Jeremiah 46:10, commentary and pictures

Jeremiah 46:10 stands in Jeremiah 46, a prophecy against Egypt, within the section of prophecies against foreign nations in chapters 46 to 51. The closing chapters cover personal experiences and going into Egypt, with prophecies against Egypt, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus and Elam of powers to fall before Nebuchadnezzar, distinct from the prophecies concerning Babylon and the doom of Babylon. The chapter stands last in chronological order among the prophecies from chapter 20 onward, following chapters 40 to 45 and chapter 47. Its position out of chronological order came when the manuscript rolls were gathered into one book, makes no change in its teaching, and its timing is shown clearly in its own chapter.

The day of the Lord God of hosts is a day of vengeance to avenge him of his adversaries, when the sword shall devour and be satiate and made drunk with blood, pictured as a sacrifice of judgment in a battle in the north country by the river Euphrates. The verse predicts defeat and invasion of Egypt by Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar by the hand of the Lord, filling the land with the slain. That slaughter was fulfilled when Babylon conquered Egypt, beginning its lasting fall into the hands of strangers under Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes and Turks, leaving Egypt the basest of the kingdoms with no native prince and its idols cut off.

The north country language identifies the great dominant power north of Palestine, understood as succeeding Babylon. The north country with the Euphrates region identifies the Turkish or Ottoman power and the sultan's dominion. Its downfall is linked with the end of the world.

The call for horses to come up, chariots to rage, and mighty men including Ethiopians and Libyans that handle the shield and Lydians that handle and bend the bow to come forth is the proclamation to prepare war and wake up the mighty men now being fulfilled in vast war preparation. That fulfillment is seen in calling out an army of 500,000 men and voting vast sums to carry on war on a scale without precedent and greater than former wars, with all other nations preparing for war more extensively than ever before in history. This proves the day of the Lord is near and hastens greatly, with the full battle of the great day held back only because the winds are held until the servants of God are sealed, after which probation will end and vengeance will fall. The day means wrath and destruction and desolation, never an age of mercy, probation, or offered salvation, and putting Age to Come in its place exposes that error.