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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
J E R E M I A H.
CHAP. XLVI.
How judgment began at the house of God we have found in the foregoing
prophecy and history; but now we shall find that it did not end there.
In this and the following chapters we have predictions of the
desolations of the neighbouring nations, and those brought upon them
too mostly by the king of Babylon, till at length Babylon itself comes
to be reckoned with. The prophecy against Egypt is here put first and
takes up this whole chapter, in which we have,
I. A prophecy of the defeat of Pharaoh-necho’s army by the Chaldean
forces at Carchemish, which was accomplished soon after, in the fourth
year of Jehoiakim,
II. A prophecy of the descent which Nebuchadnezzar should make upon the
land of Egypt, and his success in it, which was accomplished some years
after the destruction of Jerusalem,
III. A word of comfort to the Israel of God in the midst of those
calamities,
| The Judgment of Egypt. | B. C. 608. |
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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,
and so made him pay dearly for his expedition against the king of
Assyria four years before, in which he slew Josiah,
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,
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 pray 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. |
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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
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,
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
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
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,
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
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,
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,
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,
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.
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