Jeremiah 47:1-7

III. AN ORACLE AGAINST THE PHILISTINE Jeremiah 47:1-7

TRANSLATION

(1) The word of the LORD which came unto Jeremiah concerning the Philistine before Pharaoh smote Gaza. (2) Thus says the LORD: Behold, waters are rising from the north and they shall become an overflowing stream. They shall overflow the land and all in it, the city and its inhabitants. Mankind shall cry out and all inhabitants of the land wail. (3) At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his mighty ones, from the shaking of his chariots and the noise of his wheels fathers will not turn back unto children because of feebleness of hands. (4) Because the day comes to destroy all Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every remaining helper; for the LORD is about to destroy the Philistine, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor. (5) Baldness is come upon Gaza. Ashkelon is made silent, the remnant of their valley. How long will you cut yourself? (6) Alas! O sword of the LORD, how long will you not be quiet? Put yourself into your scabbard! Rest! Be silent! (7) How can you be quiet when the LORD has commissioned you against Ashkelon and the seashore, there has He appointed it.

COMMENTS

The oracle against the Philistine has a heading which furnishes a date for the oracle in terms of a battle that must have been familiar to the prophet's audience. According to the heading this word came from the Lord before Pharaoh smote Gaza (Jeremiah 47:1). Unfortunately for the modern student of the book, the prophet did not identify the particular Pharaoh who conquered Gaza. Since Pharaoh Hophra (588-569 B.C.) made an expedition as far north as Sidon during his reign he has been nominated as the mysterious Pharaoh of Jeremiah 47:1. But in view of the fact that Jeremiah is still talking about the enemy from the north rather than of the Chaldeans or Nebuchadnezzar it seems probable that the oracle comes from the earliest period of the prophet's ministry. In the main Jeremiah used the phrase enemy from the north in his messages prior to the battle of Carchemish. Probably then it was Pharaoh Necho who captured Gaza some time before the battle of Carchemish. Perhaps evidence[379] for this conquest will be forthcoming from the new materials which are constantly coming to light concerning the relations of the Pharaohs and Palestine.

[379] Some scholars feel there is a reference to the capture of Gaza by Pharaoh Necho in Herodotus II, 159 but the evidence is far from conclusive.