Jeremiah 46:13

BABYLON TO PUNISH EGYPT

"The word that Jehovah spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon should come up and smite the land of Egypt. Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Memphis, and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand forth and prepare thee; for the sword hath devoured round about thee. Why are thy strong ones swept away? they stood not, because Jehovah did drive them. He made many to stumble, yea, they fell one upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword. They cried there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath let the appointed time pass by."

"Why are thy strong ones swept away? ..." (Jeremiah 46:15). This statement seems to challenge Egypt to accept the reason for her terrible defeat at Carchemish, namely, the type of troops upon which the Pharaohs depended for their military operations, the mercenaries. Note that the soldiers of Pharaoh are here represented as saying, "let us return to the land of our nativity," which was not Egypt at all, but the various places from which the mercenaries had been recruited.

"The punishment (invasion?) of Egypt promised here in Jeremiah 46:13ff, came after their defeat at Carchemish, but the exact circumstances have not been determined. Some believe it refers to the Babylonian pursuit of the Egyptians after Carchemish (605 B.C.). A second view argues that it occurred in 601 B.C., when, according to the Babylonian Chronicle, Nebuchadnezzar and Necho fought inconclusively at the Egyptian border. A third option favors 568-567 B.C., when Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt. It is possible that the statement was not made in connection with any particular historical event."[13]

We fully agree with the last sentence in the above quotation. Did not Nebuchadnezzar "punish" Egypt in all of those instances? Certainly.

"Pharaoh ... is but a noise; he hath let the appointed time pass by ..." (Jeremiah 46:17) These critical words spoken against Pharaoh were probably by his mercenary soldiers. Whoever used such words, their meaning is variously given: "King Bombast" (the New English Bible), "Much-noise-but-he-lets-the-chance-slip-by," (the Jerusalem Bible), "Loudmouth" (Harrison).[14]

The meaning of such derogatory names was that: "Pharaoh was a mere empty sound, and that he had allowed the allotted years of prosperity, which, as Herodotus testified, he had enjoyed at the beginning of his reign, to pass by, and having misused them, nothing then remained but his min."[15]