Migdol - Magdolum, a strong fortress on the northern boundary of Egypt.

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews - Dahler supposes this discourse to have been delivered in the seventeenth or eighteenth year after the taking of Jerusalem.

Which dwell at Migdol - A city of Lower Egypt, not far from Pelusium.

Tahpanhes - Daphne Pelusiaca, the place to which the emigrant Jews first went.

Noph - מפס Maphes, Targum. Memphis. a celebrated city of Middle Egypt, and the capital of its district.

The country of Pathros - A district of Upper Egypt, known by the name of the Thebais. See Bochart, Lib. Phaleg, lib. iv., c. 22. Thus we find that the Jews were scattered over the principal parts of Egypt.

The word which came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt,.... Or, "unto all the Jews" (t); the word came to him, that it might be delivered to them; or, "against all the Jews" (u); they having gone into Egypt contrary to the will of God, and committing idolatry; and the word or sermon is full of threatenings and judgments denounced upon them:

which dwell at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros: this prophecy was delivered after the Jews were come to Tahpanhes, or Daphne; see Jeremiah 43:7; and had divided themselves, and were settled in different parts of the kingdom: some continued at Tahpanhes, where were the king's court and palace: others went to Migdol, a place near the Red sea, just at the entrance into Egypt, from the land of Canaan, Exodus 14:2; called, by Herodotus, Magdolus (w); and by Adrichomius (x) said to be distant about a mile and a quarter from Pelusium, or Sin, the strength of Egypt, Ezekiel 30:15; others took up their residence at Noph, generally thought to be the city of Memphis. The Targum calls it Mappas; the same which is now called Grand Cairo; or, however, this city is near the place where Memphis stood: others dwelt in the country of Pathros, which perhaps had its name from Pathrusim, a son of Mizraim, Genesis 10:13. It is thought by Bochart and others to be the country of Thebais in Egypt, the same with the Nomos Phanturites, or Phaturites, of Pliny (y); and in this country Jeremiah seems to have been when this word came to him, Jeremiah 44:15; and from hence sent or carried it to the other places: saying; as follows:

(t) "ad omnes Judaeos", V. L. Castalio, Cocceius, Schmidt; "erga omnes", Pagninus, Montanus. (u) "Contra omnes Judaeos", Junius & Tremellius; "de, vel contra", Piscator. (w) Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 159. (x) Theatrum Terrae Sanct. p. 121. (y) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 9.

"The word that came to Jeremiah regarding all the Jews who were living in the land of Egypt, who dwelt in Migdol, in Tahpanhes, in Noph, and in the land of Pathros." From this heading we perceive that those who (according to Jeremiah 43:1-13) had gone to Egypt, had settled there in various parts of the country, and that the following denunciations, which at the same time form his last prophecy, were uttered a long time after that which is given in Jeremiah 43:8-13 as having been delivered at Tahpanhes. The date of it cannot, indeed, be determined exactly. From the threatening that King Hophra shall be delivered over to the power of Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 44:24-30), only this much is clear, that Egypt was not yet occupied by the Chaldeans, which, as we have shown above (p. 353), did not take place before the year 572. But it by no means follows from this that Jeremiah did not utter these words of threatening till shortly before this event. He may have done so even five or ten years before, in the period between 585 and 580, as we have already observed on p. 12. The Jews had settled down, not merely in the two northern frontier towns, Migdol (i.e., Magdolo, Μαγδώλος, according to the Itiner. Anton., twelve Roman miles from Pelusium, Copt. Meschtl, Egypt. Ma'ktr, the most northerly place in Egypt; see on Ezekiel 29:10) and Tahpanhes (i.e., Daphne, see on Jeremiah 43:7), but also in more inland places, in Noph (i.e., Memphis, see on Jeremiah 2:16) and the land of Pathros (lxx Παθούρης, Egypt. Petorees, i.e., Southland, viz., Upper Egypt, the Thebais of the Greeks and Romans; see on Ezekiel 29:14). The word of the Lord runs as follows: -

The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews who dwell in the land of Egypt, who dwell at Migdol, and at {a} Tahpanhes, and at Noph, and in the country of Pathros, saying,

(a) These were all famous and strange cities in Egypt, where the Jews that fled dwelt for their safety but the prophet declares that there is no hold so strong that can preserve them from God's vengeance.

44:1 At Migdol - It seems the Jews that went into Egypt had planted themselves at these four places. Migdol was a city upon the borders of the Red Sea. Noph was a city, which the Greeks and Latines called Memphis; it is thought to be that, which is now called Cairo. Pathros was the province, since called Thebais.

CHAPTER 44

Jer 44:1-30. Jeremiah Reproves the Jews for Their Idolatry in Egypt, and Denounces God's Judgments on Them and Egypt Alike.

1. Migdol-meaning a "tower." A city east of Egypt, towards the Red Sea (Ex 14:2; Nu 33:7).

Noph-Memphis, now Cairo (Jer 2:16).

Pathros-Upper Egypt (Isa 11:11).

44:1-14 God reminds the Jews of the sins that brought desolations upon Judah. It becomes us to warn men of the danger of sin with all seriousness: Oh, do not do it! If you love God, do not, for it is provoking to him; if you love your own souls, do not, for it is destructive to them. Let conscience do this for us in the hour of temptation. The Jews whom God sent into the land of the Chaldeans, were there, by the power of God's grace, weaned from idolatry; but those who went by their own perverse will into the land of the Egyptians, were there more attached than ever to their idolatries. When we thrust ourselves without cause or call into places of temptation, it is just with God to leave us to ourselves. If we walk contrary to God, he will walk contrary to us. The most awful miseries to which men are exposed, are occasioned by the neglect of offered salvation.