Tahpanhes

Biblical Text

Tahpanhes appears chiefly in the book of Jeremiah.

• Jeremiah 2:16: Jeremiah declares that "the children of Noph [Memphis] and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head." This is a rebuke: Judah, having forsaken God and relied on Egypt, is instead harmed by Egypt.
• Jeremiah 43:7–13: After Gedaliah, the governor appointed by Babylon, was assassinated, Johanan and the rest of the remnant of Judah feared Babylonian reprisal. Defying the prophecy that warned them not to go to Egypt (Jeremiah 42), they took Jeremiah and Baruch with them and came to Tahpanhes. There, at God's command, Jeremiah took great stones and hid them in the clay in the brick pavement (KJV "brickkiln") at the entry of Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes. He then prophesied that Nebuchadnezzar would come, set his throne upon those stones, and strike Egypt.
• Jeremiah 44:1; 46:14: The city is named, along with Migdol, Noph, and Pathros, as a place where Jews scattered throughout Egypt lived. It is also mentioned as a place where judgment on Egypt is proclaimed.
• Ezekiel 30:18: Here the name appears in the form "Tehaphnehes." The passage speaks of the judgment to fall on Egypt.

The "Tahpenes" of 1 Kings 11:19–20 is the name of an Egyptian queen and is distinct from this place name.

Background

Tahpanhes is understood to have been a city on the northeastern frontier of Egypt, on the route leading to the Sinai Peninsula. Many scholars identify it with Daphnae, which the Greek historian Herodotus recorded as the station of a frontier garrison. Its identification with modern Tell Defenneh is widely accepted. In the late nineteenth century the British archaeologist Flinders Petrie excavated the remains of a fortress there. He connected the site with the narrative in Jeremiah, though this connection has not been confirmed.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

Egypt was the land from which Israel had been delivered in the Exodus. Deuteronomy 17:16 forbids causing the people to return to Egypt. The remnant's descent to Tahpanhes is therefore read as an act of defiance against God's word that reversed the path of salvation. The book of Jeremiah records that they continued in idolatry even in Egypt (Jeremiah 44). At the same time, it declares that a small number who escaped the sword would return to the land of Judah (Jeremiah 44:28), thus carrying forward the theme of the remnant. Tahpanhes is not mentioned in the New Testament.

Interpretation and Issues

• The meaning of the hidden stones: Jeremiah's hiding of the stones is read as a symbolic act by which a prophet enacted the word through gesture. The meaning of the Hebrew word rendered "brick pavement" is uncertain, so translations render it variously as a terrace, a paved courtyard, or a brick kiln.
• Fulfillment of the prophecy: A fragment of a Babylonian record is reported to mention Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of Egypt in the sixth century BC. What specifically happened at Tahpanhes, however, has not been confirmed.
• The end of Jeremiah: Jewish and Christian tradition (including the Lives of the Prophets) holds that Jeremiah was stoned to death by his own countrymen in Egypt, specifically at Tahpanhes. This account is not found in the biblical text; Scripture does not record Jeremiah's death.