Jeremiah 43:9

Take great stones in thine hand ,.... In both his hands, as big as he could carry:

and hide them in the clay in the brick kiln ; there was much clay in Egypt, through the overflowing of the Nile, and particularly at this place Tahpanhes, which had its name of Pelusiae from hence; and here was a brick kiln; not a place where bricks were burnt, but where they were foraged; and so here was the clay of which they were made, and in which these stones were to be hid:

which is at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes ; this brick kiln stood not directly at the entrance into the king's palace, but at the door of a wall of a park or garden, which belonged to the palace, from whence there was an open way to it; here the stones were to be laid. Since a brick kiln so near a king's palace seems not agreeable, Gussetius F8 Ebr. Comment. p. 470. thinks מלבן signifies a poplar walk, from לבנה , a poplar tree, whose shade is very grateful, Hosea 4:13 ; to which the courtiers betook themselves at certain times, and walked in for pleasure;

in the sight of the men of Judah ; not in the sight of the Egyptians, who would not understand the design of it, nor were they to be instructed by it; but in the sight of the Jews, who would at once imagine that something was intended, being used to such symbols, and would inquire the meaning of it; and which is explained in Jeremiah 43:10 .