Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 46:20
Egypt [is like] a very fair heifer, [but] destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
20. This simile for Egypt may be suggested by Apis the bull god. See on Jer 5:16.
but destruction out of the north is come ] better, as mg. the gadfly. This rendering of the word (not found elsewhere) is in all probability right, though not universally accepted. Egypt is driven to flight by the stings inflicted by her foe.
it is come ] mg. obtains by a very slight change in the Hebrew upon her. This has the support of LXX, Syr., Targ., Vulg. But for MT. we may cp. Psa 96:13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Is like – Or, is. Her god was the steer Apis Jer 46:15, and she is the spouse.
But destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north – More probably, a gadfly from the north has come upon her. This is a sort of insect which stings the oxen and drives them to madness. Compare Isa 7:18.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 20. Egypt is like a very fair heifer] Fruitful and useful; but destruction cometh out of the north, from Chaldea. It may be that there is an allusion here to Isis, worshipped in Egypt under the form of a beautiful cow.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
That is, Egypt is now in a thriving, prosperous condition, having not used to be under any yoke, like a heifer that is fair and fat; but she will not be so long, she is but as a beast fatted for the slaughter, and there are slaughtermen coming out of Chaldea that will kill this fair heifer, and make her a sacrifice to the justice of God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. heiferwanton, like a fat,untamed heifer (Ho 10:11).Appropriate to Egypt, where Apis was worshipped under the form of afair bull marked with spots.
destructionthat is, adestroyer: Nebuchadnezzar. Vulgate translates, “agoader,” answering to the metaphor, “one who will goadthe heifer” and tame her. The Arabic idiom favorsthis [ROSENMULLER].
cometh . . . comethTherepetition implies, it cometh surely and quickly (Ps96:13).
out of the north(Seeon Jer 1:14; Jer47:2).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Egypt [is like] a very fair heifer,…. Like a heifer that has never been under a yoke, it having never been conquered, and brought under the power of another; and like a beautiful, fat, and well fed one, abounding in wealth and riches, in pleasures and delights, in wantonness and luxury, and fit for slaughter, and ready for it. The Targum is,
“Egypt was a beautiful kingdom.”
Some think there is an illusion to the gods of Egypt, Apis and Mnevis, which were heifers or oxen, very beautiful, that had fine spots and marks upon them. Apis was worshipped at Memphis, or Noph, before mentioned, as to be wasted; and Mnevis at Heliopolis, the city of the sun, the same with Bethshemesh, whose destruction is prophesied of;
[See comments on Jer 43:13]; and both these were of various colours, as Ovid z says, particularly of one of them, and is true of both. Pomponius Mela a observes of Apis, the god of all the people of Egypt, that it was a black ox, remarkable for certain spots; and unlike to others in its tongue and tail. And Solinus b says, it is famous for a white spot on its right side, in the form of a new moon: with whom Pliny c agrees, that it has a white spot on the right side, like the horns of the moon, when it begins to increase; and that it has a knot under the tongue, which they call a beetle. And so Herodotus d says, it is very black, and has a white square spot on the forehead; on the back, the effigies of an eagle; two hairs in the tail, and a beetle On the tongue, To which may be added what Strabo e reports, that at Memphis, the royal city of Egypt, is the temple of Apis, the same with Osiris; where the ox of Apis is fed in an enclosure, and reckoned to be a god; it is white in its forehead, and in some small parts of the body, and the rest black; by which marks and signs it is always judged what is proper to be put in its place when dead. In the Table of Iris f, published by Pignorius, it is otherwise painted and described; its head, neck, horns, buttocks, and tail, black, and the rest white; and, on the right side, a corniculated streak. Aelianus g says, these marks were in number twenty nine, and, according to the Egyptians, were symbols of things; some, of the nature of the stars; some, of the overflowing of the Nile; some, of the darkness of the world before the light, and of other things: and all agree, that the ox looked fair and beautiful, to which the allusion is; and there may be in the words an ironical sarcasm, flout, and jeer, at the gods they worshipped, which could not save them from the destruction coming upon them, as follows:
[but] destruction cometh, it cometh from the north; that is, the destruction of Egypt, which should come from Chaldea, which lay north of Egypt; and the coming of it is repeated, to denote the quickness and certainty of it: the word used signifies a cutting off, or a cutting up; in allusion to the cutting off the necks of heifers, which used to be done when slain, De 21:4; or to the cutting of them up, as is done by butchers: and the abstract being put for the concrete, it may be rendered, the “cutter up” h; or cutter off; men, like butchers, shall come out of Babylon, and slay and cut up, this heifer. So the Targum,
“people, that are slayers shall come out of the north against her, to spoil her i;”
that is, the Chaldean army, agreeably to the Syriac version,
“an army shall come out of the north against her.”
z “——variisque coloribus Apis”, Ovid. Metamorph. l. 9. Fab. 12. a De Orbis Situ, l. 1. c. 9. b Polyhistor. c. 45. c Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 46. d L. 3. sive Thalia, c. 28. e Geograph. l. 17. p. 555. Ed. Casaubon. f Piguorii Mensa Isiaca, tab. 4. g De Animal. l. 11. c. 10. h “mactator”, Grotius. So Jarchi. i So in T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 32. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Vs. 20-26: STAMPEDED BY A GADFLY
1. Egypt is likened to a graceful heifer; -her hired soldiers are like calves of the stall – well nourished, but utterly impotent in the day of her calamity, (vs. 20-21).
a. The Babylonians are pictured as a gadfly (horsefly?) coming upon her from the north.
b. The calves, set for the defense of Egypt, are stampeded by a fly!
c. This is surely an ironic reference to the worthlessness of her chief deity.
2. Egypt has boasted that her army is as invulnerable and indestructible as the trees of the forest – more numerous than a plague of locusts, (vs. 22-23).
a. Pictured as axmen, the Chaldean army utterly humiliates Egypt -cutting down the trees of her forest.
b. The characterization of Egypt as hissing and gliding away like a snake is but a sarcastic reference to the humiliation of another of her most exalted deities which was so permanently displayed in her royal insignia.
3. The inhabitants of Egypt are put to shame – delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans, (vs. 24).
4. Jeremiah makes it clear that the Lord is specifically demonstrating the impotency of Amon (No.), the tutelary god of Thebes – punishing him, along with Pharaoh and all those who trusted in him, (vs. 25).
5. Jehovah will deliver Egypt, her gods and kings, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and his officers who seek their lives, (vs. 26a).
6. Here is seen the fallacy of trusting in Pharaoh for protection against the Chaldeans.
7. The Lord will not make a full end of Egypt; a day of restoration is promised wherein she will prosper, (vs. 26b; comp. Eze 29:13-16).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Jeremiah intimates here, that though Egypt indulged in pleasures, it could not yet escape the vengeance of God. We reminded you yesterday why the Prophets mentioned the wealth, the riches, and the power of the ungodly, even because they are blinded by all the good things in which they abound; for they fear nothing, nor feel any anxiety, but through a false notion they exempt themselves from every evil. As, then, the unbelieving are thus presumptuous and proud, the Prophets, on the other hand, warn them and say, that however they may exult in their own strength and defenses, they would yet, when it pleased God to make them prey, become the most miserable of all.
The Prophet, then, in short, takes away the false conceit of the Jews, as well as of the Egyptians; as though he had said, “The Egyptians trust in their prosperity, even as though they were like a heifer frisking in the fields; but calamity,” he says,.” is coming, is coming from the north.” He repeats the same word, in order to remove every doubt: coming, then, is distress, it is coming from the north, that is, from the Babylonians, who were situated northward to Judea, as we stated yesterday.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
B. The Consequences of Invasion Jer. 46:20-26
TRANSLATION
(20) A very beautiful heifer is Egypt. A gadfly from the north has come against her. (21) Also her hirelings in the midst of her are like calves of the stall; but they also have turned and fled together not standing fast; for the day of their destruction has come upon them, the time of their visitation. (22) Her voice is like a serpent going away; for they go with an army and with axes they come against her like those who hew wood. (23) They shall cut down her woods (oracle of the LORD) since it is impenetrable; for they are more than locust and are innumerable. (24) The daughter of Egypt is put to shame; she is given into the hand of the people of the north. (25) The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel has said: I am about to punish Amon of No, Pharaoh, Egypt, her gods, and her kings; even Pharaoh and those who trust in him. (26) And I will deliver them into the power of those who seek their life, even into the power of Nebuchadnezzar and his servants and afterwards it shall be inhabited as in olden days (oracle of the LORD).
COMMENTS
The second stanza of the poem emphasizes the plight of Egypt by means of several figures. The first picture is of the heifer and the gadfly (Jer. 46:20). Egypt had hither-to enjoyed wealth and luxury. She is like a very fair heifer, well-fed, sleek and beautiful. This beautiful animal suddenly finds herself pained and fleeing from the sting of a tiny gadfly[377] from the north. The picture is intended to describe the weakness of Egypt in the face of her new enemy to the north.
[377] The word rendered in the KJV and ASV destruction occurs only here. It comes from a root which means to pinch or sting. Commentators are agreed in suggesting the translation gadfly. This translation is found in the margin of the ASV.
The second picture is of the fleeing fat calves (Jer. 46:21). The mercenaries of Egypt are likened to fatted bullocks (KJV) or more precisely calves of the stall (ASV). These hirelings have no taste for real war. They have gotten all they could out of Egypt and have become fat and prosperous in the process. But now they read the handwriting on the wall and hastily flee to their native lands. It was the day of accountability for Egypt, the time of calamity and divine visitation.
The third picture is that of the advancing woodsmen and the hissing serpent (Jer. 46:22-23). The woodsmen are of course the Babylonians who will unmercifully demolish that which belongs to Egypt as the axmen clearing a forest. Egypt can only emit a hiss of defiance as she slithers towards her hole in the face of the advancing woodsmen. Thus the ancient power of Egypt which Ezekiel once compared to a crocodile (Eze. 29:3; Eze. 32:2) has become nothing but a serpent hissing with impotent rage.
The fourth picture is that of a great swarm of locust (Jer. 46:23 b). The phrase it cannot be searched could refer to the forest of the preceding figure or could equally well refer to the vast number of the invaders who are compared to a huge swarm of locust. In Joe. 1:4 four stages of that insects existence are represented by four distinct Hebrew words. The word used here seems to represent the second stage in the development of the locust. One wonders if the famous locust plague of Exodus was in the mind of Jeremiah as he penned this description of the forthcoming Chaldean invasion. Plagues of locust are not at all uncommon in this region of the world.
In the closing verses of the poem the prophet drops his figures of speech and becomes much more precise in his predictions. Egypt will be completely humiliated by being given into the hands of the people from the north (Jer. 46:24). God has decreed that He will punish Amon of No (ASV). Amon the sun god for centuries was the chief god of Egypt; No is the Biblical name for Thebes, one of the famous cities of the land located in Upper or southern Egypt. Thebes was located some 450 miles south of modern Cairo. Beginning about 2100 B.C. the city served as the seat of the Pharaohs. Thebes reached the height of its power between 1500 and 1000 B.C. when it was the wealthiest and most famous city in the world. The Egyptians called the place No-Amon, The Town of Amon. The greatest collection of monuments and ruins in all the world is to be found at ancient Thebes. The ruins are grouped in three major areas. At the modern city of Luxor is the magnificent Temple of Amenhotep III. A mile and a half northeast of Luxor, at Karnak, are the remains of the majestic Temple of Amon and several smaller temples. Across the Nile from Luxor and Karnak lies the Necropolis, or royal cemetery where the temples and tombs of former rulers are located.
Among the greatest achievements of mankind are the temples of Egypt and the greatest of all Egyptian temples is that of Amon at Karnak. It is the largest temple ever erected by man and, until recent times, the largest columned building ever constructed. Some of the columns in this temple rise to a height of 69 feet and are 34 feet in circumference, It is said that 125 men can stand on the top of each capital of these huge columns.
The history of Thebes from the time of Jeremiah up to the third Christian century is a succession of attacks by foreigners and insurrections by local inhabitants. First came Nebuchadnezzar (568567 B.C.) who surely must have conquered Thebes though the evidence falls short of conclusive proof. Then came Cambyses II (525 B.C.) who plundered Thebes, burned the famous temples, and ravaged the city. Thebes never recovered her former prominence. An insurrection at Thebes was ruthlessly quelled by the Persians in 335 B.C. Alexander the Great next conquered Egypt (332 B.C.). In the first pre-Christian century Ptolemy IX completely destroyed Thebes in order to quell an uprising. The prophecy of Eze. 30:16, Thebes shall be breached and its walls broken down has been literally fulfilled. No city walls are to be seen at the ancient site. Only gateways and pylons mark the places where walls once stood.
Amon and the other gods of Egypt will be punished in the sense of being discredited when the Lord brings His instrument of judgment upon the land. Pharaoh and the kings or officials of royal blood will also taste of the wrath of the Lord along with all the foolish people who put their trust in Pharaoh. The Jews who fled to Egypt after the death of Gedaliah would be in the latter category. That there will be no doubt as to who the conqueror of Egypt will be, Jeremiah specifically names him in Jer. 46:26. It will be none other than Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon. Liberal critics have tried to discredit the prophecy by arguing that Nebuchadnezzar never actually conquered Egypt. However, history does record a successful Chaldean invasion of that land.
At the conclusion of the Egypt oracle Jeremiah holds out brighter prospects for the Egyptians. And afterwards it shall be inhabited as in the days of old (Jer. 46:26). Ezekiel predicts that after forty years of desolation Egyptians would be restored to their land; but Egypt would then be the basest of kingdoms (Eze. 29:12 ff.).[378] Does Jeremiah have in mind here the future political prospects of Egypt as did Ezekiel? This interpretation is possible. But Laetsch has offered a somewhat more spiritual interpretation of this sentence. He points out that afterwards here and elsewhere in these oracles against the nations (e.g., Jer. 49:6) is equivalent to the phrase the latter days found in Jer. 48:47 and Jer. 49:39. In the latter days God will bring back the captivity (i.e., reverse the fortunes) of Moab and Elam (Jer. 48:47, Jer. 49:39). Concerning Ammon God declares: But afterward I will bring back the captivity of the children of Ammon (Jer. 49:6). Thus Laetsch would seem to be justified in equating the term afterward and the latter days. Now if the term the latter days refers to the Messianic age as it most certainly does, then the term afterward should also have Messianic implications. This being the case, the reference here to the restoration of Egypt may well point to the conversion of Egypt to the Christian faith. Egypt shall be inhabited as in days of old. During the patriarchal and unmilitary days of old, Egypt provided a peaceful and happy home for the teeming masses which settled in the fertile Nile valley. So when Egypt in the future, in the latter days, shall hear the Gospel of Christ the inhabitants will know a peace and tranquility which will exceed even that of the days of old. Students of church history will recall that Egypt for centuries was a stronghold of the Christian faith.
[378] The forty years of Eze. 29:12 has also been taken to refer to the period of Persian occupation of Egypt (570530 B.C.). Keil regards the forty years as symbolically denoting a period appointed by God for punishment and penitence.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(20) Egypt is like a very fair heifer.The similitude points, like the strong one of Jer. 46:15, to the Apis worship of Egypt. The nation is like its god. The figure is continued in the words that follow. There comes from the north (from the land of the Chaldees, as in Jer. 1:1), not destruction, but a gadfly that shall sting the heifer into the madness of agony. So, in Isa. 7:18, the fly of Egypt and the bee of Assyria are invited to work evil on Judah. The words find a striking parallel in the Greek legend of Io (probably to be identified with the Egyptian Isis) transformed into a heifer, and her gadfly tormentor, this also connected with the Apis or Mnevis deities of Egypt (schyl. Prom. v. 569). The word for destruction is not found elsewhere, but the etymology suggests the idea of pinching or stinging, and the meaning gadfly is accepted by many recent scholars.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
20. Heifer A figure suggested by, and answering to, her god, the bull Apis.
Destruction cometh The original word for “destruction” occurs here only. Many meanings have been given to it, most of which are mere guesses. Gesenius, Furst, and the Rabbins hold to “destruction.” Hitzig, Schultens, Roediger, Nagelsbach, Keil, and, indeed, most modern Hebraists, give the meaning gadfly, and still other senses have been suggested. The Vulgate translates goader. Of the two senses given above as most prominent, that of gadfly is most generally adopted, and seems to have the best etymological support; but that of “destruction” is most obvious and satisfactory.
Cometh cometh Emphatic. Cometh surely and quickly.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 46:20. Egypt is like a very fair heifer Egypt is a fair and elegant heifer: the drivers shall come upon her from the north: Jer 46:21. For her hired men, who in the midst of her were like fatted bullocks, have turned back, and fled away. Houbigant. The prophet delights in that kind of imagery which marks out a people by their singularities or pre-eminence. Thus, in the passage before us, he alludes to the peculiar worship of the Egyptians; for the worship of Isis and Osiris under the figure of a cow and a bull, and afterwards by the animals themselves, was the most celebrated in all the Egyptian ritual. See Divine Legation, vol. 2:
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 46:20 Egypt [is like] a very fair heifer, [but] destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
Ver. 20. Egypt is like a very fair heifer. ] Vitula elegans, a trim bullock; a worshipping Apis the bull and Mnevis the cow, and unaccustomed to the yoke of subjection, as Hos 10:11 but I shall bring her to it.
Destruction cometh.
a Iuvenca petulca.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
heifer. Probably an allusion to Apis, the sacred bull.
destruction = piercing. Hebrew. kerez. Occurs only here. Revised Version margin suggests gadfly. If it be so, the attack is on the heifer.
cometh. Some codices, with two early printed editions, Aramaean, Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate, read “attacketh her”.
the north. Though Babylon was on the east, the entry through Palestine was from the north, as Abraham entered it.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 46:20-26
Jer 46:20-24
GLIDING AWAY LIKE A SNAKE
Egypt is a very fair heifer; [but] destruction out of the north is come, it is come. Also her hired men in the midst of her are like calves of the stall; for they also are turned back, they are fled away together, they did not stand: for the day of their calamity is come upon them, the time of their visitation. The sound thereof shall go like the serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood. They shall cut down her forest, saith Jehovah, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable. The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.
A very fair heifer…
(Jer 46:20). Memphis, prominently mentioned in this section, was the shrine of the Sacred Bull of Egypt; and the graves of the many successive animals which served as the living symbol of that God (Apis), each in a private tomb once decorated the ancient city. On this account, the identification of Egypt here as a heifer is thought to be sarcastic.
Hired men. like calves of the stall …..
(Jer 46:21). Egypt’s mercenaries were but as fat calves in the hands of the butcher! They probably ate well, looked good, and made a beautiful parade; but they were worthless as fighting men.
The sound thereof shall go like the serpent…
(Jer 46:22). The serpent was sacred to one of the most prominent Egyptian gods; and this symbol of the whole nation is probably sarcastically referred to in this verse. The woodsmen are represented as clearing the forest, and the serpent slithers away to hide! It is as if one said of the USA, The eagle is trapped and is flapping his wings in vain!
They shall cut down her forest. though it cannot be searched …..
(Jer 46:23). The total loss of their forested land was an incredibly effective punishment that Nebuchadnezzar inflicted upon Egypt.
The daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame…
(Jer 46:24). This refers to the exposure of Egypt as she was delivered into the hands of Babylon, an exposure of which Jeremiah had been an eyewitness during the fall of Jerusalem to the same foe; and he had seen the women and girls become objects to satisfy the lust of the Babylonian troops. Jeremiah had previously warned Jerusalem in similar language (Jer 6:12; Jer 38:23, etc.).
Jer 46:25-26
NO-AMON TO BE DESTROYED
Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, saith: Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods, and her kings; even Pharaoh, and them that trust in him: and I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants; and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith Jehovah.
Unlike the prophecy of Isaiah regarding Babylon, and of Nahum regarding Nineveh, Jeremiah here prophesied that the destruction of Egypt would not be perpetual. Twenty-six centuries afterward, the prophecies still stand as the prophets said, still fulfilled by history. Why? Because the prophecies are God’s words, not the words of men.
Amon of No…
(Jer 46:25). Amon was the chief god of Upper Egypt, and No (Thebes) was the capital and principal city of the area.
THE SECOND ORACLE CONCERNING EGYPT Jer 46:13-26
The second poem concerning Egypt points to an invasion of that land by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 46:13). It is impossible to ascertain the date of this oracle. It could be assigned to almost any period subsequent to Carchemish and prior to the Babylonian invasion of Egypt in 568-567 B.C. The general tone of the prophecy seems to point to a period somewhat later than the preceding oracle describes. This oracle seems to reflect a more intimate acquaintance with the land of Egypt (see Jer 46:14; Jer 46:25). Probably, therefore, this oracle should be assigned to the period of the prophets sojourn in Egypt.
This poem also is divided into two stanzas. In Jer 46:16-19 Jeremiah emphasizes the certainty of invasion and in Jer 46:20-26 he emphasizes the consequences of the invasion. To this oracle is appended a promise to the Judean captives (Jer 46:27-28).
The Consequences of Invasion Jer 46:20-26
The second stanza of the poem emphasizes the plight of Egypt by means of several figures. The first picture is of the heifer and the gadfly (Jer 46:20). Egypt had hither-to enjoyed wealth and luxury. She is like a very fair heifer, well-fed, sleek and beautiful. This beautiful animal suddenly finds herself pained and fleeing from the sting of a tiny gadfly from the north. The word rendered in the KJV and ASV destruction occurs only here. It comes from a root which means to pinch or sting. Commentators are agreed in suggesting the translation gadfly. This translation is found in the margin of the ASV. The picture is intended to describe the weakness of Egypt in the face of her new enemy to the north.
The second picture is of the fleeing fat calves (Jer 46:21). The mercenaries of Egypt are likened to fatted bullocks (KJV) or more precisely calves of the stall (ASV). These hirelings have no taste for real war. They have gotten all they could out of Egypt and have become fat and prosperous in the process. But now they read the handwriting on the wall and hastily flee to their native lands. It was the day of accountability for Egypt, the time of calamity and divine visitation.
The third picture is that of the advancing woodsmen and the hissing serpent (Jer 46:22-23). The woodsmen are of course the Babylonians who will unmercifully demolish that which belongs to Egypt as the axmen clearing a forest. Egypt can only emit a hiss of defiance as she slithers towards her hole in the face of the advancing woodsmen. Thus the ancient power of Egypt which Ezekiel once compared to a crocodile (Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2) has become nothing but a serpent hissing with impotent rage.
The fourth picture is that of a great swarm of locust (Jer 46:23 b). The phrase it cannot be searched could refer to the forest of the preceding figure or could equally well refer to the vast number of the invaders who are compared to a huge swarm of locust. In Joe 1:4 four stages of that insects existence are represented by four distinct Hebrew words. The word used here seems to represent the second stage in the development of the locust. One wonders if the famous locust plague of Exodus was in the mind of Jeremiah as he penned this description of the forthcoming Chaldean invasion. Plagues of locust are not at all uncommon in this region of the world.
In the closing verses of the poem the prophet drops his figures of speech and becomes much more precise in his predictions. Egypt will be completely humiliated by being given into the hands of the people from the north (Jer 46:24). God has decreed that He will punish Amon of No (ASV). Amon the sun god for centuries was the chief god of Egypt; No is the Biblical name for Thebes, one of the famous cities of the land located in Upper or southern Egypt. Thebes was located some 450 miles south of modern Cairo. Beginning about 2100 B.C. the city served as the seat of the Pharaohs. Thebes reached the height of its power between 1500 and 1000 B.C. when it was the wealthiest and most famous city in the world. The Egyptians called the place No-Amon, The Town of Amon. The greatest collection of monuments and ruins in all the world is to be found at ancient Thebes. The ruins are grouped in three major areas. At the modern city of Luxor is the magnificent Temple of Amenhotep III. A mile and a half northeast of Luxor, at Karnak, are the remains of the majestic Temple of Amon and several smaller temples. Across the Nile from Luxor and Karnak lies the Necropolis, or royal cemetery where the temples and tombs of former rulers are located.
Among the greatest achievements of mankind are the temples of Egypt and the greatest of all Egyptian temples is that of Amon at Karnak. It is the largest temple ever erected by man and, until recent times, the largest columned building ever constructed. Some of the columns in this temple rise to a height of 69 feet and are 34 feet in circumference, It is said that 125 men can stand on the top of each capital of these huge columns.
The history of Thebes from the time of Jeremiah up to the third Christian century is a succession of attacks by foreigners and insurrections by local inhabitants. First came Nebuchadnezzar (568-567 B.C.) who surely must have conquered Thebes though the evidence falls short of conclusive proof. Then came Cambyses II (525 B.C.) who plundered Thebes, burned the famous temples, and ravaged the city. Thebes never recovered her former prominence. An insurrection at Thebes was ruthlessly quelled by the Persians in 335 B.C. Alexander the Great next conquered Egypt (332 B.C.). In the first pre-Christian century Ptolemy IX completely destroyed Thebes in order to quell an uprising. The prophecy of Eze 30:16, Thebes shall be breached and its walls broken down has been literally fulfilled. No city walls are to be seen at the ancient site. Only gateways and pylons mark the places where walls once stood.
Amon and the other gods of Egypt will be punished in the sense of being discredited when the Lord brings His instrument of judgment upon the land. Pharaoh and the kings or officials of royal blood will also taste of the wrath of the Lord along with all the foolish people who put their trust in Pharaoh. The Jews who fled to Egypt after the death of Gedaliah would be in the latter category. That there will be no doubt as to who the conqueror of Egypt will be, Jeremiah specifically names him in Jer 46:26. It will be none other than Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon. Liberal critics have tried to discredit the prophecy by arguing that Nebuchadnezzar never actually conquered Egypt. However, history does record a successful Chaldean invasion of that land.
At the conclusion of the Egypt oracle Jeremiah holds out brighter prospects for the Egyptians. And afterwards it shall be inhabited as in the days of old (Jer 46:26). Ezekiel predicts that after forty years of desolation Egyptians would be restored to their land; but Egypt would then be the basest of kingdoms (Eze 29:12 ff.). The forty years of Eze 29:12 has also been taken to refer to the period of Persian occupation of Egypt (570-530 B.C.). Keil regards the forty years as symbolically denoting a period appointed by God for punishment and penitence. Does Jeremiah have in mind here the future political prospects of Egypt as did Ezekiel? This interpretation is possible. But Laetsch has offered a somewhat more spiritual interpretation of this sentence. He points out that afterwards here and elsewhere in these oracles against the nations (e.g., Jer 49:6) is equivalent to the phrase the latter days found in Jer 48:47 and Jer 49:39. In the latter days God will bring back the captivity (i.e., reverse the fortunes) of Moab and Elam (Jer 48:47, Jer 49:39). Concerning Ammon God declares: But afterward I will bring back the captivity of the children of Ammon (Jer 49:6). Thus Laetsch would seem to be justified in equating the term afterward and the latter days. Now if the term the latter days refers to the Messianic age as it most certainly does, then the term afterward should also have Messianic implications. This being the case, the reference here to the restoration of Egypt may well point to the conversion of Egypt to the Christian faith. Egypt shall be inhabited as in days of old. During the patriarchal and unmilitary days of old, Egypt provided a peaceful and happy home for the teeming masses which settled in the fertile Nile valley. So when Egypt in the future, in the latter days, shall hear the Gospel of Christ the inhabitants will know a peace and tranquility which will exceed even that of the days of old. Students of church history will recall that Egypt for centuries was a stronghold of the Christian faith.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
a very: Jer 50:11, Hos 10:11
it cometh: Jer 46:6, Jer 46:10, Jer 1:14, Jer 25:9, Jer 47:2
Reciprocal: Jer 46:24 – she shall Eze 30:18 – the pomp
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 46:20. The Egyptians paid special attention and devotion to the cattle kind {as witness the golden calf of Israel just recently from that country), and hence her attitude of self-importance and fitness is compared to a fair heifer. But the Lord threatens her with destruction from the north which denotes from Babylon.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 46:20-21. Egypt is like a very fair heifer In the foregoing verse the prophet compared Egypt to a delicate young woman. Here he resembles her to a fat and well-favoured heifer. In which comparison, as Grotius not improbably conjectures, there is an allusion to their god Apis, which was a bull, remarkable for his beauty and the fine spots or marks he had about him. Lowth. But destruction cometh, &c. The Hebrew is very emphatical, , destruction from the north, it cometh, it cometh. Also her hired men Her mercenary soldiers; are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks Bullocks fatted up, and fit for the slaughter: or they are inactive, and as little courageous as fatted bullocks; foreign or hired troops never fighting with such spirit and resolution as those manifest who are defending their own country and property. They did not stand Namely, in the fight; because the day of their calamity was come Because the time when God resolved to punish them, and bring calamity upon them, was arrived, even the time of their visitation, as it is expressed chap. Jer 50:27.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
46:20 Egypt [is like] a very {q} fair heifer, [but] destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
(q) They have abundance of all things, and therefore are disobedient and proud.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The enemy from the north would attack Egypt and leave a wound, like a horsefly stinging a heifer. This may be an ironical poke at Egypt, since one of its deities was Apis, the sacred bull.
"A very beautiful heifer is the people when carefully and abundantly fed in their beautiful and fertile land (Hitzig)." [Note: Keil, 2:190.]