Jeremiah 46:26

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 afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(26) Afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days . . .—As in the earlier utterance of Isaiah (Isaiah 19:21-25) and the contemporary prophecies of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 29:11-16) there is a gleam of hope at the end of the vision of judgment. Egypt was to revive, though not again to take its place among the conquerors and tyrants of the world. (Comp. Jeremiah 48:47; Jeremiah 49:39.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

46:13-28 Those who encroached on others, shall now be themselves encroached on. Egypt is now like a very fair heifer, not accustomed to the yoke of subjection; but destruction comes out of the north: the Chaldeans shall come. Comfort and peace are spoken to the Israel of God, designed to encourage them when the judgments of God were abroad among the nations. He will be with them, and only correct them in measure; and will not punish them with everlasting destruction from his presence.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Afterward ... - The invasion of Nebuchadnezzar is to be a passing calamity, the severity of which will be felt chiefly by the Jews, but no subjugation of Egypt is to be attempted, and after the Chaldaean army has withdrawn things will resume their former course.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

26. afterward … inhabited—Under Cyrus forty years after the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, it threw off the Babylonian yoke but has never regained its former prowess (Jer 46:11; Eze 29:11-15).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The former part of this verse is but the same which the prophet hath often before said. The latter part is a promise for the restoration of Egypt to some degrees of its former prosperity and liberty. The determinate time for the fulfilling of this prophecy is told us, Ezekiel 29:13,14, viz. at the end of forty years. This we are told by civil historians fell out in the time of Amasis, a king of Egypt coevous with Cyrus, who was overcome by Cyrus’s son Cambyses, who brought Egypt to be a province belonging to the Medes and Persians; by the fulfilling of which prophecy the truth both of Jeremiah’s and Ezekiel’s prophecies are justified.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives,.... Into the hands of the Chaldeans; that is, the king of Egypt, and all his people, and those that trusted in him:

and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants; his general officers, that commanded in his army under him. Berosus (s), the Chaldean, makes mention of Nebuchadnezzar's carrying the Egyptians captive into Babylon;

and afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the Lord; after forty years, as Ezekiel prophesied, Jeremiah 29:13; not that it should rise to the same glory and dignity as before, for it would be but a base kingdom; but whereas it was desolate and uninhabited after this destruction, it should now be inhabited again.

(s) Apud Joseph. Antiqu. l. 10. c. 11. sect. 1. & contra Apion, l. 1. c. 19.

Geneva Study Bible

And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as {z} in the days of old, saith the LORD.

(z) Meaning, that after forty years Egypt would be restored, Isa 19:23, Eze 29:13.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

26. The v. may be well suspected as a gloss by a scribe who desired in the latter part of it to soften the dismal forecast for Egypt, especially as words of corresponding comfort follow for his own people. Cp. Jeremiah 48:47, Jeremiah 49:6; Jeremiah 49:39. Co., however, here (and in ch. 48) maintains the genuineness, comparing for the latter part Ezekiel 29:13 f.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 26. - Afterward it shall be inhabited, etc. After all these gloomy vaticinations, Jeremiah (as elsewhere in this group of prophecies; see Jeremiah 48:47; Jeremiah 49:6, 39) opens up a brighter prospect. "In the days of old," patriarchal and unmilitary, the fertile valley of the Nile offered a peaceful and a happy home to its teeming inhabitants; those times shall yet come again. To understand this, we must assume that during its period of depression Egypt has been but sparsely peopled, owing to the large numbers of its inhabitants carried away captive. Another explanation, "afterwards Egypt shall stay at home [i.e, 'be quiet']," though equally justifiable item the point of view of the lexicon (comp. Judges 5:17; Psalm 55:7), seems less natural. Possibly Ezekiel 29:13-16 is a development of our passage; it contains a promise of future remission of punishment, though a promise qualified in such a way as to be akin to a threat. The words, "And it shall no more be the confidence of the house of Israel" (Ezekiel 29:16), seem like a comment on Jeremiah's threat to "Pharaoh, and them that trust in him," in the preceding verse. Jeremiah 46:26

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In Jeremiah 46:24. the result of the overthrow of Egypt, which has hitherto been set forth in figurative language, is stated in words which describe the exact realities: Egypt will be given up to ignominy, delivered into the power of a people from the north, i.e., the Chaldeans. The Lord of hosts, the Almighty God of Israel, punishes it for its sins. He visits, i.e., punishes, Amon of No, the chief idol of Egypt; Pharaoh, and the land, with all its gods and its kings, and with Pharaoh, all those who place their trust in his power. Words are accumulated for the purpose of showing that the judgment will be one which shall befall the whole land, together with its gods, its rulers, and its inhabitants. First of all is mentioned Amon of No, as in Ezekiel 30:14. נא is an abbreviation of נא אמון , i.e., dwelling of Amon, the sacred name of the royal city in Upper Egypt, famous in antiquity, which the Greeks called Διὸς πόλις, or Θήβη, or Θῆβαι it is supposed, after the vulgar Egyptian name Tapet or Tape (Throne or Seat); see on Nahum 3:8. Amon - in Greek ̓Αμμοῦν (Herodotus, ii. 42), ̓Αμοῦν (Plutarch, de Is. Ch. 9), ̓Αμῶν (Jamblichus, de myst. 5, 8) - was a sun-god (Amon-R), probably a symbol of the sun as it appears in the spring, in the sign of the Ram; hence he was represented with rams' horns. By the Greeks he was compared to Jupiter, or Zeus, and named Jupiter Ammon. The chief seat of his worship was Thebes, where he had a temple, with a numerous learned priesthood and a famous oracle (cf. Strabo, xvii. 1. 43; Justin. xi. 11), which Cambyses destroyed (Diodorus, Siculus, Fragm. Lib. x.). Under the expression "kings of Egypt" we are not to include governors or vassal-kings, but all the kings who ever ruled Egypt; for in the judgment now falling on Egypt, all the kings it ever had, together with all its gods, are punished. In the last part of the verse the name of Pharaoh is once more given, for the purpose of attaching to it the words "and all who trust in him;" these are intended for the Jews who expected help from Egypt. The punishment consists in their being all given into the hand of their enemies, namely (ו explic.) into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar and his servants. This defeat, however, is not to be the end of the Egyptian kingdom. The threat of judgment concludes, in Jeremiah 46:26, with a promise for the future. "Afterwards, it shall be inhabited, as in the days of yore." שׁכן is used in a neuter sense, as in Jeremiah 17:6; Jeremiah 33:16, etc. Since this verb also signifies to settle down, be encamped (Numbers 24:2), and to lie quiet, to rest, or keep oneself quiet, inactive (Judges 5:17; Proverbs 7:11), Hitzig and Graf, with Kimchi, give the explanation: "because the power of Egypt shall be broken, it will keep quiet, and remain at home in its own country, instead of marching forth and fighting other nations, as it has lately begun again to do (Jeremiah 46:7) after centuries of peace." But although, in support of this view, we are pointed to Ezekiel 29:13, where the restoration of Egypt is predicted, with the further remark, "it will be an abject kingdom," yet this idea is not contained in the words of our verse. To render שׁכן by "to keep quiet, be inactive," does not suit the words "as in the days of old." In former days, Egypt was neither inactive nor remained at home in peace in its own land. From the remotest antiquity, the Pharaohs made wars, and sought to enlarge their dominions by conquest. Add to this, that we must view the concluding portion of this prophecy in a manner analogous to the closing thought of the prophecies regarding Moab (Jeremiah 48:47), Ammon (Jeremiah 49:6), and Elam (Jeremiah 49:39), where the turning of the captivity in the last times is given in prospect to these nations, and "afterwards," in Jeremiah 49:6, alternates with "in the latter days" found in Jeremiah 48:47 and Jeremiah 49:39. From this it follows that, in the verse now before us also, it is not the future in general, but the last time, i.e., the Messianic future, that is pointed out; hence שׁכן does not express the peaceful condition of the land, but its being inhabited, in contrast with its depopulation in the immediate future, in consequence of its inhabitants being killed or carried away. On the fulfilment of this threatening, see p. 351ff.