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, — the tenth year; the twelfth day, that is, two days after Jerusalem had been besieged, but not yet taken.
2 “Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. — Pharaoh was a name common to all the kings of Egypt; to prophesy ‘against’ indicates something bad has 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. — hooks; the allegory is continued; fish are drawn out with hooks and lines, and God hath hooks for this proud dragon and next the Babylonian king.
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. — the Targum says, “I will cast thee into a wilderness, and all the princes of thy strength;”
— thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered, as usually the slain are to be buried; these were not buried, but left in the wilderness, where they fell to be a prey to wild beasts, and birds of prey which haunted the wilderness, and would soon gather to their prey;
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 repented and know the Lord and 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. — the more probable sense is, all their loins to shake. The reed breaks under the weight of the man who leans upon it, and pierces his shoulder as he falls, while in his consternation his loins tremble.
8 “‘Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee. — behold, I will bring a sword upon thee; or those that kill with the sword, as the Targum says;
— first a cival war, occasioned by the murmurs of the people, on account of the defeat of their army at Cyrene; which issued in the dethroning and strangling of this king, as before observed and setting up another; which cival commotions Nebuchadnezzar took the advantage of, and came against Egypt with a large army:
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. — and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate; partly by a civil war, and partly by a foreign enemy.
11 No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years. — neither shall it be inhabited forty years; Ellicott commented that if understood in the literal sense, it has never been fulfilled; so could this be in the future?
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. — note that the desolation of forty years is repeated from Ezekiel 29:11; could this co-incide (or at least overlap some of the years) with that of the house of Judah in Ezekiel 4?
— and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations; 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?
— and will disperse them through the countries; 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.” The English term Gypsy (or Gipsy) originates from the Middle English gypcian, short for Egipcien.
— 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; third times mentioned; whither they were scattered; perhaps reckoning from its devastation by Nebuchadnezzar to the taking of Babylon by Cyrus and scattered around various countries; or this could be an event to co-incide with Judah’s forty years of punishment for her iniquity?
— at the end of forty years; the restoration described may probably be connected with the policy of the Persian kings. There may have been a parallel, as regards Egypt, to the return of the Jewish exiles under Cyrus and his successors, though it has not left its mark on history; since no mark in history, then could this be one prophecy meant for the future?
— an interesting intrique here: since there is not much info about Judah’s forty years of iniquity in Ezekiel 4, could God has encrypted these three verses about ‘Égypt’ for our understanding of both the house of Israel and the house of Judah’s destination?
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. — at the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians out of the nations, whither they were scattered; and I will turn the captivity of Egypt, and will bring them back into the land of Pathro in Upper Egypts;
— and they shall be there a base kingdom; historically, Egypt throughout all subsequent period has continued to remain a nation of secondary strength and importance: Babylon dominated her; then Persia; then the Greeks under Alexander the Great; then 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;
— if this prophecy is encrypted to contrast the house of Judah, which in sharp difference, the house of Judah, after restoration, is destined to be riding on top of the mountains!
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.’ — see; why this sudden and subtle shift from ‘Egypt’ to the house of Israel? This adds weight that God was passing his prophecy by encycpted means about the destiny of both houses of Israel;
— 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 repented and 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, — the fact that the special word of the Lord came on the first day of the year is not without significance; and there it goes, the conquest and plundering of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar; after a siege that lasted thirteen years.
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. — the seige was so long that the besieging army “every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled” by the bearing of burdens for their eventual capitulation.
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.
— although this is speaking of ‘Egypt’ it could be an encrypted message for both houses of Israel, otherwise out of nowhere why the sudden appearance of the house of Israel in verse 16 above?
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 judgements 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.” — in that day; the tenses here change to the future, indicating that if the conquest of Egypt had already taken place, its consequences to Israel were to be only gradually developed;
— again, this sudden and subtle shift from ‘Egypt’ to the house of Israel seems unnatural; unless this prophecy is an encycpted message concerning the destiny for both houses of Israel?
“and they shall know that I am the Lord,” repeated four times (verses 6,9,16,21) reaffirms consistently they survive at the end.
Ezekiel 30
1 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, — the word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum renders it. So Ezra expounds it as a prophecy and a reference to our time.
2 “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: “‘Howl ye, “Woe be the day!” — howl ye; ye Egyptians, and also ye Ethiopians and others named which should share in the destruction of Egypt; this is said to give them notice.
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 (Gentiles). — this is also called the “the time of the Gentiles [H1471 gō·w·yim],” but what does it mean?
— in Luke 21:24, Jesus speaks of future events, including the destruction of Jerusalem and his return. He says that “Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.” And in Romans 11:25, it says, “A partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be fulfiled.” Do the Scriptures tell us what the phrase “times of the Gentiles” means?
— the Targum says, “it shall be the time of the breaking or destruction of the people.” A destruction is always been preceded by warning and a call for repentence, then judgement. Question is, Could this period of the “time of the Gentiles” coincide with the “time of Jacob’s trouble”?
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. — Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia and Chub — these people, or ”mingled people” that seemed to be posterity of Ham or close associates or some tribes in alliance with Egypt, or to Ham.
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. — shall be desolate; as much wasted as any of them that are most wasted. Her cities, of Egypt, equally wasted with other cities that have been sacked, as Jerusalem, Tyre and Sidon; and Rabbah (capital of the Ammonites).
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 repented and survived 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. — careless Ethiopians; the Ethiopians who were dwelling in fancied security Zephaniah 2:15, shall tremble at Egypt’s ruin.
10 “‘Thus saith the Lord God: I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. — the prophecy of the destruction of Egypt is very full; those who take their lot with God’s enemies shall be with them in punishment. The king of Babylon and his army shall be instruments of this destruction. God often makes one wicked man a scourge to another.
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 (or Gog and Magog for the endtime); and all of them terrible to the nations against whom they came, as now against Egypt (perhaps read Israel as could be understood from reading Ezekiel 29) 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;
— 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).
— the forty years of desolation that has been mentioned again and again with reference to God’s judgement 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 speaking of the house of Judah and perhaps even Israel?
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. — the multitude of Noph; the Septuagint version renders it Memphis;
— 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. — Zoan, or Tanis, a city and nome of Lower Egypt; 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. — the multitude of No (or Noph above v13); the Septuagint version renders it Memphis;
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. — No or Noph; the Septuagint version renders them Memphis although not in this verse; as before; enemies shall surround these cities, as the Targum says; shall besiege and distress it, until it is taken.
17 The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword; and these cities shall go into captivity. — go into captivity; some of the first, it may be the very first; which put Memphis or other cities or provinces in Egypt with great pain; and these shall go into captivity.
— the Targum says, “they that served them shall go into captivity;” ~ ‘them’ are the idols worshipped in these cities.
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. — the day shall be darkened; this is a common prophetic form of describing coming calamity;
— her daughters; either metaphorically, that is, the towns and villages about her, or literally, her children; her daughters only mentioned, because her sons were destroyed and slain; or for the villages and the inhabitants of them round about this city; it being usual to represent a city as a mother, and its villages as daughters; and so the Targum interprets it;
— Tehaphnehes; Pharaoh’s palace in Tahpanhes, this is where the Pharaohs lived, where Jeremiah’s entourage from Judah came with the king’s daughters and seek refuge and protection there; Jeremiah 43:6-9.
19 Thus will I execute judgements 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; but as said earlier, it could be an enclypted message meant of the house of Judah and perhaps even Israel?
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, — here beginsa new vision, not long after that in the twenty-ninth chapter, about three months before the taking of Jerusalem;
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. — a man with a broken arm might be cured and fight again; but it was not to be so with Pharaoh; his arm was not to be bound with a roller (the equivalent of the modern process of putting it in “splints”) to be healed.
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. — the strong, and that which was broken; that is, the whole power of Egypt, both in so far as already crippled, and in so far as it still retained strength, shall be destroyed.
23 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and will disperse them through the countries. — will scatter the Egyptians; repeated verbally as in Ezekiel 30:26; and many times earlier.
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. — Pharaoh shall groan before Nebuchadnezzar as a wounded man groans.
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.” — scatter or scattered the Egyptians: found in Ezekiel 29:12,13; 30:23,26; disperse/d: found in Ezekiel 29:12, 30:23,26; for more, see a study commentary in Ezekiel 32; (more at the end).
— “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.
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Scattered and Dispersed; the Egyptians and the Israelites
For the Egyptians: these words scatter/ed and go into captivity are found in Ezekiel 29:12,13; 30:23,26; disperse/d found in Ezekiel 29:12; 30:23,26. Total = 7
For the Israelites: these words scatter/ed and go into captivity are found in Ezekiel 5:2,10,12; 6:5,8; 11:16,17; 12:14,15; 17:21; 20:23,34,41; 22:15; 28:25, [34:5,6,12,21 about Israel not having any shepherd], 36:19; disperse/d found in Ezekiel 12:15; 20:23; 22:15; 36:19. Total = 20, excluding Israel not having any shepherd; otherwise Total = 24
Another point: the sudden and subtle shift from ‘Egypt’ to the house of Israel in chapter 29 (verses 16 and 21) seems unnatural. It appears out of context; unless this 40 years prophecy is an encycpted message concerning the destiny for the house of Judah (and perhaps the house of Israel).
This observation seems very likely, in view of the fact that the forty years of Judah’s iniquity (and Israel’s 190 years: Septuagint) in Ezekiel 4 was quickly grossed over without much details. Could this prophecy about the Egypt be an encycpted message concerning more details for the destiny of the house of Judah, and by extension to the other house of Israel?
The Mystery of Ephraim 
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