Jeremiah 43:9, commentary and pictures

The verse belongs to the account of Jeremiah's personal experiences, including his going into Egypt with the Jews in their flight to Egypt. It is part of the account of that flight and of Jeremiah's prophecy that their plans in Egypt would fail, identifying where Nebuchadnezzar would set his standard in Egypt's capital. In chronological order it comes after chapters 40, 41, and 42 and before chapter 44, though the chapters are not arranged strictly by order of events. It belongs to the history of the two years before Jerusalem fell.

It belongs to the time when Baruch was intimately joined with Jeremiah in God's work, when the remnant left in Judea went down to Egypt contrary to God's direction given through Jeremiah after inquiring of him. The remnant charged Jeremiah with speaking against them because Baruch influenced him, turning God's direct word into Baruch's word, which was a great sin that God punished with utter destruction of those wicked men. That charge shows suspicion and unbelief toward those God calls and how serious it is to claim human influence stands behind what purports to come directly from God, since God never chooses a medium to speak and then lets another contrary influence palm itself off as His Spirit and work.

The verse records God's command to Jeremiah to hide large stones in mortar or brickwork at the entrance to Pharaoh's house or palace in Tahpanhes, in the sight and presence of the men of Judah. The book uses striking symbols, signs, and figures of speech, and the hidden stones were a sign of the coming announcement about Nebuchadnezzar. The verse prophesies that the Jews' plans in Egypt would fail because Nebuchadnezzar would invade and subjugate Egypt and set his throne and standard there and spread his royal pavilion over the stones. It is cited as one of the prophecies describing Egypt's future, as part of the biblical prediction of Egypt's invasion and subjugation by Nebuchadnezzar and of the nation's later history under foreign rulers.

The structure is a paved area at the entrance to Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes, not a brick kiln. The phrase for pass through means pass by or before, and under when used with a tool means with. Nebuchadnezzar used the pavement to have captives pass before him and assign them to suitable kinds of labor. The brickwork discovered facing the palace's eastern entrance at Tahpanhes in 1886 fits the place described in the verse, and Egyptian inscriptions confirm that Nebuchadnezzar later spread his royal pavilion there. The excavations confirmed Jeremiah's familiarity with the palace setting and support the historical accuracy of the account, giving an accurate description of architectural features at Pharaoh's palace in Tahpanhes.