and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia. 11 No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years. 12 And 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. 13 Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither -they were scattered : 14 And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into CHAP. XXIX. [against Egypt. the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. 15 It 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. 16 And 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. (F) ¶ 17 And 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, 18 Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: EXPOSITION. (F) Ver. 1-16. The Judgment of Pharaoh and of Egypt.-This chapter foretels the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, which took place B. C. 573, seventeen years after the prediction, which was evidently delivered before several of the preceding chapters. The same event we have seen foretold by Jeremiah. (ch. xlvi. 13.) The chapter opens by charging Pharaoh Hophra (commonly called Apries) with the same pride and profaneness as was in the chapter preceding alleged against the prince of Tyre. He was so confident of the strength of his kingdom, that, according to Herodotus (lib. 2.), he impiously boasted, that neither God nor man was able to dispossess him. Wherefore, the Prophet, addressing him under the image of a crocodile, the "great dragon of Egypt, tells him that with as much ease as a fisher drags the fish he has hooked, God would drag him and his people into captivity, where their carcasses would fall a prey to wild beasts and ravenous birds. The figure is then dropped, and God denounces judgments against him and his people by subjecting them to the Babylonian yoke till that empire should fall: and after that period, it is declared, that Egypt should always remain the basest of kingdoms; a prophecy which has been hitherto most remarkably fulfilled. It became first subject to the Babylonians, and then successively to the Persians, Macedonians, Romans, and Saracens ; then to the Mamelukes (or slave-usurpers), and after them, to the Ottoman Empire, of which it now forms a province governed by a Turkish Bashaw and 24 Begs, Beys, or chiefs, advanced from among the slaves to the administration of public affairs; the Egyptians being possessed with a superstitious notion that fate has decreed, that slaves must always rule, and the natives be in subjection."Surely," says the late Editor of Calmet, the country be-lorded by slaves, may be justly considered as "the basest of kingdoms" Frag. No. lxxxix. And though it was well known, as Mr. Prebend. Townsend has remarked, to have been a favourite project with the late, Emperor Napoleon to raise Egypt again to cousequence; and though at first heaven seemed to favour his design, and his success for a time appeared certain, Providence remarkably interfered to disappoint him, and to protect the credit of the sacred prophecies. (See Towns. O.T. Arr. vol. ii. p. 579. NOTES. From the tower of Syene.-Marg. "From Migdol to Syene;" i. e. from the north to the south of Egypt. So Preb. Lowth, Newcome, &c. Ver. 13. At the end of forty years-from the defeat of Apries, just mentioned, probably at the settlement of the kingdom by Cyrus, Comp. Isa. xlvi. 26. Ver. 14. Pathros-according to Bochart, Thebais, or upper Egypt. See Jer. xliv, I. Ver. 18. Every head was made bald-by the helmet, or by disease.--Every shoulder peeled-that is, galled by carrying heavy burdens. Ver. 22. The opening of the mouth-that is, an opportunity to open thy mouth in the midst of them. 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: 19 Therefore 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.. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord God. 21 In 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. (G) CHAP. XXX. THE word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GoD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day! 3 For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy [against Egypt. day; it shall be the time of the heathen. 4 And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethi opia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down. 5 Ethiopia, 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. 6 Thus 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. 7 And 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. 8 And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall he destroyed. 9 In 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. EXPOSITION-Chap. XXIX. Continued. (G) Ver. 17-21. A farther prophecy respecting Egypt.-By the date of this prophecy (which we have no ground to question) it appears to have been the last which Ezekiel delivered, and delivered only just before its accomplishment, which took place, according to Prideaux, 573 years before Christ. For the prophetic writings are evidently arranged, not according to chronological order, but rather with a regard to the connection of the subjects; those relative to Egypt, for instance, being here placed together. It appears that Nebuchadnezzar was greatly disappointed in the capture of Tyre, in finding that the principal inhabitants had retired by sea to an adjacent island and taken with them all their valuable property, which was the founding, or rather the re-establishment of New Tyre. God therefore promises to Nebuchadnezzar, who had been the instrument of his just judgments on the Tyriaus, (" Howbeit he meant not so,") that Egypt should be given to the king of Babylon as a compensation. Thus the Most High ruleth among the chil dren of men. It is remarkable that most of God's judgments against the heathen conclude with a promise of mercy to his people Is rael; and such is the case with the short portion of prophecy now before us, though commentators are not agreed whether the budding of Israel's horn referred to the promotion of Daniel and his brethren in Babylon, or to the appointment of Zerubbabel. Perhaps both inay be included. NOTES. CHAP. XXX. Ver. 2. Woe worth-that is, "woe be!" or alas! Ver. 5. Chub-In Mareotis, an Egyptian province. Grotins.Men (Heb. "Sons") of the land-that is, of every land that is in league with Egypt. 10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. 11 He 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. 12 And 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. 13 Thus 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. 14 And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No. 15 And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the strength of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No. 16 And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall have distresses daily. 17 The young men of Aven, and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword: and these cities shall go into captivity. 18 At 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. CHAP. XXX. [against Egypt. 19 Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the LORD. 20 And 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, 21 Son 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. 22 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arins, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. 23 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. 24 And 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. 25 But 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. 26 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the LORD. (H) EXPOSITION. (H) Farther prophecies against Egypt.This chapter describes with great elegance and force the ruin of Egypt and all her allies by Nebuchadnezzar and his forces; with an amplification of the distress of the principal cities of Egypt on that occasion. The last six verses contain another short prophecy relative to the same event, and therefore aunexed to the preceding, though predicted at an early period. "The cities mentioned in this chapter were afterwards known by different names; Noph is the same with Memphis; Pathros the same with Thebais; Zoan, the same with Tanis, and the metropolis in Moses' time; No, (or Hamot-No) was Thebes; Sin the same with Pelusium; Aven for On) was Helopolis; Pi-beseth was Bubastam; and Tehaphanhes Daphne Pelusiacæ, where the Prophet Jeremiah is said to have been put to death." (Dr. J. Smith.) NOTES. Ver. 6. From the tower - Heb. "Migdol." See Note cn ch. xxix. 10. Ver. 12. All that is therein-Heb. "The fulness there f." Ver. 15. Upon Sin Marg, "Pelusium," a strong Prophecies] CHAP. XXXI. EZEKIEL. AND 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, 2 Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness? 3 Behold, 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. 4 The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field. 5 Therefore 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. 6 All 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. 7 Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters. 8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chesnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. 9 I 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. [against Egypt. 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; . 11 I 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. 12 And 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. 13 Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches: 14 To 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. 15 Thus 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. 16 I 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, 10 Therefore thus saith the Lord the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth. 17 They 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. 18 To 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. (I) CHAP. XXXII. AND 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, 2 Son of man, take up a lamenta tion 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 CHAP. XXXI. [against Egypt. the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers. 3 Thus 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. 4 Then 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. 5 And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height. 6 I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.. 7 And 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. 8 All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD. EXPOSITION. (1) Farther prophecies against Egypt and Assyria.-In this chapter the Prophet resumes the poetical style, and describes to Pharoah the fall of the king of Nineveh (see Nahum, Jonah, and Zephaniah,) under the image of a fair cedar of Lebanon, once tall, flourishing, and majestic, but now cut down and withered, with is bro ken branches strewed around. He then concludes with bringing the matter home to the king of Babylon, by telling him that this was a picture of his own fate. This beautiful cedar of Lebanon, now cut down and destroyed, gives a lively image of the glory and ruin of both the Assyrian and Egyptian monarchs. The manner in which the Prophet has embellished his subject is very interesting, and the moral highly important: God delighteth to abase those that exalt themselves against him, and to "stain the pride of all human glory." Isa. xxiii. 9. NOTES. The same word is rendered the grave in the verse preceding. See Exposition of Isa. xiv. and Note on ver. 9; also on Ps. xvi. 10. Ver. 17. His arm-that is, those who supported him. But Newcome, following the LXX, &c. renCers the word "seed,” i. e. offspring, which seems preferable. CHAP. XXXII. Ver. 2. Thou art as a whaleHeb. Tanim," or sea-monster-Marg. " a dragon;" .e. a crocodile. See Isa. xxvii. 1.-Camest forth with thy rivers-Newcome," Breakest forth in thy rivers;" i. e. to seize the prey.And troubledst The waters with thy fest.-This applies to the crocoile, but not the whale, which has no feet. See ob. xli. 31. D'Herbelot cites an Eastern poet, who, celebrating the prowess of a Persian prince, said, He was dreadful as a lion in the field, and not less terrible in the water than a crocodile." Orient. Lit. No. 1032. Ver. 3. I will spread out, &c.-In Egypt they had several ways of taking the crocodile. In Siam it is accomplished by laying several nets, at proper distances, across a river. Orient. Cust. No. 1124. Ver. 4. I will fill the beasts, &c.-Newcome," I will satiate (or fill) with thee the beasts of the earth." Ver. 6. The land wherein thou swimmest.-This may apply to Egypt, when flooded by the Nile; but Newcome, and others, render this verse more poetically: "I will water the earth with thy gore; Thy blood shall be on the mountains, And the streams shall be filled with them Ver. 7. When I shall put thee out—th guish thy light. Compare Isa. xiii, 1 |