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Matthew Henry |
J E R E M I A H.
CHAP. XLIII.
Jeremiah had faithfully delivered his message from God in the foregoing
chapter, and the case was made so very plain by it that one would have
thought there needed no more words about it; but we find it quite
otherwise. Here is,
I. The people’s contempt of this message; they denied it to be the word
of God
(ver. 1-3)
and then made no difficulty of going directly contrary to it. Into
Egypt they went, and took Jeremiah himself along with them,
II. God’s pursuit of them with another message, foretelling the king of
Babylon’s pursuit of them into Egypt,
| The People’s Insolent Reply. | B. C. 588. |
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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,
2 Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son
of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou
speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath not sent thee to say, Go
not into Egypt to sojourn there:
3 But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on 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.
4 So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the
forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the LORD, to
dwell in the land of Judah.
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, to dwell in the land
of Judah;
6 Even men, and women, and children, and the king’s
daughters, and every person that 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.
7 So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the
voice of the LORD: thus came they even to Tahpanhes.
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. xi. 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,
v. 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?
Exod. v. 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
(v. 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.
II. They determine to go to Egypt notwithstanding. They resolve not to
dwell in the land of Judah, as God had ordered them
(v. 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
(v. 5),
men, women, and children
(v. 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,
the same with Hanes
(Isa. xxx. 4);
it was now the metropolis, for Pharaoh’s house was there,
v. 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.
| Jeremiah’s Prophecies in Egypt. | B. C. 588. |
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8 Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes,
saying,
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;
10 And say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, 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 spread his royal pavilion over
them.
11 And when he cometh, he shall smite 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.
12 And 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 thence in peace.
13 He shall break also the images of Beth-shemesh, that is in
the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians
shall he burn with fire.
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
(v. 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
(Exod. v. 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.
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,
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
(v. 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
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
(v. 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,
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
(v. 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
(v. 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,
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,
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.
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