Jeremiah 46:6

It begins with a general title to prophecies in this and the five following chapters, Jeremiah 46:1; then follows a particular prophecy of the route of Pharaoh's army; of the place where, and time when, Jeremiah 46:2; the preparations of the Egyptians for the battle, with a variety of warlike instruments, Jeremiah 46:3; the consternation, flight, and destruction of them, Jeremiah 46:5; notwithstanding their confidence of getting the victory, Jeremiah 46:7; the reason of it, because it was the day of the Lord's vengeance on them, and therefore their ruin was inevitable, Jeremiah 46:10; the consequence of which was shame and confusion, Jeremiah 46:12; next follows another prophecy of the destruction of the land itself by Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah 46:13; the places that should be destroyed, Jeremiah 46:14; the multitude that should be slain, Jeremiah 46:15; a description of the calamity; the instrument, manner, and consequence of it, Jeremiah 46:20; the certainty of it, Jeremiah 46:18; and the whole is closed with a promise of the return of the Jews, and of their salvation; though they should not be without divine corrections, Jeremiah 46:27. Ver. 1. The word of the Lord which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles.

46:1-12 The whole word of God is against those who obey not the gospel of Christ; but it is for those, even of the Gentiles, who turn to Him. The prophecy begins with Egypt. Let them strengthen themselves with all the art and interest they have, yet it shall be all in vain. The wounds God inflicts on his enemies, cannot be healed by medicines. Power and prosperity soon pass from one to another in this changing world.

Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty men escape,.... Those that were swift of foot, like Asahel, or carried but light armour, let not such trust to their swiftness or light carriage; nor let the mighty man think to escape by reason of his great strength, to make his way through the enemy, and get out of his hands. Or this may be rendered as future, "the swift shall not flee away", &c. (t) so the Targum; neither the one nor the other shall escape by the nimbleness of their heels, or the stoutness of their hearts: they shall stumble and fall toward the north, by the river Euphrates; which lay north of Judea, where the prophet was, to whom this word came; and also was to the north of Egypt, whose destruction is here threatened: the place where this route and slaughter would be made was Carchemish, which was situated by that river; on the north side of which city, according to Abarbinel, the battle was; and which sense is mentioned by Kimchi, which the other follows. (t) "non fugiet", Pagninus, Montanus; "non effugiet", Munster, Tigurine version.

Verse 6. - Let not the swift flee away. A strong way of expressing that even the swiftest cannot expect to flee, just as, in Isaiah 2:9 , "forgive them not" means "thou canst not forgive them." Nothing seems to have struck the Jews so much as the unparalleled swiftness of the Chaldean warriors ( Hebrews 1:6, 8 ; Jeremiah 4:13 ). They shall stumble; literally, they have stumbled ; it is most probably the prophetic perfect ("they shall certainly fall"), though Ewald denies this, and consequently maintains that the prophecy was written after the battle of Car-chemish. Toward the north; i.e. "in the northern region," or, more loosely, "in the north" (comp. ver. 10). Carchemish was, of course, far to the north of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 46:6

Thus well arrayed, the host advances to the fight; but suddenly the seer perceives the magnificent army terror-stricken, retreating, and breaking out into a disorderly flight. The question, "Why (wherefore) do I see?" points to the unexpected and incomprehensible turn in the progress of events. המּה חתּים is not an accus. dependent on ראיתי, but an independent clause: "What do I see? They are terror-stricken" (חתּים, terrified, broken-spirited through terror). יכּתּוּ, Hoph. from כּתת, to be broken, here and in Job 4:20 applied to persons. מנוס is added to the verb instead of the inf. abs., to give emphasis to the idea contained in the word; cf. Ewald, 281, a. מגור מסּביב .a , "horror, terror around" (cf. Jeremiah 6:25 ), is taken by Ewald as the reply of Jahveh to the question, "Wherefore is this? On every side there is danger;" and this is appropriately followed by the imperatives in Jeremiah 46:6 , "Let no one, then, attempt to flee; not one shall escape to Egypt, but they must fall at the Euphrates." The perfects כּשׁלוּ ונפלוּ are prophetic; the stumbling and falling are as certain as if they had already happened. The second strophe commences at Jeremiah 46:7 . The description begins anew, and that with a question of astonishment at the mighty host advancing like the Nile when it bursts its banks and inundates the whole country. יאר is the name of the Nile, taken from the Egyptian into the Hebrew language; cf.

Pashur —compounded of two roots, meaning "largeness (and so 'security') on every side "; in antithesis to Magor-missabib, "terror round about " (Jeremiah 20:10; Jeremiah 6:25; 46:5; 49:29; Psalms 31:13). 4. terror … to all thy friends —who have believed thy false promises (Jeremiah 20:6). The sense must be in order to accord with "fear round about" (Jeremiah 20:3). I will bring terror on thee and on all thy friends, that terror arising from thyself, namely, thy false prophecies. Thou and thy prophecies will be seen, to the dismay both of thee and thy dupes, to have caused their ruin and thine. M AURER ' S translation is therefore not needed, "I will give up thee and all thy friends to terror." 5. strength —that is, resources. labours —fruits of labor, gain, wealth. 6. prophesied lies —namely, that God cannot possibly leave this land without prophets, priests, and teachers ("the wise") (Jeremiah 18:18; compare Jeremiah 5:31). 7. Jeremiah's complaint, not unlike that of Job, breathing somewhat of human infirmity in consequence of his imprisonment. Thou didst promise never to give me up to the will of mine enemies, and yet Thou hast done so. But Jeremiah misunderstood God's promise, which was not that he should have nothing to suffer, but that God would deliver him out of sufferings (Jeremiah 1:19).

## me —contrasted with the "stock" whom they had heretofore called on as "father" (Jeremiah 2:27; Luke 15:18). thou art —rather, "thou wast." guide of … youth —that is, husband (Jeremiah 2:2; Proverbs 2:17; Hosea 2:7, 15). Husband and father are the two most endearing of ties. 5. he —"thou," the second person, had preceded. The change to the third person implies a putting away of God to a greater distance from them; instead of repenting and forsaking their idols, they merely deprecate the continuance of their punishment. Jeremiah 3:12 and Psalms 103:9, answer their question in the event of their penitence. spoken and —rather (God's reply to them), "Thou hast spoken (thus), and yet (all the while) thou hast done evil," &c. as thou couldest —with all thy might; with incorrigible persistency [C ALVIN ]. 6. Jeremiah 3:6-6:30, is a new discourse, delivered in Josiah's reign. It consists of two parts, the former extending to Jeremiah 4:3, in which he warns Judah from the example of Israel's doom, and yet promises Israel final restoration; the latter a threat of Babylonian invasion; as Nabopolassar founded the Babylonian empire, 625 B. C . , the seventeenth of Josiah, this prophecy is perhaps not earlier than that date (Jeremiah 4:5, &c.; Jeremiah 5:14, &c.; Jeremiah 6:1, &c.; Jeremiah 22:1-30); and probably not later than the second thorough reformation in the eighteenth year of the same reign.