In
this chapter we have, I. An awakening sermon which Jeremiah preaches to the
Jews in
Egypt
, to reprove them for their idolatry,
notwithstanding the warnings given them both by the word and the rod of God
and to threaten the judgments of God against them for it, ver. 1-14. II. The
impudent and impious contempt which the people put upon this admonition, and
their declared resolution to persist in their idolatries notwithstanding, in
despite of God and Jeremiah, ver. 15-19. III. The sentence passed upon them
for their obstinacy, that they should all be cut off and perish in Egypt
except a very small number; and, as a sign or earnest of it, the king of
Egypt should shortly fall into the hands of the king of Babylon and be
unable any longer to protect them, ver. 20-30.
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Sermon
to the Jews in Egypt; Jeremiah's Remonstrance.
B. C. 587.
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1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning
all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, and at
Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying, 2
Thus saith the LORD
of hosts, the God of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought
upon Jerusalem, and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they
are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein, 3 Because
of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger, in
that they went to burn incense, and to serve other gods, whom they
knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. 4 Howbeit I
sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them,
saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate. 5 But they
hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn
no incense unto other gods. 6 Wherefore my fury and mine anger
was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets
of Jerusalem; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day.
7 Therefore now thus saith the LORD,
the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great
evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and
suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain; 8 In that
ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto
other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might
cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all
the nations of the earth? 9 Have ye forgotten the wickedness of
your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness
of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives,
which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of
Jerusalem? 10 They are not humbled even unto this day,
neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I
set before you and before your fathers. 11 Therefore thus saith
the LORD
of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for
evil, and to cut off all Judah. 12 And I will take the remnant
of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn
there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt;
they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine:
they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by
the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and
a curse, and a reproach. 13 For I will punish them that dwell in
the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the
famine, and by the pestilence: 14 So that none of the remnant of
Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape
or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they
have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as
shall escape.
The Jews in Egypt were now dispersed into various parts of the country, into
Migdol, and Noph, and other places, and Jeremiah was sent on an
errand from God to them, which he delivered either when he had the most of
them together in Pathros (v. 15) or going about from place to
place preaching to this purport. He delivered this message in the name of the
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, and in it,
I. God puts them in mind of the desolations of Judah and Jerusalem, which,
though the captives by the rivers of Babylon were daily mindful of
(Ps. cxxxvii. 1), the fugitives in the cities of Egypt seem to have
forgotten and needed to be put in mind of, though, one would have thought,
they had not been so long out of sight as to become out of mind (v.
2): You have seen what a deplorable condition Judah and Jerusalem are
brought into; now will you consider whence those desolations came? From the
wrath of God; it was his fury and his anger that kindled the fire which made
Jerusalem and the cities of Judah waste and desolate (v. 6);
whoever were the instruments of the destruction, they were but instruments:
it was a destruction from the Almighty.
II. He puts them in mind of the sins that brought those desolations upon
Judah and Jerusalem. It was for their wickedness. It was this that provoked
God to anger, and especially their idolatry, their serving other gods
(v. 3) and giving that honour to counterfeit deities, the creatures
of their own fancy and the work of their own hands, which should have been
given to the true God only. They forsook the God who was known among them,
and whose name was great, for gods that they knew not, upstart deities,
whose original was obscure and not worth taking notice of: "Neither
they nor you, nor your fathers, could give any rational account why the
God of Israel was exchanged for such impostors." They knew not that
they were gods; nay, they could not but know that they were no gods.
III. He puts them in mind of the frequent and fair warnings he had given
them by his word not to serve other gods, the contempt of which warnings was
a great aggravation of their idolatry, v. 4. The prophets were
sent with a great deal of care to call to them, saying, Oh! do not this
abominable thing that I hate. It becomes us to speak of sin with the
utmost dread and detestation as an abominable thing; it is certainly so, for
it is that which God hates, and we are sure that hid judgment is
according to truth. Call it grievous, call it odious, that we may by all
means possible put ourselves and others out of love with it. It becomes us
to give warning of the danger of sin, and the fatal consequences of it, with
all seriousness and earnestness: "Oh! do not do it. If you love
God, do not, for it is provoking to him; if you love your own souls do not,
for it is destructive to them." Let conscience do this for us in an
hour of temptation, when we are ready to yield. O take heed! do not this
abominable thing which the Lord hates; for, if God hates it, though
shouldst hate it. But did they regard what God said to them? No: "They
hearkened not, nor inclined their ear (v. 5); they still
persisted in their idolatries; and you see what came of it, therefore God's anger
was poured out upon them, as at this day. Now this was intended
for warning to you, who have not only heard the judgments of God's mouth, as
they did, but have likewise seen the judgments of his hand, by which you
should be startled and awakened, for they were inflicted in terrorem,
that others might hear and fear and do no more as they did, lest they should
fare as they fared."
IV. He reproves them for, and upbraids them with, their continued
idolatries, now that they had come into Egypt (v. 8): You burn
incense to other gods in the land of Egypt. Therefore God forbade them
to go into Egypt, because he knew it would be a snare to them. Those whom
God sent into the land of the Chaldeans, though that was an idolatrous
country, were there, by the power of God's grace, weaned from idolatry; but
those who went against God's mind into the land of the Egyptians were there,
by the power of their own corruptions, more wedded than ever to their
idolatries; for, when we thrust ourselves without cause or call into places
of temptation, it is just with God to leave us to ourselves. In doing this,
1. They did a great deal of injury to themselves and their families: "You
commit this great evil against your souls (v. 7), you wrong them,
you deceive them with that which is false, you destroy them, for it will be
fatal to them." Note, In sinning against God we sin against our own
souls. "It is the ready way to cut yourselves off from all
comfort and hope (v. 8), to cut off your name and honour; so that you
will, both by your sin and by your misery, become a curse and a reproach
among all nations. It will become a proverb, As wretched as a Jew. It is
the ready way to cut off from you all your relations, all that you
shave have joy of and have your families built up in, man and woman,
child and suckling, so that Judah shall be a land lost for want of
heirs." 2. They filled up the measure of the iniquity of their fathers,
and, as if that had been too little for them, added to it (v. 9):
"Have you forgotten the wickedness of those who are gone before
you, that you are not humbled for it as you ought to be, and afraid of the
consequences of it?" Have you forgotten the punishments of your
fathers? so some read it. "Do you not know how dear their idolatry
cost them? And yet dare you continue in that vain conversation received by
tradition from you fathers, though you received the curse with it?" He
reminds them of the sins and punishments of the kings of Judah, who,
great as they were, escaped not the judgments of God for their idolatry;
yea, and they should have taken warning by the wickedness of their wives,
who had seduced them to idolatry. In the original it is, And of his
wives, which, Dr. Lightfoot thinks, tacitly reflects upon Solomon's
wives, particularly his Egyptian wives, to whom the idolatry of the kings of
Judah owed its original. "Have you forgotten this, and what came of it,
that you dare venture upon the same wicked courses?" See Neh. xiii. 18,
26. "Nay, to come to your own times, Have you forgotten your own
wickedness and the wickedness of your wives, when you lived in
prosperity in Jerusalem, and what ruin it brought upon you? But, alas! to
what purpose do I speak to them?" (says God to the prophet, v.
10) "they are not humbled unto this day, by all the humbling
providences that they have been under. They have not feared, nor walked
in my law." Note, Those that walk not in the law of God do thereby
show that they are destitute of the fear of God.
V. He threatens their utter ruin for their persisting in their idolatry now
that they were in Egypt. Judgment is given against them, as before (ch.
xlii. 22), that they shall perish in Egypt; the decree has gone forth, and
shall not be called back. They set their faces to go into the land of
Egypt (v. 12), were resolute in their purpose against God, and
now God is resolute in his purpose against them: I will set my face to
cut off all Judah, v. 11. Those that think not only to affront,
but to confront, God Almighty, will find themselves outfaced; for the
face of the Lord is against those that do evil, Ps. xxxiv. 16. It is
here threatened concerning these idolatrous Jews in Egypt, 1. That they
shall all be consumed, without exception; no degree nor order among them
shall escape: They shall fall, from the least to the greatest (v.
12), high and low, rich and poor. 2. That they shall be consumed
by the very same judgments which God made use of for the punishment of
Jerusalem, the sword, famine, and pestilence, v. 12, 13. They
shall not be wasted by natural deaths, as Israel in the wilderness, but by
these sore judgments, which, by flying into Egypt, they thought to get out
of the reach of. 3. That none (except a very few that will narrowly escape)
shall ever return to the land of Judah again, v. 14. They
thought, being nearer, that they stood fairer for a return to their own land
than those that were carried to Babylon; yet those shall return, and these
shall not; for the way in which God has promised us any comfort is much
surer than that in which we have projected it for ourselves. Observe, Those
that are fretful and discontented will be uneasy and fond of change wherever
they are. The Israelites, when they were in the land of Judah, desired to go
into Egypt (ch. xlii. 22), but when they were in Egypt they desired
to return to the land of Judah again; they lifted up their soul
to it (so it is in the margin), which denotes an earnest desire. But,
because they would not dwell there when God commanded it, they shall not
dwell they were they desire it. If we walk contrary to God, he will walk
contrary to us. How can those expect to be well off who would not know when
they were so, though God himself told them?
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The
People's Insolent Reply.
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B.
C. 587.
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15 Then all the men which knew that their
wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a
great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in
Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, 16 As for the word
that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD,
we will not hearken unto thee. 17 But we will certainly do
whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the
queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done,
we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and
in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and
were well, and saw no evil. 18 But since we left off to burn
incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we
have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by
the famine. 19 And when we burned incense to the queen of
heaven, and poured out drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to
worship her, and pour out drink offerings unto her, without our men?
We have here the people's obstinate refusal to submit to the power of the
word of God in the mouth of Jeremiah. We have scarcely such an instance of
downright daring contradiction to God himself as this, or such an avowed
rebellion of the carnal mind. Observe,
I. The persons who thus set God and his judgments at defiance; it was not
some one that was thus obstinate, but the generality of the Jews; and they
were such as knew either themselves or their wives to be guilty of the
idolatry Jeremiah had reproved, v. 15. We find, 1. That the women had
been more guilty of idolatry and superstition than the men, not because the
men stuck closer to the true God and the true religion than the women, but,
I fear, because they were generally atheists, and were for no God and no
religion at all, and therefore could easily allow their wives to be of a
false religion, and to worship false gods. 2. That it was consciousness of
guilt that made them impatient of reproof: They knew that their wives had
burnt incense to other gods, and that they had countenanced them in it, and
the women that stood by knew that they had joined with them in their
idolatrous usages; so that what Jeremiah said touched them in a sore place,
which made them kick against the pricks, as children of Belial,
that will not bear the yoke.
II. The reply which these persons made to Jeremiah, and in him to God
himself; it is in effect the same with theirs who had the impudence to say
to the Almighty, Depart from us; we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
1. They declare their resolution not to do as God commanded them, but what
they themselves had a mind to do; that is, they would go on to worship the
moon, here called the queen of heaven; yet some understand it of the
sun, which was much worshipped in Egypt (ch. xliii. 13) and had been
so at Jerusalem (2 Kings xxiii. 11), and they say that the Hebrew word for
the sun being feminine it may not unfitly be called the queen of heaven.
And others understand it of all the host of heaven, or the frame
of heaven, the whole machine, ch. vii. 18. These daring sinners
do not now go about to make excuses for their refusal to obey, nor suggest
that Jeremiah spoke from himself and not from God (as before, ch.
xliii. 2), but they own that he spoke to them in the name of the Lord,
and yet tell him flatly, in so many words, "We will not hearken unto
thee; we will do that which is forbidden and run the hazard of that
which is threatened." Note, Those that live in disobedience to God
commonly grow worse and worse, and the heart is more and more hardened by the
deceitfulness of sin. Here is the genuine language of the rebellious
heart: We will certainly do whatsoever thing goes forth out of our own
mouth, let God and his prophets say what they please to the contrary.
What they said many think who yet have not arrived at such a degree of
impudence as to speak it out. It is that which the young man would be at in
the days of his youth; he would walk in the way of his heart and the
sight of his eyes, and would have and do every thing he has a mind to,
Eccl. xi. 9.
2. They give some sort of reasons for their resolution; for the most absurd
and unreasonably wicked men will have something to say for themselves, till
the day comes when every mouth shall be stopped.
(1.) They plead many of those things which the advocates for Rome make the
marks of a true church, and not only justify but magnify themselves with;
and these Jews have as much right to them as the Romanists have. [1.] They
plead antiquity: We are resolved to burn incense to the queen of heaven,
for our fathers did so; it is a practice that pleads prescription;
and why should we pretend to be wiser than our fathers? [2.] They plead
authority. Those that had power practised it themselves and prescribed it to
others: Our kings and our princes did it, whom God set over us, and
who were of the seed of David. [3.] They plead unity. It was not here and
there one that did it, but we, we all with one consent, we that are a
great multitude (v. 15), we did it. [4.] They plead universality.
It was not done here and there, but in the cities of Judah. [5.] They
plead visibility. It was not done in a corner, in dark and shady groves
only, but in the streets, openly and publicly. [6.] They plead that
it was the practice of the mother-church, the holy see; it was not now
learned first in Egypt, but it had been done in Jerusalem. [7.] They
plead prosperity: They had we plenty of bread, and of all good
things; we were well and saw no evil. All the former pleas, I fear,
were too true in fact; God's witnesses against their idolatry were few and
hid; Elijah though that he was left alone: and this last might perhaps be
true as to some particular persons, but, as to their nation, they were still
under rebukes for their rebellions, and there was no peace to those that
went out or came in, 2 Chron. xv. 5. But, supposing all to be true, yet
this does not at all excuse them from idolatry; it is the law of God that we
must be ruled and judged by, hot the practice of men.
(2.) They suggest that the judgments they had of late been under were
brought upon them for leaving off to burn incense to the queen of heaven,
v. 18. So perversely did they misconstrue providence, though God, by
his prophets, had so often explained it to them, and the thing itself spoke
the direct contrary. Since we forsook our idolatries we have
wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword, the true reason
of which was because they still retained their idols in their heart and an
affection to their old sins; but they would have it thought that it was
because they had forsaken the acts of sin. Thus the afflictions which should
have been for their welfare, to separate between them and their sins, being
misinterpreted did but confirm them in their sins. Thus, in the first ages
of Christianity, when God chastised the nations by any public calamities for
opposing the Christians and persecuting them, they put a contrary sense upon
the calamities, as if they were sent to punish them for conniving at the
Christians and tolerating them, and cried, Christianos ad leones--Throw
the Christians to the lions. Yet, if it had been true, as they said
here, that since they returned to the service of the true God, the God of
Israel, they had been in want and trouble, was that a reason why they should
revolt from him again? That was as much as to say that they served not him,
but their own bellies. Those who know God, and put their trust in him, will
serve him, though he starve them, though he slay them, though they never see
a good day with him in this world, being well assured that they shall not
lose by him in the end.
(3.) They plead that, though the women were most forward and active in their
idolatries, yet they did it with the consent and approbation of their
husbands; the women were busy to make cakes for meat-offerings to
the queen of heaven and to prepare and pour out the drink-offerings,
v. 19. We found, before, that this was their work, ch. vii.
18. "But did we do it without our husbands, privately and
unknown to them, so as to give them occasion to be jealous of us? No; the
fathers kindled the fire while the women kneaded the dough; the men that
were our heads, whom we were bound to learn of and to be obedient to, taught
us to do it by their example." Note, It is sad when those who are in
the nearest relation to each other, who should quicken each other to that
which is good and so help one another to heaven, harden each other in sin
and so ripen one another for hell. Some understand this as spoken by the
husbands (v. 15), who plead that they did not do it without their
men, that is, without their elders and rulers, their great men, and men
in authority; but, because the making of the cakes and the pouring
out of the drink-offerings are expressly spoken of as the women's
work (ch. vii. 18), it seems rather to be understood as their plea:
but it was a frivolous plea. What would it avail them to be able to say that
it was according to their husbands' mind, when they knew that it was
contrary to their God's mind?
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Jeremiah's
Continued Remonstrance.
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B.
C. 587.
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20 Then Jeremiah said unto all the people, to
the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that
answer, saying, 21 The incense that ye burned in the cities of
Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, ye, and your fathers, your kings,
and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the LORD
remember them, and came it not into his mind? 22 So that
the LORD
could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because
of the abominations which ye have committed; therefore is your land a
desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without an inhabitant, as at
this day. 23 Because ye have burned incense, and because ye have
sinned against the LORD,
and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD,
nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies;
therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day. 24
Moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the
word of the LORD,
all Judah that are in the land of Egypt: 25 Thus saith
the LORD
of hosts, the God of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with
your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform
our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to
pour out drink offerings unto her: ye will surely accomplish your vows, and
surely perform your vows. 26 Therefore hear ye the word of the LORD,
all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt; Behold, I have sworn by my great
name, saith the LORD,
that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all
the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord GOD
liveth. 27 Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for
good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be
consumed by the sword and by the famine, until there be an end of
them. 28 Yet a small number that escape the sword shall return
out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah, and all the remnant of
Judah, that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall know
whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs. 29 And this shall
be a sign unto you, saith the LORD,
that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall
surely stand against you for evil: 30 Thus saith the LORD;
Behold, I will give Pharaoh-hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his
enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah
king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy,
and that sought his life.
Daring sinners may speak many a bold word and many a big word, but, after
all, God will have the last word; for he will be justified when he speaks,
and all flesh, even the proudest, shall be silent before him. Prophets may
be run down, but God cannot; nay, here the prophet would not.
I. Jeremiah has something to say to them from himself, which he could say
without a spirit of prophecy, and that was to rectify their mistake (a
wilful mistake it was) concerning the calamities they had been under and the
true intent and meaning of them. They said that these miseries came upon
them because they had now left off burning incense to the queen of
heaven. "No," says he, "it was because you had formerly
done it, not because you had now left it off." When they gave him that
answer, he immediately replied (v. 20) that the incense which they
and their fathers had burnt to other gods did indeed go unpunished a great
while, for God was long-suffering towards them, and during the day of his
patience it was perhaps, as they said, well with them, and they saw
no evil; but at length they grew so provoking that the Lord could no
longer bear (v. 22), but began a controversy with them, whereupon
some of them did a little reform; their sins left them, for so it might be
said, rather than that they left their sins. But their old guilt being still
upon the score, and their corrupt inclinations still the same, God
remembered against them the idolatries of their fathers, their kings, and
their princes, in the streets of Jerusalem, which they, instead of being
ashamed of, gloried in as a justification of them in their idolatries; they all
came into his mind (v. 21), all the abominations which they
had committed (v. 22) and all their disobedience to the voice
of the Lord (v. 23), all were brought to account; and therefore,
to punish them for these, is their land a desolation and a curse, as at
this day (v. 22); therefore, not for their late
reformation, but for their old transgressions, has all this evil happened
to them, as at this day, v. 23. Note, The right understanding of
the cause of our troubles, one would think, should go far towards the cure
of our sins. Whatever evil comes upon us, it is because we have
sinned against the Lord, and should therefore stand in awe and sin
not.
II. Jeremiah has something to say to them, to the women particularly,
from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, They have given their
answer; now let them hear God's reply, v. 24. Judah, that
dwells in the land of Egypt, has God speaking to them, even there;
that is their privilege. Let them observe what he says; that is their duty, v.
26. Now God, in his reply, tells them plainly,
1. That, since they were fully determined to persist in their idolatry, he
was fully determined to proceed in his controversy with them; if they would
go on to provoke him, he would go on to punish them, and see which would get
the better at last. God repeats what they had said (v. 25): "You
and your wives are agreed in this obstinacy; you have spoken with
your mouths and fulfilled with your hands; you have said it, and you
stand to it, have said it and go on to do accordingly, We will surely
perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn incense to the queen of heaven,"
as if, though it were a sin, yet their having vowed to do it were sufficient
to justify them in the doing of it; whereas no man can by his vow make that
lawful to himself, much less duty, which God has already made sin.
"Well" (says God), "you will accomplish, you will perform,
your wicked vows: now hear what is my vow, what I have sworn
by my great name;" and, if the Lord hath sworn, he will
not repent, since they have sworn and will not repent. With the
froward he will show himself froward, Ps. xviii. 26. (1.) He had sworn
that what little remains of religion there were among them should be lost, v.
26. Though they joined with the Egyptians in their idolatries, yet they
continued upon many occasions to make mention of the name of Jehovah,
particularly in their solemn oaths; they said, Jehovah liveth, he is the
living God, so they owned him to be, though they worshipped dead idols;
they swear, The Lord liveth (ch. v. 2), but I fear they
retained this form of swearing more in honour of their nation than of their
God. But God declares that his name shall no more be thus named
by any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt; that is, there shall be
no Jews remaining to use this dialect of their country, or, if there be,
they shall have forgotten it and shall learn to swear, as the Egyptians do, by
the life of Pharaoh, not of Jehovah. Note, Those are very miserable whom
God has so far left to themselves that they have quite forgotten their
religion and lost all the remains of their good education. Or this may
intimate that God would take it as an affront to him and would resent it
accordingly, if they did make mention of his name and profess any relation
to him. (2.) He hath sworn that what little remnant of people there was
there should all be consumed (v. 27): I will watch over them for
evil; no opportunity shall be let slip to bring some judgment upon them,
until there be an end of them and they be rooted out. Note, To those
whom God finds impenitent sinners he will be found an implacable Judge. And,
when it comes to this, they shall know (v. 28) whose word
shall stand, mind or theirs. They said that they should recover
themselves when they returned to worship the queen of heaven; God
said they should ruin themselves; and now the event will show which was in
the right. The contest between God and sinners is whose word shall stand,
whose will shall be done, and who shall get the better. Sinners say that
they shall have peace though they go on; God says they shall have no peace.
But when God judges he will overcome; God's word shall stand, and not
the sinner's.
2. He tells them that a very few of them should escape the sword, and
in process of time return into the land of Judah, a small number (v.
28), next to none, in comparison with the great numbers that should return
out of the land of the Chaldeans. This seems designed to upbraid those who
boasted of their numbers that concurred in sin; there were none to speak of
that did not join in idolatry: "Well," says God, "and there
shall be as few that shall escape the sword and famine."
3. He gives them a sign that all these threatenings shall be accomplished in
their season, that they shall be consumed here in Egypt and shall quite
perish: Pharaoh-hophra, the present king of Egypt, shall be
delivered into the hand of his enemies that seek his life--of his own
rebellious subjects (so some) under Amasis, who usurped his throne--of
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon (so others), who invaded his kingdom; the
former is related by Herodotus, the latter by Josephus. It is likely that
this Pharaoh had tempted the Jews to idolatry by promises of his favour;
however, they depended upon him for his protection, and it would be more
than a presage of their ruin, it would be a step towards it, if he were
gone. They expected more from him than from Zedekiah king of
Judah
; he was a more potent and politic prince. "But," says God, "I
will give him into the hand of his enemies, as I gave Zedekiah."
Note, Those creature-comforts and confidences that we promise ourselves most
from may fail us as soon as those that we promise ourselves least from, for
they are all what God makes them, not what we fancy them.
The sacred history records not the accomplishment of this prophecy, but its
silence is sufficient; we hear no more of these Jews in Egypt, and therefore
conclude them, according to this prediction, lost there; for no word of God
shall fall to the ground.
