The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles;
The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah was directed to the Gentile nations surrounding Israel, opening a section of prophecies against foreign nations. It introduces the prophecies beginning in chapter 46, which concern those surrounding kingdoms and describe their future revolutions and state. That section spans chapters 46-51 and pronounces doom on Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Syria, and Babylon, with judgments especially against Babylon. Chapter 46 itself concerns Egypt, including a prophecy against Egypt whose power was to fall before Nebuchadnezzar.
The chapter belongs to the period of Zedekiah in the suggested chronological order of Jeremiah's chapters. Its placement in the book is not chronological, falling after chapters 40-45 and chapter 47 in the proposed chronological order. This rearrangement does not change the teaching, and the chapter generally indicates its own setting.
Despite being ancient, powerful, populous, and naturally defended by sea, desert, navy, and the Nile, Egypt was to be invaded and subdued by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Its idols and images were to be destroyed, it was to become the basest of the kingdoms never again ruling over the nations, and it was to be successively spoiled and ruled by strangers — Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes, and Turks. It has remained under foreign servitude for more than twenty-four centuries, a fulfillment that stands as evidence of Christianity.
Babylon in these prophecies is both the ancient empire and a type of mystical, great Babylon, so its fate foreshadows the fate of mystical Babylon. The lesson of this section looks beyond Babylon's restoration to the greater restoration under Christ. The message includes defeat with stumbling and falling toward the north by the river Euphrates and the Lord God of hosts having a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. The north country is the river Euphrates, which designates the Ottoman Turkish empire, so the north country and the king of the north mean that Turkish power, and the time named as the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, is the end of the world.
The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah was directed to the Gentile nations surrounding Israel, opening a section of prophecies against foreign nations. It introduces the prophecies beginning in chapter 46, which concern those surrounding kingdoms and describe their future revolutions and state. That section spans chapters 46-51 and pronounces doom on Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Syria, and Babylon, with judgments especially against Babylon. Chapter 46 itself concerns Egypt, including a prophecy against Egypt whose power was to fall before Nebuchadnezzar.
The chapter belongs to the period of Zedekiah in the suggested chronological order of Jeremiah's chapters. Its placement in the book is not chronological, falling after chapters 40-45 and chapter 47 in the proposed chronological order. This rearrangement does not change the teaching, and the chapter generally indicates its own setting.
Despite being ancient, powerful, populous, and naturally defended by sea, desert, navy, and the Nile, Egypt was to be invaded and subdued by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Its idols and images were to be destroyed, it was to become the basest of the kingdoms never again ruling over the nations, and it was to be successively spoiled and ruled by strangers — Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes, and Turks. It has remained under foreign servitude for more than twenty-four centuries, a fulfillment that stands as evidence of Christianity.
Babylon in these prophecies is both the ancient empire and a type of mystical, great Babylon, so its fate foreshadows the fate of mystical Babylon. The lesson of this section looks beyond Babylon's restoration to the greater restoration under Christ. The message includes defeat with stumbling and falling toward the north by the river Euphrates and the Lord God of hosts having a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. The north country is the river Euphrates, which designates the Ottoman Turkish empire, so the north country and the king of the north mean that Turkish power, and the time named as the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, is the end of the world.