6 7 8 9 And are fled apace, and look not back: For fear was round about, saith the LORD. Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; Who is this that cometh up as a flood, Whose waters are moved as the rivers? 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. Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; And let the mighty men come forth; The Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; look not back] turn not back. fear was round about] Jeremiah's favourite expression once more and in circumstances which could not be more appropriate. See note on chap. vi. 25. 6. Let not the swift] rather, The swift shall not. Even the most active and heroic of the Egyptian army shall not gain their homes, but shall perish in a distant land. toward the north] "Carchemish in lat. 36° would be four degrees north of Jerusalem in lat. 32°." Sp. Comm. 7. We are now to be told the name of the nation, the defeat of whose army we have been witnessing. as a flood] as the Nile. The advance of the Egyptian host is likened to the annual overflow of their own sacred river. whose waters are moved] his waters toss themselves. as the rivers] like the branches of the Nile in the Delta of Lower Egypt. The same Heb. word is used in Ex. vii. 19 (rendered streams in the Eng. Vers.) in precisely the same application as here and in ver. 8. 9. Come up] Go up. The summons is to cavalry chariots and infantry that they should set forth from Egypt. rage] drive furiously. come forth] go forth. the Ethiopians and the Libyans...and the Lydians] the mercenary troops, who formed from the days of Psammetichus the chief part of the Egyptian armies. The Ethiopians (Cush) and the Libyans (Phut) were children of Ham (Gen. x. 6). They formed the heavy-armed troops. The Lydians (the "Ludim" of Gen. x. 13) were also Africans, and not to be confused with the Lydians of the coast of Asia Minor, who were Shemites (Lud, Gen. x. 22). We have the three peoples here mentioned spoken of again as Egyptian mercenaries in Ezek. xxx. 5. In Isaiah on the other hand (lxvi. 19) Lud is connected with Asiatic 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. O virgin, the daughter of Egypt : In vain shalt thou use many medicines; The nations have heard of thy shame, and European tribes. These Lydians, as we see, formed the lightarmed portion of the army. bend] literally, tread, string. 10. For this is the day of] But that day belongeth to. There is a contrast between the alacrity with which the army goes forth and the fate that awaits them at Carchemish, described as 'the north country'. The joy at this disaster as rightfully inflicted on Egypt the enemy of God's people arises not only from the undying memory of the bondage of old times, but from later troubles, such as that of Rehoboam's time (1 Kings xiv. 25, 26) and those in much more recent days. See note on ver. 2. 11. balm] See note on viii. 22. O virgin, the daughter of Egypt] used of the Egyptians generally, with the additional notion however of their having hitherto been kept free from hurt, like a virgin safe in her father's house. shalt thou use] hast thou used. thou shalt not be cured] healing plaister thou hast none. See note on xxx. 13. "Not only was the study of medicine of very early date in Egypt, but medical men there were in such repute, that they were sent for at various times from other countries. Their knowledge of medicine is celebrated by Homer (Od. iv. 229), who describes Polydamna, the wife of Thonis, as giving medicinal plants 'to Helen in Egypt, a country possessing an infinite number of drugs...where each physician possesses knowledge above all other men.'...Cyrus and Darius both sent to Egypt for medical men (Herod. iii. 1, 132); and Pliny (xix. 5) says post mortem examinations were made in order to discover the nature of maladies....It is to the Arabs, who derived it from Egypt and India, that Europe is indebted for its first acquaintance with the science of medicine." (Note [G. W.] in Rawl. Herod. ii. 116.) 12. the land] the earth. See xlv. 4. The mention of 'the nations' in the parallel clause shews that the Eng. is to be thus emended. 13 14 For the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, 13. Introduction to the second prophecy. The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt. 14-28. The second prophecy regarding Egypt. For the sword shall devour round about thee. the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty] The heroes fighting on the Egyptian side have in their flight and confusion got in each other's way. 13. INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND PROPHECY. 13. The word that the Lord spake] In the absence of any definite statement like that prefixed to the earlier prophecy as to the date of its delivery, we are led by the general tone, which seems to point to a later time (see ver. 14) and a more intimate acquaintance with Egypt (see ver. 25), to conjecture that this one is to be ascribed to the time of the prophet's residence in that country. Compare xliii. 8—13, and xliv. 29, 30, with notes. It therefore would not be included in the Roll read before Jehoiakim, as the former prophecy probably was. The actual coming of Nebuchadnezzar at any rate was long subsequent to the battle of Carchemish. Nevertheless that victory opened the way to his advance into the country, whose army he had there defeated. how Nebuchadrezzar...should come and smite] of (concerning) the coming of Nebuchadrezzar and his smiting. 14-28. THE SECOND PROPHECY REGARDING EGYPT. 14. Declare ye in Egypt] If we place the prophecy soon after the defeat at Carchemish, and therefore many years before its fulfilment, the meaning of these words will be, Announce the defeat and desolation that is in store. If on the other hand, as seems preferable, we make the words to be uttered on the eve, or almost on the eve, of their accomplishment, the sense will be, Declare that the enemy has already reached the borders. Migdol] See note on xliv. I. For Noph and Tahpanhes, see notes on ii. 16. shall devour] hath devoured. The neighbouring nations had been subdued, perhaps including Tyre, after the capture of which Nebuchadnezzar probably advanced into Egypt. Why are thy valiant men swept away? They stood not, because the LORD did drive them. 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. 15 16 They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a 17 noise; He hath passed the time appointed. As I live, saith the King, Whose name is the LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, 15. valiant men] The adjective in the Heb. is plural, while both the verb connected with it and the pronouns that follow are in the sing, Hence it seems probable that the singular is the right reading, and that the reference is, as the Septuagint makes it to be, to the sacred bull Apis, worshipped at Memphis, and called the mighty one, i.e. the deity of Egypt, just as God is named the Mighty One of Jacob or of Israel in Gen. xlix. 24; Is. i. 24; xlix. 26, etc. A failure to understand this application of the word may have early induced a Heb. copyist to alter it to the plural (which was effected by the insertion of the smallest Heb. letter). If the plural be the right reading, we must render as does the Eng. Vers. 16. to fall] to stumble. to our own people] The mercenary troops, as belonging to various nations, propose among themselves to return to their several countries. the oppressing sword] See note on xxv. 38. 17. They did cry there] The Septuagint, Syriac, and (Latin) Vulgate are agreed in reading for there, (by a mere change of vowel in the Heb.) the name of. This is strong evidence in itself, although there is no difficulty in understanding there, meaning their respective countries, in which they should report the ruin of Egypt. a noise] a ruin. This sense is necessary here, and is borne out by Ps. xl. 2, where the same change must be made in the Eng. Vers. ("a pit of noise" marginal for "an horrible pit"), and by the sense of other words from the same Heb. root, e.g. that rendered desolation Lam. iii. 47 (where see note) and destruction Is. xxiv. 12. he hath passed the time appointed] He hath let the time elapse within which he was called upon by God to reform. The period of grace is over, and consequently ruin can no longer be averted." 18. as Tabor is] The is should be omitted. The sense is not that his coming is as certain as is the existence of the mountains Tabor and Carmel in their respective positions, but that he, Nebuchadnezzar, 18 JEREMIAH 19 19 20 21 And as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come. O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, And desolate without an inhabitant. But destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north. Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; shall resemble them as standing out conspicuous above all neighbouring rulers. Tabor (1805 feet above the sea-level) is not indeed the highest mountain of the whole region, but as standing in the midst of an extensive plain, is more striking than even loftier ones, which have not its advantages in the way of position. Carmel again (about 500 feet above the sea) stretches for about three miles as a long bold promontory into the Mediterranean. 19. O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt] a circumlocution for inhabitants of Egypt. furnish thyself to go into captivity] The marginal "make thee instruments of captivity" is more literal, supply thyself with all that thou wilt need as thy outfit for exile. Noph] See note on ii. 16. desolate the same word in the Heb. as that rendered "burnt" in chap. ii. 15, which may very well be its sense here also. 20. is like] is. This is more literal, and probably points to Apis the bull god, as that to which the country was as it were espoused. but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north] a gadfly from the north is come upon her. The least possible change in the Heb. produces the latter part of this rendering, which is supported by the early Versions. The existing Heb. text is far from untranslateable, the two verbs however being placed together at the end of the sentence and not in the middle with a considerable pause between, as in the Eng. Vers. We may compare for such a repetition, Ps. xcvi. 13, "For he cometh, for he cometh," etc. The Heb. word translated destruction, occurs here only. There is good authority for correcting it as above. It has also been rendered a goad, an army, and (apparently without much meaning) by the Septuagint, a torn off shred. 21. her hired men] her mercenary troops. The mercenaries were are in the midst of her] in the midst of her are. like fatted bullocks] or, like calves of the stall. no longer Africans, as in the days of Pharaoh-Nechoh (ver. 9), but Ionian and Carian soldiers, who (Herod. II. 163) numbered 30000 and were placed in a fertile district on the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, where they came to merit the description given of them in the text. Hophra had not ventured to send them on his expedition against Cyrene (see note on xliv. 30) but was defeated at their head by Amasis and the troops of the Cyrene expedition, who had mutinied. |