Question:

According to Jer 43 Egypt would be conquered by Babylon, but secular
historians attribute this conquest to the Persians. Do you have any info
on this?

Answer:

Your information is correct. The Persians/Medes did conquer Egypt under
Cambysses, the son of Cyrus in 525 BC. However, the Persians were not the
first to conquer Egypt. The Hyskos “The Peoples of the Sea” conquered
Egypt about 1750 BC. After that, Egypt was conquered by the Assyrians.
The Assyrian armies destroyed Thebes, the capital of Egypt in 663 BC.
Eventually, an Egyptian dynasty was reestablished. Later, Nebuchadnezzar
of Babylon became the dominant power in the Near East. He attacked an
Egyptian army at the famous battle of Carcemish in 607 BC, nearly
destroying Egyptian power. According to his own annals, Nebuchadnezzar
invaded Egypt, conquering parts of the Nile valley in 567 BC and “dealt a
severe blow to its supremacy and power.”

To summarize, it is true that the Persians conquered Egypt under
Cambysses. But Jeremiah’s prophecy that Egypt would be conquered by
Babylon was also fulfilled. To be honest, this is not one of the more
amazing prophecies in the Bible because at the time Jeremiah made this
statement, Nebuchadnezzar was a rising power in the Near East. It was not
a great shock that he was able to defeat Egypt. Nevertheless, God’s
prophecy through Jeremiah was fulfilled, exactly as predicted by the
prophet.

John Oakes

Comments are closed.