Jeremiah 2:18

what hast thou to do in the way to Egypt The thought is the same as that expressed in Isaiah 30:1-3. Ever since the time when Psammetichus I (b.c. 663 610), king of Egypt, reduced under his own sway the twelve separate kingdoms into which that country had been formed, there was a party of statesmen at Jerusalem who favoured an Egyptian alliance. This party Jeremiah constantly opposed.

to drink the waters of Shihor to hold communication with Egypt, and espouse its cause. The figure has been already suggested by the mention of fountains and cisterns (Jeremiah 2:13).

Shihor The word, which properly means turbid, is shewn by the context to be equivalent to the Nile, a word which itself denotes blue, or dark; so probably in Isaiah 23:3. Sometimes (as in Joshua 13:3; 1 Chronicles 13:5) the name is confined to the easternmost branch of the Nile.

what hast thou to do in the way to Assyria Both Israel and Judah had vacillated for many reigns between Egypt and Assyria. Menahem king of Israel bribed Pul king of Assyria to support him, and to him also his successors Pekahiah and Pekah seem to have looked. Hoshea sought the aid of Egypt to enable him to throw off the Assyrian yoke, while Josiah met his death in fighting against it and on behalf of the Eastern empire, Assyria's successor. Thus subservience now to one now to the other quarter was familiar to those whom Jeremiah addressed. Hosea (Jeremiah 7:2) had likened Israel in its vacillation to "a silly dove, without understanding."

to drink the waters of the River Euphrates, the great river, on which was built Babylon. Cp. Isaiah 8:7.