Judgment on the Philistines
Jer 47:1 This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:
Jer 47:2 This is what the LORD says: “See how the waters are rising in the north; they will become an overflowing torrent. They will overflow the land and everything in it, the towns and those who live in them. The people will cry out; all who dwell in the land will wail
Jer 47:3 at the sound of the hooves of galloping steeds, at the noise of enemy chariots and the rumble of their wheels. Parents will not turn to help their children; their hands will hang limp.
Jer 47:4 For the day has come to destroy all the Philistines and to remove all survivors who could help Tyre and Sidon. The LORD is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.
Jer 47:5 Gaza will shave her head in mourning; Ashkelon will be silenced. You remnant on the plain, how long will you cut yourselves?
Jer 47:6 “‘Alas, sword of the LORD, how long till you rest? Return to your sheath; cease and be still.’
Jer 47:7 But how can it rest when the LORD has commanded it, when he has ordered it to attack Ashkelon and the coast?”
The destruction of the Philistines.
Judgment on the Philistines
Jer 47:1 This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines before Pharaoh attacked Gaza:
The Philistines had persecuted God’s people; now they were to receive a just retribution.
People called Philistines were in Palestine as early as the time of Abraham (see on Gen. 21:32; Joshua 13:2), but they came in force in the great migration of Sea Peoples about 1200 b.c. (see on Gen. 10:14. They were among the principal opponents of the early Hebrews, but after the time of David they played a much less important role in the affairs of Israel.
Pharaoh smote Gaza. Historical information is too meagre to identify this attack positively. There are several periods when such an assault by the Egyptians was possible. It could have occurred during the troubled period between Necho’s accession (610) and the early years of Nebuchadnezzar (604 or a little later), during which the Egyptians repeatedly marched up the coast to fight the Babylonians; or it may have been at the time of Apries’ invasion in 587, during the siege of Jerusalem.
The only instance during Jeremiah’s lifetime of an Egyptian attack on Gaza of which there is historical record is that mentioned by Herodotus as being carried out by Necho II after a victory at “Magdolus,” the Greek form of Migdol, which means “fortress.”
Its location is unknown. As Herodotus (ii. 159) says: Necho, having come to an engagement with the Syrians on land at Magdolus, conquered them, and after the battle took “the great Syrian city of Cadytis.” “Syria” here includes Palestine, and “Cadytis” is generally taken to be Gaza.
If this is the correct setting of the prophecy, it is to be dated in 609 b.c. or slightly later. If, on the other hand, Herodotus’ reference is not to Gaza, then it must be admitted that there is no direct evidence as to when this attack took place.
In Biblical times Gaza was the most important trading centre in Palestine. It lay at the southern end of the fertile Philistine Plain, at the convergence of two of the chief highways of Palestine. Here the trade route from the eastern desert—with its wealth of iron and copper from the mines of Edom—joined the great Derek hay–yam, or “Way of the Sea,” the coastal highway running north from Egypt.
Because of its position on this latter route the city was of great strategic importance. The Egyptians had used this road for almost 1,000 years as the usual route of their repeated invasions into Palestine and Syria. During the Eighteenth and Nineteenth dynasties, when the Egyptians dominated much of Palestine, Gaza was one of their chief administrative centres.
In taking Gaza, any Pharaoh who invaded Palestine would thus secure a point from which to dominate the coastline, protect his communications with Egypt, and control much of the commerce of the country.
The fact that this message was given “before that Pharaoh smote Gaza” indicates that it was a predictive prophecy, a warning to the Philistines of impending doom. Compare Jonah’s message to Nineveh (Jonah 3).
Jer 47:2 This is what the LORD says: “See how the waters are rising in the north; they will become an overflowing torrent. They will overflow the land and everything in it, the towns and those who live in them. The people will cry out; all who dwell in the land will wail
If the Egyptian attack on Gaza was carried out by Necho on his return from Carchemish in 609 b.c. (see on v. 1), or soon after the battle at Megiddo earlier the same year, his approach to the Philistine Plain would have been from the north.
Some have understood vs. 1, 2 as referring to the domination of Palestine by the Babylonians, more serious and longer lasting than the Egyptian inroads under either Necho or Apries. Verses 2–7 would then refer to the Babylonian invasions.
According to this view v. 1 would point to the fact that before even the Egyptians attacked Gaza, the Lord had already warned the Philistines of the greater judgments to come upon them at the hands of the Babylonians.
Jer 47:3 at the sound of the hooves of galloping steeds, at the noise of enemy chariots and the rumble of their wheels. Parents will not turn to help their children; their hands will hang limp.
Jer 47:4 For the day has come to destroy all the Philistines and to remove all survivors who could help Tyre and Sidon. The LORD is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.
Tyre and Sidon dominated the coast north of the Philistine Plain and were evidently allied with the Philistines.
Country of Caphtor. Literally, “island of Caphtor,” that is, Crete, from which the Philistines had earlier migrated to the mainland (see on Gen. 10:14).
Jer 47:5 Gaza will shave her head in mourning; Ashkelon will be silenced. You remnant on the plain, how long will you cut yourselves? Ashkelon.
A leading Philistine city, about 12 mi. north of Gaza on the coastal road.
Jer 47:6 “‘Alas, sword of the LORD, how long till you rest? Return to your sheath; cease and be still.’
The prophet asks a rhetorical question to emphasize his statement in v. 7 that God has appointed these judgments on the Philistines.
Jer 47:7 But how can it rest when the LORD has commanded it, when he has ordered it to attack Ashkelon and the coast?”