Jeremiah 2:16

Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes,.... These were cities in Egypt.

Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head. Noph ... Tahapanes - Noph is Memphis, capital of Lower Egypt, on the west bank of the Nile, near the pyramids of Gizeh, opposite the site of modern Cairo.

Noph and Tahapanes; two of the king of Egypt’ s principal seats. Concerning Noph, sometimes called Memphis, now Cairo, see on . Concerning Tahapanes, see , probably taking its name from Tahpenes, queen of Egypt, ; called also Hanes: See Poole "". And the inhabitants and natives of these cities are called here their children, . Broken the crown of thy head: they that take the Hebrew word in the notion of breaking understand this of destroying whatever is chief or principal among them, either of persons or things; wounds in the head being most dangerous. Or, defiling the chief of the land, either by their corporal adulteries, and so take the word under the notion of knowing, as ; or spiritual, namely, idolatries, , or their cruel, tyrannical oppressions, trampling upon all their glory, expressed by riding over their heads, and that universally, in a most insulting manner. But the word may be better taken in the notion of feeding, as the word is used , i.e. they have fed upon her most fruitful and pleasant, the top and head of all her pastures, that lay in the southern borders towards Egypt; see ; thus depriving them of all way of subsistence, . In short, they shall make havoc of all that is excellent in thee, . The sum is, Thy league, O Judea, with Egypt against the Chaldeans will be the cause of thy total ruin. For the kings of Judah had not rebelled against the Babylonians, but to gratify the Egyptians, in expectation of help from them.

Jeremiah 2:16 Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head.Ver. 16. Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes.] Two chief cities of Egypt, the inhabitants whereof were said to be most effeminate and servile fellows; even these shall overtop thee, knock thee down, as an ox by a blow on the brain pan, and make havoc of those things that thou holdest the chiefest and most desirable. Herodot., lib. ii.

(16) Also the children of Noph . . .—We pass from the language of poetry to that of history, and the actual enemies of Israel appear on the scene, not as the threatening danger in the north, but in the far south. The words indicate that the prophet set himself from the first, as Isaiah had done (Isaiah 31:1), against the policy of an Egyptian alliance. The LXX. translators, following, we must believe, an Egyptian tradition, identify the Hebrew Noph with Memphis in northern Egypt; later critics, with Napata in the south. Its conjunction with Tahapanes, the Daphnæ of the Greeks, which was on the Pelusiac mouth of the Nile, and on the frontier, seems in favour of the former view. Have broken.—More accurately, shall feed on, lay waste, depasture, so as to produce baldness. Baldness among the Jews, as with other -Eastern nations, was a shame and reproach (Isaiah 3:24; Isaiah 15:2; Isaiah 22:12; 2 Kings 2:23), and was therefore a natural symbol of the ignominy and ruin of a people.

Verse 16. The children of Noph and Tahapanes] Noph and Tahapanes were two cities of Egypt, otherwise called Memphis and Daphni. It is well known that the good king was defeated by the Egyptians, and slain in battle. Thus was the crown of Judah's head broken.

16. also] even. The sense is, those in whom thou most trustedst. Noph] Memphis, formerly the capital of Lower (i.e. Northern) Egypt, the word Noph representing some colloquial Semitic or Egyptian pronunciation of the name. Its site was near what is now Cairo. Tahpanhes] now Tell Defneh, the Greek Daphnae Pelusii, which Herodotus mentions (Jeremiah 2:30) as a town in which a garrison was maintained against the Syrians and Arabians. It bears an important part in the history contained in the later chapters of Jeremiah. Johanan and the other captains went there in spite of the prophet’s directions (Jeremiah 43:7). It was on the eastern branch of the Nile, and commanded the road to Palestine, thus being a frontier post of great importance. The towns of Noph and Tahpanhes would both be well known to the Jews even in Josiah’s day, the former as a capital city, the latter from its position. The two places occur again in conjunction in Jeremiah 44:1, Jeremiah 46:14. The pyramids and extensive necropolis still draw multitudes of visitors to Memphis. The site of Tahpanhes has been excavated by Dr Flinders Petrie with interesting results relating to Ptolemaic and Roman times. See HDB. s.v. have broken] mg. fed on. The latter rendering represents the sense of the Hebrew verb according to the vowel points assigned it by the Massoretes, but the figure is too strange a one to be easily accepted. That of the text, on the other hand, would require different vocalisation (yĕ ?ro‘uk for yir‘uk), but in this case too the figure is over strong for the circumstances; seeing what is meant is nothing more than some affliction coming from Egypt. At any rate it is best to render by a future rather than a present tense. There is however a third way of pointing the word which is far from improbable, though it also involves the transposing of two consonants, viz. yĕ ?‘aruk, “will shave the crown of your head.” It is true that we must assume the existence of the Hebrew verb in that sense, but the supposition is scarcely a precarious one, as the Hebrew for ‘razor’ is apparently derived from this root. In that case the v. may be paraphrased thus: the Assyrians have ravaged thee. The Egyptians, to whom some of you are looking for help, will presently fleece you (as they did, 2 Kings 23:35). A shaven head was the sign of disgrace or of mourning (Jeremiah 47:5, Jeremiah 48:37; Isaiah 3:17; Isaiah 3:24; Isaiah 15:2; Isaiah 22:12).

Noph, i. e., Napata, a town situated in the extreme south of Egypt. Some take it to be Memphis (see Isaiah 19:13 note). Tahapanes - Daphne Pelusii, a bordertown toward Palestine.

16. Noph (see Isaiah 19:13, and Ezekiel 30:13; Ezekiel 30:16) is an abbreviation of Menoph, which, in the Hebrew of Hos 9:6, takes the other abbreviated form of Moph.