Jeremiah · Chapter 47

V. 1. Before-In the time of the Philistines prosperity.

Verse 1. The word of the Lord—against the Philistines] The date of this prophecy cannot be easily ascertained. Dr. Blayney thinks it was delivered about the fourth year of Zedekiah, while Dahler assigns it some time in the reign of Josiah.

Before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.] We have no historical relation of any Egyptian king smiting Gaza. It was no doubt smitten by some of them; but when, and by whom, does not appear either from sacred or profane history.

Verse 1. The word of the Lord — against the Philistines — “Among the other nations, who were doomed to suffer by the hostilities of Nebuchadnezzar, the Philistines are enumerated, Jeremiah 25:20; and the calamities foretold in this present chapter most probably befell them during the long siege of Tyre, when that prince ravaged their country, in order, as it is said, verse 4, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon all chance of assistance from that quarter. But as no history, sacred or profane, has mentioned the taking of Gaza by the king of Egypt, there is no means of ascertaining the precise date of the delivery of this prophecy.” Before that Pharaoh smote Gaza — “Some have supposed the Pharaoh here spoken of to be Pharaoh-necho, and that he subdued Gaza after the battle of Megiddo, (2 Kings 23:29,) when the whole country round submitted to his victorious arms. Others have thought that it was Pharaoh-hophra, who, having marched out of Egypt to the relief of Jerusalem, when besieged by the Chaldeans, in the ninth or tenth year of Zedekiah, thought proper to retire again on the approach of the enemy toward him, (Jeremiah 37:5, 7,) but, on his return, fell upon Gaza, and pillaged it. All this, however, is no better than mere conjecture.” — Blaney.

Verse 1. Before that Pharaoh smote Gaza. This is thought to be Pharaoh-necho; but critics are not agreed as to the time of the war, whether it was after the defeat of Josiah, when he was returning to Egypt, or in the tenth year of Zedekiah, when the Chaldeans went to meet him, and gave him a defeat. Their final overthrow was by the Assyrians.

THE TITLE, 1.

1. The word of the Lord… against the Philistines — “The prophecy against Philistia was one of those contained in Jehoiakim’s roll, but there are many difficulties connected with the superscription, owing to our ignorance of contemporaneous history.” — Dean Smith. Before that Pharaoh smote Gaza — Probably Pharaoh-necho, after his defeat at Carchemish. The possession of this stronghold might enable him to hold in check his conquering enemy, and thus serve as a protection to his own land. With this view this prophecy would come between the battle of Carchemish and the capture of Gaza.

Verse 2. Waters rise up out of the north] Waters is a common prophetic image for a multitude of people. The north here, as in other places of this prophecy, means Chaldea.

Verses 2, 3. Behold, waters rise out of the north — Waters sometimes signify multitudes of people and nations, Revelation 17:15; sometimes great and threatening calamities, Psalm 69:1, these waters mean both. By the north, in this prophecy, the country of the Chaldeans is intended, from whence it is here foretold an army should come and overflow the land like a deluge, spreading devastation and destruction everywhere. At the noise of the stamping, &c. — The word tc[v, here rendered stamping, occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Scriptures. The LXX. render it, ormhv, impetus, force, rushing along: the Syriac and Chaldee, by words that respectively denote a progressive motion. “But Grotius,” says Blaney, “seems to have expressed it most happily, who has rendered tc[v lwqm, a quadrupedante sono: having in view, no doubt, that line of Virgil, Æn. 8:596.

Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum.

We may therefore render it, At the galloping sound, or, at the sound of the galloping,” of the hoofs of his strong horses — Hebrew, zyryba, of his mighty ones; namely, horses. At the rushing of his chariots, the rumbling of his wheels — Blaney unites these two particulars in one, and reads, “At the rattling of the multitude of his wheels as he drove along.” The fathers shall not look back to their children — To provide for their safety, or so much as to see what becomes of them; for feebleness of hands — Their bodily vigour being dissolved, or relaxed, through the impression made by fear on their minds, which shall be such as to incapacitate them from exerting their strength to any efficacious purpose.

Ver. 2. Behold waters rise up out of the north. Waters, overflowing rivers, hail and tempests, are common figures to describe invading armies. Isaiah 28:17.

THE PROPHECY OF RUIN, 2-7.

2. Waters rise up — The comparison of a hostile army to an inundating flood spreading devastation over the land is repeatedly used. See chap. 46:7, 8; Isaiah 8:7, etc. This flood is said to come out of the north, because all those Eastern peoples enter Palestine, Philistia, and Egypt from the north. All that is therein — The margin is better, all the fulness thereof, meaning not the people, but the fruits of the earth and the wealth of its inhabitants.

Verse 3. The stamping of the hoofs] At the galloping sound,— Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum,

is a line of Virgil, (Æn. viii. 596,) much celebrated; and quoted here by Blayney, where the galloping sound of the horses’ hoofs is heard. In the stamping of the horses, the rushing of the chariots, and the rumbling of the wheels, our translators intended to convey the sense by the sound of the words; and they have not been unsuccessful. Their translation of the original is at the same time sufficiently literal.

The fathers shall not look back] Though their children are left behind, they have neither strength nor courage to go back to bring them off.

Verses 2, 3. Behold, waters rise out of the north — Waters sometimes signify multitudes of people and nations, Revelation 17:15; sometimes great and threatening calamities, Psalm 69:1, these waters mean both. By the north, in this prophecy, the country of the Chaldeans is intended, from whence it is here foretold an army should come and overflow the land like a deluge, spreading devastation and destruction everywhere. At the noise of the stamping, &c. — The word tc[v, here rendered stamping, occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Scriptures. The LXX. render it, ormhv, impetus, force, rushing along: the Syriac and Chaldee, by words that respectively denote a progressive motion. “But Grotius,” says Blaney, “seems to have expressed it most happily, who has rendered tc[v lwqm, a quadrupedante sono: having in view, no doubt, that line of Virgil, Æn. 8:596.

Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum.

We may therefore render it, At the galloping sound, or, at the sound of the galloping,” of the hoofs of his strong horses — Hebrew, zyryba, of his mighty ones; namely, horses. At the rushing of his chariots, the rumbling of his wheels — Blaney unites these two particulars in one, and reads, “At the rattling of the multitude of his wheels as he drove along.” The fathers shall not look back to their children — To provide for their safety, or so much as to see what becomes of them; for feebleness of hands — Their bodily vigour being dissolved, or relaxed, through the impression made by fear on their minds, which shall be such as to incapacitate them from exerting their strength to any efficacious purpose.

3. Strong horses — War horses. The fathers shall not look back — Nothing could more impressively set forth the appalling danger and terror. So fearful would be the panic that the parent would not pause to see whether his children were effecting their escape.

V. 4. The day-Which God hath set, and appointed for their ruin. Caphtor-Tyre and Sidon were neighbours to the Philistines, and so were often called to their help. The Philistines and Caphtorim were related, for their first progenitors, Philistim and Caphtorim, were both the sons of Mizriam the son of Ham, one of the sons of Noah.

Verse 4. To spoil all the Philistines] These people, of whom there were five seignories, occupied the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, to the south of the Phœnicians.

Tyrus and Zidon] Places sufficiently remarkable both in the Old and New Testament, and in profane history. They belonged to the Phœnicians; and at this time were depending on the succour of their allies, the Philistines. But their expectation was cut off.

The remnant of the country of Caphtor.] Crete, or Cyprus. Some think it was a district along the coast of the Mediterranean, belonging to the Philistines; others, that the Cappadocians are meant.

Verse 4. To cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper, &c. — The siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar was an action famous in the histories of that age, the siege lasting thirteen years. Zidon was partaker of the same fate with Tyre, both in prosperity and adversity: see Isaiah 23:2, 4. And her destruction is joined with that of Tyre by Ezekiel chap. 28. The remnant of the country of Caphtor — Or, the isle of Caphtor; called the remnant of the Philistines, Am. 1:8; and the remnant of the sea-coast, Ezekiel 25:16. The expression denotes either a colony transplanted from Caphtor, or else that small remainder of the Philistines, after they had been almost all destroyed in former times, according to the judgments denounced against them by Amos 1:8, and Isaiah 14:19, &c., Caphtor, or Caphtorim, were the ancient inhabitants of Palestine: see Deuteronomy 2:23. The Caphtorim and Casluhim were two neighbouring nations, and nearly related to each other, being both descended from Misraim the father of the Egyptians: see Genesis 10:13, 14; which may be the reason why Moses there derives the pedigree of the Philistines from the latter of these two. The ancients generally suppose Caphtor to be the same with Cappadocia. These two nations might go out of Egypt, their native soil, and settle themselves in Cappadocia, where they passed under the general appellation of Caphtorim, and afterward return back to their own native country, and settle in Palestine.

Ver. 4. To cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper. This was illustrated in Isai 23. Caphtor is of uncertain import, whether it signifies the sea-coast, or a colony of the Philistines who took refuge in Crete, or Cappadocia. Lowth, after Vitringa, thinks the Cherethims who inhabited Crete to be the same with the Philistines.

4. The destruction is represented as falling upon the Philistines and Phenicians. This suggests an expedition directed against this whole region of country. The Philistines are called the remnant of the country of Caphtor. Caphtor has been, by different authors, identified with Cappadocia, Crete, Cyprus, and the Egyptian Delta. The last of these identifications is the best approved, as it is pretty well settled that the Philistines came from Egypt. Country — Literally, coast land.

V. 5. The remnant-Those who lived in the valleys near Ashkelon. But thyself-Why will you afflict yourselves, when all your mourning will do you no good.

Verse 5. Baldness is come upon Gaza] They have cut off their hair in token of deep sorrow and distress.

Ashkelon is cut off] Or put to silence; another mark of the deepest sorrow. Ashkelon was one of the five seignories of the Philistines, Gaza was another.

The remnant of their valley] Or plain; for the whole land of the Philistines was a vast plain, which extended along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea from Phœnicia to the frontiers of Egypt. The whole of this plain, the territory of the Philistines, shall be desolated.

Verse 5. Baldness is come upon Gaza; how long wilt thou cut thyself, &c. — Under great calamities, and for the loss of any near kindred, it was usual for men to express their grief by shaving their heads, and cutting their flesh. Instead of Ashkelon is cut off, &c., Blaney reads, Ashkelon is put to silence, observing, that “silence likewise is expressive of great affliction. Thus Job’s friends are said to have sat with him seven days and seven nights upon the ground without addressing a word to him, because they saw his grief was very great, Job 2:13. And so the Hebrew word here used, hmdn, is to be understood, (Isaiah 15:1,) of Moab’s being made speechless with grief and astonishment the night that its cities were spoiled: see chap. 48:2.” With the remnant of their valley — Instead of this interpretation, the LXX. read oi kataloipoi Enakim, the remnant of the Anakims. And this reading may be thought to derive some countenance from what is said Joshua 11:22. But we shall see reason to prefer the present reading of the text, if we consider the situation of Gaza and Ashkelon, about twelve miles distant from each other, near the sea, in a valley, of whose beauty and fertility an accurate traveller has given the following description: “We passed this day through the most pregnant and pleasant valley that ever eye beheld. On the right hand a ridge of high mountains; (whereon stands Hebron;) on the left hand the Mediterranean sea; bordered with continued hills, beset with variety of fruits. The champaign between, about twenty miles over, full of flowery hills, ascending leisurely, and not much surmounting their ranker valleys; with groves of olives, and other fruits, dispersedly adorned.” — Sandys’s Travels, book 3. p. 150. The author adds, that in his time, “this wealthy bottom (as are all the rest) was, for the most part, uninhabited, but only for a few small and contemptible villages” — a state of desolation, owing to the oppressions of a barbarous and ill-advised government. But we may easily conceive the populousness that must have prevailed there in its better days, especially if we consider the power which the Philistines once possessed, and the armies they brought into the field; although their country was scarcely forty English miles in length, and much longer than it was broad. — Blaney.

Ver. 5. Baldness is come upon Gaza. The fine tresses of hair were cut off, because their relatives were slain, and their national glory for ever gone.

5. Baldness — A sign of the deepest grief and calamity. How long wilt thou cut thyself — Philistia is represented as a woman tearing her own body in grief and despair.

V. 6. O thou sword-Perhaps they are the words of the prophet, lamenting the havock which he made among the Philistines by the Chaldeans.

Verse 6. O thou sword of the Lord] This is a most grand prosopopœia-a dialogue between the sword of the Lord and the prophet. Nothing can be imagined more sublime.

Put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.] Shed no more blood, destroy no more lives, erase no more cities, desolate no more countries. Rest:—hast thou not been long enough at this work of judgment? O be still:—let wars and desolations cease for ever.

Verses 6, 7. O thou sword of the Lord — By the sword of the Lord, war is here intended, with which, as a great instrument of calamity and destruction, God punishes the crimes of his enemies, and pleads the cause of his people. Some have understood the prophet as speaking in the words of the Philistines, complaining of the havoc which the sword made among them; but however weary they might be of the war, and desirous of its ceasing, it is not likely they should see the hand of God in it, or term it his sword. The words are rather to be considered as the lamentation of the prophet, (and it is a most pathetic and animated one,) over the miseries with which God, in his just displeasure, was punishing the nations for their sins. How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath, given it a charge against Ashkelon, &c. — Here the prophet returns an answer to the foregoing inquiry, importing, that the havoc made by the sword was the effect of God’s irreversible purpose and decree. He gives the sword its commission, and it slays when and where he appoints, and continues to destroy a longer or shorter time, as he determines. When it is drawn, it will not be sheathed till it has fulfilled its charge. As God’s word, so his rod and his sword shall accomplish that for which he sends them.

Ver. 6. Oh thou sword of the Lord, how long ere thou be quiet? The tender eyes of the prophet, on viewing the wars of the bloody Assyrians, wept again. War is horrible to the feelings of a virtuous mind. The gods from heaven survey the fatal strife,

And mourn the miseries of human life.

6. O thou sword… how long — As if it may no longer be endured. The prayer is in behalf of Philistia and in behalf of humanity for respite and mercy.

V. 7. How-God lets the prophet know that he had given this sword its commission, and therefore it could not stop ‘till Ashkelon and the people on the sea-shore were destroyed by it.

Verse 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. JEREMIAH

Verses 6, 7. O thou sword of the Lord — By the sword of the Lord, war is here intended, with which, as a great instrument of calamity and destruction, God punishes the crimes of his enemies, and pleads the cause of his people. Some have understood the prophet as speaking in the words of the Philistines, complaining of the havoc which the sword made among them; but however weary they might be of the war, and desirous of its ceasing, it is not likely they should see the hand of God in it, or term it his sword. The words are rather to be considered as the lamentation of the prophet, (and it is a most pathetic and animated one,) over the miseries with which God, in his just displeasure, was punishing the nations for their sins. How can it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath, given it a charge against Ashkelon, &c. — Here the prophet returns an answer to the foregoing inquiry, importing, that the havoc made by the sword was the effect of God’s irreversible purpose and decree. He gives the sword its commission, and it slays when and where he appoints, and continues to destroy a longer or shorter time, as he determines. When it is drawn, it will not be sheathed till it has fulfilled its charge. As God’s word, so his rod and his sword shall accomplish that for which he sends them.

Ver. 7. How can it be quiet? When the harvest is ripe, the corn must be reaped; and so it is with nations, when their iniquities are full. Cursed be the man that doeth the administration of justice deceitfully. Saul lost his crown for not avenging innocent blood on Amalek. What a question to teach us justice, mercy and truth; and that our children may revere the God of heaven and earth.

7. How can it, etc. — A reply to the question asked in verse 6. Jehovah hath given “the sword” a commission, and it cannot be quiet until the commission be fulfilled. Sea shore — A suitable designation of Philistia.