Out of the north. If the Egyptian attack on Gaza was carried out by Necho on his return from Carchemish in 609 B.C. (see on v. 1), or soon after the battle at Megiddo earlier the same year, his approach to the Philistine Plain would have been from the north.
Some have understood vs. 1,2 as referring to the domination of Palestine by the Babylonians, more serious and longer-lasting than the Egyptian inroads under either Necho or Apries. Verses 2-7 would then refer to the Babylonian invasions. According to this view v. 1 would point to the fact that before even the Egyptians attacked Gaza, the Lord had already warned the Philistines of the greater judgments to come upon them at the hands of the Babylonians.