Jeremiah 46:9

Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots,.... These are either the words of Pharaoh, giving orders to his cavalry and charioteers to make haste and come up to battle, not doubting of victory: or

Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.

Their ancient way of fighting was with chariots and bows; the prophet calls, in the name of the commanders of the Egyptian armies, to the horses and chariots to come on, and engage in the fight. The Ethiopians were the Cushites, who were neighbours to the Egyptians, so were the Libyans; both of them it should seem were famous for handling the shield: the Libyans were descended from Phut; both the Cushites and the Phutites or Libyans were descended from Ham, . The Lydians were as famous for the use of the bow in war; they were descended from Mizraim or Shem, ,22: the Lydians here meant are thought to be those descended from Mizraim, and some think these were Ethiopians. They were all auxiliaries to the Egyptians in this expedition.

Jeremiah 46:9 Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle [and] bend the bow.Ver. 9. Come up, ye horses,] i.e., Ye horsemen, all the cavalry of Egypt. And rage.] Or, Bestir yourselves as if ye were wild or mad: instar furiarum discurrite per campos. The Ethiopians and the Lybians.] The Africans that were confederates and auxiliaries to the Egyptians.

(9) The Ethiopians and the Libyans.—In the Hebrew, Cush and Put. The verse describes the prominent elements in the composition of the Egyptian army. The “chariots and horses” had long been proverbial (1 Kings 10:28-29; 2 Chronicles 1:16; Exodus 15:19). The Cushites were the Ethiopians of the Upper Valley of the Nile, sometimes, as under Zerah (2 Chronicles 14:9) and Tirhakah (2 Kings 19:9), asserting their independence, but at this time subject to Necho. The name Phut meets us, with Cush and Mizraim, in the list of the sons of Ham in Genesis 10:6; and presumably, therefore, belongs to an African people. Wherever it is mentioned by the prophets it is as an ally or tributary of Egypt (Nahum 3:9; Ezekiel 27:10; Ezekiel 30:5; Ezekiel 38:5). The LXX. version renders it by Libyan, and is followed by the Vulgate and the English. In Nahum 3:9, however, Phut is distinguished from the Libyans (= Lubim); and the LXX. has but one word for both. The word PET is found on Egyptian inscriptions, both as meaning a “bow”and as the name of a people, and this may correspond to the Put of the Hebrew text. The Lydians, or Ludim, are named in the list of Hamite nations as descended from Mizraim (Genesis 10:13); the name is joined with Phut in Ezekiel 27:10, with Cush and Phut in Ezekiel 30:4-5. This would seem to point to an African rather than an Asiatic people like the Lydians. On the other hand, we learn from Herodotus (ii. 153) that, some thirty or forty years before the time of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, Psammetichus I. had settled a large colony of Ionian and Carian emigrants on both banks of the Nile, between Bubastis and the Pelusiac mouth of that river, and that Amasis afterwards formed them into a bodyguard at Memphis. It is obvious that the fame of the monarchy which had its capital at Sardis might easily lead to these Greeks being classed as Lydians, and that thus the name (without entering into its earlier ethnological significance) would acquire a new prominence at the time when the prophets wrote in connexion with Egypt.

Verse 9. The Ethiopians] Heb. Cush, Phut, and the Ludim. This army was composed of many nations. Cush, which we translate Ethiopians, almost invariably means the Arabians; and here, those Arabs that bordered on Egypt near the Red Sea. Phut probably means the Libyans; for Phut settled in Libya, according to Josephus. Phut and Cush were two of the sons of Ham, and brothers to Mitsraim, the father of the Egyptians, Genesis 10:6; and the Ludim were descended from Mitsraim; see Genesis 10:13. Bochart contends that the Ludim were Ethiopians, and that they were famous for the use of the bow. Phaleg, lib. iv. 26.

9. Probably a continuation of Pharaoh’s appeal to his warriors, as put into his mouth by Jeremiah. Go up] The summons is to cavalry, chariots, and infantry that they should set forth from Egypt. Cush and Put … and the Ludim] the mercenary troops, who formed from the days of Psammetichus the chief part of the Egyptian armies. The Ethiopians (Cush) were children of Ham (Genesis 10:6). The situation of Put is doubtful. It is generally placed on the N. coast of Africa, W. of Egypt, but may have been Punt, a country on the Red Sea. The Ludim (see Genesis 10:13) were also Africans. Possibly, however, we should read Lubim here, as in Nahum 3:9, i.e. the people of Libya (W. of Egypt). We have the three peoples here mentioned spoken of again as Egyptian mercenaries in Ezekiel 30:5. bend] literally, tread, string.

Rather, Go up, advance, ye horses; and drive furiously, ye chariots; and let the mighty men go forth. They march out of Egypt, arranged in three divisions, cavalry, chariots, and infantry, to begin the campaign.

9. Ethiopians… Libyans… Lydians — Auxiliaries or mercenaries, because the Egyptians were not themselves of such physical vigour as to make a nation of soldiers. There is a similar description of the Egyptian army in Ezekiel 30:5.