Jeremiah 46

Chap. XLVI. ver. 1. The word of the Lord &c.] This verse is a general title to the collection of prophecies, contained in this and the five following chapters. The nations spoken of are the same as those of which an enumeration is made, chap. xxv. 19—26. These prophecies were not delivered all at the same time. To some the date is annexed; in others it is left uncertain. Dr. Blayney.

The difference of style between the following prophecies and the preceding is remarkable. Abp. Secker.

Chap. XLVIII. ver. 1. Against Moab] The following prophecies concerning the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, and other neighbouring nations, are supposed to have been fulfilled about the same time with that concerning the Philistines in the preceding chapter; namely, during the siege of Tyre.

Many passages and expressions will be found in this chapter, which Jeremiah hath borrowed from a prophecy of Isaiah, chap. xv, and xvi, concerning a like calamity which befell Moab, in all probability when Shalmaneser king of Assyria seized upon their cities and fortresses, and ravaged their country, on his march through it to invade the kingdom of Israel. By comparing the parallel places much light may be mutually thrown upon them. Dr. Blayney.

— Nebo! — Kiriathaim] Two cities of Moab; see Isa. xv. 2; Numb. xxxii. 37; xxxiii. 47. The latter of these was given by Moses to the Reubenites, as appears by Josh. xiii. 10; but the Moabites afterwards recovered the possession of it, as they did Dibon, Sibma, and other places; compare those texts in Numbers and Joshua, with Isaiah xv. 2; xvi. 8, 9; and the twenty-first and the following verses of this chapter. W. Lowth.

— Misgab] No such city of Moab is any where mentioned. It should probably be rendered “the high place,” as in the margin, or “the high fortress:” either Kiriathaim before mentioned, or some other fortress of Moab. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 46:2

2. Against Egypt.] In this chapter are two distinct prophecies concerning Egypt. The first appears to have been delivered at the time that the Egyptian army lay along the banks of the Euphrates, waiting to oppose the entrance of Nebuchadnezzar into Syria, in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah. The two armies came to an engagement near the city of Carchemish, the same which Pharaoh-necho was going against when he was opposed by king Josiah, 2 Chron. xxxv. 20. (See the note there.) The event of the battle proved very unfortunate to the Egyptians, who were routed with a prodigious slaughter; as is here foretold by the Prophet in a very animated style, and with great poetick energy and liveliness of colouring. In the third and fourth verses, the mighty preparations of the Egyptians for war are described; which occasions the Prophet, who foresees the defeat, to express his astonishment at an event so contrary to what might have been expected; but he accounts for it by ascribing it to the disposition of the Almighty, who had spread terror all around, and had decreed that neither swiftness nor strength should avail the owners, so as to save them from the impending overthrow, ver. 5, 6. In the verses that follow next, the king of Egypt is represented as beginning his march with all the ostentation and insolence of presumed success. He is compared to a mighty river, the Nile or the Euphrates, when it swells above its banks, and threatens to overwhelm the country with ruin and desolation, ver. 7, 8. He is heard calling aloud to the nations of which his army is composed, giving them the signal for action, and rousing them to deeds of despe-

3. — Behold, waters rise up out of the north.] Behold, the Chaldeans arise out of the north like mighty waters; and with their swelling flood shall overflow the land of the Philistines. Bp. Hall.

4. — in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; &c.] The like ruin shall befall the rest of the Moabitish cities, Heshbon and Madmena; the Chaldeans have resolved and threatened to cut off Moab as a nation. Bp. Hall.

Jeremiah 46:3

3. — the fathers shall not look back to their children &c.] They shall shew no concern for the safety of their children: but they shall be so dismayed and dispirited, as to be scarce able to save themselves. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 46:4

4.—the brigandines.] Their coats of mail. Dr. Johnson.

4. — to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon &c.] The siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar, which lasted thirteen years, was an action famous in the history of that age. See Ezek. xxvii, xxviii. Zidon partook of the same fate as Tyre, both in prosperity and in adversity: see Isa. xxiii. 2. 4. And her destruction is joined with that of Tyre by Ezekiel, chap. xxviii. W. Lowth.

— the remnant of the country of Caphtor.] The Caphtorim as well as the Philistim, are said to have been descended from Mizraim, the father of the Egyptians; see Gen. x. 14. They expelled the Avim from that part of Philistia which is contiguous to Gaza, and fixed themselves there, Deut. ii. 23; on which account the country was afterwards called “the country of Caphtor.” “The remnant of the country of Caphtor” is therefore to be understood of the few that remained out of a great number that formerly dwelt in that part of Philistia. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 46:5

5.—for fear was round about, saith the Lord.] These words ought rather to be connected with the following, which being spoken imperatively, can only be understood as coming from the mouth of God. “Fear” seems to be put for danger. So that the words taken altogether imply, that from the danger which surrounded them on all sides, it was the Divine decree, that neither the swift should escape by flight, nor the strong be able to extricate himself by any exertions of valour. Dr. Blayney.

8.—I will destroy the city! Not any particular city, perhaps, but rather indefinitely the cities of the land, which the king of Egypt, under the figure of a river, was to overflow. Dr. Blayney.

5. Baldness is come upon Gaza;] The Prophet alludes to the custom which prevailed among men in those times, of shaving their heads and cutting their flesh under great calamities. See chap. xli. 5; xlviii. 37. W. Lowth. See the notes on Lev. xix. 28; Deut. xiv. 1.

— with the remnant of their valley:] Gaza and Ashkelon are situated about twelve miles distant from each other, near the sea, in a valley of great beauty and fertility. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 46:6

6. O thou sword of the Lord, &c.] Personification, conducted with dignity and propriety, may be justly esteemed one of the greatest efforts of the creative powers of a warm and lively imagination. Of this figure many illustrious examples may be produced from the Jewish writers, among whom every part and object of nature is animated, and endowed with sense, with passion, and with language. To say that the lightning obeyed the commands of God, would of itself be sufficiently sublime: but in the book of Job this idea is expressed with far greater energy and life: “Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we are?” Job xxxviii. 35. How animated, how emphatical is this unexpected answer, “Here we are!” When Jehovah is represented as descending to punish the earth in his just anger, it is added, “Before him went the pestilence,” Hab. iii. 5. When the Babylonian tyrant is destroyed, “the fir trees rejoice at his fall, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us,” Isa. xiv. 8. And at

confidence, 26 and for their contempt of God and his people. 47 The restoration of Moab.

Before CHRIST about 600.

A GAINST Moab thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Woe unto Nebo! for it is spoiled: Kiriathaim is confounded and taken: || Misgab is confounded and dismayed.

Jeremiah 46:9

9.—the Ethiopians and the Libyans,—the Lydians.] The original words are Cush, Phut, and Lud: and the three nations were allies of Egypt, as they are also represented, Ezek. xxv. 5. By the first are probably to be understood in this place chiefly the Arabians, who bordered on Egypt near the Red sea, and who are closely connected with the Egyptians, Isa. xx. 3—5. As these lay to the East, so by Phut the Libyans were most probably intended, who lay west of Egypt. Bochart supposes the Ludim (or Lydians) to be Ethiopians: and that the Ethiopians were famous for the use of the bow, we may learn from Herodotus, who says that they had bows four cubits long. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 46:10

10. For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts.] “The day of the Lord” often signifies the day of his vengeance: see Isa. xiii. 6; Joel i. 15; ii. 1; Amos v. 18; Zeph. i. 14, 15: whence it signifies in the New Testament the day of judgment, of which all other days of vengeance are the earnest and forerunners. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah prophesieth the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadrezzar. CHAP. XLVI, XLVII. The destruction of the Philistines. Before CHRIST about 607. an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.

Jeremiah 46:23

23. — though it cannot be searched;] Though the trees or cities be so many that they are past numbering. Bp. Hall.

— because they are more than the grasshoppers.] Armies are often compared to grasshoppers, and such insects, both for their multitudes, and because they make a great consumption. See Judges vi. 5; vii. 12; Joel ii. 4, 5. W. Lowth.

Jeremiah 46:25

25. — the multitude of No.] The words may be literally and correctly rendered, “Amon of No.” See the margin. Amon was the name by which the Egyptians called Jupiter; who had a famous temple at Thebes, and was worshipped there in a distinguished manner: on which account the city was called Diospolis. If “No” therefore be Thebes, or Diospolis, then “Amon of No” signifies the deity of the place, the Theban Jupiter, as Herodotus styles him. As, on the other hand, in Nabum iii. 8, we should read “No of Amon:” which corresponds with the Greek name Diospolis. W. Lowth, Dr. Blayney.

When an idolatrous nation is doomed to destruction, God is said to execute vengeance upon the idols of the country; see chap. xliii. 12, 13. Accordingly Amon of No, the principal deity, and Pharaoh, the principal man among the Egyptians, are marked out in the first place as the primary objects of Divine visitation; then follow in the gross Egypt and all her gods, and all her kings; which latter term is explained to include both Pharaoh and those subordinate rulers who were de-

VOL. II. pendent upon him for the rank and authority they held. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 46:26

26. — afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old.] At the end of forty years Egypt was to begin to recover itself, as Ezekiel foretels, chap. xxix. 13. Dr. Blayney.

Jeremiah 46:28

28. Fear thou not, O Jacob—for I will make a full end of all the nations—but I will not make a full end of thee.] See the note from Bp. Horne on chap. xxx. 11.

Chap. XLVII. ver. 1.—against the Philistines.] Among the other nations doomed to suffer by the hostilities of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Philistines are enumerated, chap. xxv. 20: and the calamities foretold in this present chapter most probably befell them during the long siege of Tyre, when Nebuchadnezzar ravaged their country, in order, as it is said ver. 4, to cut off from Tyre and Zidon all chance of assistance from that quarter. But as no history, sacred or profane, has, to my knowledge, mentioned the taking of Gaza by the king of Egypt, there is no means of ascertaining the precise date of the delivery of this prophecy. Dr. Blayney.