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Jeremiah
Chapter Forty-six
Jeremiah 46
Chapter Contents
The defeat of the Egyptians. (1-12) Their overthrow after
the siege of Tyre. (13-26) A promise of comfort to the Jews. (27
28)
Commentary on Jeremiah 46:1-12
(Read Jeremiah 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.
Commentary on Jeremiah 46:13-28
(Read Jeremiah 46:13-28)
Those who encroached on others
shall now be themselves
encroached on. Egypt is now like a very fair heifer
not accustomed to the yoke
of subjection; but destruction comes out of the north: the Chaldeans shall
come. Comfort and peace are spoken to the Israel of God
designed to encourage
them when the judgments of God were abroad among the nations. He will be with
them
and only correct them in measure; and will not punish them with
everlasting destruction from his presence.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Jeremiah》
Jeremiah 46
Verse 1
[1] The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet
against the Gentiles;
The word — This verse contains the title of all the ensuing
discourses; for
tho' there be some verses in these chapters that relate to the
Jews
yet they are all concerning their restoration. The prophecies of
judgments from the beginning of this chapter to the fifty-second
are all
against foreign nations
which are called Gentiles.
Verse 4
[4] Harness the horses; and get up
ye horsemen
and stand
forth with your helmets; furbish the spears
and put on the brigandines.
Brigandines — Coats of mail.
Verse 6
[6] Let not the swift flee away
nor the mighty man escape;
they shall stumble
and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.
Let not the swift — It is in vain for the
swift to flee away
the mighty men shall not escape
but they shall stumble and
fall at Carchemish
which was near the river Euphrates
and northward from
Egypt.
Verse 9
[9] Come up
ye horses; and rage
ye chariots; and let the
mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans
that handle the shield;
and the Lydians
that handle and bend the bow.
And the Lydians — They were all auxiliaries to the
Egyptians in this expedition.
Verse 10
[10] For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts
a day of
vengeance
that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall
devour
and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord
GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
Made drunk — These phrases only metaphorically
signify
the great slaughter God would make that day amongst the Egyptians.
Verse 12
[12] The nations have heard of thy shame
and thy cry hath
filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty
and they
are fallen both together.
Stumbled — Stumbling one upon another
so that both those that
went before
and those who followed after
should fall together.
Verse 14
[14] Declare ye in Egypt
and publish in Migdol
and publish
in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye
Stand fast
and prepare thee; for the sword
shall devour round about thee.
Declare — Publish this over all the land of Egypt.
Verse 17
[17] They did cry there
Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a
noise; he hath passed the time appointed.
Pharaoh — Hath made a great noise
but it cometh to nothing.
Passed — That is
he hath passed the time himself fixed when he
would cone
and fight the Chaldeans.
Verse 18
[18] As I live
saith the King
whose name is the LORD of
hosts
Surely as Tabor is among the mountains
and as Carmel by the sea
so
shall he come.
Surely — He shall as certainly come and encompass you with his
armies
as Tabor is encompassed with mountains
and as Carmel is by the sea.
Verse 20
[20] Egypt is like a very fair heifer
but destruction
cometh; it cometh out of the north.
A serpent — Egypt is now like an heifer that
makes a great bellowing
but the time shall come when she shall make a lesser
noise like the hissing of a serpent.
With axes — For the Chaldeans shall come with
an army
armed with battle-axes
as if they came to fell wood in a forest.
Verse 23
[23] They shall cut down her forest
saith the LORD
though
it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers
and are
innumerable.
Tho' — Tho' it seem impenetrable.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Jeremiah》
46 Chapter 46
Verses 1-28
Verse 17
Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise.
Religious judgments
How the Bible can torment its adversaries!--mock them
contemn
them
dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. Yet it is never mere
contempt. The contempt of the Bible is the penal side of a profound philosophy.
Its contempt is as necessary as its Gospel--nay
more
its Gospel renders its
contempt necessary. Our God is a “consuming fire
” “God is love
” “the wrath of
the Lamb.” So when Pharaoh-Necho--mighty man--is called by the contemptuous
term of “noise” no mere sneer is employed. This is a righteous judgment
a
moral estimate
a correct representation of things as they are in reality
not
of things as they appear to be. In all judgments we must have regard to
distance
proportion
perspective. Pharaoh king of Egypt
with horses
chariots
swords
spears
hosts of men
is a terrific power; but to a man standing in the
quiet of the Divine sanctuary
“Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise”--a waft
of wind
a curl of smoke dying whilst it rises. If men would but consider this
law of proportion the whole estimate of life would undergo an instantaneous and
complete reversion. The text brings before us the great subject of religious
judgments--by religious judgments I mean estimates. We must call religion into
the house if we would take a true appraisement of what we possess. Only
religion
as interpreted in Holy Scripture
can tell you what you are and what
you are worth.
1. With regard to those religious estimates or judgments
note how
fearless they are. They are not judgments about personal manners
social
etiquette
little and variable customs; they challenge the whole world. We are
moved by their heroism. Religious judgments do not fritter away our time and
patience in discussing little questions and petty problems: they summon kings
to their bar and call nations to stand back and be judged. There is a national
entity as well as a personal individuality. Blessed is the voice that
fills a
nation; grand is the Gospel that spreads itself over the whole world. We cannot
do without the heroic element
the heroic judgment
the broad estimate
the complete arbitrament
that takes within its purview and decision everything concerning individual
life and general civilisation. You must have the great call
the sublime challenge
the
heroic appeal
the white throne that stretches itself from horizon to horizon
and before which kings are as little men and little men as kings--the grand
astronomical pomp and majesty before which all else settles into its right
relation. That you have in the Bible
and nowhere else.
2. The judgments of the Bible are rational as well as fearless. Under
all contempt there is a rock of logic. Why does the Bible contemn things?
Because of their proportion. It knows the exact proportion which everything
bears to the sum-total of things and to the sovereign purpose of the Divine
government. Then the judgments of the Bible are rational because the matter or
element of duration is continually present to the minds of the inspired
writers. The inspired writer has been locked up with God
and turning away from
that glory all other things become as the baseless fabric of a vision. If we
could see God we should be filled with contempt regarding all things
in so far
as they affected to hinder us by their greatness or overpower us by their
solidity.
3. Then the judgments of the Bible are also critical. They are very
dainty in their expression: they take the right word with an inspired
ingenuity. “Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise.” You cannot amend that
comment. Try to amend anything Jesus Christ ever said. As well amend a dewdrop;
as well paint the lily. And the nations
according to the biblical estimate
are but “a wind” that cometh for a little time and then passeth away; and our
life is but “a vapour
” dying in its very living. These are the condensations
of Omniscience; these arc the sharpened points whetted in eternity; these stand
incapable of amendment.
4. But “fearless
” “rational
” “critical”--is there no word that
comes nearer to my own necessity? Yes
there is a word that touches us all
to-day: these religious judgments are inspiring. Man wants inspiration every
day. The Bible was not inspired once for all
in the sense of having its whole
meaning shown in one disclosure. Inspiration comes with every dawn
distils in
every dew-shower
breathes in every breeze; it is the daily gift of God. How
are these judgments inspiring? Because they enable a man who is right in his
spirit and purpose to say
“If God be for us
who can be against us?” (J. Parker
D. D.)
Verse 18
As I live
saith the King
whose name is the Lord of hosts.
The oaths of Jehovah
I. The Divine
oaths recorded in Scripture exhibit and declare the glory of the Divine
character.
1. As they show forth the infinite condescension of God. He has
addressed us not only in the language of authority and goodness
but also
actually condescended to confirm His own true sayings by the most solemn oaths
and this He has done
not only upon some one particular occasion
but in
numerous instances
and in every variety of form. Sometimes
Jehovah swears by
one or the other of His natural perfections. The Lord hath sworn by His right
hand
and by the arm of His strength. At other times He swears by one or the other of His moral
perfections
as
“Once have I sworn by My holiness.” At other times by His
great name
but the most expressive
as well as the most usual form is that in
the text
“As I live
saith the Lord God.”
2. The Divine oaths furnish a sublime and awful manifestation of the
sincere earnestness of the Divine mind in what He declares unto us in His Word
with such an attestation.
3. The Divine oaths exhibit also the benevolent solicitude of God for
the welfare of the unworthy creatures whom He thus addresses; or as the apostle
expresses it
“the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man.”
4. The Divine oaths intimate the unchangeableness of the Divine mind
in relation to those arrangements in His natural and moral government which were
in that manner established and confirmed.
II. The Divine
oaths also serve to illustrate the moral character of man
and to exercise a
powerful influence on his moral and spiritual interests.
1. They strongly corroborate the fact that the human heart is corrupt
and alienated from God. In speaking to His holy angels
“who excel in
strength
” and are swift to do His will
an oath in confirmation of His Word is
altogether unnecessary. They know His character too well ever to entertain the
slightest suspicion of His truthfulness; but in dealing with fallen and
apostate man
He knew it was necessary to confirm His own faithful words by
most solemn oaths
pledging His own eternal existence on their truth.
2. They serve also as fearful warnings of the perilous condition of
the impenitent and unbelieving soul. Could not an angel have reasonably
supposed that in the face of all the declarations and oaths of Jehovah
recorded in the Bible
unbelief on the part of man would have been a moral
impossibility? After all
unbelief is the most common sin in the world
and the
sin on account of which men generally feel the least compunction; the sin on
account of which the Son of God marvelled and was grieved
--men neither marvel
nor grieve. Just as if it was a thing of no moment to treat the eternal God as
a liar and a perjurer! Be not deceived
God is not mocked.
3. They afford the strongest encouragement to believers in their
onward progress to heaven. Christians
during their earthly pilgrimage
have to
contend against many things in themselves and in the world
which are
calculated to exert a most depressing influence upon their hearts. But they
are
nevertheless
favoured with abundant sources of consolation in the abiding presence of the
Holy Spirit
and in the great and precious truths and promises of the Gospel
“God
willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of the promises the
immutability of His counsel
confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable
things
in which it was impossible for God to lie
we might have a strong
consolation
who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.”
The firm stability of the ordinances of the covenant made with Noah
is
employed to illustrate the stability and unchangeableness of the covenant of
redemption. The mountains and the hills are referred to as fit emblems of its eternal immutability.
(W. Rees
D. D.)
But correct thee in measure.
Chastisement duly proportioned
Correction is like physic
not to be given without good advice and
caution. We use a difference when we go about to hew a rugged piece of timber
and to smooth a little stick
which you can bend as you please. A fit season
must be observed. Cut your trees at some time of the year
and you kill them;
prune them at other times
and they thrive much the better. Horses too straight
reined in are apt to
rise up with their forefeet; when they are allowed convenient liberty with
their heads they go better. (G. Swinnock.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》