Jeremiah 26:22

And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(22) And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt.—It will be remembered that the king had been appointed by Pharaoh-necho, and rested therefore on his alliance. Elnathan, the envoy employed on this mission, was the king’s father-in-law (2Kings 24:8). His father, Achbor, had taken a prominent part, together with Shaphan, the father of Ahikam, in the work of reformation under Josiah, and was sent by the king to the prophetess Huldah (2Kings 22:12). Elnathan appears again in the list of princes in Jeremiah 36:12 as favourable to Jeremiah.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

26:16-24 When secure sinners are threatened with taking away the Spirit of God, and the kingdom of God, it is what is warranted from the word of God. Hezekiah who protected Micah, prospered. Did Jehoiakim, who slew Urijah, prosper? The examples of bad men, and the bad consequences of their sins, should deter from what is evil. Urijah was faithful in delivering his message, but faulty in leaving his work. And the Lord was pleased to permit him to lose his life, while Jeremiah was protected in danger. Those are safest who most simply trust in the Lord, whatever their outward circumstances may be; and that He has all men's hearts in his hands, encourages us to trust him in the way of duty. He will honour and recompense those who show kindness to such as are persecuted for his sake.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Elnathan - Possibly the king's father-in-law 2 Kings 24:8.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

22. Jehoiakim sent … into Egypt—He had been put on the throne by Pharaoh of Egypt (2Ki 23:34). This explains the readiness with which he got the Egyptians to give up Urijah to him, when that prophet had sought an asylum in Egypt. Urijah was faithful in delivering his message, but faulty in leaving his work, so God permitted him to lose his life, while Jeremiah was protected in danger. The path of duty is often the path of safety.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The innocent prophet considered not the king of Judah’s alliance with the king of Egypt, (obliging him upon demand to deliver up any of his subjects who, being charged with capital crimes, should flee into his country for sanctuary,) and fled thither; but the king sent after him one of his great men, (mentioned also Jeremiah 36:12) with some others to his assistance.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Jehoiakim sent men into Egypt,.... To seek for him; and to require the delivery of him upon being found:

namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor; the father of this man very probably is the same we read of in Josiah's time, 2 Kings 22:12; who is called Abdon in 2 Chronicles 34:20;

and certain men with him, into Egypt; to assist him in taking him, whose names are not mentioned; Elnathan's is, as being the principal, and to fix an eternal infamy upon him.

Geneva Study Bible

And Jehoiakim the king {l} sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.

(l) Here is declared the fury of tyrants who cannot stand to hear God's word declared but persecute the ministers of it, and yet in the end they prevail nothing but provoke God' judgments so much more.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. Elnathan … into Egypt] omitted by LXX and perhaps a gloss. Gi. points out that what we read of him in Jeremiah 36:12; Jeremiah 36:25 would make such an act as this on his part unlikely. On the other hand it is difficult for this very reason to understand his name being inserted here by a copyist. If he is to be identified with the E. mentioned in 2 Kings 24:8, he was father-in-law to Jehoiakim.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 22. - Elnathan. The name occurs again in Jeremiah 36:12, 25. Possibly this man was the "Elnathan of Jerusalem" mentioned in 2 Kings 24:8 as the father-in-law of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah 26:22

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The prophet Urijah put to death. - While the history we have just been considering gives testimony to the hostility of the priests and false prophets towards the true prophets of the Lord, the story of the prophet Urijah shows the hostility of King Jehoiakim against the proclaimers of divine truth. For this purpose, and not merely to show in how great peril Jeremiah then stood (Gr., Nהg.), this history is introduced into our book. It is not stated that the occurrence took place at the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign, nor can we infer so much from its being placed directly after the events of that time. The time is not specified, because it was irrelevant for the case in hand. Jeremiah 26:20. A man, Urijah the son of Shemaiah - both unknown - from Kirjath-Jearim, now called Kuriyet el 'Enab, about three hours to the north-west of Jerusalem, on the frontiers of the tribe of Benjamin (see on Joshua 9:17), prophesied in the name of Jahveh against Jerusalem and Judah very much in the same terms as Jeremiah had done. When King Jehoiakim and his great men heard this, discourse, he sought after the prophet to kill him. Urijah, when he heard of it, fled to Egypt; but the king sent men after him, Elnathan the son of Achbor with some followers, and had him brought back thence, caused him to be put to death, and his body to be thrown into the graves of the common people. Hitz. takes objection to "all his mighty men," Jeremiah 26:21, because it is not found in the lxx, and is nowhere else used by Jeremiah. But these facts do not prove that the words are not genuine; the latter of the two, indeed, tells rather in favour of their genuineness, since a glossator would not readily have interpolated an expression foreign to the rest of the book. The "mighty men" are the distinguished soldiers who were about the king, the military commanders, as the "princes" are the supreme civil authorities. Elnathan the son of Achbor, according to Jeremiah 36:12, Jeremiah 36:25, one of Jehoiakim's princes, was a son of Achbor who is mentioned in 2 Kings 22:12-14 as amongst the princes of Josiah. Whether this Elnathan was the same as the Elnathan whose daughter Nehushta was Jehoiachin's mother (2 Kings 24:8), and who was therefore the king's father-in-law, must remain an undecided point, since the name Elnathan is of not unfrequent occurrence; of Levites, Ezra 8:16. בּני העם (see on Jeremiah 17:19) means the common people here, as in 2 Kings 22:6. The place of burial for the common people was in the valley of the Kidron; see on 2 Kings 22:6.