Ezekiel 30 — WBMS

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30And the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,^{Verse 2}Son of man, prophesy thou, and say, The Lord God saith these things, Yell ye, Woe! woe! to the day,^{Verse 3}for the day is nigh; and the day of the Lord nigheth, the day of a cloud. The time of heathen men shall be;^{Verse 4}and a sword shall come into Egypt, and dread shall be in Ethiopia, when wounded men shall fall down in Egypt, and the multitude thereof shall be taken away, and the founda-ments thereof shall be destroyed.^{Verse 5}Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydians, and all the residue common people, and Chub, and the sons of the land of bond of peace, shall fall down by sword with them.^{Verse 6}The Lord God saith these things, And they that underset Egypt shall fall down, and the pride of the lordship thereof shall be destroyed; from the tower of Syene they shall fall by sword therein, saith the Lord God of hosts.^{Verse 7}And they shall be destroyed in the midst of lands made desolate, and the cities thereof shall be in the midst of cities forsaken.^{Verse 8}And they shall know, that I am the Lord God, when I shall give fire in Egypt, and all the helpers thereof shall be all-broken.^{Verse 9}In that day messengers shall go out from my face in ships with three orders of oars, to all-break, [or destroy], the trust of Ethiopia; and dread shall be in them in the day of Egypt, for without doubt it shall come.^{Verse 10}The Lord God saith these things, And I shall make to cease the multitude of Egypt in the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.^{Verse 11}He and his people with him, the strongest men of heathen men, shall be brought, to lose the land; and they shall draw out their swords on Egypt, and they shall fill the land with slain men.^{Verse 12}And I shall make dry the bottoms of floods, and I shall give the land into the hand of the worst men; and I shall destroy the land, and the fullness thereof in the hand of aliens; I the Lord spake.^{Verse 13}The Lord God saith these things, And I shall lose simulacra, and I shall make idols to cease from Memphis, and a duke of the land of Egypt shall no more be. And I shall give dread in the land of Egypt,^{Verse 14}and I shall lose, [or destroy], the land of Pathros. And I shall give fire in Tanis, and I shall make my dooms in Alexandria.^{Verse 15}And I shall shed out mine indig-nation on Pelusium, the strength of Egypt; and I shall slay the multitude of Alexandria,^{Verse 16}and I shall give fire in Egypt. Pelusium, as a woman travailing of child, shall have sorrow, and Alexandria shall be destroyed, and in Memphis shall be each day’s anguishes.^{Verse 17}The young men of Heliopolis and of Bubastis shall fall down by sword, and those cities shall be led captives.^{Verse 18}And in Tahpanhes the day shall wax black, when I shall all-break there the sceptres of Egypt, and the pride of the power thereof shall fail therein. A cloud shall cover it; forsooth the daughters thereof shall be led into captivity,^{Verse 19}and I shall make dooms in Egypt; and they shall know, that I am the Lord.^{Verse 20}And it was done in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord was made to me, and he said,^{Verse 21}Thou, son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and lo! it is not wrapped [about], that health should be restored thereto, that it should be bound with linen clothes, and wound about with linen clothes, and that he might hold a sword again, when he had received strength.^{Verse 22}Therefore the Lord God saith these things, Lo! I to Pharaoh, king of Egypt; I shall make less his strong arm but broken, and I shall cast down the sword from his hand.^{Verse 23}And I shall scatter Egypt among heathen men, and I shall winnow them in lands.^{Verse 24}And I shall strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and I shall give my sword into the hand of him; and I shall break the arms of Pharaoh, and men slain before his face shall wail by wailings.^{Verse 25}And I shall 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 give my sword in the hand of the king of Babylon; and he shall stretch forth it on the land of Egypt.^{Verse 26}And I shall scatter Egypt into nations, and I shall winnow them into lands; and they shall know, that I am the Lord.

Commentary

Introduction

This chapter describes, with great force and elegance, the ruin of Egypt and all her allies by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar, Eze 30:1-11; with an amplification of the distress of the principal cities of Egypt on that occasion, Eze 30:12-19. The remaining verses are a short prophecy relating to the same event, and therefore annexed to the longer one preceding, although this was predicted sooner, Eze 30:20-26.

Howl ye, Wo worth the day! - My Old MS. Bible, - Soule gee, woo woo to the day! הילילו הה ליום heylilu, hah laiyom! "Howl ye, Alas for the day!" The reading in our present text is taken from Coverdale's Bible, 1536. The expressions signify that a most dreadful calamity was about to fall on Egypt and the neighboring countries, called here the "time of the heathen," or of the nations; the day of calamity to them. They are afterwards specified, Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, and Chub, and the mingled people, probably persons from different nations, who had followed the ill fortune of Pharaoh-hophra or Pharaoh-apries, when he fled from Amasis, and settled in Upper Egypt.

Lydia - This place is not well known. The Ludim were contiguous to Egypt, Gen 11:13. Chub - The Cubians, placed by Ptolemy in the Mareotis. But probably instead of וכוב vechub, "and Chub," we should read וכל vechol, "and All the men of the land," etc. The Septuagint adds "the Persians and the Cretans."

Shall be desolate - All these countries shall be desolated, and the places named shall be chief in these desolations.

Messengers go forth from me in ships - Ships can ascend the Nile up to Syene or Essuan, by the cataracts; and when Nebuchadnezzar's vessels went up, they struck terror into the Ethiopians. They are represented here as the "messengers of God."

I will make the rivers dry - As the overflowing of the Nile was the grand cause of fertility to Egypt, the drying it up, or preventing that annual inundation, must be the cause of dearth, famine, etc. By rivers, we may understand the various canals cut from the Nile to carry water into the different parts of the land. When the Nile did not rise to its usual height these canals were quite dry.

Their images to cease out of Noph - Afterwards Memphis, and now Cairo or Kahira. This was the seat of Egyptian idolatry; the place where Apis was particularly worshipped. No more a prince of the land of Egypt - Not one, from that time to the present day. See the note on Eze 29:14.

I will make Pathros desolate - See Eze 29:14. Zoan - Tanis, the ancient capital of Egypt. No - Diospolis, or Thebes, the city of Jupiter.

My fury upon Sin - Pelusium, a strong city of Egypt, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Noph - Cairo or Kahira; see Eze 30:13.

Aven - Or On, the famous Heliopolis, or city of the sun. Pibeseth - Bubastum or Bubaste, by a slight alteration of the letters. It is situated on the eastern branch of the Nile, towards Arabia.

Tehaphnehes - Called also Tahapanes, Jer 2:16. This is the Pelusian Daphne. Break there the yokes - The sceptres. Nebuchadnezzar broke the scepter of Egypt when he confirmed the kingdom to Amasis, who had rebelled against Apries.

In the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day - This was the eleventh year of the captivity of Jeconiah, and the date here answers to April 26, A.M. 3416; a prophecy anterior by several years to that already delivered. In collecting the writings of Ezekiel, more care was taken to put all that related to one subject together, than to attend to chronological arrangement.

I have broken the arm of Pharaoh - Perhaps this may refer to his defeat by Nebuchadnezzar, when he was coming with the Egyptian army to succor Jerusalem.

I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand - When the arm is broken, the sword will naturally fall. But these expressions show that the Egyptians would be rendered wholly useless to Zedekiah, and should never more recover their political strength. This was the case from the time of the rebellion of Amasis.

I will scatter the Egyptians - Several fled with Apries to Upper Egypt; and when Nebuchadnezzar wasted the country, he carried many of them to Babylon. See on Eze 29:12 (note).

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