Oracles against foreign nations Many recent commentators, in particular Schwally (Stade's _Zeitschrift für Alttestamentl. Wissenschaft_for 1888), maintain that the whole or a considerable part of these chs. is not the work of Jeremiah. Besides the general allegations that Jeremiah was not a prophet... [ Continue Reading ]
_Pharaoh-neco_ This monarch (b.c. 610 594) had defeated and slain Josiah at Megiddo (b.c. 608). In three months he had deposed Josiah's successor, Jehoahaz, and imprisoned him at Riblah, and had set up Jehoiakim. He was extending his conquests in the Asiatic direction when he was overthrown at Carch... [ Continue Reading ]
Co. declines to accept objections which have been brought by some recent commentators to the substantial genuineness of these _vv_., and Gi. on the whole agrees, but considers the passage to have been expanded.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Order ye_ rather, PREPARE YE. Or, more literally, _Set in line_. _buckler and shield_ The former of these was a small round shield which the light-armed troops carried, while the latter covered the whole body and was borne accordingly by the heavy-armed.... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses give us a lively description of the preparation and the advance, which were followed by the disastrous defeat at Carchemish.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Harness the horses_ to the chariots which formed a very important feature of Egyptian armies. _get up, ye horsemen_ probably, MOUNT THE STEEDS.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wherefore … dismayed_ The LXX rightly omit the first Hebrew verb, and render, "Wherefore are they dismayed?" _terror is on every side_ Jeremiah's characteristic expression. See on ch. Jeremiah 6:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Who is this … Egypt riseth up like the Nile_ The mg. is to be preferred. Egypt's boast that she will spread herself in conquest over the earth is illustrated by the annual rise of the Nile, flooding the adjacent country. Cp. in Isaiah 8:7 f. the illustration of Assyrian conquest of Judaea taken fro... [ Continue Reading ]
_and his waters toss themselves like the rivers_ The LXX omit, but, as the _v_. stands in MT., this clause is wanted for the parallelism. _he saith_ viz. Pharaoh, addressing his army. _the city and_ Unless, with LXX, we omit these words, we should probably understand the Hebrew substantive collect... [ Continue Reading ]
Probably a continuation of Pharaoh's appeal to his warriors, as put into his mouth by Jeremiah. _Go up_ The summons is to cavalry, chariots, and infantry that they should set forth from Egypt. _Cush and Put … and the Ludim_ the mercenary troops, who formed from the days of Psammetichus the chief pa... [ Continue Reading ]
_For_ rather, BUT. For the language here cp. Isaiah 34:5-6; Isaiah 34:8. The expression of fierce vengeance, adduced by Schwally and others (see introd. notes) as an argument for rejecting the passage, is not unnatural, when we consider that the death of Josiah and captivity of Jehoahaz (cp. Jeremia... [ Continue Reading ]
_balm_ See on Jeremiah 8:22; Jeremiah 30:13. Egyptian knowledge of medicine is celebrated by Homer (Obadiah 1:4; Obadiah 1:4:229). Cyrus and Darius both sent to Egypt for medical men (Herod. III. 1, 132); cp. Pliny XIX. 5.... [ Continue Reading ]
_thy shame_ The LXX, "thy voice," requires but a slight alteration of MT. and one which improves the parallelism. _the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty_ The heroes fighting on the Egyptian side tumble over one another in their blind flight. Cp. Leviticus 26:37.... [ Continue Reading ]
See introd. note to the ch. and summary. Gi. rejects as later all that follows Jeremiah 46:12 as involving repetitions, looseness of structure, and vagueness in style, criticisms which (see note on Jeremiah 46:2) he also brings to bear on the earlier part of the ch. Co. on the other hand fully accep... [ Continue Reading ]
_Migdol_ See on Jeremiah 44:1. For Noph and Tahpanhes See on Jeremiah 2:16. Migdol was the border town in the Asiatic direction and Noph the capital city of Lower Egypt. The other proper names in the _v_. (omitted by LXX) are probably later glosses. _Stand forth_ take up a defensive position. _hat... [ Continue Reading ]
_Why … swept away_?] The mg. is to be preferred. The adjective in the Hebrew is plural, while both the verb connected with it and the pronouns that follow are in the singular. Hence we conclude that the singular is right. But probably we should, with LXX, divide the Hebrew verb rendered "swept away... [ Continue Reading ]
As the latter part of the _v_. implies that the speakers are foreigners, who, however, according to the present MT. have not been mentioned, Du. and others (with a certain amount of support from LXX) suggest that, with a slight emendation of the Hebrew, we should read, _Thy mingled people_(See on Je... [ Continue Reading ]
_They cried there … a noise_ Read, _Call ye the name of Pharaoh_(so far accord Syr. and Vulg., and so the LXX, who add Neco) _a Crash_. Thus Dr., who compares for a name symbolical of a great disaster Jeremiah 20:3, and for the Hebrew word used here Jeremiah 25:31 ("a noise"); Hosea 10:14; Amos 2:2... [ Continue Reading ]
The foe (unnamed, but meaning Nebuchadnezzar, unless the passage is late, and Alexander the Great is intended; so Schmidt) shall resemble these mountains as standing out conspicuous. Tabor, as rising in the midst of an extensive plain, is more striking than even loftier hills, which have not its adv... [ Continue Reading ]
_O thou daughter that dwellest in Egypt_ the population of Egypt personified, preferable to mg. _O thou that dwellest with the daughter of Egypt_. _furnish thyself to go into captivity_ more literally as mg. _make thee vessels of captivity_, supply thyself with all that thou wilt need as thy outfit... [ Continue Reading ]
This simile for Egypt may be suggested by Apis the bull god. See on Jeremiah 5:16. but _destruction out of the north is come_ better, as mg. _the gadfly_. This rendering of the word (not found elsewhere) is in all probability right, though not universally accepted. Egypt is driven to flight by the... [ Continue Reading ]
_her hired men_ her mercenary troops. _like calves of the stall_ See on Jeremiah 44:30. The reference is to the Ionian and Carian soldiers, who (Herod. II. 163) numbered 30,000, and lived on the Pelusiac branch of the Nile in a fertile district. Hence they seem to have earned the description given... [ Continue Reading ]
_The sound thereof shall go like the serpent_ better, as mg. _Her sound is like that of the serpent as it goeth_. The voice of Egypt in her feebleness as she flees away from the enemy shall be like the voice of a serpent hissing, i.e. like a serpent hissing impotently at the woodcutters who disturb... [ Continue Reading ]
_though_ better, as mg. _for_. _they are more_ i.e. the enemy. _the locusts_ See on Joel 1:4, C.B. (Driver).... [ Continue Reading ]
_Amon of No_ i.e. the chief god worshipped in No (cp. No-Amon, Nahum 3:8). Thebes, the capital of Upper Egypt (now Luxor), a city of great interest from its remains of antiquity in the way of sculpture and tombs. It supplanted Memphis as a great centre, but declined under the Ptolemies. See Ezekiel... [ Continue Reading ]
The _v_. may be well suspected as a gloss by a scribe who desired in the latter part of it to soften the dismal forecast for Egypt, especially as words of corresponding comfort follow for his own people. Cp. Jeremiah 48:47; Jeremiah 49:6; Jeremiah 49:39. Co., however, here (and in ch. 48) maintains... [ Continue Reading ]
See introd. summary to the ch. See also on ch. Jeremiah 30:10-11, where almost exactly the same words are found in MT. Also for "correct" (Jeremiah 46:28) See on Jeremiah 2:19. The _vv_. imply that the exile has begun and thus cannot date from "the fourth year of Jehoiakim" (Jeremiah 46:1).... [ Continue Reading ]