13. images--statues or obelisks.
Beth-shemesh--that is, "the house of the sun," in Hebrew;
called by the Greeks "Heliopolis"; by the Egyptians, "On"
(Ge 41:45);
east of the Nile, and a few miles north of Memphis. Ephraim Syrus says,
the statue rose to the height of sixty cubits; the base was ten cubits.
Above there was a miter of a thousand pounds weight. Hieroglyphics are
traced around the only obelisk remaining in the present day, sixty or
seventy feet high. On the fifth year after the overthrow of Jerusalem,
Nebuchadnezzar, leaving the siege of Tyre, undertook his expedition to
Egypt [JOSEPHUS, Antiquities, 10.9,7]. The
Egyptians, according to the Arabs, have a tradition that their land was
devastated by Nebuchadnezzar in consequence of their king having
received the Jews under his protection, and that it lay desolate forty
years. But see on
Eze 29:2;
Eze 29:13.
shall he burn--Here the act is attributed to
Nebuchadnezzar, the instrument, which in
Jer 43:12
is attributed to God. If even the temples be not spared, much less
private houses.
JFB.
Picture Study Bible