Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
Jeremiah 46:20 belongs to the prophecy against Egypt, one of the prophecies pronouncing doom on the kingdoms surrounding Israel. It was given in connection with Jeremiah's personal experiences and his going into Egypt, near the last of his work in Judah following chapters 40 to 45. The prophecy is not placed in time order in the book of Jeremiah, with chapter 46 coming in time order after chapter 47. That displacement came when the manuscript rolls were gathered into one book, it makes no change in the teaching, and the chapter itself shows its own time.
Egypt was one of the most ancient and powerful kingdoms, with eighteen hundred cities and seventeen millions of inhabitants. It was naturally defensible by the Red Sea, the desert, its navy, and the Nile. Yet the verse portrays Egypt's defeat as destruction coming from the north against Egypt and other lands. That destruction foretells victory and invasion by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the mighty conqueror before whom Egypt would fall and by whom it would be subdued. In context, the prophecy also foretells the failure of the Jews who fled to Egypt.
After Babylon, the destruction continued by successive subjection to Persians, Macedonians, Ptolemies, Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes, and Turks. Egypt became a spoil in the hands of strangers forever, the basest of kingdoms never again exalting itself or ruling over nations, with its idols destroyed and no native prince remaining. That condition continuing for more than twenty-four centuries is evidence of Christianity. The north is the region north of Palestine, and the northern power is identified by its position and succession to Babylon, not by a particular nation or ruler.
Jeremiah 46:20 belongs to the prophecy against Egypt, one of the prophecies pronouncing doom on the kingdoms surrounding Israel. It was given in connection with Jeremiah's personal experiences and his going into Egypt, near the last of his work in Judah following chapters 40 to 45. The prophecy is not placed in time order in the book of Jeremiah, with chapter 46 coming in time order after chapter 47. That displacement came when the manuscript rolls were gathered into one book, it makes no change in the teaching, and the chapter itself shows its own time.
Egypt was one of the most ancient and powerful kingdoms, with eighteen hundred cities and seventeen millions of inhabitants. It was naturally defensible by the Red Sea, the desert, its navy, and the Nile. Yet the verse portrays Egypt's defeat as destruction coming from the north against Egypt and other lands. That destruction foretells victory and invasion by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the mighty conqueror before whom Egypt would fall and by whom it would be subdued. In context, the prophecy also foretells the failure of the Jews who fled to Egypt.
After Babylon, the destruction continued by successive subjection to Persians, Macedonians, Ptolemies, Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes, and Turks. Egypt became a spoil in the hands of strangers forever, the basest of kingdoms never again exalting itself or ruling over nations, with its idols destroyed and no native prince remaining. That condition continuing for more than twenty-four centuries is evidence of Christianity. The north is the region north of Palestine, and the northern power is identified by its position and succession to Babylon, not by a particular nation or ruler.