Ezekiel 29-32

Like the previous blog post, these four chapters all concerns Egypt so I have included it as a single post.
Ezekiel 29
1In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
The eleven years are almost up. Jerusalem will soon be under siege and Zedekiah will flee only to be captured by Nebuchadnezzar. Ezekiel speaks no more about Jerusalem as promised earlier (ch. 24).
2Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:
Just like the prophecy against Tyre and Sidon above, this prophecy concerning Egypt is of immanent events. But it is a prophecy delivered to the Jews as an example to them. Note that there is no record or evidence that Ezekiel ever prophesies to the people or leaders of these nations, just against them or about them.
This and the next three chapters cover this. I will be seeking specific symbols that will relate to Revelation.
3Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. 4But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. 5And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.
Pharoah of Ezekiel’s day is compared to a great river dragon (likely crocodile which are prevalent in the Nile) that is removed from his river (Pharaoh will fall from power).
6And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. 7When they took 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 at a stand. 8Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee. 9And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it. 10Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia. 11No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years. 12And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. 13Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered:
Egypt will be overthrown by an army and laid to waste. But the desolation will only last for 40 years.
14And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. 15It 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. 16And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
Herein we see one of the main reasons God take Egypt out of the picture. Before this time they were a nation to be reckoned with. Not a world empire like Babylon or those after it became, but definitely a power to be reckoned with. The Jews sought safety in Egypt when attacked by Nebuchadnezzar, even after God told them not to. After Egypt’s 40 years, it would no longer be a nation that the Jews would go to for safety. It would never return to the level of influence and power that it had before. Egypt has been a tributary kingdom and a minor nation even to this day.
17And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 18Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it: 19Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I 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; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD.
This prophecy is inserted topically here, though written 16 years later because it concerns Egypt. It speaks of another reason that Egypt would fall. Nebuchadnezzar would take out Tyre according to God’s will but would not benefit financially from it. The riches of Egypt are thus given to Nebuchadnezzar as reward.
21In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
We know that horn represents a rulership or kingship of some kind. God will then cause the rule or future leadership of Israel to be born in some way at this time. The first ruler of Israel after its captivity was Zerubbabel, the steward or governor of Judah after Cyrus’s command to rebuild the city of Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 30
1The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 2Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day! 
We are still in the prophecy of some 16 years later.
Compare to Isa. 13:6; and 23 among others. A terrible thing was going to come.
3For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen. 
Near. The day of the Lord. Clouds. We see these images in Isaiah 19:1 and again in Matt. 24 and Revelation. These events were not something that would happen to Egypt thousands or even hundreds of years down the road. They would take place very soon. The day of the Lord (not the end of the world) was a day of judgment against that nation. The coming in the clouds represented God’s overshadowing power, literally the vast army of men who would conquer those whom He brought judgment against.
4And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down. 5Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword. 6Thus saith the LORD; They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord GOD. 7And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted. 8And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed. 9In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it cometh. 10Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. 11He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. 12And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I the LORD have spoken it. 13Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt. 14And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No. 15And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the strength of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No. 16And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall have distresses daily. 17The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword: and these cities shall go into captivity. 18At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt: and the pomp of her strength shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity. 19Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the LORD. 
These include details of the nature of the judgment against Egypt. The portions of Egypt: Sin, No, and Noph are described in terms similar to a pregnant woman. Fire is also included here as a symbol of judgment against this nation.
20And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 21Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword. 22Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. 23And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. 24And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man. 25But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt. 26And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Now we return to “the present”, the eleventh year of Zedikiah’s reign or eleven years into Coniah’s captivity. Ezekiel is told that Egypt will lose its ability to fight and be dispersed among the nations just as Israel was.
Ezekiel 31
1And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
11 years after Zedekiah became king. The year that Jerusalem fell. Ezekiel has still not spoken about Jerusalem as promised earlier (ch. 24). This prophecy will relate to Egypt by setting up Assyria as an example to Egypt, which was then in turn an example to Judah.
2Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness? 3Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.
Assyria is compared to a beautiful cedar in Lebanon. This image is used earlier in Ezekiel as well as Isaiah. The cedars of Lebanon were the best wood which is why they were used to make the temple (1 Kings 5). Assyria is a rich and powerful nation even greater than Egypt.
4The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent her little rivers unto all the trees of the field. 5Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.
It was the multitude of people that moved through her, the trade that ran through that region, that made Assyria so rich.
6All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations. 
This is a picture that Daniel uses in Daniel 4 concerning Nebuchadnezzar and then by Jesus in Matt. 13:32 to speak of the church. Assyria was a nation that had many other nations under it who sent trade through it and tribute to it.
7Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters. 8The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. 9I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him. 10Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height; 11I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness. 12And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him. 13Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches: 
When Assyria fell, the smaller nations picked at the carcass dividing up the spoils so that Assyria would never rise as a power again. Even the people of the earth, the Israelites who had been made part of Assyria are scattered abroad and do not remain as part of the kingdom.
14To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit. 15Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees of the field fainted for him. 16I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth. 17They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.
The pit, the snare, the death of the nation of Assyria, here compared to the grave (Sheol, translated “hell” here). Note that this is not the death of individuals, but the death of the Assyrian nation or cause. This is an important point for later study. Keep it in mind. The metaphor is one used to speak of the nation of Assyria in its conquered state. Like a great beast, trapped in the hunter’s pit and doomed to death, Assyria was slated for destruction along with all those who took her side. This was done by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians.
18To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? yet shalt thou be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.
Here then Ezekiel points out that his metaphor for Assyria is actually the coming fate of Egypt.
Ezekiel 32
1And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 
Jerusalem has fallen. The prophet continues to speak to those in captivity about things to come, speaking no more about Jerusalem as promised (ch. 24).
2Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers. 3Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net. 4Then will 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. 5And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height. 6I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
The young lion metaphor is comparable to Ezekiel 19 with regard to Egypt’s authority among the nations. She has power, but as a young lion, not quite a world empire.
She is also compared to a whale from the ocean coming into the smaller rivers, a big fish in a small pond so to speak. Egypt caused problems for smaller nations but was captured (net...pit comparison) and taken to the open field where the birds and beasts could feast. The smaller nations and the people of them would loot Egypt.
7And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. 8All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD. 
The by now familiar emblem of the fall of rulers from power. All the rulers of Egypt would be taken out of power, including Pharaoh and his wife (moon = her). There would be no ruler in Egypt.
9I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known. 10Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall. 11For thus saith the Lord GOD; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee. 12By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them: and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed. 13I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from beside the great waters; neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them. 14Then will I make their waters deep, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord GOD. 15When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country shall be destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall smite all them that dwell therein, then shall they know that I am the LORD. 16This 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. 
Egypt is considered a rich, fertile nation positioned on many waters (trade routes). When Egypt is destroyed, the trade that flowed through her would be made part of Babylon’s wealth instead (waters deep, rivers to run like oil). It is essential that the idea of many waters be understood to represent a vast quantity of people passing through, i.e. trade. It isn’t about literal rivers at all.
17It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 18Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit. 
Again we see the idea of the pit, the grave associated with the nation of Egypt. But remember, Egypt was to be desolate for only 40 years. She would eventually rise up out of the pit/grave, though never to return to her former glory.
19Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised. 20They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword: draw her and all her multitudes. 21The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword. 22Asshur is there and all her company: his graves are about him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword: 23Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is round about her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living. 24There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit. 25They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their terror was caused in 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. 26There is Meshech, 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. 27And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. 28Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword. 29There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit. 30There be the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, 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. 31Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD. 32For I have caused my terror in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.
Here God lists all the nations that have “gone down into the pit” or Sheol by God’s command. All of these nations conquered by God’s chosen tool of judgment, Nebuchadnezzar. The parallel then of the great red dragon of Revelation is becoming more and more evident.
In Truth and Love,
Category:Apocalyptic