Jeremiah 46: 1 – 28
God proposes, Man disposes then God re-composes
1 The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations. 2 Against Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates in Carchemish, and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: 3 “Order the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle! 4 Harness the horses, and mount up, you horsemen! Stand forth with your helmets, polish the spears, put on the armor. 5 Why have I seen them dismayed and turned back? Their mighty ones are beaten down; They have speedily fled, and did not look back, for fear was all around,” says the LORD. 6 “Do not let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; They will stumble and fall toward the north, by the River Euphrates. 7 “Who is this coming up like a flood, whose waters move like the rivers? 8 Egypt rises up like a flood, and its waters move like the rivers; And he says, ‘I will go up and cover the earth, I will destroy the city and its inhabitants. 9 Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots! And let the mighty men come forth: The Ethiopians and the Libyans who handle the shield, and the Lydians who 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 Himself on His adversaries. The sword shall devour; It shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood; For the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice in the north country by the River Euphrates. 11 “Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt; In vain you will use many medicines; You shall not be cured. 12 The nations have heard of your shame, and your cry has filled the land; For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty; They both have fallen together.” 13 The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon would come and strike the land of Egypt. 14 “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol; Proclaim in Noph and in Tahpanhes; Say, ‘Stand fast and prepare yourselves, for the sword devours all around you.’ 15 Why are your valiant men swept away? They did not stand because the LORD drove them away. 16 He made many fall; Yes, one fell upon another. And they said, ‘Arise! Let us go back to our own people and to the land of our nativity from the oppressing sword.’ 17 They cried there, ‘Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise. He has passed by the appointed time!’ 18 “As I live,” says the King, Whose name Is the LORD of hosts, “Surely as Tabor is among the mountains and as Carmel by the sea, so he shall come. 19 O you daughter dwelling in Egypt, prepare yourself to go into captivity! For Noph shall be waste and desolate, without inhabitant. 20 “Egypt is a very pretty heifer, but destruction comes, it comes from the north. 21 Also her mercenaries are in her midst like fat bulls, for they also are turned back, they have fled away together. They did not stand, for the day of their calamity had come upon them, the time of their punishment. 22 Her noise shall go like a serpent, for they shall march with an army and come against her with axes, like those who chop wood. 23 “They shall cut down her forest,” says the LORD, “Though it cannot be searched, because they are innumerable, and more numerous than grasshoppers. 24 The daughter of Egypt shall be ashamed; She shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.” 25 The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will bring punishment on Amon[fn] of No, and Pharaoh and Egypt, with their gods and their kings—Pharaoh and those who trust in him. 26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of his servants. Afterward it shall be inhabited as in the days of old,” says the LORD. 27 “But do not fear, O My servant Jacob, and do not be dismayed, O Israel! For behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity; Jacob shall return, have rest and be at ease; No one shall make him afraid. 28 Do not fear, O Jacob My servant,” says the LORD, “For I am with you; For I will make a complete end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but I will not make a complete end of you. I will rightly correct you, for I will not leave you wholly unpunished.”
A famous statement is ‘Man proposes but God disposes.’ The general idea is that we humans can make whatever plans we want, but in the end, God is the one who decides what happens.
The plans we make often turn out very differently than we intended. God’s hand is always engaged in human affairs, guiding and directing us toward a path that God would have us take when our own plans fail.
Those who devote their lives to what is good and right from a spiritual perspective will look to God for guidance, and willingly follow the path God lays out for them as they understand it.
I think a more accurate description of this statement is that ‘God proposes, but man disposes, and God then re-composes.’
Because the fact is, we humans dispose of much of what God proposes for our happiness and wellbeing. Our Holy Creator God then has a recycling job to do. (And you thought us human beings came up with the idea of ‘recycling’)
Our Holy Father God does have a purpose and a plan for each one of us. If it were not so, we would not be walking this earth. God does not waste energy creating things that have no use. This especially includes people. So if you’re alive and breathing, God created you for a reason.
What, specifically, God created you for, I can only guess? You’ll have to figure it out for yourself. That’s one of the main reasons we’ve been given a lifetime here on earth: to figure out the purpose of our life and get the initial training and practice required to carry it out. This involves not only gaining the basic knowledge and understanding required for our life’s work, but also developing the character required to do it.
So let us ask our Holy God what He desires of us. He tells us His proposal through the prophet Micah in chapter 6 of his book, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”
Three simple things to do, can you do these? He Is so loving that the first two are relative to how we treat others.
You’ll find that there is no greater fulfillment than doing something for another person because we love them and care about them and see that they are treated justly. Mercy comes along with this desire and helps us do this act for them.
The second is that we walk humbly with our God. In the book of James chapter 4 we are instructed to “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”
Unfortunately, we humans often have a very different idea of what life is all about. The sad truth is, we humans have disposed of much of what God proposed for our life.
Why don’t we just accept God’s proposal? It’s a pretty good one, isn’t it? If we did it God’s way, we could all be fairly happy most of the time. So why do we mess things up so badly instead?
The answer really isn’t all that hard to find out. Ever since the Fall of our grandparents Adam and Eve we humans have tended to focus more on ourselves and the material world than on God and our fellow human beings.
The worst evils of humankind come when we put ourselves ahead of everyone else. What I’m talking about is loving ourselves exclusively, and not caring about anyone else except as they serve us.
When we are driven primarily by this type of selfishness, we desire all others to serve us, and we believe that their only purpose is to serve us. Therefore, exclusive self-love is inextricably linked with a desire to have power over other people, and to dominate them.
So our Holy God has given us simple proposals in order to live a good life. Then due to our sinful nature (we fight the world, the flesh, and the devil) we dispose of his ways. Our Holy God sees and knows all things and that when we humans have disposed of God’s proposals, and created a world and a life full of greed, domination, oppression, self-indulgence, narcissism, crime, and all the pain and suffering these human evils create, what does He do about it?
God will not force us to be good. Are you expecting God to literally come and destroy all the evil and bring about peace and love on the earth all in one fell swoop?
Nope! Forget about it. It’s not going to happen. People who believe this way are misreading and misunderstanding the Bible—which is really talking about a spiritual renovation of humanity that God is accomplishing from within.
But that renovation, or re-composing, happens only when we are ready to let God back into our lives, and try it God’s way once again.
So, God lets us try it our way first. Most of the time, that’s the only way we’ll learn that the way of selfishness, striving for more and more money, and seeking more and more pleasures actually leads us to a sad, broken, and depressing life. And the reason they do is that in getting all these things for ourselves, we discard and push away the only thing that does give us deep and lasting happiness: living in a community, small or large, of other people in an atmosphere of mutual love, understanding, and service.
God lets us try it our way first. Unfortunately, some of us never learn. We go right on seeking and striving for money, power, pleasure, and everything else this world has to offer, and find our only pleasure in the effort to get more and more of it for ourselves.
But many of us, after trying that life out for a while, do finally come to our senses. We discover that the things we thought would make us happy do not make us happy. If we then do come to our senses, we may finally be ready to accept God’s proposal.
This is when God re-composes the mess we have made of God’s plans and purposes for our lives.
God uses our evil for good. God will never force us to do it God’s way. But God will also never give up on us, never stop loving us, and never stop reaching out to us. When we are ready, God is ready and waiting to take the rubble of our lives and build it into something better than we ever imagined.
In today’s chapter we find that the opening statement ‘word of YHWH’ is ‘against the Gentiles’. Thus it may well have in mind the whole of what is to follow in chapters 46-51 as Jeremiah prophesies concerning God’s dealings with the nations, revealing His overall sovereignty. The point was that what was being described would be brought about by the effective and powerful word of YHWH. When YHWH speaks it is done.
It should be noted that these prophecies were not spoken to the nations, but to Judah/Israel. The words were an indication to them that YHWH was in control of world events, and a warning to them against trusting in any of these failing nations. They were no more secure than Judah was. And they were also an assurance to them that God had not overlooked what Judah had suffered at their hands and would deal with them accordingly.
This chapter will then be followed by the conclusion in chapter 52, which closes the prophecy by outlining the taking of Jerusalem and the blinding and exile of Zedekiah, gives information about the different exiles that took place, and describes the restoration to honor of King Jehoachin by Evil-merodach. Most of this is paralleled in 2 Kings 24.18-25.30. The purpose of the conclusion is to end the prophecy with an indication of hope, and especially of the commencement of the process by which the final son of David will take his throne. It emphasizes that the Davidic house is still a part of the purposes of God.
In Isaiah and Ezekiel, where there are similar large and specific collections of prophecies against foreign nations, such prophecies follow oracles proclaimed against Israel and/or Judah, and in Isaiah’s case prophecies concerning the Coming King, but they also precede many oracles speaking of Israel's restoration. Such oracles against foreign nations also appear in other prophets as well. We may consider not only the collections in Isaiah 13-23, Ezekiel 25-32, but also those in Amos 1-2 and Zephaniah 2.2-15, all of which underline the fact that God’s concern is with all nations, something also brought out in the Book of Jonah. But the Book of Jeremiah uniquely places these prophecies against foreign nations at the end of the book, presumably in order to indicate that in all things God will have the last word, not only with His chosen nation, but with all nations. It is a salutary reminder that it is not only His own people who will be called to account. Indeed, we should note that from the beginning Jeremiah was called on to prophesy against all the nations (1.10). Thus, here that promise is being fulfilled. It is also possible that in his view what happened to the nations would be a postscript to what was to happen to Israel/Judah. They also would not escape YHWH’s notice. It was not only God’s people who would be subject to judgment.
The prophecies appear partly to have geographical indications in mind, commencing with Egypt in the South West, and Philistia (and Tyre and Sidon - 47.4) in the West and North West, and moving on to the neighboring nations in the east, Moab, Ammon and Edom. They then deal with Damascus in the north, the Arab nations in the remote east, and Elam in the far north, before finishing up with the prophecy against Babylon in the north. This fact that the prophets of Israel and Judah gave oracles about other nations reflects Yahweh's sovereignty over the whole earth and demonstrates YHWH’s government and oversight over the whole world. It is noteworthy that apart from in the case of Babylon this oversight is not directly related to any activity by these nations against Israel/Judah. What is remarkable is rather the matter of accuracy of the prophecies. Apart from in the case of Babylon there is no reference to their being vengeance for acts performed against Israel. Rather they are simply a reminder that all nations will be called to account because of what they are, and that none can finally be relied on by Judah. The message is that only in YHWH is there future hope for any of them. By common scholarly consensus, these chapters contain some of the finest Hebrew poetry in the Old Testament.
We may ask ourselves, why should such prophecies be included in the word of God. What message do they have for us today? The answer is clear. They are a reminder that all nations and all men will be called on to give account of themselves to God, and that God does it on a just basis. They are a reminder that God is the sovereign Lord over all nations, and they are an indication that no nation, however powerful, will last forever unless specially preserved by God. They indicate further that He is the Lord of history, calling all to account. As we read through these chapters therefore, they should bring home to us the fact that God takes sin seriously, something which includes our own sins if they are not fully repented of. They indicate that if we treat God and His word lightly we should not be surprised if it inevitably results in unpleasant repercussions.
We may summarize some of the lessons learned from this section as follows:
1). God is sovereign over all nations.
2). God will call all nations and people into account. None can assume that they will be overlooked.
3). God will judge all peoples in accordance with the moral principles revealed in His covenant. Such moral principles are universal.
4). These prophecies are an indication of how God works in history, using one nation to punish another, and then punishing that nation for its own sins at the hands of others, and so on. They indicate the tide of history, and that God is the Lord of history.
5). They reveal the powerful effectiveness of God’s ‘powerful word’ in reaching out to the nations (even though they did not at the time know it) and bringing about His purposes.
6). They bring out that even in the worst moments and in the worst of circumstances there is hope ahead for those who look to Him.
One important lesson comes out in respect to all this, and that is that it brings out how we are to see God’s activity in history. All that is described in Jeremiah’s prophecies resulted from the outworking of the activities of nations against each other as man revealed his inhumanity to man. None of those nations even dreamed that what was happening to them resulted from ‘the word of YHWH’, but Jeremiah assures us that it was so. And yet we can look back and see how it all developed ‘naturally’, and our historians can describe it without even bringing in God as a factor. So, while the tide of history is seen by the prophets as being under the control of God, we must also recognize that it moves forward as a direct result of man’s activity. The judgments of history be being the result of the outworking of history as man reveals himself for what he is. Thus, God is not to be seen as to blame for the cruelties revealed in that history. Those cruelties are simply the result of ‘man’s inhumanity to man’.
But what Scripture does unequivocally reveal is that in the last analysis behind all that happens is the hand of God. And if God is the sovereign Creator that is in fact inevitable, unless we assume that He simply withdraws from the situation. The point is that having created the world He continues to sustain it (Colossians 1.15-17; Hebrews 1.1-3). And that involves His influencing the way that history develops. But in all this God’s sovereignty and man’s freewill are moving forward hand in hand. That is why some Scripture writers can describe God as being behind all that happens and can describe even the most horrific things as resulting from His activity. This is because they are seeing God as the ‘overall Cause’ of everything. But this is then enhanced by other parts of Scripture which bring out a different aspect of things. A good example of this is found when the writer of Samuel describes David’s ‘numbering of Israel’ as resulting from God’s initiative, in contrast with the writer of Chronicles who points out that it really resulted from Satan’s initiative. This would not be a contradiction. The point is that in 1 Chronicles 21.1 the Chronicler is looking at the detail of history, the flow of events, and the forces that directly lay behind it, whilst the writer in 2 Samuel 24.1 is in contrast seeing all from the angle of God’s sovereignty over all things. He sees the ‘flow of events’ as being all under God’s supervision and control. So, in his view had God not specifically allowed Satan a free rein it could not have happened. Thus, he rightly draws our attention to the fact that it was all within God’s purposes. But we would be wrong to assume from this that every detail resulted directly from God’s positive intention and initiative. Rather He used the activity of Satan in the fulfilment of His final purpose, that of dealing with David’s sin. In a freewill world it was inevitable that such things would happen, but they were not outside God’s overall control. On the other hand, He was not ‘to blame’ for them, except in the sense that He created man’s free will and allowed it free rein even when He did not like the consequences. In the end it was man who was responsible for the evil of the situation.
1 The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations.
Here we have an indication of what this final main section is all about. It deals with YHWH’s ‘powerful word’ against all the nations which were affecting Judah/Israel at that time. It indicated that YHWH’s judgment would be active against such nations. It must be remembered that during the time of Jeremiah’s prophecies following Josiah’s death in 609 BC, Babylon was the dominant nation in the ancient Near Eastern world, and we therefore learn from these prophecies how their tentacles would embrace all the nations round about, bringing YHWH’s judgment on them. None would escape their attention. But the final important point is that in the end Babylon itself would succumb, overtaken by judgment from the north. In contrast God’s people would arise triumphantly from the ashes. Jeremiah’s message was thus that against all appearances it was to be recognized that God was still in control.
There are two oracles concerning Egypt. The first deals with the rout of the Egyptian armies at Carchemish as Nebuchadnezzar began to take over that part of the world (605 BC) after a lull following the final defeat of the Assyrians. At that stage, after a further rout at Hamath, Egypt were driven back to their own borders. The second deals with Nebuchadnezzar’s ‘invasion’ of Egypt in a punitive expedition which occurred decades later.
The importance of this prophesy to a people reeling under the unexpected death of their good and godly king Josiah, and who now consequently found themselves under tribute to Egypt, with their king held hostage, is clear. It was an indication that God had taken note of affairs and would eventually punish Egypt accordingly.
Yet while it may well be that Jeremiah had seen this defeat as punishment of Egypt for their behavior towards Judah/Israel, both in bringing about the death of Josiah and in its aftermath, it is noteworthy that he does not draw this out in the prophecy. Rather it is simply a poetically inspired statement of what happened to the Egyptians. As we know from earlier, in 609 BC the Egyptian army had moved up the Coastal Plain to the aid of an Assyria which was on its last legs against a Medo-Babylonian invasion, with a view to stemming the rising Babylonian power. It was in seeking to interfere in this that Josiah lost his life. Having defeated Josiah’s army the Egyptians then moved on, and although not arriving in time to succor the Assyrians, took possession of all the lands from their own borders right up to Carchemish in the north, meanwhile taking Josiah’s heir, Jehoahaz as a hostage to Egypt and replacing him with Jehoiakim. They were able to sustain this position for a time because Nebuchadnezzar’s attention, as commander-in-chief of his father’s armies was taken up elsewhere. But once those problems had been dealt with Nebuchadrezzar addressed the situation and totally humiliated the Egyptian army, first at Carchemish and then at Hamath, driving Egypt back to its own borders. Babylon then took over Egypt’s fleeting ‘empire’, including Judah.
2 Against Egypt. Concerning the army of Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, which was by the River Euphrates in Carchemish, and which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:
The oracle is stated to be in respect of the defeat by Nebuchadnezzar of the Egyptian army of Pharaoh-Neco, which had its headquarters at Carchemish near the Euphrates. This was the very army which had slain Josiah. This took place in 605 BC. In consequences the new Egyptian ‘empire’ had lasted for only four years. It is noteworthy that in what follows there is no description of the battle. It is not history as such. The idea is rather to bring out that after their proud preparations, carried out in such expectancy, they were totally routed and humiliated. Man proposes, but God disposes.
The prophecy commences with a vivid picture of preparation for battle, as the Egyptian army prepared to face the enemy. Some see in this the Babylonian preparations, but the whole context appears to have in mind the Egyptians.
3 “Order the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle! 4 Harness the horses, and mount up, you horsemen! Stand forth with your helmets, polish the spears, put on the armor.
How proudly the Egyptian army would have prepared itself. They dressed both their large (rectangular or oval) and small (usually round) shields, they prepared to advance onto the battlefield, they harnessed their chariots and mounted their horses, they put on their leather helmets ready for battle, their infantrymen prepared their spears and donned their ‘coats of mail’ (possibly made up of metal strips attached to their jerkins). They were so sure of themselves as they stood forth and drew near to do battle with the Babylonians and their allies.
In deliberately stark contrast we are now given the picture of this once proud army fleeing in tatters. It is as though it was written by an onlooker behind the lines who had observed with awe the initial preparations and advance, and now saw the same army streaming back in desperate and terror-stricken flight.
5 Why have I seen them dismayed and turned back? Their mighty ones are beaten down; They have speedily fled, and did not look back, for fear was all around,” says the LORD.
‘What have I seen concerning it?’ The observer is astonished at what he sees. What could have caused this turnaround? For he now describes what follows the advance of the proud army. Its total humiliation. What follows is a picture of total defeat. The Egyptian army is no longer proud. They are filled with dismay and turn backwards, their mighty men are beaten down, all flee hastily not daring to look back, and all is terror. They are the remnants of an army fleeing in tatters. And all this in accordance with the prophetic word of YHWH, which both prophesied it and brought it about.
The Babylonians are commanded to ensure that their victory is complete, and that due judgment is visited on the Egyptians. All is under God’s control.
6 “Do not let the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; They will stumble and fall toward the north, by the River Euphrates.
The victorious army is seen as under YHWH’s direction. They are commanded to prevent the elite of the Egyptian army from escaping. They are to prevent the swift from fleeing way, and to prevent the mighty men from making their escape. The victory, and the judgment, must be complete. There must be no opportunity for them to reform and fight again. And so, it was. For in the North, by the River Euphrates, the Egyptian army stumbled and fell.
It was not what proud Egypt had expected. They had come up from Egypt with all confidence, a confidence seemingly justified by their establishment of their (brief) empire.
7 “Who is this coming up like a flood, whose waters move like the rivers? 8 Egypt rises up like a flood, and its waters move like the rivers; And he says, ‘I will go up and cover the earth, I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.
This consequence was far from what the Egyptians had foreseen. They had seen themselves in terms of the all-conquering Nile. When the Nile flooded its banks, everything gave way before it, and it formed rivers which swept all before them. Thus, the Egyptian army saw themselves in a similar way. They too would cross their borders triumphantly, and all would give way before them. And their Pharaoh’s boast was that he and his army would cover the earth, and would destroy cities with their inhabitants. None would stand before them.
But YHWH saw things differently. The Egyptian Army was composed largely of mercenaries, experienced warriors from many nations. They appeared invincible. But they are now called on to be aware that it is a day of YHWH’s judgment. Thus while they may go forth proudly, they are to recognize that His sword will drink of their blood, while they themselves are to become a sacrifice offered up to Him. Without being aware of it the Egyptians are offering themselves up to YHWH.
9 Come up, O horses, and rage, O chariots! And let the mighty men come forth: The Ethiopians and the Libyans who handle the shield, and the Lydians who 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 Himself on His adversaries. The sword shall devour; It shall be satiated and made drunk with their blood; For the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice in the north country by the River Euphrates.
The army is efficient and well prepared, containing horsemen, and chariots, and mighty men. The North Africans from Sudan and Libya are experienced in armed warfare, while the Ludim are expert bowmen. Ludim possibly refers to Lydians, although North Africans may be in mind (Genesis 10.13). Certainly Egyptian mercenaries would include Greeks and Jews. But despite their expertise they have no hope, for it is the Day of YHWH’s vengeance, possibly for the death of Josiah, but equally possibly because they had pretensions against Palestine and were thus YHWH’s adversaries. Thus, it is in the end His sword, as contained in the swords of their enemies, which will smite them, and they will become a sacrificial offering made to Him, offered in Gentile territory.
11 “Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt; In vain you will use many medicines; You shall not be cured. 12 The nations have heard of your shame, and your cry has filled the land; For the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty; They both have fallen together.”
The prophecy ends with a warning that there is no cure for their ills. There is an irony in the fact that Egypt, in which the people of Judah/Israel had taken refuge, is itself seen as seeking to Israel for its healing. Gilead (east of Jordan) was famous for its healing balms, but such would be their wounds that it would offer them no hope. Indeed, news of their rout would go out among the nations, and their despairing cry would be heard by all men, for so devastating would be their situation that even their mighty men, their champions, would be falling over each other and finally collapsing together.
The idea of a virgin daughter may be of one well-protected and seemingly invulnerable. But it is being made clear that she is in fact vulnerable, in that she will be looking to Gilead for healing balms.
This prophecy here has in mind a much later excursion of Nebuchadnezzar against Egypt (568/7 BC), no doubt angered by Egypt’s constant interference in Palestine. It was not so much a full-scale invasion, as a massive punitive expedition.
Nebuchadnezzar threatened the Egyptian border a number of times. He had advanced on Egypt after Carchemish (605/4 BC), but had had to return to Babylon on the death of his father so as to secure his own position. In 604 BC he advanced on Ashkelon (47.7), something which must have caused tremors in Egypt. He had again advanced with a large army in 601 BC only to fight an indecisive battle on the Egyptian borders with heavy losses on both sides, something which demonstrated the renewed strength of the Egyptians. As a result of the heavy losses on both sides, Nebuchadnezzar withdrew to Babylon in order to regroup, and henceforth Egypt kept to its borders and was left alone (2 Kings 24.7). This situation altered when the Egyptian army advanced to aid Zedekiah in 587 BC, something from which it hastily turned back when it was faced with the Babylonian forces. Whether there was a battle we do not know, but it was certainly an indication of renewed Egyptian interest in Palestine, and of activities which were anti-Babylon. Thus Nebuchadnezzar’s final action against Egypt which is now described was probably in response to later renewed Egyptian activity. It is referred to by Jeremiah in 43.8-13.
13 The word that the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon would come and strike the land of Egypt.
As previously noted the reference is to Nebuchadnezzar’s later foray on Egypt. The Jews felt safe in Egypt under the protecting hand of Pharaoh. It probably seemed incredible to them that anyone would invade Egypt. But it would happen in accordance with ‘the word of YHWH’.
14 “Declare in Egypt, and proclaim in Migdol; Proclaim in Noph and in Tahpanhes; Say, ‘Stand fast and prepare yourselves, for the sword devours all around you.’
The call goes out to the northern cities of Egypt which had received the Jewish refugees to prepare for a coming invasion, and for much slaughter. The border defenses would prove insufficient to hold back the Babylonians, and they were to experience Nebuchadnezzar’s punitive measures in full as all the areas around them were devastated.
What Memphis and Tahpanhes had done to Judah would now rebound on themselves, and because Judah had chosen to settle among them they would have their part in it.
15 Why are your valiant men swept away? They did not stand because the LORD drove them away. 16 He made many fall; Yes, one fell upon another. And they said, ‘Arise! Let us go back to our own people and to the land of our nativity from the oppressing sword.’ 17 They cried there, ‘Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise. He has passed by the appointed time!’
Once again YHWH’s sovereignty over all nations, even the greatest, is emphasized. The Egyptian mercenaries would find themselves unable to resist the Babylonian invaders. Their most powerful forces would be swept away. And why would this be? It would be because YHWH was on the side of the Babylonians and was thus forcing the Egyptian mercenaries to flee. The reason that they would not be able to stand would be because it would be YHWH Himself Who drove them onwards, and to such good effect that they would stumble on their way and would even fall over one another in their desire to escape. In consequence they would decide to cease being mercenaries and would return to the countries from which they had come, to their birthplace, to Cush, Put and Lud (46.9), to escape ‘the oppressing sword’.
And as they fled they would mouth their disdain of the one whom they had served as mercenaries, declaring Pharaoh to be but a boaster, ‘a noise’, one who boasted about his own greatness and made claims and promises that he could not fulfil.
‘Why are your strong ones swept away?’ Literally, ‘why is your strong bull swept away?’ This may have in mind reference to the Egyptian bull-god Aphis, as the one to whom the armies of Egypt looked.
‘He has let the appointed time pass by.’ In other words, he has let slip his opportunity, he has failed to deliver at the right time, he has proved inept. Perhaps we are to see in this an indication that his failure was due to a missed opportunity at a time when, had he acted, the army of Babylon could have been defeated. The point is that all is in the hands of YHWH. It is a reminder that our times are in His hands.
18 “As I live,” says the King, Whose name Is the LORD of hosts, “Surely as Tabor is among the mountains and as Carmel by the sea, so he shall come.
The Babylonians are also seen as being at YHWH’s disposal. All happens because YHWH is the living God, the Lord of ‘all the Hosts in the world’. YHWH is not just ‘a noise’ like Pharaoh (who was also acclaimed a god). He is the all-powerful living God. Thus all this happens because YHWH is ‘the living God’ and has determined that Nebuchadnezzar will stand out with such prominence that his coming will be unmistakable. Tabor was a prominent renown in an otherwise flat plain at the east end of the Plain of Jezreel (rising 1843 feet above sea level), while Carmel was a prominence on the coast of a similar kind (at its highest point 1740 feet). While they were by no means the highest mountains in the land they were distinctive and stood out because they were high prominences in what was otherwise flat plain, and not just one among a range of mountains.
19 O you daughter dwelling in Egypt, prepare yourself to go into captivity! For Noph shall be waste and desolate, without inhabitant.
The coming devastation of Memphis is emphasized, and the people of Israel/Judah who have taken refuge there and feel totally secure because they ‘dwell in Egypt’ are warned that they have found no safe haven. They are even now to prepare themselves to go into captivity, into exile. Their flight to Egypt will have proved a failure. Memphis will provide no long-term security.
The picture of a burning city bereft of inhabitants is a common one, indicating utter devastation. Here Memphis will be the subject of Nebuchadnezzar’s wrath. The city will be systematically burned, and its surviving inhabitants will flee or be taken captive.
There is disdain at the thought of YHWH’s daughter being found seeking refuge in Egypt. Rather they should have sought refuge in YHWH and have obeyed His instructions. But they have rather chosen to look to another who can only fail them.
20 “Egypt is a very pretty heifer, but destruction comes, it comes from the north. 21 Also her mercenaries are in her midst like fat bulls, for they also are turned back, they have fled away together. They did not stand, for the day of their calamity had come upon them, the time of their punishment.
In likening Egypt to a beautiful heifer Aphis the bull god may again have been in mind, although here a heifer because she has calves. She is seen as a heifer admired by all, contentedly pasturing, along with her calves (the mercenaries), secure in her loveliness. But then, out of the north, along comes the gadfly (the word means one which nips) buzzing around and biting her, causing her and her calves’ great distress. It is an apt picture of a punitive invasion. And the consequence is that both heifer and calves flee, maddened by the horsefly, unable to cope with what is coming. It is because it is YHWH’s ‘time’. YHWH is in control of the nations. He controls the history of the world.
22 Her noise shall go like a serpent, for they shall march with an army and come against her with axes, like those who chop wood. 23 “They shall cut down her forest,” says the LORD, “Though it cannot be searched, because they are innumerable, and more numerous than grasshoppers. 24 The daughter of Egypt shall be ashamed; She shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.”
The idea behind this picture comes from the experience of woodmen called on to cut down a forest. As they advance to do so snakes will often rear their heads and hiss, but they can then do no more to stem the advance and they thus disappear into the undergrowth.
In the same way at the approach of the Babylonians to cut down their trees in order to make weapons of war, the Egyptians will hiss like the serpent, making a show of resistance before gliding away in flight. For the Babylonians will arrive in large numbers, axes in hand, and will cut down their forest refuge, even though it is so large and dense that it cannot be explored. And this in accordance with the prophetic word of YHWH. What had appeared to be impenetrable will simply be removed. And they will be able to do this because they are more innumerable than a swarm of locusts. All would have been familiar with swarms of locusts, arriving in huge numbers to eat up the land. And just as the locusts ate up the vegetation and trees, so would the Babylonian armies eat up the Egyptian forests to turn them into weapons of war.
The picture then changes to that of the people of Egypt as being like a violated woman, who is sexually exposed. Babylon will come and shamefully rape her. She will no longer be a virgin daughter. She will have been shamefully abused.
25 The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will bring punishment on Amon[fn] of No,[fn] and Pharaoh and Egypt, with their gods and their kings—Pharaoh and those who trust in him. 26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and the hand of his servants. Afterward it shall be inhabited as in the days of old,” says the LORD.
The gods of Egypt, including Pharaoh, are included in the judgment. The great god Amon of Thebes (No) will be helpless to do anything and will be punished along with Pharaoh and all the other gods and goddesses, and all who trust in them. Egypt will be delivered into the hands of their attackers, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and his chief officers. But it is not to be an end. For Egypt will once more be restored and inhabited as it was of yore. And this in accordance with the prophetic word of YHWH.
But despite these judgments there is future hope for Judah/Israel, for YHWH’s promise is that He will not leave them in their exile. As He had previously promised in Isaiah, they will be brought back to their land and dwell in safety (Isaiah 11.11). It is not the people of Judah in Egypt who are specifically in mind, for they have been promised judgment with only a remnant escaping. It rather has in mind that God will not leave His exiled people worldwide to perish. This found its fulfilment with the restoration of exiles from Babylon and from all around the world after what we call The Exile, so that by the time of Jesus Palestine was well populated again. Note that both halves of the nation are in mind. It will be a restoration of ‘Israel’, as indeed Isaiah had made clear.
If Egypt was to be restored, how much more God’s people, for in all that God does it is His people who are finally in view. But it is important to note that it is only those who return who are to receive the promise. God’s promises require response.
27 “But do not fear, O My servant Jacob, and do not be dismayed, O Israel! For behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity; Jacob shall return, have rest and be at ease; No one shall make him afraid.
In accordance with the teaching of Isaiah ‘believing’ Israel are still YHWH’s servant with a task to fulfil. Thus they need not be dismayed whatever happens, for they will be brought back to the land from afar, delivered from their worldwide exile. And the promise is that they will be brought back to their own land and will dwell in safety. ‘quiet and at ease and unafraid’. This occurred after the Exile when Israelites returned from all parts of the world, and for a while Israel/Judah became an independent nation. Prominent among these were the returnees from Babylon, but they were not the only ones. It is simply that we know more about them because of Ezra and Nehemiah.
28 Do not fear, O Jacob My servant,” says the LORD, “For I am with you; For I will make a complete end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but I will not make a complete end of you. I will rightly correct you, for I will not leave you wholly unpunished.”
Note the continual stress on the fact that they need not be afraid. Their confidence is to be in God Who will make all things right. Whilst there will be a ‘full end’ for many of the nations among who they are exiled, He will not make a full end of them, even though it is necessary for them to be punished. As always it is those who ‘believe’ and respond to the divine activity who will benefit by the promise. They would be the ones who would make the effort to return.
