Exposition of the Whole Bible

HIS chapter contains a prophecy, delivered to Baruch for his perfonal ufe. The time of it is expreffed, ¥. 1. a reproof is given him for his immoderate grief and forrow, ¥. 2, 3. the deftruction of the land of Fudea is prophefied of; and therefore it was wrong in him to feek great things

¥. 1. The word that Feremiah the prophet fpake unto Baruch the fon of Neriab, &c.| Who was his amanuenfis or {cribe; and this word he {pake. not to him of himfelf, but in the name of the Lord, as coming from him; {fo the Targum calls it, ‘* the «* word of prophecy which eremiah the prophet “* prophefied concerning Baruch the fon of Ne- “¢ riah:” when he had written thefe words in a book at the mouth of Feremiah, not what immediately precede, concerning the deftruction of the Fews in

Egypt; which were delivered out many years after the writing of the roll by Baruch here referred to;

and which was done as here faid, in the fourth year of JFeboiakim the fon of Fofiah king of Fudab,. which was eighteen years before the deftruction of Ferufalem, fo that this prophecy does not fland in order, which would more properly have followed the

36th chapter; where we have an account of what

Baruch wrote from the mouth of Feremiah in a roll, and read to the people, and after that to the princes; which expofed him to danger, and caufed the erief exprefied by him in this chapter; but it being written to a private perfon, is poftponed to this place: faying, as follows, y. 2. Thus faith the Lord, the God of Ifrael, unto thee, O Baruch,| Whom he knew by name, had a great regard for, and. honours with this prophecy; and being an J/raelite, both in a literal and fpiritual fenfe, he addreffes him as the God of Jrael, and as being his covenant-God; in whom he fhould put his truft, and from whom he might expect fafety and protection in the worft of times; and to whofe fovereign will, in all the difpenfations of his providence, he ought to have humbly and patiently fubmitted., y¥. 3. Thou didft fay, wo is me now, &c.] What will become of me, I am ruined and undone; this he faid in his heart, if not with his lips, perhaps both ways; and when the king gave orders for the apprehending of him and the prophet, being provoked at the roll which he had wrote and read, ch. xxxvi. 26: for the Lord hath added grief to my forrow; caufed him grief upon grief, forrow upon forrow, an abundance of it; for there was a variety of things which occafioned etief and forrow; the trouble of his office, as fecretary to the prophet; the reproach caft upon him by the people for it; the grievous things contained in the prophecies he tranfcribed, concerning the ruin of his people and nation; the king’s difpleafure at the roll, and his burning it; to which was added the danger he was expofed unto for writing it; and efpecially, as he might apprehend, for writing it Over again, after it was burnt, to which were annexed new threatnings, and fuch as perfonally concerned the king... J fainted in my fighing, or with it; he fighed and groaned at what he faw coming upon his country, and particularly upon himéelf; it quite overcame his fpirits; he funk and fwooned away: or, J laboured in my fighing *; amidtt his fighs and groans, he prayed to the Lord, and laboured in prayer, that he might be delivered from the evils he feared were coming upon him: and I Jind no reff; from his grief, forrow, and fighing; no ceffation of that; no ferenity and compofure of mind; no anfwer of prayer from God. The Targum is, ‘* and I found not prophecy.” And the Fewi/b commentators, as Farchi, Kimchi, Abarbinel, and Abendana, from the ancient Midrafbes,. interpret this grief of Baruch to be on account of his not having the gift of prophecy beftowed on him, which he expected by being a fervant of the prophet °; and reprefent him as faying, o/bua miniftred to Mo/es, and the Holy Spirit dwelled upon him; £iliba miniftred to Elijah, and the Holy Spirit refted upon him; how different am I from all the difciples of the prophets? wo is me now, Sc. ¥. 4. Thus fhalt thou fay unto him, &c.| This is fpoken to Feremiah, and is an order from the Lord. to him, what he fhould fay in his name to Baruch: the Lord faith thus, behold, that which I have built will I break. down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, the Fewi/h nation, both as to church and ftate; which the Lord had built up as a {pacious and beautiful houfe to dwell in, and had planted as a vineyard, and fet it with pleafant plants; but now would demolifh this building, and deftroy this plantation: even this whole land; not a few cities only, or only Feru/alem the metropolis, but the whole land of Fudea; no part of it, but what fhould be left defolate. So the Zargum, “ even the whole land of J/rae/, which is

** mine.” ¥. 5. Seekeft thon great things for thyfelf? feek them zot, &c.].. Riches and wealth, honour and efteem, peace and profperity; thefe were not to be fought fought after and expected, when the whole. nation would be involved in fuch a general calamity. Baruch perhaps expected, that his reading the roll to princes would have been a means of preferring him at court, of advancing him to fome poft or office, in which he might have acquired wealth, and got applaufe, and lived in peace and plenty al] his days; but this was not to be looked for; when, if he obferved, the very roll he wrote and read, contained in it prophecies of the general ruin of the nation. The ews reftrain this to the gift of prophecy, they fuppofe Baruch fought after; which was not to be enjoyed out of the land of Canaan: for behold, I will bring evil upon all fle

either die by the fword, or by famine, or by pe-. ftilence, or be carried captive, or be in fome diftrefs or another: dut thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all-places whither thou goo, fageett- ing, that he fhould be obliged to quit his native - place and country, and go from place to place; as he did, after the deftruction of Ferufalem, along with the prophet; and even into Agypt with the Fews that went there; where his life would be in danger, and yet fhould be preferved; he fhould _ be {natched as a brand out of the burning, when Ferufalem was taken; and in other places, when expofed, tho’ he fhould lofe every thing, yet ner his life; which fhould be as dear to him, as a rich not upon every individual perfon in the world; fpoil taken by the foldier, being a diftinguifhing but upon all the inhabitants of fudea, who fhould! mercy.

HIS chapter contains two prophecies relating to Egypt; one concerning the overthrow of Pharaoh Necho king of it, which was quickly accomplifhed; and the other concerning the deftruction of the land, fulfilled many years after, and both by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and the chapter is concluded with a word of comfort to the people of J/rael. It begins with a general title to prophecies in this and the five following chapters, ¥. 1. then follows a particular prophecy of the rout of Pharaoh’s army; of the place where, and time when, ¥. 2. the preparations of the Egyptians for the battel, with a variety of warlike inftruments, ¥. 3, 4. the confternation, flight, and deftruction of them, ¥. 5, 6. notwithftanding theig confidence of getting the victory, y. 7, 8, 9. the reafon of it, becaufe it was the day of the Lord’s vengeance on them, and therefore their ruin was inevitable, ¥. 10, 11. the confequence of which was fhame and confufion, ¥. 12. next follows another prophecy of the deftruétion of the land itfelf by Nebuchadnezzar, ¥. 13. the places that fhould be deftroyed, ¥. 14, 19, 25. the multitude that fhould be flain, ¥. 15, 16, 17. a defcription of the calamity; the inftrument, manner, and confequence of it, ¥. 20—24. the certainty of it, ¥. 18, 25, 26. and the whole is clofed with a promife of the return of the Yews, and of their falvation; tho’ they fhould not be without divine corrections, ¥. 29, 2a

¥. 1. The word of the Lord which came to Feremiah the prophet, againft the Gentiles,| Or nations; diftinguifhed from the Yews; not all the nations of the world, but fome hereafter mentioned, as the Egyptians, Philiftines, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Syrians, Arabians, Perfians, and Chaldeans: or, concerning the nations”; the above-mentioned; tho’ the prophecies delivered out concerning them, are all again{ft them, and not in their favour. Mention is made of Yeremiah’s prophefying a- Sainte all the nations in ch. xxv. 13. after which ollow the feveral prophecies contained in the next chapters in the Septuagint and Arabic verfions, as they ftand in the Polyglott bible.

¥. 2. Againft Egypt, &c.] This is the title of the firft prophecy againft Egypt; whith is firft mentioned, becaufe firft accomplifhed; and be- army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, who is by Herodotus 1 called Necos; he was the fon and fucceffor of P/ammitichus, and was fucceeded by his fon Pfammis, and he by Apries, the fame with Pharach Hophra, ch. xliv. 30. the Targum calls this king, Pharaoh the lame: which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemifh, of which place fee the note on J/. x. g. this being in the land of the king of Affyria, as appears from the fame place. Pbaraoh Necho, in ‘Fofiah’s time, came up againft him, in order to take it from him; but whether he did or no, is not certain; fee 2 Kings xxiii. 29. 2 Chron. XXxv, 20. however, he appeared at the fame place a fecond time, againft the king of Babylon, into whofe hands it was now very probably fallen, with the whole A/yrian monarchy; and here, in this fecond battel, his army was routed, as follows: which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon {mote in the fourth year of Feboiakim the fon of Fofiah king of Fudah, when he took away from the king of Egypt all that belonged to him between the Wile and Egphrates, fo that he came no more out of his land, 2 Kings xxiv. 7. Kimchi and Abarbinel think there was but one expedition of Pharaoh Necho; and that the fiege of Carchemifh continued to the fourth year of Feboiachim,; when he met with an entire overthrow from the king of Babylon, which God fuffered as a judgment on him for killing Fofab. This, according to bifhop Ujber, was in the year

| of the world 3397, and of the Yulian period 4107, and before Chrift 607; and according to the Univerfal Hiftory, in the year of the world 3396, and before Chrift 608.

y. 3. Order ye the buckler and foield, &c.) Both fienify one and the fame fort of armour, only of a different form, the one being leffer and lighter than the other. ‘archi makes the difference to be, _ that the former was made of fkin, the latter of wood; they were both ufed to defend the body in war. ‘To order them, is not only to prepare them, and get them ready; but to fit them to the body, and put them on, that they might be in a readinefs to engage in battel. The exhortation is made either to the Chaldean army, to prepare to fig again{t the Egyptians; or to the army of Phara

Necho, to detend themfelves againft the king

Babylon, who was coming againft them as Kimchi and Abarbinel, who feem to be in doubt which it caufe the Yews placed great confidence in, and much relied on the Eeyprians for help: fhould be; but the latter is moft probable: and it againft the lis either a direction of Pharaob to his army, to be.

in readinefs; or rather of God, fpéaking ironically to them, fuggefting, that let them do what they would, and make ever fuch preparations for battel, all would come to nothing, victory would be on the other fide. And draw near to battel; engage the enemy brifkly, and with the greateft courage, and ufe all your military fkill; and when ye have done, it will all be in vain.

¥. 4. Harnefs the horfes, &c.] Put on their bridles and faddles, and gird them: or, bind the horfes*; that is, to the chariots; put them to, as we commonly exprefs it: Egypt abounded in horfes, and fo no doubt brought a large cavalry, and a multitude of chariots, into the field of battel: and get up, ye horfemen; upon the horfes, or into the chariots, and fo be ready to receive the enemy, or to attack him: and fiand forth with your helmets; prefent themfelves on horfeback, or in their chariots, with their helmets on their heads, to cover them in the day of battel: furbifh the fpears,; that they may be fharp and piercing, ‘and look bright and glittering, and ftrike terror in the enemy: and put on the brigandines, coats of mail, to cover the whole body, which were made of iron, confifting of rings, as Kimchi obferves.

¥. 5. Wherefore have I feen them difmayed, and turned away back? &c.| The Egyptians, after all this preparation for war, and feeming ardour to engage in battel; and yet, when they came to it, were feized with a pannic, and thrown into the utmoft confternation, and turned their backs upon their enemy: thefe are either the words of the prophet, who had a view, by a fpirit of prophecy, of the confternation, confufion, and flight of the Egyptian army; or of the Lord, who forefaw all this, and reprefents it as if it was done, becaufe of the certainty of it; upbraiding the Egyptians with their pufillanimity and cowardice: and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back; or, their mighty ones are broken *, their valiant foldiers and officers, their beft troops, were broken to pieces, their ranks and files, and thrown into the utmoft diforder; and therefore made all the hafte they could to efcape the fury of the enemy, and fled with the utmoft precipitation, and never -ftopped to look back upon their purfuers; fo great their fear: for fear was round about, faith the Lord, from whence it came; it was he that put it into them, took away their courage, and made them a Magor-miffabib, the word here ufed; fee ch. xx. 3. The Targum is, ‘* they looked not back to refift ** them that flay with the fword, who are gathered *¢ againft them rotind about, faith the Lord;” their enemies furrounded them, and that was the reafon fear was round about them, and both were from the Lord; or as he had faid, determined, and foretold it fhould be.

y. 6. Let not the fwift flee away, nor the mighty men efcape, &c.] Thofe that were {wift of foot like Afabel, or carried but light armour, let not fuch truft to their fwiftnefs or light carriage; nor let the mighty man think to efcape by reafon of his great ftrength, to make his way thro’ the enemy, and get out of his hands. Or this may be rendered as future, the /wift fhall not flee away, &c'. fo the Targum; neither the one nor the other fhall efeape by the nimblenefs of their heels, or the foutnefs of their hearts: they fhall fumble and fall toward the north, by the river Euphrates; which lay north of ‘fudea, where the prophet was, to whom this word came; and alfo was to the north of Egypt, whofe deftruétion is here threatened: the place where this rout and flanghter would be made, was Carchemi/h, which was fituated by that river; on the north fide of which city, according to Abarbinel, the battel was; and which fenfé is mentioned by Kimchi, which the other follows.

¥. 7. Who is this that cometh up as a flood, &c.] Thefe are either the words of the prophet, whd having a vifion in prophecy of the march of the Egyptian army from the fouth to the north, which he compares to a flood; in allufion to the river Nile, which ufed to overflow its banks, and fpread itfelf over the land; becaufe of the vaft numbers of which it confifted; becaufe of the noife it made; and becaufe of its rapidity and force, threatning to bear all down before it; as wondering, afks, who it was, whofe army it was, and to whom it belonged? or they are the words of God, who puts this queftion, in order to give an anfwer to it, and thereby upbraid the Egyptians with their arrogance, pride, and vanity; which would all come to nothing: whofe waters are moved as the rivers? whofe numerous armies came with a great noife and force, like the openings of the Nile, the feven gates of it; which were very boifterous, efpecially in hard gales of wind: it is no unufual thing for large armies to be compared to floods and rivers, which move forcibly and fwiftly, and make a largé fpread; fee If viii. 7, 8. Ezek. xxvi. 3, 19. Thé Targum is, ** who is this that comes up with his ** army as a cloud, and covers the earth, and as a ‘¢ fountain of water, whofe waters are moved?” ¥. 8. Egypt rifeth up as a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers, &c.] This is the anfwer to the above queftion; that it was Egypt that was feen; the king of Egypt, as the Syriac verfion; he with his army, as the Zargum; and which was fo numerous, that it feemed as if the whole country of Egypt, all the inhabitants of it, were come alone with him; thefe rofe up like the Ni/e, and moved like the feveral fluices of it, with great velocity and force, as if they would carry all before them: and be faith, I will go up; Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt faid, I will go up from my own land to the north, to meet the king of Babylon: and will cover the earth; with his army; even all the north-country, the whole Babylonifhb empire; which he affected to be mafter of, grafping at univerfal monarchy: I will deftroy the city, and the inhabitants thereof; which Abarbinel reftrains to the city Carchemip, where his army was fimitten: but it is better to interpret the fingular by the plural, as the Zargum does, I will deftroy cities; fince it was not a fingle city he came up to take, nor would this fatisfy his ambitious temper.

¥. 9. Come up ye borfes, and rage ye chariots, &c. }

Thefe are either the words of Pharach, giving orders to his cavalry and charioteers to make hatte and come up to battel, not doubting of victory: or rather of the Lord by the prophet, ironically calling upon the horfemen in the Egyptian army, to come on and engage with the enemy, and behave gallantly; and thofe in the chariots to drive Fehu like, with great fwiftnefs, force, and fury, to make their chariots rattle again, and run about here * 93) CSN -ct fortes eorum here and there like mad men, as the word * fignifies, to throw the enemy into confufion and diforder if they could: end Jet the mighty men come forth; out of the land of Egypt, as Abarbinel, or let them come forth, and appear in the field of battel with courage and greatnefs of mind, and do all, their might and {kill can furnifh them with, or enable them to do: the Ethiopians, and the Lybians that handle the field; or Cujo and Phut, both fons of Ham, and brethren of Mizraim, from whence Egypt had its name, Gen.x. 6. the pofterity of thefe are meant. The Cu/hites or Ethiopians were near neighbours of the Egyptians, and their allies and confederates. The Lybians or Phuteans, as the Targum, were the pofterity of Phut, who dwelt to the weftward of Zgypt, and were the auxiliaries of that nation, and with the E¢hiopiaus and Lydians are mentioned as fuch in Ezek. xxx. 4,5. as here. The fhield was a weapon they much ufed in war, and were famous for their {kill in it, and are defcribed by it. The Egyptians were remarkable for their fhields: Xenophon “ defcribes them as haying fhields reaching down to their feet; and which covered their bodies more than the breaft-plates and targets of the Perfians did; which helped them to puth forward, having them on their fhoulders, fo that the enemy could not withitand them: and the Lydians that handle and bend the bow, thele were the pofterity of Ludim the fon of Mizraim, Gen. | x. 13. and were the Lydiaus in Africa, and not: in Afia, who fprung from Lud the fon of Shem, Gen.’ x. 22. they were famous for their fkilfulnefs in the ufe of bows and arrows; fee Jf lxvi. 19. now thefe are called together to ufe their military fkill, and fhew all the courage they wete matters of; and yet all would be in vain. SBochart * endeavours. to prove by various arguments, that thefe Lydians were Ethropiaus; and among the reit, becaufe they are here, and in J/- Ixvi. 19. defcribed as expert in handling, bending, and drawing the bow; which he proves by the teftimonies of feveral writers, the Ethiopians were famous for; that bows were their armour; and that theirs were larger than others, even than the Perfians, being four cubits long; that they were very dextrons in {hooting their arrows; took fure aim, and feldom miffed.

¥.10. For this is the day of the Lord God of hofts, &c.| Or, but this is the day %, &c. notwithftanding this great apparatus for war, and thofe many auxiliaries the Egyptians would have; yet it would not be their day, in which they fhould get the better of their enemies; but the Lord’s day; the day he had appointed; who is the Lord God of all armies, above and below; and who would bring his own armies together when he pleafed, and give them victory: a@ day of vengeance, that be may avenge him of bis enemies; the enemies of his people, as the Zargum; the Egyptians, who had been of old the implacable enemies of his people [/rael; tho’ now, contrary to his will, they too much trufted to them, and relied on them; according to Kimchi, this vengeance was taken on them for killing Fofab: and the {word frall devour, and it fhall be fatiate, and made drunk with their blood; that is, the fword of the Cha/- deans {hall deftroy the Egyptians in fuch vaft numbers, that there fhall be no more to be flain; or

| there fhall be no defire in the enemy to flay any more; they fhall be glutted with their blood. All the phrafes are defigned to thew the carnage that fhould be made; the vaft deftruétion of the people; the large numbers that fhould be flain: for the Lord God of hofis hath a facrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates; near Carchemifb, fituated by the river Euphrates, which lay north of Agypt; fee ¥.2,6,, Here is an allufion to the facrifices of great perfons, which are many; the Lord of hofts had a facrifice, or a great flaughter of men, his enemies; inflicted punifhment on them, wherein his power, Juitice, and holinefs were difplayed; fee Jf xxxiv. 6.

¥. 11, Go up into Gilead, &c.| Still the irony or farcafm is continued., Gilead was a place in the land of J/rael famous for balm or balfam, ufed in curing wounds; fee ch. viii. 22. hence it follows: and. take balm, O virgin, daughter of Egypt, the kingdom of Egypt, as the Targum; fo called becaufe of its glory and excellency; and becaufe as yet it had not been conquered and brought under the power of another: now, the inhabitants of it are bid to take balm or balfam, as Kimchi and Ben Melech; but this grew not in Gilead beyond Yordan, but neat Jericho on this fide Fordan, as Bochart * has proved from various authors; particularly Sirabe * fays of Fericho, that there is the paradife of balfam, an aromatic plant, and ef great efteem; for there only it is produced: and fo Diodorus Siculus.», {peaking of places near Fericho, fays, about thefe places, in a certain valley, grows what is called balfam, from which much profit arifes; nor is the plant to be found in egy other part of the world: and fuftin * obferves the fame; that much riches accrue to the nation from the tax on balfam, which is oxy produced in this country, in Jericho, and the valley near it; yea, Kimchi himfelf elfewhere ¢ fays, that the balfam is not any where in the whole world, but in Jericho. The word therefore fhould be rendered, rofm, as alfo in ch, viii..22. as it is by fome ©; and which is ufed in cleanfing, healing, and contra¢ting wounds, and difperfing humours, as Pliny ‘ relates; and this here is ordered to be taken, either literally, to cure the vaft number of their wounded by. the Cha/- deaus; or rather figuratively, ‘they are called upon to make ufe of all means to recover their lofs fuftained; by recruiting their army, fortifying their cities, and getting frefh allies and auxiliaries; all which would yet be to no purpofe: i# vain fhalt thou ufe many medicines, for thou fhalt nor be cured; notwithftanding all means made ufe of to repair its lofles; tho’ it fhould not utterly be deftroyed, yet fhould never recover its former glory.

y. 12. The nations have heard of thy faame, &c.)} Their fhameful defeat and overthrow by the Cha/- dean army; fo after the manner of prophecy, the thing is related as done; the baftel fought, and the victory obtained; and the rumour and fame of it fpread among the nations, to the great morttfication of this proud people: and thy cry hath filled the laud; the thrieks of the wounded; the cry @ the purfued and taken, the lamentation of frien and relations for their dead; with one thing or another of this kind the whole land of Egypt was filled; yea, all the countries round about them, in confederacy with them, were filled with diftrefs = the lofs of their own; the calamity was large and fpreading, and the rumour of it: for the mighty man bato fumbled againft the mighty, and they are fallen both together, either the mighty Egyptians againft the mighty Chaldeans; and tho’ the latter were the conquerors, yet loft abundance of men; fo that there were mighty ones fell on both fides: or rather as Farchi, Kimchi and Abarbinel, the mighty Egyptians in their flight fell, and other mighty ones of them following, ftumbled at them, and fell upon them, and fo both becaine a prey to the purfuers; or in their flight the. mighty Egyptians ftumbled againft their mighty auxiliaries before-mentioned, ¥.g. and fo both came into the hands of their enemies.. The Targum is, both were flain.

¥. 13. The word that the Lord fpake to Feremiah the prophet, &c.] This is a new and diftin& prophecy from the former, tho’ concerning Egypt as that; but inthis they differ; the former prophecy refpects only the overthrow of the Zgypiian army at a certain place; this latter, the general deftruction of the land; and was fulfilled fome years after the other; Zarchi fays, according to their chronicles *, in the 27th year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign: how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon fhould come, or, concerning the coming * of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, to fate the land of Egypt, who was to come, and did come, out of his country, into the land of Egypt, to {mite the inhabitants of it with the fword, take their cities, plunder them of their fubftance, and make them tributary to him.

y. 14. Declare ye in Egypt, &c.]. The coming of the king of Babylon, and his intention to invade the land, and fubdue it: and publifh in Migdol, and publifo in Noph, and in Tabpanhes, of thefe places fee the note on ch.xliv. 1. thefe were principal ones in the land of Egypt, where the enemy fhould come, and which he fhould lay wafte; and therefore the above things are to be publifhed for their warning; and particularly thefe were places where the ews that went into Egypt, contrary to the will of God, refided; and therefore for their fakes alfo, this publication muft be made, to let them fee and know that they would not be fafe there, but would be involved in the general cala- - mity of the nation: fay ye, fland faft, and prepare thee; O Egypt, and the feveral cities mentioned, and all others; prepare for war, and to meet the enemy, refift and repel him; prefent yourfelves on the frontiers of your country; put yourfelves in proper places, and keep your ground: for the fword foall devour round about thee, the fword of the Chaldeans, into whofe hands fell Paleftine, Fudea, Syria, and other neighbouring countries; and therefore it was high time for them to beftir themfelves, and provide for their defence and fafety..

y¥.15. Why are thy valiant men fwept away? é&c.] As with a mighty torrent, or a fweeping rain; fo the word is ufed in Prov. xxviii. 3. to which the Chaldean army may be compared; which came with fuch irrefiftible force, as to drive the Egyptians from their pofts, fo that they could not ftand their ground. The Septuagint renders it, ** why does Apis flee from thee? thy choice ox *¢ does not continue.” Which was the god of the Egyptians, they worfhipped in the form of an ox; this could not protect them, tho’ thought by them to be very mighty and powerful; fo Alianus ' fays, Apis with the Egyptians is believed to be a moft powerful deity; yet could not fave them: but the word fignifies, their nobles, their mighty men of war, their generals and officers, at leaft their valiant foldiers; who yet were not able to ftand the tide ‘of power that came againft them. The reafon was, becaufe the Lord did drive them, by means of the Chaldeans; he difpirited them; he put them into a pannic, and they fled from their pofts; there is no ftanding againft the Lord,

¥.16. He made many to fall, &c.| That is, the Lord, by the hand of the Chaldeans, by whofe fword multitudes fell in battel: yea, one fell upon another; they fell in heaps, denoting the multitude of the flain; or rather, they fell in flight one upon another; one fell, and then another upon him, as ufually they do, when men are frighted and flee precipitantly, as in ¥. 12: and they faid, erife; not thofe that fell, which may.feem at firft fight; but either the ftrangers in the land of Egypt, as Kimchi, fuch as the ‘ews were; who perceiving the deftruction that was coming on Egypt, exhort one another to arife, and get out of it; or rather the auxiliaries of the Egyptians, as the Ethiopians, Lybians and Lydians, y.9. who finding the enemy too, {trong for them, and they themfelves deferted or unfupported by Pharach’s army, advife one another to quit his fervice, and provide for their own fafety: and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, their own country, where they were born, and their friends and relations lived: that fo they might be fafe, from the opprefing fword, the fword of the Chaldeans. The Septuagint verfion is a very bad one, followed by the Arabic, which renders it, from the Grecian fword, and fo is the Vulgate Latin verfion, from the face of the dove; to countenance which it is faid, that the Chaldeans and Affyrians had a dove in their enfigns; fee the note on ch. xxv. 38. and fo a moft ancient Sawon tranflation in the library of Chrift’s-Churchin Oxford, from the face of the fword of the culver *, or dove; that is, from their fword, who difplay their banners in the field, with’ the enfien of a dove; meaning the Chaldeans. The Targum is, ** from the fword of the enemy, which ‘* is as wine inebriating;” which fenfe is followed by Farchi.

¥.17. They did cry there, &c.] Not the Chaldeans, deriding Pharaob and his army, and mocking them, faying the following words, as fome; nor the Egyptians in Egypt, as Kimchi, complaining of their king; much lefs in Carchemifh, as others; fince this prophecy refers to another event, time and place; but the auxiliaries of Egypt in the field of battel; thefe did cry out aloud, as follows:. Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noife; he boafted and bragged of great things he would do, and does nothing; he promifed to bring a large army into the field, and talked big of attacking the enemy with great ardour and fury, and hectored and bluftered as if he feared him not, and was. fure of victory; but when it came to the pufh, his courage failed him; and it may be faid of him, what the man faid of his nightingale, vox & preterea nibil, a voice, and nothing elfe. This was not Pharach-necho, as the Septuagint have wrongly in- be fupplied thus, Pharaoh king of Egypt is a ve! o