Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

CHAP. XLV, XLVI, 1-13.

This chapter refers to the thirty sixth, and should have been placed after it. Baruch having written and read Jeremiah's prophecy, the king, being displeased, sent a warrant to apprehend both of them.

TH

HE word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim 2 the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD, 3 the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch; Thou didst say, Wo is me now; for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; personal troubles to the sorrows I endure on account of the public; I Thus shalt thou 4 fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.

say unto him, The LORD saith thus; Behold, [that] which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land; I will ruin this whole coun5 try, which hath formerly been so beautiful and fruitful. And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek [them] not; do not indulge the secret ambition of thy heart: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD, upon all ranks and ages: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest; thou shalt escape with thy life, and let that content thee; thou hast reason to rejoice in that, as a conqueror when he divideth the spoil.

[ocr errors]

CHAP. XLVI.*

The word of the LORD which came to 2 Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles; Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son 3 of Josiah king of Judah. Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle; go, take up your arms, and march against the 4 Chaldeans; speaking ironically. Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with [your] helmets; furbish the spears, [and] put on the brigandines, or, coats of mail. 5 Wherefore have I seen them dismayed [and] turned away back and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: [for] fear [was] round about, saith 6 the LORD. Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; or, the swift shall not fly away, but be taken; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates. Then, in order to raise an expectation of some mighty enterprise, the prophet asks, Who [is] this [that] cometh up as a flood, 8 whose waters are moved as the rivers? Egypt riseth up like a

The first verse of this chapter is an introduction to the prophecies in it and the following ones. In the beginning of this Jeremiah foretells the overthrow of Pharaoh's army at Euphrates, when he went against Nebuchadnezzar, in the first year of his reign.

flood, and [his] waters are moved like the rivers; a beautiful allusion to the overflowing of the Nile, which made Egypt fruitful; and he saith, I will go up, [and] will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof; he threatens to bear 9 down all before him, and to destroy every opposing city. 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; the inhabitants of Africa, the neighbours and allies of the 10 Egyptians. 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; repre11 senting their destruction as a sacrifice of justice to the Lord. Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines? [for] thou shalt not be cured; the Egyptians shall never recover themselves after this 12 defeat. 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; they are destroyed by one another in the haste of their flight. Accordingly we read in 2 Kings xxiv. 7. the king of Egypt came no more out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken, from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates, all that pertained to the king of Egypt.

REFLECTION.

HE practical instructions to be drawn from this prophecy

latter part of the chapter. We shall therefore at present observe what may be learned from chapter xlv. namely, 'that we should restrain a spirit of ambition at all times, especially in times of public trouble.' Baruch was afraid he should lose his favour at court; he thought himself in the way of preferment, by being introduced to the king with Jeremiah's prophecies; but when he found that he was sought for to be punished, he began to grow fretful and uneasy. This God took notice of, and ordered Jeremiah to admonish him for it. God is witness to the secret thoughts of vanity that are in our hearts, and all the discontent and fretfulness which we express or feel when our schemes are disappointed, or likely to be so. God commanded Baruch, and he commands us, not to seek great things for ourselves; to be humble and content in our stations; and to maintain a temper suited to the dispensations of Providence. It is our unreasonable fondness for great things that makes us impatient under evil things, and less solicitous about good ones. Baruch's conduct is reproved from this consideration, that the nation would soon be ruined, and that therefore it was ridiculous to be painting his cabin when the ship was sinking. This intimates that the

uncertainty and short duration of earthly things, is a substantial reason why we should not set our hearts upon them. God will destroy this world; will break down its pillars, and pluck up its very foundations: let us therefore not seek great things in it, but the good things of piety and zeal. Let it be enough for us if our souls are given us for a prey, and we do not partake of the destruction that shall come upon the wicked; if we hear Christ say, Well done, good and faithful servants: these are great things indeed, and God allows us with a sacred refined ambition to seek them. May he grant that the frequent view and diligent pursuit of them, may swallow up every thing that would at any time interfere with them.

CHAP. XLVI. 13, to the end. CHAP. XLVII.

The prophecy in the preceding part of the chapter refers to the Egyptians being driven out of the country they possessed between Egypt and Babylon, which was fulfilled immediately: this refers to their being attacked and conquered in their own country by Nebuchadnezzar, after the Jews went thither, and many years after the former conquest. The same event is foretold by Ezekiel, ch. xxix.-xxxii. The forty seventh chapter is a prophecy of the destruction of the Philistines.

13

T

HE word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come [and] 14 smite the land of Egypt. 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 15 thee. Why are thy valiant [men] swept away as with a violent 16 rain ?* they stood not, because the LORD did drive them. He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another and they, their allies, and mercenary troops, said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing 17 sword. They did cry there, that is, the people who were set to guard the isthmus or neck of land which joins Asia to Africa, and which separated between Egypt and the conquered countries, Pharaoh king of Egypt [is but] a noise; he hath passed the time appointed: Pharaoh had promised what great things he would do, and with what a powerful force he would join them, but here they com18 plain it was all a bluster. [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; that is, the king of Babylon shall come, and be as much superior to them, as Tabor and Carmel are higher than the neighbouring hills.

The word rendered valiant men, is in the Septuagint translated Apis, the sacred bull of Egypt; which, from a very ingenious criticism of Dr. Kennicott, appears to be the true rendering; and is probably alluded to in v. 20, 21.

:

19 O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an in20 habitant. Egypt [is like] a very fair heifer, a rich and goodly kingdom; or perhaps here is an allusion to their god Apis, a fine spotted kine which they worshipped; [but] destruction cometh ; 21 it cometh out of the north. Also her hired men [are] in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, [and] are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, [and] the time of their visitation; they are like oxen that make no resistance, though 22 their bulk and strength is so great. The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; the voices of the Egyptians, which were before loud and blustering, like the lowing of an ox, shall now become low and inconsiderable, like the hissing of a serpent, or the mutterings of an enchanter; (see Isaiah xxix. 4.) for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood. 23 They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, or locusts, and [are] innumerable; her cities and palaces, though mány, strong, and populous, shall be plundered and destroyed, like 24 the cutting down of a wood. The daughter of Egypt shall be

confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people 25 of the north. The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Be hold, I will punish the multitude of No, Amon of No, or Thebes, where was the temple of Jupiter Amon, a city so large as to have a hundred gates, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh and [all] them that trust in him : 26 And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD; as it was in Cyrus' time, when some of the Egyptians might return, but they were never so considerable as before.

27

But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel; for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make [him] afraid. 28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I [am] with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished; a prophecy which has been most remarkably fulfilled. All the mighty nations that oppressed them are vanished as a dream, but the Jews are still preserved as a distinct people, and will be so till the promises of God shall be accomplished.

1

CHAP. XLVII. The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh 2 smote Gaza; while they were yet quiet and secure. Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall

be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl. 3 At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong [horses,] at the rushing of his chariots, [and at] the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to [their] children for feebleness of hands; they shall seek their safety to the neglect of 4 their families, and scarcely be able to save themselves; Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, [and] to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth; the neighbours and allies of the Philistines: for the LORD will spoil the 5 Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.* Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off [with] the remnant of their valley how long wilt thou cut thyself? that is, tear thy ◆ hair, and wound thyself through grief and astonishment. O thou sword of the LORD, how long [will it be] ere thou be quiet? put up thyself in thy scabbard, rest, and be still. A beautiful and noble apostrophe, dictated by the prophet's desire of the peace of Israel's enemies, and his grief for their approaching calamities : emotions which he checked with this thought, that all was to exe7 cute the divine purposes. 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. A prophecy which was fulfilled in the desolation of those countries, while Nebuchadnezzar was besieging Tyre; which was blocked up about thirteen years.

1. HER

:

REFLECTIONS.

ERE is another instance of the little dependence which is to be placed on the greatest of men, even when they promise and boast the greatest things. The allies of the Egyp tians complained that Pharaoh was but a noise. He hectored and talked big, but that was all; and the helpers in whom the Tyrians and Sidonians trusted, were cut off. So uncertain are expectations from man! Those who promise and compliment most, often perform least they may be unable or unwilling to fulfil their promises; or, if ever so able or willing, they may be speedily cut off. This should teach us to cease from man; to trust in a faithful God, and to seek our help from him.

2. Observe how changeable the state of nations is. A fine description is here given of the number, power, and pride of the Egyptians. What forces, what allies, and preparations! but all were vain against this mighty conqueror. The Philistines in like manner were secure and quiet but such distress came upon them, that they could not save their children, or look back to see what was become of them. What little reason have we, as a nation, to

A nation that joined with them, and was lost among them; they are mentioned togeth er in Gen. x. 14.

« ZurückWeiter »