Jeremiah 46:8

Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof. EGYPT RISETH UP LIKE A FLOOD - answer to the question in . HIS WATERS ARE MOVED LIKE THE RIVERS. The rise of the Nile is gentle; but at the mouth it, unlike most riven, is much agitated, owing to the sandbanks impeding its course, and so it rushes into the sea like a cataract....

Then he adds, _Egypt _is like _rivers _and like a _lake_: it made a noise with its forces, as though a river were rolling along its waters. But all this would be nothing, as he afterwards tells us he adds, he _hath said, I will ascend, I will cover the land, I will destroy the city, etc_. He puts city in the singular instead of the plural number; (134) I _will destroy cities, _he says, _and all who dwell in them. _He in short sets forth Pharaoh here as one who triumphed before he fought, because he could cover the land with the multitude of his footmen and horsemen. It now follows, —...

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....

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

EGYPT RISETH UP AS A FLOOD, AND [HIS] WATERS ARE MOVED LIKE THE RIVERS,.... This is the answer to the above question; that it was Egypt that was seen; the king of Egypt, as the Syriac version; he with his army, as the Targum; and which was so numerous, that it seemed as if the whole country of Egypt, all the inhabitants of it, were come along with him; these rose up like the Nile, and moved like the several sluices of it, with great velocity and force, as if they would carry all before them: AND HE SAITH, I WILL GO UP; Pharaohnecho king of Egypt said, I will go up from my own land to the north, to meet the king of Babylon: [AND] WILL COVER THE EARTH; with his army: even all, the north country, the whole Babylonish empire; which he affected to be master of, grasping at, universal monarchy: I WILL DESTROY THE CITY, AND THE INHABITANTS THEREOF; which Abarbinel restrains to the city Carch...

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

I WILL GO UP. Egypt at this time was so strong that Jeremiah's prophecy seemed most unlikely to come to pass....

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

WHO IS THIS, &C.— The prophet speaks of Necho, and represents the grand preparations which he made to go to the succour of Carchemish. He flattered himself that nothing was capable of resisting the force of his arms. Jeremiah compares him to the inundations of the Nile, and this figure is very frequent in Scripture: see Isaiah 8:8; Isaiah 17:12.Jeremiah 47:2. Instead of, _are moved,_ Jeremiah 46:7 we may read, _Gush out,_ or _overflow;_ and Jeremiah 46:9. Mount ye the horses, pride yourselves in chariots, and let the mighty ones c