Jeremiah 43:7

1 And king Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, reigned instead of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, made king in the land of Judah: 2 But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, hearkened to the words of Jehovah, which he spake by the Prophet Jeremiah. 3 And king Zedekiah sent Jehucal, the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Pray now to Jehovah our God for us. 4 Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people, and they had not yet put him in the house of the prison; 5 And the army of Pharaoh had come forth from Egypt, and the Chaldeans besieging Jerusalem had heard of them and had gone from Jerusalem. 6 Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the Prophet, saying, -- 7 Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me, Behold, the army of Pharaoh, which has come forth for your aid, shall return to the land of Egypt; 8 And the Chaldeans shall return and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with fire. 9 Thus saith Jehovah, Deceive not yourselves, saying, Going the Chaldeans shall go away from us, for they shall not go away.

43:1-7 Only by pride comes contention, both with God and man. They preferred their own wisdom to the revealed will of God. Men deny the Scriptures to be the word of God, because they are resolved not to conform themselves to Scripture rules. When men will persist in sin, they charge the best actions to bad motives. These Jews deserted their own land, and threw themselves out of God's protection. It is the folly of men, that they often ruin themselves by wrong endeavours to mend their situation.

So they came into the land of Egypt,.... They set out from the habitation of Chimham, where they were, Jeremiah 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: thus came they even to Tahpanhes; the same with Hanes, Isaiah 30:4; and might be so called, as here, from a queen of Egypt of this name, 1 Kings 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 Jeremiah 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.

Verse 7. - Tahpanhea . An Egyptian frontier city (see Ezekiel 30:18 and note on Jeremiah 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). Jeremiah 43:7

(7) Thus came they even to Tahpanhes. —The town was obviously on the north-eastern frontier of Egypt. In Judith 1:9 it appears between the river of Egypt (the Rhinocolura, which divided Egypt from Palestine) and Ramesse (the Raamses of Exodus 1:11 , or Rameses of Numbers 33:3 ; Numbers 33:5 ) and all the land of Gesen, or Goshen. In Ezekiel 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 1Kings 11:19 . Here apparently the emigrants determined to settle and found a new home for themselves.

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, 2 Kings 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. 1 Kings 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, Jeremiah 2:16 , in this chapter, and Jeremiah 44:1 46:14 ; it appears by Jeremiah 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.

Thereupon Johanan and the other captains took "all the remnant of Judah, that had returned from all the nations whither they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah-the men and women and children, the king's daughters, and all the souls whom Nebuzaradan, chief of the body-guard, had committed to Gedaliah...and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah, - and went to the land of Egypt - for they did not hearken to the voice of Jahveh - and came to Tahpanhes." In this enumeration of those who were conducted to Egypt, Hitzig, Graf, and others distinguish two classes: (1) the men, women, children, etc., who had been in Mizpah with Gedaliah, and had been led to Gibeon, after the murder of the latter, by Ishmael, but had afterwards been brought to Bethlehem by Johanan and the other captains ( Jeremiah 43:6 , cf. Jeremiah 40:7 ; Jeremiah 41:10 , Jeremiah 41:16 ); (2) those who had returned from the foreign countries whither they had fled, but who had hitherto lived in the country, scattered here and there, and who must have joined the company led by Johanan to Bethlehem during the ten days of halt at that resting-place ( Jeremiah 43:5 , cf. Jeremiah 40:11-12 ). There is no foundation, however, for this distinction.

Neither in the present chapter is there anything mentioned of those who had been dispersed through the land joining those who had marched to Bethlehem; nor are the Jews who had returned from Moab, Ammon, Edom, and other countries to their own home distinguished, in Jeremiah 40 and 41, as a different class from those who had been with Gedaliah in Mizpah; but on the other hand, according to Jeremiah 40:12 , these returned Jews also came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered grapes and fruit. Besides, in these verses the distinction can only be made after the insertion into the text of the conjunction ו before את־הגּברים. To "all the remnant of Judah who had returned from the nations" belong the men, women, children, etc., whom Nebuzaradan had committed to the care of Gedaliah. The enumeration in Jeremiah 43:6 gives only one specification of the "whole remnant of Judah," as in Jeremiah 41:16 . "And all the souls;" as if it were said, "and whoever else was still left alive;" cf. Joshua 10:28 . Tahpanhes was a frontier town of Egypt on the Pelusian branch of the Nile, and named Δάφναι by the Greeks; see on Jeremiah 2:16 . Here, on the borders of Egypt, a halt was made, for the purpose of coming to further resolutions regarding their residence in that country. Here, too, Jeremiah received a revelation from God regarding the fate now impending on Egypt.

[Bible] Jeremias Chapter 43 The Jews, contrary to the orders of God by the prophet, go into Egypt, carrying Jeremias with them. He foretells the devastation of that land by the king of Babylon. 43:1. And it came to pass, that when Jeremias had made an end of speaking to the people all the words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their God had sent him to them, all these words: 43:2. Azarias the son of Osaias, and Johanan the son of Caree, and all the proud men, made answer, saying to Jeremias: Thou tellest a lie: the Lord our God hath not sent thee, saying: Go not into Egypt, to dwell there. 43:3. But Baruch the son of Nerias setteth thee on against us, to deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans, to kill us, and to cause us to be carried away captives to Babylon. 43:4. So Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the soldiers, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the Lord, to remain in the land of Juda. 43:5. But Johanan the son of Caree, and all the captains of the soldiers took all the remnant of Juda, that were returned out of all nations, to which they had before been scattered, to dwell in the land of Juda: 43:6. Men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters, and every soul, which Nabuzardan the general had left with Godolias the son of Ahicam the son of Saphan, and Jeremias the prophet, and Baruch the son of Nerias. 43:7. And they went into the land of Egypt, for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord: and they came as far as Taphnis. 43:8. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias in Taphnis, saying: 43:9. Take great stones in thy hand, and thou shalt hide them in the vault that is under the brick wall at the gate of Pharao's house in Taphnis: in the sight of the men of Juda. 43:10. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: Behold I will send, and take Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon my servant: and I will set his throne over these stones which I have hid, and he shall set his throne over them.