Jeremiah 47 commentary

JEREMIAH 47 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
A Message About the Philistines
1 This is the word of the Lord that came to
Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines
before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:
BARNES, "that Pharaoh - Pharaoh-Necho though defeated at Carchemish, was
probably able to seize Gaza upon his retreat, when obviously the possession of so strong
a fortress would be most useful to him to prevent the entrance of the victorious
Chaldaeans into Egypt.
CLARKE, "The word of the Lord - against the Philistines - The date of this
prophecy cannot be easily ascertained. Dr. Blayney thinks it was delivered about the
fourth year of Zedekiah, while Dahler assigns it some time in the reign of Josiah.
Before that Pharaoh smote Gaza - We have no historical relation of any Egyptian
king smiting Gaza. It was no doubt smitten by some of them; but when, and by whom,
does not appear either from sacred or profane history.
GILL, "The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the
Philistines,.... As the former prophecies were against the Egyptians, the friends and
allies of the Jews, in whom they trusted; this is against the Philistines, the near
neighbours of the Jews, and their implacable enemies: the time of this prophecy was,
before Pharaoh smote Gaza; one of the five cities of the Philistines, a very strong
and fortified place, as its name signifies; See Gill on Act_8:26. The Jews, in their
chronicle, say (t) this was fulfilled in the eighth year of Zedekiah, when Pharaoh came
out of Egypt, while the Chaldeans were besieging Jerusalem; which they hearing of,
broke up the siege, and went forth to meet him; upon which he went to Gaza, and
destroyed that, and returned to Egypt again. Both Jarchi and Kimchi make mention of
this, but say it was in the tenth year of Zedekiah; and which, no doubt, is the truest
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reading, since the Chaldean army did not come up against Jerusalem until the ninth year
of his reign. But it is more likely that this Pharaoh was Pharaohnecho, and that he fell
upon Gaza, and smote it, either when he came to Carchemish, or when he returned from
thence, after he had slain Josiah. Now this prophecy was delivered out before anything
of this kind happened, and when the Philistines were in the utmost peace, and in no fear
or expectation of destruction; and the smiting of this single city by the king of Egypt is
foretold, as the forerunner and pledge of a greater destruction of the land by the king of
Babylon, next mentioned.
HENRY 1-7, "As the Egyptians had often proved false friends, so the Philistines had
always been sworn enemies, to the Israel of God, and the more dangerous and vexatious
for their being such near neighbours to them. They were considerably humbled in
David's time, but, it seems they had got head again and were a considerable people till
Nebuchadnezzar cut them off with their neighbours, which is the event here foretold.
The date of this prophecy is observable; it was before Pharaoh smote Gaza. When this
blow was given to Gaza by the king of Egypt is not certain, whether in his expedition
against Carchemish or in his return thence, after he had slain Josiah, or when he
afterwards came with design to relieve Jerusalem; but this is mentioned here to show
that this word of the Lord came to Jeremiah against the Philistines when they were in
their full strength and lustre, themselves and their cities in good condition, in no peril
from any adversary or evil occurrent. When no disturbance of their repose was foreseen
by any human probabilities, yet then Jeremiah foretold their ruin, which Pharaoh's
smiting Gaza soon after would be but an earnest of, and, as it were, the beginning of
sorrows to that country. It is here foretold, 1. That a foreign enemy and a very
formidable one shall be brought upon them: Waters rise up out of the north, Jer_47:2.
Waters sometimes signify multitudes of people and nations (Rev_17:15), sometimes
great and threatening calamities (Psa_69:1); here they signify both. They rise out of the
north, whence fair weather and the wind that drives away rain are said to come; but now
a terrible storm comes out of that cold climate. The Chaldean army shall overflow the
land like a deluge. Probably this happened before the destruction of Jerusalem, for it
should seem that in Gedaliah's time, which was just after, the army of the Chaldeans was
quite withdrawn out of those parts. The country of the Philistines was but of small
extent, so that it would soon be overwhelmed by so vast an army. 2. That they shall all be
in a consternation upon it. The men shall have no heart to fight, but shall sit down and
cry like children: All the inhabitants of the land shall howl, so that nothing but
lamentation shall be heard in all places. The occasion of the fright is elegantly described,
Jer_47:3. Before it comes to killing and slaying, the very stamping of the horses and
rattling of the chariots, when the enemy makes his approach, shall strike a terror upon
the people, to such a degree that parents in their fright shall seem void of natural
affection, for they shall not look back to their children, to provide for their safety, or so
much as to see what becomes of them. Their hands shall be so feeble that they shall
despair of carrying them off with them, and therefore they shall not care for seeing them,
but leave them to take their lot; or they shall be in such a consternation that they shall
quite forget even those pieces of themselves. Let none be over-fond of their children, nor
dote upon them, since such distress may come that they may either wish they had none
or forget that they have, and have no heart to look upon them. 3. That the country of the
Philistines shall be spoiled and laid waste, and the other countries adjoining to them and
in alliance with them. It is a day to spoil the Philistines, for the Lord will spoil them,
Jer_47:4. Note, Those whom God will spoil must needs be spoiled; for, if God be against
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them, who can be for them? Tyre and Zidon were strong and wealthy cities, and they
used to help the Philistines in a strait, but now they shall themselves be involved in the
common ruin, and God will cut off from them every helper that remains. Note, Those
that trust to help from creatures will find it cut off when they most need it and will
thereby be put into the utmost confusion. Who the remnant of the country of Caphtor
were is uncertain, but we find that the Caphtorim were near akin to the Philistines
(Gen_10:14), and probably when their own country was destroyed such as remained
came and settled with their kinsmen the Philistines, and were now spoiled with them.
Some particular places are here named, Gaza, and Ashkelon, Jer_47:5. Baldness has
come upon them; the invaders have stripped them of all their ornaments, or they have
made themselves bald in token of extreme grief, and they are cut off, with the other cities
that were in the plain or valley about them. The products of their fruitful valley shall be
spoiled, and made a prey of, by the conquerors. 4. That these calamities should continue
long. The prophet, in the foresight of this, with his usual tenderness, asks them first
(Jer_47:5), How long will you cut yourselves, as men in extreme sorrow and anguish
do? O how tedious will the calamity be! not only cutting, but long cutting. But he turns
from the effect to the cause: They cut themselves, for the sword of the Lord cuts them.
And therefore, (1.) He bespeaks that to be still (Jer_47:6): O thou sword of the Lord!
how long will it be ere thou be quiet? He begs it would put up itself into the scabbard,
would devour no more flesh, drink no more blood. This expresses the prophet's earnest
desire to see an end of the war, looking with compassion, as became a man, even upon
the Philistines themselves, when their country was made desolate by the sword. Note,
War is the sword of the Lord; with it he punishes the crimes of his enemies and pleads
the cause of his own people. When war is once begun it often lasts long; the sword, once
drawn, does not quickly find the way into the scabbard again; nay, some when they draw
the sword throw away the scabbard, for they delight in war. So deplorable are the
desolations of war that the blessings of peace cannot but be very desirable. O that
swords might be beaten into ploughshares! (2.) Yet he gives a satisfactory account of the
continuance of the war and stops the mouth of his own complaint (Jer_47:7): How can
it be quiet, seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against such and such places,
particularly specified in its commission? There hath he appointed it. Note, [1.] The
sword of war hath its charge from the Lord of hosts. Every bullet has its charge; you call
them blind bullets, but they are directed by an all-seeing God. The war itself has its
charge; he saith to it, Go, and it goes - Come, and it comes - Do this, and it does it; for he
is commander-in-chief. [2.] When the sword is drawn we cannot expect it should be
sheathed till it has fulfilled its charge. As the word of God, so his rod and his sword, shall
accomplish that for which he sends them.
JAMISON, "Jer_47:1-7. Prophecy against the Philistines.
Pharaoh-necho probably smote Gaza on his return after defeating Josiah at Megiddo
(2Ch_35:20) [Grotius]. Or, Pharaoh-hophra (Jer_37:5, Jer_37:7) is intended: probably
on his return from his fruitless attempt to save Jerusalem from the Chaldeans, he smote
Gaza in order that his expedition might not be thought altogether in vain [Calvin]
(Amo_1:6, Amo_1:7).
K&D, "The word of the Lord against the Philistines came to Jeremiah "before
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Pharaoh smote Gaza." If we understand this time-definition in such a way that "the
prophecy would refer to the conquest of Gaza by Pharaoh," as Graf thinks, and as Hitzig
also is inclined to suppose, then this portion of the title does not accord with the
contents of the following prophecy; for, according to Jer_47:2, the devastator of Philistia
approaches from the north, and the desolation comes not merely on Gaza, but on all
Philistia, and even Tyre and Sidon (Jer_47:4, Jer_47:5). Hence Graf thinks that, if any
one is inclined to consider the title as utterly incorrect, only two hypotheses are possible:
either the author of the title overlooked the statement in Jer_47:2, that the hostile army
was to come from the north; in which case this conquest might have taken place at any
time during the wearisome struggles, fraught with such changes of fortune, between the
Chaldeans and the Egyptians for the possession of the border fortresses, during the reign
of Jehoiakim (which is Ewald's opinion): or he may possibly have noticed the statement,
but found no difficulty in it; in which case, in spite of all opposing considerations (see M.
von Niebuhr, Gesch. Assyr. und Bab. p. 369), it must be assumed that the conquest was
effected by the defeated army as it was returning from the Euphrates, when Necho, on
his march home, reduced Gaza (Hitzig), and by taking this fortress from the enemy,
barred the way to Egypt. Of these two alternatives, we can accept neither as probable.
The neglect, on the part of the author of the title, to observe the statement that the
enemy is to come from the north, would show too great carelessness for us to trust him.
But if he did notice the remark, then it merely follows that Pharaoh must have reduced
Gaza on his return, after being defeated at Carchemish. Nor is it legitimate to conclude,
as Ewald does, from the statement in 2Ki_24:7 ("The king of Egypt went no more out of
his land; for the king of Babylon had taken all that had belonged to the king of Egypt,
from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates"), that the wars between the Chaldeans
and the Egyptians for the possession of the border fortresses, such as Gaza, were
tedious, and attended with frequent changes of fortune. In the connection in which it
stands, this statement merely shows that, after Nebuchadnezzar had made Jehoiakim
his vassal, the latter could not receive any help from Egypt in his rebellion, after he had
ruled three years, because Pharaoh did not venture to march out of his own territory any
more. But it plainly follows from this, that Pharaoh cannot have taken the fortress of
Gaza while retreating before Nebuchadnezzar. For, in this case, Nebuchadnezzar would
have been obliged to drive him thence before ever he could have reduced King Jehoiakim
again to subjection. The assumption is difficult to reconcile with what Berosus says
regarding the campaign of Nebuchadnezzar, viz., that the continued in the field till he
heard of the death of his father. Add to this, that, as M. von Niebuhr very rightly says,
"there is every military probability against it" (i.e., against the assumption that Gaza was
reduced by Necho on his retreat). "If this fortress had stood out till the battle of
Carchemish, then it is inconceivable that a routed eastern army should have taken the
city during its retreat, even though there were, on the line of march, the strongest
positions on the Orontes, in Lebanon, etc., where it might have taken its stand." Hence
Niebuhr thinks it "infinitely more improbable either that Gaza was conquered before the
battle of Carchemish, about the same time as Ashdod, and that Jeremiah, in Jer_47:1-7,
predicts the approach of the army which was still engaged in the neighbourhood of
Nineveh; or that the capture of the fortress did not take place till later, when
Nebuchadnezzar was again engaged in Babylon, and that the prophet announces his
return, not his first approach."
Rosenmüller and Nägelsbach have declared in favour of the first of these suppositions.
Both of them place the capture of Gaza in the time of Necho's march against the
Assyrians under Josiah; Rosenmüller before the battle of Megiddo; Nägelsbach after
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that engagement, because he assumes, with all modern expositors, that Necho had
landed with his army at the Bay of Acre. He endeavours to support this view by the
observation that Necho, before marching farther north, sought to keep the way clear for
a retreat to Egypt, since he would otherwise have been lost after the battle of
Carchemish, if he did not previously reduce Gaza, the key of the high road to Egypt. In
this, Nägelsbach rightly assumes that the heading, "before Pharaoh smote Gaza," was
not intended to show the fulfilment of the prophecy in the conquest of Gaza by Necho
soon afterwards, but merely states that Jeremiah predicts to the Philistines that they will
be destroyed by a foe from the north, at a time when conquest by a foe from the north
was impending over them. Rightly, too, does Niebuhr remark that, in support of the view
that Gaza was taken after the battle at Carchemish, there is nothing more than the
announcement of the attack from the north, and the arrangement of the prophecies in
Jeremiah, in which that against the Philistines is placed after that about the battle of
Carchemish. Hitzig and Graf lay great weight upon this order and arrangement, and
thence conclude that all the prophecies against the nations in Jer 46-49, with the
exception of that regarding Elam, were uttered in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. There
are no sufficient grounds for this conclusion. The agreement between this prophecy now
before us and that in Jer 46, as regards particular figures and expressions (Graf), is too
insignificant to afford a proof that the two belong to the same time; nor is much to be
made out of the point so strongly insisted on by Hitzig, that after the Egyptians, as the
chief nation, had been treated of, the author properly brings forward those who, from
the situation of their country, must be visited by war immediately before it is sent on the
Egyptians. The main foundation for this view is taken from the notice by Herodotus (ii.
159), that Necho, after the battle at Magdolos, took the large Syrian city Κάδυτις.
Magdolos is here taken as a variation of Megiddo, and Kadytis of Gaza. But neither
Hitzig nor Stark have proved the identity of Kadytis with Gaza, as we have already
remarked on 2Ki_23:33; so that we cannot safely draw any conclusion, regarding the
time when Gaza was taken, from that statement of Herodotus. In consequence of the
want of evidence from other sources, the date of this event cannot be more exactly
determined.
From the contents of this prophecy and its position among the oracles against the
nations, we can draw no more than a very probable inference that it was not published
before the fourth year of Jehoiakim, inasmuch as it is evidently but a further
amplification of the sentence pronounced in that year against all the nations, and
recorded in Jer 25. Thus all conjectures as to the capture of Gaza by Necho on his march
to the Euphrates, before the battle at Carchemish, become very precarious. But the
assumption is utterly improbable also, that Necho at a later period, whether in his flight
before the Chaldeans, or afterwards, while Nebuchadnezzar was occupied in Babylon,
undertook an expedition against Philistia: such a hypothesis is irreconcilable with the
statement given in 2 Kings 24; 7. There is thus no course left open for us, but to
understand, by the Pharaoh of the title here, not Necho, but his successor Hophra: this
has been suggested by Rashi, who refers to Jer_37:5, Jer_37:11, and by Perizonius, in his
Origg. Aegypt. p. 459, who founds on the notices of Herodotus (ii. 261) and of Diodorus
Siculus, i. 68, regarding the naval battle between Apries on the one hand and the
Cyprians and Phoenicians on the other. From these notices, it appears pretty certain that
Pharaoh-Hophra sought to avenge the defeat of Necho on the Chaldeans, and to extend
the power of Egypt in Asia. Hence it is also very probable that he took Gaza, with the
view of getting into his hands this key of the highway to Egypt. This assumption we
regard as the most probable, since nothing has been made out against it; there are no
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sufficient grounds for the opinion that this prophecy belongs to the same time as that in
Jer 46.
Contents of the Prophecy. - From the north there pours forth a river, inundating fields
and cities, whereupon lamentation begins. Every one flees in haste before the sound of
the hostile army, for the day of desolation is come on all Philistia and Phoenicia (Jer_
47:2-4). The cities of Philistia mourn, for the sword of the Lord is incessantly active
among them (Jer_47:5-7). This brief prophecy thus falls into two strophes: in the first
(Jer_47:2-4), the ruin that is breaking over Philistia is described; in the second (Jer_
47:5-7), its operation on the country and on the people.
CALVIN, "Jeremiah prophesies here against the Philistines, who were enemies to
the Israelites, and had contrived against them many cruel and unjust things. There
is then no doubt, but that God intended to testify, by this prophecy, his love towards
the Israelites, for he undertook their cause, and avenged the wrongs done to them.
We hence perceive why God had predicted the ruin of the Philistines, even that the
Israelites might know his paternal love towards them, as he set himself against their
enemies; and thus he gave them a reason for patience, because it behooved them to
wait until God fulfilled this prophecy.
And he points out the time, Before Pharaoh smote Aza, or Gaza. The ancient Gaza,
as far as we can find out, was near the sea; but after it was destroyed, another was
built, which is mentioned by Luke, (Acts 8:26;) it appears from heathen writers that
it was a celebrated city and opulent. But they are mistaken who think that its name
is derived from the Persic word “Gaza,” which means treasures; for they say, that
when Cambyses led an army against Egypt, he left there his riches. But the word
‫,עזה‬ Oze, is a very ancient Hebrew word; and it is well known that the ‫,ע‬ oin, has
been pronounced like our g; and this is the case as to other words, as for instance,
Gomorrah, ‫,עמרה‬ the ‫,ע‬ oin, has the sound of ‫,ג‬ gimel; so also ‫,צער‬ Tsor, the Greek
and Latin interpreters have rendered it, Segor. Then Gaza has not derived its name
from treasures, but it is a Hebrew word, signifying fortitude or strength.
Now Jeremiah says, that he prophesied against the Philistines before Pharaoh smote
that city, but he did not demolish it. But we see that the Prophet threatens nothing
to it from the Egyptians, but rather from the Chaldeans. Why then does he speak
here of Pharaoh?
We must refer to history, and then we shall see what the design of the Holy Spirit
was. When Pharaoh came to bring assistance to the Jews under Zedekiah, as we
have already seen, he was soon compelled to return to Egypt, for the Chaldeans,
having raised the siege, went against the Egyptians; for if they routed them, they
knew that they could soon possess themselves of the whole of Judea. Haying then
left the Jews for a time, they went against the Egyptians. Pharaoh, possessing no
confidence in himself, as I have said, retreated; but he plundered Gaza in his way,
because it was very hostile to the Jews; and he wished to shew that he did not come
altogether in vain, though this afforded no relief to the Jews. But thus in things of
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nought earthly kings shew off themselves. Pharaoh then at that time plundered
Gaza, but he did not retain it. At this time Jeremiah predicted greater calamities.
And this ought to be carefully noticed, for there would be no reason why the
Prophet spake of the Philistines, except, he had respect to something farther. Let us
now then come to the second verse:
COFFMAN, "Verse 1
JEREMIAH 47
THE PROPHECY AGAINST PHILISTIA
This little chapter deals with the prophecy against the Philistines, and also the
coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon, in other words, the western coastline of Palestine.
The big problem to which commentators usually address most of their comments on
this chapter regards Jeremiah 47:1.
Jeremiah 47:1
"The word of Jehovah that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines,
before that Pharaoh smote Gaza."
"Before that Pharaoh smote Gaza ..." (Jeremiah 47:10). What makes this difficult is
that there is no hint here of "which Pharaoh" is meant. Three different dates are
suggested for the capture of Gaza mentioned here. (1) Pharaoh-Necho marched
against Babylon in 609 B.C., that being when Josiah opposed him and was killed at
Megiddo. It is not certainly known, but it is supposed that Pharaoh-Necho might
have taken and fortified Gaza at the beginning of that campaign in order to secure
his eventual retreat. (2) It has also been suggested that this same Pharaoh-Necho,
severely defeated at Carchemish, took Gaza and fortified it, as a bastion against
Nebuchadnezzar's following him into Egypt. (3) Another king, Pharaoh-Hophra
(588-570 B.C.) is alleged to have taken Gaza in an expedition against Tyre and
Sidon. J. R. Dummelow mentions all three of these possibilities.[1]
The trouble with finding any certainty in the answer is due to, "Our ignorance of
contemporary history."[2]
Other dates for Pharaoh's capture of Gaza, as mentioned here, have been proposed
as 608 B.C.,[3] and 605-604 B.C.[4]
Our own preference for the date is grounded in our conviction that the Jeremiahic
prophecy of the Babylonian campaign against Jerusalem, Egypt, Philistia, and the
whole region was written well in advance of the actual advance of the Babylonians,
and in fact, at a time when Egypt, not Babylon, was the power most people feared.
The weight of this first verse, as we understand it is, therefore: "At a time when
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Pharaoh of Egypt was the dominating power, even at that early time, Jeremiah
prophesied the great flood of the Babylonian invasion `from the north.'"
Another excellent reason for dating this prophecy prior to 609 B.C., is seen in the
fact that, according to the Babylonian Chronicle for the year 604 B.C.,
"Nebuchadnezzar marched against Ashkelon, took its king captive, carried off
booty, and prisoners, turning the city into ruins and a heap of rubble."[5] This of
course, is a complete fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy.
We cannot believe that Jeremiah's prophecy of that destroying flood from the north
was a "prophecy after the event," but that it came long before the actual
destruction; and that conviction limits this writer to the conclusion that the date of
the prophecy was before the death of Josiah in 609 B.C. Certainly, our guess on this
is as good as anyone's! We are glad to note that R. K. Harrison, writing in the
Tyndale Commentaries also favored this date.[6]
Jeremiah is not the only one who prophesied against the Philistines. Amos 1:6-8;
Ezekiel 25:15-17; Isaiah 14:28-31; and Zephaniah 2:4-7, are others.
HISTORY OF THE PHILISTINES
The Philistines were a vigorous people who migrated to the eastern shore of the
Mediterranean Sea from the Island of Crete in very early times, in fact, giving their
name (Palestine) to the whole area. Israel never was able to drive them out of the
land; but, under king David, they did submit to the government of Israel.
However, in the days of the divided kingdom, they quickly regained their
independence, which they maintained through many military operations against
them through the ages, which gradually weakened them, leading to their final
conquest by the Maccabees in the second century B.C. From this time, they seem to
have been totally merged with Israel.
Their principal cities were Ekron, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath and Gaza.
COKE, ". Before that Pharaoh smote Gaza— When the country was in seeming
quiet and security. The destruction of Gaza probably followed Pharaoh's victories
at Megiddo and Carchemish, when Judaea became tributary to him. See 2
Chronicles 35:20; 2 Chronicles 36:3. This prophesy was the more remarkable, as at
the time of its delivery there was a common hatred to the Jews between the
Chaldeans and the Philistines. See Grotius.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMMENTARY, "THE PHILISTINES
Jeremiah 47:1-7
"O sword of Jehovah, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy
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scabbard; rest, and be still."- Jeremiah 47:6
ACCORDING to the title placed at the head of this prophecy, it was uttered "before
Pharaoh smote Gaza." The Pharaoh is evidently Pharaoh Necho, and this capture of
Gaza was one of the incidents of the campaign which opened with the victory at
Megiddo and concluded so disastrously at Carchemish. Our first impulse is to look
for some connection between this incident and the contents of the prophecy:
possibly the editor who prefixed the heading may have understood by the northern
enemy Pharaoh Necho on his return from Carchemish; but would Jeremiah have
described a defeated army thus?
"Behold, waters rise out of the north, and become an overflowing torrent;
They overflow the land, and all that is therein, the city and its inhabitants.
Men cry out, and all the inhabitants of the land howl,
At the sound of the stamping of the hoofs of his stallions,
At the rattling of his chariots and the rumbling of his wheels."
Here as elsewhere the enemy from the north is Nebuchadnezzar. Pharaohs might
come and go, winning victories and taking cities, but these broken reeds count for
little; not they, but the king of Babylon is the instrument of Jehovah’s supreme
purpose. The utter terror caused by the Chaldean advance is expressed by a striking
figure:-
"The fathers look not back to their children for slackness of hands."
Their very bodies are possessed and crippled with fear, their palsied muscles cannot
respond to the impulses of natural affection; they can do nothing but hurry on in
headlong flight, unable to look round or stretch out a helping hand to their
children:-
"Because of the day that cometh for the spoiling of all the Philistines,
For cutting off every ally that remaineth unto Tyre and Zidon:
For Jehovah spoileth the Philistines the remnant of the coast of Caphtor.
Baldness cometh upon Gaza; Ashkelon is destroyed:
O remnant of the Anakim, how long wilt thou cut thyself?"
This list is remarkable both for what it includes and what it omits. In order to
understand the reference to Tyre and Zidon, we must remember that
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Nebuchadnezzar’s expedition was partly directed against these cities, with which the
Philistines had evidently been allied. The Chaldean king would hasten the
submission of the Phoenicians, by cutting off all hope of succour from without.
There are various possible reasons why out of the five Philistine cities only two-
Ashkelon and Gaza-are mentioned; Ekron, Gath, and Ashdod may have been
reduced to comparative insignificance. Ashdod had recently been taken by
Psammetichus after a twenty-nine years’ siege. Or the names of two of these cities
may be given by way of paronomasia in the text: Ashdod may be suggested by the
double reference to the spoiling and the spoiler, Shdod and Shoded; Gath may be
hinted at by the word used for the mutilation practised by mourners, Tithgoddadi,
and by the mention of the Anakim, who are connected with Gath, Ashdod, and Gaza
in Joshua 11:22.
As Jeremiah contemplates this fresh array of victims of Chaldean cruelty, he is
moved to protest against the weary monotony of ruin:-
"O sword of Jehovah, how long will it be ere thou be quiet?
Put up thyself into thy scabbard; rest, and be still."
The prophet ceases to be the mouthpiece of God, and breaks out into the cry of
human anguish. How often since, amid the barbarian inroads that overwhelmed the
Roman Empire, amid the prolonged horrors of the Thirty Years’ War, amid the
carnage of the French Revolution, men have uttered a like appeal to an unanswering
and relentless Providence! Indeed, not in war only, but even in peace, the tide of
human misery and sin often seems to flow, century after century, with undiminished
volume, and ever and again a vain "How long" is wrung from pallid and despairing
lips. For the Divine purpose may not be hindered, and the sword of Jehovah must
still strike home.
"How can it be quiet, seeing that Jehovah hath given it a charge?
Against Ashkelon and against the seashore, there hath He appointed it."
Yet Ashkelon survived to be a stronghold of the Crusaders, and Gaza to be captured
by Alexander and even by Napoleon. Jehovah has other instruments besides His
devastating sword; the victorious endurance and recuperative vitality of men and
nations also come from Him.
"Come and let us return unto Jehovah:
For He hath torn, and He will heal us;
He hath smitten, and He will bind us up." [Hosea 6:1]
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PETT, " Verses 1-7
C). Prophecy Concerning Philistia And Its Great Cities Including Within It A Word
Against Tyre and Sidon (Jeremiah 47:1-7).
To the west of Judah was Philistia, with its great semi-independent cities such as
Gaza (the Azzah of Jeremiah 25:20) and Ashkelon (along with Ekron and the
remnant of Ashdod - Jeremiah 25:20, and earlier, Gath), and to the north-west the
Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon. The Philistines had been a constant thorn in the
side of Israel ever since they had arrived from the Aegean in the Coastal Plain
around 1200 BC where, having been repulsed by Egypt, they had established
themselves as a military elite over the Canaanites on the Coastal Plain. Indeed
during the Judges period they had almost swallowed up central Israel and Judah, a
situation which was partly alleviated by Samuel and was finally solved by David.
After David any Philistine encroachment was limited. But ruled over by five semi-
independent ‘tyrants’, and relatively strong in themselves, they had still caused
trouble for Israel/Judah, either by their belligerence at times of weakness (compare
Ezekiel 25:15-17), or by persuading them to enter into alliances against a common
enemy. Their own problem was that they were in the direct path of any northern
incursion against Egypt, for invaders from the north would march down the Coastal
Plain through Philistia.
Jeremiah 47:1
‘The word (dbr) of YHWH which came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the
Philistines, before Pharaoh smote Gaza.’
The timing of the prophecy is indicated by the fact that it was ‘before Pharaoh
smote Gaza’. This may suggest a date between 609-600 BC. During that period the
Egyptians were active in the region a number of times, including their march to the
aid of the Assyrians in 609 BC, as a result of which Josiah was slain, their control
over the area until their defeat at Carchemish in 605 BC, and their subsequent
repulsion of the Babylonians in that area in 601 BC. Herodotus, 2:159, says that
Pharaoh Necho took Kadytis, which may well be Greek for Gaza , in 609 BC,
presumably on his march north, and the Babylonian Chronicles indicate that Necho
may have attacked and defeated Gaza in 601 BC. If this be the case the prophecy
occurs either in the latter part of the reign of Josiah or in that of Jehoiakim. The
reference to the sacking of Ashkelon (Jeremiah 47:7) may point to a date prior to
604 BC when the Babylonian Chronicles tell us that Nebuchadrezzar sacked
Ashkelon.
Some view it as unlikely that Pharaoh Necoh ‘smote Gaza’, and argue that this
refers to a later Pharaoh, namely Pharaoh Hophra, who is known to have been
widely belligerent..
PULPIT, "Verses 1-7
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PROPHECY ON THE PHILISTINES.
EXPOSITION
It is clear from the contents of the prophecy (and the inference is thoroughly
confirmed by its position) that it was written after the battle of Carchemish, with
reference to the dreaded northern foe—Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. The
prophecy against Egypt precedes, because Egypt was by far the most important of
the nations threatened by the advance of Nebuchadnezzar. But chronologically and
geographically, it ought rather to have been placed at the end of the series, for
Palestine had to be conquered before a design upon Egypt could have a reasonable
chance of success. The commentators have given themselves much unnecessary
trouble with the heading in Jeremiah 47:1, which assigns the date of the prophecy to
a period prior (as it would seem) to the battle of Carchemish. They forget that the
headings are not to be received without criticism as historical evidence for the date
of the prophecies. Knowing, as we do, that the prophecies were edited, not only by
the disciples of the prophets, but by students of the Scriptures long after their time,
it is gratuitously embarrassing one's self to give as much historical weight to the
statement of a heading as to a clear inference from the contents of a prophecy. No
doubt Providence watched over the movements of the editors; they must even be
credited with a degree of inspiration, so far as moral and religious truths are
concerned; but they were not exempt from being dependent on the ordinary sources
of information in matters of history. It would seem, then, that, out of the various
sieges of Gaza in the last century of the Jewish state, one in particular had fixed
itself in the memory of the Jews; and it was not a siege by the Babylonians, but by
the Egyptians. Seeing a reference to Gaza in Jeremiah 47:5, a late editor of Jeremiah
appended to the heading already in existence the words, "before that Pharaoh smote
Gaza." He was wrong in so doing, but he only carried out, like many favourite
modern preachers, what has been called the atomistic method of exegesis, by which
a single verse is isolated from its context, and interpreted with total disregard of the
rest of the passage.
But which Pharaoh did this editor mean? and when did he lay siege to Gaza? The
general view is that he means Pharaoh-necho, who, according to Herodotus (2:159),
first defeated "the Syrians at Magdolus," and then "made himself master of
Cadytis, a large city of Syria." It is assumed that Magdolus is a mistake for
Megiddo, and that Cadytis means Gaza; and the former supposition is probable
enough (a similar confusion has been made by certain manuscripts at Matthew
15:39; comp. the Authorized and Revised Versions); but the latter is rather
doubtful. It is true that in Jeremiah 3:5 Herodotus speaks of "the country from
Phoenicia to the borders of the city Cadyfis" as belonging to "the Palestine
Syrians;" but is it not more probable that Herodotus mistook the position of
Jerusalem (Cadushta, "the holy (city)," in Aramaic) than that he called Gaza "a city
almost as large as Sardis"? Gaza was never called" the holy city;" Jerusalem was.
Sir Gardner Wilkinson (ap. Rawlinson's 'Herodotus') takes a different view.
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According to him (and to Rashi long before) it was Pharaoh-hophra or Apries who
captured Gaza. We know from Herodotus (2:161) that this king waged war with
Phoenicia, which is, perhaps, to be taken in connection with the notice in Jeremiah
37:5, Jeremiah 37:11, of the diversion created by an Egyptian army during the siege
of Jerusalem. This hypothesis is to a certain extent confirmed by the mention of
"Tyrus and Zidon" in Jeremiah 37:4, but stands in much need of some direct
historical confirmation.
Jeremiah 47:1
Against the Philistines; rather, concerning (as usual in similar cases). Before that
Pharaoh, etc. (see introduction to chapter).
2 This is what the Lord says:
“See how the waters are rising in the north;
they will become an overflowing torrent.
They will overflow the land and everything in it,
the towns and those who live in them.
The people will cry out;
all who dwell in the land will wail
BARNES, "Waters rise up - A metaphor for the assembling of an army (compare
the marginal references).
Out of the north - The Chaldaean army must cross the Euphrates at Carchemish.
An overflowing flood - Or, “torrent.” To understand the metaphors of the Bible we
must keep the natural phenomena of the country in mind. In Palestine rivers are
torrents, dashing furiously along in the rainy seasons, and dry, or nearly so, in the
summer.
All that is therein - The marginal rendering contrasts the wealth of Egypt, which
forms its fullness, and the inhabitants.
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CLARKE, "Waters rise up out of the north - Waters is a common prophetic
image for a multitude of people. The north here, as in other places of this prophecy,
means Chaldea.
GILL, "Thus saith the Lord, behold, waters rise up out of the north,....
Meaning an army of men, which should come in great numbers, and with great force and
rapidity, like an overflowing flood. So the Targum,
"behold, people shall come from the north;''
that is, from Chaldea, which lay north of Palestine:
and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is
therein; or, "the fulness of it" (u); the land of the Philistines, and carry off the men and
cattle, and all the riches thereof;
the city, and them that dwell therein; not any particular or single city, as Gaza; but
the several cities of Palestine, and the inhabitants of them:
then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl; not
being able to do anything else; not to defend themselves, their families, and property;
and seeing nothing but ruin and destruction before their eyes.
JAMISON, "waters — (Isa_8:7). The Chaldeans from the north are compared to the
overwhelming waters of their own Euphrates. The smiting of Gaza was to be only the
prelude of a greater disaster to the Philistines. Nebuzara-dan was left by
Nebuchadnezzar, after he had taken Jerusalem, to subdue the rest of the adjoining cities
and country.
CALVIN, "The Prophet, no doubt, wished to remind the Jews that it would only be
a prelude when Gaza was plundered, and that a far more grievous punishment was
impending over that ungodly nation, which had done so many wrongs to God’s
people. For if Gaza had suffered only that loss, the Jews might have complained of
their lot, as those ungodly men who had acted so wickedly and in so many ways
provoked God’s vengeance, had lightly suffered. They might then have objected and
said, “What can this mean? God has indeed lightly smitten Gaza; but we would thus
willingly redeem our lives: as those who wish to avoid shipwreck cast forth their
goods into the sea, and whatever precious thing they may have; so we, if life only be
given us, are prepared to part with all our property.” The Jews then might have
thus deplored their lot. Hence the Prophet says, that something more grievous
awaited that city.
“When ye see Gaza plundered,” he says, “think not that this is the last judgment of
God; for, behold, waters shall rise from the north, that is, the Chaldeans shall
complete the work of executing God’s vengeance; the Egyptians shall only plunder
the wealth of the city, which will be endurable; but at length the Chaldeans will
14

come to exercise boundless cruelty, and they shall be like a flood, and shall
overwhelm Gaza, so as utterly to destroy it.” We now, then, see what the Prophet
meant: there is implied a comparison between the plunder effected by the Egyptians
and the final ruin brought on it by the Chaldeans.
The rising or ascending of waters is evidently a metaphorical expression. He adds
that they would be an overflowing torrent, that is, the waters would be like an
inundating river; and they will inundate the land. He speaks of the land of the
Philistines, where this city was. They will inundate, he says, the land and its fullness
Fullness is taken in Hebrew for opulence or wealth; trees, corn, and animals are
called the fullness of the land; for when the land brings forth no corn and no fruits,
when it breeds no animals, it is deemed naked and empty. As then God clothes the
land with such ornaments, the land is said to be full, when it abounds in those
productions with which God enriches it. he afterwards speaks of men, the city, he
says; he speaks not now of the city Gaza, but of the whole country; then the singular
number is to be taken here for the plural. At length he says, Cry shall men, and
howl shall all the inhabitants of the land The number as to the verbs is here
changed, but there is no ambiguity in the meaning. And by these words the Prophet
intimates, that a most grievous punishment would be inflicted on the Philistines, so
that they would not only cry for sorrow, but even howl. It follows, —
COFFMAN, "Verse 2
"Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall become an
overflowing stream, and shall overflow the land and all that is therein, the city and
them that dwell therein; and the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land
shall wail. At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing
of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers look not back to their
children for feebleness of hands."
"Waters rise up out of the north ..." (Jeremiah 47:2). Isaiah also compared the
ravages of the great Assyrian army as the Euphrates River at flood (Isaiah 8:7,8);
and here Jeremiah uses the same metaphor to describe the ravages of the
Babylonians.
"Fathers look not back to their children for feebleness of hands ..." (Jeremiah 47:3).
This depicts the terror stricken fathers as so overcome with fear that they could not
even try to protect their children. It is an exceedingly powerful comment on the kind
of terror inspired by the terrible armies of the Babylonians.
PETT, "Jeremiah 47:2
‘Thus says YHWH:
“Behold, waters rise up out of the north,
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And will become an overflowing stream,
And will overflow the land and all that is in it,
The city and those who dwell in it,
And the men will cry,
And all the inhabitants of the land will wail.”
That this refers to an enemy ‘out of the north’ and not to Pharaoh Necho points to a
coming Babylonian invasion. For the picture used compare Jeremiah 46:8; Isaiah
8:7. The invasion is likened to a great flood which inundates the land and
overwhelms the cities, something illustrated in the following verses. The
consequence is that the people wail and mourn because of what has come on them.
PULPIT, "Waters rise up. The prophets think in figures, and no figure is so familiar
to them (alas for the unstable condition of those times!) as that of an overflowing
torrent for an invading army (see on Jeremiah 46:8, and add to the parallel passages
Isaiah 28:18; Ezekiel 26:19; Daniel 11:10). Out of the north. To suppose that this
refers to Pharaoh-necho returning from Carchemish seems forced and unnatural. If
Necho conquered Gaza at the period supposed, it would be on his way to
Carchemish, and not on his return. Besides," the north" is the standing symbol for
the home of the dreaded Assyrian and Babylonian foes (see on Jeremiah 1:14).
Isaiah had uttered a very similar prediction when the Assyrian hosts were sweeping
through Palestine (Isaiah 14:31). An overflowing flood; rather, torrent. The same
phrase occurs in Isaiah 30:28, where the "breath" of the angry God is described
with this figurative expression. It is in autumn time that the torrents of Palestine
become dangerous, and water courses, dry or almost dry in summer (comp.
Jeremiah 15:18), become filled with a furiously rushing stream.
3 at the sound of the hooves of galloping steeds,
at the noise of enemy chariots
and the rumble of their wheels.
Parents will not turn to help their children;
their hands will hang limp.
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BARNES, "His strong horses - War-horses, chargers.
The rushing of his chariots - Rather, the rattling, the crashing noise which they
make as they advance.
For feebleness of hands - The Philistines flee in such panic that a father would not
even turn round to see whether his sons were effecting their escape or not.
CLARKE, "The stamping of the hoofs - At the galloping sound, -
Quadrupedante putrem sonitu quatit ungula campum,
is a line of Virgil, (Aen. 8:596), much celebrated; and quoted here by Blayney, where the
galloping sound of the horses’ hoofs is heard. In the stamping of the horses, the rushing
of the chariots, and the rumbling of the wheels, our translators intended to convey the
sense by the sound of the words, and they have not been unsuccessful. Their translation
of the original is at the same time sufficiently literal.
The fathers shall not look back - Though their children are left behind, they have
neither strength nor courage to go back to bring them off.
GILL, "At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses,.... The
noise of the cavalry of Nebuchadnezzar's army, as they came marching on towards the
country of the Philistines; who, being mounted on strong prancing horses, made a great
noise as they came along, and were heard at a distance:
at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling, of his wheels; the rattling
and clatter the chariot wheels made; in which rode the chief officers and generals, with
other mighty men: chariots were much used in war in those times:
the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands; they
should be so frightened at the approach of the enemy, and flee with much precipitancy
to provide for their own safety, that they should not think of their children, or stay to
deliver and save them, the most near and dear unto them; being so terrified as not to be
able to lift up their hands to defend themselves, and protect their children. The Targum
is,
"the fathers shall not look back to have mercy on their children;''
in their fright should forget their natural affection to them, and not so much as look back
with an eye of pity and compassion on them; so intent upon their own deliverance and
safety.
JAMISON, "(Compare Jer_4:29).
fathers ... not look back to ... children — Each shall think only of his own safety,
not even the fathers regarding their own children. So desperate shall be the calamity that
17

men shall divest themselves of the natural affections.
for feebleness of hands — The hands, the principal instruments of action, shall
have lost all power; their whole hope shall be in their feet.
CALVIN, "He continues the same subject; for he says, that so grievous would be the
calamity, that fathers would not have a care for their children, which is a proof of
extreme sorrow; for men even in adversity do not divest themselves of their natural
feelings. When a father has children, he would willingly undergo ten deaths, if
necessary, in order to save their life; but when men forget that they are parents, it is
a proof, as I have said, of the greatest grief, as though men, having changed their
nature, were become logs of wood. But the Prophet expresses the cause, not only of
sorrow, but also of anxiety; From the voice, he says, of the noise of the hoofs of his
valiant ones; he does not name the horses, but ‫,פרסות‬ peresut, refer to horses; hoofs,
he says, shall make a great noise by stamping. And then such would be the
commotion by the driving of chariots, and such a tumult would the revolving wheels
create, that fathers, being astonished, would not. look on their children At length, he
adds, through dissolution of hands By dissolution of hands he means loss of courage
or fainting. For as vigor spreads from the heart through every part of the body, so
also the bands are the chief instruments of all actions. When therefore the bands are
relaxed and become feeble, it follows that men become as it were inanimate. The
Prophet now means that the Philistines would become like the dead, so as not to
move, no, not even their fingers; and why? because they would be so terrified by the
stamping of horses, by the commotion of chariots, and by the rumbling of wheels,
that they would lose their senses. It follows, —
PETT, "Jeremiah 47:3-4
“At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones,
At the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels,
The fathers do not look back to their children,
Because of feebleness of hands;
Because of the day which comes to destroy all the Philistines,
To cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains,
For YHWH will destroy the Philistines,
The remnant of the isle of Caphtor.”
The vivid picture portrays the awfulness of seeing the invaders arrive in irresistible
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force. The hoofbeats of the horses and the noise of the chariots brings terror to the
neighbourhood such that children are abandoned in the haste to get away. It is a
day of destruction and it is a day which will destroy ‘all the Philistines’, and will
include their allies in Tyre and Sidon (compare Psalms 83:7). And all this was
because YHWH has determined to destroy the Philistines who had previously
arrived (among the Sea People) from Crete and the Aegean, taking over parts of
YHWH’s land and harassing His people. Once again we see that YHWH’s purposes
are being brought about by the activities of men, and that although His action is
sometimes delayed He never forgets how His people have been treated.
‘To cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains.’ This may suggest that
Philistia’s great fault in Nebuchadrezzar’s eyes (their being seen as ‘the helper who
remains’) was that they had assisted Tyre and Sidon in their struggle against
Babylon, possibly by rebelling at the same time. Tyre, which had gained its
independence at the demise of the Assyrian Empire, resisted Nebuchadrezzar’s siege
for thirteen years, and proved a constant thorn in the flesh to him.
‘The remnant of the isle of Caphtor.’ According to Deuteronomy 2:23; Amos 9:7;
the Philistines came from Caphtor, which many see as referring to Crete and its
connections. In the second millennium BC the Minoan empire was extensive. But the
original origins of the Philistines lay in North Africa (Genesis 10:13-14).
PULPIT, "A fine specimen of Hebrew word painting. The rushing of his chariots.
"Rushing" has the sense of the German rauschen, to make a rustling, murmuring
sound. It is used (but as the equivalent of a different Hebrew word) in the
Authorized Version of Isaiah 18:1-7 :12, 13 of the confused sound made by an army
in motion. In the present passage, the Hebrew word means something more definite
than that in Isaiah, l.c.; it is the "crashing" of an earthquake, or (as here) the
"rattling" of chariots. The rumbling of his wheels. "Rumbling" is a happy
equivalent. The Hebrew (hamon) is the word referred to in the preceding note as
meaning an indefinite confused sound. The fathers shall not look back to their
children, etc. An awful picture, and still more effective in the concise language of the
original. The Hebrew Scriptures excel (as still more strikingly, but with too great a
want of moderation, does the Koran) in the sublime of terror. So overpowering shall
the panic be that fathers will not even turn an eye to their helpless children.
Observe, it is said "the fathers," not "the mothers." The picture is poetically finer
than that in Deuteronomy 28:56, Deuteronomy 28:57, because the shade of
colouring is a degree softer. Feebleness of hands. A common expression for the
enervation produced by extreme terror (see Jeremiah 6:24; Isaiah 13:7; Ezekiel
7:17; Nahum 2:11).
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4 For the day has come
to destroy all the Philistines
and to remove all survivors
who could help Tyre and Sidon.
The Lord is about to destroy the Philistines,
the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.[a]
BARNES, "Because of the day that cometh to spoil - “Because” the day has
come “to devastate.”
The Philistines are called Tyre’s remaining (i. e., last) helper, because all besides who
could have assisted her have already succumbed to the Chaldaean power. The judgment
upon Philistia was in connection with that upon Tyre, and it was fulfilled by expeditions
sent out by Nebuchadnezzar under him lieutenants to ravage the country and supply his
main army with provisions.
The country of Caphtor - The coastland of Caphtor. The Philistines came from the
coast of the Egyptian Delta, and are called “a remnant” because they had been greatly
reduced in numbers, partly by the long war of Psammetichus against Ashdod, partly by
the capture of Gaza Jer_47:1, and partly by Assyrian invasions.
CLARKE, "To spoil all the Philistines - These people, of whom there were five
seignories, occupied the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, to the south of the Phoenicians.
Tyrus and Zidon - Places sufficiently remarkable both in the Old and New
Testament, and in profane history. They belonged to the Phoenicians; and at this time
were depending on the succor of their allies, the Philistines. But their expectation was
cut off.
The remnant of the country of Caphtor - Crete, or Cyprus. Some think it was a
district along the coast of the Mediterranean, belonging to the Philistines; others, that
the Cappadocians are meant.
GILL, "Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines,.... The time
appointed by the Lord for their destruction, which should be universal:
and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth; these were
cities in Phoenicia, which bordered on the country of the Philistines, who were their
auxiliaries in time of distress; but now, being wasted themselves, could give them no
help when Nebuchadnezzar attacked them; as he did Tyre particularly, which he
20

besieged thirteen years, and at last destroyed it, and Zidon with it:
for the Lord will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of
Caphtor; these last are not put by way of apposition, as if they were the same with the
Philistines, though they were near of kin to them, coming from Casluhim; who were the
posterity of Mizraim, as well as Caphtorim, Gen_10:13; indeed the Philistines are said to
be brought from Caphtor, Amo_9:7; being very probably taken captive by them, but
rescued from them; and now in confederacy with them, and like to share the same fate as
they. The Targum renders it,
"the remnant of the island of the Cappadocians;''
and so the Vulgate Latin version. Some think the Colchi, others that the Cretians, are
meant. R. Saadiah by Caphtor understands Damiata, a city in Egypt; which is the same
with Pelusium or Sin, the strength of Egypt, Eze_30:15; and it is usual with the Jews (w)
to call this place Caphutkia, the same with Caphtor, they say; and, in Arabic, Damiata.
JAMISON, "every helper — The Philistines, being neighbors to the Phoenicians of
Tyre and Sidon, would naturally make common cause with them in the case of invasion.
These cities would have no helper left when the Philistines should be destroyed.
Caphtor — the Caphtorim and Philistines both came from Mizraim (Gen_10:13,
Gen_10:14). The Philistines are said to have been delivered by God from Caphtor (Amo_
9:7). Perhaps before the time of Moses they dwelt near and were subjugated by the
Caphtorim (Deu_2:23) and subsequently delivered. “The remnant” means here those
still left after the Egyptians had attacked Gaza and Palestine; or rather, those left of the
Caphtorim after the Chaldeans had attacked them previous to their attack on the
Philistines. Some identify Caphtor with Cappadocia; Gesenius, with Crete (Eze_25:16,
Cherethims); Kitto, Cyprus. Between Palestine and Idumea there was a city Caparorsa;
and their close connection with Palestine on the one hand, and Egypt (Mizraim, Gen_
10:13, Gen_10:14) on the other hand, makes this locality the most likely.
CALVIN, "Jeremiah shews now more clearly, and without a figure, his meaning,
even that destruction would come on the Philistines when their time was completed.
And he mentions Tyre and Sidon, neighboring cities, and. formerly under their own
jurisdiction. But Tyre in the time of Isaiah had its own king; yet afterwards in the
time of Alexander the Great the city was free, as it is well known. These, however,
were cities of Palestine, and the people called then Philistines were contiguous to
these cities, so that the Prophet rightly includes them as it were in the same bundle.
Coming, he says, is the day to destroy all the Philistines, and also to cut off the most
opulent cities, even Tyre and Sidon
Sidon was more ancient than Tyre; but the daughter devoured the mother,
according to the common proverb. For Tyre in time flourished, and Sidon became
almost forsaken. It, however, always retained a name and also some wealth on
account of its commodious harbor. But Tyre was an island in the time of Alexander
the Great; and was therefore more commodious for ships, as it had many harbors.
But the Prophet connects them both together, because they formed then a part of
21

the land of the Philistines. There is no doubt but that the destruction was especially
denounced on these cities, that the Jews might know that nothing would be safe
throughout the whole land, inasmuch as these cities, the defenses, as it were, of the
whole country, were destined to perish.
He farther adds, on account of the day which is coming against all the helping
remnants, for Jehovah will destroy, that is, he will destroy the Philistines, who are
the remnants (it is indeed another word, but means the same) of the island of
Oaphtor He confirms here the same thing in other words, even that God’s hand
would be on these cities and the whole land, though external aids might come; and
these he calls all the remnants of courage, or auxiliaries. Though they might have
many friends alive, ready to bring them help, yet the Lord would demolish them all,
as it follows,for Jehovah will destroy the Philistines, the remnants of the island of
Caphtor
By the island of Caphtor he no doubt means Palestine; but it is doubtful for what
reason the Hebrews called the Cappadocians Caphtorim. As it is hardly credible
that they who inhabited this land had come from so far a country, interpreters have
supposed that others, and not Cappadocians, are here called Caphtorim. Yet Moses
intimates (Deuteronomy 2:23) that those who inhabited the land from Gaza to
Jordan, were not natives, that is, were not born in those places, but that they were a
wandering people; for he says, that
“The Caphtorim went forth and dwelt there
in the place of the natives.”
We may hence conclude that the Caphtorim were foreigners, who, wandering from
their own country, sought an habitation elsewhere, and took possession of this land.
Whether they were Cappadocians, I leave undecided; nor ought we to toil much on
a subject of this kind. But as the Caphtorim had emigrated into Palestine, Jeremiah
calls that region the remnants of the island of Caphtor It follows, —
COFFMAN, ""Because of the day that cometh to destroy all the Philistines, to cut
off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remaineth: for Jehovah will destroy the
Philistines, the remnant of the isle of Caphtor. Baldness is upon Gaza; Ashkelon is
brought to naught, the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself."
"Remnant of the isle of Caphtor ..." (Jeremiah 47:4). "Caphtor is usually identified
with Crete."[7]
The mention of Tyre and Sidon here puzzles some writers, but, apparently, all that
is meant is that the way was then open for Babylon to destroy those cities also, but
no prophecy that their destruction would follow.
"Baldness is upon Gaza ... how long wilt thou cut thyself" (Jeremiah 47:5). These
were signs of grief and sorrow and are a prophecy of the terrible doom in store for
22

Philistia.
"The remnant of their valley ..." (Jeremiah 47:5). John Bright stated that, "This
makes no sense!"[8] But such a comment only means that the commentator does not
understand it. Neither can this writer tell what it means; but we heartily agree with
Bright that the rendition given in the LXX, which reads, "The remnant of the
Anakim (the giants)," while tempting, "May be nothing but a guess on the part of
the LXX."[9]
PULPIT, "The day that cometh; rather, the day that hath come (i.e. shall have
come). It is "the day of the Lord" that is meant, that revolutionary "shaking of all
things" (to use Haggai's expression, Haggai 2:21), as to which see further in note on
Jeremiah 46:10. To cut off … every helper that remaineth; i.e. every ally on whom
they could still reckon. This passage favours the view that the judgment upon the
Philistines took place at the same time as that upon Tyre. Nebuchadnezzar's object
was to isolate Tyre and Sidon as completely as possible. The remnant. The
Philistines had suffered so much from repeated invasions as to be only a "remnant"
of the once powerful nation which oppressed Israel (see on Jeremiah 25:20). The
country of Caphtor. Some would render "the coastland of Caphtor," but the idea of
"coast" seems to be a secondary one, derived in certain passages from the context.
Properly speaking, it is a poetic synonym for "land," and is generally applied to
distant and (accidentally) maritime countries. "Caphtor" was understood by the old
versions to be Cappadocia. But as the remains of the Cappadocian language point to
a Persian origin of the population which spoke it, and as the Caphtorim originally
came from Egypt, it is more plausible to suppose, with Ebers, that Caphtor was a
coast district of North Egypt. Crete has also been thought of (comp. Amos 9:7;
Genesis 10:14; Deuteronomy 2:23).
5 Gaza will shave her head in mourning;
Ashkelon will be silenced.
You remnant on the plain,
how long will you cut yourselves?
BARNES, "Baldness - Extreme mourning (see Jer_16:6).
Is cut off - Others render, is speechless through grief.
23

With the remnant of their valley - Others, O remnant of their valley, how long
wilt thou cut thyself? Their valley is that of Gaza and Ashkelon, the low-lying plain,
usually called the Shefelah, which formed the territory of the Philistines. The reading of
the Septuagint is remarkable: “the remnant of the Anakim,” which probably would mean
Gath, the home of giants 1Sa_17:4.
Jer_47:6. Or, Alas, Sword of Yahweh, how long wilt thou not rest? For the answer, see
Jer_47:7.
CLARKE, "Baldness is come upon Gaza - They have cut off their hair in token of
deep sorrow and distress.
Ashkelon is cut off - Or put to silence; another mark of the deepest sorrow.
Ashkelon was one of the five seignories of the Philistines, Gaza was another.
The remnant of their valley - Or plain; for the whole land of the Philistines was a
vast plain, which extended along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea from Phoenicia to
the frontiers of Egypt. The whole of this plain, the territory of the Philistines, shall be
desolated.
GILL, "Baldness is come upon Gaza,.... The Targum is,
"vengeance is come to the inhabitants of Gaza.''
It is become like a man whose hair is fallen from his head, or is clean shaved off; its
houses were demolished; its inhabitants slain, and their wealth plundered; a pillaged
and depopulated place. Some understand this of shaving or tearing off the hair for grief,
and mourning because of their calamities; which agrees with the latter clause of the
verse:
Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley; this was one of the live
cities of the Philistines; it lay north of Gaza. Herodotus (x) calls Ashkelon a city of Syria,
in which was the temple of Urania Venus, destroyed by the Scythians; said to be built by
Lydus Ascalus, and called so after his name (y). Of this city was Herod the king, and
therefore called an Ashkelonite; it was now destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, but
afterwards rebuilt and inhabited; and with it were destroyed the remainder of the cities,
towns, and villages, in the valley, adjoining to that and Gaza; or Ashkelon and Gaza, now
destroyed, were all that remained of the cities of the valley, and shared the same fate
with them. The Targum is,
"the remnant of their strength;''
so Kimchi, who interprets it of the multitude of their wealth and power;
how long wilt thou cut thyself? their faces, arms, and other parts of their body,
mourning and lamenting their sad condition; the words of the prophet signifying hereby
the dreadfulness of it, and its long continuance.
24

JAMISON, "Baldness ... cut thyself — Palestine is represented as a female who
has torn off her hair and cut her flesh, the heathenish (Lev_19:28) token of mourning
(Jer_48:37).
their valley — the long strip of low plain occupied by the Philistines along the
Mediterranean, west of the mountains of Judea. The Septuagint reads Anakim, the
remains of whom were settled in those regions (Num_13:28). Joshua dislodged them so
that none were left but in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod (Jos_11:21, Jos_11:22). But the
parallel (Jer_47:7), “Ashkelon ... the sea-shore,” established English Version here,
“Ashkelon ... their valley.”
CALVIN, "The Prophet returns again to what is figurative, that he might more
fully illustrate his prophecy, and more powerfully move the Jews. Now by baldness
he points out a sign of mourning; for they were wont even to tear their faces with
their nails, and to pluck off their hair. He then says that baldness, or the loss of hair,
had come upon Gaza; because the inhabitants of the valley and of the whole land,
according to what was usually done in despair, would pluck off their own hair. It is
added, Destroyed is Ashkelon This city, we know, had a great name in the land of
the Philistines, and was nigh Gaza, as it appears from many parts of Scripture. he
mentions the remnants of their valley, or depth, for the word is ‫,עמק‬ omek: and
though it means a valley, yet the Prophet, no doubt, alludes to the situation of that
part, because they were hid, as it were, in a safe place, and they thought themselves
secure as those who are hid in caverns, to which an access is not easy; and then Tyre
and Sidon, as well as Gaza, were cities on the sea side. As then they dwelt in these
deep and hidden places, they thought, themselves far away from every danger and
trouble. The Prophet derides this confidence, and says that the remnants of their
valley should perish; as though he had said, that there would be no place so deep
and hidden where God’s vengeance would not penetrate.
He at length addresses the whole country, How long wilt thou tear thyself? By
tearing he means, no doubt, mourning or lamentation; for they would tear their
faces, as it has been said, with their nails, as in the greatest grief. The meaning is,
that there would be no end to their calamities, because the Palestines would mourn
perpetually: for otherwise they who are even most grievously afflicted do not
perpetually mourn, for time alleviates grief and sorrow. The Prophet then shews
that so dreadful would be God’s vengeance, that evils would be heaped on evils, and
thus renewed daily to the Palestines would be the cause of mourning. He afterwards
adds, —
COKE, "Jeremiah 47:5. With the remnant of their valley— Gaza and Ashkelon
were about twelve miles distant from each other, near the sea, in a valley, of whose
beauty and fertility an accurate traveller has given the following description: "We
passed this day through the most pregnant and pleasant valley that ever eye beheld.
On the right hand a ridge of high mountains (whereon stands Hebron); on the left
hand the Mediterranean sea, bordered with continued hills, beset with variety of
fruits;—The champion between about twenty miles over, full of flowery hills
ascending leisurely, and not much surmounting their ranker vallies; with groves of
25

olives, and other fruits, dispersedly adorned." Sandys's Travels, book 3: p. 150. The
author adds, that in his time "this wealthy bottom (as are all the rest) was for the
most part uninhabited, but only for a few small and contemptible villages:" A state
of desolation owing to the oppressions of a barbarous and ill-advised government.
But we may easily conceive the populousness which must have prevailed there in its
better days, especially if we consider the power that the Philistines once possessed,
and the armies they brought into the field; although their country was scarcely forty
English miles in length, and much longer than it was broad.
PETT, "Jeremiah 47:5
“Baldness is come on Gaza,
Ashkelon is brought to nought (or ‘is silenced’),
The remnant of their valley,
How long will you cut yourself?”
It is clear from this that the great Philistine cities of Gaza and Ashkelon were the
prominent ones in the area at this time, although Ekron and Ashdod are also
mentioned in Jeremiah 25:20. But in spite of their importance both of them will be
brought down. Baldness is a sign of extreme mourning (compare Jeremiah 16:6;
Jeremiah 41:5; Jeremiah 48:37; Isaiah 15:2-3; Micah 1:16), and of total desolation
(Isaiah 7:20). It indicates the removal of their strength and manliness (the hair was
seen as a source of strength). Ashkelon will be ‘silenced’ or ‘bought to nothing’, its
great pride totally humbled. The relatively few who remain alive outside the cities in
the surrounding countryside will cut themselves in order to indicate their anguish.
This cutting of themselves was a regular Canaanite religious practise to indicate
mourning and grief (Jeremiah 41:5 : 1 Kings 18:28). And the question as to how
long it will be necessary indicates the dire situation. The Babylonian Chronicle
refers to the destruction of Ashkelon in 604 BC.
PULPIT. "Jeremiah 47:5-7
The prophet changes his style. In ecstasy or imagination, he sees the calamity which
he has foretold already come to pass. Philistia is not, indeed, altogether annihilated;
it was not the will of God to make a full end as yet with any of the nations round
about. But it is reduced to extremities, and fears the worst.
Jeremiah 47:5
Baldness. A sign of the deepest sorrow (comp. on Jeremiah 16:6). Ashkelon is cut
off. Ruins of Ashkelon are still visible. "It is evident that the walls of the old city
were built on a semicircular range of rocky hills, which ended in perpendicular
cliffs of various heights on the seashore. Wherever nature failed, the weak places
26

were strengthened by the help of earthworks or masonry. On the southern and
southeastern sides, the sand has penetrated the city by means of breaches in the
walls, and every day it covers the old fortifications more and more, both within and
without. The ancient towns alone rise distinctly, like rocky islands, out of the sea of
sand. The ruins on the north are bordered by plantations of trees. They lie in such
wild confusion that one might suppose that they were thrown down by an
earthquake. There is no secure landing place; the strip of sand at the foot of the
western wall is covered at high tide, when the waves beat against the cliffs. Still J.G.
Kinnear, in 1841, found some remains of a mole, and this discovery is confirmed by
Schick [the able German architect now at Jerusalem]." Thus writes Dr. Guthe, in
the Journal of the German Palestine Exploration Society, remarking further that, in
a few generations, the ruins of Ashkelon will be buried under the drifting sand. It is
partly the sand hills, partly the singular fragmentariness of the ruins of Ashkelon,
which gives such an air of desolation to the scene, though, where the deluge of sand
has not invaded, the gardens and orchards are luxuriant. Dr. W.M. Thomson, in the
enlarged edition of 'The Land and the Book', observes that "the walls and towers
must have been blown to pieces by powder, for not even earthquakes could throw
these gigantic masses of masonry into such extraordinary attitudes. No site in this
country has so deeply impressed my mind with sadness." With the remnant of their
valley. "With" should rather be "even." "Their valley" means primarily the valley
of Ashkelon; but this was not different from the valley or low-lying plain (more
commonly called the Shefelah) of the other Philistian towns; and the whole phrase is
an enigmatical, poetic way of saying "the still surviving population of Philistia." But
this addition certainly weakens the passage, and leaves the second half of the verse
abnormally short. It is far better to violate the Massoretic tradition, and attach "the
remnant," etc; to the second verse half. But "their valley" is still a rather feeble
expression; a proper name is what we look for to make this clause correspond to
those which have gone before. The Septuagint reads differently, for it renders καὶ τὰ
κατὰλοιπα ἐνακείμ. We know from Joshua 11:22 that some of the Anakim were left
"in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod;" and in David's time the Philistines could still
point to giants in their midst (1 Samuel 17:4; 2 Samuel 21:16-22), who, like the
Anakim (Deuteronomy 2:20), are called in the Hebrew, Rephaim. It may be
objected, indeed (as it is by Keil), that the Anakim would not be traceable so late as
Jeremiah's time; but Jeremiah was presumably a learned man, and was as likely to
call the Philistines Anakim, as an English poet to call his countrymen Britons. No
one who has given special attention to the phenomena of the Hebrew text elsewhere
can doubt that "their valley" is a corruption; the choice lies between the "Anakim"
of the Septuagint and the plausible correction of a Jewish scholar (A. Krochmal),
"Ekron." How long wilt thou cut thyself? Shall thy lamentation never cease? (comp.
on Jeremiah 16:6). The question is in appearance addressed to "the remnant"
(personified as a woman), but in reality the judicial Providence who sends the
calamity.
27

6 “‘Alas, sword of the Lord,
how long till you rest?
Return to your sheath;
cease and be still.’
CLARKE, "O thou sword of the Lord - This is a most grand prosopopoeia - a
dialogue between the sword of the Lord and the prophet. Nothing can be imagined more
sublime.
Put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still - Shed no more blood,
destroy no more lives, erase no more cities, desolate no more countries. Rest: - hast thou
not been long enough at this work of judgment? O be still: - let wars and desolations
cease for ever.
GILL, "O thou sword of the Lord,.... For though it was the sword of the Chaldeans,
yet being appointed and sent by the Lord, and having a commission from him, and being
ordered and directed in his providence to do his will, it is called his sword:
how long will it be ere thou be quiet? and cease from destroying men; wilt thou not
cease till thou hast no more to destroy?
put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still; and make no more havoc
among the people: these are either the words of the Philistines, entreating a stop might
be put to the ravages of the sword, and that the war might cease, and the desolations of
it; or rather of the prophet, commiserating their state as a man, though they had been
the avowed enemies of his people; to which the following words of him are an answer,
either to the Philistines, showing why their request could not be granted, or as correcting
himself.
JAMISON, "Jeremiah, in the person of the Philistines afflicting themselves (Jer_
47:5), apostrophizes the “sword of the Lord,” entreating mercy (compare Deu_32:41;
Eze_21:3-5, Eze_21:9, Eze_21:10).
up thyself — Hebrew, “Gather thyself,” that is, retire or return.
CALVIN, "Here Jeremiah turns to address the sword of God; and it is a happy
apostrophe. It is very striking and forcible, when the Prophet at one time addresses
the land of the Philistines, and at another, the sword of God; and he had no other
object but to confirm his prophecy, of which otherwise, the Jews might have
doubted.
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He then says, Ho! sword of Jehovah! Though he puts here the preposition ‫,ל‬ lamed,
which designates the dative case; yet it is often redundant. There is, in the
meantime, no doubt but that he intimates that the slaughter of which he speaks
would be, as it were, by God’s sword, or by a sword hired by him. Thus he shews
that the Chaldeans would do the work of God in destroying the land of the
Philistines.
How long, he says, ere thou restest! Hide thyself in thy sheath, rest and be still Here
the Prophet assumes the character of another, as though he wished to soothe with
blandishments the sword of God, and mitigate its fury. “O sword,” he says, “spare
them, leave off to rage against the Philistines.” The Prophet, it is certain, had no
such feeling; but, as we have said elsewhere, it was a common thing with the
Prophets to assume different characters while endeavor-ing more fully to confirm
their doctrine. It is the same, then, as though he represented here the Philistines;
and the Prophets speak also often in the person of those on whom they denounce the
vengeance of God. It is here as though he had said, “The Philistines will humbly ask
pardon of God’s sword, but it will be without advantage or profit; for when they
seek to mitigate the wrath of God, the answer will be, How can it rest?” Here the
Prophet, as it were, reproves himself, “I act foolishly in wishing to repress the sword
of God; for how canst thou rest?” It could not be; and why? because God hath
commanded it against Ashkelon He now changes the person, but without any injury
to the sense. God, then, hath commanded it, therefore the whole world would
intercede in vain; in vain also will the Philistines deprecate it; for it will not be in
their power to mitigate God’s wrath, when it shall burn against them and against
Ashkelon.
COFFMAN, ""O thou sword of Jehovah, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put
up thyself into thy scabbard: rest, and be still. How canst thou be quiet, seeing
Jehovah hath given thee a charge? Against Ashkelon, and against the seashore,
there hath he appointed it."
"Jeremiah's reference to the sword of Jehovah is one of his most awesome figures.
The sword of the Lord symbolizes righteous judgment. That judgment which is now
falling upon Judah is also coming upon other countries. The Philistines also must
drink of the cup of the wrath of God."[10]
There are two addresses in these verses to the personified Sword of Jehovah: (1) The
Philistines cry out for the sword to rest, and be still. (2) The prophet answers, "How
canst thou, seeing Jehovah hath given thee a charge?"
"There hath he appointed it ..." (Jeremiah 47:7). Jehovah hath appointed his sword
to bring terrible vengeance upon wicked peoples. And what is God's sword?
(1) It is his supernatural power, like that "flaming sword" turning in all directions
that prevented Adam's race from re-entering the Garden of Paradise.
29

(2) It is also the literal sword, and all kinds of armament that belonged to many
wicked nations, whom God used to punish others, they themselves, in turn, receiving
their own punishment. The king of Assyria is called "God's razor" (Isaiah 7:20);
and the armies of pagan Rome were referred to as God's armies in the prophecy of
the destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 22:7)
Terrible indeed as God's judgments surely were, Adam's race has not yet mastered
the lesson that the infinitely Holy God can not and will not tolerate wickedness. It
should be remembered that in the instance of the Great Deluge, all mankind
perished at one time! and that once more, at the conclusion of this dispensation of
God's grace, there will be a second and final destruction of all flesh from the face of
the earth, only the redeemed being spared.
COKE, "Jeremiah 47:6. O thou sword of the Lord— It is with great elegance that
life is attributed to inanimate things. This dialogue between the sword of the Lord
and the prophet, is a very bold, and at the same time a very sublime prosopopoeia,
See Bishop Lowth's 13th Prelection. Schultens reads the latter clause, Retreat to thy
scabbard; strike, and be still.
MACLAREN, "THE SWORD OF THE LORD
Jeremiah 47:6 - Jeremiah 47:7.
The prophet is here in the full tide of his prophecies against the nations round
about. This paragraph is entirely occupied with threatenings. Bearing the cup of
woes, he turns to one after another of the ancestral enemies of Israel, Egypt and
Philistia on the south and west, Moab on the south and east, then northwards to
Ammon, south to Edom, north to Damascus, Kedar, Hagor, Elam, and finally to the
great foe-Babylon. In the hour of Israel’s lowest fortunes and the foe’s proudest
exultation these predictions are poured out. Jeremiah stands as if wielding the
sword of which our text speaks, and whirls and points the flashing terror of its
sharpened edge against the ring of foes. It turns every way, like the weapon of the
angelic guard before the lost paradise, and wherever it turns a kingdom falls.
In the midst of his stern denunciations he checks himself to utter this plaintive cry of
pity and longing. A tender gleam of compassion breaks through the heart of the
thunder-cloud. It is very beautiful to note that the point at which the irrepressible
welling up of sweet waters breaks the current of his prophecy is the prediction
against Israel’s bitterest, because nearest, foe, ‘these uncircumcised Philistines.’ He
beholds the sea of wrath drowning the great Philistine plain, its rich harvests
trampled under foot by ‘stamping of hoofs of his strong ones,’ and that desolation
wrings from his heart the words of our text. I take them to be spoken by the
prophet. That, of course, is doubtful. It may be that they are meant to give in a vivid
dramatic form the effect of the judgments on the sufferers. They recognise these as
‘the sword of the Lord.’ Their only thought is an impatient longing that the
judgments would cease,-no confession of sin, no humbling of them selves, but
30

only-’remove Thy hand from us.’
And the answer is either the prophet’s or the divine voice; spoken in the one case to
himself, in the other to the Philistines; but in either setting forth the impossibility
that the sweeping sword should rest, since it is the instrument in God’s hand,
executing His charge and fulfilling His appointment.
I. The shrinking from the unsheathed sword of the Lord.
We may deal with the words as representing very various states of mind.
They may express the impatience of sufferers. Afflictions are too often wasted.
Whatever the purpose of chastisement, the true lesson of it is so seldom learned,
even in regard to the lowest wisdom it is adapted to teach. In an epidemic, how few
people learn to take precautions, such as cleanliness or attention to diet! In hard
times commercially, how slow most are to learn the warning against luxury, over-
trading, haste to be rich! And in regard to higher lessons, men have a dim sense
sometimes that the blow comes from God, but, like Balaam, go on their way in spite
of the angel with the sword. It does not soften, nor restrain, nor drive to God. The
main result is, impatient longing for its removal.
The text may express the rooted dislike to the thought and the fact of punishment as
an element in divine government. This is a common phase of feeling always, and
especially so now. There is a present tendency, good in many aspects, but excessive,
to soften away the thought of punishment; or to suppose that God’s punishments
must have the same purposes as men’s. We cannot punish by way of retribution, for
no balance of ours is fine enough to weigh motives or to determine criminality. Our
punishments can only be deterrent or reformatory, but this is by reason of our
weakness. He has other objects in view.
Current ideas of the love of God distort it by pitting it against His retributive
righteousness. Current ideas of sin diminish its gravity by tracing it to heredity or
environment, or viewing it as a necessary stage in progress. The sense of God’s
judicial action is paralysed and all but dead in multitudes.
All these things taken together set up a strong current of opinion against any
teaching of punitive energy in God.
The text may express the pitying reluctance of the prophet.
Jeremiah is remarkable for the weight with which ‘the burden of the Lord’ pressed
upon him. The true prophet feels the pang of the woes which he is charged to
announce more than his hearers do.
Unfair charges are made against gospel preachers, as if they delighted in the
thought of the retribution which they have to proclaim.
31

II. The solemn necessity for the unsheathing of the sword.
The judgments must go on. In the text the all-sufficient reason given is that God has
willed it so. But we must take into account all that lies in that name of ‘Lord’ before
we understand the message, which brought patience to the heart of the prophet. If a
Jewish prophet believed anything, he believed that the will of the Lord was
absolutely good. Jeremiah’s reason for the flashing sword is no mere beating down
human instincts, by alleging a will which is sovereign, and there an end. We have to
take into account the whole character of Him who has willed it, and then we can
discern it to be inevitable that God should punish evil.
His character makes it inevitable. God’s righteousness cannot but hate sin and fight
against it. To leave it unpunished stains His glory.
God’s love cannot but draw and wield the sword. It is unsheathed in the interests of
all that is ‘lovely and of good report.’ If God is God at all, and not an almighty devil,
He must hate sin. The love and the righteousness, which in deepest analysis are one,
must needs issue in punishment. There would be a blight over the universe if they
did not.
The very order of the universe makes it inevitable. All things, as coming from Him,
must work for His lovers and against His enemies, as ‘the stars in their courses
fought against Sisera.’
The constitution of men makes it inevitable. Sin brings its own punishment, in
gnawing conscience, defiled memories, incapacity for good, and many other
penalties.
It is to be remembered that the text originally referred to retribution on nations for
national sins, and that what Jeremiah regarded as the strokes of the Lord might be
otherwise regarded as political catastrophes. Let us not overlook that application of
the principles of the text. Scripture regards the so-called ‘natural consequences’ of a
nation’s sins as God’s judgments on them. The Christian view of the government of
the world looks on all human affairs as moved by God, though done by men. It takes
full account of the responsibility of men the doers, but above all, recognises ‘the rod
and Him who hath appointed it.’ We see exemplified over and over again in the
world’s history the tragic truth that the accumulated consequences of a nation’s sins
fall on the heads of a single generation. Slowly, drop by drop, the cup is filled.
Slowly, moment by moment, the hand moves round the dial, and then come the
crash and boom of the hammer on the deep-toned bell. Good men should pray not,
‘Put up thyself into thy scabbard,’ but, ‘Gird Thy sword on Thy thigh, O thou most
mighty. . . on behalf of truth and meekness and righteousness.’
III. The sheathing of the sword.
32

The passionate appeal in the text, which else is vain, has in large measure its
satisfaction in the work of Christ.
God does not delight in punishment. He has provided a way. Christ bears the
consequence of man’s sin, the sense of alienation, the pains and sorrows, the death.
He does not bear them for Himself. His bearing them accomplishes the ends at
which punishment aims, in expressing the divine hatred of sin and in subduing the
heart. Trusting in Him, the sword does not fall on us. In some measure indeed it still
does. But it is no longer a sword to smite, but a lancet to inflict a healing wound.
And the worst punishment does not fall on us. God’s sword was sheathed in Christ’s
breast. So trust in Him, then shall you have ‘boldness in the day of judgment.’
PETT, "Jeremiah 47:6-7
“O you sword of YHWH,
How long will it be before you are quiet?
Put up yourself into your scabbard,
Rest, and be still.
How can you be quiet,
Seeing that YHWH has given you a charge?
Against Ashkelon, and against the seashore,
There has he appointed it.
But Nebuchadrezzar is in the end nothing but the sword of YHWH. And the
prophet, disturbed at what is coming, asks him how long he intends to go on with his
destructive work. He calls on him to sheathe his sword and cease his destructive
activity. But then he recognises that he cannot do so because he is acting on a charge
from YHWH. It is YHWH Who has determined on the destruction of Ashkelon and
the coastland. It is by His appointment that it is happening. All nations are in His
hands. What He has purposed, the wages of sin, must come about.
SIMEON, "THE MEANS OF TERMINATING WAR
Jeremiah 47:6-7. O thou sword of the Lord, how long will it be ere thou be quiet?
Put up thyself into thy scabbard; rest, and be still. How can it be quiet, seeing the
Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea-shore? there hath
he appointed it.
THOUGH the two nations of Judah and Israel were the primary objects of attention
33

to the prophets, yet many other nations were referred to in their prophecies; and the
most important events respecting them were circumstantially foretold. The chapter
before us relates to the Philistines: and it was written at a time when they had
recovered the power, of which David had deprived them. It foretells the invasion of
their land by the Chaldeans, together with the long continuance of the conflict,
which should end in the subjugation of them and their allies.
We shall not confine our attention to them, but take the text as expressing generally,
I. The evils of protracted war—
War is a tremendous evil—
[It is so even in its commencement: the distress of the Philistines at the approach of
the invading army is very strongly depicted [Note: “The men cry and howl:” and the
fathers are so terrified and enfeebled, as either to forget their own children, or to be
afraid to look back for them. ver. 2, 3.]: and doubtless the representation is suited to
any other country that is similarly circumstanced — — — What then must be the
miseries attendant on a protracted warfare! the desolations must spread far and
wide; the slaughters be multiplied; famines be produced; perhaps pestilence also be
generated. But who can enumerate the miseries which war brings in its
train? — — —]
Well might the prophet desire its speedy termination—
[Humanity alone, independent of patriotic feelings or private interests, would make
one desire to see the sword restored to its scabbard. Some who fatten on the spoils of
war, or whose ambition is insatiable, may wish to have these fatal contests
protracted; but every one who regards either the temporal or spiritual welfare of
mankind, will ardently wish for the termination of them. The days described by the
prophet will be desired, infinitely beyond any national aggrandizement, or personal
advancement [Note: Isaiah 11:6-9.].]
Whilst all acknowledge the evils of war, few seem to be aware of,
II. The reason of its continuance—
War is one of those judgments with which God punishes the sins of men—
[We are apt to look only to second causes, instead of acknowledging, as we ought,
the First Great Cause. Doubtless the passions of men are the immediate sources
from whence the calamities of war arise: and men are strictly amenable, both to
God and their fellow-creatures, for the evils, which, by their undue exercise of those
passions, they inflict upon the world, But God, who accomplishes his own purposes
without at all infringing on the liberty of the human will, renders those passions
subservient to his own designs; and employs men as his agents, as a man employs an
34

axe in the execution of any work which he chooses to effect [Note: Jeremiah
51:20-23.]. Man is the instrument; but God is the real author of the work that is
done [Note: Isaiah 10:14-15.].]
Till he has effected his own purposes by it, no human efforts can bring it to a close—
[What are his ultimate designs, is known to himself alone: but whatever “his counsel
be, it shall stand; and he will do all his will.” He had “given the sword a charge
against Ashkelon and the sea-shore; and therefore it could not be quiet,” till it had
executed its commission. He puts a cup into the hand of different nations; and it
must go round, till they have all drunk of it. In vain will any refuse it: taste they
must, yea and drink too, even to the dregs, if God has so decreed [Note: Jeremiah
25:15-17; Jeremiah 25:27-28.]. And, as we ourselves have been his instruments, to
carry war to coasts which were, according to human appearances, most secure; so
may we have it brought to our own shores, not with standing the security we appear
to enjoy; and, if “God has so appointed,” no power or policy of men will be able to
avert the storm: we have partaken largely of the sins of other nations; and we must
expect to partake also of their punishments [Note: Ezekiel 23:31-35.].]
But what is impossible with man, is possible with God; who has mercifully declared
to us,
III. The means of its termination—
The intention of God’s chastisements is to bring us to repentance—
[God has no pleasure in correcting the children of men: on the contrary, “judgment
is his strange act,” to which with reluctance and difficulty he proceeds. But he tells
us plainly, that he will proceed, till he has accomplished his gracious ends; yea that,
if we hold fast our iniquities, he will increase his chastisements seven-fold [Note:
Leviticus 26:27-28.]. On the contrary, he promises, that if we humble ourselves
before him, he will remove them [Note: Leviticus 26:40-42.]. When his rod does not
produce the desired effect, he complains of us [Note: Zechariah 7:11-12.], and
expresses the deepest regret that we have not suffered him to exercise the mercy
which was in his heart towards us [Note: Psalms 81:13-16.]. In a word, his message
to the whole world is this, “Repent, and turn yourselves from all your
transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin [Note: Ezekiel 18:30.].”]
On the attainment of his end, he will instantly remove his judgments from us—
[What an example is given us, in his mercy towards the inhabitants of Nineveh! How
did he regard even the humiliation of Ahab, though he knew it to be only external,
selfish, and partial [Note: 1 Kings 21:29.]! This then is the way to terminate the
calamities of war. Sin is, as it were, the target, at which God shoots his arrows. The
sword is drawn, “to avenge the quarrel of his covenant:” let that quarrel be
composed, and “the sword will be returned to its scabbard; it will rest, and be
35

still.”]
Having considered the means of terminating the calamities of war, and of averting
the judgments of God from our land, we would, in
Conclusion—
Suggest some hints respecting those heavy judgments, which God has denounced
against sinners in another world, and respecting the best means of averting them
from our souls—
[That the sword has a charge against impenitent sinners, is certain [Note: Psalms
7:11-13; Psalms 9:17; Psalms 11:6.] — — — nor, however secure they may think
themselves, shall they be able to escape it [Note: Proverbs 11:21.] — — — “Except
they repent, they must all inevitably perish [Note: Luke 13:3; Luke 13:5.].”
Moreover, if it be once drawn out against a person in the eternal world, it shall
never be returned to its scabbard. Think then whether it have not received a charge
against you. It is true, you are not mentioned by name; but you may be as clearly
marked by character, as if your very name were specified. Possibly enough your
works are such as to determine your state, beyond any possibility of doubt [Note:
Galatians 5:19-21.]: or, if not, your want of regeneration and conversion may no less
clearly mark you as monuments of God’s displeasure [Note: John 3:3; John
3:5.] — — — Know then, that in Christ only can you obtain pardon and peace:
“There is no other name given, whereby you can be saved.” Seek then “to be found
in him:” and know for your comfort, “if your life be hid with Christ in God,” it will
be out of the reach of God’s avenging sword; and “when Christ, who is your life,
shall appear, then shall you also appear with him in glory.”]
7 But how can it rest
when the Lord has commanded it,
when he has ordered it
to attack Ashkelon and the coast?”
CLARKE, "How can it be quiet - This is the answer of the Sword. I am the officer
of God’s judgments, and he has given me a commission against Ashkelon, and against
the sea shore; all the coast where the Philistines have their territories. The measure of
36

Jeremiah 47 commentary

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Jeremiah 47 commentary