Exile to Egypt (43:1–14)

Baruch son of Neriah (43:3). See comments on 36:4.

So they entered Egypt (43:7). This event can be defined as the Egyptian Diaspora. It is generally considered to be less significant for the future of Judaism than the Babylonian Diaspora. Though perhaps a number of Israelites fled to Egypt during the Assyrian period (cf. Isa. 11:11), the main settlement of Jews takes place at this time. We are able to partially reconstruct the life of the exiled Jews in Egypt from the comments in Jeremiah, as well as from a series of legal documents and letters discovered at a military Jewish colony established at Elephantine (see sidebar on “The Jews at Elephantine”).

The Jews at Elephantine

Elephantine is an island in the Nile that is opposite Aswan in Upper Egypt. It is situated just north of the first cataract. The letters and documents discovered there that are of most interest for our purposes are those written in Aramaic.A-62 We learn the following:

Elephantine was a military outpost that protected the southern border of Egypt and kept a watchful eye over commerce on the Nile. On this basis it is assumed that the other places where the Judean exiles settled—e.g., Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and Pathros—were also military garrisons. The soldiers at Elephantine received payment and land grants from their overlords.

Some Jews intermarried with the Egyptians. Moreover, certain Jews achieved high social and administrative status in Egypt.

There was considerable communication between this community and the religious leaders in Jerusalem and Samaria. This community was aware of traditional Jewish practices and important religious feasts.

The Jews built a temple to Yahweh that was structurally similar to the one built in Jerusalem. As noted above (see comments on 41:5), this temple was destroyed and the leaders sought permission to rebuild it so that the religious practices could continue.

Worship at Elephantine appears to have been syncretistic, whereby other deities of Syro-Palestine were worshiped alongside Yahweh.A-63 This is perhaps one reason why Yahweh, through the prophet Jeremiah, sends a message that is against the plan to go and settle in Egypt (42:19–22; 44:26–28). Another possible reason is because Egypt, in the history of Israel, symbolizes violence and oppression. A voluntary return to Egypt is equivalent to a return to the context of slavery.

Excavations at Elephantine

Shiela R. Chung

Tahpanhes (43:7). Tahpanhes is an Egyptian fortress identified with Tell Defneh. This is a desert site bordering on Sinai and is located about eleven miles west of the present day Suez Canal. Excavations have demonstrated that its main period of occupation took place in the seventh century. At that time Psammetichus I (664–610 B.C.) placed a group of Greek mercenaries to protect the area. Because of its strategic location on the main commercial road that led to Palestine, it would be natural for a group of Judeans to settle there. According to the pseudepigraphal text known as The Lives of the Prophets, Jeremiah was stoned to death and buried at Tahpanhes.325 (See comments on 2:16 for further details on this town.)

Take some large stones with you and bury them (43:9). This command to “take” is reminiscent of other commands given to Jeremiah: “Take the belt you bought” (13:4); “Take from my hand this cup” (25:15); “Take a scroll” (36:2). In this case, Jeremiah is to take some large stones and bury them. The meaning of this symbolic action becomes clear from the following verses. Egypt will be punished in the near future by the attack of Babylonia. But in this case, the newly arrived exiles will also suffer this judgment because of their continued disobedience.

Jeremiah is to bury the stones in front of Pharaoh’s palace. This must be understood as a government building. The pharaoh did not live at Tahpanhes, but all government buildings in one sense or another were considered an extension of the royal house. The Hebrew phrase translated as “in clay in the brick pavement” is a difficult phrase to translate. The word for “clay” appears only here in the Hebrew Bible. This translation takes into account that excavations carried out at this site have uncovered a brick terrace in front of the entrance of the Tahpanhes.326 The size of the stones can be explained by the fact that they are to support the throne of the Babylonian king.

He will come and attack Egypt (43:11). We know little of Nebuchadnezzar’s final years and possible military incursions into Egypt. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel fully expected Babylonia to invade Egypt. There is a questionable reference to an attack against Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar in the writings of Josephus, who writes that during the twenty-third year of Nebuchadnezzar (582 B.C.), the Babylonian king first attacked the Ammonites and Moabites, then invaded Egypt.327 If this indeed happened, it would have coincided approximately with the time that the Jewish group arrived at Tahpanhes.

In addition to this source, there are some fragmentary Babylonian texts that suggest that in Nebuchadnezzar’s thirty-seventh year (ca. 568 B.C.) he attacked Egypt.328 Amasis was the Pharaoh in Egypt at this time. Scholars by and large agree that Nebuchadnezzar was not able to conquer Egypt at this time. Nevertheless, he may well have caused much damage to the military outposts populated by Jewish exiles.

Temple of the sun (43:13). This phrase translates a Hebrew expression that normally designates a place name. Here it obviously points toward a place in Egypt. Most agree that Jeremiah uses this term to designate the Egyptian city of Heliopolis (the normal name ascribed to this city in the Hebrew Bible is “On”; cf. Gen. 41:45). The site of this city is presently in a northeast suburb of Cairo. Heliopolis was an important political and cult center in Egypt.329 It became the center for the worship of the sun god Atum-Re. Jeremiah may have used the name that means “house of the sun” in order to call attention to the pagan worship of the city.

He will demolish the sacred pillars (43:13). Sacred pillars in Israel were erected for a variety of reasons. They could be used as memorials to a person who had died (Gen. 35:20), as a kind of marker at the entrance of a sanctuary (Ex. 26:32, 37), and as pagan objects of worship (Ex. 23:24; see comment on 26:18). In the Egyptian context, this term refers to what is known as an “obelisk”—a sacred monument native to ancient Egypt.

Obelisk at Karnak

Salena Semmens

Generally speaking, an obelisk was a tall, four-sided stone pillar that is gently tapered toward the top.330 It is considered to have originated in the cult center of Heliopolis (see previous comment). It most likely was associated from the beginning with the worship of the principal deity, the sun god Atum-Re. The destruction of such a sacred object at the hands of the Babylonians would have represented a disgrace for the Egyptians.