13 Thus saith H559 the Lord H136 GOD; H3069 I will also destroy H6 the idols, H1544 and I will cause their images H457 to cease H7673 out of Noph; H5297 and there shall be no more a prince H5387 of the land H776 of Egypt: H4714 and I will put H5414 a fear H3374 in the land H776 of Egypt. H4714
The burden H4853 of Egypt. H4714 Behold, the LORD H3068 rideth H7392 upon a swift H7031 cloud, H5645 and shall come H935 into Egypt: H4714 and the idols H457 of Egypt H4714 shall be moved H5128 at his presence, H6440 and the heart H3824 of Egypt H4714 shall melt H4549 in the midst H7130 of it. And I will set H5526 the Egyptians H4714 against the Egyptians: H4714 and they shall fight H3898 every one H376 against his brother, H251 and every one H376 against his neighbour; H7453 city H5892 against city, H5892 and kingdom H4467 against kingdom. H4467 And the spirit H7307 of Egypt H4714 shall fail H1238 in the midst H7130 thereof; and I will destroy H1104 the counsel H6098 thereof: and they shall seek H1875 to the idols, H457 and to the charmers, H328 and to them that have familiar spirits, H178 and to the wizards. H3049 And H853 the Egyptians H4714 will I give over H5534 into the hand H3027 of a cruel H7186 lord; H113 and a fierce H5794 king H4428 shall rule H4910 over them, saith H5002 the Lord, H113 the LORD H3068 of hosts. H6635 And the waters H4325 shall fail H5405 from the sea, H3220 and the river H5104 shall be wasted H2717 and dried up. H3001 And they shall turn H2186 the rivers H5104 far away; H2186 and the brooks H2975 of defence H4693 shall be emptied H1809 and dried up: H2717 the reeds H7070 and flags H5488 shall wither. H7060 The paper reeds H6169 by the brooks, H2975 by the mouth H6310 of the brooks, H2975 and every thing sown H4218 by the brooks, H2975 shall wither, H3001 be driven away, H5086 and be no more. The fishers H1771 also shall mourn, H578 and all they that cast H7993 angle H2443 into the brooks H2975 shall lament, H56 and they that spread H6566 nets H4365 upon H6440 the waters H4325 shall languish. H535 Moreover they that work H5647 in fine H8305 flax, H6593 and they that weave H707 networks, H2355 shall be confounded. H954 And they shall be broken H1792 in the purposes H8356 thereof, all that make H6213 sluices H7938 and ponds H99 for fish. H5315 Surely the princes H8269 of Zoan H6814 are fools, H191 the counsel H6098 of the wise H2450 counsellors H3289 of Pharaoh H6547 is become brutish: H1197 how say H559 ye unto Pharaoh, H6547 I am the son H1121 of the wise, H2450 the son H1121 of ancient H6924 kings? H4428 Where H335 are they? where H645 are thy wise H2450 men? and let them tell H5046 thee now, and let them know H3045 what the LORD H3068 of hosts H6635 hath purposed H3289 upon Egypt. H4714 The princes H8269 of Zoan H6814 are become fools, H2973 the princes H8269 of Noph H5297 are deceived; H5377 they have also seduced H8582 Egypt, H4714 even they that are the stay H6438 of the tribes H7626 thereof. The LORD H3068 hath mingled H4537 a perverse H5773 spirit H7307 in the midst H7130 thereof: and they have caused Egypt H4714 to err H8582 in every work H4639 thereof, as a drunken H7910 man staggereth H8582 in his vomit. H6892 Neither shall there be any work H4639 for Egypt, H4714 which the head H7218 or tail, H2180 branch H3712 or rush, H100 may do. H6213 In that day H3117 shall Egypt H4714 be like unto women: H802 and it shall be afraid H2729 and fear H6342 because H6440 of the shaking H8573 of the hand H3027 of the LORD H3068 of hosts, H6635 which he shaketh H5130 over it.
And I will bring again H7725 the captivity H7622 of Egypt, H4714 and will cause them to return H7725 into the land H776 of Pathros, H6624 into the land H776 of their habitation; H4351 and they shall be there a base H8217 kingdom. H4467 It shall be the basest H8217 of the kingdoms; H4467 neither shall it exalt H5375 itself any more above the nations: H1471 for I will diminish H4591 them, that they shall no more rule H7287 over the nations. H1471
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 30
Commentary on Ezekiel 30 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 30
Eze 30:1-26. Continuation of the Prophecies against Egypt.
Two distinct messages: (1) At Eze 30:1-19, a repetition of Eze 29:1-16, with fuller details of lifelike distinctness. The date is probably not long after that mentioned in Eze 29:17, on the eve of Nebuchadnezzar's march against Egypt after subjugating Tyre. (2) A vision relating directly to Pharaoh and the overthrow of his kingdom; communicated at an earlier date, the seventh of the first month of the eleventh year. Not a year after the date in Eze 29:1, and three months before the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.
2. Woe worth the day!—that is, Alas for the day!
3. the time of the heathen—namely, for taking vengeance on them. The judgment on Egypt is the beginning of a world-wide judgment on all the heathen enemies of God (Joe 1:15; 2:1, 2; 3:1-21; Ob 15).
4. pain—literally, "pangs with trembling as of a woman in childbirth."
5. the mingled people—the mercenary troops of Egypt from various lands, mostly from the interior of Africa (compare Eze 27:10; Jer 25:20, 24; 46:9, 21).
Chub—the people named Kufa on the monuments [Havernick], a people considerably north of Palestine [Wilkinson]; Coba or Chobat, a city of Mauritania [Maurer].
men of the land that is in league—too definite an expression to mean merely, "men in league" with Egypt; rather, "sons of the land of the covenant," that is, the Jews who migrated to Egypt and carried Jeremiah with them (Jer 42:1-44:30). Even they shall not escape (Jer 42:22; 44:14).
6. from the tower of Syene—(see on Eze 29:10).
7. in the midst of … countries … desolate—Egypt shall fare no better than they (Eze 29:10).
9. messengers … in ships to … Ethiopians—(Isa 18:1, 2). The cataracts interposing between them and Egypt should not save them. Egyptians "fleeing from before Me" in My execution of judgment, as "messengers" in "skiffs" ("vessels of bulrushes," Isa 18:2) shall go up the Nile as far as navigable, to announce the advance of the Chaldeans.
as in the day of Egypt—The day of Ethiopia's "pain" shall come shortly, as Egypt's day came.
10. the multitude—the large population.
12. rivers—the artificial canals made from the Nile for irrigation. The drying up of these would cause scarcity of grain, and so prepare the way for the invaders (Isa 19:5-10).
13. Noph—Memphis, the capital of Middle Egypt, and the stronghold of "idols." Though no record exists of Nebuchadnezzar's "destroying" these, we know from Herodotus and others, that Cambyses took Pelusium, the key of Egypt, by placing before his army dogs, cats, &c., all held sacred in Egypt, so that no Egyptian would use any weapon against them. He slew Apis, the sacred ox, and burnt other idols of Egypt.
no more a prince—referring to the anarchy that prevailed in the civil wars between Apries and Amasis at the time of Nebuchadnezzar's invasion. There shall no more be a prince of the land of Egypt, ruling the whole country; or, no independent prince.
14. Pathros—Upper Egypt, with "No" or Thebes its capital (famed for its stupendous buildings, of which grand ruins remain), in antithesis to Zoan or Tanis, a chief city in Lower Egypt, within the Delta.
15. Sin—that is, Pelusium, the frontier fortress on the northeast, therefore called "the strength (that is, the key) of Egypt." It stands in antithesis to No or Thebes at the opposite end of Egypt; that is, I will afflict Egypt from one end to the other.
16. distresses daily—Maurer translates, "enemies during the day," that is, open enemies who do not wait for the covert of night to make their attacks (compare Jer 6:4; 15:8). However, the Hebrew, though rarely, is sometimes rendered (see Ps 13:2) as in English Version.
17. Aven—meaning "vanity" or "iniquity": applied, by a slight change of the Hebrew name, to On or Heliopolis, in allusion to its idolatry. Here stood the temple of the sun, whence it was called in Hebrew, Beth-shemesh (Jer 43:13). The Egyptian hieroglyphics call it, Re Athom, the sun, the father of the gods, being impersonate in Athom or Adam, the father of mankind.
Pi-beseth—that is, Bubastis, in Lower Egypt, near the Pelusiac branch of the Nile: notorious for the worship of the goddess of the same name (Coptic, Pasht), the granite stones of whose temple still attest its former magnificence.
these cities—rather, as the Septuagint, "the women," namely, of Aven and Pi-beseth, in antithesis to "the young men." So in Eze 30:18, "daughters shall go into captivity" [Maurer].
18. Tehaphnehes—called from the queen of Egypt mentioned in 1Ki 11:19. The same as Daphne, near Pelusium, a royal residence of the Pharaohs (Jer 43:7, 9). Called Hanes (Isa 30:4).
break … the yokes of Egypt—that is, the tyrannical supremacy which she exercised over other nations. Compare "bands of their yoke" (Eze 34:7).
a cloud—namely, of calamity.
20. Here begins the earlier vision, not long after that in the twenty-ninth chapter, about three months before the taking of Jerusalem, as to Pharaoh and his kingdom.
21. broken … arm of Pharaoh—(Ps 37:17; Jer 48:25). Referring to the defeat which Pharaoh-hophra sustained from the Chaldeans, when trying to raise the siege of Jerusalem (Jer 37:5, 7); and previous to the deprivation of Pharaoh-necho of all his conquests from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates (2Ki 24:7; Jer 46:2); also to the Egyptian disaster in Cyrene.
22. arms—Not only the "one arm" broken already (Eze 30:21) was not to be healed, but the other two should be broken. Not a corporal wound, but a breaking of the power of Pharaoh is intended.
cause … sword to fall out of … hand—deprive him of the resources of making war.