Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Jeremiah 46:13-26
B). Oracle Concerning Nebuchadrezzar's Later Penetration Into Egypt Which Will Not However Be Terminal (Jeremiah 46:13).
This prophecy here has in mind a much later excursion of Nebuchadrezzar 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, and it is confirmed by a fragmentary Babylonian inscription.
Nebuchadrezzar 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 (Jeremiah 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, Nebuchadrezzar 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 provide assistance to 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 Nebuchadrezzar'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 Jeremiah 43:8.
‘The word that YHWH spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon would come and smite the land of Egypt.'
As previously noted the reference is to Nebuchadrezzar'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'.
‘Declare you in Egypt, and publish in Migdol,
And publish in Memphis and in Tahpanhes,
Say you, “Stand forth, and prepare yourself,
For the sword has devoured round about you.”
The call goes out to the northern cities of Egypt which had received the Jewish refugees (see Jeremiah 44:1 - Noph = Memphis) to prepare for a coming invasion, and for much slaughter. The border defences would prove insufficient to hold back the Babylonians, and they were to experience Nebuchadrezzar's punitive measures in full as all the areas around them were devastated.
For Migdol see Jeremiah 44:1. For Memphis and Tahpanhes see Jeremiah 2:16; Jeremiah 44:1. 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.
‘Why are your strong ones swept away?
They stood not, because YHWH drove them.”
He made many to stumble,
Yes, they fell one 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.
They cried there, “Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise,
He has let the appointed time pass by.”
Once again YHWH's sovereignty over all nations, even the greatest, is emphasised. 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 (Jeremiah 46:9), in order 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. Herodotus tells us of the slaughter of the sacred bull by Cambyses. But it may simply be seeing the Egyptian mercenary army as being like a strong bull. The two possibilities are not necessarily exclusive.
‘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. Some see it as a reference to his failure to call on the gods of Egypt sufficiently at an appointed festival. But as the whole point behind this prophecy is that the gods of Egypt are nothings who cannot deliver Egypt and can be disregarded, it is unlikely. The point is that all is in the hands of YHWH. It is a reminder that our times are in His hands.
“As I live,” the word of the King,
Whose name is YHWH of hosts,
“Surely like Tabor among the mountains,
And like Carmel by the sea, so shall he 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 Nebuchadrezzar will stand out with such prominence that his coming will be unmistakable. Tabor was a prominent eminence in an otherwise flat plain at the east end of the Plain of Jezreel (rising 588 metres/1843 feet above sea level), whilst Carmel was a prominence on the coast of a similar kind (at its highest point 530 metres/1740 feet). Whilst 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.
“O you daughter who dwells in Egypt,
Make preparations for yourself to go into captivity,
For Memphis will become a desolation,
And will be burnt up, without inhabitant.”
The coming devastation of Memphis is emphasised, 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. For reference to Memphis see Jeremiah 2:16; Jeremiah 44:1; Hosea 9:6; Isaiah 19:13; Ezekiel 30:13; Ezekiel 30:16.
The picture of a burning city bereft of inhabitants is a common one, indicating utter devastation. Here Memphis will be the subject of Nebuchadrezzar's wrath. The city will be systematically burned and its surviving inhabitants will flee or be taken captive.
“O you daughter who dwells in Egypt.” Compare here Jeremiah 4:11; Jeremiah 8:11; Jeremiah 14:17. 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. Others, however, see ‘daughter' as referring to the Egyptians. Compare Jeremiah 46:11 and Jeremiah 46:24
“Egypt is a very fair heifer,
A fly out of the north is come, it is come.”
Also her mercenaries in the midst of her,
Are like calves of the stall,
For they also are turned back,
They are fled away together, they did not stand,
For the day of their calamity is come upon them,
The time of their visitation.”
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 gadfly, unable to cope with what is coming. Compare here Isaiah 7:18. Note again the idea that it is because it is YHWH's ‘time'. YHWH is in control of the nations. He controls the history of the world.
46. 22-24
“Their (the Egyptians) sound will go like the (hiss of the) serpent,
For they (the Babylonians) will march with a host,
And come against her with axes,
As hewers of wood.
They will cut down her forest, the word of YHWH,
Though it cannot be explored (i.e. it is dense),
Because they are more than the locusts,
And are innumerable.
The daughter of Egypt will be put to shame (violated),
She will 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 in order 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 (compare Jeremiah 46:11). She will have been shamefully abused.
‘YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel, says,
“Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh,
And Egypt, with her gods, and her kings,
Even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him,
And I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives,
And into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon,
And into the hand of his servants,
And afterwards it will be inhabited,
As in the days of old,
The word of YHWH.'
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 Nebuchadrezzar and his chief officers. But it is not to be a final 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 (neum YHWH). For such a future hope for Egypt see Isaiah 19:21; Ezekiel 29:13.