Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Jeremiah 46:13 - 46:28

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Jeremiah 46:13 - 46:28


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The Second Prophecy Against Egypt

v. 13. The word that the Lord spake to Jeremiah, the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, should come and smite the land of Egypt,
this prophecy belonging to a later period than that of the first part of the chapter.

v. 14. Declare ye in Egypt,
in a formal proclamation throughout the country, and publish in Migdol and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes, that is, in the regions along the northeastern boundary and in Memphis, the capital of the northern part of the country; say ye, Stand fast and prepare thee, for the sword shall devour round about thee, the prophet even then seeing the surrounding nations devastated by the advancing Chaldeans.

v. 15. Why are thy valiant men swept away?
Why this complete overthrow of Egypt's ruler? They stood not because the Lord did drive them, the king with all his mighty men was powerless against the attack of the Lord, against the punishment meted out by Him through the Chaldean king.

v. 16. He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another,
Jehovah Himself causing them to stumble and to sink to the ground; and they said, Arise and let us go again to our own people, since they were but visitors and strangers in Egypt, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword, to escape its murderous fierceness. Thus the confederates and mercenaries of Egypt would make ready to save their own lives in the general destruction.

v. 17. They did cry there,
namely, the people who were in Egypt at the time of this great calamity, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise, or "is destruction, ruin," since his overthrow was evidently a matter of only a short time; he hath passed the time appointed, it was now too late to avert the Lord's judgment.

v. 18. As I live, saith the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts,
the supreme Ruler of the universe, in a most solemn oath by His own life, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, looking down upon all the lower hills, and as Carmel by the sea, standing out as a bold promontory, so shall he come, namely, the destroyer of Egypt, the Chaldean conqueror.

v. 19. O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt,
the entire Egyptian people, furnish thyself to go into captivity, by getting ready vessels and containers for food on the journey into exile; for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant, such being the fate of the proud capital according to the judgment of God upon it.

v. 20. Egypt is like a very fair heifer,
occupying a fine and fertile land and therefore well nourished, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the North, the direction from which the Chaldeans would approach, like stinging gad-flies.

v. 21. Also her hired men,
the mercenaries in her employ, are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks, provided with the best of everything, in order to keep them favorably inclined; for they also are turned back, even they lost all their former courage, 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, when God would visit His anger upon them.

v. 22. The voice thereof,
of the daughter of Egypt, shall go like a serpent, hissing from her thicket as she hears some one approaching; for they shall march with an army and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood. As the human forest of Egypt would be hewn down, she would flee with a noise as that of rustling leaves, weakly hissing out her protest, but without power effectually to resent it.

v. 23. They shall cut down her forest, saith the Lord, though it cannot be searched,
it was impossible to estimate the number of the enemy; because they are more than the grasshoppers, whose swarms contain countless insects, and are innumerable. The gist of the prophecy is now given without pictures.

v. 24. The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the North,
of the Chaldean hordes.

v. 25. The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saith, Behold, I will punish the multitude of No,
literally, "the Amon of No," the chief idol of Egypt, and Pharaoh, and Egypt with their gods and their kings, all the people of the country, great and small, together with their idols; even Pharaoh and all them that trust in him;

v. 26. and I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants; and afterward,
when its power would be broken and its ambition for world influence would no longer be in evidence, it shall be inhabited as in the days of old, saith the Lord, the Messianic idea finding its expression at this point. This is evident especially from the concluding verses of the chapter, which are addressed to the spiritual Israel.

v. 27. But fear not thou, O My servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel,
both expressions referring to the Lord's people in the highest and best sense of the term; for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, bringing back His own children from the far distances to which they had been carried, and thy seed from the land of their captivity, this word finding its application particularly in the spiritual sense; and Jacob shall return and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid, since he would be entirely in the care and under the protection of Jehovah.

v. 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,
the world-powers of that day being symbolical of the powers of evil which beset the believers of all times. But I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure, with a chastisement of mercy, not tempting His children above that they are able; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished, for the visitation of the Lord is intended to lead men to repentance. All this is figurative of the one great deliverance by which the Lord saved His people from all their enemies and established His Church of the New Testament.