to burst (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, piel sequential perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
images
מַצְּבוֹת֙ma.tze.Vot
H4676
something stationed · noun, common feminine plural construct
Beth-shemesh
בֵּ֣יתbeit
H1053
Beth-Shemesh · noun, common both genders singular construct
land
בְּאֶ֣רֶץbe.'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
Egypt
מִצְרָ֑יִםmitz.Ra.yim
H4714
Mitsrajim · proper noun, a place name
houses
בָּתֵּ֥יba.Tei
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine plural construct
gods
אֱלֹהֵֽי'e.lo.hei-
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural construct
Egyptians
מִצְרַ֖יִםmitz.Ra.yim
H4714
Mitsrajim · proper noun, a place name
burn
יִשְׂרֹ֥ףyis.Rof
H8313
to be (causatively · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
fire
בָּאֵֽשׁba.'Esh
H784
fire (literally or figuratively) · preposition with the article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 19:18 In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The ci…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 43:8–end
We have here, as also in the next chapter, Jeremiah prophesying in Egypt. Jeremiah was now in Tahpanhes, for there his lords and masters were; he was there among idolatrous Egyptians and treacherous Israelites; but there, 1. He received the word of the Lord; it came to him. God can find his people, with the visits of his grace, wherever they are; and, when his ministers are bound, yet the word of the Lord is not bound. The spirit of prophecy was not confined to the land of Israel. When Jeremiah went into Egypt, not out of choice, but by constraint, God withdrew not his wonted favour from him. 2. What he received of the Lord he delivered to the people. Wherever we are we must endeavour to do…
images--statues or obelisks.
Beth-shemesh--that is, "the house of the sun," in Hebrew; called by the Greeks "Heliopolis"; by the Egyptians, "On" (Gen 41:45); east of the Nile, and a few miles north of Memphis. Ephraim Syrus says, the statue rose to the height of sixty cubits; the base was ten cubits. Above there was a miter of a thousand pounds weight. Hieroglyphics are traced around the only obelisk remaining in the present day, sixty or seventy feet high. On the fifth year after the overthrow of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar, leaving the siege of Tyre, undertook his expedition to Egypt [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 10.9,7]. The Egyptians, according to the Arabs, have a tradition that their land wa…
He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that is in the land of Egypt,.... Or, "of Heliopolis", as the Septuagint; the "city of the sun"; and so "Bethshemesh" here signifies the "house of the sun"; either it designs the temple of the sun, or the city where it was worshipped; as Heliopolis was famous for the worship of the sun, and for a magnificent temple in it, built for that purpose, and where abundance of persons resorted on that account, as Herodotus (l) observes; here were many images of the sun; and these now should be broke to pieces, when this city should become the city of destruction, as is foretold it should by Isaiah, Isaiah 19:18; where the Targum expressly calls it the ci…
The Church Fathers
The city had two names. It was called both On and Heliopolis. Exodus also taught this, for it says that the children of Israel built cities for Pharaoh: Pithom, Raamses and On, which is Heliopolis. God calls Nebuchadnezzar his servant, not because he is a servant in appearance or disposition but because he is a servant by nature: creation is the servant of the Creator. At the same time he teaches that Nebuchadnezzar does these things because God permits him to.
"He shall break the obelisks of the city of the sun, which is in Egypt, and the temples of the gods of the Egyptians he shall burn with fire." The city of the sun is Egyptian Heliopolis, which was known for excessive demonic veneration and worship of futile idols. It had tall obelisks of amazing size. The height of each was up to sixty cubits, the capitals on the top of the obelisks were from shining brass that weighed up to a thousand or more pounds. On these obelisks were standing images and likenesses of people and animals that the Gentiles were worshiping. Also, those obelisks were inscribed with sacred writings of pagan mysteries. It was written about these obelisks that the Lord would break them. It does not speak so much about divine destruction and demolition of these obelisks as such, as about the destruction of the worship of demons and idols, images of those who were engraved on those obelisks. It was demolished, destroyed and stopped when the Lord Christ was incarnated and came to this world. This is exactly what Isaiah proclaimed when he said, "The Lord is seated on the light cloud and comes to Egypt, and handmade Egyptian idols will tremble in front of his face." The cloud on which the Lord is riding symbolizes for us the virgin Mary, who gave birth to God; it also symbolizes the living and clear message of the Lord's gospel and the holy name of Christ that was proclaimed by the apostles (these divine preachers). On them, as on the light cloud, the Lord was seated and was proclaimed to the ends of the earth. Also, these clouds mystically symbolize holy prophets. Just as Isaiah writes that God, in a figurative image of the vineyard, was talking about the people of Israel and that he would break their fence and "order the clouds that they rain no rain on it," so likewise in this passage clouds mean prophets who rain a heavenly rain on us.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Beth-shemesh — House of the sun. (1.) A sacerdotal city in the tribe of Dan (Josh. 21:16; 1 Sam. 6:15), on the north border of Judah (Josh. 15:10). It was the scene of an encounter between Jehoash, king of Israel,…
Bethshemesh — (house of the sun).
Egypt — The land of the Nile and the pyramids, the oldest kingdom of which we have any record, holds a place of great significance in Scripture. The Egyptians belonged to the white race, and their original…
Idol — (1.) Heb. aven, “nothingness;” “vanity” (Isa. 66:3; 41:29; Deut. 32:21; 1 Kings 16:13; Ps. 31:6; Jer. 8:19, etc.). (2.) ‘Elil, “a thing of naught” (Ps. 97:7; Isa. 19:3); a word of contempt, used of…
On — Light; the sun, (Gen. 41:45, 50), the great seat of sun-worship, called also Bethshemesh (Jer. 43:13) and Aven (Ezek. 30:17), stood on the east bank of the Nile, a few miles north of Memphis, and…
Sun — (Heb. shemesh), first mentioned along with the moon as the two great luminaries of heaven (Gen. 1:14-18). By their motions and influence they were intended to mark and divide times and seasons. The…
Beth-Shemesh · 4. An idolatrous temple — 4. An idolatrous temple
Egypt · .Prophecies against — .Prophecies against
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Jeremiah 43:13
13 He shall break also the images of Bethshemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians shall he burn with fire.
13. Et conteret statuas Beth-semes (vel, Heliopolios) quae est in terra Aegypti, et domos deorum.Aegypti (hoc est, templa) exuret igni.
WE stated yesterday why Jeremiah spoke especially of the temples of the gods, even that the Jews might understand that nothing would escape destruction: for even the cruel-est enemies have usually withheld their hands from the temples of gods. If sanctity and religion would not preserve the temples, what then would become of private houses? He intimates, in short, that such would be the ruin o…
In conclusion, mention is further made of the destruction of the famous temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, to show the fulfilment of the prophecy that all Egypt would fall under the power of Nebuchadnezzar. בּית שׁמשׁ, "House of the Sun," is the Hebrew rendering of the Egyptian Pe-râ, i.e., House of the Sun, the sacred name of the city vulgarly called On; see on Gen 41:45. It lay north-east from Cairo, near the modern village of Matarieh, and thus pretty far inland; it was renowned for its magnificent temple, dedicated to Râ, the Sun-god. At the entrance to this building stood several larger and smaller obelisks, of which the two larger, added to the two older ones by Pheron the son of Sesos…
The sacred pillars were highly prized by the ancient Egyptians. • in the temple of the sun: Or in Heliopolis. The sun was the supreme deity of the Egyptian religion. The ruins of this city are about six miles northeast of modern Cairo.
Rashi on Jeremiah 43:13
the monuments of Beth-shemesh The altars that those who proselytized in the days of Hezekiah had made there Sennacherib’s captives whom he brought from Cush and from Egypt before Jerusalem on the day of his downfall, as it is stated “On that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt speaking the language of Canaan and swearing to the Lord of Hosts one of which will be called ‘the city of Heres’” (Isa. 19.18). Jonathan renders: The city of Beth-shemesh, which is destined to be destroyed, will be said to be one of them.
