Jeremiah 47 Study Notes

47:1-7 The superscription for this chapter is similar to 14:1, 46:1, and 49:34, with the addition of the title prophet to Jeremiah’s name, as in 46:1 and 49:34. For Isaiah’s earlier oracle against Philistia, see Is 14:28-32, and for his oracle against Phoenicia, see Is 23:1-18. For Ezekiel’s and Amos’s oracles against Philistia, see Ezk 25:15-17 and Am 1:6-8. For Ezekiel’s and Amos’s oracles against Phoenicia, see Ezk 26:1-28:19 and Am 1:9-10.

47:1 The phrase before Pharaoh defeated Gaza is part of the chronological notation, because the real invader will come out of the north and not from Egypt. But on what occasion did Pharaoh capture Gaza? Some link it with Neco’s 609 BC defeat and slaying of King Josiah at Megiddo. This happened as Neco went to assist the Assyrians against the Babylonians. Others say Gaza was attacked in late 601 BC after Neco met Nebuchadnezzar and sent him home to Babylon to regroup his forces while Neco captured Gaza. The matter is not certain.

47:2 The reference to the water . . . rising from the north surely points to the Babylonians. Isaiah used the same figure for the Assyrians (Is 8:7-8). But instead of the floods bringing fertile deposits to the land, they would make the Philistines cry out and wail.

47:3 With the same staccato of the previous chapter, the speed and terror of the battle will cause fathers not to turn back for their sons (lit feeling helpless “for [the] laziness of [their] hands”). So deep will the terror be that the Philistines will be powerless to fight, forsaking even their own children.

47:4 The Philistines and the Phoenicians are grouped together here; presumably there was an alliance between their cities. If so, then Nebuchadnezzar’s actions against the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon were merely preparatory for what was to come for the Philistine cities. Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre in 594 and 587 BC. The phrase the Philistines, the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor accords with Am 9:7 where Caphtor is described as the original home of the Philistines. Caphtor is usually identified with the island of Crete and the Aegean Islands. The Philistines apparently belonged to a group known as the Sea Peoples. Their main wave of conquest and/or immigration was halted by Ramesses III around 1188 BC, when they settled on the coastal plains of Palestine.

47:5 There are three signs of mourning here: shaving one’s head to baldness, being silent, and inflicting gashes on oneself (16:6; 41:5). Two alternate translations for a remnant of their valley should be noted. First, the Hebrew word ‘emeq, rendered “valley,” may be the same as the Ugaritic/Canaanite word ‘mq, meaning “strength.” In this light the phrase could be translated, “O you last of their strength.” Second, the LXX reads “Anakim,” which links the people of Gaza and Ashkelon with the giants that were in the land before the Israelites invaded it (Nm 13:22-23; Dt 1:28). Joshua 11:22 notes remnants of this people group still lived in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.

47:6-7 Attempts to quiet the sword of the Lord would prove futile. What had been decreed by the Lord against Ashkelon and the shore of the sea was finished when Nebuchadnezzar overran Ashkelon after a siege in 604-603 BC. In an Aramaic letter archaeologists found at Memphis, King Adon of Ashkelon sought Neco’s help as enemy troops reached Aphek. Receipts from the sons of the king and others from Ashkelon were also found at Babylon along with receipts from King Yaukin (Jehoiakim) of Judah and his sons. The attack against Ashkelon prompted King Jehoiakim to proclaim a fast in Jerusalem (chap. 36). This fast gave Baruch the opportunity to read Jeremiah’s scroll.