Jeremiah 46:7-12

B. The Second Picture of Egyptian Defeat Jeremiah 46:7-12

TRANSLATION

(7) Who is this that goes up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the river? (8) Egypt goes up like the Nile and his waters toss themselves like the rivers. And he says, I will go up, I will cover the land, I will destroy a city and its inhabitants. (9) Go up, O horses! Rage O chariots! Let the mighty men go out, Cush and Put who handle the shield, the Ludim who handle the bow. (10) For that day belongs to the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance to take vengeance upon His adversaries; and the sword shall devour and be satisfied and drink its fill of blood; for the LORD of hosts has a sacrifice in the land of the north at the river Euphrates. (11) Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt. For naught you have multiplied medicines. You shall not recover. (12) Nations have heard of your shame; your cry fills the earth; for the mighty man has stumbled against the mighty man; together the two of them shall fall.

COMMENTS

In this stanza of the poem Jeremiah sees the armies of Pharaoh Necho rolling toward Carchemish like the mighty Nile in flood time. The rivers mentioned in Jeremiah 46:7-8 are the arms and canals of the Nile in the Delta region. In these vivid lines one can almost hear the roaring, moving and churning of the rampaging river. The pride and confidence of Pharaoh is revealed in his boast I will go up and cover the earth;; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof (Jeremiah 46:8). By means of a sarcastic imperative Jeremiah urges the hosts of Egypt to hasten onward to their destination (Jeremiah 46:9).[369] Cush, Put and Lud[370] (Ethiopians, Libyans and Lydians in KJV) refer to the countries of Pharaoh's mercenary troops. From the days of Pharaoh Psammetichus (663-610) these African mercenaries formed the major part of the Egyptian army. Who could withstand such a vast and heavily armed host? No wonder Pharaoh makes his boast. But God alone decrees what nation will rule His world, and God has chosen Nebuchadnezzar. Pharaoh will meet his doom at Carchemish!

[369] Actually it is impossible to determine here whether the command to the troops is given by Pharaoh or mockingly by the prophet. The KJV by translating the verbs come up suggests that it is the prophet who is summoning the troops of Egypt. The ASV translation go up is preferable.
[370] Exact locations of Put and Lud are not known. It is thought that Put is on the east coast of Africa near Egypt and that Lud was west of Egypt. Cf. John Bright op. cit., p. 306.

Jeremiah 46:10 presents a glaring contrast to what has preceded in this stanza.[371] Jeremiah 46:7-9 pictured the might and confident expectation of the Egyptian forces as they set out for Carchemish. Jeremiah 46:10-12 picture the results of that battle. Instead of victory for Egypt or for Babylon, Carchemish will be a day of victory for the Lord. By describing the defeat at Carchemish as a sacrifice Jeremiah indicates the religious significance of the battle. The phrase the day of the Lord of hosts designates a day which God has reserved for the punishment of His adversaries and the deliverance of His people. Every day of the Lord throughout history is a preview of that great and notable day of the Lord which will be the final decisive and conclusive battle in the age-long struggle between righteousness and evil.

[371] Laetsch proposes that the conjunction Which introduces Jeremiah 46:10 should be rendered but or yet in English instead of for as in KJV and ASV.

At Carchemish God will take vengeance on His adversaries. The Egyptians are not God's adversaries because of the unmerciful oppression to which they had subjected the Israelites centuries earlier. That debt had long since been settled when God brought the terrific plague-judgments upon the land of Egypt. But the Egyptians had continued to show their hostility toward the people of God in more recent days. Pharaoh had harbored the enemies of God's anointed king of Israel (1 Kings 11:14 ff); he had warred against Jerusalem (1 Kings 14:25 f.); he had come to the aid of the tottering Assyrian Empire which had for so many years afflicted the people of God; he had slain righteous king Josiah at the pass of Megiddo and deported young Jehoahaz. Even after Carchemish Pharaoh would goad tiny Judah into those suicidal rebellions against Babylon which finally brought about the doom of that country. Thus there is good reason to call Egypt the adversary of God.

Jeremiah 46:11 describes the Egyptian defeat at Carchemish as a wound for which there is no known cure. Medical sciences advanced further in Egypt than in any other country of antiquity. But search as they may they would not be able to find any medicine which would heal Egypt of the mortal wound received at Carchemish. Even the famed balm of Gilead would avail nothing.[372] The delicate virgin daughter of Egypt is doomed to death as a nation. What a sad day that will be for Pharaoh. Defeat and confusion follow the battle. The cry of the retreating soldiers can be heard throughout the land. In their haste to escape from the battlefield the mighty men of the Egyptian army stumble over one another.

[372] Gilead lies east of the Jordan between the Arnon and Yarmuk rivers.

Jeremiah's prediction of what would take place at Carchemish was marvelously fulfilled. The official Babylonian account of the battle reveals how accurately Jeremiah had foreseen what would transpire there. Concerning Nebuchadnezzar the great prince of Babylon the scribes wrote:

He crossed the river (to go) against the Egyptian army which was situated in Carchemish and. they fought with each other and the Egyptian army withdrew before him. He defeated them in the district of Hamath, so that not a single man escaped to his own country.[373]

[373] Documents from Old Testament Times, op. cit., p. 78.