Reflections on Jeremiah 46

Jeremiah 46 (Contemporary English Version)
1. The LORD often told me what to say about the different nations of the world.
   
2. In the fourth year that Jehoiakim was king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia defeated King Neco of Egypt in a battle at the city of Carchemish near the Euphrates River. And here is what the LORD told me to say about the Egyptian army:
   
3. It's time to go into battle! So grab your shields,
   
4. saddle your horses, and polish your spears. Put on your helmets and armor, then take your positions.
   
5. I can see the battle now-- you are defeated and running away, never once looking back. Terror is all around.
   
6. You are strong and run fast, but you can't escape. You fall in battle near the Euphrates River.
   
7. What nation is this, that rises like the Nile River overflowing its banks?
   
8. It is Egypt, rising with a roar like a raging river and saying, "I'll flood the earth, destroying cities, and killing everyone in them."
   
9. Go ahead, Egypt. Tell your chariots and cavalry to attack and fight hard. Order your troops to march out, with Ethiopians and Libyans carrying shields, and the Lydians armed with bows and arrows.
   
10. But the LORD All-Powerful will win this battle and take revenge on his enemies. His sword will eat them and drink their blood until it is full. They will be killed in the north near the Euphrates River, as a sacrifice to the LORD.
    
11. Egypt, no medicine can heal you, not even the soothing lotion from Gilead.
    
12. All nations have heard you weep; you are disgraced, and they know it. Your troops fall to the ground, stumbling over each other.
    
13. When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia was on his way to attack Egypt, the LORD sent me with a warning for every Egyptian town, but especially for Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes. He said to tell them: Prepare to defend yourselves! Everywhere in your nation, people are dying in war.
    
14. (SEE 46:13)
    
15. I have struck down your mighty god Apis and chased him away.
    
16. Your soldiers stumble over each other and say, "Get up! The enemy will kill us, unless we can escape to our own land."
    
17. Give the king of Egypt this new name, "Talks-Big-Does-Nothing."
    
18. Egypt, I am the true king, the LORD All-Powerful, and as surely as I live, those enemies who attack will tower over you like Mount Tabor among the hills or Mount Carmel by the sea.
    
19. You will be led away captive, so pack a few things to bring with you. Your capital, Memphis, will lie empty and in ruins.
    
20. An enemy from the north will attack you, beautiful Egypt, like a fly biting a cow.
    
21. The foreign soldiers you hired will turn and run. But they are doomed, like well-fed calves being led to the butcher. *
    
22. The enemy army will go forward like a swarm of locusts. Your troops will feel helpless, like a snake in a forest
    
23. when men with axes start chopping down trees. It can only hiss and try to escape.
    
24. Your people will be disgraced and captured by the enemy from the north.
    
25. I am the LORD All-Powerful, the God of Israel. Soon I will punish the god Amon of Thebes and the other Egyptian gods, the Egyptian kings, the people of Egypt, and everyone who trusts in the Egyptian power.
    
26. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar and his army. But I also promise that Egypt will someday have people living here again, just as it had before. I, the LORD, have spoken.
    
27. Israel, don't be afraid. Someday I will bring you home from foreign lands. You and your descendants will live in peace and safety, with nothing to fear.
    
28. So don't be afraid, even though now you deserve to be punished and have been scattered among other nations. But when I destroy them, I will protect you. I, the LORD, have spoken.
    
    

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    Israel was God's covenant people who covenanted to follow God and be faithful to Him, and in return He covenanted to bless them. This covenant remained even after Israel split into two nations: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. It is not surprising that God would punish His covenant people when they were unfaithful to His covenant with them, as both Israel and Judah were. Neither should it be surprising that He would judge other nations as well for their evil and for going after other gods. Regardless of a people's relationship to God, He is the creator of us all. He is the only true God over all that exists. Our failure to acknowledge this reality and to adhere to the practices He established for His creation are bound to bring consequences. This book of Jeremiah has, to this point, been about God's judgment on Judah. Chapters 46-51 will address God's judgment of Judah's neighboring nations: Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Arabia, Elam, and Babylon. Babylon will be used by God to bring His judgment on most of these nations, as He did with Judah, but Babylon will not escape the consequences of her actions any more than will the other nations.
    
    This chapter addresses the coming destruction of Egypt at the hands of Babylon. Most of the Judeans who escaped death and exile when Babylon overtook Judah went to Egypt, against God's instructions to them. There they met the fate at the hands of the Babylonians they had escaped in Judah. As for Egypt, Pharaoh, Egypt's king, envisioned himself a conqueror, amassing an army that included mercenaries from other countries. The nation was likened to the churning waters of the Nile as it attempted to churn and flow to "cover the earth." (46:8) But God had other plans for Egypt. Though she amassed her army of mercenaries against Babylon, her army turned and retreated in terror at the swift charge of the Babylonian army. In its terror, the Egyptian army stumbled and fell over each other, blocking their own warriors from retreat. Even the swift could not escape, blocked in their escape by their fellow soldiers. In Pharoah's prideful plans for conquest, he did not take into account God's involvement. As Jeremiah proclaimed, "That day belongs to the Lord, the GOD of Hosts, a day of vengeance to avenge Himself against His adversaries." (46:10) It was not the Babylonians with whom Pharoah should have been concerned. It was the Lord to Whom he needed to give his attention.
    
    It is no different for any of us. When we leave God out of our lives and our plans, we have left out the most important consideration. Though our plans made apart from God may appear to succeed for a time, they will eventually fall apart as did those of Egypt. As successful as was Babylon in her conquests at that time, her plans also fell apart.