(7) Thus came they even to Tahpanhes.--The town was obviously on the north-eastern frontier of Egypt. In Judith 1:9 it appears between the river of Egypt (the Rhinocolura, which divided Egypt from Palestine) and Ramesse (the Raamses of Exodus 1:11, or Rameses of Numbers 33:3; Numbers 33:5) and all the land of Gesen, or Goshen. In Ezekiel 30:16-18 it is named, in conjunction with No (= Thebes) and Noph (= Memphis), among the chief cities of Egypt. In Greek historians it appears as Daphnce and as near Pelusium (Herod. ii. 30), and in the Itinerary of Antoninus is placed, under the name of Dafno, at a distance of sixteen Roman miles from the latter city. Its name may be connected with that of the Egyptian Quoen Tahpenes, mentioned in 1Kings 11:19. Here apparently the emigrants determined to settle and found a new home for themselves.

Verse 7. - Tahpanhea. An Egyptian frontier city (see Ezekiel 30:18 and note on Jeremiah 2:16), where the fugitives had to wait till the views of the Egyptian government respecting them were made known. The supposed site of the Pelusiac Daphnae has not yet been explored; a single inscribed fragment would reveal the Egyptian name, and probably ratify the identity of Daphnae with the Tahpanhes of the prophets (R.S. Poole, 'The Cities of Egypt,' p. 177).

43:1-7 Only by pride comes contention, both with God and man. They preferred their own wisdom to the revealed will of God. Men deny the Scriptures to be the word of God, because they are resolved not to conform themselves to Scripture rules. When men will persist in sin, they charge the best actions to bad motives. These Jews deserted their own land, and threw themselves out of God's protection. It is the folly of men, that they often ruin themselves by wrong endeavours to mend their situation.So they came into the land of Egypt,.... They set out from the habitation of Chimham, where they were, Jeremiah 41:17; and proceeded on their journey, till they entered the land of Egypt:

for they obeyed not the voice of the Lord; to continue in Judea, and not to go into Egypt; and though the prophet of the Lord, who was with them, might, as they went along, advise them to go back, they regarded him not, but still went on:

thus came they even to Tahpanhes; the same with Hanes, Isaiah 30:4; and might be so called, as here, from a queen of Egypt of this name, 1 Kings 11:19. The Septuagint version, and others after that, call it Taphnas. It is thought to be the Daphnae Pelusiae of Herodotus (f) It was a seat of the king of Egypt, as appeals from Jeremiah 43:9; and no less a place would these proud men stop at, or take up with, but where the king's palace was. Tyrius (g) calls it Tapium, and says it was in his time a very small town.

(f) Enterpe, sive l. 2. c. 30, 107. (g) Apud Adrichem. Theatrum Terrae Sanctae, p. 125.