Introduction
This is a tragic, terrible chapter. Abraham’s descendants had spent many long years in slavery in Egypt. God had delivered them from that slavery, through His servant Moses. Now, some nine hundred years later, the defeated remnant from Jerusalem were back in Egypt.
A suggested outline of this chapter is as follows.
1. Judah’s leaders reject the word of God, Jeremiah 43:1-4.
2. Jeremiah and Baruch are themselves taken into Egypt, Jeremiah 43:5-7.
3. The conquest of Egypt is prophesied, Jeremiah 43:8-11.
4. The sacred gods of Egypt were destroyed, Jeremiah 43:12-13.
‘When Jeremiah had finished telling the people all the words of the LORD their God—everything the LORD had sent him to tell them—Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, ‘You are lying! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to settle there.’ But Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians, so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon.’ So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and all the people disobeyed the LORD’s command to stay in the land of Judah. Instead, Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers led away all the remnant of Judah who had come back to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered. They also led away all those whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan—the men, the women, the children, and the king’s daughters. And they took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah along with them. So, they entered Egypt in disobedience to the LORD and went as far as Tahpanhes.’ Jeremiah 43:1-7
Poor old Jeremiah receives another kick in the teeth. He’s just finished telling them everything that God said and now Azariah, Johanan and all the arrogant men they call him a liar, Jeremiah 43:1-2.
In calling him a liar, they were calling God a liar as well. Jeremiah told them what they didn’t want to know and what they wouldn’t accept. History was repeating itself again. But what about their oath? Hadn’t they said, in Jeremiah 42:6, that even if God’s message is unfavourable to us, ‘we will obey the Lord our God.’ Their promise is forgotten.
Obviously, they cannot take the blame, so they have to blame someone. So, they accuse Baruch, Jeremiah’s secretary, of inciting Jeremiah to say these things because he, Baruch, wants them to be handed over to the Babylonians, Jeremiah 43:3. This is their way of passing the buck. We don’t know of anything that Baruch had said or done that made the Jewish leaders point a finger at him.
The suggestion that Baruch was the author of Jeremiah’s prophecies was just another one of their lies. Jeremiah didn’t defend himself against charges of prophesying lies, he had enough faith in God to know who was speaking the truth and who was lying.
They had every intention of going to Egypt and no one, not even God, was going to stop them. Johanan, all the army officers and all the people disobeyed God’s command to stay in the land of Judah, Jeremiah 43:4.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The insolent, loud-mouthed, arrogant, and confident claims of the false leaders quickly swept away all objections to their policies and they proceed at once to Egypt.’
Johanan and all the army officers led away all the remnant of Judah who had come back to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered, Jeremiah 43:5. They also led away all those whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had left with Gedaliah, the men, the women, the children and the king’s daughters, Jeremiah 43:6.
They even compelled Jeremiah and Baruch to go with them, Jeremiah 43:6, because they wouldn’t have left Judah by themselves, not after hearing the message from God. Jeremiah, who wouldn’t alter any of the messages that his God in heaven had given him, would he allow himself to be manipulated by his secretary?
It is therefore certain that Jeremiah and Baruch were unwilling participants in this. They left for Egypt on what was going to be a long haul for them. So, they entered Egypt in disobedience to the Lord, a went as far as Tahpanhes, Jeremiah 43:7. Although this journey was tragic and pitiful, it was the fulfilment of Jeremiah’s prophecy in Jeremiah 24:8-10, that Jerusalem would become uninhabited.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It resulted in the fulfilment of Jeremiah’s prophecy that Jerusalem would be uninhabited, Jeremiah 24:8-10. This migration to Egypt accomplished the utter de-population of the land; and the sole hope of the nation was then and afterward, centered in the Babylonian exiles.’
‘In Tahpanhes the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ‘While the Jews are watching, take some large stones with you and bury them in clay in the brick pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes. Then say to them, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will set his throne over these stones I have buried here; he will spread his royal canopy above them. He will come and attack Egypt, bringing death to those destined for death, captivity to those destined for captivity, and the sword to those destined for the sword. He will set fire to the temples of the gods of Egypt; he will burn their temples and take their gods captive. As a shepherd picks his garment clean of lice, so he will pick Egypt clean and depart. There in the temple of the sun in Egypt he will demolish the sacred pillars and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt.’ Jeremiah 43:8-13
It’s no surprise to read God’s next message to the remnant, which is one of disaster. They had previously called God a liar, so what is about to come to them is rightly deserved. Having reached the city of Tahpanhes, in Egypt, they settled down to live there.
Kitchen’s Bible Dictionary, says the following concerning Tahpanhes.
‘This was an important fortified city on the eastern Delta of the Nile, where Pharaoh had a summer home and some kind of an administrative centre. It seems to be the same place which Herodotus called Daphnai, now thought to be the modern Tell-Defenneh, some 27 miles south-southwest of Port Said.’
Jeremiah is told to take some large stones and whilst the Jews are watching him, bury them in the clay in the brick pavement at the entrance of Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes Jeremiah 43:8-9.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Jeremiah 43:9.
‘This discourse seems to have been delivered about a year after the destruction of Jerusalem. They pretended that they dared not stay in Judea for fear of the Chaldeans. The prophet here assures them that Nebuchadnezzar shall come to Egypt, extend his conquests in that kingdom, and place his tent over the very place where these stones were laid up, and destroy them. How these prophecies were fulfilled, see at the end of Jeremiah 44:30.’
God’s message was to show that Nebuchadnezzar would build upon that site and be the ruler of that city, Jeremiah 43:10. So, what the remnant had run away from, came to them regardless, Jeremiah 43:11 / Jeremiah 15:2. The city was excavated by a French archaeologist in the nineteenth Century. He cleared the paved area in front of the entrance to the royal palace and identified the pavement mentioned.
Nebuchadnezzar will come to Egypt and bring death and destruction, Jeremiah 43:12-13 / Jeremiah 44:30. As a shepherd picks his garment clean of lice, so Nebuchadnezzar will pick Egypt clean and depart, Jeremiah 43:12.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘As a shepherd picks his clothes clean of lice, so the king of Babylon will pick the land of Egypt clean. Such words are simply not in the text. James Moffatt’s Translation of the Bible (1929) didn’t do any better: “He shall scour the land of Egypt as a shepherd picks vermin out of his plaid.’
Keil, in his commentary, translates the verse as follows.
‘As easily as any shepherd in the open field wraps himself in his cloak.’
In the temple of the sun in Egypt he will demolish the sacred pillars and will burn down the temples of the gods of Egypt, Jeremiah 43:13.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Jeremiah 43:13.
‘These Nebuchadnezzar was to break and carry away; and the houses of the gods-all the temples of Egypt, he was to burn with fire. Beth-Shemesh is the same as Heliopolis.
Some scholars do not believe that this happened but Josephus tells us otherwise.
Josephus, in his writings, says the following.
‘Nebuchadnezzar fell upon Egypt and subdued it, he slew the king and then reigned there. He also took those Jews that were their captives and led them away to Babylon.’
There is also some archaeological evidence that Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt. There is an ancient inscription that confirms the fact that Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt in 568 B.C. when Amasis was Pharaoh.