Jeremiah 43:9

PREDICTION REGARDING EGYPT, Jeremiah 43:8-13.

9. Hide them in the clay in the brickkiln The object of this symbolical action is perfectly plain; but to understand the action itself is exceedingly difficult. The great doubt is, as to the sense of the word translated “brickkiln.” The word is used in two other places, neither one of which sheds a very certain light upon the word. In 2 Samuel 12:31, it is said of David that “he made them (the Ammonites) to pass through the brickkiln.” In Nahum 3:14, the people are exhorted to prepare for the siege, and this language is employed: “Go into clay, and tread the mortar, make strong the brickkiln.” Each one of these passages has its special difficulty, and so they cannot be appealed to with much confidence as settling the meaning of the word. Furst gives to the word in 2 Samuel 12:31, (Kethib,) the sense of a heathen deity; and this, though conjectural rather than ascertained, is possibly right. He gives to the word in Nahum 3:14, the sense of “brick,” such as would be used in closing up the breaches of the walls, and this sense perfectly fits the passage. In this place he gives the word the sense of “a brick-shaped quadrangle,” and understands it to be a pavement of brick or tile in front of the palace. This comes very nearly to the sense of the leading versions, the Vulgate rendering, “a brick wall,” the Syriac “a brick mould,” and the LXX “the propylaea.” Taking this sense, Jeremiah was instructed to take stones and conceal them in clay or mortar on the pavement in front of the palace. The clay represented the fragile power of the Egyptians, which would now fail; the stones the more enduring power of the Babylonians. The place was a suitable one for this act. That the prophet would be permitted to place stones and mortar in such a place for such a purpose is not incredible certainly not impossible. The place was suitable, indicating the establishing of a royal power. The clay was the material out of which the palace itself was built. Pharaoh’s dominion was as the crumbling clay; Nebuchadrezzar’s was symbolized by the more enduring stones.

There is but one other view of this passage entitled to consideration. Neumann prefers the sense “brickkiln,” and explains the difficulty that it should be found in front of the palace, on the supposition that it was there to supply material for the construction of the palace, and had not yet been removed. This view is approved by Keil and Nagelsbach. But, to say the least, while it is a possible, it is certainly not a probable, conjecture; and even if the sense “brickkiln” were established, the hiding in the clay in the brickkiln is hard to understand.