Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/6_100.lzh/6_155.TXT

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ravages made by it, of the multitudes slain with it;
fearing it will be their turn next to fall into the same
hands, and in the same 1nannet; and the rather, not
only as they were neighbours, but allies: and they shall
take away tter rnultitude; that is, the Chaldeans shall
carry captive vast numbers of the Egyptians; such as
fell not by the sword should not escape the hand of
the enemy, but be taken and carried into other lands.
Egypt was a very populous country; according to
Agrippa's speech in Josephusf, there were in it
7,500,000 persons from Ethiopia to Alexandria, besides
the inhabitants of the latter, as might be gathered from
the tribufeieach person paid; hence they are compared
to the trees of a forest that can't be searched, and to
grashoppers innnumerable, Jer. xlvi. 23. but now their
numbers should be lesser: and her foundations shall be
broken down; either in a literal· sense, the foundations
of the cities, towers, and fortitled places in. Egypt,
should be undermined and destroyed, and consequently
the buildings on them must sink and fidl; or in a figu-
rative sense, her king, princes, magistrates, laws, and
government, which are the support of a state, should
be removed, 'and be of no more service.
Ver. 5, Etliiopia, Lybia, and Lydia, &c.]" Or, Cush,
Phut, and Lad. Cash and Phut were both sons of
Ham, from whom Egypt is sometimes called the land
of Ham; and Lud or Ludim was the son of Mizraim,
the son of Ham, the common name of .Egypt in Scrip-
ture, Gen x. 6, 13. Cash is by us rendered Ethiopia;
and is thought by some to be a part of Arabia, which
lay near to Egypt. 'Phut and Lud are properly enough
rendered Lybia and Lydia; and both these, with
Kthiopia, are represented as the allies and confederates
of Egypt, Jer. xlvi. 9. And all the mingled people; the
Syriac version renders it, all Arabia: and so Symma-
chus, according to Jerom; though others think they
are the Carfans, Ionfans, and other Greeks, which
Pharaoh-apries got together to fight with A masis {g}: and
Chub; or Cub; the inhabitants of this piece are thought
to be the Cobii of Ptolemy h, who dwelt in Mareotis, a
country of Egypt; though some, by a change of a letter,
would have them to be the Nubians, a people in Africa;
and so the Arabic version here .reads it. Of these
Strabo{i} says, on the left of the stream of the Nile.
dwell the Nubians, a large nation in Lvbia; and which
he afterwards mentions along with/he Troglodytes,
Blemnyes, Megabarians, and Ethiopians, that dwell
above Syene: and so Ptolemy {k} speaks of them along
with the Megabarians, and as inhabiting to the west of
the Avalites: and Pliny{L} ca!ls them Nabfan Ethio-
pians, whoru he places near the Nile: and a late tra-
vellet "{m} in those parts informs ns that the confines of
Egypt and Nubia are about eight leagues above the first
cataract (of the Nile); Nubia begins at the villages of
Ell-kalabsche, and of Teffa; the first is to the east of
the Nile, and. the second to the west. And the men of
the land that is in league shall fall with them b!t the
sword; all the nations above mentioned, with whom-
]soever should be found that were confederates with
] Egypt., should share the same fate with them. The
[ Septuagint render it, and tltose of the children of my co-
 yenant; as if the Jews were meant that were in Egypt,
. who are sometimes· called the children of the covenant,
land of the promise, Acts iii. c25. Rom. ix. 8. and so
 some interpret the place; but it takes in all the allies
of .Egypt, and does not design the Jews, at least not
them only.
; Ver. 6. Thus saith the Lord, they also. that uphold
Egypt shall fall, &c.] That is, by the sword; either
their allies and auxiliaries without, that supported the
Egyptians with men and money; or their principal
people within,. their_nobles that supported their state
with their estates, their cousellors with their wisdom,
their soldiers with their valour and courage: and the
pride of her power shall come down; or the power they
were proud of, the dominion and grandeur they
boasted of; the greatness of their king, and the large-
ness of their empire, with the'wealth and riches of it :.
from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword,
saith the Lord God; or rather, from Migdol to Syene ;
so the Septuagint and Arabic versions, from one end
of Egypt to the other; the sword would ravage, and
multitudes fall by it, in all cities and towns, between
the one and the other ; which denotes the general
slaughter that should be made; see the note on cb.
xxix. 10.
Ver. 7. And they shall be desolate in the midst of the
countries that are desolate, &c.] Or among them, shall
be ranked with them, and be as desolate as they are;
as Judea and other countries, ravaged by the same
enemy: and her cities shah be in the midst of the cities
that are wasted; undergo the same fate as they have
done, as Jerusalem and others. The cities of' Egypt
were very numerous; Diodorus Sicalas{n} says, that in
ancient times Egypt had cities and villages of note,
more than 18,000. Herodotus o writes, that it was
said, that under KingAmasis there were 20,000 cities
in it; and the first mentioned writer P says, under
Ptolemy Lagns they were reckoned more than 30,000;
and, according to Theocritus {q}, under Ptolemy Phila-
delphus they were 33,339.
Vet. 8. And they shall know that faro the Lord, &c.]
The Egyptians shall know the Lord to be the true
God, and acknowledge him to be omniscient and
omnipotent, that .should so exactly foretel their de-
struction, and accomplish it: when I hare set afire in
Egypt: a war there; the heat of battle, very devour-
ing and consuming, as well as very grievous and terrible,
as fire is. The Targum is," when I shall give (or set)
"people.that are strong as fire against Egypt ;" the
army of the Chaldeans: and when all her helpers shall
be destroyed; her auxiliaries, the neighbouring nations
in alliance with them, before mentioned.
Vet. 9. In that day shall messengers go forth from me
in ships, &c.] Either by the river Nile, or by the Red
sea, to Arabia Felix, which some think is meant by

{f} De Bello Jud. I. 2. c. 16. sect. 4.
{g} See Prideaux's Connexion, part I. p. 93.
{h} Geograph. 1. 4. c. 5.
{i} Geograph. I. 17. p. 541, 563.
{k} Geograph. 1.5. c. 8.
{l} Nat. Hist. I. 6. c. 30.
{m} Norden's Travels in Egypt and Nubia, vol. 2. p. 131, 132.
{n} Bibl. I. 1. p. 19.
{o} Euterpe, sive I. 2. c. 177.
{p} Bill. I. 1. p. 19.
{q} Idyll. 17. v. 82.

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