k Eeypt 1s compared to a Forreſt either for the multitude of Ct. ties, or of People jn that Country, and to a thick Forreſt, becauſe 35 it isan hard thing to make ones way through a Forreſt, fo it was Judged as hard for an Enemy to make his way into that Country ; in humane probability Egypt could not be ſearched,yet (faith God) the Chaldeans ſhall cut down this Forreſt, and it ſhall be no more to them than for Hewers of Wood,with Tools fitted for the pur. pole, to make their way through a Forreſt. ! For the Army of the Chalicans fhall be as numerous as the Inhabitants of Egypt, more than the Graſhoppers which come in ſuch Troops, as in a ſhort time they devour every green Herb in a place.
24 The daughter of Egypt ſhall be confounded, ſhe jhall be delivered into the hand of the people of the 10rth m.
m That is, into the hand or power of the Chaldeans, it 1s the {ame thing which the Prophet had betore ſaia again and again, endrepeats it ſo often only for the further confirmation of the truth of the Prediction, notwithſtanding the appearing improbability ot any ſuch thing. x
{0 25 The LORD of hoſts, the God of Iſrael faith x, ' Or, 7% Behold, I will puniſh the || | multicude of No o, and
19 Pharaoh, and Egypt, * with their Gods, and their Amon. Kings, even Pharaoh, and al! them that truſt in * Chap. Im pe
43.12,*3. n Theſe Namesare often in conjun@ion given unto God, the
tzex. 30. firſt fignitying his Power, or Ability to do what he either pro- 73 mileth or threatneth,the other {peaking his kindneſs and near rela- tion tothe Jews. o There are great critical Diſputes about this Phraſe, whether the word tranſlated mir{tizude, fignifies ſo ( as it 4©:)1 Chat. 52+ 15.) ard if fo whether it ſhould not be the multitude
f-c: No. Or whether it ſignifies the Nourifber, ( as ſome would [the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers ſhall not look e2%cit ) becauſe No { which moſt think 15 the lame City with that | hack to their children for feebleneſs of hands e.
at rhis time called Alexandria, being a great place of Merchandiſe) | nouriſhed all the adjacent parts ; bur it is no eaſte thing to reſolve! ;;hje as ſhould make Parents forget their natural affection, and flee
the Queſtion, nor is the reſolution of it of much moment to us. þ By thoſe that truſted in Pharaoh the Fews are moſt probably meant, who all along in their proſperity put too much confidence in Fz3;t, and after that Hizruſalem was taken; ſome of them ( as we betore heard ) fled into Egypt for Sanctuary.
26 And I will deliver them into the hand of thoſe that ſeek their Lives, andinto the hand of Nebuchad-
, | Or, T9;
7 Sze the Notes on Chap. 30. 10, It. where is the ſub{tance of #7775 cut what is {aid in theſe two Verſes, and almoſt the very words are*”** off.
repeated; the great thing to be obſerved by us, is the difference **> Zn Mt. which the juſt and righteous God maketh betwixt his Puniſhmears 4/78 *ber of his Church and own People, and his Puniſhments of wicked empty I will Men who are their Enemies ; as there is a great difference in the 79! 7:4ke root of ſuch Diſpenſations, God dealing them out to his People thee empiys out of Love, that they might not be condemued with the wicked ; lo there is a great deal of difference in the meaſure and duration of their Puniſhments, the Rod of the wicked ſhall not always lye upon the backs of the righteous, and they are corrected in mea- Ure. CHAP. XLVII. The Deftrution of the Philiſtines, Tyrians, Z:donians, and others by the Sea-fide, 1, —— 7.
I HE word of the LORD, that came to Jere-,
miah the Prophet * againſt the Philiſtines, | Ci?
before that Pharaoh ſinote -+ Gaza a. + Heb 2 In the former Chapter the Prophet foretold the Judgment of ,,. ,
God upon the Egyptians,who were the Fews ſeeming Friends, but it
their real Enemies, as they were occaſions to them of Idolatry,and
of a ſinful confidence in them. He comes 1n this Chapter to fore-
X 5 #
tell che Judgments of God upon the Philiſtines who were invete- Z
rate Enemies to the Fews, againſt whom alſo Iſaiah, Chap. 14. 2 9+ of his Prophecy, and Ezekiel and Amos propheſied, Exek. 25. is. Amos 1.6. and alſo Zephaniah in Chap. 2. 4, 5. of his Pro- phecy. When the King of Babylon took Gaze, one of the five
rez7ar 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 9.
q The tormer part of this Verſe is but the ſame which the Pro- phet hath often before ſaid. The latter part is a Promiſe for the Reſtauration of Egypt to ſome degrees of its former proſperity and Liberty. The determinate time for the fulfilling of this Pro- phecy is told us, Exek. 2.9. 13, 14. vix. at the end of forty Years ; this we are told by civil Hiſtorians fell out in the time of Amafis a Kingof Ezyprt coxvous with Cyrus, who was overcome by Cyrus his Son Cambyſes, who brought Ezypt to be a Province belonging tothe Meles and Perſians, by the tulfilling of which Prophecy the truth both of Feremiaþ's and Enekzel's Prophecies are juſti- fied,
|
Cities of the Philiſtines the Scripture doth not tell us. Some think it was either in his way to Carchemiſh, or as he came back a Con- querour from the Battel at Megiddo where Joſiah was flain. The time when Feremiah had this Revelation is ſet down to let us know, that it was in the time of the Phili/tines Proſperity, when wenn could ſee no ſuch effect exiſtent, or probable in its cauſes.
up * out of the north 6, and ſhall be an overflowing * Chap, flood, and ſhall overflow the land - and all that is 1. 14. | therein, the city, and them that dwell therein c, T Heb- _ | then the men ſhall cry, andall the inhabicahts of the, nin land ſhall howl 4. ;
b Calamities and AfiQtionsare often in Scripture ſet out under the notion of Waters ; and as the Miſeriesof Egypr were ſet out by the overflowings of their great River Nzlzs, ſo the Calamities of the Philiſtines are expreſſed] by the overflowings of the great Rt- ver Euphrates, theſe Miſeries coming upon them by the Cha/deans, which were a Northern People,their Waters are ſaid to riſe up our of the North. c It is faid to be an overflowing Flood that ſhould overflow the Land, becauſe it was to be a ſweeping Judgment, which like a Flood ſhould carry all before 1t, d which ſhould pro- duce amongſt the Inhabitants of Gaz a great howling, and 1a» me ntation.
3 At the noiſe of the ſtamping of the hoofs of his ſtrong horſes, at the ruſhing of his chariots, and at
0