Chapter XXXI
Ver. 1-18. The Overthrow of Egypt Illustrated by THAT OF Assyria. Not that Egypt was, like Assyria, utterly to cease to be, but it was, like Assyria, to lose its prominence in the empire of tlie world. 1. third month —two months later than the prophecy delivered in ch. 30.
21,. !4. Wliom art thou like—the answer is, Thou art like the haughty king of Assyria; as he was overtlirown by tlie Chaldeans, so shalt thou be by the same. 3. He Illustrates the pride and the consequent overthrow of the Assyrian, that Egypt may the better know what slie must expect, cedar In Lebanon—often eighty feet liigb, and the diameter of the space covered by its boughs still greater: the symmetry perfect. Cf. the similar imai;e (<-h.
17. 3; Daniel 4. 20-22). with a shadowing shroud— with
ail overshadowing tliicket. top . . . among . . . thick boughs—rather [Hengstknberg], "among tlie clouds."
XXXII. A Lamentation J or the Fall of Egypt.
r/i« Greatness and Fall of Assyria. EZEKIEL
Pharaoh—Phaiaoh's end shall be the same humiliating one as I have depicted the Assyrian's to - have been. "This" is demonstrative, as if he were pointing with the finger to Pharaoh lying prostrate, a spectacle to all, as on the shore of the Red Sea (Exodus 14. 30, 31).
But English Version agrees better with the Hebrew. The
top, or topmnst shoot, represents the king; the thick boughs,
the large resources of the empire. 4. waters . . . little rivers—the Tigris with its branches and rivulets, or con-
auil.': for Irrigation, the source of Assyria's fertility. " The deep" is the ever-flowing water, never dry. Metaphori-
CHAPTER XXXII.
cally, for Assyria's resources, as the "conduits" are her
colonies. 5. when lie shot forth—because of the abundant moisture which nourished him in shooting forth. But see Margin. 6. fowls . . . made . . . nests In . . . bonghs—so ch. 17. 23; Daniel 4. 12. The gospel-kingdom
Ver. 1-32. Two Ei/EOies over Pharaoh, one Delivered ON THE First Day (v. 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 Jehoiachln; Jerusalem was by this time overthrown, and Amasis was beginning his revolt against Pharaoh-hophra. 3. Pharaoh 2^hra in Burmah, signi-
shall gather all under its covert, for their good and for the glory of God, which the world-kingdoms did for evil and
for self-aggrandizement (Matthew 13.32). 8. cedars . . . conld not hide him—could not outtop him. No other king eclipsed him. garden of God—as in the case of Tyre (ch. 28. 13), the imagery, that is applied to the Assyrian king, is taken from Eden ; peculiarly appropriate,
fies the king, high priest, and idol, wliale—rather, any monster of the waters; here, the crocodile of the Niles. Pharaoh is as a lion on dry land, a crocodile in the waters; i.
e., an object of terror everywhere, camest forth with thy rivers—"breakest forth." [Fairbairn.] The antithesis of "seas" and "rivers" favours Grotius' render-
as Eden was watered by rivers that afterwards watered Assyria (Genesis 2. 10-14). This cedar seemed to revive in
Itself all the glories of paradise, so that no tree there outtopped it. were not like—were not comparable to. 9.1 made him—It was all due to my free grace. 10. thou . . . he—the change of persons is because the language refers partly to the cedar, partly to the person signified by the cedar. 11. Here the literal supersedes the figurative, shall surely deal with him-according to his own pleasure, and according to the Assyrian's (Sardanapalus)
ing, " Thou camest forth from the sea into the rivers ;" i. e., from thy own empire into other states. However, E7ig-
lish Version is favoured by the "tliy:" thou camest forth with thy rivers (t. e., with thy forces) and with tliy leet didst fall Irrecoverably; so Israel, once desolate, trouble the waters (t. e., neighbouring states). 3. with a company of many people mz., the Chaldeans (ch. 29. 3, 4
Hosea 7. 12). my net—for they are my instrument. leave thee upon the land—as a fish drawn out of the water loses all its strength, so Pharaoh (in v. 3, compared to a water monster) shall be (ch. 29. 5). 5. tiny Iieight 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 source of its fertility, w?ie)-ein thou swimmest (carrying on the image of the crocodile, i.
desert. Nebuchadnezzar is called " The mighty one" (El, a name of God), because he was God's representative and Instrument of judgment (Daniel 2. 37, 38). 13. from his shadow under which they had formerly dwelt as their covert (v. 6). 13. Birds and beasts shall Insult over his fallen trunk. 14. trees hy the waters i. e., that are plentifully supplied by the waters : nations abounding in resources, stand up In their height i. e., trust in their height: stand upon it as their ground of confidence. Fairbairn points the Hebrew diflTerently.so as for "their
e., wherein thou dost exercise thy wanton power at will). Irony. The land shall still afTord seas to swim in, but they shall be seas of blood. Alluding to the plague (Exodus
trees," to translate, "(And that none that drink water may stand) on themselves, (because of their greatness)." But the usual reading is better, as Assyria and the confederate states throughout are compared to strong trees. The clause, "All that drink water," marks the gi-ound of the trees' confidence " in their height," viz., that they have ample sources of supply. Maurer, retaining the same Helrrew, translates, " that neither their terebinth trees may stand up in tlieir height, nor all (the other trees) that drink water." to . . . nether . . . earth . . . pit— (Ch. 32. 18; Psalm 82. 7.) 15. covered the deep—as mourners cover their heads in token of mourning, "I made the deep that watered the cedar" to wrap itself in mourning
7. 19 ; Revelation 8. 8). Havbbnick 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 are shrouded in sympathetic darkness. Here, too, as in v. 6, there is an allusion to the supernatural darkness sent formerly (Exodus 10. 21-23). The heavenly bodies are often made Images of earthly dynasties (Isaiah 13. 10 ; Matthew 24. 29). 9. thy destruction i. e., tidings of thy destruction (lit., 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 . . . sword before them—it«., in their faces, or sight. 13. (See Note on ch. 29.
for him. The waters of the deep are the tributary peoples of Assyria (Revelation 17. 15). fainted lit., were faintness
(itself); more forcible than the verb. 16. hell—Sheol or Hades, the unseen world: equivalent to, "I cast him into oblivion" (cf. Isaiah 14. 9-11). shall be comforted—because so great a king as the Assyrian is brought down to a level with them. It is a kind of consolation to the wretched to have companions in misery. 17. his arm, that dwelt under his shadow—those who were the helpers or tool of his tyranny, and therefort; enjoyed his protection (e. g., Syria and her neighbours). These were sure to share her
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. [Fairbaikn.J Henceforth Pharaoh must figuratively uo longer trouble the waters by man or beast, i. e., no longer was he to flood other peoples with his overwhelming.forces. 14:. make their waters deep—rather, "make ... to subside;" lit., sink. [Fairbairn.] like oil—emblem of quietness. No long«'r shall they descend violently as the overflowing Nile on other countries, but shall be still and sluggish in political action. 16. As in ch. 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 la Us political head Is ideally represented as undergoing tlie change by'death to "which man is liable. Expressing that Egypt's supremacy is nomore, a thingof the past, never to be again, the month—the twelfth month {v. 1) ; fourteen days after the former vision. 18. cast them down—f. e., predict that they shall be costdoivji (so Jeiemiah 1. 10). The
fate. Cf. the same phrase as to the Jews living under the protection of their king (Lamentations 4. 20); both alike "making flesh their arm, and in heart departing from the Lord" (Jeremiah 17. 5). 18. Application of the parabolic description of Assyria to the parallel case of Egypt. "All that has been said of the Assyrian consider as said to thy-
self. To wliom art thou so like, as thou art to the Assyrian 7 To none." The lesson on a gigantic scale of Edenllbe privileges abused to pride and sin by the Assyrian, B8 lu the ciise of the first man in Eden, ending in ruin, was to be repeated in Egypt's case. For the unchangeable God governs the world on the same unchangeable princi-
ples, thou Shalt lie In . . . unclrcumclscd—As circumcision was an object of mocking to thee, thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, slain by their sword.
[OHO(rii;s.I Retribution in kind (ch. 28. 10.) This Is
Jiabylon shall Destroy Egypt. EZEKIEL XXXIII. The Duty of Ezehiel as Walchmom.
e. g., under Pharaoh-necho on Judea. As " the land of th« living" was the scene of "their terror," so it sliall be God's; especially in Judea He will display Ills glory to the terror of Israel's foes (ch. 26. 20). In Israel's case the judgment is temporary, ending in their future restoration
prophet's word was God's, and carried with it Its own ful-
£iliui;nt. daugliters of . . . i»i«tlons i. e., the nations with
tfieir peoples. Egypt's to share the fate of oilier ancient nations once famous, now consigned to oblivion : Elain
(V. 21). Meshech, &c. (v. 20), Edoni (v. 29), Zidon (v. 30). 19. AVlioiii dost tlliou pass in beauty 1—Beautiful as thou
under Messiah. In the case of the world-kingdoms wliich flourished for a time, they fail to rise no more.
art, thou art not more so than other nations, which nevertheless have perislied. go down, &c. — to the nether world, where all " beauty'" is speedily marred. 30. slie is delivered to tlic sword viz., by God. draw Uer—as if addressing her e.xecutiouers : drag her forth to death. 21.