057. IV. The Approach Of The Chaldeans Under Nebuchadrezzar
IV THE APPROACH OF THE CHALDEANS UNDER NEBUCHADREZZAR 1. Defeat of the Egyptians by Nebuchadrezzar at Carchemish in 605 B. C. (Jeremiah 46:2-12) The first picture of the battle (Jeremiah 46:3-6). Marshal all your forces, O Necho; put them in battle array; bring your cavalry into line; complete the final arrangements; now for the onset. What! your army turns back! your mighty warriors flee! Terror seizes the Egyptian host. Vain are their efforts to escape; beside the Euphrates have they fallen. The second picture of Egypt’s overthrow (Jeremiah 46:7-12). Behold Necho’s mighty army, rolling on like a swollen torrent, devastating everything which lies in its track. In his pride the Egyptian king expects to overrun the whole earth, destroying and conquering all the nations. Let the host advance—cavalry, chariots, bowmen, Ethiopians and warlike Lybians—to meet their fate, for this day Jehovah has determined to execute vengeance upon them for the many wrongs which they have perpetrated. Vain are your efforts, O Egyptians, to retrieve your fallen fortunes. Your prestige among the nations is gone. Before a mightier foe you shall bite the dust.
2. The Divine Judgment upon the Nations Executed by Nebuchadrezzar (Jeremiah 46:25; cf. Jeremiah 47-49)
Occasion of the sermon (Jeremiah 25:1-2). In the year 604 B. C., soon after the Chaldeans conquered the Egyptians at Carchemish, and Nebuchadrezzar ascended the throne of Babylon, Jeremiah delivered the following prophecy in the presence of the Judeans.
Judah’s rejection of Jehovah’s messages (Jeremiah 25:3-7). For twenty-three years I have faithfully and zealously delivered to you, O Judeans, the messages which Jehovah has given me. Other prophets have been equally true, but all our calls to repentance have been fruitless.
Nebuchadrezzar is Jehovah’s servant appointed to execute his judgment (Jeremiah 25:8-14). Therefore Jehovah has given to Nebuchadrezzar rule over powerful peoples, and has selected him as his servant to subjugate and to destroy you, O rebellious nation. He is “the foe from the north,” of whom I so often warned you and your wicked neighbors. [For a limited period (seventy years) the Chaldeans shall exercise absolute sovereignty over Palestine. Then shall come their hour of retribution, and other world-powers shall absorb them.]
Extent and significance of Nebuchadrezzar’s rule (Jeremiah 25:15-38). Jehovah also commanded me, by giving the wine-cup of his fury in turn to the different nations of the earth, symbolically to indicate that the conquests of Nebuchadrezzar are to be universal, that they are in accordance with God’s will, and that they are intended to punish the crimes of the victims. Rulers, as well as subjects, shall experience the horrors of this world-wide judgment, so long delayed and so terrible in its realization.