CHAPTER 43

(588 B.C.)

REBELLION OF THE REMNANT

¹And 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 (All the Words of the LORD their God, represented life or death for these people, all according to their obedience or disobedience. Regrettably, they disobeyed!),

²Then spoke Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, You speak falsely: the LORD our God has not sent you to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there (it is positive that all these individuals were well aware of the Prophecies Jeremiah had given for many years. Before their very eyes, they had seen these Prophecies come true. Judah was a desolation, and Jerusalem a smoking ruin, exactly as Jeremiah had prophesied. Yet they now accuse him of lying!

What could make the heart of man so intractable, obstinate, stubborn, unyielding, and unbelieving? The Holy Spirit tells us by calling them proud men):

³But Baruch the son of Neriah sets you 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.

⁴So 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. (If they had dwelled in the land of Judah, as demanded by the Lord, they would have been blessed, and greatly so!)

THE MIGRATION TO EGYPT

⁵But 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 (Johanan the son of Kareah seems to have been the ringleader of this rebellion against God);

⁶Even men, and women, and children, and the kings daughters, and every person that Nebuzar-adan 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. (As portrayed here, Jeremiah the Prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah are forced to go into Egypt with this rebellious group.)

⁷So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus came they even to Tahpanhes. (Tahpanhes was a fortress on the Syrian frontier of Egypt. It was a royal palace.

So they came into the land of Egypt, is recorded by the Holy Spirit for a greater purpose than mere historical narrative. They had been delivered out of Egyptian bondage many centuries before, and now they will go back into Egyptian bondage. This shows their total trust in man, i.e., the flesh, Egypt; and likewise their total distrust of the Lord.)

NEBUCHADNEZZAR TO CONQUER EGYPT

⁸Then came the Word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying (these rebels, if they had not wanted to hear the Word of the LORD, would have been much better off to have left Jeremiah in Judah),

⁹Take great stones in your hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaohs house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah (Take great stones, was to represent a symbolic act. Jeremiah is directed to take these stones and embed them in the mortar in the brick pavement [brickkiln] at the entry to the palace. When the events predicted came to pass, these stones would testify that Jeremiah had predicted them. This brick platform or brick pavement was discovered by a man named Petrie in 1886);

¹⁰And say unto them, Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar 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. (Josephus, the Jewish historian, records the fact that this was done by Nebuchadnezzar, exactly as Jeremiah had prophesied.)

¹¹And when he comes, 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. (Seated there, Nebuchadnezzar condemned to slavery or death the captives brought before him, which included those from Judah.)

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 puts on his garment; and he shall go forth from thence in peace. (He shall burn them, referred to the gorgeous and imposing temples which filled Egypt, dedicated to her many gods, and the idols in them made of wood.

He shall array himself with the land of Egypt, refers to Nebuchadnezzar grasping Egypt with his hand, so to speak, and flinging it around him like an easily managed garment, in order to leave the land as an absolute conqueror clothed in this attire of booty, in peace, without an enemy.)

¹³He 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. (The sinking of the Egyptians great stones and the brick pavement, as characterized in Verse 9, and the setting of the Chaldean throne upon them [Vs. 10] symbolize the downfall of the Egyptian monarchy and the supremacy of the Chaldean, which, as stated, was fulfillment to the letter concerning Jeremiahs Prophecies.)