer 46:8. Egypt cometh up like the Nile, [his] waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy the city, and those who dwell in it. Jer 46:9. Go up, ye horses; and drive furiously, ye chariots; and let the heroes go forth; Cushites and Phutites, bearing the shield; and Lydians, handling [and] bending the bow. Jer 46:10. But that day [belongs] to the Lord Jahveh of hosts, a day of vengeance for avenging Himself on His enemies: and the sword shall devour and be satisfied, and shall drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord Jahveh of hosts holdeth a slaying of sacrifices in the land of the north at the river Euphrates. Jer 46:11. Go up to Gilead, and take balsam, O virgin, daughter of Egypt: in vain hast thou multiplied medicines; cure there is none for thee. Jer 46:12. The nations have heard of thine ignominy, and thy cry hath filled the earth: for heroes stumble against heroes, both of them fall together."

This address falls into two strophes, Jer 46:3-6 and Jer 46:7-12. In both are depicted in a lively manner, first the advance of the Egyptian host to the battle, then their flight and destruction. The whole has been arranged so as to form a climax: in the first strophe, the admirable equipment of the armies, and their sudden flight and defeat, are set forth in brief sentences; in the second, there is fully described not merely the powerful advance of the host that covers the earth, but also the judgment of inevitable destruction passed on them by God: the reason for the whole is also assigned. Jer 46:3. In order to represent the matter in a lively way, the description begins with the call addressed to the army, to make ready for the battle. "Make ready shield and target," the two main pieces of defensive armour. מגן was the small [round] shield; צנּה, scutum, the large shield, covering the whole body. "Advance to the fight," i.e., go forward into the battle. Then the address turns to the several portions of the army: first to those who fight from chariots, who are to yoke the horses; then to the horsemen, to mount the steeds. פּרשׁים are not horsemen, but riding-horses, as in 1Ki 5:6; 1Ki 10:26; Eze 27:14. עלה is construed with the accus., as in Gen 49:4. The rendering given by Dahler and Umbreit, "Mount, ye horsemen," and that of Hitzig, "Advance, ye horsemen," are against the parallelism; and the remark of the last-named writer, that "Mount the steeds" would be רכבוּ, does not accord with 1Sa 30:17. Next, the address is directed to the foot-soldiers, who formed the main portion of the army. These are to take up their position with helmets on, to polish the spears, i.e., to sharpen them, and to put on the pieces of armour, in order to be arrayed for battle. מרק, to rub, polish, remove rust from the spear, and thereby sharpen it. סריון, here and in Jer 51:3 for שׁריון, a coat of mail, pieces of armour.

Jer 46:5-7

Thus well arrayed, the host advances to the fight; but suddenly the seer perceives the magnificent army terror-stricken, retreating, and breaking out into a disorderly flight. The question, "Why (wherefore) do I see?" points to the unexpected and incomprehensible turn in the progress of events. המּה חתּים is not an accus. dependent on ראיתי, but an independent clause: "What do I see? They are terror-stricken" (חתּים, terrified, broken-spirited through terror). יכּתּוּ, Hoph. from כּתת, to be broken, here and in Job 4:20 applied to persons. מנוס is added to the verb instead of the inf. abs., to give emphasis to the idea contained in the word; cf. Ewald, §281, a. מגור מסּביב .a , "horror, terror around" (cf. Jer 6:25), is taken by Ewald as the reply of Jahveh to the question, "Wherefore is this? On every side there is danger;" and this is appropriately followed by the imperatives in Jer 46:6, "Let no one, then, attempt to flee; not one shall escape to Egypt, but they must fall at the Euphrates." The perfects כּשׁלוּ ונפלוּ are prophetic; the stumbling and falling are as certain as if they had already happened. The second strophe commences at Jer 46:7. The description begins anew, and that with a question of astonishment at the mighty host advancing like the Nile when it bursts its banks and inundates the whole country. יאר is the name of the Nile, taken from the Egyptian into the Hebrew language; cf. Gen. 41ff., Exo 1:22, etc. התגּעשׁ, dash about (Jer 5:22), wave backwards and forwards: the Hithpa. is here interchanged with the Hithpo. without any difference of meaning.

Jer 46:8-9 brings the answer to the question of astonishment: "Egypt approaches, its hosts cover the land like the waves of the Nile, to destroy cities and men." On the form  אבידה (with א contracted from אא), cf. Ewald, §192, d; Gesenius, §68, Rem. 1. עיר is used in an indefinite general sense, "cities," as in Jer 8:16. - In Jer 46:9, the imperat. stands as in Jer 46:3.: "Let the formidable army approach, - cavalry, chariots, and infantry, with all their splendidly equipped auxiliaries, - nevertheless it shall perish." עלוּ הסּוּסים does not here mean "Mount the steeds," which is against the parallelism, but "Get up (i.e., prance), ye horses;" this meaning is guaranteed by the Hiphil מעלה, as used in Nah 3:3. התהללוּ הרכב is an imitation of Nah 2:5. As auxiliaries, and very brave ones too (גבּורים), are mentioned "Cush," i.e., the Ethiopians; "Phut," the Libyans; and "Ludim," i.e., Hamitic, African Lydians, as in Eze 30:5. On the double construct in תּפשׂי דר, "holding, bending bows," cf. Ew. §280, c.

Jer 46:10

This formidable army shall perish; for the day of the battle is the day of the Lord of hosts, on which He will take vengeance upon His enemies. Among these enemies are the Egyptians, who have grievously sinned against Israel, the people of the Lord, not merely of late, by making war upon and killing King Josiah, by carrying away Jehoahaz, and making Jehoiakim his vassal, but also from the earliest times. For this, Egypt is now to be brought low. The sword shall devour and be refreshed by drinking the blood of the Egyptians. For the Lord is preparing for a slaying of sacrifices (זבח) in the north, at the Euphrates. Isa 34:6 forms the basis of these words.

Jer 46:11-12

The blow which shall there come on the Egyptians is one from which they shall never recover, and the wound shall be one not to be healed by any balm. As to the balm of Gilead, see on Jer 8:22; on רפאות and תּעלה, see Jer 30:13. "Virgin daughter of Egypt" is equivalent to virgin-like people of Egypt, i.e., not hitherto forced, but now ravished, violated, so that all nations shall hear of the dishonour done them, and their cry shall fill the whole earth, for (as at the conclusion, the threat is added by way of confirmation) all the heroes of Egypt stumble and fall. גּבּור בּגבּור, "hero against hero," i.e., one against another, or over the others, as usually happens in a flight where confusion reigns; cf. Jer. 26:37.

Jer 46:13

The second prophecy regarding Egypt, with a message for Israel attached to it, was uttered after the preceding. This is evident even from the superscription, Jer 46:13 : "The word which Jahveh spake to Jeremiah the prophet of the coming of Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon to smite the land of Egypt." The formula, "The word which," etc., agrees with that in Jer 50:1; and דּבר, in contrast with היה, the word usually met with in headings, perhaps means that this prophecy, like that concerning Babylon, was not uttered in public by Jeremiah, but only written down. לבוא is used in reference to the coming of Nebuchadrezzar to smite the land. Graf puts down this heading as an addition, not made till a late edition of the prophecies was brought out, and even then added through a mistake on the part of the compiler. In support of this, he urges that the announcement in Jer 46:14-26 does not form an independent prophecy, but merely constitutes the second portion of the description given in Jer 46:3-12 of the defeat of the Egyptians. But the ground assigned for this view, viz., that if this prophecy formed a separate and distinct piece, written at another time, then Jeremiah would have predicted the conquest of the other countries, Philistia, Moab, Ammon, etc., in consequence of the battle of Carchemish; and as regards Egypt, would have contented himself with a triumphal song over its fall - which is in itself unlikely: this argument is utterly null. It has no meaning whatever; for Jer 46:3-12 contain, not a triumphal song over a defeat that had already taken place, but a prophecy regarding the defeat about to take place. To this the prophet added a second prophecy, in which he once more announces beforehand to Egypt that it shall be conquered. In this way, more is foretold regarding Egypt than the neighbouring countries, because Egypt was of much greater consequence, in relation to the theocracy, than Philistia, Moab, etc. According to the superscription, this second prophecy refers to the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar. According to Jer 37:5, this did not take place so long as Zedekiah was king; and according to Jer 43:8., it was foretold by Jeremiah, after the destruction of Jerusalem, when the Jews were fleeing to Egypt after the murder of Gedaliah. From this, one might conclude, with Nägelsbach, that the piece now before us is contemporaneous with Jer 43:8. But this inference is not a valid one. The threat uttered in Jer 43:8. of a conquest to befall Egypt had a special occasion of its own, and we cannot well regard it in any other light than as a repetition of the prophecy now before us, for the Jews; for its contents seem to show that it was composed not long after that in Jer 46:3-12, or soon after the defeat of the Egyptians at Carchemish. This address also falls into two strophes, Jer 46:14-19 and Jer 46:20-26, while Jer 46:27, Jer 46:28 form an additional message for Israel. The line of thought is this: Egypt may arm herself as she chooses, but her power shall fall, and her auxiliaries shall flee (Jer 46:14-16). Pharaoh’s fall is certain; the enemy shall come in force, and turn all Egypt into a desert (Jer 46:17-19). The destroyer comes from the north, the mercenaries flee, and the enemy hews down countless hosts of men like trees in a forest (Jer 46:20-23). Egypt will be given into the hand of the people out of the north; for Jahveh will punish gods, princes, and people, and deliver up Egypt to the king of Babylon. But afterwards, Egypt will again be inhabited as it was before (Jer 46:24-26). On the other hand, Israel need fear nothing, for their God will lead them back out of their captivity (Jer 46:27, Jer 46:28).

Jer 46:14 "Tell ye it in Egypt, and make it to be heard in Migdol, and make it be heard in Noph and Tahpanhes: say, Stand firm, and prepare thee; for the sword hath devoured around thee. Jer 46:15. Why hath thy strong one been swept away? he stood not, for Jahveh pushed him down. Jer 46:16. He made many stumble, yea, one fell on another; and they said, Arise, and let us return to our own people, and to the land of our birth, from before the oppressing sword. Jer 46:17. They cried there, Pharaoh the king of Egypt is undone; he hath let the appointed time pass. Jer 46:18. As I live, saith the King, whose name is Jahveh of hosts, Surely as Tabor among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, shall he come. Jer 46:19. Prepare thee things for exile, O daughter dwelling in Egypt: for Noph will become a desolation, and be destroyed by fire, without an inhabitant."

Like the last prophecy, this one also begins with the summons to arms (Jer 46:14), in order to prepare the way for the description given immediately afterwards of the defeat (Jer 46:15.). The summons to make the proclamation is addressed to some persons not named, who are to announce through the country, particularly in the frontier towns and in the northern capital of Egypt, that the foe, in his devastating career, has advanced to the borders of the land. This is evident from the clause which states the reason: "The sword hath devoured what lay round thee." Regarding Migdol, i.e., Magdolos, and Tahpanhes, i.e., Daphne, the two frontier towns in the north, and Noph, i.e., Memphis, the northern capital of the kingdom, see on Jer 2:16 and 54:1. התיצּב, to take up one’s position for the fight; cf. Jer 46:4. סביביך, "thy surroundings," are the frontier countries, but especially those on the north, - Judah, Philistia, Edom, - since the enemy comes from the north. However, we cannot with certainty infer from this, that by that time the kingdom of Judah had already fallen, and Jerusalem been laid waste. Immediately after Necho had been vanquished at the Euphrates, Nebuchadnezzar marched after the fugitive foe, pursuing him as far as the borders of Egypt; hence we read, in 2Ki 24:7, "The king of Egypt went no more out of his land; for the king of Babylon had taken all that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates." Even at that time, in the fourth and fifth years of Jehoiakim, it could be said, "His sword hath devoured the countries contiguous to Egypt." And Nebuchadnezzar was prevented on that occasion from advancing farther, and penetrating into Egypt itself, only by hearing of his father’s death at Babylon, in consequence of which he was compelled to return to Babylon as speedily as possible, for the purpose of assuming the reins of government, and to let his army with the prisoners follow him at their leisure (Berosus in Josephus, contra Ap. i. 19).

Jer 46:15

The prophet in spirit looks on the power of Egypt as already broken. This is shown by the question of astonishment, מדּוּע נסחף אבּיריך, which has been variously rendered. אבּירים .deredner ylsuoirav neeb sa, "strong ones," is used in Jer 8:16; Jer 47:3, and Jer 50:11, of stallions, but elsewhere as an epithet of bulls, especially the strong bulls of Bashan; see on Jer 8:16. In the present passage the reference may be to the mighty men of war, who do not maintain their position (Chald. and most of the old interpreters); the verb in the singular forms no sufficient objection to this view, the irregularity being due to the fact that the verb precedes its subject see Ewald, §316, t; Gesenius, §147]. It is more difficult to combine with this the singulars of the verbs עמד and הדפו which follow; these, and especially the suffix in the singular, appear to indicate that אבּידיך really refers to a noun in the singular. But the form of this noun seems against such a view; for the words adduced in support of the position that singular nouns sometimes assume plural suffixes, are insufficient for the purpose: thus, תּהלּתיך, Psa 9:15, and שׂנאתיך, Eze 35:11, are plainly nouns in the singular. And in support of the averment that, in pausal forms with Segol, the י is a mere mater lectionis, only כּפּיך, Pro 6:1, can be adduced: the other instances brought forward by Hitzig fail to establish his position. For איביך, Deu 28:48, may be plural; בּיני, Gen 16:5, is far from being a case in point, for the preposition often takes plural suffixes; and even in the case of חסידיך, Psa 16:10, the י is marked in the Qeri as superfluous; most codices, too, rather give the form חסידך. But even in the verse now before us, many codices, according to Kennicott and de Rossi, read אבּירך, so that the word should perhaps be taken as a singular. The singulars, however, which occur in the following clauses do not form conclusive proofs of this, since they may be taken in a distributive sense; and more generally the address often suddenly changes from the plural to the singular. In connection with the possibility of taking אבּיריך as a singular, the paraphrase of the lxx deserves mention and consideration, ὁ μόσχος ὁ ἔκλετός σου, to which a gloss adds ὁ But we cannot agree with Kennicott, J. D. Michaelis, Ewald, Hitzig, Graf, and Nägelsbach, in holding this as certainly the correct rendering; nor can we give to אבּיר the sense of "bull," for this meaning is not made out for the singular simply because the plural is used of strong bulls: this holds especially in Jeremiah, who constantly applies the plural to strong steeds. Still less ground is there for appealing to the fact that Jahveh is repeatedly called אבּיר ישׂראל or אבּיר יעקוב, Gen 49:24, Isa 1:24; Isa 39:1-8 :26 etc.; for this epithet of Jahveh (who shows Himself in or towards Israel as the Mighty One) cannot be applied to the helpless images of Apis. In Psa 68:31, אבּירים means "strong ones" - bulls as emblems of kings. If the word be used here with such a reference, it may be singular or plural. In the former case it would mean the king; in the latter, the king with his princes and magnates. Against the application of the word to the images of Apis, there is the fact that Apis, a symbol of Osiris, was neither the only nor the chief god of Egypt, but was worshipped nowhere except in Memphis (Herodotus, ii. 153); hence it was not suited to be the representative of the gods or the power of Egypt, as the context of the present passage requires.

Jer 46:16

As the mighty one of Egypt does not stand, but is thrust down by God, so Jahveh makes many stumble and fall over one another, so that the strangers return to their own home in order to escape the violence of the sword. The subject of ויּאמרוּ is indefinite; the speakers, however, are not merely the hired soldiers or mercenaries (Jer 46:11), or the allied nations (Eze 30:5), but strangers generally, who had been living in Egypt partly for the sake of commerce, partly for other reasons (Hitzig, Graf). As to חרב היּונה, see on Jer 25:38.

Jer 46:17-19

In Jer 46:17, "they cry there" is not to be referred to those who fled to their native land; the subject is undefined, and "there" refers to the place where one falls over the other, viz., Egypt. "There they cry, 'Pharaoh the king of Egypt is שׁאון, desolation, destruction, ruin:' " for this meaning, cf. Jer 25:31; Psa 40:3; the signification "noise, bustle," is unsuitable here.The word שׁם has been read by the lxx and the Vulgate as if it had been שׁם, ὄνομα, nomen; accordingly the lxx render, καλέσατε τὸ ὄνομα Φαραὼ Νεχαὼ βασίλεως Αἰγύπτου Σαὼν  ̓Εσβεὶ  ̓Εμωήδ (or  ̓Εσβειὲ Μωὴδe'd); Vulgate, vocate nomen Pharaonis regis Aegypti: Tumultum adduxit tempus. This reading is preferred by J. D. Michaelis, Ewald, Hitzig, and Graf, with this difference, that Hitzig and Graf take only שׁאון as a name. Hence Ewald translates, "They call Pharaoh’s name 'Noise-which-a-wink-can-hush.' " This rendering is decidedly false, for מועד nowhere has the sense of "wink, nod," not even in Jdg 20:38, where it means an agreement made. For the reading שׁם instead of שׁם there are no sufficient grounds, although such passages as Jer 20:3 and Isa 30:7 may be adduced in support of the idea obtained by such a change in the word. The translation of the lxx is merely a reproduction of the Hebrew words by Greek letters, and shows that the translator did not know how to interpret them. The Vulgate rendering, tumultum adduxit tempus, is also devoid of meaning. Moreover, these translators have read קראוּ as the imperative קראוּ; if we reject this reading, as all moderns do, then we may also lay no weight on שׁם instead of שׁם. Besides, the meaning is not materially affected by this reading, for the giving of a name to a person merely expresses what he is or will be.

The meaning of העביר המּועד also is disputed; it is quite inadmissible, however, to join the words with שׁאון, as Ewald does, for the purpose of making out a name. No suitable meaning can be extracted from them. Neither שׁאון nor המּועד can be the subject of העביר; the translation given by Schnurrer, "devastation that goes beyond all bounds," is still more arbitrary than that of Ewald given in the note. Since the Hiphil העביר is never used except with a transitive meaning, the subject can be none else than Pharaoh; and the words העביר המּועד must be intended to give the reason for this becoming a desolation: they are thus to be rendered, "he has allowed המּועד to pass by," not "the precise place," as Rosenmüller explains it ("he did not stop in his flight at the place where the army could be gathered again, on the return"), but "the precise time." The reference, however, is not to the suitable time for action, for self-defence and for driving off the enemy (Grotius, C. B. Michaelis, Maurer, Umbreit), because the word does not mean suitable, convenient time, but appointed time. As Hitzig rightly perceived, the time meant is that within which the desolation might still be averted, and after which the judgment of God fell on him (Isa 10:25; Isa 30:18), - the time of grace which God had vouchsafed to him, so that Nebuchadnezzar did not at once, after the victory at Carchemish, invade and conquer Egypt. Pharaoh let this time pass by; because, instead of seeing in that defeat a judgment from God, he provoked the anger of Nebuchadnezzar by his repeated attacks on the Chaldean power, and brought on the invasion of Egypt by the king of Babylon (see above, p. 354). - In Jer 46:18. there is laid down a more positive foundation for the threat uttered in Jer 46:17. With an oath, the Lord announces the coming of the destroyer into Egypt. Like Tabor, which overtops all the mountains round about, and like Carmel, which looks out over the sea as if it were a watch-tower, so will he come, viz., he from whom proceeds the devastation of Egypt, the king of Babylon. the power of Nebuchadnezzar, in respect of its overshadowing all other kings, forms the point of comparison. Tabor has the form of a truncated cone. Its height is given at 1805 feet above the level of the sea, or 1350 from the surface of the plain below; it far surpasses in height all the hills in the vicinity, ad affords a wide prospect on every side; cf. Robinson’s Phys. Geogr. of Palestine, p. 26f. Carmel stretches out in the form of a long ridge more than three miles wide, till it terminates on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, as a bold, lofty promontory, which rises in an imposing manner at least 500 feet above the sea; cf. Robinson, p. 26f. Then the inhabitants of Egypt will be driven into exile. כּלי גולה .e, "vessels of wandering;" outfit for an exile, as in Eze 12:3. "Daughter of Egypt" is not a personification of the country, whose inhabitants are the people, but of the population, which is viewed as the daughter of the country; it stands in apposition to יושׁבת, like בּתוּלת בּת מצרי, Jer 46:11. For Noph, i.e., Memphis, the capital, is laid waste and burned, so as to lose its inhabitants. With Jer 46:20 begins the second strophe, in which the fate impending on Egypt is still more plainly predicted.

Jer 46:20-26 "Egypt is a very beautiful young heifer; a gadfly from the north comes - comes. Jer 46:21. Her mercenaries, too, in her midst, are like fatted calves; for they also turn their backs, they flee together: they do not stand, for the day of her destruction is some on her, the time of her visitation. Jer 46:22. Its sound is like [that of] the serpent [as it] goes; for they go with an army, and come against her with axes, like hewers of trees. Jer 46:23. They cut down her forest, saith Jahveh, for it is not to be searched; for they are more numerous than locusts, and they cannot be numbered. Jer 46:24. The daughter of Egypt is disgraced; she is given into the hand of the people of the north. Jer 46:25. Jahveh of hosts, the God of Israel, saith, Behold, I will visit Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, her gods, and her kings; Pharaoh, and all those who trust in him. Jer 46:26. And I will give them into the hand of those who seek their life, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants; but afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith Jahveh." Jer 46:20

In Jer 46:20 the address begins afresh, in order to carry out further, under new images, the description of the desolation already threatened. Egypt is a very beautiful עגלה; this feminine is chosen with a regard to "the daughter of Egypt." יפה־פיּה is an adjective formed from the Peal of יפה, "very beautiful," not "coquetting" (Hitzig, who follows the κεκαλλωπισμένη of the lxx). A very beautiful heifer is the people when carefully and abundantly fed in their beautiful and fertile land (Hitzig). Upon this heifer there comes from the north קרץ. This ἁπ. λεγ. is variously rendered. קרץ means, in the Hebrew, to pinch, nip (Job 33:6), to compress together, as in winking (Psa 35:19), to bring the lips closely together (Pro 16:30), and to nip off; cf. Arab. qaras[a to pinch, nip, cut off. Hence A. Schultens (Orig. Heb. ii. 34ff.), after Cocceius, and with a reference to Virgil, Georg. iii. 147, has rendered קרץ by morsus vellicans oestri. Hitzig (with whom Roediger, in his additions to Gesenius’ Thesaurus, agrees) takes Arab. qârṣ , insectum cimici simile as his warrant for rendering it by oestrus, "the gadfly," which gives a more suitable meaning. Ewald, on the contrary, compares קרץ with Arab. qrs], and translates it "whale," a huge sea-monster; but this is quite arbitrary, for קרץ does not correspond to the Arabic qrs], and the whale or shark does not afford any figure that would be suitable for the context: e.g., Jer 46:21, "her mercenaries also flee," shows that the subject treated of is not the devouring or destruction, but the expulsion of the Egyptians out of their land; this is put as an addition to what is said about exile in Jer 46:19. Still less suitable is the general rendering excidium, destruction (Rabbins, Gesenius, Umbreit); and there is no lexical foundation for the Vulgate translation stimulator, nor for "taskmaster," the rendering of J. D. Michaelis and Rosenmüller. The old translators have only made guesses from the context. The figure of the gadfly corresponds to the bee in the land of Assyria, Isa 7:18. The repetition of בּא gives emphasis, and points either to the certainty of the coming, or its continuance.

Jer 46:27-28 A promise for Israel. - Jer 46:27. "But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, nor be dismayed: for, behold, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be at rest and secure, and no one shall make him afraid. Jer 46:28. Fear thou not, my servant Jacob, saith Jahveh, for I am with thee; for I will make complete destruction of all the nations whither I have driven thee, but of thee will I not make complete destruction: yet I will correct thee in a proper manner, and I will not leave thee wholly unpunished." These verses certainly form no integral portion of the prophecy, but an epilogue; yet they are closely connected with the preceding, and are occasioned by the declaration in Jer 46:26, that the Lord, when He visits Pharaoh, shall also visit all those who trust in Him. This word, which is directed to Judah, might be understood to declare that it is Judah chiefly which will share the fate of Egypt. In order to prevent such a misconception, Jeremiah adds a word for Israel, which shows how the true Israel has another destiny to hope for. Their deliverer is Jahveh, their God, who certainly punishes them for their sins, gives them up to the power of the heathen, but will also gather them gain after their dispersion, and then grant them uninterrupted prosperity. This promise of salvation at the close of the announcement of judgment on Egypt is similar to the promise of salvation for Israel inserted in the threat of judgment against Babylon, Jer 50:4-7 and Jer 50:19, Jer 50:20, Jer 51:5-6, Jer 51:10, Jer 51:35-36, Jer 51:45-46, Jer 51:50; and this similarity furnishes a proof in behalf of the genuineness of the verse, which is denied by modern critics. For, although what Nägelsbach remarks is quite correct, viz., that the fall of the kingdom of Babylon, through its conquest by Cyrus, directly brought about the deliverance of Israel, while the same cannot be said regarding the conquest of Egypt, yet even Egypt had a much greater importance, in relation to Judah, than the smaller neighbouring nations, against which the oracles in Jer 47-49 are directed; hence there is no ground for the inference that, because there is nothing said in these three chapters of such a connection between Egypt and Israel, it did not really exist. But when Nägelsbach further asks, "How does this agree with the fact that Jeremiah, on other occasions, while in Egypt, utters only the strongest threats against the Israelites - Jer 42-44?" - there is the ready answer, that the expressions in Jer 42-44 do not apply to the whole covenant people, but only to the rabble of Judah that was ripe for the sentence of destruction, that had fled to Egypt against the will of God. What Hitzig and Graf have further urged in another place against the genuineness of the verses now before us, is scarcely worth mention. The assertion that the verses do not accord with the time of the foregoing prophecy, and rather presuppose the exile, can have weight only with those who à priori deny that the prophet could make any prediction. But if Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, distinctly announces not merely the carrying away of Judah to Babylon, but also fixes the duration of the exile at seventy years, then he might well speak at the same time, or later, of the restoration of Israel from their captivity.

But there are two other considerations which support the genuineness of these verses: (1) The fact that Hitzig and Graf are obliged to confess it remains a problem how they came to form a part of the oracle against Egypt. The attempt made by the former writer to solve this problem partly rests on the assumption, already refuted by Graf, that the verses were written by the second Isaiah (on this point, see our remarks at p. 263, note), and partly on a combination of results obtained by criticism, in which even their author has little confidence. But (2) we must also bear in mind the nature of the verses in question. They form a repetition of what we find in Jer 30:10-11, and a repetition, too, quite in the style of Jeremiah, who makes variations in expression. Thus here, in Jer 46:27, נאם יהוה is omitted after יעקוב, perhaps simply because Jer 46:26 concludes with נאם יהוה; again, in Jer 46:20, àתּה אל־תּירא  is repeated with נאם יהוה, which is wanting in Jer 30:11. On the other hand, להושׁיעך in Jer 30:11, and אך in Jer 30:11, have been dropped; הפיצותיך שׁם (Jer 30:11) has been exchanged for הדּחתּיך שׁמּה. Hence Hitzig has taken the text here to be the better and the original one; and on this he founds the supposition that the verses were first placed here in the text, and were only afterwards, and from this passage, inserted in Jer 30:10-11, where, however, they stand in the best connection, and even for that reason could not be a gloss inserted there. Such are some of the contradictions in which critical scepticism involves itself. We have already given an explanation of these verses under Jer 30.

The Judgment of Egypt. (b. c. 608.)

1 The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles; 2 Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh-necho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah. 3 Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle. 4 Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines. 5 Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: for fear was round about, saith the Lord . 6 Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates. 7 Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers? 8 Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof. 9 Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow. 10 For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. 11 Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured.

The first verse is the title of that part of this book, which relates to the neighbouring nations, and follows here. It is the word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah against the Gentiles; for God is King and Judge of nations, knows and will call to an account those who know him not nor take any notice of him. Both Isaiah and Ezekiel prophesied against these nations that Jeremiah here has a separate saying to, and with reference to the same events. In the Old Testament we have the word of the Lord against the Gentiles; in the New Testament we have the word of the Lord for the Gentiles, that those who were afar off are made nigh.

He begins with Egypt, because they were of old Israel's oppressors and of late their deceivers, when they put confidence in them. In these verses he foretells the overthrow of the army of Pharaoh-necho, by Nebuchadnezzar, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, which was so complete a victory to the king of Babylon that thereby he recovered from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt, and so weakened him that he came not again any more out of his land (as we find, 2 Kings xxiv. 7), and so made him pay dearly for his expedition against the king of Assyria four years before, in which he slew Josiah, 2 Kings xxiii. 29. This is the event that is here foretold in lofty expressions of triumph over Egypt thus foiled, which Jeremiah would speak of with a particular pleasure, because the death of Josiah, which he had lamented, was now avenged on Pharaoh-necho. Now here,

I. The Egyptians are upbraided with the mighty preparations they made for this expedition, in which the prophet calls to them to do their utmost, for so they would: "Come then, order the buckler, let the weapons of war be got ready," v. 3. Egypt was famous for horses—let them be harnessed and the cavalry well mounted: Get up, you horsemen, and stand forth, &c., v. 4. See what preparations the children of men make, with abundance of care and trouble and at a vast expense, to kill one another, as if they did not die fast enough of themselves. He compares their marching out upon this expedition to the rising of their river Nile (v. 7, 8): Egypt now rises up like a flood, scorning to keep within its own banks and threatening to overflow all the neighbouring lands. It is a very formidable army that the Egyptians bring into the field upon this occasion. The prophet summons them (v. 9): Come up, you horses; rage, you chariots. He challenges them to bring all their confederate troops together, the Ethiopians, that descended from the same stock with the Egyptians (Gen. x. 6), and were their neighbours and allies, the Libyans and Lydians, both seated in Africa, to the west of Egypt, and from them the Egyptians fetched their auxiliary forces. Let them strengthen themselves with all the art and interest they have, yet it shall be all in vain; they shall be shamefully defeated notwithstanding, for God will fight against them, and against him there is no wisdom nor counsel, Prov. xxi. 30, 31. It concerns those that go forth to war not only to order the buckler, and harness the horses, but to repent of their sins, and pray to God for his presence with them, and that they may have it to keep themselves from every wicked thing.

II. They are upbraided with the great expectations they had from this expedition, which were quite contrary to what God intended in bringing them together. They knew their own thoughts, and God knew them, and sat in heaven and laughed at them; but they knew not the thoughts of the Lord, for he gathers them as sheaves into the floor, Mic. iv. 11, 12. Egypt saith (v. 8): I will go up; I will cover the earth, and none shall hinder me; I will destroy the city, whatever city it is that stands in my way. Like Pharaoh of old, I will pursue, I will overtake. The Egyptians say that they shall have a day of it, but God saith that it shall be his day: The is the day of the Lord God of hosts (v. 10), the day in which he will be exalted in the overthrow of the Egyptians. They meant one thing, but God meant another; they designed it for the advancement of their dignity and the enlargement of their dominion, but God designed it for the great abasement and weakening of their kingdom. It is a day of vengeance for Josiah's death; it is a day of sacrifice to divine justice, to which multitudes of the sinners of Egypt shall fall as victims. Note, When men think to magnify themselves by pushing on unrighteous enterprises, let them expect that God will glorify himself by blasting them and cutting them off.

III. They are upbraided with their cowardice and inglorious flight when they come to an engagement (v. 5, 6): "Wherefore have I seen them, notwithstanding all these mighty and vast preparations and all these expressions of bravery and resolution, when the Chaldean army faces them, dismayed, turned back, quite disheartened, and no spirit left in them." 1. They make a shameful retreat. Even their mighty ones, who, one would think, should have stood their ground, flee a flight, flee by consent, make the best of their way, flee in confusion and with the utmost precipitation; they have neither time nor heart to look back, but fear is round about them, for they apprehend it so. And yet, 2. They cannot make their escape. They have the shame of flying, and yet not the satisfaction of saving themselves by flight; they might as well have stood their ground and died upon the spot; for even the swift shall not flee away. The lightness of their heels shall fail them when it comes to the trial, as well as the stoutness of their hearts; the mighty shall not escape, nay, they are beaten down and broken to pieces. They shall stumble in their flight, and fall towards the north, towards their enemy's country; for such confusion were they in when they took to their feet that instead of making homeward, as men usually do in that case, they made forward. Note, The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong. Valiant men are not always victorious.

IV. They are upbraided with their utter inability ever to recover this blow, which should be fatal to their nation, v. 11, 12. The damsel, the daughter of Egypt, that lived in great pomp and state, is sorely wounded by this defeat. Let her now seek for balm in Gilead and physicians there; let her use all the medicines her wise men can prescribe for the healing of this hurt, and the repairing of the loss sustained by this defeat; but all in vain; no cure shall be to them; they shall never be able to bring such a powerful army as this into the field again. "The nations that rang of thy glory and strength have now heard of thy shame, how shamefully thou wast routed and how thou are weakened by it." It needs not be spread by the triumphs of the conquerors, the shrieks and outcries of the conquered will proclaim it: Thy cry hath filled the country about. For, when they fled several ways, one mighty man stumbled upon another and dashed against another, such confusion were they in, so that both together became a prey to the pursuers, an easy prey. A thousand such dreadful accidents there should be, which should fill the country with the cry of those that were overcome. Let not the mighty man therefore glory in his might, for the time may come when it will stand him in no stead.

The Judgment of Egypt. (b. c. 608.)

12 The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together. 13 The word that the Lord spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt. 14 Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee. 15 Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the Lord did drive them. 16 He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword. 17 They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed. 18 As I live, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come. 19 O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant. 20 Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north. 21 Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation. 22 The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood. 23 They shall cut down her forest, saith the Lord , though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable. 24 The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north. 25 The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him: 26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the Lord . 27 But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. 28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the Lord : for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.

In these verses we have,

I. Confusion and terror spoken to Egypt. The accomplishment of the prediction in the former part of the chapter disabled the Egyptians from making any attempts upon other nations; for what could they do when their army was routed? But still they remained strong at home, and none of their neighbours durst make any attempts upon them. Though the kings of Egypt came no more out of their land (2 Kings xxiv. 7), yet they kept safe and easy in their land; and what would they desire more than peaceably to enjoy their own? One would think all men should be content to do this, and not covet to invade their neighbours. But the measure of Egypt's iniquity is full, and now they shall not long enjoy their own; those that encroached on others shall not be themselves encroached on. The scope of the prophecy here is to show how the king of Babylon should shortly come and smite the land of Egypt, and bring the war into their own bosoms which they had formerly carried into his borders, v. 13. This was fulfilled by the same hand with the former, even Nebuchadnezzar's, but many years after, twenty at least, and probably the prediction of it was long after the former prediction, and perhaps much about the same time with that other prediction of the same event which we had ch. xliii. 10.

1. Here is the alarm of war sounded in Egypt, to their great amazement (v. 14), notice given to the country that the enemy is approaching, the sword is devouring round about in the neighbouring countries, and therefore it is time for the Egyptians to put themselves in a posture of defence, to prepare for war, that they may give the enemy a warm reception. This must be proclaimed in all parts of Egypt, particularly in Migdol, Noph, and Tahpanhes, because in these places especially the Jewish refugees, or fugitives rather, had planted themselves, in contempt of God's command (ch. xliv. 1), and let them hear what a sorry shelter Egypt is likely to be to them.

2. The retreat hereupon of the forces of other nations which the Egyptians had in their pay is here foretold. Some considerable number of those troops, it is probable, were posted upon the frontiers to guard them, where they were beaten off by the invaders and put to flights. Then were the valiant men swept away (v. 15) as with a sweeping rain (it is the word that is used Prov. xxviii. 3); they can none of them stand their ground, because the Lord drives them from their respective posts; he drives them by his terrors; he drives them by enabling the Chaldeans to drive them. It is not possible that those should fix whom the wrath of God chases. He it was (v. 16) that made many to fall, yea, when their day shall come to fall, the enemy needs not throw them down, they shall fall one upon another, every man shall be a stumbling-block to his fellow, to his follower; nay, if God please, they shall be made to fall upon one another, they shall be made to fall upon one another, every man's sword shall be against his fellow. Her hired men, the troops Egypt has in he service, are indeed in the midst of her like fatted bullocks, lusty men, able bodied and high spirited, who were likely for action and promised to make their part good against the enemy; but they are turned back; their hearts failed them, and, instead of fighting, they have fled away together. How could they withstand their fate when the day of their calamity had come, the day in which God will visit them in wrath? Some think they are compared to fatted bullocks for their luxury; they had wantoned in pleasures, so that they were very unfit for hardships, and therefore turned back and could not stand. In this consternation, (1.) They all made homeward towards their own country (v. 16): They said, "Arise, and let us go again to our own people, where we may be safe from the oppressing sword of the Chaldeans, that bears down all before it." In times of exigence little confidence is to be put in mercenary troops, that fight purely for pay, and have no interest in theirs whom they fight for. (2.) They exclaimed vehemently against Pharaoh, to whose cowardice or bad management, it is probably, their defeat was owing. When he posted them there upon the borders of his country it is probably that he told them he would within such a time come himself with a gallant army of his own subjects to support them; but he failed them, and, when the enemy advanced, they found they had none to back them, so that they were perfectly abandoned to the fury of the invaders. No marvel then that they quitted their post and deserted the service, crying out, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise (v. 17); he can hector, and talk big of the mighty things he would do, but that is all; he brings nothing to pass. All his promises to those in alliance with him, or that are employed for him, vanish into smoke. He brings not the succours he engaged to bring, or not till it is too late: He has passed the time appointed; he did not keep his word, nor keep his day, and therefore they bid him farewell, they will never serve under him any more. Note, Those that make most noise in any business are frequently but a noise. Great talkers are little doers.

3. The formidable power of the Chaldean army is here described as bearing down all before it. The King of kings, whose name is the Lord of hosts, and before whom the mightiest kings on earth, though gods to us, are but as grasshoppers, he hath said it, he hath sworn it, As I live, saith this king, as Tabor overtops the mountains and Carmel overlooks the sea, so shall the king of Babylon overpower all the force of Egypt, such a command shall he have, such a sway shall he bear, v. 18. He and his army shall come against Egypt with axes, as hewers of wood (v. 22), and the Egyptians shall be no more able to resist them than the tree is to resist the man that comes with an axe to cut it down; so that Egypt shall be felled as a forest is by the hewers of wood, which (if there by many of them, and those well provided with instruments for the purpose) will be done in a little time. Egypt is very populous, full of towns and cities, like a forest, the trees of which cannot be searched or numbered, and very rich, full of hidden treasures, many of which will escape the searching eye of the Chaldean soldiers; but they shall make a great spoil in the country, for they are more than the locusts, that come in vast swarms and overrun a country, devouring every green thing (Joel i. 6, 7), so shall the Chaldeans do, for they are innumerable. Note, The Lord of hosts hath numberless hosts at his command.

4. The desolation of Egypt hereby is foretold, and the waste that should be made of that rich country. Egypt is now like a very fair heifer, or calf (v. 20), fat and shining, and not accustomed to the yoke of subjection, wanton as a heifer that is well fed, and very sportful. Some think here is an allusion to Apis, the bull or calf which the Egyptians worshipped, from whom the children of Israel learned to worship the golden calf. Egypt is as fair as a goddess, and adores herself, but destruction comes; cutting up comes (so some read it); it comes out of the north; thence the Chaldean soldiers shall come, as so many butchers or sacrificers, to kill and cut up this fair heifer. (1.) The Egyptians shall be brought down, shall be tamed, and their tune changed: The daughters of Egypt shall be confounded (v. 24), shall be filled with astonishment. Their voice shall go like a serpent, that is, it shall be very low and submissive; they shall not low like a fair heifer, that makes a great noise, but hiss out of their holes like serpents. They shall not dare to make loud complaints of the cruelty of the conquerors, but vent their griefs in silent murmurs. They shall not now, as they used to do, answer roughly, but, with the poor, use entreaties and beg for their lives. (2.) They shall be carried away prisoners into their enemy's land (v. 19): "O thou daughter! dwelling securely and delicately in Egypt, that fruitful pleasant country, do not think this will last always, but furnish thyself to go into captivity; instead of rich clothes, which will but tempt the enemy to strip thee, get plain and warm clothes; instead of fine shoes, provide strong ones; and inure thyself to hardship, that thou mayest bear it the better." Note, It concerns us, among all our preparations, to prepare for trouble. We provide for the entertainment of our friends, let us not neglect to provide for the entertainment of our enemies, nor among all our furniture omit furniture for captivity. The Egyptians must prepare to flee; for their cities shall be evacuated. Noph particularly shall be desolate, without an inhabitant, so general shall the slaughter and the captivity be. There are some penalties which, we say, the king and the multitude are exempted from, but here even these are obnoxious: The multitude of No shall be punished: it is called populous No, Nah. iii. 8. Though hand join in hand, yet they shall not escape; nor can any think to go off in the crowd. Be they ever so many, they shall find God will be too many for them. Their kings and all their petty princes shall fall; and their gods too (ch. xliii. 12, 13), their idols and their great men. Those which they call their tutelar deities shall be no protection to them. Pharaoh shall be brought down, and all those that trust in him (v. 25), particularly the Jews that came to sojourn in his country, trusting in him rather than in God. All these shall be delivered into the hands of the northern nations (v. 24), into the hand not only of Nebuchadnezzar that mighty potentate, but into the hands of his servants, according to the curse on Ham's posterity, of which the Egyptians were, that they should be the servants of servants. These seek their lives, and into their hands they shall be delivered.

5. An intimation is given that in process of time Egypt shall recover itself again (v. 26): Afterwards it shall be inhabited, shall be peopled again, whereas by this destruction it was almost dispeopled. Ezekiel foretels that this should be at the end of forty years, Ezek. xxix. 13. See what changes the nations of the earth are subject to, how they are emptied and increased again; and let not nations that prosper be secure, nor those that for the present are in thraldom despair.

II. Comfort and peace are here spoken to the Israel of God, v. 27, 28. Some understand it of those whom the king of Egypt had carried into captivity with Jehoahaz, but we read not of any that were carried away captives with him; it may therefore rather refer to the captives in Babylon, whom God had mercy in store for, or, more generally, to all the people of God, designed for their encouragement in the most difficult times, when the judgments of God are abroad among the nations. We had these words of comfort before, ch. xxx. 10, 11. 1. Let the wicked of the earth tremble, they have cause for it; but fear not thou, O my servant Jacob! and be not dismayed, O Israel! and again, Fear thou not, O Jacob! God would not have his people to be a timorous people. 2. The wicked of the earth shall be put away like dross, not be looked after any more; but God's people, in order to their being saved, shall be found out and gathered though they be far off, shall be redeemed though they be held fast in captivity, and shall return. 3. The wicked is like the troubled sea when it cannot rest; they flee when none pursues. But Jacob, being at home in God, shall be at rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid; for what time he is afraid he has a God to trust to. 4. The wicked God beholds afar off; but, wherever thou art, O Jacob! I am with thee, a very present help. 5. A full end shall be made of the nations that oppressed God's Israel, as Egypt and Babylon; but mercy shall be kept in store for the Israel of God: they shall be corrected, but not cast off; the correction shall be in measure, in respect of degree and continuance. Nations have their periods; the Jewish nation itself has come to an end as a nation; but the gospel church, God's spiritual Israel, still continues, and will to the end of time; in that this promise is to have its full accomplishment, that, though God correct it, he will never make a full end of it.

CHAP. XLVI.

Ver. 1. THe Word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah againſt the Gentiles] God had at firſt ſet him over the nations and over the Kingdoms (as a plenipotentiary) to root out and to pull down, and to deſtroy, and to throw down, to build and to plant, chap. 1.10. This power of his the Prophet had put forth and exerciſed againſt his own Nation of the Jews, whom he had doomed to deſtruction, and lived to ſee execution done accordingly. Now he takes their enemies, the neighbour Nations to do; telling them ſeverally what they ſhall truſt to. And this indeed the Prophet had done before in part, and in fewer words, under the type of a cup of wine to be divided among and drunk up by the Nations, chap. 25.15, 16. &c. but here to the end of chap. 51. more plainly and plentifully. Iſaiah had done the ſame in effect, chap. 13. to 24. Ezekiel alſo from chap. 25. to 33. that by the mouth of three ſuch witneſſes, every word might ſtand; and this burthen of the Nations might be confirmed. Jeremiah beginneth fitly with the Egyptians, who beſide the old enmity, had lately ſlain good King Joſiah, with whom dyed all the proſperity of the Jewiſh people, who were thenceforth known (as the Thebanes alſo were, after the death of their Epaminondas) only by their overthrows, and calamities.

Ver. 22. Againſt Egypt] Firſt: That the Jews might not rely on that broken reed as they did, to their ruine, becauſe they would never be warned.

Againſt the army of Pharaoh Neche] Who had beaten Nebuchadnezzar Priſcus at Carchemiſh, and gotten all the Country from Egypt to Euphrates; but was afterwards himſelf beaten out again by Nebuchadnezzar the ſecond, ſurnamed Magnus, in the firſt year of his reign, which was the fourth year of Jehojakim: Joſeph. l. 10. c. 7. Hypotu[illegible: 1 letter]ôſis Ironica. State galeati, loricati, lanceati: ſed fruſtrà. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Pauſan. who alſo was glad to become his tributary. Now this overthrow of the Egyptian, who was driven out of all Syria, as far as Peluſium by the Babylonian, is here foretold.

Ver. 3. Order ye the buckler and ſheild.] So Pharaoh is brought in beſpeaking his forces, when he was going to fight againſt Nebuchadnezzar: Or, ſo the Prophet beſpeaketh the Egyptians Ironically, and by way of ſcoff. q. d. Do ſo: but all ſhall be to no purpoſe (ſee the like Iſa. 8.9. Congregamini & vincemini) yea though upon Pharaoh's ſhould ſhould be the ſame inſcription that was once upon Agamemnon, This is the terrour of all mortal wights.

Ver. 4. Harneſſe the horſes] Thoſe warlike creatures, but yet vain things for ſafety, Pſal. 33.17. Prov. 21.31. Egypt was famous for the beſt horſes, Deut. 17.16. 1 King. 10.26, 28. but the Lord delighteth not in the ſtrength of an horſe, &c. Pſal. 147.10, 11.

Ver. 5. Wherefore have I ſeen them diſmaià?] Surprized with a Panick terrour.

And are fled apace] Heb. Fled a flight.

For fear was round about] A proverbial form, chap. 6.25.

Ver. 6. Let not the ſwift flye away] i. e. Think to ſave themſelves by flight.

Nor the mighty man eſcape] i. e. Think to ſave himſelf by his might, be he never ſo ſtouth-earted.

Herod. lib. 2. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Toward the North] i. e. Toward Carchemiſh, the ſtage of the war, where Pharaoh-Necho had beaten Nebuchadnezzar the elder, and is now beaten in the ſame place by Nebuchadnezzar the younger, alterna victoria.

Ver. 7. Who is this that cometh up like a flood?] Pharaoh with his forces is here notably deſcribed, vivo ſermonum colore, and compared to an impetuous river, that threatneth to overflow and ſwallow up all. See Iſa. 8.7.

Ver. 8. Egypt riſeth up like a flood] Nilus-like: the Egyptians were an ancient, proud, luxurious people.

And he ſaith I will go up and cover the earth] See the like vain vaunts of this proud people, Exod. 1[illegible: 1 letter] 9, 10.

Ver. 9. Come up ye horſes] i. e. Ye horſemen, all the cavallery of Egypt, as Exod. 14.7.

And rage] Or, beſtir your ſelves as if ye were wood or mad: inſtar furiarum diſcurrite per camp[illegible: 1 letter]s.

The Ethiopians and the Lybians] The Africans that were confederates and Auxiliaries to the Egyptians.

Ver. 10. For this is the day of the Lord God of hoſts] See Eſay 34.5, 6, 7, 8.

Ver. 11. Go up unto Gilead and take balm] See chap. 8.22. with Gen. 37.25. q. d. thy calamity is no leſſe uncurable then ignominious.

Ver. 12. The Nations have heard of thy ſhame] Of the ſhameful defeat given thee: ſo that thou who waſt once a terrour to them, art now a ſcorn.

For the mighty man hath ſtumbled againſt the mighty] And this is the ſum of the talk that goeth of thee.

Ver. 13. The Word that the Lord spake] Another Prophecy, but againſt Egypt alſo. God had yet a further quarrel to that Country for the death of good Joſiah, their delivering up Ʋriah Gods faithful ſervant to the ſword of Jehoiakim; their idolatry, pride, perfidy, &c.

How Nebuchadnezzar — ſhould come and ſmite the land of Egypt] In the five and twentieth year of his reign, as Jeremy alſo had ſet forth by a ſign, chap. 44.30,

Ver. 14. Publiſh in Noph, and in Tahpanes] See chap. 44.1.

For the ſword ſhall devour round about thee] Egypt was no whit amended by the former diſcomfiture at Carchemiſh: therefore is now wholly ſubdued by the Babylonian Conquerour, about three and twenty years after. And the like befell the Greek Empire overturned by the Turks.

Ver. 15. They ſtood not, becauſe the Lord did drive them] He ſtruck a Panick terrour into them: and then no wonder that men flee at the noiſe of a ſhaken leaf.

Ver. 16. Yea one fell upon another] See ver. 12. in a confuſed flight, it is wont ſo to be.

And they ſaid] The Auxiliary and Stipendiary ſouldiers ſaid ſo, when once they ſaw that there was no good to be done for the Egyptians: Nebuchadnezzar having ſo waſted all.

Steperus eſt.Ver. 17. Pharaoh King of Egypt is but a noyſe] A meer flaſh: one that vaunteth and vapoureth, and that's all. So of Charles the eighth King of France, Guicciardin ſaith, that in his expedition to Naples he came into the field like thundering and lightning, but went out like a ſnuffe: more then a man at firſt, and leſſe then a woman at laſt.

He hath paſſed the time appointed] He let ſlip his beſt opportunity: which, in giving battle, is ſometimes the loſſe of all. Charles King of Sicily and Jeruſalem was for this fault called Carolus Cunctator, i. e. the Delayer.

Ver. 18 As I live] Formula jurandi Elliptica, & Deo propria: let none preſume to ſwear in that ſort.

Surely as Tabor is among the mountains] As Tabor ſurmounteth and commandeth the little hills round about it, and Carmel the adjoyning ſea (over which it hangeth a promontory) ſo ſhall Nebuchadnezzar come into Egypt, and ſubdue the whole Country.

Ver. 19. O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt] But not likely long to dwell there.

Furniſh thy ſelf to go into captivity] Heb. make thee inſtruments or implements of captivity. Sarcinis reculiſque collectis, prepare to be packing.

Ver. 20. Egypt is like a very fair heifer] Vitula elegans, a trim bullock,Juvenca petuſca. worſhipping Apis the Bull and Mnenis the Cow, and unaccuſtomed to the yoke of ſubjection, as Hoſ. 10.11. but I ſhall bring her to it.

Destruction cometh] Or, exciſion from the North cometh, cometh, certo, cito, penitus venit, Ezek. 7.6. there come thoſe that ſhall cut up this fair heifer, or fat calf.

Ver. 21. Alſo her hired men in the midst of her like fatted bullocks] Heb. bullocks of the ſtall, not like to do much good ſervice in reſpect of their luxury and petulancy: Fat Eglon had but ſluggiſh ſouldiers. Campania with her delicacies, matred Hannibals forces. Theſe mercenaries carried themſelves as if hired non ad militiam ſed ſaginam, not to fight, but to fat themſelves.

Ver. 22. The voyce thereof (of Egypt) ſhall go like a ſerpent] Submiſſa voce loquetur, ſhe ſhall hiſſe and whiſper, as being daunted and damped,Vox trepida & prae metu inſtar ſerpentū ſt[illegible: 1 letter]idula. ſcarce able to mutter or utter ought for fear, Eſa. [illegible: 1 letter]9.4.

Ver. 23. They ſhall cut down her forrest] i. e. Her many Cities. Herodotus telleth of one thouſand and twenty Cities that were in the land of Egypt, in the dayes of King Amaſis.

Becauſe they are more then the graſhoppers] The Babylonian fellers are:Lib. 2. Diodor. l. 1. c. 31. and thoſe many hands, will make light work.

Ver. 24. The daughter of Egypt ſhall be confounded] This is, in plain termes,Subjungit Epiphonema. the ſum of all that had been ſaid before.

Ver. 25. The Lord of hoſts, the God of Iſrael ſaith] And ſhall he ſay and not do? Num. 23.19. ſhall the Word of God be broken? Joh. 10.35.

Ver. 26. Behold I will puniſh the multitude of No] Called populous No, H[illegible: 1 letter]die dicitur Alexandria. Nah. 3.8. (populous as Nineveh) ſo Galilee of the Gentiles: ſome render it nouriſhing No.

And their Kings] Here Calvin conjectureth that Pharaoh had made many of his Princes Kings for his greater magnificence: but this came down ſoon after. A bulging wall is near unto a downfal.

And Pharaoh] Hophra, chap. 44.30.

And all them that truſt in him] As the Jews in Egypt did.

Ver. 26. And afterward it ſhall be inhabited] Fourty years after, Ezek. 29.13. ſc. in the dayes of Amaſis, whom Cambyſes the Perſian conquered: after which it remained ſubject to the Perſian Monarchs 150. years ſaith Euſebius, being but a baſe and tributary Kingdom.

Ver. 27. But fear not thou, O my ſervant Jacob] If Egypt find ſo much favour, as ver. 26. what mayſt not thou hope for? See the ſame, chap. 30.10.

Ver. 28. Fear thou not O Jacob, &c.] See chap. 30.11.

But correct thee in meaſure, &c.] God dealeth much otherwiſe with his own people then he doth with unbeleevers, whoſe proſperity as it is full of thornes, ſo their adverſity is but a foretaſte of eternal torment: whereas all things, even afflictions alſo, work together for good to them that love God, &c.