*H In the tenth year, the tenth month, the eleventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
Ver. 1. Eleventh. Heb. "twelfth." Sept. "first of the twelfth month of the twelfth year." There are other variations in the versions. S. Jerom reads the first in Heb. as Theodoret does, who says that it and the Syr. have the twelfth year: which is true, if we neglect the points. C. — The prophets do not observe the order of times. What is here delivered, was sooner fulfilled; or Tyre and Sodom lay nearer than Egypt. W. — The three next chapters regard that country.
*H Son of man, set thy face against Pharao king of Egypt: and thou shalt prophesy of him, and of all Egypt:
Ver. 2. Pharao, Ephree. Jer. xliv 30. He came to assist Sedecias; but the Chaldeans raised the siege, went to meet him, an defeated his army. After they had subdued the neighbouring nations, Tyre, &c. they fell upon Egypt. A. 3433. C.
*H Speak, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I come against thee, Pharao king of Egypt, thou great dragon that liest in the midst of thy rivers, and sayest: The river is mine, and I made myself.
Ver. 3. Dragon. Heb. tannin, (H.) whence thunnus may be derived, means any water monster, and seems here put for the crocodile, (C.) which Pharao signifies. Grot. — It was the symbol of Egypt, (C.) and adored by the people. Juv. xv. 2. — Rivers; the different branches of the Nile, and the canals. — Myself. I owe my power to no other. C. — "Apries is said to think that no god could deprive him of the kingdom, so well he seemed to have established it." Herod. ii. 169. — So the ancient Pharao said; I know not the Lord. Ex. v. 2. He boasts of having conducted the waters of the Nile through the land. v. 9. M. — This river was honoured as the greatest of the gods. Heliod. 9. —
*H But I will put a bridle in thy jaws: and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick to thy scales: and I will draw thee out of the midst of thy rivers, and all thy fish shall stick to thy scales.
Ver. 4. Bridle. The Tentyrians jump upon the crocodile's back, give it a club to bite at, which they seize with both hands, and bring it to the shore. Pliny viii. 25. — Others throw a hook baited with swine's flesh, and holding the rope on the shore, make a little pig squeak, which draws the attention of the crocodile; and, as it comes for its prey, it swallows the hook, and its eyes being filled with dust is easily slain. Herod. ii. 70. — Apries sent an army against Cyrene, which being defeated as it was thought by the king's fault, many of the Egyptians revolted. He sent Amasis to reduce them, but they gave him the crown. Herod. ii. 161. and iv. 159. — Nabuchodonsor taking advantage of these disturbances, and perhaps invited by Amasis, entered Egypt, drove Apries into Higher Egypt, slew many of the inhabitants, and Jews, &c. and left Amasis to govern the wretched remains of that kingdom. Usher, A. 3430. The Scripture, however, seems to say that Pharao was slain; (Jer. xliii. &c. C.) which Ctesias assures us was done by Amasis, though Herodotus (ii. 169.) says he was killed by the people, and buried with his fathers. This latter circumstance is not very probable: but the historian followed the account of the priests, who would mention what was most honourable for the nation. He seems to have been left unburied. v. 5. Scales. The people depended on the king and shared his fate. C.
*H And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord: because thou hast been a staff of a reed to the house of Israel.
Ver. 6. Israel, tempting them to rebel. S. Jer. — He promised more than he was able or strove to perform, though he made a show of giving aid.
* Footnote * Isaias 36 : 6
Lo thou trustest upon this broken staff of a reed, upon Egypt: upon which if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharao king of Egypt to all that trust in him.*H When they took hold of thee with the hand thou didst break, and rent all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brokest, and weakenest all their loins.
Ver. 7. Loins. They fell upon thee, and thou didst wound (C.) or "dissolve" their loins. H.
*H Therefore, behold I come against thee, and thy rivers: and I will make the land of Egypt utterly desolate, and wasted by the sword, from the tower of Syene, even to the borders of Ethiopia.
Ver. 10. Tower; or rather (C.) Heb. and Sept. "from Magdol to Syene." H. — This was on the frontiers of Ethiopia, below the cataracts. Pliny v. 9.
*H The foot of man shall not pass through it, neither shall the foot of beasts go through it: nor shall it be inhabited during forty years.
Ver. 11. Years, till the third of Cyrus, who gave liberty to all the captives at the beginning of his reign. v. 13. C. — Amasis reigned forty-four years in Lower Egypt, (Herod. iii. 10.) over the few whom Nabuchodonosor spared.
*H And I will bring back the captivity of Egypt, and will place them in the land of Phatures, in the land of their nativity, and they shall be there a low kingdom:
Ver. 14. Low. The Jews were not more tempted to apply to them for aid. C. — Amasis strove to shake off the yoke: but Cambyses came and slew many. Psammenites killed himself; (Herod. iii. 9.) or was taken to Susa, and the country laid waste. Ctesias — Egypt has almost ever since been subject to foreign princes, (H.) Persians, Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes, and Turks. The trade of Egypt, by caravans, was in a manner destroyed for forty years by Nabuchodonosor, whose victories Megesthenes and Berosus attest 300 years before Christ. Watson.
*H And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year in the first month, in the first of the month: that the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
Ver. 17. Year: fifteen (C.) or seventeen years after the preceding prophecy, (v. 1. W.) but on the same subject.
*H Son of man, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon hath made his army to undergo hard service against Tyre: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled and there hath been no reward given him, nor his army for Tyre, for the service that he rendered me against it.
Ver. 18. Peeled, with carrying machines of war and burdens for thirteen years. — No reward worth the labour. The new city surrendered upon terms, (C.) or the citizens shipped off their most valuable goods, and retired to Carthage, &c. God gives a temporal reward for moral virtues, (S. Jer.) even to infidels. W. — Thus he rewarded the ancient Romans, and the midwives. S. Aug. de Civ. Dei. v. 12. and S. Tho. i. 2. q. 114. a. 10. — They had no intention of pleasing God, (C.) or of directing their labours for his service. H.
* Footnote * Jeremias 46 : 2
Against Egypt, against the army of Pharao Nechao king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Charcamis, whom Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon defeated, in the fourth year of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda.*H In that day a horn shall bud forth to the house of Israel, and I will give thee an open mouth in the midst of them: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
Ver. 21. Horn: Zorobabel; (S. Jer.) Jechonias, who was honoured by Evilmerodac; (T.) or Daniel and Mardochai, with all the nation. — Month. Thou shalt speak boldly, and they will give credit to thee henceforward. C.