Jeremiah 46:4

Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines. HARNESS THE HORSES - namely, to the war-chariots, for which Egypt was famed (; ). GET UP, YE HORSEMEN - get up into the chariots. Maurer, because of the parallel "horses," translates, 'Mount the steeds.' But it is rather describing the successive steps in equipping the war-chariots: first harness the horses to them, then let the horsemen mount them. BRIGANDINES - cuirasses, or coats of mail....

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....

Verse Jeremiah 46:4. _FURBISH THE SPEARS_] Cleanse, brighten, and sharpen them; from the Franco-Gallic _fourbir_, to polish, brighten. _BRIGANDINES._] A coat of mail, especially that which was made _scale fashion_; one plate overlapping the other, like the scales of fish....

From the infantry the prophet proceeds to the chariots, in which the Egyptians placed great confidence. GET UP, YE HORSEMEN - Or, “mount the steeds.” FURBISH - i. e., polish, sharpen. BRIGANDINES - In old times brigand meant a soldier, and we still call a division of an army a brigade, and a commander a brigadier, i. e., a brigandier, or captain of brigands. Similarly a brigandine means a soldier’s equipment, and is put here for a coat of mail....

EXPOSITION This chapter, the first of a series, consists of two prophecies united, though it is probable enough that the latter was intended to supplement the former, for Jeremiah 46:2 are clearly incomplete (from the point of view of this group of prophecies) without a distinct and unmistakable prediction of the conquest of Egypt. The earlier prophecy is, in fact, not itself a prediction, but a triumphal ode, analogous to such as we find in the Becks of Isaiah and Ezekiel. It falls into three stanzas: (1) verses 3-6; (2) verses 7-9; (3) verses 10-12. In the first two the great event is described with poetical imagery; in the third, its cause is declared, and the irremediable completeness of its effects. The point of time assumed is immediately before the battle of Carehemish. The Egyptian army h

HARNESS THE HORSES,.... Put on their bridles and saddles and gird them: or, "bind the horses" r; that is, to the chariots; put them to, as we commonly express it: Egypt abounded in horses, and so no doubt brought a large cavalry, and a multitude of chariots, into the field of battle: AND GET UP, YE HORSEMEN; upon the horses, or into the chariots, and so be ready to receive the enemy, or to attack him: AND STAND FORTH WITH [YOUR] HELMETS; present themselves on horseback, or in their chariots, with their helmets on their heads, to cover them in the day of battle: FURBISH THE SPEARS; that they may be sharp and piercing, and look bright and glittering, and strike terror in the enemy: [AND] PUT ON THE BRIGANDINES; coats of mail, to cover the whole body, which were made of iron, consisting of rings, as Kimchi observes. r אסרו הסוסים "ligate equos", Montanus, Calvin; "alligate", Schmidt....

IV. THE PROPHECIES CONCERNING THE GENTILE NATIONS CHAPTER 46 Concerning Egypt _ 1. Prophecy about Pharaoh-Necho (Jeremiah 46:1) _ 2. Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of Egypt (Jeremiah 46:13) 3. A message of comfort (Jeremiah 46:27) Jeremiah 46:1. This Pharaoh made an attempt to invade the territory of the king of Babylon, but was defeated by Nebuchadrezzar in a battle on the river Euphrates at Carchemish. This prophecy was given about eighteen years before the fall of Jerusalem. All was literally fulfilled....

JEREMIAH 46-51. THE FOREIGN PROPHECIES. These form the third principal division of the Book of Jeremiah. As already seen (Jeremiah 1:5; Jeremiah 1:10; Jeremiah 25:15), Jeremiah's prophetic horizon naturally included the surrounding nations; how far the prophecies that follow are his can be decided only by detailed criticism in each case. They refer, though in somewhat different order, to the several nations enumerated in Jeremiah 25:19 (which may be regarded as an introduction to them), except that an oracle on Damascus here replaces the reference to Tyre, Sidon, and the Mediterranean. (The LXX, which places this group of prophe

BRIGANDINES. coats of mail....

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 to the nations outside his own (in answer to which see Intr. p. xxi.), and that the literary style is not that of Jeremiah, arguments against their genuineness are (_a_) that in them Jehovah appears as a vengeful Deity, contrary to Jeremiah's view of Him, (_b_) that there is here no preaching of repentance, (_c_) that there is no explicit reference to the state of things in Judah. But it may be replied that (_a_) in these prophecies (except in Jeremiah 46:10) it is a case not of vengeance but of Jehovah's judgement on guilt, (_b_) until we come to the book of Jona