After writing concerning Israel, God's chosen people, Jeremiah wrote another six chapters, chapters forty-six through fifty-one, concerning Jehovah's judgment upon the nations involved with Israel. The nations cannot avoid involvement with Israel, and Israel cannot avoid contact with the nations. In this message we will consider chapters forty-six and forty-seven.
In chapter forty-six we see Jehovah's punishment and judgment upon Egypt.
In the Old Testament Egypt, which is symbolically or poetically called Rahab (Isa. 51:9-10; Psa. 87:4), typifies the world of making a living and of enjoyment, with which Satan occupies and usurps the people chosen by God for His economy (Gen. 12:10; 41:57—42:3; Num. 11:4-6). The name Rahab refers to a monster, to a large sea animal. This indicates that God regards Egypt as a monster, as an ugly, terrifying sea animal.
The people of Israel, as the elect of God, went down to Egypt and were usurped and enslaved by Pharaoh the king of Egypt (Exo. 1:1, 11-14), a type of Satan as the ruler of the world (John 12:31).
Because the world has many aspects, the Old Testament uses the nations to typify the world in its various aspects. The first of these types is Egypt. Egypt typifies the world in the aspect of making a living and of enjoyment, and Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, typifies Satan, the ruler of the world.