Ezekiel (Ch 29-30)
Chapters 29-30 contain a prophecy against the Pharaoh of Egypt and of its destruction and restoration and show how the God of Israel will be manifested to them and to all the rest of the nations.
Ezekiel 29
1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 “Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. — to prophesy against indicates something bad is to happen.
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.” — the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers; the chief river of Egypt was the Nile, which opened in seven mouths or gates into the sea, and out of which canals were made to water the whole land; and which abounding with rivers and watery places, hence the king of it is compared to a great fish, a dragon.
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 been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. “And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord,” indicates they survive at the end.
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 brokest and madest all their loins to be at a halt.
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.” — and the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste…. men few or none being left in it, to till it, nor cattle found upon 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 are laid waste shall be desolate forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and will disperse them through the countries. — and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries; such as were not carried captive into Babylon fled into other countries, as Arabia, Ethiopia, Romania, Bulgaria, and other places. Are these scattered Egyptians the Egyptiens, the Egipcien, who later are better known as Gypsies? More evidence and comments in Ezekiel 32.
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. — yet thus saith the Lord God, at the end of forty years…whither they were scattered. Reckoning from its devastation by Nebuchadnezzar to the taking of Babylon by Cyrus and scattered around various countries.
14 And I will bring back the captives of Egypt and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation, and they shall be there a base kingdom. — and they shall be there a base kingdom; Egypt throughout all subsequent history has continued to remain a nation of secondary strength and importance: Babylon dominated her; then Persia dominated her; then the Greeks under Alexander the Great were her masters; after them came the Seleucids, and still later the Romans, the Ottomans, the British; the Egyptians never had a strong king of their own to reign over them.
15 It shall be the least 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. — for I will demolish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations; for though they made war upon other nations yet they did not subdue them, nor annex them, being much weakened both as to men and money.
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.’ — Rashi: and it will no longer be: [i.e.] Egypt [will no longer be] a source of confidence for the House of Israel, bringing iniquity into remembrance for them, since the Holy One, blessed be he, said to them (Exod. 14: 13): “You shall no longer continue to see them.” — the house of Israel will no longer see Egypt as a great nation.
“but they shall know that I am the Lord God,” reaffirms they survive at the end.
17 And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a hard service against Tyre: every head was made bald and every shoulder was peeled; yet had he no wages, nor his army, from Tyre 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 Nebuchadnezzar 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.
Coffman: Despite the fall of Tyre and its subsequent domination under a high commissioner from Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar received no significant spoil from its capture. Many have suggested that perhaps Tyre had had sufficient time to ship all of their treasures elsewhere.
— Egypt may well have been a cooperating partner with Tyre in such a project, giving credence to suggestion that such actions on Egypt’s part would have been a sufficient “casus belli” to result in Nebuchadnezzar’s immediate declaration of war against Egypt.
20 I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor for which he served against it, because they wrought for Me, saith the Lord God. — and while the Babylonians besieged Tyre, the Egyptians came to Tyre’s aid. Thus God deemed it right for the Babylonians to ravage, plunder and subdue Egypt: they were doing Lord’s will and executing his righteous judgments on these enemies for their offenses.
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.”
“and they shall know that I am the Lord,” repeated four times (verses 6, 9, 16, 21) reaffirms they survive at the end.
Ezekiel 30
1 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 be the day!”
3 For the day is near; even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the nations. — this is also called the “the time of the Gentile [H1471 gō·w·yim],” but what does it mean?
4 And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia when the slain shall fall in Egypt; and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down. — great pain shall be upon Ethiopia; great trouble and distress; when the slain shall fall in Egypt.
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. — thus saith the Lord, they also that uphold Egypt shall fall…. that is, by the sword; either their allies and auxiliaries without, that supported the Egyptians with men and money; or their principal people within, their nobles that supported their state with their estates, their counsellors with their wisdom, their soldiers with their valour and courage.
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 be destroyed. — “and they shall know that I am the Lord,” reaffirms they survive at the end.
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.
10 “‘Thus saith the Lord God: I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar 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. — the terrible of the nations shall be brought to destroy the land; the Chaldeans, the most fierce, cruel, and terrible of all people, and others the most terrible that could be collected out of all nations under the yoke of the king of Babylon; and all of them terrible to the nations against whom they came, as now against Egypt to destroy it; see Habakkuk 1:6.
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.” — and I will make the rivers dry …” we have no historical record of such a drought falling upon the Nile; so if the Lord had spoken it, this could only refer to a time into the future, that is, a prophecy. The forty years of desolation that has been mentioned again and again with reference to God’s judgment upon Egypt would indeed have included such a disaster as the drying up of the Nile. There is also the possibility that the language here may be allegorical or figurative;
— and I will make the rivers dry up; the waters from the Nile shall be wasted and dried up, perhaps none flow from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam; this drying up would be a calamity for Egypt since the country depended entirely upon the Nile for drinking and irrigation (see also Isaiah 19:5 and Zechariah 10:11).
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. — and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt; that is, a native of that country; or that should rule over the whole of it; and in that grandeur the kings of Egypt had before; will be no more
— Egypt was conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, under the Babylonians; then the Persians; the Greeks; the Romans; the Saracens and Mamalucks; the Turks; the British so that it never recovered its former glory; and indeed, it never really had a king: “no more a prince of the land of Egypt.”
14 And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No. — today, Gypsies are known as Roma, but in Hebrew, their name is derived from the Egyptian city of Zoan; and this is from Wikipedia (Romani people);
Hebrew: צוענים, romanized: Tzoanim. Derives either from the biblical Egyptian city of Zoan, or from the linguistic root צ־ע־נ, meaning “wander”.
— for more, see a study commentary in Ezekiel 32.
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 Pibeseth 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.
19 Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt; and they shall know that I am the Lord.’” — “and they shall know that I am the Lord,” repeated four times (verses 8, 19, 25, 26) reaffirms they survive at the end.
20 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, on 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 on a bandage 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 arms, 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. — “And they shall know that I am the Lord,” affirms they will survive, despite being dispersed through the nations.
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.”
— “and they shall know that I am the Lord,” reaffirms their survival at the end, by then knowing that the God of Israel is both omniscient and omnipotent.
Joel Huan
The Mystery of Ephraim 
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