Jeremiah 43:8 - Meaning and Application

We have here, as in the next chapter too, Jeremiah prophesying in Egypt. He was now in Tahpanhes, where his masters had taken him. He was among idolatrous Egyptians and faithless Israelites, yet even there the word of the Lord came to him. God can reach his people with grace wherever they are, and when his ministers are bound, the word of the Lord is not bound. The Spirit of prophecy was not limited to the land of Israel. Jeremiah had gone into Egypt, not by choice, but by force, and God did not withdraw his favor from him.

What Jeremiah received from the Lord, he delivered to the people. Wherever we are, we should try to do good, because that is our work in this world. Here we are given two messages Jeremiah was told to speak while he was in Egypt. He likely helped his countrymen there in any way he could, as far as they would accept it, by praying for them, teaching them, and comforting them. But only two messages received directly from God are recorded, one here about Egypt itself, and the other in the next chapter about the Jews in Egypt. God had already told them that if they went to Egypt, the sword they feared would follow them there. Now he tells them more plainly that Nebuchadnezzar’s sword, the one they especially feared, would come after them.

This is first shown by a sign. Jeremiah was to take large stones, the kind used for foundations, and place them in the clay of the brick kiln, by the open road near Pharaoh’s house (Jeremiah 43:9). That was a noticeable place, in view of the royal palace. Egypt was known for brick kilns, as the Israelites learned when the Egyptians forced them to make bricks (Exodus 5:7), and that may have been remembered against Egypt here. The foundation of Egypt’s ruin was symbolically laid in those bricks and that clay. Jeremiah was to do this not before the Egyptians, who did not know who he was, but before the men of Judah, to whom he had been sent. Since he could not stop them from going to Egypt, he would at least try to make them repent of going.

The prophecy is then given in clear words. The present king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, the same ruler who had destroyed Jerusalem, would himself come against Egypt and would even seize the royal city. The sign would be that he would set his throne right where Jeremiah had laid those stones (Jeremiah 43:10). This exact detail was foretold so that, when it happened, they would remember the prophecy and see again how fully God knows even the smallest events. God calls Nebuchadnezzar his servant because Nebuchadnezzar was carrying out God’s will and serving God’s purposes, though he did not know it. The rulers of the world are God’s servants, and he uses them however he pleases, even when they do not aim at his honor.

Nebuchadnezzar would also destroy many Egyptians and have all of them at his mercy (Jeremiah 43:11). He would strike the land of Egypt, and though Egypt had always been considered a strong nation, no one would be able to resist him. Those whom he chose, he would kill, either by plague, which here is likely meant by “death,” or by the sword of war, or by some other means. Those whom he chose, he would spare and take into captivity. By going into Egypt, the Jews had brought the Chaldeans there with them, and so they did badly by those who had received them. Those who promised to protect Israel from the king of Babylon would themselves be exposed to him.

Nebuchadnezzar would also destroy Egypt’s idols, including both the temples and the images of their gods (Jeremiah 43:12). He would burn the houses of the gods of Egypt, but the fire would be kindled by God’s wrath. That fire would consume some idols and carry off others, as in (Isaiah 46:1). Beth-shemesh, meaning “house of the sun,” was the name of a temple built to the sun, where worshipers of the sun used to gather. He would break the standing images there in pieces and carry away their valuable materials (Jeremiah 43:13). This shows that the whole land would be laid waste, so completely that even temples and images would not escape. Nebuchadnezzar was himself an idolater and a supporter of idolatry, with his own temples and sun images, yet God used him to destroy Egypt’s idols. In this way, God sometimes uses one wicked person, or one wicked nation, as a rod against another.

Nebuchadnezzar would also make Egypt his own, and no one would be able to defend it or avenge it (Jeremiah 43:12). He would dress himself in the rich spoils of Egypt, using them both for decoration and for protection. He would put them on as easily as a shepherd puts on his coat when he goes out in the morning to tend his sheep. He had already gathered wealth from many other nations through conquest, so the spoils of Egypt would mean little to him, like a shepherd’s garment. After taking whatever he wanted, as Ben-hadad had once threatened to do (1 Kings 20:6), he would leave in peace, with no one troubling him and no one forcing him to hurry away. Egypt would be so completely broken.

This destruction of Egypt by the king of Babylon is also foretold in (Ezekiel 29:19) and (Ezekiel 30:10). Babylon was far from Egypt, yet from there Egypt’s ruin would come, because God can make even distant judgments reach their target.