Jeremiah 2:18

God’s people had turned to Egypt and Assyria for refreshment, instead of to Him (cf. Isaiah 30:1-5). In Jeremiah’s day there was a pro-Egyptian party and a pro-Assyrian party. [Note: Feinberg, p. 392; Graybill, p. 661.] The designation of the Nile River as the shihor (lit. blackness) may have been a way of denigrating the river, which was one of Egypt’s primary gods. The Nile was muddy, and that may be the reason it was called "black."

This reference to the Judahites seeking help from Egypt and Assyria probably dates this sermon sometime before the decline of Assyrian supremacy in the ancient Near East, namely, before 612 B.C., when Nineveh fell (cf. 2 Kings 15:19; 2 Kings 16:7; 2 Kings 17:3; Hosea 5:13; Hosea 7:11; Hosea 8:9).