Jeremiah 44:29 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And this shall be a sign unto you Signs are usually antecedent to the thing signified, as Isaiah 38:7; but here, as Exodus 3:12; Isaiah 37:30, and Luke 2:12, the word is taken, in a larger sense, for a circumstance that should attend the thing signified. It may be observed, however, that although the destruction of these Jews, and that of Pharaoh, were things immediately following each other, yet the latter was in order before the other. I will give Pharaoh-hophra into the hand of his enemies Pharaoh was a name common, in ancient times, to all the kings of Egypt; but several of them had some additional epithet to distinguish them from the rest. Thus the predecessor of this king was called Pharaoh- nechoh, 2 Kings 23:29. This Pharaoh-hophra appears to have been the same that is called by profane authors Apries; and his unfortunate end, in exact conformity with this prediction, is particularly related by Herodotus, lib. 2. cap. 169, and by Diodorus Siculus, lib. 1. p. 43. “His subjects rebelling, he sent Amasis, one of his generals, to reduce them to their duty; but no sooner had Amasis begun to make his speech than they fixed a helmet on his head, and proclaimed him king. Amasis accepted the title, and confirmed the Egyptians in their rebellion; and the greater part of the nation declaring for him, Apries was obliged to retire into Upper Egypt; and the country, being thus weakened by intestine war, was attacked and easily overcome by Nebuchadnezzar, who, on quitting it, left Amasis his viceroy. After Nebuchadnezzar's departure, Apries marched against Amasis, but, being defeated at Memphis, was taken prisoner, carried to Sais, and strangled in his own palace; thus verifying this prophecy.” See Rollin's Ancient Hist., vol. 1., and Bishop Newton on the Prophecies, vol. 1. p. 362.