Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Up to this point Jeremiah prophesied to the Jews: henceforth to the end of the book he thunders and fulminates against various nations, and predicts their destruction. Isaiah predicted the same things to the same peoples from chapter XIII to XXIV, from whom Jeremiah took much; and Ezekiel from chapter XXV to XXXIII, namely so that in the mouth of these three witnesses every word might stand, and this burden of God be confirmed. In this chapter, therefore, he predicts the impending defeat of Pharaoh Nechao, whom Nebuchadnezzar struck near the city called Carchemish, in this same fourth year of Joakim, through which Nebuchadnezzar subjugated all of Syria as far as Pelusium, except Judea, says Josephus. Then further, in verse 13, he predicts that Nebuchadnezzar would invade and subjugate Egypt itself and the Egyptians, who were like calves frolicking in their forest, as he actually did after the destruction of Jerusalem. And finally, in verse 25, he consoles the Egyptians and Jews, that God would at last have mercy on them and bring them back from captivity.
Note: From the time of King Josiah onward there was a continuous rivalry and contention over empire and monarchy between the Chaldeans and the Egyptians: just as there was after Alexander between the Antiochus kings of Asia and the Ptolemy kings of Egypt. Between these Judea lay in the middle, which therefore felt the waves of these wars, now subjugated by the Egyptians, now by the Chaldeans. First, therefore, Pharaoh, moving his camp against the Chaldeans, slew Josiah who came to meet him, and subjugated Judea and appointed Jehoahaz, then Joakim as king. After various conflicts between the Chaldeans and Egyptians, finally in the fourth year of Joakim, Pharaoh was defeated. Jeremiah predicts this slaughter here. Therefore he prophesied these things before the fourth year of Joakim, when both sides were preparing for battle and forming their lines. Read chapter XXIV of the book of IV Kings.
Vulgate Text: Jeremias 46:1-12
1. The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the nations, 2. concerning Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh Nechao king of Egypt, who was by the river Euphrates at Carchemish, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck, in the fourth year of Joakim son of Josiah king of Judah. 3. Prepare the shield and buckler, and advance to battle. 4. Harness the horses, and mount up, horsemen: stand in your helmets, polish your lances, put on your coats of mail. 5. What then? I saw them terrified, and turning their backs, their mighty ones slain: they fled in haste, and did not look back: terror on every side, says the Lord. 6. Let not the swift flee, nor the strong think himself safe: At the north by the river Euphrates they were conquered, and they fell. 7. Who is this that rises like a river, and whose waters swell like rivers? 8. Egypt rises like a river, and like rivers its waves were stirred, and it says: Rising up I will cover the earth: I will destroy the city and its inhabitants. 9. Mount the horses, and exult in your chariots, and let the mighty advance, the Ethiopians and Libyans bearing shields, and the Lydians seizing and shooting arrows. 10. But that day belongs to the Lord God of hosts; it is a day of vengeance, to take vengeance on His enemies: the sword shall devour, and shall be sated, and shall be drunk with their blood: for it is the sacrifice of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the north by the river Euphrates. 11. Go up to Gilead, and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt: in vain you multiply remedies, there shall be no healing for you. 12. The nations have heard of your disgrace, and your wailing has filled the earth: for the strong has dashed against the strong, and both have fallen together.
(1) This is the third part of Jeremiah's prophecies... Having set forth the prophecies that pertained to the Hebrew people, there will now follow, as in a special bundle, prophecies against various nations, written separately, with this general title: Against the Nations, which is common to the prophecies that follow, up to chapter LII.
13. The word that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah the prophet, concerning the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt. 14. Declare in Egypt, and make it heard in Migdol, and let it resound in Memphis and in Tahpanhes; say: Stand and prepare yourself, for the sword shall devour what is around you. 15. Why has your strong one rotted away? He did not stand, because the Lord overthrew him. 16. He multiplied those who fell, and man fell upon his neighbor; and they will say: Arise, and let us return to our people, and to the land of our birth, from the face of the sword of the dove. 17. Call the name of Pharaoh king of Egypt: Tumult — time has brought it. 18. As I live (says the King, the Lord of hosts is His name), as surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come. 19. Make for yourself vessels for exile, O daughter dwelling in Egypt: for Memphis shall become a desolation, and shall be deserted and uninhabitable. 20. Egypt is a beautiful and elegant heifer: but a gadfly from the north shall come upon her. 21. Her mercenaries also, who dwelt in her midst, were like fattened calves; they too turned and fled together, and could not stand: for the day of their slaughter came upon them, the time of their visitation. 22. Her voice shall sound like bronze: for they shall advance with an army, and shall come against her with axes, like men cutting wood. 23. They have cut down her forest, says the Lord, which cannot be counted: they are more numerous than locusts, and there is no number to them. 24. The daughter of Egypt is confounded, and delivered into the hands of the people of the north. 25. The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, has said: Behold, I will punish the multitude of Alexandria, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, and her gods, and her kings, and Pharaoh, and those who trust in him. 26. And I will deliver them into the hands of those who seek their life: and into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hands of his servants: and after this it shall be inhabited as in the days of old, says the Lord. 27. But you, do not fear, My servant Jacob, and do not be dismayed, O Israel: for behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of your captivity: and Jacob shall return, and shall rest, and shall prosper; and there shall be none to terrify him. 28. And you, do not fear, My servant Jacob, says the Lord: for I am with you, for I will make an end of all the nations to which I have driven you: but I will not make an end of you, but I will chastise you in judgment, and I will not leave you entirely unpunished.
Verse 1: Contra Gentes
1. AGAINST THE NATIONS — various nations, about which he begins to prophesy here up to chapter LI. So Theodoret, Rabanus, Hugo and Lyranus. Secondly, and better, against the nations, namely the Egyptians and others who joined with them to fight against Nebuchadnezzar, namely the Ethiopians, Libyans and Lydians. So a Castro and Maldonatus.
Verse 2: In Charcamis
2. AT CARCHEMISH. — It was a city by the Euphrates, which Pharaoh Nechao besieged, and he killed Josiah king of Judah who tried to prevent it and came to meet him, and he substituted his son Jehoahaz in the kingdom, then Joakim: finally Nebuchadnezzar came, who defeated Pharaoh Nechao, IV Kings, chapter XXIII, 29.
He struck — that is, he routed and defeated him; for Nechao returned and died in Egypt, and handed over the kingdom to his son Psammi or Psammetichus. So Herodotus, book II. Hence Josephus only says that in the battle he was compelled to yield to the Chaldeans: nevertheless many Egyptians were slain at that time, as is clear from verse 10.
Verse 3: Praeparate
3. PREPARE. — This is sarcasm, or hostile mockery, as if to say: O Egyptians! arm yourselves, stand helmeted, armored, with lances, but in vain: for Nebuchadnezzar will cut you down; all that great preparation for war, all that gleam and terror of arms will avail you nothing.
Verse 4: Jungite Equos
4. HARNESS THE HORSES — to draw chariots, both for provisions, for weapons, and scythed chariots; for they fought in scythed chariots.
Verse 5: Quid Igitur?
5. What then? — to what end so many arms, so many chariots, so many soldiers? when by prophecy I see them trembling and fleeing.
Verse 6: Non Fugiat Velox
6. Let not the swift flee — because flight will avail the Egyptians little: for he who flees will not escape, even if he be swift as a deer, either death or at least servitude.
Verse 7: Quis Est Iste
7. Who is this that rises like a river? — He compares the Egyptians to a river both because of the multitude of their soldiers and because of their arrogance, which made them seem like a swelling, overflowing river covering the earth. Similar is Isaiah VIII, 7.
(1) Verse 8. "Egypt rises like a river," etc. Here it should be noted regarding this and the preceding verse that the Nile, from which the image is drawn, around its outlet (Bogas) to the sea...
Verse 9: Ascendite Equos
9. MOUNT THE HORSES. — This is irony, as if to say: Mount up, you Egyptians glorying in horses and chariots, to battle with Pharaoh against the city of Carchemish: mount up, I say, to the slaughterhouse, so that you may be butchered there. Take also as auxiliaries the Ethiopians and Libyans, who fight at close range with shield and sword, and the Lydians who engage at a distance with arrows: all these together with you will be slaughtered like sacrificial victims; so that the sword of the Chaldeans may seem to be drunk and gorged with their blood by its mouth, that is, its edge. It is a metaphor: for to the sword are attributed a mouth, satiety and drunkenness.
THE LYDIANS — in Africa, so called from Lud, son of Mizraim son of Ham; or, as Saint Jerome says on Ezekiel chapter XXX, Lydians in Asia, over whom Croesus ruled. For Pharaoh dominated all of Syria, and, as it seems, Lydia and Asia, so that he could summon these Lydians to his aid.
Verse 10: Victima Enim Domini
10. For it is the sacrifice of the Lord — as if to say: The impious Egyptians will be slaughtered, and will be immolated as a sacrifice to divine justice. See what was said on Isaiah XXIX, 1, and chapter XXXIV, 6. For why should I repeat the same things, and create nausea for myself and tedium for the reader?
Verse 11: Ascende In Galaad
11. GO UP TO GILEAD. — He continues in irony, as if to say: You will receive many incurable wounds, which no balm or medicine can heal. Gilead abounded in balm and opobalsamum, most suitable for healing wounds, as I said in chapter VIII, 22. So Theodoret, Hugo, Vatablus. From these words it is clear that the Egyptians were accustomed to buy balm especially from the land of Gilead. The same is clear from Genesis XXXVII, 25. See what was said on chapter VIII, 22.
Virgin daughter of Egypt — as if to say: O Egypt, who grow insolent and exult in your riches and strength like a beautiful daughter and virgin! Others think she is called a virgin because she had not until now been conquered or subjugated.
Verse 12: Fortis Impegit In Fortem, Et Ambo Pariter Conciderunt
12. THE STRONG HAS DASHED AGAINST THE STRONG, AND BOTH HAVE FALLEN TOGETHER. — He notes that this victory was bloody for the Chaldeans themselves, even though they were the victors. So Theodoret. The ancients called this a "Cadmean victory," when the conquered and the conqueror fall by mutual wounds, such as was the duel of the twelve soldiers of Joab and Abner, of whom it is said in II Kings II, 16: "And each one seized the head of his opponent, and thrust his sword into the side of his adversary, and they fell together; and the name of that place was called, the Field of the Strong." Secondly and better, it signifies that Pharaoh's soldiers, as they fled, pushed one against another in their panicked flight, and thus both, colliding together, fell down and trampled one another: for he predicts here only the defeat and lamentation of Egypt. So Hugo, Lyranus and Sanchez.
Verse 13: Verbum Quod Locutus Est Dominus
13. THE WORD THAT THE LORD SPOKE. — In this verse Jeremiah passes from the first defeat of Pharaoh Nechao, which Nebuchadnezzar inflicted on him near Carchemish, in the first year of his reign, to the second defeat of Egypt, in which the same Nebuchadnezzar, invading Egypt itself in the 25th year of his reign, or, as others say, the 27th, occupied it, having defeated its king Pharaoh Hophra, who was the grandson of this Pharaoh Nechao, and then for the first time he became a world ruler.
Verse 14: Praepara Te
14. PREPARE YOURSELF — namely, to receive the army of the Chaldeans.
THE SWORD SHALL DEVOUR WHAT IS AROUND YOU. — The Septuagint has: your shoot; Theodoret: your ivy, that is, your neighboring cities, with which you are surrounded, supported and increased like willows with ivy; so that when you see this ivy stripped from you, you may think that you yourself will shortly be stripped. For if you were unable to protect your weak neighbors, like frail ivy leaning and resting upon you as upon a strong tree, from the plundering of the Chaldeans; recognize that you too are equally weak and no match for the Chaldean, and therefore that you will succumb in a clash with him and likewise become his prey.
Morally, thus, O young man, O youth! when the worm of disease gnaws away your ivy, that is, your strength, bloom and beauty, think that you will shortly be devoured and die: just as the burning sun, after the ivy that gave shade to Jonah was eaten by a worm, struck Jonah's head; so also when your strength has been gnawed away by disease or old age, death will strike you.
Verse 15: Quare Computruit?
15. Why has he rotted? — That is, why has he fallen as if rotten? The Chaldean: Why was he crushed? The Septuagint: Why did he flee? The Hebrew: Why was he pushed or driven away? For in Hebrew sachaph means to overturn something by pushing, as when a violent rain overturns chaff, wood and all seeds. Therefore Jeremiah signifies by this word that the Egyptians would be conquered not by their own weakness, nor by the strength of the Chaldeans, but by God's judgment and impulse.
YOUR STRONG ONE — The Septuagint: Your chosen calf, that is, your Apis, namely the idol of the calf which you worship; secondly, Lyranus, Vatablus, Rabanus say: Pharaoh your most powerful king; thirdly and most simply: Your strong soldiers — these have rotted, that is, they have fallen as if putrid, since God snatched away their strength, courage, counsel and understanding.
(1) This interpretation is all the less to be despised, since it is most certainly established that the Egyptians worshipped a bull, selected with great religious care, which they called Apis, and which they regarded as the chief among their gods. Ingeniously indeed, says J. D. Michaelis, and aptly for Egyptian matters, the authors of the Septuagint — whose opinion is not to be regretted — living in Egypt itself, to whom the names of Egyptian gods could not have been unknown, translate the Hebrew thus. Apis was a bull worshipped as a god; abir — therefore they translated it as bull, and understood it in the meaning that it has in abire baschan, Psalm XXII, 13. Nor is the phrase unfamiliar to the ancients, saying that gods are conquered or flee when the peoples who are under their protection flee. Magnificently indeed Apis would be said to be unable to stand against the LORD, but to flee. (J. D. Michaelis, in Biblioth. Orient. vet. Test. vol. XVII, p. 783.)
Verse 16: Multiplicavit Ruentes (Scilicet Dominus)
16. HE MULTIPLIED THOSE WHO FELL (namely the Lord), AND MAN FELL UPON HIS NEIGHBOR (as if to say: the Egyptians will fall in battle, slain by the Chaldeans in droves, so that one pushes another into the same ruin with himself): AND THEY WILL SAY — both the Egyptians who came from remote parts of Egypt to the camp, and their auxiliaries the Ethiopians, Libyans and Lydians, mentioned in verse 9.
FROM THE FACE OF THE SWORD OF THE DOVE — that is, of the Babylonians. See what was said on chapter XXV, 38. The Septuagint translates: From the face of the sword of the Greek: they seem to have read for iona, that is, dove, ievani, that is, Greek: whence Theodoret thinks the empire of Alexander is predicted here, for he also subjugated Egypt. But the passage here does not concern the Greeks, but the Chaldeans.
Verse 17: Vocate Nomen Pharaonis Regis Aegypti, Tumultum Adduxit Te...
17. CALL THE NAME OF PHARAOH KING OF EGYPT: TUMULT — TIME HAS BROUGHT IT — as if to say: Time, which changes all things, has brought tumult, that is, a great upheaval and disaster upon your kingdom, whence you are rightly called by this name: "Tumult — time has brought it:" in Hebrew moed, that is, a time defined and appointed by God. Thus Isaiah, chapter VIII, 3, says of Christ: "Call His name: Make haste to plunder." Hence the Septuagint retains here the Hebrew words, as if they were the proper name of Pharaoh.
Note: The Hebrew words are pointed differently by some: for the past tense they read kurcu, that is, they called, they cried out; and for scem, that is, name, they read scam, that is, there: whence Maldonatus translates and explains it thus: They cried out there: Pharaoh king of Egypt will make the time pass, that is, he will cause Jeremiah's prophecy to be false, and the Chaldeans will not come at the time Jeremiah predicted they would come; whence, arguing against this, he adds: "As I live," etc.
Secondly, the Chaldean, R. David and R. Solomon translate and explain thus: They will publicly say there: Pharaoh king of Egypt, and the tumult, that is, the great crowds, namely of many soldiers, has let the appointed time pass. As if to say: The Chaldeans will publicly say, mocking Pharaoh: Pharaoh let slip the time he had set for engaging the Chaldeans. Or, as if to say: They will mock Pharaoh as timid, because when the Chaldean offered battle and set the time for combat, Pharaoh only raised a tumult in the camp, as if preparing arms and battle lines, but not leading them into the field, nor daring to engage with the Chaldean. Thus timid soldiers are terrible in word, not in deed: for they hurl pompous words at the enemy, not weapons of war. This sense is fitting, although the tumult here is better understood as of those cut down rather than those preparing for battle.
Thirdly, Vatablus translates and explains thus: They cried out there: Pharaoh king of Egypt — the one who appoints times (that is, God) has sent desolation through your kingdom. But this is far removed from both our translation and that of the Septuagint.
Secondly, Theodoret explains it thus, as if to say: Call the name of Pharaoh, He who Disturbs and Overturns Times, that is, the Disturber of the times and peace of kingdoms and nations. Thirdly, from the Hebrew, a Castro and Sanchez most aptly explain it thus: the name of Pharaoh Vaphris or Hophra shall be called Tumult, that is, Disturber: because by arrogantly provoking the Babylonian to war, he "brought about the time" of conflict, that is, of tumult, disturbance, disaster, and his own utter destruction. For in Hebrew it reads: Tumult has caused time to pass, or has brought about the time, namely of destruction; and thus our translation can be understood: "Call his name Tumult (which) time has brought about" — the time of war, by which he himself provoked the Chaldean, for this time is equally the time of disaster appointed by God. For these are the words of the Egyptians slain and fleeing in this war, as is clear from the preceding verse. The Prophet means to say: A time will come that will bring terrible tumult, disturbance and ruin upon Pharaoh; whence the Syriac translates: And call there the name of Pharaoh king of Egypt, the Tumultuous One (the Disturber) who makes times pass; the Arabic of Antioch: And they heard there the name of Pharaoh, the Hour, and the one who makes times pass; the Arabic of Alexandria: And they called there the name of Pharaoh the Lame, king of Egypt, who brings calamities and makes times speed by.
Verse 18: Sicut Carmelus
18. LIKE CARMEL. — First, Rabanus explains it thus: Just as the most fertile mountains Carmel and Tabor, if they were cast into the sea, would lose their fertility; so Egypt will cease to be fertile.
Secondly, Hugo connects the phrase "in the sea" with "shall come," as if to say: Just as it is true that those two mountains exist, so truly Egypt shall come into the sea, that is, shall be submerged in a sea of ruin and desolation.
Thirdly and most simply: Just as it is certain that Tabor stands out among the mountains of the land, and Carmel among the mountains that adjoin the sea, or Tabor stands out among the mountains, Carmel among the promontories that jut out into the sea: so certainly the remarkable and outstanding devastation of Egypt will come, towering above the ruin of other nations. So the Chaldean, Theodoret, Vatablus and others.
To this may be added the exposition of Maldonatus, which is as follows: The king of Babylon, who is most powerful on land and sea, will come as Tabor stands out on the continent among the mountains, and as Carmel stands out in the sea among the promontories: for thus Nebuchadnezzar, powerful on land and sea, towers over and threatens other nations as if they were valleys.
Note: Carmel is said to be "in the sea," not properly, but because it overlooks the sea.
R. David explains it differently, as if to say: Just as Tabor among the mountains is suited for hunting, Hosea V, 1: "A net has been spread over Tabor," so the king of Babylon will come to hunt men in Egypt; and just as the wood of Carmel is transported across the sea, so the Chaldeans will transport the Egyptians into captivity.
Verse 19: Vasa Transmigrationis
19. VESSELS OF EXILE — as if to say: Make for yourself vessels, that is, light equipment and baggage: a staff, a cloak against the rain, a sack, a wallet and a small gourd to drink from like a traveler: for you will go into exile either as a fugitive to neighboring nations, or as a captive to Babylon. So Theodoret.
Verse 20: Vitula
20. A HEIFER — as if to say: Egypt is like an untamed heifer, unaccustomed to the yoke, wanton, pampered, and therefore unfit for war; therefore the Chaldean will come, who like a goad will drive her, not to her pleasant meadows, but to flight and captivity, to go into exile in Babylon. Similar is Hosea X, 11, and Isaiah XV, 5. He alludes to the bull Apis, which the Egyptians worshipped and with which they reveled; and to the cattle, with which Egypt abounds because of its pastures and fertile fields. Hence Pharaoh saw fat cows rising from the Nile, which portended the fertility of Egypt, Genesis XLI, 2. Sanchez explains it differently: The gadfly, he says, is the bot-fly, driven by which cattle run about wildly here and there as if mad. Thus the Chaldeans, like a gadfly, drove the Jews to run about as if out of their minds.
Verse 21: Mercenarii
21. THE MERCENARIES — namely, soldiers hired from neighboring provinces, who though robust and strong among their own people, having now long indulged in leisure and their own pleasures in Egypt, softened and fattened by its climate and luxuries like fattened calves; these, when the enemy approached, turned tail. Thus Asia made Lucullus and the Romans soft, Capua softened Hannibal, India effeminated the Europeans. Lyranus interprets it differently: He takes the mercenaries to mean merchants, who from elsewhere flowed into Egypt for the sake of trade and profit, and who all fled when the Chaldean came.
Verse 22: Vox Ejus Quasi Aeris
22. Her voice shall sound like bronze. — The Septuagint and the Chaldean: Her voice like a serpent's. For the Hebrew nachas signifies a serpent, and also bronze, if you add the letter tau, the mark of the feminine gender, making from nachas nechoset. You may ask whose voice this is? Hugo, Lyranus, and Dionysius respond that it is Babylon's, as if to say: The voice of the Chaldean army and the clash of arms shall resound from afar like the sound of ringing bronze, or like the hissing of serpents, terribly and horribly. Secondly, better, Theodoret, Rabanus, Vatablus, Maldonatus, Sanchez and others judge this to be the voice of Egypt: for the continuous discourse here concerns Egypt and its burden and disaster, as if to say: Egypt and the Egyptians, in such great slaughter of their people, will emit a sad, hoarse and funereal wailing, such as funeral trumpeters produce with a bronze funeral trumpet, when they carry out the bodies of their dead for burial: or such as serpents emit when they are mortally wounded or in extreme danger; for then they produce a horrifying hiss. The Egyptians will emit a similar sound in what is, as it were, the public funeral of all Egypt. He adds the reason: "For with an army they (the Chaldeans) shall advance and with axes they shall come against her" (Egypt), as if to say: Just as woodcutters fell trees with axes in a forest, so the Chaldeans shall cut down the Egyptians in Egypt.
Verse 23: Succiderunt Saltum Ejus
23. They have cut down her forest — that is, the Chaldeans will cut down the forest of Egypt. He compares Egypt to a forest, the inhabitants to trees, the Chaldeans to woodcutters and lumberjacks, says Maldonatus.
WHICH CANNOT BE COUNTED — as if to say: Just as a forest abounds with trees, so Egypt abounded with people, so that their multitude, being as it were innumerable, could scarcely be counted; but so great will be the number, strength and force of the lumberjacks, that is, the Chaldeans, that they will cut down the whole in a short time. For the Chaldeans were likewise innumerable, like locusts that devour an entire region in an instant. Just as men, if they are very many, can cut down the largest forest, even if each one cuts down only one or two trees: so the Chaldeans will cut down all of Egypt, because in number they will be the equal of, indeed superior to, the innumerable Egyptians.
Verse 25: Ecce Ego Visitabo (Id Est Puniam Et Visitabo) Super Tumultum
25. Behold, I will punish (that is, I will chastise and visit) the tumult — that is, the tumultuous people, or the great multitude, in which there are usually murmuring and tumult; for in Hebrew this is called amon, or hamon, since the letters aleph and he are often interchanged. For Alexandria was not less than Nineveh in power, wealth and number of citizens, as is clear from Nahum III, 8.
Others take Amon as a proper name, and think that Alexandria was so called from the temple of Jupiter Ammon, which Father Liber (Bacchus) built under Joshua, as Eusebius teaches in his Chronicle, in the desert sand, which is called Ammos by the Egyptians, and the region Ammonia. So Theodoret. But in Hebrew, Alexandria is called no; for thus Nahum, chapter III, 8, and Ezekiel chapter XXX, 15, call it no; for so it was called in the time of Jeremiah, and afterwards by Alexander it was called Alexandria. The Hebrew word amon, which is prefixed to no, that is, Alexandria, our translator here and elsewhere, as do others, renders as multitude or tumult; for where there is a crowd, there is also noise and tumult. Amon no therefore means the same as the multitude of Alexandria, or, as Nahum says: "Alexandria of peoples." Thus Amona is called the city "in the valley of the multitude of Gog," in which innumerable soldiers of the Antichrist will be buried, Ezekiel chapter XXXIX, 16. Just as Augusta is so called from magnificence, so Amon, that is, great, is called from the abundance of inhabitants. Again, just as Augusta is a name common to many cities, which we therefore specify and distinguish by saying Augusta of Germany, Augusta of Spain, Augusta of Gaul, etc., so Amon is a common name for populous cities, which therefore the Prophet specifies by saying Amon no, as if to say: The multitude of Alexandria. So essentially Sanchez. In the same way Rabbath of the children of Ammon was so called because of the size and multitude of its citizens. For Rabbath in Hebrew means the same as Amon, that is, great, abundant: hence Rabbath was also called Ammon, which later, subjugated by Ptolemy Philadelphus, was called Philadelphia.
Others finally think that Ammon is the proper name of the king of Alexandria, who was tributary to the king of all Egypt. So the Chaldean, R. David and R. Solomon, and the Septuagint favors this, translating: Behold, I will take vengeance on Amon his son; but they erroneously read for minno, that is, of Alexandria, beno, that is, his son. The former opinion, therefore, is the truer.
Verse 26: Et In Manus Nabuchodonosor
26. And into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. — The "and" here means "that is": for it explains who those are who seek its life.
It shall be inhabited — namely Egypt; for after 40 years of its Babylonian desolation, the Egyptians returned to their land, but so that it was a lowly kingdom, as Ezekiel says in chapter XXIX, 13, and instead of their native king Hophra or Vaphris, they had Amasis, a foreigner appointed by the Chaldeans. Furthermore, this Amasis, conquered by Cambyses the son of Cyrus, and thereafter Egypt was governed for 150 years by kings who were not Egyptians but Persians, as Eusebius states in his Chronicle.
Verse 27: Ne Timeas
27. DO NOT FEAR. — For if I bring back the Egyptians, much more will I free you from captivity, O Jacob, who are My servant.
FROM AFAR — as if to say: I will bring you back, O Israel, not from Egypt, as Vatablus says, but from the Babylonian captivity (for Babylon is far from Judea) after 70 years. So Theodoret and Lyranus.
28. I will chastise you in judgment — that is, moderately, humanely, mercifully: for judgment is opposed to fury and wrath. See what was said on chapter XXX, 11.
NOR WILL I SPARE YOU AS IF YOU WERE INNOCENT — as if to say: I will not leave you entirely unpunished, as though you were innocent; but I will chastise you, as is evident, not as an enemy.