Jeremiah 46:5

THE ROUTE OF THE EGYPTIAN ARMY

"Wherefore have I seen it? they are dismayed and turned backward; and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: terror is on every side, saith Jehovah. Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; in the north by the river Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen. Who is this that riseth up like the Nile, whose waters toss themselves like the rivers: and he saith, I will rise up, I will cover the earth; I will destroy cities and the inhabitants thereof. Go up, ye horses; and rage ye chariots; and let the mighty men go forth: Cush and Put, that handle the shield; and the Ludim, that handle and bend the bow. For that day is a day of the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge himself of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour and be satiate, and shall drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain dost thou use many medicines; there is no healing for thee. The nations have heard of thy shame, and the earth is full of thy cry; for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, they are fallen both of them together."

"Wherefore have I seen it? ..." (Jeremiah 46:5). These words are the dramatic introduction to a startling change in the scene, from that of the arrogant, advancing army of Egypt, to that of a hopelessly beaten and routed army.[10]

"Terror is on every side, saith Jehovah ..." (Jeremiah 46:5). Here is the key that demands our understanding of this passage, not as a record of something that has already occurred, but as a divine promise of what is going to happen. Therefore, this prophecy must be dated before the battle of Carchemish.

What brought about the defeat of such a large and impressive force? "It was panic, supernaturally induced, that did it."[11] In this long paragraph, note the words "terror" (Jeremiah 46:5), "they have fled ... look not back" (Jeremiah 46:5), "the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty" (Jeremiah 46:12), etc.

These verses (Jeremiah 46:3-12) do not contain a triumphal song over a defeat that has already taken place, but a prophecy of a defeat about to take place.[12]

"Cush ... Put... Ludim, etc. ..." (Jeremiah 46:9). These places were the sources of the mercenary troops upon which the Pharaohs relied to build and replenish their armies. The Ethiopians, or Nubian Negroes, made up a large part of these. Such foreign mercenaries were never very reliable; and a later Pharaoh-Hophra lost his kingship because of a mutiny against him.

"A day of the Lord ..." (Jeremiah 46:10). It is not "the day of the Lord," for there are no eschatological echoes in the place.

"A day of Jehovah of hosts, a day of vengeance ..." (Jeremiah 46:10). The Egyptians had quite recently slain the good King Josiah, and their defeat was a vengeance against that disaster for Israel. The possible reference here to Egypt's slaying of Josiah (in 609 B.C.), if this alleged reference is correct, would indicate that the exact date of this prophecy would fall between 609 B.C. and 605 B.C., but well before the fall of Carchemish to Babylon.

"The Lord hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates." Contrary to all that the proud Egyptian army anticipated, they were destined to be sacrificial victims in that day at Carchemish when the Lord would provide himself a sacrifice of their entire army!