John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 43:13

"He shall also break the pillars of Beth-shemesh, that is in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of Egypt shall he burn with fire." — Jeremiah 43:13 (ASV)

We stated yesterday why Jeremiah spoke especially of the temples of the gods, so that the Jews might understand that nothing would escape destruction. For even the cruelest enemies have usually withheld their hands from the temples of gods. If sanctity and religion would not preserve the temples, what then would become of private houses? In short, he intimates that the ruin of Egypt would be so great that no part would escape.

But as Heliopolis was then most renowned, he says that the statues of all the gods in that city would be broken, for there the gods were especially worshipped. All pagan writers call it Heliopolis, to which the Hebrew word corresponds, for Beth-shemesh means the city of the sun, and Heliopolis means the same. Since this was then the chief place where the gods of Egypt were found, the Prophet, to show that the ruin of the whole land would be extreme, says that no temple there would be inviolate. So also Isaiah says, when speaking of the ruin of Egypt:

Behold, God will come into Egypt, and will cut down before him all the idols (Isaiah 19:1).

He spoke of God’s coming because it was under his guidance that Nebuchadnezzar led his army there, as has been stated. God did not, indeed, appear from heaven, but the army of Nebuchadnezzar was a living representation of God’s power when he punished the Egyptians. Now, he says that when God came there armed and carried on a warlike expedition, all the idols would be destroyed, for God would thus show that the gods in whom the Egyptians trusted were false, that they were mere fictions, which could give no help when things came to an extremity.