Historical chapter commentary
Verse 1. Eleventh. Hebrew “twelfth.” Septuagint “first of the twelfth month of the twelfth year.” There are other variations in the versions. S. Jerom reads the first in Hebrew as Theodoret does, who says that it and the Syr. have the twelfth year: which is true, if we neglect the points. Calmet.—The prophets do not observe the order of times. What is here delivered, was sooner fulfilled; or Tyre and Sodom lay nearer than Egypt. Worthington.—The three next chapters regard that country.
Verse 2. Pharao, Ephree. Jeremiah 44:30. He came to assist Sedecias; but the Chaldeans raised the siege, went to meet him, an defeated his army. After they had subdued the neighbouring nations, Tyre, and so forth they fell upon Egypt. A. 3433. Calmet.
Verse 3. Dragon. Hebrew tannin, ( Bible.) whence thunnus may be derived, means any water monster, and seems here put for the crocodile, ( Calmet.) which Pharao signifies. Grot.—It was the symbol of Egypt, ( Calmet.) and adored by the people. Juv. 15:2.—Rivers; the different branches of the Nile, and the canals.—Myself. I owe my power to no other. Calmet.—“Apries is said to think that no god could deprive him of the kingdom, so well he seemed to have established it.” Herod. ii. 169.—So the ancient Pharao said; I know not the Lord. Exodus 5:2. He boasts of having conducted the waters of the Nile through the land. verse 9. Menochius.—This river was honoured as the greatest of the gods. Heliod. 9.—
Terra suis contenta bonis non indiga mercis
Aut Jovis; in solo tanta est fiducia Nilo. Lucan viii.
Verse 4. Bridle. The Tentyrians jump upon the crocodile’s back, give it a club to bite at, which they seize with both hands, and bring it to the shore. Pliny viii. 25.—Others throw a hook baited with swine’s flesh, and holding the rope on the shore, make a little pig squeak, with draws the attention of the crocodile; and, as it comes for its prey, it swallows the hook, and its eyes being filled with dust is easily slain. Herod. ii. 70.—Apries sent an army against Cyrene, which being defeated as it was thought by the king’s fault, many of the Egyptians revolted. He sent Amasis to reduce them, but they gave him the crown. Herod. ii. 161. and iv. 159.—Nabuchodonsor taking advantage of these disturbances, and perhaps invited by Amasis, entered Egypt, drove Apries into Higher Egypt, slew many of the inhabitants, and Jews, and so forth and left Amasis to govern the wretched remains of the kingdom. Usher, A. 3430. The Scripture, however, seems to say that Pharao was slain; (Jeremiah 43. and so forth Calmet.) which Ctesias assures us was done by Amasis, though Herodotus (ii. 169.) says he was killed by the people, and buried with his fathers. This latter circumstance is not very probable: but the historian followed the account of the priests, who would mention what was most honourable for the nation. He seems to have been left unburied. verse 5. Scales. The people depended on the king and share his fate. Calmet.
Verse 6. Israel, tempting them to rebel. Saint Jerome—He promised more than he was able or strove to perform, though he made a show of giving aid.
Verse 7. Loins. They fell upon thee, and thou didst wound ( Calmet.) or “dissolve” their loins. Bible.
Verse 10. Tower; or rather ( Calmet.) Hebrew and Septuagint “from Magdol to Syene.” Bible.—This was on the frontiers of Ethiopia, below the cataracts. Pliny verse 9.
Verse 11. Years, till the third of Cyrus, who gave liberty to all the captives at the beginning of his reign. verse 13. Calmet.—Amasis reigned forty-four years in Lower Egypt, (Herod. iii. 10.) over the few whom Nabuchodonosor spared.
Verse 14. Low. The Jews were not more tempted to apply to them for aid. Calmet.—Amasis strove to shake off the yoke: but Cambyses came and slew many. Psammenites killed himself; (Herod. iii. 9.) or was taken to Susa, and the country laid waste. Ctesias—Egypt has almost ever since been subject to foreign princes, ( Bible.) Persians, Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes, and Turks. The trade of Egypt, by caravans, was in a manner destroyed for forty years by Nabuchodonosor, whose victories Megesthenes and Berosus attest 300 years before Christ. Watson.
Verse 17. Year: fifteen ( Calmet.) or seventeen years after the preceding prophecy, (verse 1. Worthington.) but on the same subject.
Verse 18. Peeled, with carrying machines of war and burdens for thirteen years.—No reward worth the labour. The new city surrendered upon terms, ( Calmet.) or the citizens shipped off their most valuable goods, and retired to Carthage, and so forth God gives a temporal reward for moral virtues, (Saint Jerome) even to infidels. Worthington.—Thus he rewarded the ancient Romans, and the midwives. Saint Augustine de Civ. Dei. verse 12. and Saint Thomas Aquinas i. 2. q. 114. a. 10.—They had no intention of pleasing God, ( Calmet.) or of directing their labours for his service. Bible.
Verse 21. Horn: Zorobabel; (Saint Jerome) Jechonias, who was honoured by Evil-merodac; ( Tirinus.) or Daniel and Mardochai, with all the nation.—Month. Thou shalt speak boldly, and they will give credit to thee henceforward. Calmet.