The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel
Ezekiel 32
Chapter XXXII · Vol. III, pp. 1356–1359
1 A lamentation for the fearful fall of Egypt. 11 The sword of Babylon shall destroy it. 17 It shall be brought down to hell among all the uncircumcised nations.
1 And it came to pass in athe twelfth year,1 in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that bthe word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, ctake up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou dart like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale2 in the seas;3 and thou camest forth with thy rivers, eand troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.
c ver.16,18; ch.19.1; 27.2,31,32; 28.12. Is.15.5; 16.9. Je.9.1,18.
d ch.19.2,3,6; 38.13. Pr.28.15. Na.2.11-13. Je.4.7.
2 Or, dragon, ch.29.3. Is.27.1; 51.9. Ps.74.13,14.
3 Egypt, as a military and naval power, disturbed and oppressed both by land and by sea. Some modern discoveries of the ruins of ancient cities in Central America seem to demonstrate their Egyptian origin, and consequently to assign a skill and boldness to the navigation, and an extent to the power of Egypt, of which history has conveyed no adequate representation.—C.
e ch.34.18. Re.16.13,14. Ex.1.22. 2 Ki.23.33.
3 Thus saith the Lord GOD, I will, therefore, gspread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net.
g ch.12.13; 17.20. Ec.9.12. Ho.7.12. Je.16.16. Hab.1.14-17.
4 Then hwill I leave thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee.
h ch.29.5; 31.12,13. 1 Sa.17.44. 2 Sa.14.14. Ps.83.9,10; 74.14; 79.2,3. Is.14.19; 34.2-7; 18.6. Je.8.2; 25.33. Joel 3.14,19. ch.39.17-19. Re.19.17,18. Ps.110.5,6.
5 And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height.
6 I iwill also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest,4 even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
A.M. cir 3417. B.C. cir. 587.
i Ex.7.17. Is.34.3,7; 15.9. Re.14.20; 16.3-6. ver.5.
4 Or, of thy swimming. [This phrase presents a special delineation of a large portion of Egypt, which is a narrow valley between two lines of mountains, periodically overflowed with water up to their bases; so that the 'whale' (dragon or crocodile) is accurately described as swimming in the land.—C.]
7 And when I shall put thee out,5 Ij will cover the heaven,6 and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.
5 Or, extinguish thee, Job 18.5,6. Ps.37.36. Pr.10.7.
j Is.13.10; 34.4. Am.8.9,10. Joel 2.31; 3.15. Ex.10.21. Re.16.10. Mat.24.29. Re.6.12-14. ch.30.3,18.
6 Heaven. Imperial power aiming at heavenly honours, implicit obedience, or even divine worship, comp. with Is. 13. 10-22, where this emblematic or heraldic language of prophecy seems first to have been adopted (see also Is. 14.13,14); and from which adoption and sanction of the Holy Spirit, it passes into the succeeding vocabulary of prophecy. This subject will claim more special notice should Providence extend our labours to Mat. 24. 29, 30, and the similar descriptions, Re.6.13,14.—C.
8 All the bright lights of heaven7 will I make dark8 over thee, and kset darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
9 I will also vex9 the hearts of many people, when I shall lbring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known.
9 Heb. provoke to anger or grief, Re.11.18; 18.10,15.
l ch.29.12; 30.23,26, or Je.25.9-25.
10 Yea, nI will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall obrandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall.
n Ex.15.14-16. ch.27.35; 26.16; 30.9. Le.26.36. De.28.65,68.
o De.32.41.
12 By the qswords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them; and rthey shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude1 thereof shall be destroyed.
q ch.28.7; 30.4.
r Is.25.2,3.
1 The stupendous relics of Egyptian architecture that still remain, as in proud defiance of time, demonstrate 'the multitude' of her population as far exceeding all that modern civilization has produced in any state of Europe, or even that of China, where the means of life are more easily procured, and the condensation of the inhabitants is proportionally great.—C.
13 I will destroy also all the beasts thereof2 from beside the great waters; neither shall the foot of man strouble them any more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them.
2 ch.29.8,11; 30.12, with Is.31.3. Ge.41.2, their horses and cattle.
s ver.2; ch.34.18. Re.17.15. Ex.1.22. 2 Ki.23.33.
15 When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country shall be destitute of that whereof it was full,5 when I shall smite all them that dwell therein, tthen shall they know that I am the LORD.
16 Thisu is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her: the daughters of the nations shall lament her; they shall lament for her, even for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saith the Lord GOD.
u ver.2. 2 Sa.1.17; 3.31. 2 Ch.35.25. Je.9.17.
17 It came to pass also in vthe twelfth year,6 in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
v ch.1.2; 29.1,17; 30.20; 31.1; ver.1.
6 See ver.1.—C.
18 Son of man, xwail for the multitude of Egypt, and ycast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto zthe nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit.7
x ver.2,16. Is.15.5; 16.9. Mi.1.8.
y ch.13.13. Je.1.10. Ho.6.5. La.3.55. ch.3.18; 26.17.
z ch.31.14,17. Is.14.15. ver.21,24,25,27,29.
7 This is a strange and terrible prophetic vision. The prophet gives us a view into the world of spirits. He shows us all those nations with which the Jews were brought into contact, each in its gloomy abode: its people slain by the sword; its princes, warriors, and statesmen all alike fallen; and in the close Pharaoh is introduced consoling himself in his own ruin, that he is not alone, he has only shared the common fate of the mightiest potentates of the earth. What a view does this give us at once of God's power, and of the safety of his church and people!—P.
19 Whoma dost thou pass in beauty? bgo down, and be thou laid with the 8uncircumcised.
A.M. cir. 3417. B.C. cir. 587.
a ch.28.10; 31.2,18.
b Is.14.9-15; 47.1,2. ver.21,24-32.
8 ver.21,24,29,30. Je.9.25,26; i.e. heathen nations.
20 Theyc shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword; she is delivered to the sword:9 draw her and all her multitudes.
c ch.29.8-12; 30.10-12,24,25. Je.15.2,3.
9 Or, the sword is laid.
21 Thed strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell1 with them that help him: ethey are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.
22 Ashurg is there, and all her company: his graves are about him; all of them slain, fallen by the sword:
g ch.xxxi. Na.i.-iii.
23 Whoseh graves are set in the sides of the pit, and iher company is round about her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, jwhich caused terror2 in the kland of the living.3
h ch.26.20. Is.14.15.
i ver.25,26.
j Is.51.12,13.
2 Or, dismaying.
k Job 28.13. Ps.27.13; 116.9; 142.5. ch.26.20.
3 Egypt has surpassed all other nations in the extent and decorations, of her subterraneous tombs—a single tomb sometimes resembling a palace, her catacombs a city. This melancholy 'glory of the grave' is therefore the chief point to which the prophet directs the judgment. The proud tomb of Egypt is there, but her military pomp is no more; the company is indeed around the grave, but 'all of them slain, fallen by the sword,' and not one remains to write his fellow's epitaph. Nor let men doubt the possibility of such an unsparing massacre; for even so, at this very hour, has a British army been totally extirpated in India—a sad specimen of what a despised enemy and an unpropitious climate may effect—a note of divine displeasure not to be disregarded—a call to every lover of his country to repent of his own share of the national sins, and to pray for the averting of farther calamities.—C.
24 There is Elam4 and all her multitude round about her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into lthe nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they nborne their shame with them that go down to the pit.
4 Ge.10.22; 14.1. Je.49.34-38. Da.8.2; i.e. Persians.
l ch.26.19; 31.14,17. See ver.18.
n Je.3.24,25. Hab.2.16.
25 They have set her a bed5 in the omidst of the slain with all her multitude; her graves are round about him; all of them puncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their qterror was caused rin the land of the living, yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of them that be slain.
26 There is 6Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves are round about him; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living.
6 Ge.10.2,12. ch.27.13; 38.2,3; 39.1-4; i.e. Scythians, Tartars, Turks.
27 And they shall not lie with sthe mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of 7war; and they have laid their swords under their heads;8 but their iniquities9 shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living.
s Is.14.18,19; 1.31. Job 3.14,15. ver.21.
7 Heb. with weapons of their war, Is.54.17.
8 In Mingrelia they sleep with their swords under their heads, and are buried in the same manner. Oriental Customs, on authority of Sir John Chardin.—C.
9 Punishment of their cruelties, Le.5.10. Ps.49.14; 92.7,9. ch.18.20. Pr.14.32.
28 Yea, tthou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword.
t ver.2. Ps.37.35,36. Da.2.35,36.
29 There is uEdom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid1 by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit.
30 There be the princes of the vnorth2 all of them, and all the xZidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit.
31 Pharaoh shall see them, and shall ybe comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.
Notes
Ver. 2-10. Pharaoh is full of cruelty and violence to the nations around: and with his great armies disturbs their peace and spoils their country. But I will quickly conduct thee to Cyrene, where the bulk of thine army shall be destroyed and lie unburied. After which, Egypt itself, by intestine wars, and by the invasion of the Chaldeans, shall be a scene of bloodshed and confusion: all ranks—king, queen, nobles, magistrates, and commons; nay, the most understanding persons of the nation—shall be disgraced, confounded, and ruined, to the terror of the countries around.
Reflections.—Ministers must weep and tremble at the words of God, that they may affect others therewith. Alas, how the restless ambition and implacable resentment of proud princes disturb the world! But the brandished sword of God's judgments shall at last overwhelm them with consternation, terror, and ruin. Hardened sinners often fret and murmur under God's tremendous threatenings, instead of humbling themselves. And they who with complacency admired the pomp of this world, with terrible astonishment behold its ruin. The mighty nations who delighted in war shall find enough of it at last. And no multitudes, wealth, or power can avail either to withstand the wrath or to move the pity of God. After all the noise and pomp of men, he can bring them down to the most mean and abject appearances. Alas, what dreadful devourers are sin and death! Yea, the terrors of God shall prevail when those of men are for ever subdued. Awful indeed will be that assembly when the dead, small and great, shall stand before him!