John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 47:3

"At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong ones, at the rushing of his chariots, at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers look not back to their children for feebleness of hands;" — Jeremiah 47:3 (ASV)

He continues the same subject, for he says that the calamity would be so grievous that fathers would not care for their children, which is a proof of extreme sorrow; for even in adversity, men do not lose their natural feelings. When a father has children, he would willingly undergo ten deaths, if necessary, to save their lives; but when men forget that they are parents, it is a proof, as I have said, of the greatest grief, as though men, having changed their nature, had become logs of wood.

But the Prophet expresses the cause, not only of sorrow but also of anxiety: From the voice, he says, of the noise of the hoofs of his valiant ones; he does not name the horses, but פרסות, peresut, refer to horses; hoofs, he says, will make a great noise by stamping.

And then such would be the commotion from the driving of chariots, and such a tumult would the revolving wheels create, that fathers, being astonished, would not look at their children. Finally, he adds, through dissolution of hands.

By "dissolution of hands" he means loss of courage or fainting. For just as vigor spreads from the heart through every part of the body, so also the hands are the chief instruments of all actions. Therefore, when the hands are relaxed and become feeble, it follows that men become as though inanimate.

The Prophet now means that the Philistines would become like the dead, so as not to move, not even their fingers; and why? Because they would be so terrified by the stamping of horses, by the commotion of chariots, and by the rumbling of wheels, that they would lose their senses.