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, ver. 4-7. II. God's pursuit of them with another message,
foretelling the king of
Babylon's pursuit of them into
Egypt, ver. 8-13.
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The
People's Insolent Reply.
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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, 1 Kings xi. 19), 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.
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Jeremiah's
Prophecies in Egypt.
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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, v. 10. 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 ch. xv. 2) 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, Isa. xlvi. 1. 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, 1 Kings xx. 6) 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, Ezek. xxix. 19 and
xxx. 10. 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.
