Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Jeremiah 43:6

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Jeremiah 43:6. Men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters — See the note on Jeremiah 41:10. It is truly surprising that the Chaldeans should have left behind any of the royal family of Judah! But,

1. Perhaps they knew not there were any.

2. If they did know, they might think, being children of concubines, they could not inherit. Or,

3. That being females, they were not eligible. And they had taken care to seize all Zedekiah's sons, and slay them before his eyes.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

The move to Egypt (43:1-13)

In flatly rejecting Jeremiah’s advice, the people gave proof that they had already made up their minds to go to Egypt. In spite of all his previous prophecies’ being proved true, they accused him of being a liar (43:1-2). They also turned against Baruch, who had apparently given similar advice against going to Egypt. They accused him of being a Babylonian agent and of influencing Jeremiah against them (3). They then left for Egypt, forcibly taking Jeremiah and Baruch with them (4-7).
On arriving in Egypt, Jeremiah warned the Judeans that they would still not escape Babylon. He illustrated this by burying two stones in the pavement outside one of Pharaoh’s palaces. On these stones, Jeremiah foretold, Babylon would build its throne; that is, Babylonian power would spread to Egypt (8-10). Babylon would overpower Egypt with the ease that a shepherd picks insects off his coat. Egypt’s temples would be burnt and its people taken captive (11-13).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THE RETURN OF JUDAH TO EGYPT

“But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, that were returned from all the nations whither they had been driven, to sojourn in the land of Judah; the men, and the women, and the 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. And they came into the land of Egypt; for they obeyed not the voice of Jehovah: and they came unto Tahpanhes.”

“Johanan... took all the remnant… and Jeremiah... and Baruch... and came into the land of Egypt” From this, it is certain that both Jeremiah and his amanuensis Baruch were unwilling participants in this migration back to Egypt.

Tragic as this pitiful maneuver actually was, “It resulted in the fulfillment 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.”Barnes’ Notes (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House), p. 248. In the light of the unbelieving arrogance and conceit of that whole generation of apostates, there was nothing whatever that God could have done with them, unless it had been preceded by the sincere repentance and reformation of the people, that being, according to all indications, an utterly impossible thing to have anticipated.

“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 center. 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.Kitchen in The New Bible Dictionary, p. 1236.

The immigrants probably stopped here in order to procure permission of Pharaoh to enter Egypt, and to explore possible ways of making a living.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

The Prophet also mentions particularly who they were; they were men and women and children Some render the last word “puberty,” which I do not approve, since Scripture speaks thus of children. Then John and his associates took childhood, or children; and he adds, the daughters of the king We have before inquired who these daughters of the king were: the probability is that they were his daughters by his concubines; and that they had been put in some safe place, so that if any great evil happened, they might not fall into the hands of enemies. Then these daughters of the king had returned with the other exiles, but were afterwards carried into Egypt.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 43

So it came to pass, when Jeremiah was through speaking to all of the people the words of Jehovah their God, then spake Azariah, and Johanan, and all of the proud men, saying to Jeremiah, You're speaking falsely: Jehovah our God has not sent you to say, Don't go to Egypt to dwell there ( Jeremiah 43:1-2 ):

Now here they came and said, "Please pray to God, we beg you, pray to God for us, you know. Whatever God tells us we'll do whether it's good or evil. Please make supplication to God." Now Jeremiah lays it out to them, they say, "Oh, you're lying. God didn't tell you to say that to us."

But Baruch ( Jeremiah 43:3 )

That conspirator, he's the one that advised you to tell us this stuff in order that he might deliver us over as captives to the Babylonians.

that they might put us to death, and carry us away to Babylon. So Johanan, and the captains of the forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the LORD, to dwell in the land of Judah. But [all of these people] that had returned from these nations, that were with them; 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, along with Jeremiah, and Baruch ( Jeremiah 43:3-6 ).

And it would seem according to Josephus that they forced Jeremiah to come and Baruch. They sort of kidnapped them. Took them by force.

So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: thus came they even to Tahpanhes ( Jeremiah 43:7 ).

This, of course, to me is one of those sad and tragic scriptures. It ranks really as one of the most tragic of all the passages in the Word of God. For it is always tragic when a man returns to that from which God has once delivered him. He goes back to Egypt. Egypt is a type of our life in sin, a life after the flesh and the bondage to our flesh. And whenever a man or a nation returns to that place from which God had once delivered them, that is always a sad and a tragic day. Nine hundred years earlier God had delivered their fathers out of the horrible, cruel oppression of their Egyptian slavery and bondage. And now the sad day that they return. The reason for their return-fear, a lack of faith and trusting in God to sustain them in the land. And the fear of the retaliation of the Babylonians against them drove them back to Egypt. The lack of faith, which resulted in their disobedience. "And so they obeyed not the voice of the Lord and thus they came to Tahpanhes."

Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying, Take great stones in your hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln, which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of all of the men of Judah; 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. And when he comes, he will 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. 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 in the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garments; and he shall go forth from thence in peace. He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire ( Jeremiah 43:8-13 ).

So God said, "Take these great stones and put them in this clay pit where they had taken out the clay to make the bricks in the sight of all of the people, and say unto them, 'Over the top of these stones Nebuchadnezzar is going to build a pavilion of his court and he's going to set right here ruling over Egypt, destroying Egypt and their gods.' You come down here to escape Nebuchadnezzar, you're not going to escape him. You try to run from your problems, you can't run from your problems." God always wants us to face our problems with His strength and with His help. Never to run. A person never successfully runs away from a problem. We need to deal with the issues squarely with the help of the Lord. God will give us the strength. God will give us the help.

Flinders Petrie, famous archaeologist, several years ago now, I think it was in the 1920's, was excavating in Egypt Tell Defenneh. And as he was excavating there in Tell Defenneh, he came across this big pavement, pavilion, paved pavilion which was next to the ruins of the palace. And he dug under the bricks of this pavilion and found these very stones that Jeremiah had buried. These stones are now in a museum, the last I heard, in Cairo. The very stones that Jeremiah buried were found by Petrie as a witness to the truth of God's Word. Because Nebuchadnezzar did come down; he did conquer Egypt. He set his throne right there above the stones that Jeremiah buried. God's Word came to pass. God's Word will always come to pass. You can trust that God will keep His Word always.

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Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

These leaders took this remnant, which included Jews who had returned to the land from neighboring countries, Jews whom the Babylonians had left in the land, Jeremiah, and Baruch, and proceeded to Egypt. They stopped at Tahpanhes (Gr. Daphne; cf. Jeremiah 2:16), an Egyptian frontier town in the northeastern Nile Delta region on the road from Canaan, perhaps to obtain permission to settle in the land. [Note: See the map of the ancient Near East at the end of these notes.] They did this in disobedience to the Lord. Note the continued emphasis on the people’s disobedience throughout this whole chapter.

"Think of it! Abraham’s descendants returned to Egypt long after their liberation from it. With great suffering they had been delivered from their bondage in Egypt only to return there a defeated and hopeless remnant nearly nine hundred years later . . ." [Note: Feinberg, "Jeremiah," p. 637.]

It is difficult to tell whether Jeremiah went with them as a prisoner or by his own choice. It seems unlikely that this group of rebels against God’s messages through Jeremiah would have forced him (and Baruch) to accompany them, knowing that he would continue to be a thorn in their side. If Jeremiah went to Egypt by his own choice, he must have done so convinced that Yahweh wanted him to be His voice among the rebels. At the same time, he could not have gone to escape danger and still have remained completely faithful to his Lord, since he had preached cooperation and submission to the Babylonians as God’s will. Many of the commentators speculate that he did not go voluntarily (cf. Jeremiah 32:6-15; Jeremiah 40:1-6; Jeremiah 42:13-18), and I tend to agree.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

[Even] men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters,.... This, according to the supplement of our version, explains who they were that were taken and had into Egypt, persons of every sex, age, and rank; though rather these words design and describe persons distinct from the former, that came out of other countries; see

Jeremiah 41:10;

and every person that Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan: even the poor of the land to till it; and to whom he gave fields and vineyards, and committed them to the care and government of Gedaliah, when the rest were carried captive to Babylon; and now these, in some sort, may be said to be carried captive by their own brethren into Egypt:

and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah; whom they forced with them, partly to punish them, and partly to give countenance to their conduct; but not without the will of God, who so ordered it in his providence, that they might have the prophet with then, to reprove them for their sins, and warn them of their danger and ruin, and so leave them inexcusable.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      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,Genesis 11:6. 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,Jeremiah 43:2; Jeremiah 43:2. 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?Exodus 5:2. 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 (Jeremiah 43:3; Jeremiah 43:3), 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 (Jeremiah 43:4; Jeremiah 43:4), 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 (Jeremiah 43:5; Jeremiah 43:5), men, women, and children (Jeremiah 43:6; Jeremiah 43:6), 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 11:19), the same with Hanes (Isaiah 30:4); it was now the metropolis, for Pharaoh's house was there, Jeremiah 43:9; Jeremiah 43:9. 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.