Egypt shall be conquered, A. M. 3432. 14 And I will make Pathros be bound up to be healed, to put desolate, and will set fire in a roller to bind it, to make it Servii Tullii, Zoan, and will execute judg-strong to hold the sword. R. Roman., 7. 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. A. M. 3416, Ol. XLVIII. 1. Anno Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman,, 29. 22 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. 23 m 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. n 18 At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be b 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 25 But I will strengthen the arms of the her, and her daughters shall go into captivity. king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh 19 Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: shall fall down; and they shall know that and they shall know that I am the LORD.I am the LORD, when I shall put my 20 And it came to pass in the sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, eleventh year, in the first month, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of in the seventh day of the month, Egypt. that the word of the LORD came A. M. 3416. Anno 01. XLVIII. 1. k -y Psa. lxxviii. 12, 43. Or, Tanis. bOr, Pelusium.- Jer. xlvi. 25.- d Ver. Or, Pubastum. Afterwards Memphis, and now Cairo or Kahira. This was the seat of Egyptian idolatry; the place where Apis was particularly worshipped. No more a prince of the land of Egypt] Not one, from that time to the present day. See the note on chap. xxix. 14. 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. g Jer. ii. 16.- Or, restrained.- Jer. xlvii. 25. Jer. Psa. xxxvii. 17.- m Ver. 26; chap. xxix. 12. 0 Ver. 23; chap. xxix. 12. Verse 20. In the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day] This was the eleventh year of the captivity of Jeconiah, and the date here answers to April 26, A. M. 3416; a prophecy anterior by several years to that already delivered. In collecting the writings of Ezekiel, more care was taken to put all Verse 14. I will make Pathros desolate] See the that related to one subject together, than to attend to preceding chapter, ver. 14. Zoan] Tanis, the ancient capital of Egypt. No.] Diospolis, or Thebes, the city of Jupiter. Verse 15. My fury upon Sin] Pelusium, a strong city of Egypt, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Verse 16. Noph] Cairo or Kahira; see ver. 13. Verse 17. Aven] Or On, the famous Heliopolis, or city of the sun. Pibeseth] Bubastum or Bubaste, by a slight alteration of the letters. It is situated on the eastern branch of the Nile, towards Arabia. Verse 18. Tehaphnehes] Called also Tahapanes, Jer. ii. 16. This is the Pelusian Daphne. Break there the yokes] The sceptres. Nebuchadnezzar broke the sceptre of Egypt when he confirmed the kingdom to Amasis, who had rebelled against Apries. chronological arrangement. Verse 21. I have broken the arm of Pharaoh] Perhaps this may refer to his defeat by Nebuchadnezzar, when he was coming with the Egyptian army to succour Jerusalem. Verse 22. I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.] When the arm is broken, the sword will naturally fall. But these expressions show that the Egyptians would be rendered wholly useless to Zedekiah, and should never more recover their political strength. This was the case from the time of the. rebellion of Amasis. A prophecy sent to Pharaoh EZEKIEL. CHAPTER XXXI. and his multitude. This very beautiful chapter relates also to Egypt. The prophet describes to Pharaoh the fall of the king of Nineveh, (see the books of Nahum, Jonah, and Zephaniah,) under the image of a fair cedar of Lebanon, once exceedingly tall, flourishing, and majestic, but now cut down and withered, with its broken branches strewed around, 1-17. He then concludes with bringing the matter home to the king of Egypt, by telling him that this was a picture of his approaching fate, 18. The beautiful cedar of Lebanon, remarkable for its loftiness, and in the most flourishing condition, but afterwards cut down and deserted, gives a very lively painting of the great glory and dreadful catastrophe of both the Assyrian and Egyptian monarchies. The manner in which the prophet has embellished his subject is deeply interesting; the colouring is of that kind which the mind will always contemplate with pleasure. LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; a Whom art thou like in thy greatness? 3 b Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon • with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of a 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 litthe 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. i 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 NOTES ON CHAP. XXXI. Verse 1. In the eleventh year] On Sunday, June 19, A. M. 3416, according to Abp. Usher; a month before Jerusalem was taken by the Chaldeans. Verse 3. Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar] Why is the Assyrian introduced here, when the whole chapter concerns Egypt? Bp. Lowth has shown that IN W ashshur erez should be translated the tall cedar, the very stately cedar; hence there is reference to his lofty top; and all the following description belongs to Egypt, not to Assyria. But see on ver. 11, Verse 4. The waters made him great] Alluding to the fertility of Egypt by the overflowing of the Nile. But waters often mean peoples. By means of the different nations under the Egyptians, that government for his A. M. 3416. B. C. 588. Ol. XLVIII. 1. Anno Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., 29. length of his branches 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. 10 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and m 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. * Chap. xvii. 23; Dan. iv. 12.xxviii. 13.————————m Dan. v. 20. him. Chap. xxviii. 7. became very opulent. These nations are represented as fowls and beasts, taking shelter under the protection of this great political Egyptian tree, ver. 6. Verse 8. The cedars in the garden of God] Egypt was one of the most eminent and affluent of all the neighbouring nations. Verse 11. The mighty one of the heathen] Nebuchadnezzar. It is worthy of notice, that Nebuchadnezzar, in the first year of his reign, rendered himself master of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire. See Sedar Olam. This happened about twenty years before Ezekiel delivered this prophecy; on this account, Ashshur, ver. 3, may relate to the Assyrians, to whom it is possible the prophet here compares the Egyptians. But see on ver. 3. The dreadful destruction. A. M. 3416. Anno CHAP. XXXII. 13 Upon his ruin shall all the OL. XLVIII. 1. 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. S 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. Isa. xviii. 6; chap. xxxii. 4.- Or, stand upon themselves for their height.- Psa. lxxxii. 7.—Chap. xxxii. 18. Heb. to be black. Chap. xxvi. 15. V Verse 13. Upon his ruin shall all the fowls] The fall of Egypt is likened to the fall of a great tree; and as the fowls and beasts sheltered under its branches before, ver. 6, so they now feed upon its ruins. Verse 14. To the end that none of all the treès] Let this ruin, fallen upon Egypt, teach all the nations that shall hear of it to be humble, because, however elevated, God can soon bring them down; and pride and arrogance, either in states or individuals, have the peculiar abhorrence of God. Pride does not suit the sons of men; it made devils of angels, and makes fiends of men. Verse 15. I caused Lebanon to mourn for him] All of the king of Egypt. 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, 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 a 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. w Isa. xiv. 15.- Isa. xiv. 8. -y Chap. xxxii. 31. -7 Lam. iv. 20.-——————^ Ver. 2; chap. xxxii. 19.b Chap. xxviii. 10; xxxii. 19, 21, 24, &c. the confederates of Pharaoh are represented as deploring his fall, ver. 16, 17. Verse 17. They also went down into hell with him] Into remediless destruction. Verse 18. This is Pharaoh] All that I have spoken in this allegory of the lofty cedar refers to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, his princes, confederates, and people. Calmet understands the whole chapter of the king of Assyria, under which he allows that Egypt is adumbrated; and hence on this verse he quotes,— Mutato nomine, de te fabula narratur. What is said of Assyria belongs to thee, O Egypt. CHAPTER XXXII. A The prophet goes on to predict the fall of the king of Egypt, under the figure of an animal of prey, such as a lion or crocodile, caught, slain, and his carcass left a prey to the fowls and wild beasts, 1-6. The figure is then changed; and the greatness of his fall (described by the darkening of the sun, moon, and stars) strikes terror into all the surrounding nations, 7–10. The prophet adds, that the overthrow of the then reigning Egyptian dynasty was to be effected by the instrumentality of the king of Babylon, who should leave Egypt so desolate, that its waters, (alluding to the metaphor used in the second verse,) should run as pure and smooth as oil, without the foot of man or the hoof of a beast to disturb them, 11-16. beautiful, nervous, and concise description of a land ruined and left utterly desolate. In the remaining part of the chapter the same event is pourtrayed by one of the boldest figures ever attempted in any composition, and which at the same time is executed with astonishing perspicuity and force. God is introduced ordering a place in the lower regions for the king of Egypt and his host, 17, 18. The prophet delivers his message, pronounces their fate, and commands those who buried the slain to drag him and his multitudes to the subterraneous mansions, 19, 20. At the tumult and commotion which this mighty work occasions, the infernal shades are represented as roused from their couches to learn the cause. They see and congratulate the king of Egypt, on his arrival among them, 21. Pharaoh being now introduced into this immense subterraneous cavern, (see the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah, where a similar imagery is employed,) the prophet leads him all around the sides of the pit; shows him the gloomy mansions of former tyrants; tells their names as he goes along; beautifully contrasts their former pomp and destructive ambition, when they were a terror to the surrounding states, with their present most abject and helpless condition; declares The dreadful fall EZEKIEL. of the king of Egypt. that all these oppressors of mankind have not only been cut off out of the land of the living, but have gone doon into the grave uncircumcised, that is, they have died in their sins, and therefore shall have no resurrection to eternal life; and concludes with showing Pharaoh the place destined for him in the midst of the uncircumcised, and of them that have been slain by the sword, 22-32. This prophetic ode may be con ́sidered as a finished model in that species of writing which is appropriated 'to the exciting of terror. The imagery throughout is sublime and terrible; and no reader of sensibility and taste can accompany the prophet in this funeral procession, and visit the mansions of Hades, without being impressed with a degree of awe nearly approaching to horror. ~ A. M. 3417. B. C. 587. Ol. XLVIII. 2. Anno ND it came to pass in the wherein thou swimmest, even to ANI twelfth year, in the twelfth the mountains; and the rivers Tarquinii Prisci, month, in the first day of the shall be full of thee. R. Roman., 30. month, that the word of the LORD, came unto me, saying, a 2 Son of man, take up a lamentation 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 the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers : m A. M. 3417. OL. XLVIII. 2. Anno Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., 30. 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. n 9 I will also P vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which, thou hast not known. 10 Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall. 11 For thus saith the Lord GOD; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon - Verse 5. And fill the valleys with thy height.] Some translate, with the worms, which should proceed from the putrefaction of his flesh. Verse 6. The land wherein thou swimmest] Egypt; so called, because intersected with canals, and overflowed annually by the Nile. Verse 7. I will cover the heaven] Destroy the Instead of the twelfth year, five of Kennicott's MSS., and eight of De Rossi's, read my wy in the eleventh year. This reading is supported by the Sy-empire. riac; and is confirmed by an excellent MS. of my own, about four hundred years old. Verse 2. Thou art like a young lion-and thou art as a whale in the seas] Thou mayest be likened to two of the fiercest animals in the creation; to a lion, the fiercest on the land; to a crocodile, Dan tannim, (see chap. xxix. 3,) the fiereest in the waters. It may, however, point out the hippopotamus, as there seems to be a reference to his mode of feeding. He walks deliberately into the water over head, and pursues his way in the same manner; still keeping on his feet, and feeding on the plants, &c., that grow at the bottom. Thus he fouls the water with his feet. 23 Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is round about her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living. 24-There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, 16 This is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her: the daughters of the nations shall lament her: they shall lament for her, even for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saithm which caused their terror in the land of the the Lord GOD. 17 It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word, of the LORD came unto me, saying, 18 Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit. 19 a Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised. living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit. 25. They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of them that be slain. Isa. xiv. 15. Or, dismaying. Gen. x. 2; Chap. xxviii. 7. Chap. xxix. 19. Chap. xxix. 11. cOr, the sword is laidd Isa. i. 31;<xiv. 9, 10; ver. 27. Heb. desolate from the fulness thereof.- -X Exod. vii. 5; xiv. 4, e Ver. 19, 25, &c. Ver. 24, 26, 29, 30.18; Psa. ix. 16; chap. vi. 7.—y Ver. 2; 2 Sam. i. 17; 2 Chron.h Chap. xxvi. 17, 20; ver. 24, 25, 26, 27, 32.XXXV. 25; chap. xxvi. 17.- 2 Chap. xxvi. 20 ; xxxi. 14.- a Ch. Jer. xlix. 34, &c.- Ver. 21.m Ver. 23. xxxi. 2, 18. Ver. 21, 24, &c.; chap. xxviii. 10. chap. xxvii. 13; xxxviii. 2. ⚫. Verse 14. Cause their rivers to run like oil] Bring the whole state into quietness, there being no longer a political hippopotamus to foul the waters-to disturb the peace of the country. Verse 15. Shall be destitute of that whereof it was full of corn, and all other necessaries of life. Verse 17. In the twelfth year] Two of Kennicott's MSS., one of De Rossi's, and one of my own, (that mentioned ver. 1,) have, in the ELEVENTH year; and so has the Syriac, as before. This prophecy concerns the people of Egypt. Verse 18. Cast them down] Show them that they shall be cast down. Proclaim to them a casting down prophecy, Verse 19. Whom dost thou pass in beauty?] How little does it signify, whether a mummy be well embalmed, wrapped round with rich stuff, and beautifully painted on the outside, or not. Go down into the tombs, examine the niches, and see whether one dead carcass be preferable to another. sheol, There is some Verse 21. Out of the midst of hell] the catacombs, the place of burial. thing here similar to Isa. xiv. 9, where the descent of the king of Babylon to the state of the dead is described. Verse 22. Asshur is there] The mightiest conquerors of the earth have gone down to the grave before thee; there they and their soldiers lie together, all slain by the sword. Verse 23. Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit] Alluding to the niches in the sides of the subterranean caves or burying-places, where the bodies are laid. These are numerous in Egypt. Verse 24. There is Elam] The Elamites, not far from the Assyrians; others think that Persia is meant.. It was invaded by the joint forces of Cyaxares and Nebuchadnezzar. Verse 26. There is Meshech, Tubal] See on chap. xxvii. 13. |