Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"Egypt rises up like a flood"
Text: Jeremiah 46:8
MIGHTY EGYPT
There was a time when Egypt was a great power. Israel was enslaved by the Pharaoh to help build many great buildings and cities. But Egypt still believed that it had the means to lay claim to power.
“Who is this coming up like a flood,
Whose waters move like the rivers?
Egypt rises up like a flood,
And its waters move like the rivers;
And he says, ‘I will go up and cover the earth,
I will destroy the city and its inhabitants.'”
Jeremiah 46:7-8
1. “Who is this coming up like a flood, Whose waters move like the rivers”
a) The River Nile is to be borne in mind in this verse.
b) The Nile would flood the plains, leaving behind rich alluvial soil.
c) The Nile added many things to Egypt’s prestige.
i) Wealth
ii) Power
d) Egypt was compared to the mighty Nile.
i) It conquered lesser nations easily.
ii) Egypt was compared to a great flood that covered all the low-lying areas.
2. “Egypt rises up like a flood, and its waters move like the rivers; and he says, ‘I will go up and cover the earth, I will destroy the city and its inhabitants'”
a) Egypt began to think of itself as an invincible flood.
i) The word “flood” was used to portray power.
ii) The word “rivers” was used to describe the swiftness of its movements.
iii) There may have been a time when Egypt seemed invincible
but that was a long time ago.
b) The arrogance of Egypt.
i) It imagined that it can “cover the earth”.
ii) It dreamed of conquering and destroying people and cities easily.