Jer 25:20, 24, 46:9, 21, Eze 27:10 | JFB | STEP | 20. mingled people —mercenary foreign troops serving under Pharaoh-hophra in the time of Jeremiah. The employment of these foreigners provoked the native Egyptians to overthrow him. Psammetichus, father of Pharaoh-necho, also had given a settlement in Egypt to Ionian and Carian adventurers [HERODOTUS , 2.152, 154]. (Compare ; see on ; . The term is first found in . Uz —in the geographical order here, between Egypt and the states along the Mediterranean; therefore not the "Uz" of (north of Arabia-Deserta), but the northern part of Arabia-Petræa, between the sea and Idumea ( ; see ). remnant of Ashdod —called a "remnant," because Ashdod had lost most of its inhabitants in the twenty-nine years siege by Psammetichus. Compare also see on . Gath is not mentioned because it was overthrown in the same war.

Jeremiah 25:20

20. mingled people—mercenary foreign troops serving under Pharaoh-hophra in the time of Jeremiah. The employment of these foreigners provoked the native Egyptians to overthrow him. Psammetichus, father of Pharaoh-necho, also had given a settlement in Egypt to Ionian and Carian adventurers [HERODOTUS, 2.152, 154]. (Compare Jer 50:37; see on Isa 19:2, 3; Isa 20:1; Eze 30:5. The term is first found in Ex 12:38.

Uz—in the geographical order here, between Egypt and the states along the Mediterranean; therefore not the "Uz" of Job 1:1 (north of Arabia-Deserta), but the northern part of Arabia-Petræa, between the sea and Idumea (La 4:21; see Ge 36:20, 28).

remnant of Ashdod—called a "remnant," because Ashdod had lost most of its inhabitants in the twenty-nine years siege by Psammetichus. Compare also see on Isa 20:1. Gath is not mentioned because it was overthrown in the same war.

Jeremiah 25:24

24. mingled people—not in the same sense as in Jer 25:20; the "motley crowd," so called in contempt (compare Jer 49:28, 31; 50:37). By a different pointing it may be translated the "Arabs"; but the repetition of the name is not likely. BLANEY thinks there were two divisions of what we call Arabia, the west (Araba) and the east. The west included Arabia-Petræa and the parts on the sea bordering on Egypt, the land of Cush; the east, Arabia-Felix and Deserta. The latter are "the mixed race" inhabiting the desert.

Jeremiah 46:9

9. Ironical exhortation, as in Jer 46:3. The Egyptians, owing to the heat of their climate and abstinence from animal food, were physically weak, and therefore employed mercenary soldiers.

Ethiopians—Hebrew, Cush: Abyssinia and Nubia.

Libyans—Phut, Mauritania, west of Egypt (compare Ge 10:6).

shield—The Libyans borrowed from Egypt the use of the long shield extending to the feet [XENOPHON, Cyropædia, 6 and 7].

Lydians—not the Lydians west of Asia Minor (Ge 10:22; Eze 30:5), but the Ludim, an African nation descended from Egypt (Mizraim) (Ge 10:13; Eze 30:5; Na 3:9).

handle and bend the bow—The employment of two verbs expresses the manner of bending the bow, namely, the foot being pressed on the center, and the hands holding the ends of it.

Jeremiah 46:21

21. Translate, "Also her hired men (mercenary soldiers, Jer 46:9, 16), who are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks, even they also are turned back," that is, shall turn their backs to flee. The same image, "heifer . . . bullocks" (Jer 46:20, 21), is applied to Egypt's foreign mercenaries, as to herself. Pampered with the luxuries of Egypt, they become as enervated for battle as the natives themselves.

Ezekiel 27:10

10. Persia . . . Phut—warriors from the extreme east and west.

Lud—the Lydians of Asia Minor, near the Meander, famed for archery (Isa 66:19); rather than those of Ethiopia, as the Lydians of Asia Minor form a kind of intermediate step between Persia and Phut (the Libyans about Cyrene, shielded warriors, Jer 46:9, descended from Phut, son of Ham).

hanged . . . shield . . . comeliness—Warriors hanged their accoutrements on the walls for ornament. Divested of the metaphor, it means that it was an honor to thee to have so many nations supplying thee with hired soldiers.