Jeremiah 46:1-19
Like Isaiah from ch. 13 onwards in his book, Jeremiah is now led to prophesy about the nations. The first one is Egypt, where the people thought they would find refuge. Terrible judgments are about to fall on this type of the idolatrous world. We remember the words of the New Testament concerning this world which passes away (1 John 2:17) and the fashion of this world which passes away (1 Corinthians 7:31).
The king of Egypt is made the object of an ironic and harsh comparison: "Pharaoh . . . is but a noise" (v. 17). A noise can frighten for a moment, but is there anything shorter-lasting and more useless? How many great, and not so great, personalities of this world are nothing more than a passing "noise"! This week’s newspapers devote columns to them; in a month or a year they will have sunk into oblivion.
One other sad word is added about this Pharaoh: like his distant ancestor in Exodus who had hardened his heart, this man has "let the time appointed go by" (v. 17 JND trans. cf. John 12:35). Dear young readers, that is a very serious thought. The time to be converted, the time to serve the Lord down here, the time also to respond to the invitation in Luke 22:19 —do not let these times pass you by!