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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;
Jeremiah 43:7-9 sits inside this longer paragraph.
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.’ ”
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;
So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus came they even to Tahpanhes.
Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,
Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;
and they came into the land of Egypt; for they hearkened not to the voice of the LORD; and they came even to Tahpanhes.
Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying:
'Take great stones in thy hand, and hide them in the mortar in the framework, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah;
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv7–9 At last he adds, all the souls which had…
At last he adds, all the souls which had been left by Nebuzaradan with Gedaliah, with Jeremiah, and with Baruch This had not been expressed elsewhere, that is, that Jeremiah and Baruch were joined with Gedaliah as rulers over the remnant of the people. But it was not the design of Jeremiah to relate everything that then took place. Now then, when an occasion occurred, he says that he and also Baruch were made governors in connection with Gedaliah. He then adds, that they all came into Egypt, or that they entered into Egypt,. For the word first used, ויבאו, vaibau, may be rendered, “and they entered into Egypt;” and then he adds, ויבאו עד-תחפנחס, vaibau od-tachephnuches, “and they entered (or penetrated) as far as Tachephnuches.” It was formerly one of the chief cities of Egypt; but its name has perished together with is wealth; for in heathen writers hardly the name of this city is found. They indeed mention the city Taphnim, but speak not of Taphnees. It is then probable, as changes take place in a country, that this city became by degrees forsaken, so as to become obscure and mean, and that other cities were built which exceeded it in wealth. He then says that they came to Taphnees It now follows, —
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 vv7, 9 A city in Egypt near to Nilus.
A city in Egypt near to Nilus.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv7–9 Jer 43:7 So they came into the land of…
Jer 43:7 So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus came they [even] to Tahpanhes.
Ver. 7. Thus came they even to Tahpanhes.] A chief city of Egypt, called also Hanes. {Isa 30:4} Jerome calleth it Tunis, and Herodotus, Daphnis Pelusiae.
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 vv7, 9 Egypt at this time, though it was humbled by…
Egypt at this time, though it was humbled by the king of Babylon, by an inroad he had made into it, of which we read, 2Ki 24:7, yet it was a distinct kingdom, and being near to Canaan, the Jews often fled thither for sanctuary, and borrowed assistance against their enemies from them. Of this city we read little but in holy writ. 1Ki 11:19, we read of a queen of Egypt called
Taphenes, in honour to whom probably this city was builded, after whose name this city was called, of which the Scripture saith nothing, but in this prophet, Jer 2:16, in this chapter, and Jer 44:1; 46:14; it appears by Jer 43:9 that it was at this time the place where the king of Egypt made his residence, or at least had a palace. Thither these captains and the Jews came, forcing Jeremiah and Baruch along with them.
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 v8 We have here, as also in the next chapter,…
We have here, as also in the next chapter, Jeremiah prophesying in Egypt. Jeremiah was now in Tahpanhes, for there his lords and masters were; he was there among idolatrous Egyptians and treacherous Israelites; but there, 1. He received the word of the Lord; it came to him. God can find his people, with the visits of his grace, wherever they are; and, when his ministers are bound, yet the word of the Lord is not bound. The spirit of prophecy was not confined to the land of Israel. When Jeremiah went into Egypt, not out of choice, but by constraint, God withdrew not his wonted favour from him. 2. What he received of the Lord he delivered to the people. Wherever we are we must endeavour to do good, for that is our business in this world. Now we find two messages which Jeremiah was appointed and entrusted to deliver when he was in Egypt. We may suppose that he rendered what services he could to his countrymen in Egypt, at least as far as they would be acceptable, in performing the ordinary duties of a prophet, praying for them and instructing and comforting them; but only two messages of his, which he had received immediately from God, are recorded, one in this chapter, relating to Egypt itself and foretelling its destruction, the other in the next chapter, relating to the Jews in Egypt. God had told them before that if they went into Egypt the sword they feared should follow them; here he tells them further that the sword of Nebuchadnezzar, which they were in a particular manner afraid of, should follow them.
I. This is foretold by a sign. Jeremiah must take great stones, such as are used for foundations, and lay them in the clay of the furnace, or brick-kiln, which is in the open way, or beside the way that leads to Pharaoh's house (Jer 43:9), some remarkable place in view of the royal palace. Egypt was famous for brick-kilns, witness the slavery of the Israelites there, whom they forced to make bricks (Exo 5:7), which perhaps was now remembered against them. The foundation of Egypt's desolation was laid in those brick-kilns, in that clay. This he must do, not in the sight of the Egyptians (they knew not Jeremiah's character), but in the sight of the men of Judah to whom he was sent, that, since he could not prevent their going into Egypt, he might bring them to repent of their going.
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II. It is foretold in express words, as express as can be, 1. That the king, the present king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, the very same that had been employed in the destruction of Jerusalem, should come in person against the land of Egypt, should make himself master even of this royal city, by the same token that he should set his throne in that very place where these stones were laid, Jer 43:10. This minute circumstance is particularly foretold, that, when it was accomplished, they might be put in mind of the prophecy and confirmed in their belief of the extent and certainly of the divine prescience, to which the smallest and most contingent events are evident. God calls Nebuchadnezzar his servant, because herein he executed God's will, accomplished his purposes, and was instrumental to carry on his designs. Note, The world's princes are God's servants and he makes what use he pleases of them, and even those that know him not, nor aim at his honour, are the tools which his providence makes use of. 2. That he should destroy many of the Egyptians, and have them all at his mercy (Jer 43:11): He shall smite the land of Egypt; and, though it has been always a warlike nation, yet none shall be able to make head against him, but whom he will he shall slay, and by what sort of death he will, whether pestilence (for that is here meant by death, as Jer 15:2) by shutting them up in places infected, or by the sword of war or justice, in cold blood or hot. And whom he will he shall save alive and carry into captivity. The Jews, by going into Egypt, brought the Chaldeans thither, and so did but ill repay those that entertained them. Those who promised to protect Israel from the king of Babylon exposed themselves to him. 3. That he shall destroy the idols of Egypt, both the temples and the images of their gods (Jer 43:12): He shall burn, the houses of the gods of Egypt, but it shall be with a fire of God's kindling; the fire of God's wrath fastens upon them, and then he burns some of them and carries others captive, Isa 46:1. Beth-shemesh, or the house of the sun, was so called from a temple there built to the sun, where at certain times there was a general meeting of the worshippers of the sun. The statues or standing images there he shall break in pieces (Jer 43:13) and carry away the rich materials of them. It intimates that he should lay all waste when even the temple and the images should not escape the fury of the victorious army. The king of Babylon was himself a great idolater and a patron of idolatry; he had his temples and images in honour of the sun as well as the Egyptians; and yet he is employed to destroy the idols of Egypt. Thus God sometimes makes one wicked man, or wicked nation, a scourge and plague to another. 4. That he shall make himself master of the land of Egypt, and none shall be able to plead its cause or avenge its quarrel (Jer 43:12): He shall array himself with the rich spoils of the land of Egypt, both beautify and fortify himself with them. He shall array himself with them as ornaments and as armour; and this, though it shall be a rich and heavy booty, being expert in war, and expeditious, he shall slip on with as much ease and in as little time, in comparison, as a shepherd slips on his garment, when he goes to turn out his sheep in a morning. And being loaded with the wealth of many other nations, the fruits of his conquests, he shall make no more of the spoils of the land of Egypt than of a shepherd's coat. And when he has taken what he pleases (as Benhadad threatened to do, Kg1 20:6) he shall go forth in peace, without any molestation given him, or any precipitation for fear of it, so effectually reduced shall the land of Egypt be. This destruction of Egypt by the king of Babylon is foretold, Eze 29:19 and Eze 30:10. Babylon lay at a great distance from Egypt, and yet thence the destruction of Egypt comes; for God can make those judgments strike home which are far-fetched.
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 vv7–9 So they came into the land of Egypt,.... They…
So they came into the land of Egypt,.... They set out from the habitation of Chimham, where they were, Jer 41:17; and proceeded on their journey, till they entered the land of Egypt:
for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord; to continue in Judea, and not to go into Egypt; and though the prophet of the Lord, who was with them, might, as they went along, advise them to go back, they regarded him not, but still went on:
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thus came they even to Tahpanhes; the same with Hanes, Isa 30:4; and might be so called, as here, from a queen of Egypt of this name, Kg1 11:19. The Septuagint version, and others after that, call it Taphnas. It is thought to be the Daphnae Pelusiae of Herodotus (f) It was a seat of the king of Egypt, as appeals from Jer 43:9; and no less a place would these proud men stop at, or take up with, but where the king's palace was. Tyrius (g) calls it Tapium, and says it was in his time a very small town.
(f) Enterpe, sive l. 2. c. 30, 107. (g) Apud Adrichem. Theatrum Terrae Sanctae, p. 125.
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 v7 Tahpanhes - It was at this time the place…
Tahpanhes - It was at this time the place where the king of Egypt made his residence.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv7, 9 Verse 7. Came they even to Tahpanhes] This city…
Verse 7. Came they even to Tahpanhes] This city was called Daphne by the Greeks, and was situated at the extremity of Lower Egypt, near to Heliopolis. It was called Daphne Pelusiaca. They halted at this place, most probably for the purpose of obtaining the king's permission to penetrate farther into Egypt. It was at this place that, according to St. Jerome, tradition says the faithful Jeremiah was stoned to death by these rebellious wretches; for whose welfare he had watched, prayed, gone through many indignities, and suffered every kind of hardship. And now he sealed the truth of his Divine mission with his blood.
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 v8 Jer 43:8-9. Then came the word of the Lord…
Jer 43:8-9. Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah in Tahpahnes — Jeremiah was now among idolatrous Egyptians and treacherous Israelites, yet here the word of the Lord came to him, and he prophesied. God can visit his people with his grace, and the revelations of his mind and will, wherever they are; and when his ministers are bound, his word is not bound. When Jeremiah went into the land of Egypt, not out of choice, but by constraint, God withdrew not his wonted favour from him. And what he received of the Lord he delivered to the people. Wherever we are, we must endeavour to do good; for that is our business in this world. Saying, Take great stones in thy hand — Such as are used as foundation-stones; and hide them in the clay in the brick-kiln — Or furnace. The Vulgate reads, in crypta, quæ est sub muro lateritio, in the hollow place, or vault, which is under the brick wall; and the LXX., εν προθυροις, in the place before the gate which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house — Which, however, might be a great way from the palace itself; the courts of great kings being almost equal to a city, for extent, in ancient times: particularly the palace of Babylon was four miles in compass, according to Diodorus Siculus: in the sight of the men of Judah — Hebrew, אנשׁים יהודים, literally, of men Jews; which signifies indefinitely some of that nation; not as in our present translation, which seems to imply, that the presence of all the Jewish emigrantswas required; for in that case the reading would at least have been, with the definite article prefixed, האנשׁים היהודים, the men the Jews, see Blaney. Jeremiah was not ordered to place these stones thus in the presence of the Egyptians, who were unacquainted with his prophetic character, but in the sight of the Jews to whom he was sent; at least some of them, who might attest what they had seen to others; in order that, since he could not prevent their going into Egypt, he might bring them to repent of their going.
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 vv7–9 Tahpanhes - See the Jer 2:16 note.
Tahpanhes - See the Jer 2:16 note.
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 vv8–9 Taphnis, or Daphnæ Pelusiæ, sixteen miles from Pelusium, (Antonin.)…
Taphnis, or Daphnæ Pelusiæ, sixteen miles from Pelusium, (Antonin.) the Hanes of Isaias, (xxx. 4.) and key of Egypt. It was a royal city.
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 v8 8, 9Then came the word of the Lord unto…
9. JEREMIAH IN TAHPANHES
Jer_43:8-13
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8, 9Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay [mortar]5 in the brick-kiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of10Judah; and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts [Jehovah Zebaoth], the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon, my servant, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall 11spread his royal pavilion6 over them. And when he cometh,7 he shall [he shall come and] unite the land of Egypt, and deliver such as are for death to death; and such as are for captivity to captivity: and such as are for the sword to the sword.12And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt; and he shall burn them, and carry them away captives: and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd putteth on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence13in peace. He shall break also the images [statues] of Bethshemesh [the house of the sun], that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall be burned with fire.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
In Tahpanhes Jeremiah receives the command to hide great stones in the clay of a brick-kiln, opposite the royal palace in the sight of the Jews, and to tell them that the Lord will bring king Nebuchadnezzar to Egypt, and that he will erect his throne and stretch his tent on these stones (Jer_43:8-10). Then will Nebuchadnezzar visit the land of Egypt with all the terrors of war, burn the idol-temples, subjugate the land completely to his sway, and depart in peace (Jer_43:11-12). It is especially emphasized at the close that Nebuchadnezzar will break in pieces the statues of Beth-shemesh and burn up the idol-temples (Jer_43:13).
Jer_43:8-9. Then came … men of Judah. When we compare the larger superscriptions, Jer_40:1 and Jer_44:1, it is evident that the first introduces the events after the deportation, the second the occurrences in Egypt. Hence it might seem as if this passage were not in place, or as if the superscription, which stands in Jer_44:1, belonged in this place, Jer_43:8. But it is evident from Jer_44:1 that the passage, which begins with this superscription, is to narrate what happened to the Jews already established in Egypt (who dwelt in the land), while the event related here is, as it were, a part of the journey. For Tahpanhes (comp. Jer_2:16) is the eastern boundary city of Egypt, situated on the Pelusian branch of the Nile. Here Jeremiah, by a symbolical act, was to set before the eyes of the Jews, how impossible it is to escape from the Lord (comp. the prophet Jonah), and that by their removal from Egypt they had only come from bad to worse. Thus clear as is the meaning of the symbolical act in general, the definition of the details is still difficult. The word brick-kiln (מַלְבֵּן) occurs, besides here, only twice in the Old Testament: 2Sa_12:31, and Nah_3:14. In the first passage it is related that David caused them to pass under saws, harrows and axes of iron. It then continues, “and made them pass through the brick-kiln” (the Chethibh has, doubtless incorrectly, מַלְכֵּן, which is no word). When we recall the frequently occurring phrase “made his son to pass through the fire” (comp. 2Ki_16:3; 2Ki_21:6, etc.), we cannot doubt that a similar cruel mode of death is spoken of here also. As such also appears the putting into heated brick-ovens (לְבֵנָה, brick, from which the denominative verb לָבַן, to make bricks, Exo_5:7; Exo_5:14). In the second passage, Nah_3:14; the Assyrians are ironically called upon to “repair the fortifications, go into the mud and tread the mortar, and repair the brick-kiln.” Eichhorn, Hitzig and Graf think it incredible that a brick-kiln can have stood immediately opposite the royal palace. Hence Hitzig takes the word in the sense of a projection of tiles or brick-work under the threshold, a stone-floor probably cemented over. Besides the analogies in Arabic, the meanings of מַלְבֵּן in later Hebrew (area, massa, tabula, quadrata. Comp. Buxtorf, Lex. Chald., p. 1120) favor this rendering. On the other hand, as Graf himself correctly remarks, it is equally incredible that Jeremiah could have torn up the pavement before the gate of the king’s palace, and inserted large stones. I am now quite of Neumann’s opinion that we are to regard this brick-kiln not as permanently, but only temporarily, present.
The brick-yard need not have been in the court of the royal palace and directly before the doors of the building. It may have been situated opposite the gate of the outer court or avenue to the palace. The place may have been designated to the prophet on account of this position, and perhaps also because it was the place, from which the material was taken for the extension of the palace now building, as Neumann [comp. also Henderson] supposes. In this case the thought would be expressed that Egypt, to whose protection the Jews had fled, was only weak, fragile clay. Since the prophet was to hide the stones in the clay, it is evident, that he did not place them visibly on the surface, and therefore set them up on the walls of the brick-kiln. Brick-kiln must be, therefore, understood as pars pro toto. The whole place is called מלבן, not merely the oven. Jeremiah is to hide the large stones in clay belonging to this kiln. He is to lay the foundation for a future ideal building. In place of the weak clay, which signifies Egypt, the Lord lays the foundation stones of a power, which He intends to found, the bearer of which will be His servant (Jer_43:10), or the organ of His will. It is a fact, still hidden in the womb of the future, that Egypt will groan under the foot of the Babylonian conqueror; but the stones guarantee this fact. Men of Judah were present as witnesses (Jer_43:9), when they were laid. The significance of the stones is disclosed to these witnesses. The memory remained; the word of the Lord was pledged. On the fulfilment comp. the remarks on Jer_44:29-30.
Jer_43:10-13. And say unto them … burn with fire. On Behold, I will send, etc., comp. Jer_25:9.—The Lord Himself has hidden the stones, and in so far the prophet was only an instrument. On these stones Nebuchadnezzar shall one day erect his throne and stretch his tent—Hitzig thinks that the erection of a tent would not be threatening, or dangerous; on the contrary, it would be only a matter of curiosity. It seems to me, however, that Nebuchadnezzar’s tent, erected before the royal palace in Tahpanhes, is dangerous enough, signifying neither more nor less than the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar.—Such as are for death. Comp. rems. on Jer_15:2. The sense of the expression is, that not only one kind of destruction will come upon Egypt, but many, and that each one will also really devour the victims apportioned to it.—Away captives, viz., the idols. Comp. rems. on Jer_48:7.—And he shall array, etc. Commentators have frequently, and as it seems to me, quite unnecessarily, stumbled over this expression. How does a shepherd put on his garment? In general like any other person, but there is this difference, that in doing so the shepherd has regard to no one, because no one sees him. He therefore puts on his garment entirely at his own whim and convenience. So according to his own pleasure, without the slightest regard to others, will Nebuchadnezzar deal with conquered Egypt. After he has thus made Egypt his own property, he will depart in peace, without, any one being able to detain or harass him or rob him of his booty.
Jer_43:13 is surprising. The discourse seemed to have concluded with Jer_43:12. For what is there to report of Nebuchadnezzar’s doings in Egypt, when his departure is already announced? Further, the second clause of the verse is tautological. Comp. burn them, Jer_43:12. Finally the addition that is in the land of Egypt is very surprising, for did Jeremiah, writing in Egypt, need to say this? Hence not merely three words (in the original text), but the whole verse, might be suspected. If, however, these words originated with the rest, then by Beth-shemesh must be meant not the temple of the sun at Heliopolis, but this city itself. The images of Beth-shemesh are above all the obelisks, of which there was an unlimited number in the city. Of the oldest, which however were not the largest (comp. Herod II., 111), one still remains in its place. Comp. Herzog, R.-Enc., X., S. 610 sqq.
[The fulfilment of this prophecy is confirmed by Josephus (Ant. X., 9, 7). “It is also probable, that during the thirteen years in which some of Nebuchadnezzar’s forces were engaged in the blockade of Tyre, he extended his campaign into Egypt; and there is a confirmation of this opinion in the narrative of Megasthenes in Strabo, XVI., 687. Joseph.Ant. X., 11, 1; c. Apion. I., 20. Abulfeda, Hist. Ante-islam, p. 102.” Wordsworth.—S. R. A.]
Footnotes:
[1]Jer_43:1.—בְּכַלּוֹת as in Jer_26:8.
[2]Jer_43:2—הזדים. The word occurs here only in Jeremiah. The LXX. omits it, and reads instead καὶ πάντες οἱ*ἀλλογενεῖς, Jer_42:17, reading זֵרִים for זֵדִים. The reverse in Jer_18:14; Jer_51:2.
[3]Jer_43:2.—אמֹרים. Instead of לֵאמֹר, because the words spoken do not follow immediately. Comp. Jer_14:15; Jer_23:17.
[4]Jer_43:3.—מסית. Comp. Jer_38:22; Isa_36:18.
[5]Jer_43:9.—מֶלֶט is ἅπ. λεγ. The analogies milât, molto (Syr.), μάλθα, malta, are vouchers for the meaning of “mortar cement, clay.”
[6]Jer_43:10.—The meaning of שַׁבְּרוּר is doubtful. The word occurs here only. Hitzig, with J.D. Michaelis, refers to suphra (Arab. for corium orbiculare, quod solo insternitur), which agrees with nat’ (Arab. the leathern veil of the judge of life and death). According to the text the throne is to be first placed on the stones, and then the שַׁבְּרוּר stretched above it. Is a veil spread over a throne? And is not נָטָה the technical term for the spreading of a tent? The meaning “pavilion,” seems then most suitable, it being, however, still doubtful whether it be so named a splendore (שָׁבַּר, nituit, שִׁפְרָה ,שֶׁפֶר, splendor, pulchritudo, or a cavitate (comp. שׁוֹפָר, tuba, שִׁפְרָה, Pi. Job_26:13? [“The Keri Proposes שַׁפְרִיר as the proper form which is, indeed, that in which nouns, with the third radical germinated, most frequently appear. Comp. סַנְרִיר, Pro_27:15.” Henderson.—S. R. A.]
[7]Jer_43:11.—ובאה. Chethibh וּבָאָהּ. The Keri would unnecessarily strike out the suffix. Comp. rems. on Jer_11:15; Jer_27:8; Jer_31:2; Jer_41:3; Jer_48:44.
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 vv7, 9 Tahpanhes--(See on Jer 2:16); Daphne on the Tanitic branch…
Tahpanhes--(See on Jer 2:16); Daphne on the Tanitic branch of the Nile, near Pelusium. They naturally came to it first, being on the frontier of Egypt, towards Palestine.
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 vv7, 9 7. Tahpanhes — See Jer_2:16. This was a frontier…
7. Tahpanhes — See Jer_2:16. This was a frontier town on the Pelusian branch of the Nile. It is the Daphne of Herodotus. It is repeatedly mentioned by Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and seems to have been a place of considerable importance, as in the passage above referred to “Noph and Tahpanhes” are made to represent Egypt, and in Jer_43:9 we learn that Pharaoh had a palace there.
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 vv8–9 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 vv7, 9 (7) Thus came they even to Tahpanhes.—The town was…
(7) Thus came they even to Tahpanhes.—The town was obviously on the north-eastern frontier of Egypt. In Jdt_1:9 it appears between the river of Egypt (the Rhinocolura, which divided Egypt from Palestine) and Ramesse (the Raamses of Exo_1:11, or Rameses of Num_33:3; Num_33:5) and all the land of Gesen, or Goshen. In Eze_30:16-18 it is named, in conjunction with No (= Thebes) and Noph (= Memphis), among the chief cities of Egypt. In Greek historians it appears as Daphnce and as near Pelusium (Herod. ii. 30), and in the Itinerary of Antoninus is placed, under the name of Dafno, at a distance of sixteen Roman miles from the latter city. Its name may be connected with that of the Egyptian Quoen Tahpenes, mentioned in 1Ki_11:19. Here apparently the emigrants determined to settle and found a new home for themselves.
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 vv7, 9 Tahpanhea. An Egyptian frontier city, (see Eze_30:18 and note…
Tahpanhea. An Egyptian frontier city, (see Eze_30:18 and note on Jer_2:16) where the fugitives had to wait till the views of the Egyptian government respecting them were made known. The supposed site of the Pelusiac Daphnae has not yet been explored; a single inscribed fragment would reveal the Egyptian name, and probably ratify the identity of Daphnae with the Tahpanhes of the prophets (R.S. Poole, "The Cities of Egypt," p. 177).
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.
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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
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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.
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.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v8 Jeremiah in Tahpanhes
Jeremiah in Tahpanhes
v. 8. Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,
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v. 9. Take great stones in thine hand and hide them in the clay in the brick-kiln which is at the entry of Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah, so that he would have trustworthy witnesses of his act. The palace of Pharaoh included not only the buildings proper, but their entire enclosure as well, which usually was surrounded by a high wall. Opposite the entrance of this enclosure the bricks for the building or for the repairing of the royal palace were made, and it was in the clay of this kiln that the stones carried by Jeremiah were to be hid.
v. 10. And say unto them, the witnesses of his symbolical act, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, My servant, for as such he acted in this instance, in carrying out the Lord’s purpose upon Egypt, and will set his throne upon these stones that I have hid; and he shall spread his royal pavilion over them, namely, the rich tapestry which formed the curtains of the throne.
v. 11. And when he cometh, in extending his campaign of conquest to Africa, he shall smite the land of Egypt and deliver such as are for death, principally by famine and pestilence, to death, and such as are for captivity to captivity, and such as are for the sword, that is, death in battle, to the sword. In this way, as the scourge of the Lord, he would also act as the servant of Jehovah. Both the act of laying the stones and the material spoken of are significant; for the stones of the throne’s foundation are symbolical of the power and firmness of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule, while the clay of Pharaoh’s palace signifies the weakness of his power.
v. 12. And I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt, to show the helplessness of the idols in the country whose security the Jews were seeking; and he shall burn them and carry them away captives, the very gods of Egypt being in his power; and he shall array himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd putteth on his garment, and he shall go forth from thence in peace. The point of comparison is the freedom and the ease of the act; for just as easily and quickly as a shepherd takes up his mantle, practically his only garment, and wraps it about him, so easily will Nebuchadnezzar take hold upon Egypt and, with the whole country in his power, leave without hindrance, with no one opposing him.
v. 13. He shall break also the images of Beth-shemesh that is in the land of Egypt, the renowned Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, one of the greatest sanctuaries of the country; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire. "The images of Beth-shemesh are, above all, the obelisks, of which there was an unlimited number in the city. Of the oldest, which, however, were not the largest, one still remains in its place. " In this manner would all the representatives of Egyptian idol-worship fall before the power of Nebuchadnezzar, and the hope and trust of the Jews who fled to Egypt would be found to be vain. Thus all the plans of the wicked according to which they leave the command of God are frustrated to their own confusion.
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 v8 the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes,…
the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, "Take
The idiom "the word of Yahweh came to" is used to introduce a special message from God. See how you translated a similar phrase in Jeremiah 1:4. AT: "Yahweh gave a message to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes. He said, 'Take" or "Yahweh spoke this message to Jeremiah in Tahpanehs: 'Take" (See: Idiom)
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in the sight of the people of Judah
The abstract noun "sight" can be expressed with the verb "watching." AT: "while the people of Judah are watching" (See: Abstract Nouns)
mortar
a substance used to hold bricks together
to Pharaoh's house
"to Pharaoh's royal building"
Yahweh of hosts ... says this
Jeremiah often uses these words to introduce an important message from Yahweh. See how you translated this in Jeremiah 6:6.
I will place his throne over these stones that you, Jeremiah, have buried. Nebuchadnezzar will place his pavilion over them
Both the king's "throne" and "pavilion" are used to refer to his royal authority. AT: "I will cause him to rule as king over the people of Egypt. He will place his throne and pavilion over these stones you have buried" (See: Metonymy)
pavilion
a very large tent
translationWords
Pharaoh
house
Yahweh of hosts
Israel
messenger
Nebuchadnezzar
servant
throne
bury
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 v7 43:7 The city of Tahpanhes (2:16; Ezek 30:18), now…
43:7 The city of Tahpanhes (2:16; Ezek 30:18), now known as Tell Dafneh, guarded the road entering Egypt at its northeast corner.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.