The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
Ezekiel 29
Chapter XXIX · Vol. III, p. 1353
1 The judgment upon Pharaoh for his treachery to Israel. 8 The desolation of Egypt. 13 The restoration of it after forty years. 17 Egypt the reward of Nebuchadrezzar's service against Tyrus. 21 Israel shall be restored.
1 In the atenth year,1 in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,2
B.C. cir. 589.
a ch.1.2; 8.1; 20.1; 24.1; 26.1; ver.17; ch.31.1; 32.2.
1 The tenth year of Zedekiah's captivity.—C.
2 See note * below.
* It is well to understand the cause of revelation of these prophetic judgments against Egypt. Why should it be singled out for special notice? The prophecy was delivered during the siege of Jerusalem. The Jews, instead of looking to Jehovah their God for deliverance, applied to Pharaoh. They hoped he would save them. To show them the folly of such conduct, and that Pharaoh himself was doomed, this prophecy was uttered. The prophecy therefore was designed to counteract the foolish hopes that were placed in Egypt, and thus to prevent the Israelites from conforming to Egyptian idolatry with a view to propitiate that nation.—P.
2 Son of man, bset thy face against cPharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and againstd all Egypt:
3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, eI am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon3 that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own,4 and I have made it for myself.
e See ch.28.22. Ps.76.7. Na.1.6. Je.44.30.
3 ch.32.2. Is.27.1; 51.9. Ps.74.13,14. He is compared to a crocodile in the river Nile, to denote his power, terrible appearance, and destructive conduct.
4 ver.9; ch.28.2. Da.4.30,31. Is.10.13,14; 37.23-25. De.8.17. All the wealth of Egypt is mine.
4 But gI will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish5 of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales; and hI will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.6
g ch.38.4. 2 Ki.19.28. Is.37.29. Am.4.2. Ps.74.14.
5 Subjects, Je.16.16. Hab.1.14,15. Mat.5.19.
h Je.46.2,13. Is.23.10.
6 The crocodile is covered with scales as with armour, so strong and compact as to resist a musket-ball. The sticking of the fish to his scales seems, therefore, to mean the dependence of the people upon Pharaoh's protection.—C.
5 And iI will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields;7 thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the jbeasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.
i Is.30.33. ch.xxxi.; 32.3-6,18. Je.8.2; 25.33. ch.39.17-19. Re.19.17,18. Ps.110.5,6; 74.14. 1 Sa.17.44. 2 Sa.14.14.
7 Heb. face of the field.
j Je.34.20.
6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt kshall know that I am the LORD, because they have been la staff of reed to the house of Israel.
7 When they ntook hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be oat a stand.
8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I pwill bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee.
p ch.14.17; ver.19,20; ch.30.10-12,24,25; 31.11,12; 32.3,10-13. Je.25.9,19; xlvi.; 43.10-13.
9 Andq the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: rbecause he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.
10 Behold, therefore, I am against thee, and against thy srivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste8 and desolate, from 9the tower of Syene1 even unto the border of Ethiopia.2
11 Not foot3 of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
t ch.30.7,10; 31.12; 32.12,13. Ps.107.34.
3 'No foot of man,' in the kafile or caravan, for purposes of trade—'no foot of beast,' driven from one part of the country for sale in another.—C.
12 And uI will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of vthe countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate xforty years: and yI will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
13 Yet thus saith the Lord GOD, At the end of forty years4 will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered:
14 And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of zPathros, into the land of their habitation;5 anda they shall be there a base6 kingdom.
z ch.30.14. Is.11.11. Je.44.1. Ge.10.14.
5 Or, birth.
a Da.11.42,43.
6 Heb. low, i.e. tributary, ch.17.14, with 2 Ki.23.33. ch.30.13. Zec.10.11.
15 It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.
16 Andb it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which cbringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them; dbut they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
b ver.6,7. Is.30.1-6; 31.1-3; 36.4,6. Je.2.36,37; 37.5,7. ch.17.15,17. La.4.17.
c Is.57.8,9. Je.2.18,19. Ho.7.11; 12.1.
d ver.6,9,21; ch.6.7. Ps.9.16; 58.10,11. Is.26.9,11.
17 And it came to pass in the 7seven and twentieth year,8 in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
7 Near seventeen years after the preceding.
8 The seven and twentieth year of the captivity of Jeconiah, and fifteen years after the taking of Jerusalem.—C.
18 Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve ea great service against Tyrus: 9every head was made 1bald, and every shoulder was peeled:2 yet had he no 3wages,4 nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it:
B.C. cir. 572.
9 With wearing helmets during the 13 years of the siege.
1 Made bald with the helmet; peeled with the burdens.—C.
2 With carrying earth to raise mounts.
3 As the Tyrians had destroyed or carried off their wealth.
4 He had no wages, because the Tyrians carried off their property by sea.—Jerome.
19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, gI will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey;5 and it shall be the wages for his army.
g Is.19.4. Je.25.9,19; 43.10-13; 46.13-26. ver.8-12; ch.30.10-12, with 2 Ki.10.30. Da.2.21. Am.3.6,7.
5 Heb. spoil her spoil, and prey her prey.
20 I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour6 wherewith he served against it, because they hwrought for me, saith the Lord GOD.
6 Or, for his hire, Is.45.3.
h Je.25.9. Is.10.5-7. ch.30.12. Is.5.16; 26.9,11,21.
21 In that day will I cause the ihorn of the house of Israel to bud forth,7 and will give thee jthe opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and kthey shall know that I am the LORD.
i 1 Sa.2.10. Job 16.15. Ps.89.24; 92.10; 132.17, with Is.14.1-3. Je.23.3; 30.3,18; 31.8. ch.xxxiv. xxxvi. xxxvii.
7 This promise began to be fulfilled in the enlargement of Jehoiakim, 2 Ki.25.48,49, advanced in Zerubbabel and Daniel, Da.2.48,49, and is going on to absolute completion in the final exaltation of Israel under Messiah, Ps.132.17. Lu.1.68,69.—C.
j ch.3.24; 24.27. Am.3.7,8. Ps.51.15.
k See ver.6,9,16.
Notes
Ver. 4-7. By my providence thou shalt march out of thy country against the Cyrenians, on the west of Egypt, and lead along with thee multitudes of thy subjects. But the terrible ruin of this thine army shall provoke the remainder to rebel, and never cease their war against thee till thou and thy party be utterly ruined. And the Egyptians shall see themselves punished for encouraging the Jews to rebel against the Chaldeans to their own hurt. 16. They shall no more appear proper assistants to the Jews, nor tempt them to recommit their former wickedness, in distrusting God's promises and assistance, or in trusting to heathen helpers, and copying after their idolatries.
Ver. 3. Great dragon—the crocodile, an amphibious animal of the Nile, employed as an expressive emblem of Egyptian power, craftiness, and cruelty.—Rivers—the several branches of the Nile embracing the Delta, the most fruitful part of Egypt bordering on the Mediterranean. C.
Ver. 9. To this impious boast Pharaoh may have been tempted by some of those vast works (artificial lakes, canals, &c.) which the kings of Egypt constructed for retaining and distributing the waters for irrigation. A boast too often paralleled among Christians when they attribute the improvement of their country in agriculture, architecture, and manufactures to their own skill and industry, and forget that blessing of God from which both their skill and industry have been derived. C.
Ver. 13. The 'forty years' of desolation determined upon Egypt bore a probable reference to their contempt for the forty years' sojourn of Israel in the wilderness. The return of the captivity took place in the reign of Cyrus, who, though a heathen, exemplified a desire to loose the bonds of the slave, from which powers called Christian, and boasting of civilization and freedom, have still much to learn. C.
Ver. 15. Let the infidel examine the position of Egypt on the map, so admirably suited for the centre of a vast dominion; next let him consider its inexhaustible resources; then its historic grandeur; and let him return to this prophecy and compare it with the history of centuries; and then let him, if he can, shut his eyes against the sunlight evidence which the prophecy and fulfilment afford to the inspiration of the prophet, and the divine origin of the Holy Scriptures. C.
Reflections.—It is a mercy to foresee the failure of created confidences when we are most tempted to depend on them. But highly criminal is it for men, even the greatest, to pride themselves in their prosperity, as if they had not received all from God, and that only in loan. Quickly may they expect to lose that which they refuse to hold under him. Alas, how fluctuating are the affections of our most ardent lovers and greatest admirers! They may one day risk their life to assist our ambition, and the next pull us from our station and being on earth. And too often do subjects ruin themselves by foolish adherence to sovereigns, or by undutiful rebellions against them. Nothing is more provoking to God, and injurious to mankind, than to deceive those who put confidence in us. And it is a mercy for the world when he strips those of their power who exercised it in tyrannizing over or deceiving their neighbours. Yea, happy is it to have those created comforts and confidences removed from us which estranged us from God. But how alarming is it to behold Egypt, the most ancient enslaver of God's people for about a hundred years, already more than two thousand years in the basest servitude to Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Saracens, and at last to Mameluke and Turkish slaves! At the most terrible expense and pains are men bent to destroy one another. And yet, while they are pursuing their coveted and ambitious views, they are at length brought under the rule of the British nation. And often God rewards the men with wealth or honour in this world, and yet they are lost in the next. It is well if he, in wrath, remember mercy; and it is a happy presage when his faithful ministers are divinely countenanced and encouraged in their work.