And now what hast thou to do, &c.— The kings of Egypt and Assyria were the most potent monarchs in the neighbourhood of Judea; and according as either of these was the stronger, the Jews made their court to him, and desired his assistance. This is expressed by drinking the waters of Sihor, an Egyptian river, which some suppose to be the Nile; (see Joshua 13:3.) and of Euphrates, called here the river, by way of eminence. The expressions allude to Jeremiah 2:13 where human assistances are styled broken cisterns, and opposed to God, who by reason of his omnipotence is called the fountain of living waters. To drink of the waters of these rivers, might possibly allude farther, both to the strong propensity which the Israelites had to return to Egypt, and to that which they shewed for adopting the idolatrous worship of these countries. For the Egyptians worshipped the water, and particularly that of the Nile. See Div. Leg. vol. 3: and Calmet.
Related Commentaries of Jeremiah 2:18
Jeremiah 2:18
18 And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?