Jeremiah 43:9

Jer 43:9 Take great stones in thine 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 the men of Judah;

Ver. 9. Take great stones in thine hand.] Bricks, wherewith Egypt abounded, as being much of it muddy by reason of the inundation of the river Nile; hence also their chief city was called Pelusium, or Daphnis Pelusiae. See Jer 43:7. It is ordinary with Jeremiah to join paradigms with his prophecies, as here, that they might be the more evident, and take the deeper impression.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Which signified that Nebuchadnezzar should come even to the gates of Pharaoh, where were his brick kilns for his buildings.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

stones--to be laid as the foundation beneath Nebuchadnezzar's throne (Jer 43:10).

clay--mortar.

brick-kiln--Bricks in that hot country are generally dried in the sun, not burned. The palace of Pharaoh was being built or repaired at this time; hence arose the mortar and brick-kiln at the entry. Of the same materials as that of which Pharaoh's house was built, the substructure of Nebuchadnezzar's throne should be constructed. By a visible symbol implying that the throne of the latter shall be raised on the downfall of the former. Egypt at that time contended with Babylon for the empire of the East.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 9. Take great stones] This discourse seems to have been delivered about a year after the destruction of Jerusalem. They pretended that they dared not stay in Judea for fear of the Chaldeans. The prophet here assures them that Nebuchadnezzar shall come to Egypt, extend his conquests in that kingdom, and place his tent over the very place where these stones were laid up, and destroy them. How these prophecies were fulfilled, see at the end of Jer 44:30.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He was then commanded to take great stones, and to hide them in the clay, or cement, in a brick-kiln, that is, in a kiln where bricks were burnt, or in a place where they were usually made, or where materials were taken to form them. And this place was not far from the palace of the king in the city of Taphnees, as the Prophet expressly declares; nay, he says that it was nigh the gate. As, then, this place was near the palace, the Prophet was bidden to hide there the stones, and in the sight of the Jews. This was the symbol. Now, it is shewn for what end God would have the stones to be fixed in the clay or cement; for if the stones were only rolled there with great labor by the Prophet, there would have been no instruction; and all signs we know are unmeaning and without any importance without the word. It is God’s word, then, that in a manner gives life to signs, and applies them for the benefit and instruction of men. Therefore God’s command is added, that he was to speak to the Jews: Thou shalt say to them, Thus saith Jehovah. He brings in God as the speaker, that the threatening might be more effectual, as it has been stated elsewhere; for if he had only related the words of God, he could not have thus arrested their attention, which was very tardy. This, then, is the reason why he speaks in the person of God himself.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(9) Take great stones in thine hand, and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln.—Better, in the mortar on the platform. There seems something incongruous in the idea of a brickkiln, or a place for baking bricks, at the entrance of a royal palace; nor is it easy to see why Nebuchadrezzar should have chosen it as a place for his throne. It seems better, with Hitzig, Furst, and others, to take the Hebrew word, which occurs only here and in 2Sa_12:31 and Nah_3:14, as meaning a structure of brick, a dais or raised pavement, like the Gabbatha or Pavement on which Pilate sat (Joh_19:13), in front of the entrance of the palace, on which the king naturally placed his throne when he sat in judgment or received petitions. Assyrian and Babylonian monuments present many instances of kings thus seated. As making his prediction more vivid, the prophet places stones in the mortar or cement (not “clay”) with which the mass was covered, and conceals them apparently with a fresh coat of mortar. There they were to remain till his prediction should be fulfilled. The symbolic act was of the same type as the breaking of the potter’s vessel in Jer_19:10, and the yoke worn on the prophet’s shoulders (Jer_27:2), and Ezekiel’s digging through the wall (Eze_12:7). It may be noted that our version follows Luther in translating “brickkiln.” The LXX. evades the difficulty by taking refuge in vague terms” in the vestibule (πρόθυρα), in the gate of the house,” and the Vulgate gives “in the crypt which is under the brick walls.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. hide them in mortar in the brickwork] mg. lay them with mortar in the pavement (or square). The MT. is questionable here. The words for “in the mortar” and “in the brickwork” resemble each other, the first occurring nowhere else. The LXX read simply “in the fore-court,” which is not justified by the Hebrew as we have it. Aq. Symm. Theod. have “in secret,” omitting one of the consonants of the Hebrew word for “in mortar,” and this probably gives us the true meaning, viz. secretly, in the brickwork. The incident (so Erbt and Co.) perhaps occurred at night. This is not inconsistent with the words “in the sight of the men of Judah,” for cp. Eze_12:7.

in the brickwork] If we keep the text as it stands, the word, which elsewhere means a brick-mould, may here mean something quadrangular (see mg.). It is perhaps “the large oblong brick pavement close to the palace fort built by Psammetichus I (b.c. 664–610), which was excavated by Prof. Petrie at Tell Defneh in 1886.” Dr., p. 258, who adds references to Petrie and Maspero.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Take great stones in thine hand,.... In both his hands, as big as he could carry:

and hide them in the clay in the brick kiln; there was much clay in Egypt, through the overflowing of the Nile, and particularly at this place Tahpanhes, which had its name of Pelusiae from hence; and here was a brick kiln; not a place where bricks were burnt, but where they were foraged; and so here was the clay of which they were made, and in which these stones were to be hid:

which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes; this brick kiln stood not directly at the entrance into the king's palace, but at the door of a wall of a park or garden, which belonged to the palace, from whence there was an open way to it; here the stones were to be laid. Since a brick kiln so near a king's palace seems not agreeable, Gussetius (h) thinks signifies a poplar walk, from a poplar tree, whose shade is very grateful, Hos 4:13; to which the courtiers betook themselves at certain times, and walked in for pleasure;

in the sight of the men of Judah; not in the sight of the Egyptians, who would not understand the design of it, nor were they to be instructed by it; but in the sight of the Jews, who would at once imagine that something was intended, being used to such symbols, and would inquire the meaning of it; and which is explained in Jer 43:10.

(h) Ebr. Comment. p. 470.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Brickkiln - Possibly, a pavement of brick. Jeremiah was to take a few large stones, such, nevertheless, as he could carry in his hand, and build with them, in the propylaea before the royal palace, something that would serve to represent the dais upon which the seat of kings was usually placed. By hiding them in the clay is meant plastering them over with mortar.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Wall; kiln, or court. (Hebrew) Justice was administered at the gate, and the magnificent throne of Solomon was placed in the court or porch, 3 Kings x. 18. (Calmet) --- The prophet preaches by facts, laying great stones in the chief city, chap. xix. 10. (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

God commandeth the prophet to take these

stones, and to place them

in the clay, & c., for a sign of what we shall meet with expounded in the next verse: it is plain from hence that the king of Egypt, called Pharaoh, either resided, or at least had a royal palace, in Tahpanhes; Jeremiah is directed to fix these stones at the entrance into this palace. This hath made interpreters divided about the true sense of the word which is here translated a

brick-kiln. That the word so signifies is out of doubt, and is so translated, 2Sa 12:31. All that troubleth some is, that they fancy there should not be a brick-kiln so near the king’s palace; but possibly those learned men do not enough consider the difference of times and places. Great princes’ sons and daughters do not use in our age to keep sheep, which yet we know Jacob’s sons and Laban’s daughters did; the grandeur of princes was not so great but it might admit of as plain a thing as this. Others say the palaces of their princes were very vast, so that the brick-kiln might be at a distance from the entry into the dwelling-house, though it was at the entry of the place called by the name of the palace. Others think it might be a house used not for making, but polishing earthenware. But the greatest offensiveness of such kilns with us is from the smoke, of which they had none, drying their bricks in the sun. But it is a nicety not worth so many guesses.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

PREDICTION REGARDING EGYPT, Jer_43:8-13.

9. Hide them in the clay in the brickkiln — The object of this symbolical action is perfectly plain; but to understand the action itself is exceedingly difficult. The great doubt is, as to the sense of the word translated “brickkiln.” The word is used in two other places, neither one of which sheds a very certain light upon the word. In 2Sa_12:31, it is said of David that “he made them (the Ammonites) to pass through the brickkiln.” In Nah_3:14, the people are exhorted to prepare for the siege, and this language is employed: “Go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brickkiln.” Each one of these passages has its special difficulty, and so they cannot be appealed to with much confidence as settling the meaning of the word. Furst gives to the word in 2Sa_12:31, (Kethib,) the sense of a heathen deity; and this, though conjectural rather than ascertained, is possibly right. He gives to the word in Nah_3:14, the sense of “brick,” such as would be used in closing up the breaches of the walls, and this sense perfectly fits the passage. In this place he gives the word the sense of “a brick-shaped quadrangle,” and understands it to be a pavement of brick or tile in front of the palace. This comes very nearly to the sense of the leading versions, the Vulgate rendering, “a brick wall,” the Syriac “a brick mould,” and the LXX “the propylaea.” Taking this sense, Jeremiah was instructed to take stones and conceal them in clay or mortar on the pavement in front of the palace. The clay represented the fragile power of the Egyptians, which would now fail; the stones the more enduring power of the Babylonians. The place was a suitable one for this act. That the prophet would be permitted to place stones and mortar in such a place for such a purpose is not incredible — certainly not impossible. The place was suitable, indicating the establishing of a royal power. The clay was the material out of which the palace itself was built. Pharaoh’s dominion was as the crumbling clay; Nebuchadrezzar’s was symbolized by the more enduring stones.

There is but one other view of this passage entitled to consideration. Neumann prefers the sense “brickkiln,” and explains the difficulty that it should be found in front of the palace, on the supposition that it was there to supply material for the construction of the palace, and had not yet been removed. This view is approved by Keil and Nagelsbach. But, to say the least, while it is a possible, it is certainly not a probable, conjecture; and even if the sense “brickkiln” were established, the hiding in the clay in the brickkiln is hard to understand.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Take great stones, etc. A strange symbolic act of Jeremiah"s is here described. "We must not suppose, arguing from our Western and precise notions, that he would be at all necessarily interfered with. In fact, he would have a twofold security, as a prophet of God to those who acknowledged him as such, and in the opinion of others as insane, and, according to Eastern ideas, thus especially under Divine promptings in his acts" (Streane). He is directed to take great stones and embed them in the mortar (not "clay") in the brick pavement at the entry of the palace. When the events predicted came to pass, these stones would testify that Jeremiah had predicted them. The word rendered "brick pavement" is of doubtful meaning. In Nah_3:14 it signifies "brick kiln."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

and hide them in the mortar Heb. במלט. This ‘mem’ is a defective radical in the word, like מקום, a place, מעמד, a stand, מעשה, a deed, and its root is לט, cf. “he wrapped (וילט) his face” (I Kings 19:13). Envelop them in the mortar in the framework. in the mortar (Envolopemant in O.F)

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.