When Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all the words of Yahweh their God, with which Yahweh their God had sent him to them, even all these words, then Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, “You speak falsely. Yahweh our God has not sent you to say, ‘You shall not go into Egypt to live there;’ but Baruch the son of Neriah has turned you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death, and carry us away captive to Babylon.”
So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, didn’t obey Yahweh’s voice, to dwell in the land of Judah. But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, who had returned from all the nations where they had been driven, to live in the land of Judah; the men, and the women, and the children, and the king’s daughters, and every person who Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah; and they came into the land of Egypt; for they didn’t obey Yahweh’s voice: and they came to Tahpanhes.
Then Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, “Take great stones in your hand, and hide them in mortar in the brick work, which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah; and tell them, Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne on these stones that I have hidden; and he will spread his royal pavilion over them. He will come, and will strike the land of Egypt; such as are for death will be put to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity, and such as are for the sword to the sword. I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt. He will burn them, and carry them away captive. He will array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment; and he will go out from there in peace. He will also break the pillars of Beth Shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and he will burn the houses of the gods of Egypt with fire.’ ”
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv1–13 Here the Prophet proceeds with the remaining part of…
Here the Prophet proceeds with the remaining part of the narrative. He says that the whole people obstinately persevered in their wicked design, so that he effected nothing by his warning and protest. Now this stupidity of the people was monstrous; for they had found out by experience the fidelity of the Prophet for many years; and further, they had gone to him because they believed that he was a faithful and an approved servant of God. He had not merely answered them in God’s name, but as he knew their hardness, he added protestations which might have moved even stones. But he addressed the deaf; and it hence appears that they were wholly fascinated by the devil. And thus let us learn not to mock God, nor bring a double heart when we inquire as to his will, but to suffer ourselves to be ruled by his word.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Who was also called Jezaniah, Jer. 42:1.
Who was also called Jezaniah, Jer. 42:1.
This declareth that pride is the cause of rebellion: and contempt of God’s ministers.
Read full note →
When the hypocrisy of the wicked is discovered, they burst forth into open rage: for they can abide nothing but flattery, read Isa. 30:10.
He showeth what is the nature of the hypocrites: to wit, to feign that they would obey God and embrace his word, if they were assured that his messenger spake the truth: though indeed they be most far from all obedience.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–13 Jer 43:1 And it came to pass, [that] when…
Jer 43:1 And it came to pass, [that] when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the LORD their God, for which the LORD their God had sent him to them, [even] all these words,
Ver. 1. And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end, &c.] See here how wicked men, and hypocrites especially, grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. Balaam being resolved to curse, however, went not as at other times but set his face toward the wilderness. {Num 24:1-2} Now he would build no more altars, but curse whatever came of it; so would these refractories, without God’s good leave, go down to Egypt, putting it to the venture. Jeremiah’s sweet words were even lost upon them.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 The Hebrew word which we translate
The Hebrew word which we translate
words signifieth also things. The prophet is very exact in letting us know that he had from the Lord what he delivered to them, he therefore twice repeats it, the words of the lord their God, and for which the Lord had sent him to them: not that the prophets always limited themselves to those syllabical words they had revealed to them, but to the matter only of the revelation; which every minister of the gospel is still bound to do, delivering to the people only what they have received from the Lord, as 1Co 11:23, as to the matter and substance of what they deliver, though they clothe it with words and phrases of their own.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv1, 8 What God said to the builders of Babel may…
What God said to the builders of Babel may be truly said of this people that Jeremiah is now dealing with: Now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do, Gen 11:6. They have a fancy for Egypt, and to Egypt they will go, whatever God himself says to the contrary. Jeremiah made them hear all he had to say, though he saw them uneasy at it; it was what the Lord their God had sent him to speak to them, and they shall have it all. And now let us see what they have to say to it.
I. They deny it to be a message from God: Johanan, and all the proud men, said to Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely, Jer 43:2. See here, 1. What was the cause of their disobedience - it was pride; only by that comes contention both with God and man. They were proud men that gave the lie to the prophet. They could not bear the contradiction of their sentiments and the control of their designs, no, not by the divine wisdom, by the divine will itself. Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey him? Exo 5:2. The proud unhumbled heart of man is one of the most daring enemies God has on this side hell. 2. What was the colour for their disobedience. They would not acknowledge it to be the word of God: The Lord hath not sent thee on this errand to us. Either they were not convinced that what was said came from God or (which I rather think) though they were convinced of it they would not own it. The light shone strongly in their face, but they either shut their eyes against it or would not confess that they saw it. Note, The reason why men deny the scriptures to be the word of God is because they are resolved not to conform to scripture-rules, and so an obstinate infidelity is made the sorry subterfuge of a wilful disobedience. If God had spoken to them by an angel, or as he did from Mount Sinai, they would have said that it was a delusion. Had they not consulted Jeremiah as a prophet? Had he not waited to receive instructions from God what to say to them? Had not what he said all the usual marks of prophecy upon it? Was not the prophet himself embarked in the same bottom with them? What interests could he have separate from theirs? Had he not always approved himself an Israelite indeed? And had not God proved him a prophet indeed? Had any of his words ever fallen to the ground? Why, truly, they had some good thoughts of Jeremiah, but they suggest (Jer 43:3), Baruch sets thee on against us. A likely thing, that Baruch should be in a plot to deliver them into the hands of the Chaldeans; and what would he get by that? If Jeremiah and he had been so well affected to the Chaldeans as they would represent them, they would have gone away at first with Nebuzaradan, when he courted them, to Babylon, and not have staid to take their lot with this despised ungrateful remnant. But the best services are no fences against malice and slander. Or, if Baruch had been so ill disposed, could they think Jeremiah would be so influenced by him as to make God's name an authority to patronise so villainous a purpose? Note, Those that are resolved to contradict the great ends of the ministry are industrious to bring a bad name upon it. When men will persist in sin they represent those that would turn them from it as designing men for themselves, nay, as ill-designing men against their neighbours. It is well for persons who are thus misrepresented that their witness is in heaven and their record on high.
Read full note →
II. They determine to go to Egypt notwithstanding. They resolve not to dwell in the land of Judah, as God had ordered them (Jer 43:4), but to go themselves with one consent and to take all that they had under their power along with them to Egypt. Those that came from all the nations whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah, out of a sincere affection to that land, they would not leave to their liberty, but forced them to go with them into Egypt (Jer 43:5), men, women, and children (Jer 43:6), a long journey into a strange country, an idolatrous country, a country that had never been kind of faithful to Israel; yet thither they would go, though they deserted their own land and threw themselves out of God's protection. It is the folly of men that they know not when they are well off, and often ruin themselves by endeavouring to better themselves; and it is the pride of great men to force those they have under their power to follow them, though ever so much against their duty and interest. These proud men compelled even Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch his scribe to go along with them to Egypt; they carried them away as prisoners, partly to punish them (and a greater punishment they could not inflict upon them than to force them against their consciences; theirs is the worst of tyranny who say to men's souls, even to good men's souls, Bow down, that we may go over), partly to put some reputation upon themselves and their own way. Though the prophets were under a force, they would make the world believe that they were voluntary in going along with them; and who could have blamed them for acting contrary to the word of the Lord if the prophets themselves had acted so? They came to Tahpanhes, a famous city of Egypt (so called from a queen of that name, Kg1 11:19), the same with Hanes (Isa 30:4); it was now the metropolis, for Pharaoh's house was there, Jer 43:9. No place could serve these proud men to settle in but the royal city and near the court, so little mindful were they of Joseph's wisdom, who would have his brethren settle in Goshen. If they had had the spirit of Israelites, they would have chosen rather to dwell in the wilderness of Judah than in the most pompous populous cities of Egypt.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–13 And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had…
And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people,.... The princes and the people, the whole body of them, who had desired the prophet to seek the Lord for them, and whom he called together to relate his answer, and declare his will; see Jer 42:1; they heard him out, and that was as much as they did; for as soon as he had done, they rose up and contradicted him: however, he faithfully declared
all the words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their God sent him to them, even all the words; which are related in the preceding chapter, which were the words of the Lord, and so ought to have been regarded; and the rather, as they were the words of their God, whom they professed, and which he had sent his prophet to declare unto them; and who had kept back nothing, but had made known the whole; he had told the truth, and nothing but the truth, and all the truth.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 7, 12, 13 Johanan and the commanders discredit Jeremiah's prophecy, ver. 1-3.…
Johanan and the commanders discredit Jeremiah's prophecy, ver. 1-3. and with the people, carry him and Baruch into Egypt, ver. 4-7. He prophesies by a type, the conquest of Egypt by the Babylonians, ver. 8-13.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13 The leading men, discrediting Jeremiah's prophecy, carry the
CHAPTER XLIII
The leading men, discrediting Jeremiah's prophecy, carry the
Read full note →
people into Egypt, 1-7.
Jeremiah, by a type, foretells the conquest of Egypt by
Nebuchadnezzar, 8-13.
This mode of conveying instruction by actions was very
expressive, and frequently practised by the prophets. The image
of Nebuchadnezzar arraying himself with Egypt, as a shepherd
puts on his garment, is very noble. Egypt at this time
contended with Babylon for the empire of the east; yet this
mighty kingdom, when God appoints the revolution, shifts its
owner with as much ease as a shepherd removes his tent or
garment, which the new proprietor has only to spread over him.
See Jer 43:12.
NOTES ON CHAP. XLIII
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv2, 4, 8, 10, 12 Jer 43:2-3. Then spake Azariah, the son of Hoshaiah…
Jer 43:2-3. Then spake Azariah, the son of Hoshaiah — Called Jazaniah, Jer 42:1. We may observe many like instances in the books of Kings and Chronicles, of the same persons being called by two different names. And all the proud men — They who refused to obey Almighty God when his commands crossed their own inclinations. Saying unto Jeremiah, The Lord hath not spoken by thee — The constant method of hypocrites and infidels, who pretend they are not satisfied of the truth of divine revelation, when the true cause of their unbelief is, that God’s commands contradict their own lusts and appetites. But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us — They would not directly accuse Jeremiah of partiality toward, or confederacy with the Chaldeans, as his enemies had done formerly, (Jer 37:13,) but they lay the blame upon Baruch, whom they knew to be an intimate companion of Jeremiah’s, and to have been kindly used by the Chaldeans upon Jeremiah’s account. — Lowth.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 These captains belonged to the party who had all…
These captains belonged to the party who had all along resisted Jeremiah’s counsels, and had led Zedekiah astray. Now however that events had proved that the prophet’s counsels had been wise and true, they cannot for shame find fault with him, but they affirm that he is under the influence of Baruch, a traitor who has sold himself to the Chaldaeans, and seeks only the hurt of the people.
These captains belonged to the party who had all along resisted Jeremiah’s counsels, and had led Zedekiah astray. Now however that events had proved that the prophet’s counsels had been wise and true, they cannot for shame find fault with him, but they affirm that he is under the influence of Baruch, a traitor who has sold himself to the Chaldaeans, and seeks only the hurt of the people.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 Proud and headstrong. (Calmet) --- Sinful people easily become…
Proud and headstrong. (Calmet) --- Sinful people easily become worse. They are guilty of calumny, and comply not with their promise, chap. xlii. 5. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv1, 8 1And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had…
8. THE FLIGHT TO EGYPT
Jer_43:1-7
Read full note →
1And it came to pass, that when Jeremiah had made an end1 of speaking unto all the people all the words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their God had 2sent him to them, even all these words, Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud2 men, saying3 unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into 3Egypt to sojourn there: but Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on [has excited thee]4 against us, for to deliver us into the land of the Chaldeans, that they might 4put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon. So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces [band-leaders], and all the people, 5obeyed not the voice of the Lord, to dwell in the land of Judah. But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all nations, whither they had been driven, to dwell in the 6land of Judah; even men, and women, and children, and the king’s daughters, and every person that Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard [halberdiers] had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, 7and Baruch the son of Neriah. So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord: thus came they even to Tahpanhes.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
On the communication, which Jeremiah made in the name of Jehovah to the Jews, these declared, that they regard it, not as a message from their God, but as the result of incitement by Baruch, who is friendly to the Chaldeans (Jer_43:1-3). Thereupon they, with the whole mass of the remaining population, including Jeremiah and Baruch, commence their journey to Egypt, where, on their arrival, they settle first in Tahpanhes (Jer_43:4-7).
Jer_43:1-3. And it came to pass . . . into Babylon. The phrase all these words indicates that the words written in Jeremiah 42 are an exact rendering of the prophet’s verbal communication. Comp. Jer_51:60.—On Azariah, the son of Hoshaiah. Comp. rems. on Jer_42:1.—On what facts this charge against Baruch was supported, it is difficult to perceive. From this book we learn only that Baruch was a faithful adherent and servant of the prophet. It was doubtless merely the circumstance that Baruch, to the envy of many, was the most intimate of all the Jews with Jeremiah, which gave a handle to the accusation.
Jer_43:4-7. So Johanan … Tahpanhes.—All the remnant of Judah. Those who had returned from the dispersion are mentioned first, probably because among them there were few or none of the “poor of the land ” (Jer_40:7) It seems surprising that in Jer_43:6 a specification follows which, on account of the mention of the king’s daughter, does not correspond to the general statement in Jer_43:5 b. But the specification concludes with children, and with king’s daughters commences the description of the second division of the remnant of Judah. Besides, those who had returned, viz., the king’s daughters and all the other souls are mentioned. If we consider that in Jer_43:5 a, the heads of those who had remained in the country are named as the subjects of the deportation, it is intelligible that besides these the princesses were the most eminent personages in this category (comp. Jer_41:10).—Every person. Comp. Jos_10:28. The expression is so general that it comprehends all the other members of (the remnant of Judah (comp. Jer_51:16).—On Tahpanhes comp. rems. on Jer_43:8.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Jer_40:1-3. “Although the calamity, which has come upon Jerusalem, is great and terrible, God does not allow such evil to befal it that good will not result from it, as the Chaldean captain not obscurely intimates, that he has made a fair beginning in the knowledge of the true God. For he confesses, first, that the God of the prophet is a lord; secondly, that He knows future things; thirdly, that He causes His servants to proclaim these beforehand; fourthly, that God has conducted the war and done everything; fifthly, that He was displeased with the sinful manners of the people (among which idolatry was the worst); sixthly, that He has punished their disobedience to His word.” Cramer.
2. On Jer_40:4. “The friendliness, shown to the prophet, appears to proceed from men, but it comes from God. For God’s works are all made so that they are hidden among the creatures; for as He conceals His wisdom in the creation of heaven and earth, as He hides His kindness in the fruits of the earth, so also He disguises His help in the king of Babylon. For God executes. His works now by rational and anon by irrational creatures. As when He fed Elijah by the widow and by the ravens and by the angels (1Ki_17:3 sqq.; 14 sqq. and Jer_19:5). For all are His instruments.” Cramer.
3. On Jer_40:2-3. “Nebusaradan attestatione sua comprobat et confirmat veritatem ac certitudinem prædictionum prophetæ. Unde haud inscite colligi conjicique potest, quod Satrapa ille Babylonicus præditus fuerit agnitione veri Dei eâque salvatus. Et sic Deus subinde aliquos ex Magnatibus ad sui agnitionem et æternam salutem traducit (Psalms 68). Potest istud exemplum ἐλεγκτικῶς obverti absoluto Calvinianorum decreto.” Förster.
4. On Jer_40:5. “In this, that Jeremiah preferred remaining in the country to going to Babylon, it strikes me further—that a discreet man, who knows the world and his heart and the true interest of God’s cause—is as much as possible contented, and does not think to better himself by going further. He is willing to remain at court unknown, and at any rate he would rather be taken away than go away.—The advice, which Solomon gives, is verified, ‘Stand not in the place of great men.’ We are a generation of the cross, and our symbol is ‘an evil name and little understood.’ ” Zinzendorf.
5. On Jer_40:5. In Babylonia honor and a comfortable life invited the prophet, in Judea danger, dishonor and need in the desolated country. In Babylonia a respectable field of labor was opened to him among the great mass of his people, in Judea he had only rabble and condottieri about him. Jeremiah, however, was not a bad patriot, as many accused him of being. By remaining in Judea he showed that the import of his prophecies, apparently friendly to the Chaldeans and hostile to the Jews, had proceeded from the purest love to his people and his fatherland. Thus he imitated Moses, of whom it is written in Heb_11:25, that he chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. The holy ground of the fatherland bound him to it, and in addition—if he went, who was to take spiritual oversight of the poor forsaken remnant, to proclaim the word of God and bestow on them consolation and admonition? Those who were in Babylon had Ezekiel. And could not the Lord raise up other prophets for them? So he remained with the sheep, who had no shepherd. Jeremiah had not sought his own through his whole life, nor did he here.
6. On Jer_40:7 sqq. “Human reason, and indeed nature shows, that in worldly government men cannot be without a head. For as the been cannot be without a queen, or the sheep without a shepherd, so no large number of people can exist without a head and government. God has wisely ordered it, and we should be thankful for the authorities.” Cramer.
7. On Jer_40:11 sqq. We may well perceive in this “remnant of Judah” a fulfilment of the prophecy in Isa_6:11 sqq.: “Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, and Jehovah have removed men far away, and great is the forsaking in the midst of the land. And if a tenth remains in it, this again must be removed. Yet as the terebinth and the oak, in which when they are felled, a ground-stock still remains, so is its stock a holy scion.”
8. On Jer_40:13 sqq. Gedaliah, in whom not only Nebuchadnezzar, but also his people, had confidence, must have been a noble man, to whom it was difficult to think evil of his neighbor. “Those who are of a pious disposition, cannot believe so much evil, as is told of people. But we must not trust too much, for the world is full of falseness (Wisd. 37:3). He who believes too easily, will be often deceived, and he who believes no one is also deceived. Therefore is he indeed a happy man, who can preserve the golden mean.” Cramer.
9. On Jer_40:13 sqq. “Misfortune is like the waves of the sea; when one is broken another follows, and the end of one trouble is the beginning of others.” Cramer.
10. On Jer_41:1-3. “Judas’s kiss and Jacob’s brethren are very common in the world and take after their grandfather Cain, who spake kindly to Abel and yet had blood-thirsty thoughts (Gen_4:8). Yea, they take after their father, the devil, who is a murderous spirit (Joh_8:44), and disguises himself as an angel of light (2Co_11:14).” Cramer.
11. On Jer_41:1 sqq. “Similia perfidiæ exempla (simulatæ fraternitatis): 2Sa_13:24; 2Sa_20:9 sq. Quadrat etiam huc historia nuptiarum Parisiensium celebratum 1572 mense Augusto.” Förster.
12. On Jer_41:4 sqq.
“Murder and avarice love to go with each other,
And one crime is often a prolific mother.”—Cramer.
13. On Jer_41:16 sqq. It is very remarkable that even this last centre and rendezvous of the unfortunate people must be destroyed. It might be supposed that with the destruction of the city and deportation of the people the judgments would have terminated. It seems as if the deed of Ishmael and the removal of the remnant to Egypt transcended the measure of punishment fixed by Jehovah, for the Lord did not send Ishmael, and the removal to Egypt He directly forbade. And yet it seems that only by Ishmael’s act and the flight to Egypt could the land obtain its Sabbath rest, which is spoken of in Lev_26:34-35.
14. On Jer_42:1-6. “Had not Johanan and his people asked for advice, but gone directly to Egypt, their sin would not have been so great. They feigned, however, submission to the will of God, while they yet adhered to their own will. It is a common fault for people to ask advice while they are firmly resolved what they will do. For they inquire not to learn what is right, but only to receive encouragement to do what they wish. If we advise them according to their inclination they take our advice, if not, they reject it.—We must be on our guard when we appeal to God’s decision, that we do not previously decide for ourselves. For thus we fall into hypocrisy, which is the most fatal intoxication and blindness.” Heim and Hoffman, The Major Prophets. [“Those will justly lose their comfort in real fears, that excuse themselves in sin with pretended fears.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
15. On Jer_42:7. After the murder of Gedaliah the anger of Nebuchadnezzar seemed inevitable. But the Lord, to whom nothing is impossible (Jer_32:17), promises to perform a miracle, and restore Israel to new prosperity in their land if they will give Him the honor and trust in Him. Nebuchadnezzar’s heart is indeed in His hand. If this is not acknowledged and Nebuchadnezzar more feared than the Lord, their sin is then against the first commandment.
16. On Jer_42:13 sqq. “God reminds His people of the favor with which He adopted them as His people, which was the most sacred obligation to obedience; that Egypt was to them a land of destruction, a forbidden land, as indeed all confidence in human aid is forbidden to those who would live by faith, which was known to them from the history of their fathers and all the prophets. It is a great sin to deem one’s self safer under the protection of man than under that of God. It is incomprehensible, how blind unbelief makes people, so that the Jews have not yet learned the truth in the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple of God.” Heim and Hoffman. “Fides futurorum certa est ex præcedentibus.” Tertull. “Venient hæc quoque sicut ista venerunt.” Augustin.—Förster.
17. On Jer_43:2 sqq. “Hypocrites forsooth do not wish to be regarded as rejecting and setting themselves in opposition to God’s word, or accusing God of falsehood. For then is all the world pious, and no one refuses to be submissive to the dear Lord. God is truly God and remains so. It is only against this parson Jeremiah that they must act he lies, he is not sent, his ruling and preaching cannot be endured.” Cramer.
18. On Jer_43:3. “Observe the old diabolical trick: when preachers practice God’s word and their office with zeal, the world understands how to baptize it with another name and call it personal interest, as even here Baruch must bear the blame, as if he only wished to vent his anger on them and be contrary,” Cramer.
19. On Jer_43:6. The ancients here examine the question why Jeremiah accompanied the people to Egypt and take occasion to discuss the 1 Comm. de fuga ministrorum with reference to Augustin. Epist. 150 ad Honorar. With respect to Jeremiah, it is clear that he did all in his power to avert the journey to Egypt. After the whole people, however, were once on their way it was impossible for him and Baruch to remain alone in the deserted country. They were obliged to go with their flock. The more these were wandering, the more need they had of the shepherds. Thus, even if they were not compelled, they had to go with them. It seems, however, to follow from the expression וַיִַּקּח, Jer_43:5, that no choice was given them. The people wished to have the prophet with them. In no case can we say that Jeremiah fled, for according to his own prophecy, he knew that he was going to meet ruin in Egypt.
20. On Jer_43:8-13. At the present day when we wish to convey to posterity the account of some accomplished fact, or the prediction of some fact to be accomplished (ex. gr. a last testament), we take paper and ink, write it down, seal it, have it subscribed by witnesses and preserve it in the registrar’s or recorder’s office. In ancient times they took a simpler and surer way. Jacob and Laban simply erected a heap of stones (Genesis 31), the two and a half tribes (Joshua 22) built an altar on the bank of the Jordan. As long as the heap and the altar were standing, the record was transmitted from generation to generation for what object these stone witnesses were set up, and thus, that which it was desired to convey to posterity lived in the memory of men. Jeremiah also knows how to use ink and pen (Jeremiah 32), but here he returns once more to the old manner of preserving archives. He simply places great stones in the clay, declaring what they signify, viz., that here, on this spot, Nebuchadnezzar’s tent shall stand. Whether the Egyptians and Jews then believed him or not, is of no consequence. The record of these stones and their meaning at any rate remained alive, and the Lord’s word was thus safely preserved till the day of its fulfilment.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer_40:1-12; Jer_41:1-3; Jer_42:1-16. Israel, the chosen nation, is in its destinies a type of human life in general. Consider only the exodus from Egypt. So also the destinies of the people of Israel, after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, are pretypical. For 1. The deportation of the whole people in chains and fetters is a type of our universal human misery, from which no one (not even Jeremiah) is free. 2. The fate of Gedaliah and the journey to Egypt is a type of the insufficiency of all mere human help. 3. As the Jews after Gedaliah’s murder, so men at all times, find protection and deliverance in the Lord alone.
2. On Jer_40:1-6. The Christian in the tumult of the world. 1. He is regarded externally like others. 2. The eye of the Lord watches with special care over him, so that (a) not a hair of his head is bent, (b) all his wants are provided for. 3. He, however, on his part directs all his efforts to the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and will not be turned aside from this either by the violence or the friendliness of the world.
3. On Jer_40:7 to Jer_41:3. Gedaliah’s fate an example of what befals even the most noble in times of deep corruption. 1. They enjoy general confidence. 2. They are incapable of attributing extreme wickedness to men. 3. They become a sacrifice to their confidence. 4. They are therefore not in a condition to stay the divine judgments.
4. On Jer_42:1-16. What is the surest way of coming to the right conclusion in difficult cases? 1. To inquire of the Lord. 2. To obey unconditionally the direction which the Lord communicates. [“We must still in faith pray to be guided by a spirit of wisdom in our hearts, and the hints of Providence.” Henry.—S. R. A.]
5. On Jer_43:1-7. Characteristic example of the artfulness of the human heart: the Jews inquire of the Lord and promise to obey His direction (Jer_42:20). But when the direction does not accord with their wish, they at once declare it to be supposititious, not from the Lord. The prophet must be a liar, an alleged enemy has incited him. But what was long previously determined in the heart is obstinately brought to execution. [“Those that are resolved to contradict the great ends of the ministry, are industrious to bring a bad name upon it. It is well for persons who are thus misrepresented that their witness is in heaven, and their record on high.” Henry.—S. R. A.].
6. On Jer_43:8-13. The ways of the Lord are wonderful. Israel flees before Nebuchadnezzar far away to Egypt. But there they are not safe. The Lord causes it to be proclaimed to them that at the entrance of the king’s palace at Tahpanhes Nebuchadnezzar’s tent shall stand. Now indeed there is a brick-kiln there, in the clay of which Jeremiah is to place stones, the foundation stones, as it were, for the Chaldean king’s pavilion. Thus the Lord lays the germs of future events, and whatever He prepares in secret He reveals in His own time to the glory of His wisdom, omniscience and omnipotence.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 Baruch--He being the younger spake out the revelations which…
Baruch--He being the younger spake out the revelations which he received from Jeremiah more vehemently. From this cause, and from their knowing that he was in favor with the Chaldeans, arose their suspicion of him. Their perverse fickleness was astonishing. In the forty-second chapter they acknowledged the trustworthiness of Jeremiah, of which they had for so long so many proofs; yet here they accuse him of a lie. The mind of the unregenerate man is full of deceits.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 THE JOURNEY TO EGYPT, Jer_43:1-7.
THE JOURNEY TO EGYPT, Jer_43:1-7.
2. Azariah — See note on Jer_42:1. Possibly the change in the order of the names of Johanan and Azariah or Jezaniah indicates that the latter was the leader in this opposition against the prophet. Johanan now comes before us in a new light. Before we knew him as the friend of Gedaliah and the avenger of his death, but now the opposer and persecutor of Jeremiah.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv8–13 8. in Tahpanhes] The exiles would be compelled to…
8. in Tahpanhes] The exiles would be compelled to halt at this frontier-fortress (now Tell Defneh) in order to secure permission to sojourn in the country, and obtain if possible such recognition from the king as would help to supply them with means of subsistence.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 (2) Azariah the son of Hoshaiah.—The LXX., it will…
XLIII.
(2) Azariah the son of Hoshaiah.—The LXX., it will be remembered, gives this name in Jer_42:1, where the Hebrew has Jezaniah. Possibly, however, as suggested above, the two names represent brothers who were both prominent as leaders of the people. Here, we may note, he takes precedence of Johanan, probably as the chief spokesman of the prevailing discontent. The special mention of “all the proud men” suggests the thought that there were some who, left to themselves, would have been willing to follow the prophet’s counsel. Those who join in the protest content themselves with a flat denial of his inspiration, and charge him, as he had been charged before (Jer_37:13), with sinister intentions. It is suggestive, in connexion with the view taken in the Note on Jer_42:17, that the LXX., following apparently a different reading of the Hebrew, gives “all the aliens” instead of “all the proud.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 The flight to Egypt; Jeremiah"s prediction of Nebuchadnezzar"s conquest…
The flight to Egypt; Jeremiah"s prediction of Nebuchadnezzar"s conquest of Egypt.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY Vers. 1-13. Hearts set to do evil.
Read full note →
Such were the hearts of these Jews. They show concerning such
I THAT AFFLICTION WALL NOT ALTER THEM. It is not always true that affliction will make the heart better. It serves this blessed end with some cf. "Before I was afflicted I went," etc. but not with all. Did not in this case, but though "often reproved," they only "hardened their neck.
II PRAYERS AND PROFESSION OF RELIGION DO NOT CONTROL THEM. They can go together. Alas! that it should be so; but they will not rule. They are but so many cobwebs, which the heart set to do evil will break through as easily as a man breaks through the gossamer filaments which stretch across the path on which he is walking.
III PRETEXTS AND PRETENCES ARE ALWAYS READY TO EXCUSE THEM. "Thou speakest falsely," they said to God"s prophet. "Baruch... hath set thee on." So, so pitifully, they try to justify themselves.
IV GOD DOES NOT INTERFERE TO PREVENT THEM. We often wish be would, depriving us of our liberty when it would only do us ill. But his method is to let us go our own ways, and if, as is so wretchedly often the case, they be evil ways, then, when we are filled with the fruit of them, we may come to a better mind, and so more firmly choose the good which we should have chosen at the first. How much happier a man forever that younger son would have been if he had never previously left his father"s home for that far country!
V TERRIBLE JUDGMENTS ARE SURE TO FOLLOW THEM. They did in this case; they always do sooner or later. For the will must bend to God.
VI GOD"S FAITHFUL SERVANTS WILL NOT BE DISMAYED BY THEM. See how bold as a lion is the prophet of God; how fearlessly he denounces his people"s sin. Oh, for fidelity such as that in all the prophets of the Lord! C.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG Ver. 1. The view of a prophet"s complete work.
I A PROPHET IS ONE WHO HAS TO SPEAK THE WORDS OF JEHOVAH. Not his own words, not the words of other men. This applies to the substance of the message; for it is plain that each prophet has his own style. The chief thing to be remembered is that a prophet never goes forth on his own impulse. Men in their zeal for right may go out to protest against wrong and fight against it, but this does not make them prophets. The prophet"s strength and claim and responsibility lie in this, that he can ever preface his announcements by "Thus saith the Lord." And all preachers and teachers will approach the prophet"s position just in proportion to the extent in which they can fill their addresses with Divine declarations. The essential elements of prophecy can never be out of place.
II HE HAS TO SPEAK ALL THE WORDS OF JEHOVAH. The prophet is not to be an eclectic, picking out some of God"s words as suitable and others as unsuitable. God"s omniscience can alone judge what is suitable. If to him it seems suitable a word should be spoken, then it is suitable. God speaks not to apparent needs, but to real ones. God, always saying something for the present, makes his weightiest words to bear upon the future. The responsibility of the prophet is simply that of being a brave and faithful messenger.
III HE IS SENT TO SPEAK THESE WORDS. He does not merely take up words of Jehovah which he thinks suitable for the emergency. This is his work to act as a special messenger from Heaven. Others have to expound the Word already spoken, already written; but the prophet hears a voice directly from the excellent glory, "Go and make known my will to men." And in all prophecy there is evidence, to one who will look for it, that the prophet is a sent man.
IV HE HAS TO SPEAK WORDS TO THOSE ON WHOM GOD HAS A CLAIM. Jehovah is not only the God of Jeremiah, he is the God of all the people. This was a historical fact of which they could not get rid. It was the glory, security, and blessing of the people, if only they could see it. And is not Jehovah also our God? God coming for a while more closely in contact with one nation, that ultimately he may be in contact with all. If we admit the claim of Jesus, we admit the claim of Jehovah also. He speaks through ancient prophets to us, because the essentials of their message have to do with the permanent life of men.
V HE SPEAKS TO ALL THE PEOPLE. In this particular instance the request came from all the people, so the message was correspondingly to all. Prophets, of course, had often messages for particular men, but even these messages are so founded upon general principles as to become worthy the attention of all. Prophecy concerns man as man; it meets the young with dawning consciousness, and grasps the old till their latest hour.
VI THE PROPHET MUST TAKE CARE TO MAKE AN END OF HIS PROPHECY. He does not simply cease speaking; he has to make people feel he has said all he has to say, and that the time has come for them to have their say, or rather for them to enter with promptitude and devotion upon corresponding deeds. They may not hear all they would like to know, and thus it must be made clear they have been told all that it is good for them to know. With God all things are for edifying, not to inform curiosity or comply with every actual desire. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v8 Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them…
Jer_43:8-13
Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brick kiln.
Read full note →
Jeremiah hides the stones in the brick kiln
I. They preached of the historic past.
1. From the soil in which they were found. They were stones of Egypt.
2. The place where they were buried--the brick kiln--must have carried their thoughts back to the hard labour of their ancestors under the lash of the taskmasters (Exo_9:8).
3. The burial of the stones beneath the ground might have suggested the past condition of Israel in this same land; they were buried under the oppressive tyranny of the heathen monarch and his people, and had been raised, as it were, from a grave of degradation and lifted into a new life as a free people by the mighty hand of God.
II. They prophesied of the future.
1. The only refuge from the displeasure of God is to be found in God Himself.
2. Unbelief in the Divine Word will not prevent the fulfilment of it.
3. The true minister of God will not be deterred by opposition from declaring the judgments, as well as the mercies, of God. (A London Minister.)
.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v8 Jer_43:8-13, Jer_44:30, Jeremiah 46
CHAPTER XVII
EGYPT
Read full note →
Jer_43:8-13, Jer_44:30, Jeremiah 46
"I will visit Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods and their kings: even Pharaoh and all them that trust in him." Jer_46:25
THE kings of Egypt with whom Jeremiah was contemporary-Psammetichus II, Pharaoh Necho, and Pharaoh Hophra-belonged to the twenty-sixth dynasty. When growing distress at home compelled Assyria to loose her hold on her distant dependencies, Egypt still retained something of her former vigorous elasticity. In the rebound from subjection under the heavy hand of Sennacherib, she resumed her ancient forms of life and government. She regained her unity and independence, and posed afresh as an equal rival with Chaldea for the supremacy of Western Asia. At home there was a renascence of art and literature, and, as of old, the wealth and devotion of powerful monarchs restored the ancient temples and erected new shrines of their own.
But this revival was no new growth springing up with a fresh and original life from the seeds of the past; it cannot rank with the European Renascence of the fifteenth century. It is rather to be compared with the reorganisations by which Diocletian and Constantine prolonged the decline of the Roman Empire, the rally of a strong constitution in the grip of mortal disease. These latter-day Pharaohs failed ignominiously in their attempts to recover the Syrian dominion of the Thothmes and Rameses; and, like the Roman Empire in its last centuries, the Egypt of the twenty-sixth dynasty surrendered itself to Greek influence and hired foreign mercenaries to fight its battles. The new art and literature were tainted by pedantic archaism. According to Brugsch, "Even to the newly created dignities and titles, the return to ancient times had become the general watchword. The stone door posts of this age reveal the old Memphian style of art, mirrored in its modern reflection after the lapse of four thousand years." Similarly Meyer tells us that apparently the Egyptian state was reconstituted on the basis of a religious revival, somewhat in the fashion of the establishment of Deuteronomy by Josiah.
Inscriptions after the time of Psammetichus are written in archaic Egyptian of a very ancient past; it is often difficult to determine at first sight whether inscriptions belong to the earliest or latest period of Egyptian history.
The superstition that sought safety in an exact reproduction of a remote antiquity could not, however, resist the fascination of Eastern demonology. According to Brugsch, (2:293) in the age called the Egyptian Renascence the old Egyptian theology was adulterated with Graeco-Asiatic elements - demons and genii of whom the older faith and its purer doctrine had scarcely an idea; exorcisms became a special science, and are favourite themes for the inscriptions of this period. Thus, amid many differences, there are also to be found striking resemblances between the religious movements of the period in Egypt and amongst the Jews, and corresponding difficulties in determining the dates of Egyptian inscriptions and of sections of the Old Testament.
This enthusiasm for ancient custom and tradition was not likely to commend the Egypt of Jeremiahs age to any student of Hebrew history. He would be reminded that the dealings of the Pharaohs with Israel had almost always been to its hurt; he would remember the Oppression and the Exodus-how, in the time of Solomon, friendly intercourse with Egypt taught that monarch lessons in magnificent tyranny, how Shishak plundered the Temple, how Isaiah had denounced the Egyptian alliance as a continual snare to Judah. A Jewish prophet would be prompt to discern the omens of coming ruin in the midst of renewed prosperity on the Nile.
Accordingly at the first great crisis of the new international system; in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, either just before or just after the battle of Carchemish-it matters little which-Jeremiah takes up his prophecy against Egypt. First of all, with an ostensible friendliness which only masks his bitter sarcasm, he invites the Egyptians to take the field:-
"Prepare buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.
Harness the horses to the chariots, mount the chargers,
Stand forth armed cap-a-pie for battle;
Furbish the spears, put on the coats of mail."
This great host with its splendid equipment must surely conquer. The prophet professes to await its triumphant return; but he sees instead a breathless mob of panic-stricken fugitives, and pours upon them the torrent of his irony:-
"How is it that I behold this?
These heroes are dismayed and have turned their backs;
Their warriors have been beaten down;
They flee apace, and do not look behind them:
Terror on every side-is the utterance of Jehovah."
Then irony passes into explicit malediction:-
"Let not the swift flee away, nor the warrior escape;
Away northward, they stumble and fall by the river Euphrates."
Then, in a new strophe, Jeremiah again recurs in imagination to the proud march of the countless hosts of Egypt:
"Who is this that riseth up like the Nile,
Whose waters toss themselves like the rivers?
Egypt riseth up like the Nile,
His waters toss themselves like the rivers.
And he saith, I will go up and cover the land"
(like the Nile in flood);
"I will destroy the cities and their inhabitants"
(and, above all other cities, Babylon).
Again the prophet urges them on with ironical encouragement:-
"Go up, ye horses; rage, ye chariots;
Ethiopians and Libyans that handle the shield,
Lydians that handle and bend the bow"
(the tributaries and mercenaries of Egypt).
Then, as before, he speaks plainly of coming disaster:
"That day is a day of vengeance for the Lord Jehovah Sabaoth, whereon He will avenge Him of His adversaries"
(a day of vengeance upon Pharaoh Necho for Megiddo and Josiah).
"The sword shall devour and be sated, and drink its fill of their blood:
For the Lord Jehovah Sabaoth hath a sacrifice in the northern land, by the river Euphrates."
In a final strophe, the prophet turns to the land left bereaved and defenceless by the defeat at Carchemish:-
"Go up to Gilead and get thee balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt:
In vain dost thou multiply medicines; thou canst not be healed.
The nations have heard of thy shame, the earth is full of thy cry:
For warrior stumbles against warrior; they fall both together."
Nevertheless the end was not yet. Egypt was wounded to death, but she was to linger on for many a long year to be a snare to Judah and to vex the righteous soul of Jeremiah. The reed was broken, but it still retained an appearance of soundness, which more than once tempted the Jewish princes to lean upon it and find their hands pierced for their pains. Hence, as we have seen already, Jeremiah repeatedly found occasion to reiterate the doom of Egypt, of Nechos successor, Pharaoh Hophra, and of the Jewish refugees who had sought safety under his protection. In the concluding part of chapter 46, a prophecy of uncertain date sets forth the ruin of Egypt with rather more literary finish than in the parallel passages.
This word of Jehovah was to be proclaimed in Egypt, and especially in the frontier cities, which would have to bear the first brunt of invasion:-
"Declare in Egypt, proclaim in Migdol, proclaim in Noph and Tahpanhes:
Say ye, Take thy stand and be ready, for the sword hath devoured round about thee.
Why hath Apis fled and thy calf not stood?
Because Jehovah overthrew it."
Memphis was devoted to the worship of Apis, incarnate in the sacred bull; but now Apis must succumb to the mightier divinity of Jehovah, and his sacred city become a prey to the invaders.
"He maketh many to stumble; they fall one against another.
Then they say, Arise, and let us return to our own people
And to our native land, before the oppressing sword."
We must remember that the Egyptian armies were largely composed of foreign mercenaries. In the hour of disaster and defeat these hirelings would desert their employers and go home.
"Give unto Pharaoh king of Egypt the name. Crash; he hath let the appointed time pass by."
The form of this enigmatic sentence is probably due to a play upon Egyptian names and titles. When the allusions are forgotten, such paronomasia naturally results in hopeless obscurity. The "appointed time" has been explained as the period during which Jehovah gave Pharaoh the opportunity of repentance, or as that within which he might have submitted to Nebuchadnezzar on favourable terms.
"As I live, is the utterance of the King, whose name is Jehovah Sabaoth,
One shall come like Tabor among the mountains and like Carmel by the sea."
It was not necessary to name this terrible invader; it could be no other than Nebuchadnezzar.
"Get thee gear for captivity, O daughter of Egypt, that dwellest in thine own land:
For Noph shall become a desolation, and shall be burnt up and left without inhabitants.
Egypt is a very fair heifer, but destruction is come upon her from the north."
This tempest shattered the Greek phalanx in which Pharaoh trusted:-
"Even her mercenaries in the midst of her are like calves of the stall;
Even they have turned and fled together, they have not stood:
For their day of calamity hath come upon them, their day of reckoning."
We do not look for chronological sequence in such a poem, so that this picture of the flight and destruction of the mercenaries is not necessarily later in time than their overthrow and contemplated desertion in Jer_46:15. The prophet is depicting a scene of bewildered confusion; the disasters that fell thick upon Egypt crowd into Giesebrecht, his vision without order or even coherence. Now he turns again to Egypt herself:-
"Her voice goeth forth like the (low hissing of) the serpent;
For they come upon her with a mighty army, and with axes like woodcutters."
A like fate is predicted in Isa_29:4 for "Ariel, the city where David dwelt":-
"Thou shalt be brought low and speak from the ground;
Thou shalt speak with a low voice out of the dust;
Thy voice shall come from the ground, like that of a familiar spirit,
And thou shalt speak in a whisper from the dust."
Thus too Egypt would seek to writhe herself from under the heel of the invader: hissing out the while her impotent fury, she would seek to glide away into some safe refuge amongst the underwood. Her dominions, stretching far up the Nile, were surely vast enough to afford her shelter somewhere: but no! the "woodcutters" are too many and too mighty for her:-
"They cut down her forest-it is the utterance of Jehovah for it is impenetrable;
For they are more than the locusts, and are innumerable."
The whole of Egypt is overrun and subjugated; no district holds out against the invader, and remains unsubjugated to form the nucleus of a new and independent empire.
"The daughter of Egypt is put to shame; she is delivered into the hand of the northern people."
Her gods share her fate; Apis had succumbed at Memphis, but Egypt had countless other stately shrines whose denizens must own the overmastering might of Jehovah:-
"Thus saith Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel:
Behold, I will visit Amon of No,
And Pharaoh, and Egypt, and all her gods and kings,
Even Pharaoh and all who trust in him."
Amon of No, or Thebes, known to the Greeks as Ammon and called by his own worshippers Amen, or "the hidden one," is apparently mentioned with Apis as sharing the primacy of the Egyptian divine hierarchy. On the fall of the twentieth dynasty, the high priest of the Theban Amen became king of Egypt, and centuries afterwards Alexander the Great made a special pilgrimage to the temple in the oasis of Ammon and was much gratified at being there hailed son of the deity.
Probably the prophecy originally ended with this general threat of "visitation" of Egypt and its human and divine rulers. An editor, however, has added, from parallel passages, the more definite but sufficiently obvious statement that Nebuchadnezzar and his servants were to be the instruments of the Divine visitation.
A further addition is in striking contrast to the sweeping statements of Jeremiah:-
"Afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old."
Similarly, Ezekiel foretold a restoration for Egypt:-
"At the end of forty years, I will gather the Egyptians, and will cause them to returnto their native land: and they shall be there a base kingdom: it shall be the basest of the kingdoms." {Eze_29:13-15}
And elsewhere we read yet more gracious promises to Egypt:-
"Israel shall be a third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land: whom Jehovah Sabaoth shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance." {Isa_19:25}
Probably few would claim to discover in history any literal fulfilment of this last prophecy. Perhaps it might have been appropriated for the Christian Church in the days of Clement and Origen. We may take Egypt and Assyria as types of heathendom, which shall one day receive the blessings of the Lords people and of the work of His hands. Of political revivals and restorations Egypt has had her share. But less interest attaches to these general prophecies than to more definite and detailed predictions; and there is much curiosity as to any evidence which monuments and other profane witnesses may furnish as to a conquest of Egypt and capture of Pharaoh Hophra by Nebuchadnezzar.
According to Herodotus, Apries (Hophra) was defeated and imprisoned by his successor Amasis, afterwards delivered up by him to the people of Egypt, who forthwith strangled their former king. This event would be an exact fulfilment of the words, "I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life," {Jer_44:30} if it were not evident from parallel passages {Jer_46:25} that the Book of Jeremiah intends Nebuchadnezzar to be the enemy into whose hands Pharaoh is to be delivered. But Herodotus is entirely silent as to the relations of Egypt and Babylon during this period; for instance, he mentions the victory of Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo-which he miscalls Magdolium-but not his defeat at Carehemish. Hence his silence as to Chaldean conquests in Egypt has little weight. Even the historians explicit statement as to the death of Apries might be reconciled with his defeat and capture by Nebuchadnezzar, if we knew all the facts. At present, however, the inscriptions do little to fill the gap left by the Greek historian; there are, however, references which seem to establish two invasions of Egypt by the Chaldean king, one of which fell in the reign of Pharaoh Hophra. But the spiritual lessons of this and the following prophecies concerning the nations are not dependent on the spade of the excavator or the skill of the decipherers of hieroglyphics and cuneiform script; whatever their relation may be to the details of subsequent historical events, they remain as monuments of the inspired insight of the prophet into the character and destiny alike of great empires and petty states. They assert the Divine government of the nations, and the subordination of all history to the coming of the Kingdom of God.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—1. Chronology of the Chapter.—Continuous with…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES.—1. Chronology of the Chapter.—Continuous with the preceding.
2. National Affairs.—The miserable “remnant” (Jer_43:5-6) left by Nebuchadnezzar, now controlled by wilful men, were led away to Egypt, and reach Tahpanhes (Jer_43:7).
Read full note →
3. Contemporaneous History.—Probably, in Egypt, at this very time Pharaoh’s palace was in course of erection; for the mention (Jer_43:9) of the “brick-kiln” and “clay” [i.e. mortar] “at the entry of Pharaoh’s house” implies this. The deadly struggle between the Chaldeans, under Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and the Egyptians, under Pharaoh-Hophra, for ascendency in the East, was now at its fiercest heat. In Jer_43:10 the issue of the struggle is predicted; and Josephus states that on the fifth year after the overthrow of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar, leaving the siege of Tyre, undertook his expedition to Egypt (Antiq. X. ix. 7).
4. Geographical References.—Jer_43:7. “Into the land of Egypt to Tahpanhes,” vide note, chap. Jer_2:16, in loc. This place, being on the frontier of Egypt towards Palestine, they naturally come to first.
Jer_43:13. “Beth-shemesh,” i.e. the house, or temple, of the Sun, known to us by its Greek name “Heliopolis,” and in Hebrew by “On,” a very ancient city of Egypt. It is situate on the east of the Nile, a few miles south of Memphis, vide note, chap. Jer_2:16, in loc. Ruins of its celebrated Temple of the Sun, and an obelisk, nearly seventy feet high, covered with hieroglyphics, still remain to mark its site.
5. Manners and Customs.—“He shall spread his royal pavilion over them,” i.e. a canopy, which, being very ornate with gilt and gorgeous work, is described as a glittering canopy. Oriental monarchs have such an adorned parasol held over them for protection from the sun’s rays.
Literary Criticisms.—Jer_43:10. The word rendered “royal pavilion,” שַׁפְרוּר is from שָׁפַר, to be polished, shining, beautiful.
Jer_43:12. “I will kindle, and he shall burn them.” The change of persons seems abrupt; and “he shall kindle” seems better. The LXX., Syriac, and Vulgate so read; and the difference is effected by a transposition [possibly a penman’s slip in the Hebrew] of the final letters, הצית for הצתי.
SUBJECT OF CHAPTER 43
JEREMIAH CARRIED INTO EGYPT
Jer_43:1-6. Theme: WILFULNESS TAKING ITS OWN COURSE. See homilies on preceding chapter. In a wilful career—
I. Arrogance leads the way. All the “proud men” (Jer_43:2). Pride is the pioneer of wilfulness; and wilfulness leads on to rebellion against God.
II. Sinister unbelief comes to its aid. Baruch, being the younger man, naturally would protest more vehemently against their departure for Egypt. This the “proud men” interpret as betraying a preference for the Chaldeans. So they fortify their own self-will, and charge lies on God’s servants in their own justification.
Notes.—Henry remarks: “Those that are resolved to contradict the great ends of the ministry, are industrious to bring a bad name upon it.” And Cramer: “Observe the old diabolical trick; when preachers practise God’s word and their office with zeal, the world understands how to conflict it with another name and call it personal interest.”
III. Impious disobedience follows in its train. “So all … obeyed not the voice of the Lord” (Jer_43:4), &c. Such defiance is the natural and necessary outgrowth of wilfulness.
IV. Overpowering force completes its designs (Jer_43:5-6). No resisting its violence. The good in a man is compelled to yield as well as the evil in him; as here, Jeremiah and Baruch were carried off with the people. For when once Wilfulness becomes regnant, it overpowers the less vehement forces and bears all before it.
Jer_43:2. Theme: PROUD MEN.
I. Proud men are distinguished for their disbelief of the Divine testimony.
1. Some deny the record God has given of creation; array geology against Moses.
2. Others disbelieve the record of miracles, on the plea that God never can depart from the great laws by which He governs the universe. Yet it is now a law that man comes into existence by propagation, and as a babe; but it is certain that the first man did not come into being by propagation. Here, then, is action by God apart from law; and if one instance stands, so may all supernatural records.
3. Others disbelieve the record of salvation by Jesus Christ; call Christianity a myth; they will not bow to the Crucified One; will not admit their guilt, &c.
II. Proud men not only dishonour God by disbelieving His testimony, and thus pave the way to their own destruction; they are accessories to the ruin of others.
1. Others endorse their scepticism, imbibe their views, follow their example, and thus perish through their misleading.
2. Pride has prompted kings and potentates to all the sanguinary wars that have desolated lands and homes.
III. Pride being so hateful to God, He specially honours and approves humility.
1. Humility was the garment in which Christ was arrayed when He came into the world. “He took upon Him the form of a servant.”
2. This adornment of Christ should be the garment of Christians. “Be clothed with humility.”
3. Thus attired, proud men may despise us. But though they occupy high stations, “the lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man shall be brought low,” &c.
4. But while God resisteth the proud, He giveth grace to the humble. He who inhabits eternity has promised to dwell with the lowly. Thus attired, good men will esteem us, angels will look upon us with complacency, and God will crown us with His richest favour.—“Walks with Jeremiah,” Rev. D. Pledge.
Jer_43:5-7. Theme: LIFE’S AIM DEFEATED. “So the captains took … Jeremiah and Baruch … into the land of Egypt.”
I. The ill most dreaded was eventually realised. Nothing could be more bitter to Jeremiah than this being carried at last to Egypt.
1. Throughout his whole prophetio career he had pleaded with his nation against looking towards Egypt for any befriending. It is the sum of his prophetic ministry: “Go not into Egypt” (Jer_43:2).
2. At the downfall of Jerusalem he had chosen to stay with the “remnant” in his own land, rather than go away into Chaldea; prompted thereto by a noble patriotism (chap. Jer_40:4-6).
3. The penalty of his faithful service of his country comes now in the most odious form it could assume, forced to go to the country from which he most instinctively recoils (Jer_43:6-7).
Note.—How hard at times seems “the irony of fate!” as the worldly call it; but the ordering of Providence!
“Life’s hopes o’erturned, its projects crossed!”
II. Godly men entailed in the calamities of impiety.
1. Their ministry for God and their people cruelly resisted and repudiated (Jer_43:2).
2. Their wise and self-sacrificing career contemned amid the excitement and passion of a popular caprice.
3. The very wrongs inflicted upon them which they most dread.
Notes.—(1.) How painful in his old age to be thus torn from the land he had so loved and heroically served!
(2.) After all his righteous denunciation of Egypt, and of his nation for turning thitherwards, how bitter this experience of being forced to go thither!
(3.) If he must go from his own land, he had opportunity of going amid honours, and where he would have received kindness (chap. Jer_40:4), and where he could have served God amid the worthier part of his nation.
III. Life’s painful frustrations.
1. Surely after such a faithful career of service for God, Jeremiah deserved a kindlier end than this!
2. It strangely baffles our faith when all our hopes and aims, which we know to be right, are thus defeated.
3. Certainly if life’s services were only rewarded on earth, we should see most grievous failures of justice.
4. A sorrowful career, such as Jeremiah’s, closing in deepest shadows of disappointment and defeat, surely predicts a brighter world.
“To steel his melting heart,
To act the martyr’s sternest part;
To watch with firm, unshrinking eye
His darling visions as they die.
Too happy if, that dreadful day,
His life be given him for a prey.”
(See Keble’s “Christian Year.”)
Jer_43:7-13. Theme: FLEEING FROM GOD’S CONTROL. “So they came into the land of Egypt.”
I. Allured thither by delusions (chap. Jer_42:14).
II. Defiant of Jehovah’s counsels (chap. Jer_43:4).
III. Choosing for themselves a refuge regardless of God (Jer_43:7).
IV. Followed by the denunciations of offended justice (Jer_43:8-10).
V. Overtaken at last by the foe from whom they fled (Jer_43:10-13).
Note.—“The ways of the Lord” (says Lange) “are wonderful. Israel flies from Nebuchadnezzar far away to Egypt. But there they are not safe. The Lord causes it to be proclaimed to them that, at the entrance of the king’s palace at Tahpanhes, Nebuchadnezzar’s tent shall stand. Now, indeed, there is a brick-kiln there, in the clay of which Jeremiah is to place foundation-stones, as it were, for the Chaldean king’s palace. Thus the Lord lays the germs of future events, and whatever. He prepares in secret He reveals in His own time, to the glory of His wisdom, omniscience, and omnipotence.”
Jer_43:12. “KINDLE A FIRE IN THE HOUSES OF THE GODS OF EGYPT.” Egypt was full of temples and idol-gods; those of wood the conquering army would commit to the flames; those of. gold they would carry away as spoil to Babylon.
This burning of temples and idols by Nebuchadnezzar, and afterwards by the Persian kings, was mercifully ordered by God to wean the exiles there from their idolatry into which they sank, and to revive their faith in the God of Israel.
“ARRAY HIMSELF WITH THE LAND OF EGYPT.” A bold figure. The king of Babylon, from whom you expect to escape by fleeing to Egypt, where you hope to dwell securely and peacefully (chap. Jer_42:11; Jer_42:14), will come; and with the same ease as a shepherd wraps himself about in his mantle, in order to lay quietly down in it and take his rest, so will Nebuchadnezzar possess himself of the land.
The Egyptians, according to the Arabs, have a tradition that their land was devastated by Nebuchadnezzar in consequence of their king having received the Jews under his protection, and that it lay desolate forty years.
PROPHECY FULFILLED
Note.—I. This is definite prophecy (Jer_43:10-13). The name of the invader is given; his work of spoliation is described. God’s predictions are not generalisations or conjectures; but explicit fore-statements of events. This prophecy by Jeremiah in Egypt was echoed (without collusion) by Ezekiel in Babylon by the river Chebar (Ezekiel 29-37.)
II. Predictions literally accomplished. The historian follows with his pen long after the prophet has written his predictions; and in Josephus we have impartial testimony. He writes: “Which things came to pass accordingly; for on the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem, which was the twenty-third of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, he made an expedition into Cœle-Syria; … and fell upon Egypt, in order to overthrow it; and he slew the king that then reigned, and set up another; and he took those Jews, that were there captives, and led them away to Babylon” (Antiq. X. ix. 7).
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Fate of Egypt
The Fate of Egypt
1-7. They disobey and go to Egypt.
Read full note →
7. Tahpanhes] see on Jer_2:16.
Here ends the historical portion of the book, the remainder consisting of prophecies directed mainly against foreign nations.
8-13. Prophecy of the overthrow of Egypt.
9. In the clay in the brick-kiln] RV 'in mortar in the brickwork.'
11. Death] by famine or pestilence.
12. Nebuchadnezzar shall have no more difficulty in spoiling Egypt than has the shepherd in wrapping his outer garment about him after his labour.
13. Images] RV 'pillars,'RM 'obelisks.'
Beth-shemesh (Gk. 'Heliopolis,'Egyptian 'On') was a city of obelisks, two of which stood before the Temple of the Sun. Its site is about 10 m. NE. of Cairo.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v7 See, Jer 2:16; Jer 44:1. Called "Hanes," Isa 30:4.
Tahpanhes
See, Jer 2:16; Jer 44:1. Called "Hanes," Isa 30:4.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. The rebellion against Jeremiah (Jer 43:1-7)
CHAPTER 43
1. The rebellion against Jeremiah (Jer 43:1-7)
Read full note →
2. Jeremiah’s prediction about the conquest of Egypt (Jer 43:8-13)
Jer 43:1-7. No sooner had Jeremiah finished communicating the divine answer, but the captains and the proud men denounced him. They charged him that he spoke falsely, that all he had said was at the instigation of Baruch, that both were traitors. Then the leaders did not obey the voice of the Lord to dwell in the land; they took the remnant of Judah (Jer 43:5 is explained by Jer 40:11-12) all the people, including Jeremiah and Baruch, to lead them down to Egypt, and finally they settled in Tahpanhes (Daphne), which was in the northeastern part, on the road out of Egypt to Palestine.
Jer 43:8-13. Then Jeremiah was commanded by the Lord to take great stones and bury them at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, so that all the men of Judah could be witnesses of it. In 1886 the Egyptologist, Professor Petrie, excavated at Tahpanhes a brick pavement before a kind of a palace, which probably was the place where Jeremiah hid the stones. The ruin was Kasr el BintJehudi, which means, “the palace of the daughter of Judah,” the place evidently assigned to the daughters of Zedekiah. (See Jer 43:6.) The word brick-kiln means a pavement of bricks. Then, after having buried the stones, he announced that Nebuchadnezzar would come and set his throne there also, that he would conquer Egypt, smite it and burn the idol temples there. Such an invasion took place about 568 B.C., when the Egyptian King Amasis was defeated. The pillars mentioned in Jer 43:13 are obelisks, and Beth-Shemesh means “the house of the Sun” (Heliopolis or On).
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 8 The Flight into Egypt
The Flight into Egypt
v. 1. And it came to pass that, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking unto all the people all the words of the Lord, their God, for which the Lord, their God, who was still ready to be considered as such by them, had sent him to them, even all these words, the full message, just as it had been transmitted to Jeremiah by inspiration of the Lord,
Read full note →
v. 2. then spake Azariah, or Jezaniah, the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, the pride of their heart showing in the insolence of their behavior at this juncture, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely; the Lord, our God, hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there, they saucily discredited his entire message;
v. 3. but Baruch, the son of Neriah, whom they suspected of sympathizing with the Chaldeans, setteth thee against us for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans that they might put us to death and carry us away captives into Babylon. Upon this suspicion and accusation, which was wholly unfounded, these men based their opposition to Jeremiah’s counsel which conveyed to them the warnings of the Lord.
v. 4. So Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces and all the people, in accordance with the idea which they had had in mind practically all this while, obeyed not the voice of the Lord to dwell in the land of Judah.
v. 5. But Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah that were returned from all nations whither they had been driven, the various smaller countries round about, to dwell in the land of Judah,
v. 6. even men, and women, and children, and the king’s daughters, the princesses of the royal household, 41:10, and every person that Nebuzar-adan, the captain of the guard, had left with Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah, the prophet, and Baruch, the son of Neriah. All of these people were obliged to join the caravan of the refugees, whether they protested or not, for in this case also might made right.
v. 7. So they came into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord, as made known by the mouth of Jeremiah; thus came they even to Tah-panhes, the city of Daphne on one of the eastern delta-arms of the Nile, one of the cities nearest to the border of Palestine. Here they halted for a time, in order to consider ways and means of making their sojourn in the strange country safe and profitable. When men deliberately set aside the commands of the Lord and choose their own way of doing things, they invite destruction and ruin upon themselves.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4, 8, 11 It happened that
It happened that
This phrase is used here to mark the beginning of a new part of the story. If your language has a way for doing this, you could consider using it here.
Read full note →
Azariah
Possible meanings are 1) this is another name for Jezaniah in Jeremiah 42:1 or 2) this is a different son of Hoshaiah. (See: How to Translate Names)
Hoshaiah
See how you translated this man's name in Jeremiah 42:1. (See: How to Translate Names)
Johanan ... Kareah
See how you translated these men's names in Jeremiah 40:13. (See: How to Translate Names)
inciting
to cause someone to act in a harmful or violent way
to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans
Here "hand" represents power or control. AT: "to give us over to the Chaldeans" (See: Metonymy)
for you to cause our death and to make us captives in Babylon
The abstract noun "death" can be stated as "to kill." AT: "for you to cause the Chaldeans to either kill us or to take us as captives to Babylon" (See: Abstract Nouns)
translationWords
Jeremiah
preach
people group
word of God
God
Yahweh
Azariah
arrogant
send
Egypt
life
Baruch
hand
Chaldea
die
captive
Babylon
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 7, 10, 12, 13 43:1-7 Johanan and the rest of the people betrayed…
43:1-7 Johanan and the rest of the people betrayed their oath (42:20) when they chose not to trust in the Lord’s answer through Jeremiah.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.