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EZEKIEL.

the workmanship of thy tabrets Ol. XLVIII.1. and of thy pipes was prepared in Tarquinii Prisci, thee in the day that thou wast R. Roman., 29. created.

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14 Thou art the anointed

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cherub that covereth and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

16. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire..

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17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

See Exod. xxv. 20; ver. 16.- Chap.
Ver. 2, 5.- Chap. xxvi. 21; xxvii.
Chap. vi. 2; xxv. 2; xxix. 2.

Chap. xxvi. 13. xx. 40. - Ver. 14. 36. -y Heb. terrors.-Z

CHERUB that guarded the gates of Paradise, and kept the way of the tree of life; or to one of the cherubs whose wings, spread out, covered the mercy-seat. --Thou wast upon the holy mountain of God] The irony is still continued; and now he is compared to Moses, and afterwards to one of the chief angels, who has walked up and down among the stones of fire; that is, thy floors have been paved with precious stones, that shone and sparkled like fire.

Lucan, describing the splendour of the apartments of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, speaks in nearly a similar language:

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Nec summis crustata domus, sectisque nitebat
Marmoribus, stabatque sibi non segnis achates,
Purpureusque lapis, totusque effusus in aula
Calcabatur onyx—,
Pharsal, lib. x.
Rich as some fane by slavish zealots reared,
For the proud banquet stood the hall prepared:
Thick golden plates the latent beams infold,
And the high roof was fretted o'er with gold.
Of solid marble all the walls were made,
And onyx e'en the meaner floor inlaid;
While porphyry and agate round the court
In massy columns rose, a proud support.
Of solid ebony each post was wrought,
From swarthy Meroë profusely brought.
With ivory was the entrance crusted o'er,
And polished tortoise hid each shining door;
While on the cloudy spots enchased was seen
The trusty emerald's never-fading green.
Within the royal beds and couches shone,

against Sidon.

A. M. 3416.
B. C. 588.

O. XLVIII. I.

Anno

18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy Tarquinii Prisci, traffic; therefore will I bring R. Roman., 29. forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. 19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more. 20 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

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21 Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it,

22 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.

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23 For I will send into her pestilence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword

a Isa, xxiii. 4, 12; Jer. xxv. 22; xxvii. 3; chap. xxxii. 30. Exod. xiv. 4, 17; chap. xxxix. 13. Psa. ix. 16.- d Chap. xx. 41; xxxvi. 23; ver. 25.-e Chap. xxxviii. 22.

Beamy and bright with many a costly stone,
The glowing purple rich.

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Verse 16. I will cast thee as profane] be cast down from thine eminence. From the midst of the stones of fire.] Some, supposing that stones of fire means the stars, have thought that the whole refers to the fall of Satan.

Verse 18. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries] Irony continued. As God, as the angels, as the cherubim, thou must have had thy sanctuaries; but thou hast defiled them and as Adam, thou hast polluted thy Eden, and hast been expelled from Paradise.

Verse 19. Thou shalt be a terror] Instead of being an object of adoration thou shalt be a subject of horror, and at last be destroyed with thy city, so that nothing but thy name shall remain. It was entirely burnt by Alexander the Great, as it had been before by Nebuchadnezzar.

Verse 22. I am against thee, O Zidon] Sidon for a long time had possessed the empire of the sea and of all Phoenicia, and Tyre was one of its colonies; but, in process of time, the daughter became greater than the mother. It seems to have been an independent place at the time in which Tyre was taken; but it is likely that it was taken by the Chaldeans soon after the former.

Verse 23. And the wounded] chalal, the soldiery,

Deliverance from

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Tarquinii Prisci,
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CHAP. XXIX.

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captivity promised.

A. M. 3416. B. C. 588. OL. XLVIII. 1. Anno

Tarquinii Prisci,

upon her on every side; and they shall be sanctified in them in
the sight of the heathen, then shall
they dwell in their land that I
have given to my servant Jacob. R. Roman., 29.
26 And they shall dwell safely therein,
and shall build houses, and plant vineyards;
yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I
have executed judgments upon all those that
"despise them round about them; and they
shall know that I am the LORD their God.

Ol. XLVIII. I. shall know that I am the LORD.
24 And there shall be no more
f a pricking brier unto the house
of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are
round about them, that despised them; and
they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
25 Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall
have gathered the house of Israel from the
people among whom they are scattered, and
Num. xxxiii. 55; Josh. xxiii. 13. g Isa. xi. 12; xi. 17; xx.
41; xxxiv. 13; xxxvii. 21.- Ver. 22.

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Jer. xxiii. 6; chap. xxxvi. 28.- - Or, with confidence. Isa. lxv. 21; Amos ix. 14. Jer, xxxi. 5.- Or, spoil.

All its supports shall be taken away, and its defenders Israel] In their long captivity, God had been prepardestroyed.

Verse 24. There shall be no more a pricking brier] Nothing to excite Israel to idolatry when restored from their captivity. Perhaps there is an allusion to Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Sidon, and wife to Ahab, king of Israel, who was the greatest curse to Israel, and the universal restorer of idolatry in the land, see 1 Kings xvi. 31. Sidon being destroyed, there would come no encourager of idolatry from that quarter. Verse 25. When I shall have gathered the house of

ing the land for them so as to make it a safe dwelling; and hence he executed judgments on all the heathen nations round about by means of the Chaldeans. Thus Tyre and Sidon were destroyed, as were the Ammonites and others who had been the inveterate enemies of the Jews. Judgment first began at his own-house, then proceeded to the heathen nations; and when they were brought down, then he visited and redeemed his people. Thus God's ways are proved to be all equal; partialities and caprices belong not to him.

CHAPTER XXIX.

This and the three following chapters foretell the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, which he accomplished in the twenty-seventh year of Jehoiachin's' captivity. The same event is foretold by Jeremiah, chap. xlvi, 13, &c. The prophecy opens with God's charging the king of Egypt (Pharaoh-hophra) with the same extravagant pride and profanity which were in the preceding chapter laid to the charge of the prince of Tyre. He appears, like him, to have affected Divine honours; and boasted so much of the strength of his kingdom, that, as an ancient historian (Herodotus) tells us, he impiously declared that God himself could not dispossess him. Wherefore the prophet, with great majesty, addresses him under the image of one of those crocodiles or monsters which inhabited that river, of whose riches and revenue he vaunted; and assures him that, with as much ease as a fisherman drags the fish he has hooked, God would drag him and his people into captivity, and that their carcasses should fall a prey to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of heaven, 1-7. The figure is then dropped; and God is introduced denouncing, in plain terms, the most awful judgments against him and his nation, and declaring that the Egyptians should be subjected to the Babylonians till the fall of the Chaldean empire, 8-12. The prophet then foretells that Egypt, which was about to be devastated by the Babylonians, and many of the people carried into captivity, should again become a kingdom; but that it should never regain its ancient political importance; for, in the lapse of time, it should be even the BASEST of the kingdoms, a circumstance in the prophecy most literally fulfilled, especially under the Christian dispensation, in its government by the Mameluke slaves, 13- 16. The prophecy, beginning at the seventeenth verse, is connected with the foregoing, as it relates to the same subject, though delivered about seventeen years later. Nebuchadnezzar and his army, after the long siege of Tyre, which made every head bald by constantly wearing their helmets, and wore the skin off every shoulder by carrying burdens to raise the fortifications, were disappointed of the spoil which they expected, by the retiring of the inhabitants to Carthage. God, therefore, promises him Egypt for his reward, 17-20. The chapter concludes with a prediction of the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, 21. 503

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IN the tenth year, in the tenth

month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, a set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and bagainst all Egypt:

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3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. 4 But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.

5 And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.

6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have

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Pharaoh-hophra.

been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.

A. M. 3415.

B. C. 589. OL. XLVII. 4. Anno

Tarquinii Prisei,

R. Roman., 28.

7 When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.

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8 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee.

9 And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.

10 Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste 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 2 Kings xviii. 21; Isa. xxxvi. 6.- Jer. xxxvii. 5, 7, 11; chap. xvii. 17.- Chap. xiv, 17; xxxii. 11, 12, 13 ——— Chap. xxx. 12. Heb. wastes of waste. -POr, from Migdol to Sy ene; Exod. xiv. 2; Jer. xliv. 1. - Chap. xxx. 6. Heb. Seveneh.Chap. xxxii. 13.- Chap. xxx. 7, 26,

bury their heads in their flesh, under their scales, and

Verse 1. In the tenth year] Of Zedekiah; and tenth suck out the vital juices. The allusion seems to be to of the captivity of Jeconiah.

The tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month] Answering to Monday, the first of February, A. M. 3415.

Verse 2. Set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt] This was Pharaoh-hophra or Pharaoh-apries, whom we have so frequently met with in the prophecies of Jeremiah, and much of whose history has been given in the notes.

Verse 3. The great dragon] hattannim should here be translated crocodile, as that is a real animal, and numerous in the Nile; whereas the dragon is wholly fabulous. The original signifies any large animal.

The midst of his rivers] This refers to the several branches of the Nile, by which this river empties itself into the Mediterranean. The ancients termed them septem ostia Nili, "the seven mouths of the Nile." The crocodile was the emblem of Egypt.

Verse 4. I will put hooks in thy jaws] Amasis, one of this king's generals, being proclaimed king by an insurrection of the people, dethroned Apries, and seized upon the kingdom; and Apries was obliged to flee to Upper Egypt for safety.

I will cause the fish—to stick unto thy scales] Most fish are sorely troubled with a species of insect which

this. Pharaoh was the crocodile; the fish, the common people; and the sticking to his scales, the insurrection by which he was wasted and despoiled of his kingdom.

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Verse 5. I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness] Referring to his being obliged to take refuge in Upper Egypt. But he was afterwards taken prisoner, and strangled by Amasis. Herod. lib. ii. s. 169. Verse 6. They have been a staff of reed] An inefficient and faithless ally. The Israelites expected assistance from them when Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem; and they made a feint to help them, but retired when Nebuchadnezzar went against them. Thus were the Jews deceived and ultimately ruined, see ver. 7.

Verse 10. From the tower of Syene] MID STADD mimmigdol seveneh, " from Migdol to Syene." Syene, now called Essuan, was the last city in Egypt, going towards Ethiopia. It was famous for a well into which the rays of the sun fell perpendicularly at midday.

Verse 12. Shall be desolate forty years] The country from Migdol or Magdolan, which was on the isthmus between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, was so completely ruined, that it might well be called desert; and it is probable that this desolation continued during the whole of the reign of Amasis, which was

Prophecy

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are laid waste shall be desolate day of the month, the word of

Ot. XLVIL. 4. forty years and I will scatter
Tarquinii Prisci, the Egyptians among the nations,
R. Roman., 29. and will disperse them through the

countries.

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A. M. 3432. B. C. 572. Ol. LH. 1. Anno Servii Tullii, R. Roman., 7.

the LORD came unto me, saying,
18 Son of man, Nebuchadrez-
zar king of Babylon caused his
army to serve a great service against Tyrus:
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:.

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 19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; land of Pathros, into the land of their habita- Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto tion; and they shall be there a base kingdom. Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he 15 It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, neither shall it exalt itself any more above the and take her prey; and it shall be the wages nations for I will diminish them, that they for his army. shall no more rule over the nations.

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just forty years. Calmet.

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. Heb. spoil her spoil, and c Jer. xxv. 9

z Jer. xxvii. 6; chap. xxvi. 7, 8.-
prey her prey. Or, for his hire.
cxxxii. 17.
Chap. xxiv. 27.

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Psa.

See Herod. lib. iii. c. 10; and see once so glorious, is the basest of kingdoms. See
Newton on the prophecies.

Verse 17. The seven and twentieth year] That is, of the captivity of Jeconiah, fifteen years after the taking of Jerusalem; about April 20, 3432.

The pre

Verse 13. Will I gather the Egyptians] It is p probable that Cyrus gave permission to the Egyptians brought to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, to return to their own country. And if we reckon from the com-ceding prophecy was delivered one year before the takmencement of the war against Pharaoh-hophra by Nebuchadnezzar, to the third or fourth year of Cyrus, the term will be about forty years,

Verse 14. Into the land of Pathros] Supposed to mean the Delta, a country included between the branches of the Nile; called ▲ delta, from its being in the form of the Greek letter of that name. It may mean the Pathrusim, in Upper Egypt, near to the Thebaid. This is most likely.

ing of Jerusalem; this, sixteen years after; and it is supposed to be the last which this prophet wrote.

Verse 18. Caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus] He was thirteen years employed in the siege. See Joseph. Antiq. lib. x. c. 11. In this siege his soldiers endured great hardships. Being continually on duty, their heads hecame bald by wearing their helmets; and their shoulders bruised and peeled by carrying baskets of earth to the fortifications, and wood, &c., to build towers, &c.

Yet had he no wages, nor his army] The Tyrians, finding it at last impossible to defend their city, put all their wealth aboard their vessels, sailed out of the port, and escaped for Carthage; and thus Nebuchadnezzar lost all the spoil of one of the richest cities in the world.

Verse 20. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour] Because he fulfilled the designs of God against Tyre, God promises to reward him with the spoil of Egypt.

Shall be there a base kingdom.] That is, it shall continue to be tributary. It is upwards of two thousand years since this prophecy was delivered, and it has been uninterruptedly fulfilling to the present hour. 1. Egypt became tributary to the Babylonians, under Amasis. 2. After the ruin of the Babylonish empire, it became subject to the Persians. 3. After the Persians, it came into the hands of the Macedonians. 4. After the Macedonians it fell into the hands of the Romans. 5. After the division of the Roman empire it was subdued by the Saracens. 6. About A. D. 1250, it came into the hands of the Mameluke slaves. Verse 21. Will I cause the horn of the house of Is7. Selim, the ninth emperor of the Turks, conquered rael to bud] This may refer generally to the restorathe Mamelukes, A. D. 1517, and annexed Egypt to tion; but particularly to Zerubbabel, who became one the Ottoman empire, of which it still continues to be of the leaders of the people from Babylon. Or it may a province, governed by a pacha and twenty-four beys, respect Daniel, or Mordecai, or Jeconigh, who, about who are always advanced from servitude to the admin-this time, was brought out of prison by Evil-meroistration of public affairs. So true is it that Egypt, dach, and afterwards kindly treated,

Destruction of Egypt by

EZEKIEL.

CHAPTER XXX.

the Chaldeans foretold.

This chapter describes, with great force and elegance, the ruin of Egypt and all her allies by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar, 1–11; with an amplification of the distress of the principal cities of Egypt on that occasion, 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, 20-26.

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5 Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and 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.

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.

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m Heb. broken.

Isa. xiii. 6. b Chap. vii. 7, 12; Joel ii. 1; Zeph. i. 7. Isa. xviii. 1, cOr, fear. -d Chap. xxix. 19.- e Jer. 1. 15. Heb. Phut; P Chap. xxviii. 7.—q Isa. xix. 5, 6.chap. xxvii. 10.- Jer. xxv. 20, 24.- h Heb. children.- Or, xix. 4. -Heb. the fulness thereof.from Migdol to Syene. Chap. xxix. 10. Chap. 12; xlvi. 25; Zech. xiii. 2.xxix. 12. xix. 16.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXX.

Verse 2. Howl ye, Wo worth the day!] My Old MS. Bible, Goule gee, woo woo to the day! nn 15bin or heylilu, hah laiyom! "Howl ye, Alas for the day!" The reading in our present text is taken from Coverdale's Bible, 1535. The expressions signify that a most dreadful ealamity was about to fall on Egypt and the neighbouring 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. Verse 5. Lydia] This place is not well known. The Ludim were contiguous to Egypt, Gen. xi. 13. Chub] The Cubians, placed by Ptolemy in the Mareotis. But probably instead of 11 vechub, "and Chub," we should read 1 vechol, "and ALL the men

2.

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- Chap. xxix. 19. Heb. drought.- Isa.

Isa. xix. 1; Jer. xliii. -Zech. x. 11.- Isa.

of the land," &c. The Septuagint adds "the Persians and the Cretans."

Verse 7. Shall be desolate] All these countries shall be desolated, and the places named shall be chief in these desolations.

Verse 9. 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."

Verse 12. 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, &c. 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.

Verse 13. Their images to cease out of Noph]

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