Jeremiah 43

Jer 43:1-13.

THE

JEWS

CARRY

JEREMIAH AND

BARUCH INTO

EGYPT.

JEREMIAH

FORETELLS BY A

TYPE THE

CONQUEST OF

EGYPT BY

NEBUCHADNEZZAR, AND THE

FATE OF THE

FUGITIVES.

2. Azariah--the author of the project of going into Egypt; a very

different man from the Azariah in Babylon

(Da 1:7; 3:12-18).

proud--Pride is the parent of disobedience and contempt of God.

3. 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.

5. remnant . . . returned from all nations--

(Jer 40:11, 12).

6. the king's daughters--Zedekiah's

(Jer 41:10).

7. 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.

9. stones--to be laid as the foundation beneath Nebuchadnezzar's

throne

(Jer 43:10).

clay--mortar.

brick-kiln--Bricks in that hot country are generally dried in the

sun, not burned. The palace of Pharaoh was being built or repaired at

this time; hence arose the mortar and brick-kiln at the entry. Of the

same materials as that of which Pharaoh's house was built, the

substructure of Nebuchadnezzar's throne should be constructed. By a

visible symbol implying that the throne of the latter shall be raised on

the downfall of the former. Egypt at that time contended with Babylon

for the empire of the East.

10. my servant--God often makes one wicked man or nation a scourge

to another

(Eze 29:18, 19, 20).

royal pavilion--the rich tapestry (literally, "ornament") which hung

round the throne from above.

11. such as are for death to death--that is, the deadly plague.

Some he shall cause to die by the plague arising from insufficient or

bad food; others, by the sword; others he shall lead captive, according

as God shall order it (see on

Jer 15:2).

12. houses of . . . gods--He shall not spare even the temple, such

will be His fury. A reproof to the Jews that they betook themselves to

Egypt, a land whose own safety depended on helpless idols.

burn . . . carry . . . captives--burn the Egyptian idols of wood,

carry to Babylon those of gold and other metals.

array himself with the land, &c.--

Isa 49:18

has the same metaphor.

as a shepherd, &c.--He shall become master of Egypt as speedily and

easily as a shepherd, about to pass on with his flock to another place,

puts on his garment.

13. images--statues or obelisks.

Beth-shemesh--that is, "the house of the sun," in Hebrew;

called by the Greeks "Heliopolis"; by the Egyptians, "On"

(Ge 41:45);

east of the Nile, and a few miles north of Memphis. Ephraim Syrus says,

the statue rose to the height of sixty cubits; the base was ten cubits.

Above there was a miter of a thousand pounds weight. Hieroglyphics are

traced around the only obelisk remaining in the present day, sixty or

seventy feet high. On the fifth year after the overthrow of Jerusalem,

Nebuchadnezzar, leaving the siege of Tyre, undertook his expedition to

Egypt [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 10.9,7]. 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. But see on

Eze 29:2;

Eze 29:13.

shall he burn--Here the act is attributed to

Nebuchadnezzar, the instrument, which in

Jer 43:12

is attributed to God. If even the temples be not spared, much less

private houses.