Fear not thou, &c.— The preservation of the Jews through so many ages, and the total destruction of their enemies, are wonderful events; and are made still more wonderful by being signified beforehand by the Spirit of prophesy, as particularly in the passage before us. Their preservation is really one of the most illustrious acts of divine providence. They are dispersed among all nations, yet not confounded with any. The drops of rain which fall, nay, the great rivers which flow into the ocean, are soon mingled and lost: in that immense body of waters: and the same, in all human probability, would have been the fate of the Jews; they would have been mingled and lost in the common mass of mankind; but on the contrary, they flow into all parts of the world, mix with all nations, and yet keep separate from all. They still live as a distinct people, and yet they nowhere live according to their own laws, nowhere elect their own magistrates, nowhere enjoy the full exercise of their religion. Their solemn feasts and sacrifices are limited to one certain place, and that hath been now for many ages in the hands of strangers and aliens, who will not suffer them to come thither. No people have continued unmixed so long as they have done, not only of those who have sent colonies into foreign countries, but even of those who have abided in their own country. The northern nations have come in swarms into the more southern parts of Europe; but where are they now to be discerned and distinguished? The Gauls went forth in great bodies to seek their fortune in foreign parts; but what traces or footsteps of them are now remaining any where? In France, who can separate the race of the ancient Gauls from the various other people who from time to time have settled there? In Spain, who can distinguish exactly between the first possessors, the Spaniards, and the Goths and Moors, who conquered and kept possession of the country for some ages? In England, who can pretend to say, with certainty, which families are derived from the ancient Britons, and which from the Romans, Saxons, Danes, or Normans? The most ancient and honourable pedigrees can be traced up only to a certain period, and beyond that there is nothing but conjecture and uncertainty, obscurity and ignorance: but the Jews can go up higher than any nation; they can even deduce their pedigree from the beginning of the world. They may not know from what particular tribe or family they are descended, but they know certainly that they all sprung from the stock of Abraham. And yet the contempt with which they have been treated, and the hardships that they have undergone in almost all other countries, should, one would think, have made them desirous to forget or renounce their original: but they profess it, they glory in it: and after so many wars, massacres, and persecutions, they still subsist, and are still very numerous. And what but a supernatural power could have preserved them in such a manner, as no other nation upon earth hath been preserved? Nor is the providence of God less remarkable in the destruction of their enemies, than in their own preservation. For, from the beginning, who have been the great enemies and oppressors of the Jewish nation, removed them from their own land, and compelled them into captivity and slavery? The Egyptians afflicted them much, and detained them in bondage several years. The Assyrians carried away captive the ten tribes of Israel, and the Babylonians afterwards the two remaining tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The Syro-Macedonians, especially Antiochus Epiphanes, cruelly persecuted them: and the Romans utterly dissolved the Jewish state, and dispersed the people, so as that they have never been able to recover their city and country again. And where are now these great and famous monarchies, which in their turns subdued and oppressed the people of God? Are they not vanished as a dream, and not only their power, but their very names, lost in the earth? The Egyptians, Assyrians, and Babylonians were overthrown, and entirely subjugated by the Persians; and the Persians, it is remarkable, were the restorers of the Jews, as well as the destroyers of their enemies. The Syro-Macedonians were swallowed up by the Romans; and the Roman empire, great and powerful as it was, was broken into pieces by the incursions of the northern nations; while the Jews are subsisting as a distinct people at this day. And what a wonder of providence is it, that the vanquished should so many ages survive the victors, and the former be spread all over the world, while the latter are no more?—Nay, not only nations have been punished for their cruelties to the Jews, but divine vengeance has pursued even single persons, who have been their persecutors and oppressors. The first-born of Pharaoh was destroyed, and he himself with his host drowned in the sea. Most of those who oppressed Israel in the days of the Judges, came to an untimely end. Nebuchadnezzar was stricken with madness, and the crown was transferred from his family to strangers. Antiochus Epiphanes, and Herod, died in great agonies with ulcers, and vermin issuing from them. Flaccus, governor of Egypt, who barbarously plundered and oppressed the Jews of Alexandria, was afterwards banished and slain: and Caligula, who persecuted the Jews for refusing to do divine honours to his statue, was murdered in the flower of his age, after a short and wicked reign. But where are now—since they have absolutely rejected the Gospel, and been no longer the peculiar people of God,—where are now such visible manifestations of a divine interposition in their favour? The Jews would do well to consider this point; for rightly considered, it may be an effectual means of opening their eyes, and of turning them to Christ our Saviour. See Bishop Newton on the Prophesies, dissert. 8: sect. 2.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, The prophesies in this and the following Chapter s relate to the neighbouring nations of the Gentiles. This describes the defeat of the Egyptians, who had often been the oppressors of God's Israel, and now their unprofitable allies: endeavouring to support them in their rebellion, they bring his arms upon themselves to their destruction.
1. The Lord, ironically deriding their vain confidence and vast preparations, bids them collect their forces, fit on their armour, marshal their host, rush into the battle, vainly concluding the victory secure, and that the armies of Babylon, their cities and empire, would be utterly overwhelmed by their numerous forces, as the lands of Egypt were overflowed by the swellings of the Nile. Note; They who are the most self-confident are usually nearest the precipice of ruin.
2. He upbraids their cowardice and inglorious flight when the army of the Chaldeans met them. Where is now their boasted valour, and great swelling words of vanity? See them broken, dispirited, in panic fear; their mightiest warriors turn their backs, and seek their safety in an ignominious flight; but seek it in vain; since God obstructs their way, they cannot escape; their swifter pursuers are at their heels; they stumble near the Euphrates, to which they had advanced, and fall by the sword of the Chaldeans, drunk with the blood of the slain; for this is the day of the Lord God of Hosts, a day of vengeance for all the wrongs that they have done his people, and for the late slaughter of Josiah; and a sacrifice to divine justice for all their abominations. Note; (1.) Sinners may expect a day of recompence. (2.) Flight is vain from the sword of God's vengeance. (3.) One dismaying impression from God can make cowards of the bravest. Let not, therefore, the strong man glory in his strength.
3. He declares their wound incurable. In vain should they attempt to repair their defeat, or to conceal their shame: the nations around shall hear the cries of the wounded, and the groans of the dying; the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, heaps on heaps, pierced by the swords of their enemies; and no more shall they be able to make head against their foes, when, like a flood, they shall shortly break in upon them. Note; They whom God consigns to ruin, struggle in vain against their destiny.
2nd, We have another prophesy in this chapter. The former regards the defeat of the Egyptians at Carchemish, this the destruction of their country some years after. In those very cities where the infatuated Jews sought refuge, there must the land of Egypt's utter ruin be proclaimed. We have,
1. The alarm spread through the land. The sword of the Chaldeans was making havoc in the neighbouring countries; it is time for them therefore to prepare for war.
2. Their auxiliaries desert them, on the first defeat, finding themselves unable to defend the frontiers, and not supported by Pharaoh as they expected. God fought against them, destroyed and dispirited them, so that they fled together in the day of their calamity: willing, therefore, to have a pretext for retiring to their own countries, they cry out against Pharaoh, as having deceived and betrayed them: he boasted of certain victory, and the vast armies that he could raise; and now they find it but mere empty noise, and boast without ability. Note; (1.) When God fights, resistance is vain. (2.) They who deceive others with false hopes, deserve themselves to be deceived in their expectations from them.
3. Their ruin is determined by that eternal King whom all the hosts of heaven and earth obey. They are doomed to slaughter by the Chaldean sword, as the trees of the forest fall before the hewer's axe: thick as the locusts which once of old devoured the land, shall the soldiers of the king of Babylon cover the country; Egypt, like a heifer, so called perhaps in allusion to the ox which they worshipped, must bend her fair neck to the yoke, and this daughter, living in ease and affluence, must prepare to go into captivity. The destruction is sure as the mountains Tabor and Carmel; yea, so surely shall Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him, be overwhelmed; or (as some would explain it,) towering in pride as these mighty hills, the Babylonian conqueror shall advance, bear down his enemies, however many or mighty, with the false gods in whom they placed their confidence, and lay the country desolate and waste, depopulate the cities, and enslave the inhabitants: like the serpent wallowing in the dust, and hissing, so low should they be reduced, nor dare, for fear of offending, to make their complaints aloud: though this may also be interpreted of the army of the Chaldeans, hissing as they marched, and breathing out threatenings against their Egyptian foes. Thus complete should be their overthrow; for, though the army employed is Nebuchadnezzar's, the punishment is from God. Note; (1.) Whatever instruments are employed, God's hand should be seen in every visitation. (2.) They who trust in any thing but God alone, may expect disappointment. (3.) When troubles threaten, it is a call to prepare for them.
4. A gleam of hope closes the awful scene. Afterwards it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the Lord. Though it never after rose to its pristine splendor, it became a great and populous nation after forty years, Ezekiel 29:13-14 for God wounds, and he heals.
5. The people of God have a gracious promise to comfort them amid these desolations, either the few faithful in Egypt, or those in Babylon: if Egypt shall return from its captivity, much more shall they. The same assurance was given them before, chap. Jeremiah 30:11-12 and this was in part fulfilled in their recovery from the Babylonish yoke, but shall be more eminently seen at the latter day; for which purpose, amid all the changes of nations and fall of empires, they are to this day preserved a distinct people, and may expect again to see rest and ease in their own land.