Jeremiah 43
DOYLYJeremiah 43:2
- — and no man dwelleth therein.] It is not to be supposed, that the country was abandoned to such a degree, that there was not a single inhabitant left in it. But there were so few, that they might be reckoned as none. Calmet.
Jeremiah 43:13
- — Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt;] The same as On, or Heliopolis, Gen. xh. 45. Heliopolis was the Greek translation of “Beth-shemesh,” the house or city of the sun: called by Jeremiah “Beth-shemesh in the land of Egypt,” to distinguish it from another Beth-shemesh in the land of Canaan. This city was probably near the royal city Zoan, and only fifteen stadia, or something less than two miles from the sea, according to Herodotus. Dr. Hales.
Chap. XLIV. ver. 1. — Migdol, &c.] Migdol is mentioned, Exod. xiv. 2, as situate near the Red sea. But I do not take this to be the place intended. “Migdol” properly signifies a tower; and may in all probability have been given as a name to different cities in Egypt, where there was a distinguished object of that kind. The city of Magdolus is mentioned by Herodotus,
Hecateus, and others, and placed by Antoninus at the entrance of Egypt from Palestine, about twelve miles from Pelusium. This was too far distant from the Red sea to be in the route of the Israelites; but its distance from Judea favours the supposition of its being the “Migdol” here spoken of. For then, as Bochart observes, we shall find the four places mentioned exactly in the order of their respective distances from that country; first, Migdol, or Magdolus; secondly, Tahpanhes, Daphne; thirdly, Noph, or Memphis; and lastly, the district of Pathros, or Thebais. Dr. Blayney.
Jeremiah 43:14
- So that none of the remnant of Judah, &c.] It is