Jeremiah 47:7

How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there hath he appointed it. HOW CAN IT BE QUIET? Jeremiah, from addressing the sword in the second person, turns to his hearers and speaks of it in the third person. SEEING THE LORD HATH GIVEN IT CHARGE - (, "Sword, go through the land"). THE SEA-SHORE - the strip of land between the mountains and Mediterranean held by the Philistines: "their valley" (note, ). THERE HATH HE APPOINTED IT - (). There hath He ordered it to rage. Remarks: (1) The Philistines had been always enemies of Israel, an...

Some take _it_, ה, _he_, as meaning the land itself; but as it immediately follows, _against Ashkelon _and _against the seashore_, it is better to explain it as above. By the _sea-shore _some understand Joppa; but it is probable that the Prophet includes the whole coast, and that he thus still speaks of Tyre, and Sidon, and Gaza, though he names Ashkelon, which was a little distant from the sea. When, therefor, God commanded his sword against Ashkelon and all the cities which were by the sea-shore, the execution of his judgement could not be prevented in that region. He further adds_, he hath commanded it; _but it is in a solemn manner, and hence I have rendered the words, _he hath called it to witness_, or protested it. He then intimates that God had not simply given his sword a command to commit slaughters through the whole land, but bound his sword, as it were, by solemn protest; as t...

Verse Jeremiah 47:7. _HOW CAN IT BE QUIET_] This is the _answer_ of the _Sword_. I am the officer of God's judgments, and he has given me a commission against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore; all the coast where the Philistines have their territories. The measure of their iniquities is full; and these God hath appointed this sword to ravage. The Philistines were ever the implacable enemies of the Jews, and the basest and worst of all idolaters. On these accounts the sword of the Lord had its commission against them; and it did its office most fearfully and effectually by the hand of the Chaldeans....

PROPHECY ON THE PHILISTINES. EXPOSITION It is clear from the contents of the prophecy (and the inference is thoroughly confirmed by its position) that it was written after the battle of Carchemish, with reference to the dreaded northern foe—Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. The prophecy against Egypt precedes, because Egypt was by far the most important of the nations threatened by the advance of Nebuchadnezzar. But chronologically and geographically, it ought rather to have been placed at the end of the series, for Palestine had to be conquered before a design upon Egypt could have a reasonable chance of success. The commentators have given themselves much unnecessary trouble with the heading in Jeremiah 47:1, which assigns the date of the prophecy to a period prior (as it would seem) to the battle of

HOW CAN IT BE QUIET,.... There is no reason to believe it will, nor can it be expected that it should; to stop it is impossible, and to request that it might be stopped is in vain: SEEING THE LORD HATH GIVEN IT A CHARGE AGAINST ASHKELON, AND AGAINST THE SEASHORE? for it had a commission from the Lord to destroy the inhabitants of Ashkelon, and other places, which lay still more towards the sea, as Joppa and Jamne; and indeed all Palestine lay on the coast of the Mediterranean sea: THERE HATH HE APPOINTED IT; by an irreversible decree of his, in righteousness to punish the inhabitants of these places for their sins....

CHAPTER 47 Concerning the Philistines This brief chapter is concerning the inhabitants of the borderland of Canaan, called Philistia. This announced judgment was fulfilled a short time after it was spoken by the prophet....

JEREMIAH 47. PHILISTIA. Instead of Jeremiah 47:1, LXX has simply On the Philistines, which is probably original. The waters rising from the north (Jeremiah 47:2) would suggest Babylon, not Egypt, as the foe; the editorial reference to Egypt in 1 might be suggested (wrongly) by Jeremiah 47:5. Pharaoh is supposed to have smitten Gaza (Cadytis, Herod. ii. 159) in 608. The devastating waters (Isaiah 8:7 f.) of an overflowing wady flood the land (Jeremiah 47:2); the terror of the enemy's approach breaks even the closest bonds of affection ...

HOW... ? Figure of speech _Erotesis._...

The Prophecy regarding Philistia 2. _waters rise up_ In Jeremiah 46:8 the same figure was used for an army. Cp. Isaiah 8:7 (on which Co. thinks this _v_. to be based), where the Assyrian army is likened to the floods of the Euphrates. _an overflowing stream_ a river suddenly swelling up through the effect of the winter rains; a frequent occurrence in Palestine. _and the men … shall howl_ Co. rejects this part of the _v_. both as over-passing the proper limits of the metre, and suggesting a universal judgement, which would be, according to him, a later conception....

DISCOURSE: 1085 THE MEANS OF TERMINATING WAR Jeremiah 47:6. _O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? Put up thyself into thy scabbard; rest, and be still. How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea-shore? there hath he appointed it_. THOUGH the two nations of Judah and Israel were the primary objects of attention to the prophets, yet many other nations were referred to in their prophecies; and the most important events respecting them were circumstantially foretold. The chapter before us relates to the Philistines: and it was written at a time when they had recovered the power, of which David had deprived them. It foretells the invasion of their land by the Chaldeans, together with the long continuance of the conflict, which should end in the subjugation of them and their allies. We shal