The consequences CHAPTER XLIV. B. C. 587. of their idolatry. A. M. 3417. unto her, did we make her cakes to || of the abominations which ye have A. M. 3417. worship her, and pour out drink-committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at this day. B. C. 587. offerings unto her, without our 7 men? 20 Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying, 23 Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day. a 24 Moreover, Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah that are in the land of Egypt: a Dan. ix. 11, 12.b Chap. xliii. 7; Verse 15. that ye burned, &c.—In these verses the prophet shows that they interpreted the dispensations of God's providence toward them in a sense directly contrary to their true intent and meaning. They concluded that their omission of late to burn incense to the queen of heaven was the cause of the calamities which had befallen them; but the prophet shows them that the true cause was, not their leaving off that practice, but their being formerly guilty of it. This their idolatry, with their other sins, did indeed go unpunished a great while: for God was longsuffering toward them, and during the time of his patience it was perhaps, as they said, well with them, and they saw no evil; but at length they became so provoking that, as the prophet tells them, verse 22, the Lord could no longer bear, but began a controversy with them. Upon this, it seems, some of them did in a degree reform their conduct: but their old guilt being uncancelled, and their corrupt inclinations being still the same, God remembered against them the idolatries of their fathers, their kings, and their princes, which they, instead of being ashamed of, gloried in: all these, he intimates, verse 21, came into his mind, with all the abominations which they had committed, verse 22, and all their disobedience to the voice of the Lord, verse 23: all was brought to account; and to punish them for these was their land made a desolation, an astonishment, and a curse, as they saw it to be. Therefore-Not for their late reformation, he assures them, but for their old transgressions, had all that evil happened to them. 21 The incense that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD remember them, and came it not into his mind? 22 So that the LORD could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because 7 Or, husbands.- - Chap. xxv. 11, 18, 38.-2 Verse 6. invasion of Judea and the siege of Jerusalem, with their present state, and argued from their being in prosperity at that time, that they must needs have been then in the right; not considering that it was to be ascribed to the goodness and long-suffering of God waiting for their repentance, as being unwilling to destroy them, or even to bring any great calamity upon them. Besides, though on account of the measure of their iniquity being filled up, they now suffered more grievous calamities than they had ever done before, yet, if they were at all acquainted with the history of former times, they could not but know that idolatry had always brought calamities on their fathers, and that they never were so prosperous as when they worshipped and served Jehovah only. But since we left off, &c., we have wanted all things -This is their last argument in defence of their idolatry, an argument drawn from the evils that had befallen them since they had left off to worship the host of heaven; thus making their ceasing to commit the sin of idolatry the cause of their sufferings, whereas, in truth, the commission of that and their other sins had been the cause of all the calamities to which they had been exposed. And when we burned incense, &c., did we worship her without our men?-Here the women speak, and allege that their husbands had joined with them in offering incense to the host of heaven, and that it was not done without their privity. "By the law of Moses the men had an independnet power of binding themselves by any religious vow or obligation; but the vows of the women were not binding, without Verses 24-28. Jeremiah said, Hear all Judah the knowledge and consent of their fathers and hus- that are in the land of Egypt-That is, all you bands; but if the father or husband knew of the vow, men and women that belong to Judah, and are now and did not signify his dissent at the time, his con- come to dwell in Egypt; ye and your wives have sent was presumed, and the vow stood firm and irre- spoken-The Hebrew word 7, rendered have vocable, Num. xxx. 1-16. This appeal, therefore, to spoken, is of the feminine gender, and implies that the concurrence of their men must be considered as the women were first and principally concerned in coming from the female part of the assembly only, this idolatry, and that the men's guilt lay chiefly in who thereby appear to declare that since they were conniving at them, and suffering themselves to be thus authorized by those who alone had a legal right seduced by them; saying, We will surely perform to control them, they should not submit to any other our vows, &c.-They insist on their unlawful vows restraint upon their inclinations.”—Blaney. as obligations in conscience, which could not be disVerses 20-23. Then Jeremiah said, The incense || pensed with, just as Herod did on his unlawful oath, A prophecy against B. C. 587. B. C. 587. A. M. 3417. 25 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, || sumed by the sword and by the fa- A. M. 3417. the God of Israel, saying; Ye and mine, until there be an end of them. your wives have both spoken with your mouths, 28 Yet ha small number that escape the and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will sword shall return out of the land of Egypt surely perform our vows that we have vowed, into the land of Judah; and all the remnant of to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to to pour out drink-offerings unto her: ye will sojourn there, shall know whose words shall surely accomplish your vows, and surely per-stand, 8 mine, or theirs. form your vows. e 26 Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the LORD, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD liveth. 27 f Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be con e Verse 15. d Gen. xxii. 16.i. 10; xxxi. 28; Ezekiel vii. 6.Isa. xxvii. 13. - Ezek. xx. 39. Chap. - Verse 12. Verse 14; 29 ¶ And this shall be a sign unto B. C. 587. you, saith the LORD, that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil : 30 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, 1I will give Pharaoh-hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave m Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life. i Verses 17, 25, 26.- 8 Heb. from me, or them. Psalm xxxiii. 11. Chap. xlvi. 25, 26; Ezek. xxix. 3, &c.; xxx. 21, &c.- Chap. xxxix. 5. m Matt. xiv. 9: as if, though to burn incense to the when they returned to worship the queen of heaven. queen of heaven were a sin, yet their having vowed God says they shall hereby ruin themselves: and to do it were sufficient to justify them in the doing now the event will show who was in the right. The of it; whereas no man can, by his vow, make that contest between God and sinners is, whose word lawful to himself, much less his duty, which God shall stand, whose will shall be done, who shall had before made sin. Ye will surely accomplish prevail? Sinners say, We shall have peace, though your vows, &c.-You are resolved upon it, and there we go on in sin: God says, Ye shall have no peace. is no moving you from your resolution. Therefore And when God judges, he will overcome: his word hear ye the word of the Lord-Hear what is God's || shall stand, and not the sinner's. resolution. Behold, I have sworn by my great Verses 29, 30. And this shall be a sign unto you name, saith the Lord-I also have made a solemn -Signs are usually antecedent to the thing signified, vow, in opposition to that wicked one of yours, and as Isa. xxxviii. 7; but here, as Exod. iii. 12, Isa. have confirmed it by an oath. I have sworn and|| xxxvii. 30, and Luke ii. 12, the word is taken, in a will not repent: That my name shall no more be larger sense, for a circumstance that should attend named by any man of Judah in the land of Egypt,|| the thing signified. It may be observed, however, &c.-"These Jews seem to have joined the worship that although the destruction of these Jews, and of the true God with that of idols, as the Samaritans that of Pharaoh, were things immediately following did before them, 2 Kings xvii. 33. Thereupon God each other, yet the latter was in order before the declares he will not receive any such polluted wor- other. I will give Pharaoh-hophra into the hand ship at their hands, (compare Ezek. xx. 39,) nor of his enemies-Pharaoh was a name common, in suffer his name to be any longer profaned by such || ancient times, to all the kings of Egypt; but several hypocrites, but will consume them by a sudden and of them had some additional epithet to distinguish general destruction "-Lowth. Behold, I will watch them from the rest. Thus the predecessor of this king over them for evil-God here represents himself as was called Pharaoh-nechoh, 2 Kings xxiii. 29. This one who would be solicitous and industrious to bring || Pharaoh-hophra appears to have been the same evil upon them, as men, who are so in any business, that is called by profane authors Apries; and his unwatch all opportunities for doing it: as if he had fortunate end, in exact conformity with this predicsaid, No opportunity shall be let slip to bring some tion, is particularly related by Herodotus, lib. ii. cap. judgment upon them, until there be an end of them, 169, and by Diodorus Siculus, lib. i. p. 43. and they be quite rooted out. Yet a small number || subjects rebelling, he sent Amasis, one of his genethat escape the sword shall return, &c.—A very|| rals, to reduce them to their duty; but no sooner few, next to none in comparison of the great num- had Amasis begun to make his speech than they fixper that shall return out of the land of the Chal- ed a helmet on his head, and proclaimed him king. deans: see note on verse 14. And all the remnant || Amasis accepted the title, and confirmed the Egypof Judah shall know whose words shall stand, mine tians in their rebellion; and the greater part of the or theirs―They said they should recover themselves || nation declaring for him, Apries was obliged to retire "His The prophet CHAPTER XLV. consoles Baruch. into Upper Egypt; and the country, being thus || ing defeated at Memphis, was taken prisoner, carried weakened by intestine war, was attacked and easily to Sais, and strangled in his own palace; thus veriovercome by Nebuchadnezzar, who, on quitting it,fying this prophecy." See Rollin's Ancient Hist., left Amasis his viceroy. After Nebuchadnezzar's vol. i., and Bishop Newton on the Prophecies, vol. departure, Apries marched against Amasis, but, be- i. p. 362. CHAPTER XLV. This chapter, though placed at a considerable distance from it, is evidently an appendage to chap. xxxvi. Baruch, as we there learn, had been employed by Jeremiah, as his amanuensis, to write a collection of all those dreadful threatenings which God had denounced by his mouth. This seems to have affected his spirits, and to have alarmed his fears to such a degree, that God judged it proper to encourage and comfort him by letting him know that, although amidst the general calamities of his country he ought not to look for any great matters for himself, yet, in consideration of his services, his own life should be preserved to him by a special providence, in all places to which it might be his lot to go, 1–5. B. C. 607. b B. C. 607. A. M. 3397. THE word that Jeremiah the pro-|| in my sighing, and I find no rest. A. M. 3397. phet spake unto Baruch the son 4 Thus shalt thou say unto him, The of Neriah, when he had written these words in LORD saith thus; Behold, that which I have a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth built will I break down, and that which I have year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. Judah, saying, 5 And seekest thou great things for thyself? 2 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, seek them not: for behold, I will bring evil unto thee, O Baruch; upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto theed for a prey in all places whither thou goest. 3 Thou didst say, Wo is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted a Chap. xxxvi. 1, 4, 32.b Isa. v. 5.- - Chap. xxv. 26. NOTES ON CHAPTER XLV. Verse 1. The word that Jeremiah spake unto Baruch when he had written, &c.-"This seems to indicate that the exact time of the uttering of this prophecy was between the writing and the publication of the roll. And, perhaps, if Baruch had not received such special assurances of protection, he might not have had resolution enough to have followed the prophet's further directions, and to have read first before all the people, and afterward before the princes, what he had written.”—Blaney. с d Chap. xxi. 9; xxxviii. 2; xxxix. 18. people which have so long flourished under the peculiar care of my providence I resolve now to give up to utter destruction: see chap. xxxi. 28. And seekest thou great things for thyself?-Dost thou aspire to honour, dignity, and prosperity, or expect to be exempted from adversity and trouble in a time of great and common calamity? Seek them notNever think of any thing of the kind; for, behold, I bring evil on all flesh-Upon the whole country where thou livest, and upon all orders and degrees of men therein. But thy life will I give unto thee Verses 3-5. Thou didst say, Wo is me now, &c. for a prey-Thy life shall be preserved, but under -"The sorrows which I felt for the threatenings such circumstances that thou shalt have reason to denounced against my country and religion are in- look on thyself as peculiarly indebted to the divine creased by my own troubles, being sought after by providence for so singular and extraordinary a fathe king's command in order to be put to death:"||vour. See note on chapter xxi. 9, where the same see chap. xxxvi. 26. The Lord saith, That which proverbial expression occurs, and is further exI have built will I break down, &c.-The land and || plained. CHAPTER XLVI. This chapter contains two prophecies against Egypt: the first fulfilled immediately after the publication; the other about thirty-four years after. To be more particular: We have here, (1,) A prediction of the defeat of Pharaoh-necho's army, notwithstanding their pompous preparations and sanguine expectations, by the Chaldean forces at Carchemish on the Euphrates, 1-12. (2,) A prophecy of the invasion and conquest of Egypt, by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar, who should fill the country with terror and confusion, murder its inhabitants, and render it desolate for forty years, 13–26. (3,) A word of comfort is given to the Israel of God in the midst of these calamilies, 27, 28. Jeremiah predicts the defeat B. 607. JEREMIAH. A. M. 3397. THE word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles; a of the Egyptian army. d B. C. 607. 5 Wherefore have I seen them dis- A. M. 3397. mayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are 2 Against Egypt, against the army of Pha-2 fled apace, and look not back: for fear was raoh-necho king of Egypt, which was by the round about, saith the LORD. river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah. с 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 fas a flood, 3 Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw whose waters are moved as the rivers? 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. a Chapter xxv. 15.-b 2 Kings xxxiii. 29; 2 Chronicles Xxxv. 29; fulfilled presently.- c So Chap. li. 11, 12; Nah. ii. 1; iii. 14. NOTES ON CHAPTER XLVI. || 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. Euphrates, waiting to oppose the entrance of Nebuchadnezzar into Syria, that this prophecy was delivered, namely, as is here said, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. The two armies came to an engage ment near the city of Carchemish, and the event of the battle proved very disastrous to the Egyptians, who were routed with prodigious slaughter, as is here foretold by the prophet in a very animated style, and with great poetic energy and liveliness of colouring. Verse 1. The word of the Lord which came to when the Egyptian army lay along the banks of the Jeremiah against the Gentiles-This is a general|| title to the collection of prophecies contained in this and the five following chapters, and refers to the denunciation of God's judgments upon the countries round about Judea, namely, those of whom an enumeration is made chap. xxv. 19-25. To some of these prophecies the date is annexed; in others it is left uncertain. It is evident they were not all delivered at the same time, and they seem to be here out of their proper place. In the Vatican and Alexandrian copies of the Septuagint, they follow immediately after chap. xxv. 13, where express mention is made of the book which Jeremiah had prophesied against all the nations; which book is contained in this and the following chapters. It seems those who collected Jeremiah's writings judged proper, without confining themselves to the order of time, to join together all those prophecies which || respected the Gentile nations, and were not immediately connected with the affairs of the Jews. Verse 2. Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh necho-Pharaoh-necho was king of Egypt in Josiah's time, and it was by his army that Josiah was killed at Megiddo, as is related 2 Kings xxiii. 29, where see the note. That army was then marching under the conduct of Necho against the Medes and Babylonians, who, having by the capture of Nineveh destroyed the Assyrian empire, had become formidable to the neighbouring states. Josiah opposed it in its march through the country, but was defeated, and received a wound in the battle which proved mortal. Necho continued his march after this victory, defeated the Babylonians, took Carchemish,|| and securing it with a strong garrison, returned into his own country. Nabopolassar, the king of Babylon, observing that all Syria and Palestine had revoited on account of the reduction of Carchemish by the Egyptians, sent his son Nebuchadnezzar with an army to retake that city, and recover the revolted provinces. Necho marched with a powerful army Verses 3-6. Order ye the buckler, &c.—In these verses the mighty preparations of the Egyptians for war are described, which causes the prophet, who foresees the defeat, to express, as he does in the next two verses, "his astonishment at an event so contrary to what might have been expected; but he accounts for it by ascribing it to the disposition of the Almighty, who had spread terror all around, and had decreed that neither swiftness nor strength should avail the owners so as to save them from the impending overthrow."-Blaney. I have seen them dismayed and turned back-God had, in a vision, shown Jeremiah the army of the Egyptians discomfited and fleeing; and their mighty ones-Their most powerful warriors and valiant commanders; are beaten down, and are fled apace-Either fall in the battle, or flee away as fast as they can; for fear is round about-A panic fear hath seized the whole army. Let not the swift flee away-Let them not be able to escape from those that pursue them, but be either killed or taken. They shall stumble, &c., toward the north by the river Euphrates-Which was northward from Egypt, and even from Judea: so Babylon is described as lying northward, being situate upon that river. Verses 7-10. Who is this that cometh up as a flood-Here the king of Egypt is compared to a mighty river, the Nile, or the Euphrates, when it swells above its banks, and threatens to overwhelm the country with ruin and desolation. And he saith, The prophet foretels B. C. 607. B. C. 607. A. M. 3397. 9 Come up, ye horses; and rage, || virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain A. M. 3397. ye chariots; and let the mighty men shalt thou use many medicines; for come forth: 3 the Ethiopians and the Libyans, thou shalt not be cured. 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. 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 Mig 11 1Go up into Gilead, and take balm, "O dol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: 3 Heb. Cush.- 4 Heb. Put.- Isa. lxvi. 19.- -h Isa. xiii. 6; Joel i. 15; ii. 1.- -i Deut. xxxii. 42; Isa. xxxiv. 6.kIsa. xxxiv. 6; Zeph. i. 7; Ezek. xxxix. 17. 1 Chap. viii. 22; li. 8.- -m Isaiah xlvii. 1.- 5 Heb. no cure shall be unto thee. Ezek. xxx. 21.- - Isa. xix. 1; Chapter xliii. 10, 11; Ezek. xxix.; xxx.; xxxii.; fulfilled about 571. 2,) and did not apprehend itself to be in any danger of being conquered. The nations have heard of thy shame-Of thy armies being shamefully beaten and running away; for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty-When an army is once broken and disordered, multitudes are a hinderance one to another, and one part helps to destroy another. Thus the prophet concludes the first prophecy against Egypt, or, as he expresses it, the daughter of Egypt, by an apostrophe to her, ad is pronounced incurable, and disgrace universally known; forasmuch as the number of her warriors served only to augment the general disorder, and more effectually to destroy each other. I will go up, and will cover the earth-With my Egypt was grown great by her conquests, particunumerous armies; I will destroy the city-Carche-larly by the former battle at Carchemish, (see verse mish or Babylon; and the inhabitants thereof— Who shall not be able to withstand the powerful force I bring against them. Thus the prophet represents him as beginning his march with all the ostentation and insolence of presumed success. Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots, &c.— Here he is exhibited calling aloud to the nations of which his army is composed, giving them the signal for action, and rousing them to deeds of desperate valour; but all in vain: for the time is come for God to avenge himself of his ancient foes: they are doom-dressing her as a conquered nation, whose wound ed to slaughter, to fall a bloody sacrifice on the plains of the north. For, adds the prophet, verse 10, this is the day of the Lord God of hosts-That is, as it follows, the day of his vengeance. Hence, the day of the Lord is used in the New Testament to signify Verse 13. The word that the Lord spake, &c.— the day of judgment, of which all other days of Here begins the second prophecy against Egypt, the vengeance are the earnests and forerunners. That exact time of the delivery of which we have no he may avenge himself of his adversaries-Of the means of ascertaining; but the desolation foretold idols of Egypt and their worshippers: the Egyp-in it is undoubtedly the same with that predicted by tians were some of the first idolaters, and carried || Ezekiel, chaps. xxix., xxx., xxxi., xxxii. And this idolatry to its greatest height. And the sword shall devour, it shall be satiate, &c.-These metapho- || rical expressions signify the very great slaughter which would be made at that time in the Egyptian army. For the Lord God hath a sacrifice, &c.The slaughter of men in battle, which is by way of punishment for their sins, is called a sacrifice to God, because it makes some kind of satisfaction and atonement to the divine justice. See the margin. came to pass in the twenty-seventh year of Jehoiachin's captivity, that is, the sixteenth year after the destruction of Jerusalem, as may be collected from Ezek. xxix. 17, where Nebuchadnezzar's army is spoken of as having at that time suffered a great deal at the siege of Tyre; on which account the spoils of Egypt are promised them for their wages and indemnification: and the promise was accordingly made good that same year.—Jos. Ant., lib. x. cap. 9. Verses 11, 12. Go up into Gilead, and take balm || -Gilead was famous for producing balm and such Verses 14, 15. Publish in Migdol, and in Noph, like healing gums: see note on chap. viii. 22. The and Tahpanhes-Concerning these three cities, see prophet, alluding to the custom of men's going note on ch. xliv. 1. The meaning is, publish this prothither for relief in dangerous infirmities, ironically phecy over all the land of Egypt; or these three advises the Egyptians to try all the methods they places are named, because in them the Jews, who can think of to prevent that destruction that threat- went into Egypt with Johanan, were chiefly settled. ened them, but he signifies that all their endeavours Say, Stand fast, and prepare thee-Prepare for would be in vain. Compare chap. li. 8. O virgin, war, and resolve to keep your ground, and not yield the daughter of Egypt-Those cities or countries to the enemy: compare verses 2, 3. For the sword are called virgins which were never conquered. | shall devour round about thee-The nations are de |
