Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"Prepare yourself to go into captivity"
Text: Jeremiah 46:19
AN OATH OF THE LORD
The defeat of the Egyptians was not just a mere statement. It included an oath taken by the LORD.
“‘As I live,’ says the King,
Whose name is the LORD of hosts,
‘Surely as Tabor is among the mountains
And as Carmel by the sea, so he shall come.
O you daughter dwelling in Egypt,
Prepare yourself to go into captivity!
For Noph shall be waste and desolate, without inhabitant.'”
Jeremiah 46:18-19
1. “‘As I live,’ says the King,
Whose name is the LORD of hosts,
‘Surely as Tabor is among the mountains
And as Carmel by the sea, so he shall come'”
a) This was a solemn oath taken by the LORD.
b) He could not swear by anyone who was higher.
c) Thus, He swore by His own name, “The LORD of hosts”.
d) The fixed locations of Tabor and Carmel were used as examples.
e) Mount Tabor
i) It was a well-known mountain in lower Galilee.
ii) It was a small mountain but it stood out because
the immediate surroundings were but flat land.
f) Mount Carmel
i) It was another famous mountain.
ii) Elijah the prophet faced hundreds of false prophets
on this coastal mountain range.
iii) Since it was near the Mediterranean Sea it was commonly called
“Carmel by the sea”.
g) Nebuchadnezzar was compared to these mountains as he made his way to Egypt.
h) Compared to Nebuchadnezzar, the cities of Egypt were but flat land.
2. “O you daughter dwelling in Egypt, prepare yourself to go into captivity!
For Noph shall be waste and desolate, without inhabitant”
a) The inhabitants of the cities of Egypt were compared to a little girl.
The Egyptians were quite unprepared for the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar.
b) Captivity was the fate of the Egyptians.
c) Noph was the other name for Memphis, a major city in lower Egypt.
d) It was a bustling city; but it would become desolate after the Babylonian invasion.