Ezekiel 32

Eze 32:1-32.

TWO

ELEGIES OVER

PHARAOH,

ONE

DELIVERED ON THE

FIRST

DAY

(Eze 32:1),

THE

OTHER ON THE

FIFTEENTH

DAY OF THE

SAME

MONTH, THE

TWELFTH OF THE

TWELFTH

YEAR.

1. The twelfth year from the carrying away of Jehoiachin; Jerusalem

was by this time overthrown, and Amasis was beginning his revolt against

Pharaoh-hophra.

2. Pharaoh--"Phra" in Burmah, signifies the king, high priest, and

idol.

whale--rather, any monster of the waters; here, the crocodile of the

Nile. Pharaoh is as a lion on dry land, a crocodile in the waters; that

is, an object of terror everywhere.

camest forth with thy rivers--"breakest forth"

[FAIRBAIRN]. The

antithesis of "seas" and "rivers" favors

GROTIUS rendering, "Thou camest

forth from the sea into the rivers"; that is, from thy own empire

into other states. However, English Version is favored by the "thy":

thou camest forth with thy rivers (that is, with thy forces) and

with thy feet didst fall irrecoverably; so Israel, once desolate,

troubles the waters (that is, neighboring states).

3. with a company of many people--namely, the Chaldeans

(Eze 29:3, 4;

Ho 7:12).

my net--for they are My instrument.

4. leave thee upon the land--as a fish drawn out of the water loses

all its strength, so Pharaoh

(in

Eze 32:3,

compared to a water monster) shall be

(Eze 29:5).

5. thy height--thy hugeness

[FAIRBAIRN]. The great heap of corpses

of thy forces, on which thou pridest thyself. "Height" may refer to

mental elevation, as well as bodily [VATABLUS].

6. land wherein thou swimmest--Egypt: the land watered by the Nile,

the the source of its fertility, wherein thou swimmest (carrying on the

image of the crocodile, that is, wherein thou dost exercise thy wanton

power at will). Irony. The land shall still afford seas to swim in, but

they shall be seas of blood. Alluding to the plague

(Ex 7:19;

Re 8:8).

HAVERNICK translates, "I will water the land with

what flows from thee, even thy blood, reaching to the

mountains": "with thy blood overflowing even to the mountains."

Perhaps this is better.

7. put thee out--extinguish thy light

(Job 18:5).

Pharaoh is represented as a bright star, at the extinguishing of whose

light in the political sky the whole heavenly host is shrouded in

sympathetic darkness. Here, too, as in

Eze 32:6,

there is an allusion to the supernatural darkness sent formerly

(Ex 10:21-23).

The heavenly bodies are often made images of earthly dynasties

(Isa 13:10;

Mt 24:29).

9. thy destruction--that is, tidings of thy destruction

(literally, "thy breakage") carried by captive and dispersed Egyptians

"among the nations" [GROTIUS]; or, thy broken

people, resembling one great fracture, the ruins of what

they had been [FAIRBAIRN].

10. brandish my sword before them--literally, "in their faces," or

sight.

13. (See on

Eze 29:11).

The picture is ideally true, not to be interpreted by the letter. The

political ascendency of Egypt was to cease with the Chaldean conquest

[FAIRBAIRN]. Henceforth Pharaoh must figuratively

no longer trouble the waters by man or beast, that is, no longer

was he to flood other peoples with his overwhelming forces.

14. make their waters deep--rather, "make . . . to subside";

literally, "sink" [FAIRBAIRN].

like oil--emblem of quietness. No longer shall they descend

violently on other countries as the overflowing Nile, but shall be still

and sluggish in political action.

16. As in

Eze 19:14.

This is a prophetical lamentation; yet so it shall come to pass [GROTIUS].

17. The second lamentation for Pharaoh. This funeral dirge in

imagination accompanies him to the unseen world. Egypt personified in

its political head is ideally represented as undergoing the change by

death to which man is liable. Expressing that Egypt's supremacy is no

more, a thing of the past, never to be again.

the month--the twelfth month

(Eze 32:1);

fourteen days after the former vision.

18. cast them down--that is, predict that they shall be cast

down (so

Jer 1:10).

The prophet's word was God's, and carried with it its own fulfilment.

daughters of . . . nations--that is, the nations with

their peoples. Egypt is to share the fate of other ancient nations

once famous, now consigned to oblivion: Elam

(Eze 32:24),

Meshech, &c.

(Eze 32:26),

Edom

(Eze 32:29),

Zidon

(Eze 32:30).

19. Whom dost thou pass in beauty?--Beautiful as thou art, thou art

not more so than other nations, which nevertheless have perished.

go down, &c.--to the nether world, where all "beauty" is speedily

marred.

20. she is delivered to the sword--namely, by God.

draw her--as if addressing her executioners: drag her forth to death.

21.

(Eze 31:16).

Ezekiel has before his eyes

Isa 14:9,

&c.

shall speak to him--with "him" join "with them that help him";

shall speak to him and his helpers with a taunting welcome, as now

one of themselves.

22. her . . . his--The abrupt change of gender is, because Ezekiel

has in view at one time the kingdom (feminine), at another the

monarch. "Asshur," or Assyria, is placed first in punishment, as

being first in guilt.

23. in the sides of the pit--Sepulchres in the East were caves

hollowed out of the rock, and the bodies were laid in niches formed at

the sides. MAURER needlessly departs from the

ordinary meaning, and translates, "extremities" (compare

Isa 14:13, 15).

which caused terror--They, who alive were a terror to others, are

now, in the nether world, themselves a terrible object to behold.

24. Elam--placed next, as having been an auxiliary to Assyria. Its

territory lay in Persia. In Abraham's time an independent kingdom

(Ge 14:1).

Famous for its bowmen

(Isa 22:6).

borne their shame--the just retribution of their lawless pride.

Destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar

(Jer 49:34-38).

25. a bed--a sepulchral niche.

all . . . slain by . . . sword, &c.--

(Eze 32:21, 23, 24).

The very monotony of the phraseology gives to the dirge an

awe-inspiring effect.

26. Meshech, Tubal--northern nations: the Moschi and Tibareni, between

the Black and Caspian Seas. HERODOTUS

[3.94], mentions them as a

subjugated people, tributaries to Darius Hystaspes (see

Eze 27:13).

27. they shall not lie with the mighty--that is, they shall not have

separate tombs such as mighty conquerors have: but shall all be heaped

together in one pit, as is the case with the vanquished

[GROTIUS].

HAVERNICK reads it interrogatively, "Shall they not lie with the mighty

that are fallen?" But English Version is supported by the parallel

(Isa 14:18, 19),

to which Ezekiel refers, and which represents them as not lying

as mighty kings lie in a grave, but cast out of one, as a carcass

trodden under foot.

with . . . weapons of war--alluding to the custom of

burying warriors with their arms (1 Maccabees 13:29). Though honored by

the laying of "their swords under their heads," yet the punishment of

"their iniquities shall be upon their bones." Their swords shall thus

attest their shame, not their glory

(Mt 26:52),

being the instruments of their violence, the penalty of which they are

paying.

28. Yea, thou--Thou, too, Egypt, like them, shalt lie as one

vanquished.

29. princes--Edom was not only governed by kings, but by subordinate

"princes" or "dukes"

(Ge 36:40).

with their might--notwithstanding their might, they shall be brought

down

(Isa 34:5, 10-17;

Jer 49:7, 13-18).

lie with the uncircumcised--Though Edom was circumcised, being

descended from Isaac, he shall lie with the uncircumcised; much more

shall Egypt, who had no hereditary right to circumcision.

30. princes of the north--Syria, which is still called by the Arabs the

north; or the Tyrians, north of Palestine, conquered by Nebuchadnezzar

(Eze 26:1-28:26),

[GROTIUS].

Zidonians--who shared the fate of Tyre

(Eze 28:21).

with their terror they are ashamed of their might--that is,

notwithstanding the terror which they inspired in their contemporaries.

"Might" is connected by MAURER thus, "Notwithstanding the terror which

resulted from their might."

31. comforted--with the melancholy satisfaction of not being alone,

but of having other kingdoms companions in his downfall. This shall be

his only comfort--a very poor one!

32. my terror--the Margin or Keri. The Hebrew text or

Chetib is "his terror," which gives good sense

(Eze 32:25, 30).

"My terror" implies that God puts His terror on Pharaoh's

multitude, as they put "their terror" on others, for example, under

Pharaoh-necho on Judea. As "the land of the living" was the scene of

"their terror," so it shall be God's; especially in Judea, He will

display His glory to the terror of Israel's foes

(Eze 26:20).

In Israel's case the judgment is temporary, ending in their future

restoration under Messiah. In the case of the world kingdoms which

flourished for a time, they fall to rise no more.