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. 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. 22 23 Because they are more than the grasshoppers, The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; She shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north. The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; they did not stand...was come] It is better to continue the present tense in Eng. they do not stand...is come. and the time] the time. It is only a further explanation of 'the day of their calamity.' 22. The voice thereof shall go like a serpent] The sound of Egypt fleeing away from the enemy shall be like the rustling of a serpent escaping from danger through the thick underwood. they shall march with an army] The enemy shall advance with might, as the last word may also be translated. as hewers of wood] The fact of the Chaldaeans bearing axes would make a deep impression upon the mind of nations like the Jews, who had no such custom. "The battle-axe was a weapon but rarely employed by the Assyrians. It is only in the very latest sculptures, and in a very few instances, that we find axes represented as used by the warriors for any other purpose besides the felling of trees. Where they are seen in use against the enemy, the handle is short, the head somewhat large, and the weapon wielded with one hand." Rawlinson, Anc. Mon. I. 459. 23. her forest] or, her beauty. For this use of the word see note on xxi. 14. though it cannot be searched] We may either with the Eng. Vers. refer these words to the 'forest,' and render in that case, because it is impenetrable, or to the number of the invaders, because it is unsearchable. the grasshoppers] locusts: so rendered in Joel i. 4, where four stages of that animal's existence are represented by as many distinct words in the original. This one seems to denote the second stage of its being. The enemy shall come in like a plague, in a form but too familiar to the people of those countries. 24. shall be confounded] is disgraced. 24 25 26 27 28 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: And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek And into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, 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, 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: 25. the multitude of No] Amon of No, i.e. the chief god worshipped in No (called also No Amon, margin of Nah. iii. 8). The name Amon signified invisible, and hence he was connected with the most spiritual form of Egyptian worship. The Greeks and Romans compared him to Zeus and Jupiter, and hence his name, familiar to us, of Jupiter Ammon. their gods, and their kings] her gods and her kings. After the mention of the chief god, the ruler of the country, and the country itself, the inferior gods and rulers are included collectively in the coming disaster. 'Kings' however may perhaps better be taken of the predecessors of Hophra. all them that trust in him] those Jews who had put their trust in Egypt as a support against Babylon. 26. afterwards it shall be inhabited] The calamity shall after all be but temporary. Peace and prosperity shall come at last. Compare the closing words of the prophecies against Moab (xlviii. 47), Aminon (xlix. 6), Elam (xlix. 39). The words have also, but not with such probability, been rendered shall rest as in the days of old, i.e. shall not be an aggressive power, as in its later days. History does not however justify us in believing that there was any difference between the earlier and the later days of Egypt in this respect. 27, 28. See notes on chap. xxx. 10, 11, where these verses have already occurred in substance; also for the word 'correct' (ver. 28) But I will not make a full end of thee, But correct thee in measure; Yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished. CHAP. XLVII. 1. Introduction to the Prophecy regarding The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the pro- 47 phet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza. 2-7. The Prophecy regarding Philistia. Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, And shall be an overflowing flood, And shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; note on ii. 19. They have probably been introduced here by the prophet as a quotation from the earlier passage, which is one prophetic of the return from exile, in order to shew that if Egypt's troubles were to be but temporary, much more should those of Judah and even of Israel also pass away. CHAP. XLVII. 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE PROPHECY REGARDING PHILISTIA. 1. against the Philistines] concerning the Philistines. before that Pharaoh smote Gaza] With the small amount of accurate historical information which we have relating to those times, this statement is but small help towards determining the date of the prophecy. The main views are, (i) that the Pharaoh is Nechoh, and that he captured Gaza about the same time that he conquered Josiah at Megiddo; (ii) that the reference is to the same king, as having taken Gaza on his way back from the defeat at Carchemish: (iii) that the Pharaoh is Hophra, and that the capture of Gaza was in his expedition against Tyre and Sidon. 2-7. THE PROPHECY REGARDING PHILISTIA. 2. waters rise up] In xlvi. 8 the same figure was used for an army. Compare Is. viii. 7, where the Assyrian army is likened to the floods of the Euphrates. out of the north] the direction in which the Chaldaeans are to be looked for. Compare i. 13, 14. an overflowing flood] a river suddenly swelling up through the effect of the winter rains. 3 4 5 6 Then the men shall cry, And all the inhabitants of the land shall howl. At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, At the rushing of his chariots, And at the rumbling of his wheels, The fathers shall not look back to their children For feebleness of hands; Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, And to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: For the LORD will spoil the Philistines, The remnant of the country of Caphtor. Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley : O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still. 3. strong horses] See note on viii. 16. rushing] rattling, or din. the fathers shall not look back to their children] their terror in the flight shall be so great that a father will not care for his son's safety. 4. every helper that remaineth] in other words the Philistines, the other helpers having been already cut off. the remnant of the country of Caphtor] the few of the Philistine nation that still survive after the wars with Egypt and Assyria, which they had long undergone. Caphtor is spoken of also in Deut. ii. 23; Amos ix. 7, as the origin of the Philistines. Its position is somewhat doubtful. Some identify it with Crete, but more probably it was the Delta of Egypt. The country' is literally the isle, or the sea-coast. 5. Baldness] in token of mourning. See note on xvi. 6. is cut off or is dumb. Either sense belongs to the verb in the Heb. with the remnant of their valley] It is better to omit the with, the remaining words being in apposition to Ashkelon, or possibly, but not so probably, in the vocative and so connected with the words that follow (0 remnant of their valley, how long, etc.). The Septuagint reads the remnant of the Anakim (Numb. xiii. 33; Deut. ii. 10) the old giants, so many of whom belonged to Gath (1 Sam. xvii. 4; 1 Chron. xx. 5-8), that this town may possibly be here meant by that Version. The reading, which has not much in its favour, is got by a slight variation of the Heb. text, as it now stands. How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a 7 charge Against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there hath he appointed it. CHAP. XLVIII. 1-10. Opening of the Prophecy regarding Moab. Against Moab thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of 48 Israel; Woe unto Nebo! for it is spoiled: Kiriathaim is confounded and taken : 7. How can it be quiet] The Heb. verb would admit better of the rendering How canst thou rest? but probably the Eng. Vers. is right, and the original word is not pure Heb. but a dialectic form. CHAP. XLVIII. 1-10. OPENING OF THE PROPHECY REGARDING MOAB. 1. Against Moab] Concerning Moab. See note on xlvi. t. Just as chap. xlix. 7, etc. (concerning Edom) is closely allied to the prophecy of Obadiah (see notes on that verse), so here Jeremiah uses sometimes the substance, sometimes the actual words, of Is. xv., xvi.; Amos ii. 1-3; Zeph. ii. 8-10, together with the earlier warnings uttered by Balaam against Moab (Numb. xxiv. 17). It is however quite likely that Isaiah, Amos, and Jeremiah may have all borrowed the language of other prophets on the same subject. We have no clue to the determination of the date of the prophecy, except that in all probability it was contained in the Roll of chap. xxxvi. As to its fulfilment also the scanty records of the time give us but little information. The Moabites succeeded the Emims on the eastern side of the Dead Sea (Deut. ii. 10). Moab having been dispossessed of the northern part of this territory down to the river Arnon (Numb. xxi. 13) by the Amorites, Israel conquered these latter, and the tribe of Reuben obtained the district (Numb. xxi. 24, etc.). Hence arose the constant hostility between Moab and Israel shewn from the time of Balak onwards (see Judg. iii. 12 etc.; I Sam. xiv. 47; 2 Sam. viii. 2; 2 Kings i. 1, iii. 4, 5, xiii. 20, xiv. 25; 2 Chron. xx. 20-25). For particulars lately brought to light as to the relations between Moab and Israel see Dr Ginsburg's account of the "Moabite Stone." Nebo] not the mountain (Deut. xxxii. 49, xxxiv. 1), but the city in the territory of Reuben (Numb. xxxii. 38). It is spoken of here and in Is. xv. 2 as a Moabite town, having been taken by Mesha king of Moab about 895 B.C. according to the records of the "Moabite stone." Kiriathaim] either the modern Et Teim three miles south of |