They shall cut down her forest, saith the Lord
The land of Egypt, compared to a forest, for the multitude of its
cities and towns, and the inhabitants of them; which should be
destroyed by the Chaldeans, as a forest is cut down by hewers of
wood; the metaphor is here continued. The Targum interprets this
of the princes of Egypt, and the destruction of them;
though it cannot be searched;
either the forest of Egypt, which was so thick of trees; that is,
the land was so full of towns and cities, that they could not be
searched and numbered; and though the way through it seemed
impassable, yet was made passable by the hewers of wood: or its
destruction would be so general, "that it cannot be searched"
F15; or found out, where this forest
was, where those trees grew, not one of them standing: or else
this is to be understood of the Chaldean army, which was so
great, that it could not be numbered: because they are more
than the grasshoppers, and [are] innumerable;
which creatures come in large numbers, and eat up every green
tree and herb; and so the Chaldean army, being alike numerous,
would easily cut down the trees of this forest, though they were
so many.