By Eugene Garner

PART IV

PROPHECIES AGAINST FOREIGN NATIONS

(Chapters 46-51)

JEREMIAH - CHAPTER 46

AN ORACLE CONCERNING EGYPT

    The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles; 2 Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho 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.

    1. It is appropriate that Jeremiah's prophecies against foreign nations should begin with Egypt - a nation that had always exercised far too great a political influence on the covenant people.
      a. The Jewish people had once been in bondage there - tasting the severe oppression and affliction of Egyptian taskmasters; yet, they always remembered Egypt as a land of plenty, comfort and ease, and longed to return there!
        1) Thus Egypt symbolizes "the world" - with all its attractions and allurements.
        2) Carnal men seek satisfaction in its pleasures instead of seeking God's kingdom and glory, (Matt. 6:33).
        3) Worldliness is an ATTITUDE wherein one lives to satisfy the senses.
      b. The beloved king Josiah had been slain by Pharaohnecho's army at Megiddo, in 609 B.C., when he attempted to hinder an Egyptian relief force from going to assist the Assyrians in Haran, (2 Chron. 35:20-25).
    2. This prophecy is not dated, but it foretold the clash of Pharaohnecho and Nebuchadnezzar "by the river Euphrates at Carchemish", during the fourth year of Jehoiakim's reign in Judah, (vs. 2).
      a. This was during the first year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign.
      b. The defeat of Egypt, at the battle of Carchemish, was the political turning point of that age.
      c. From that battle Babylon emerged as the principle power of the ancient world.

    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. 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.

    1. In verses 3-4 one hears a call for the mobilization and march of the proud, confident army of Egypt.
    2. But the scene immediately changes to one of terror and dismay as the over-powered Egyptians try to beat a hasty retreat - not even daring to look back, (vs. 5).
    3. The swift and mighty are not permitted to escape, but stumble so as to fall by the river Euphrates, (vs. 6).
    4. Proud and self-confident, the Egyptians have risen up, like the mighty Nile - confident of overwhelming its enemies by the force of her multitudes, (vs. 7-8).
    5. In addition to her own forces she has hired, as mercenary soldiers, Ethiopian, Abyssinian, Lydian and Sudim, (vs. 9).
    6. What they did not know was that the Providence of Jehovah had arranged the whole affair; it was the day of His long-suspended vengeance, wherein He had prepared a sacrifice by the river Euphrates, (vs. 10).
    7. The hopelessness of Egypt's recovery is set forth in verse 11; noted for her medicinal superiority, there was no balm that would heal her wound, (comp. 8:22; 30:13; Mic. 1:9; Nahum 3:19).
    8. Her wound is deepened; her humiliation and shame made unbearable by the fact that the cry of her helplessness had been heard by the nations, (vs. 12; comp. 2:36; Nahum 3:8-10; Isa 19:2-4).

    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.

    1. Jeremiah left no doubt as to the identity of the force that would humble Egypt; it would be led by Nebuchadnezzar, whose service God would use for the punishment of the nation. (vs. 13).
    2. A call has gone forth, in Vs. 14, for the land of Egypt to stand up in resistance against the invading forces, (comp. 2 Sam. 23:12).
    3. But the morale of the nation is crushed because Apis, her sacred bull, to whom she attributed her strength, has been thrust down by Jehovah, (vs. 15; comp. Psa. 22:12).
    4. The hired mercenaries of Egypt were so confounded and routed by the Lord that they were ready to flee to the lands of their own nativity, (vs. 16).
    5. Pharaoh is characterized by Jeremiah as a noisy, loudmouthed braggart - "King Bombast!" (NEB) - who idly permitted time and opportunity to pass him by, when he might have averted disaster upon both himself and the nation, (vs. 17).
    6. The great King, whose name is "Jehovah of hosts", announces the coming of one (Nebuchadnezzar) who will tower above his contemporaries like Tabor and Carmel above the surrounding hills, (vs. 18).
    7. Thus, the Egyptians may as well prepare such things as will be for their comfort on the long journey into exile, (vs. 19; comp. Ezek. 12:3; 30:13-16; Isa. 20:4).

    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.

    1. Egypt is likened to a graceful heifer; her hired soldiers are like calves of the stall - well nourished, but utterly impotent in the day of her calamity, (vs. 20-21).
      a. The Babylonians are pictured as a gadfly (horsefly?) coming upon her from the north.
      b. The calves, set for the defense of Egypt, are stampeded by a fly!
      c. This is surely an ironic reference to the worthlessness of her chief deity.
    2. Egypt has boasted that her army is as invulnerable and indestructible as the trees of the forest - more numerous than a plague of locusts, (vs. 22-23).
      a. Pictured as ax men, the Chaldean army utterly humiliates Egypt - cutting down the trees of her forest.
      b. The characterization of Egypt as hissing and gliding away like a snake is but a sarcastic reference to the humiliation of another of her most exalted deities which was so permanently displayed in her royal insignia.
    3. The inhabitants of Egypt are put to shame - delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans, (vs. 24).
    4. Jeremiah makes it clear that the Lord is specifically demonstrating the impotency of Amon (No.), the tutelary god of Thebes - punishing him, along with Pharaoh and all those who trusted in him, (vs. 25).
    5. Jehovah will deliver Egypt, her gods and kings, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and his officers who seek their lives, (vs. 26a).
    6. Here is seen the fallacy of trusting in Pharaoh for protection against the Chaldeans.
    7. The Lord will not make a full end of Egypt; a day of restoration is promised wherein she will prosper, (vs. 26b; comp. Ezek. 29:13-16).

    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.

    1. Here is a repetition of the message recorded in 30:10-11.
    2. The covenant people must be disciplined because of their sins; God's fidelity to the covenant - as to His own character - requires it.
    3. He WILL ultimately destroy those nations whereunto He has driven His people in judgment.
    4. But, He will NOT make a full end of His own rebellious people.
    5. Disciplined, they will be restored to the covenant-land in peace, prosperity, security and fearlessness.
      a. God is always faithful to remember His covenant, (Deut. 30:1-3).
      b. By the fiery trial of divine discipline God's people are refined as silver.
      c. This prophecy may have a two-fold fulfillment: one in the return from the exile; the other still future, (Rom. 11:1-5, 26-32).