Jeremiah 2:16

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. Tahapanes is Daphne, on the Tanitic branch of the Nile, near Pelusium, on the frontier of Egypt toward Palestine. Isaiah, , contracts it Hanes. These two cities, one the capital, the other that with which the Jews came most in contact, stand for the whole of Egypt. Tahapanes takes its name from a goddess, Tphnet (Champollion). Memphis is from Man-nofri, 'the abode of good men:' written in Hebrew, 'Moph' (), or Noph. The reference is to the coming invasion of Judah by Pharaoh-nechoh of Egypt, on his return from the Euphrates, when he deposed Jehoahaz, raised Eliak...

By way of amplification he adds, _Also the sons of Noph and of Tephanes shall for thee break the head, _or, the crown of the head. We shall hereafter see that the Israelites were wont to seek help from the Egyptians. The particle גם, _g _a_m_, may be thus explained, “Not only those who have been hitherto professed enemies to thee, but even thy friends, in whose help thou didst confide, shall turn their power against thee and break for thee thy head.” Some think that their degradation is here enhanced, because the Egyptians were an unwarlike people; and ancient historians say that men there followed the occupations of women; but as this is not mentioned in Scripture, and as the Egyptians are not thus spoken of in it, I prefer to follow the usual explanation, that the Egyptians, though confederate with Israel, would yet be adverse to them, and had been so already. By the _head, _some under...

14-19 Is Israel a servant? No, they are the seed of Abraham. We may apply this spiritually: Is the soul of man a slave? No, it is not; but has sold its own liberty, and enslaved itself to divers lusts and passions. The Assyrian princes, like lions, prevailed against Israel. People from Egypt destroyed their glory and strength. They brought these calamities on themselves by departing from the Lord. The use and application of this is, Repent of thy sin, that thy correction may not be thy ruin. What has a Christian to do in the ways of forbidden pleasure or vain sinful mirth, or with the pursuits of covetousness and ambition?...

Verse Jeremiah 2:16. _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_....

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. HAVE BROKEN THE CROWN OF THY HEAD - literally, shall depasture the crown of thy head; i. e., make it bald; baldness was accounted by the Jews a sign of disgrace 2 Kings 2:23, and also a mark of mourning Isaiah 15:2; Isaiah 22:12. The Egyptians in slaying Josiah, and capturing Jerusalem, brought ruin, disgrace, and sorrow upon the Jews....

EXPOSITION The second chapter forms the introduction of a group of discourses (Jeremiah 2-6), which should be read together. It is called By Ewald (and the position of the prophecy favors this view) the first oracle which Jeremiah delivered in public ("oracle" is, in fact, the nearest English equivalent to those two remarkable Hebrew synonyms, _massa_ and _neum_—especially for the latter). This would bring it into the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah (see Jeremiah 1:3), though of course we cannot be sure that references to a later period may not have been inserted afterwards. It is, obviously, only a summary of the prophet's spoken words which we have in this most impressive discourse. In order to appreciate it, we must bear in mind the external political relations and the internal religions condition of the kingdom of Judah. These have Been already touched

ALSO THE CHILDREN OF NOPH AND TAHAPANES,.... These were cities in Egypt. Noph is the same with Moph in Hosea 9:6 and which we there rightly render Memphis; as Noph is here by the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions; and was formerly, as Pliny g says, the palace of the kings of Egypt. It is the same that is now called Alcairo, or Grand Cairo. According to Herodotus h, it was built by Menes, the first king of Egypt; and who also makes mention of a city of Egypt, called Momemphis i. Tahapanes is the same with Hanes in Isaiah 30:4, and here, in the Arabic version, is called Daphnes; and is thought by some to be the same with Daphnae Pelusiae, a city in Egypt. This Tahapanes was the metropolis of Egypt, and the seat of their kings; mention is made of Pharaoh's house in it, in...

Jeremiah 2:1. _Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD._ God remembered what Israel used to be in those good days when the Lord alone did lead them and there was no strange god among them. Now he bids them remember from whence they had fallen, and repent and do their first works lest he come unto them in wrath. Oh, beloved, if you ever lived near to God if you ever rested your head on Christ's bosom, and have now wandered away from him and are spiritually cold and dead, begin to chide yourself; for the Lord himself,

CHAPTER S 2:1-3:5 Expostulation and Impeachment _ 1. His love and kindness to Jerusalem (Jeremiah 2:1) _ 2. The unfaithful people (Jeremiah 2:4) 3. The two evils and the results (Jeremiah 2:12) 4. Impeachment (Jeremiah 2:19) 5. Expostulation (Jeremiah 2:31) 6. Jehovah waiting to show mercy (Jeremiah 3:1) Jeremiah 2

ISRAEL'S FALSE RELIGION. Israel has forfeited the privileges of a son, and incurred disaster by forsaking Yahweh for the sensuous worship of the Baalim (_cf._ Jeremiah 2:20; Jeremiah 2:28). Jeremiah 2:14 may be a later insertion, as it seems to break the connexion between Jeremiah 2:13 and Jeremiah 2:18; Jeremiah 2:15 apparently refers to the devastation of the northern kingdom by Assyria,...