Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The Jews, disobedient to God and Jeremiah, accusing Jeremiah of lying, break their oath to God and flee, dragging Jeremiah with them into Egypt, where (verse 8) he predicts in Tahpanhes the destruction of Egypt together with the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar.
Vulgate Text: Jeremiah 43:1-13
1. And it came to pass, when Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all the words of the Lord their God, for which the Lord their God had sent him to them — all these words — 2. that Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men spoke, saying to Jeremiah: You speak a lie: the Lord our God did not send you to say: Do not enter Egypt to dwell there. 3. But Baruch the son of Neriah incites you against us, to deliver us into the hands of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us and carry us away to Babylon. 4. So Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the warriors and all the people did not obey the voice of the Lord, to remain in the land of Judah. 5. But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the warriors took all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations to which they had been driven, to dwell in the land of Judah — 6. the men and women and children and the king's daughters and every person whom Nabuzardan 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. And they entered the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the Lord; and they came as far as Tahpanhes. 8. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying: 9. Take large stones in your hand and hide them in the mortar in the brick pavement at the entrance of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah; 10. and say to 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 I will set his throne upon these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his canopy over them. 11. And he will come and strike the land of Egypt: those destined for death, to death; those for captivity, to captivity; and those for the sword, to the sword. 12. And he will kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt and burn them, and he will carry them away captive; and he will wrap himself in the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself in his cloak; and he will go out from there in peace. 13. And he will break the obelisks of the House of the Sun that are in the land of Egypt; and the temples of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire.
Verse 3
3. But Baruch the son of Neriah incites you — because Baruch seemed to them bolder and more spirited than the gentle Jeremiah, exhausted by so many imprisonments and hardships; for they knew that Baruch had read the prophecy before the princes, which Jeremiah himself did not dare to read to them, chapter XXXVI, verse 6. Furthermore, they had seen that Baruch, equally with Jeremiah, had been released by the Chaldeans during the destruction of the city and treated kindly. Moreover, he had written to the Jews in Babylon not to think of returning but to settle there and pray for the life of Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar, Baruch I, 11. Therefore these suspicious and rash men concluded that Baruch was on the side of the Chaldeans and was suggesting to Jeremiah that he prophesy to these remaining Jews that they must stay in Judea, so as to subject them to the Chaldean yoke. They followed human prudence, which dictated that it was safer to flee to Egypt than to expose themselves to the danger of the Chaldeans in Judea. But it was otherwise in the counsel of God, who catches the self-reliant rebels in their own prudence.
Verse 7
7. Tahpanhes. — It was a capital city of Egypt and the residence of Pharaoh, where Moses performed his wonders, namely in the field of Zoan, that is Tanis or Tahpanhes, Psalm LXXVII, 43. See the notes on Numbers XIII, 23.
9. Under the brick pavement. — Note: Because Egypt is muddy from the flooding and silting of the Nile, it abounds in brickwork; hence some wish the principal city of Egypt to be called Pelusium, as if from πηλεύσειν, that is, brickwork; although others think Pelusium was named after Peleus, the father of Achilles, because he founded this city.
Symbolically, therefore, this wall signifies Egypt: under it Jeremiah is here commanded to place large stones, so that with them sunk into the ground and set with lime and mortar, he would as it were lay the foundation of the royal throne that Nebuchadnezzar would place there. By this symbol he signifies that Nebuchadnezzar would impose his throne and scepter upon Egypt and subjugate it to himself, meaning: O Jews, you who think yourselves prudent but are unbelieving and rebellious toward God, you think that against God's will you can hide and be safe under the brick wall of Egypt; but you are mistaken, for Nebuchadnezzar will come, who will take this wall and lay it beneath himself and his throne, and will kill you first of all. Secondly, it alludes to the servitude in Egypt under Moses, meaning: You flee to Egypt; but recall that you served there in a harsh and almost iron furnace, making bricks from mud, and know that in like manner you will be punished there by Nebuchadnezzar with either death or servitude.
At the entrance of Pharaoh's house — meaning: The royal gate and house that now belongs to Pharaoh will become the palace of Nebuchadnezzar; and this on your account, for he will pursue you even into Egypt; and so you will be the cause why the Egyptians likewise fall into his hands; for the punishment of your sins, the calamity and captivity, wherever you go, you will drag with you.
10. Behold, I will send — messengers to summon Nebuchadnezzar. These messengers were the thoughts and inspirations about pursuing the Jews and seizing Egypt that were cast into the mind of Nebuchadnezzar, says Maldonatus.
Verse 11
11. Those destined for death (that is, those I have appointed, Nebuchadnezzar himself will deliver), to death. Those for captivity (I have appointed, he will deliver), to captivity. — See the commentary on chapter XV, 2.
12. And he will carry them away captive — he will take the golden and silver gods of the Egyptians to Babylon; or 'them,' namely the Egyptians, for they are implicitly included in the word 'Egypt' that preceded.
He will wrap himself in the land of Egypt. — The word 'terra' (land) is not in the nominative case, as if to say: The land of Egypt will be clothed and fortified with its own defenses, as Hugo interprets; or with Nebuchadnezzar's soldiers, as Lyranus interprets. Rather, it is in the ablative case. The sense, therefore, is: Nebuchadnezzar will clothe himself with all the spoils and riches of Egypt, just as a shepherd, when he leads his sheep to pasture in rain and cold, clothes himself with his cloak — besides which he has no other wealth or garments, but carries with him his shelter and his home, as Virgil says of the Scythians. Meaning: In the same way, Nebuchadnezzar will depart from Egypt laden with spoils, and will carry off all the riches of Egypt. For a king covers and clothes himself with his kingdom, whether his own or one he has conquered; and since a king is also a shepherd, he puts on the kingdom as a shepherd puts on his cloak. So say the Hebrews. Hence the Chaldean translates: He will wrap himself in the land of Egypt (that is, the king of Babylon), as a shepherd wraps himself in his garment.
The Septuagint translates differently: He will search through the land of Egypt, as a shepherd picks lice from his garment — that is, so carefully and diligently that he leaves not a single one. For shepherds rarely remove their garments; hence they contract vermin, which they pick through in the fields, for they have abundant leisure, says Theodoret.
Verse 13
13. And he will break the obelisks of the House of the Sun. — The Septuagint renders: the obelisks of Heliopolis. For Heliopolis is so called in Greek, meaning: City of the Sun, because in it the Sun was worshipped in its own temple, whose priest was Potiphar, Genesis XLI, 45. Note: The Phoenicians and Egyptians were the first of all peoples to worship the sun, moon, and stars as gods, as the causes of the generation and destruction of all things. 'For, as Catullus says, breezes caress plants' and every living thing, 'the sun strengthens, the rain nourishes.' The Egyptians depicted the Sun in youthful form, with a round face, standing in a ship carried by a crocodile, as Pierius notes, Hieroglyphics XLIX. By the ship they signified the movement of the Sun through the waters, that is, through the heavens made of water; by the crocodile, rainwater, whose cause is the sun. Heliopolis, moreover, was properly devoted to the Sun alone, and because the sun is unique, hence they attributed to the phoenix — which is said to have first appeared in that city and to dwell there — as a unique hieroglyphic to the unique Sun, just as the sun is a hieroglyphic of the one God; and perhaps for this reason the phoenix was invented by them — not a real bird, but a symbolic one — so that by this hieroglyphic they might signify the celestial and swift motion of the unique Sun, as I said on Genesis VII, 2.