Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ezekiel 30:6 - 30:6

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Ezekiel 30:6 - 30:6


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All the supports and helpers of Egypt will fall, and the whole land with its cities will be laid waste. - Eze 30:6. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Those who support Egypt will fall, and its proud might will sink; from Migdol to Syene will they fall by the sword therein, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Eze 30:7. And they will lie waste in the midst of waste lands, and its cities be in the midst of desolate cities. Eze 30:8. They shall learn that I am Jehovah, when I bring fire into Egypt, and all its helpers are shattered. Eze 30:9. In that day will messengers go forth from me in ships to terrify the confident Ethiopia, and there will be writing among them as in the day of Egypt; for, behold, it cometh. - ”Those who support Egypt” are not the auxiliary tribes and allies, for they are included in the term עֹזְרֶיהָ in Eze 30:8, but the idols and princes (Eze 30:13), the fortified cities (Eze 30:15), and the warriors (Eze 30:17), who formed the foundation of the might of the kingdom. גְּאֹון , “the pride of its might,” which is an expression applied in Eze 24:21 to the temple at Jerusalem, is to be taken here in a general sense, and understood not merely of the temples and idols of Egypt, but as the sum total of all the things on which the Egyptians rested the might of their kingdom, and on the ground of which they regarded it as indestructible. For 'מִמִּגְדֹּל וגו, see the comm. on Eze 29:10. The subject to יִפְּלוּ בָהּ is the 'סֹמְכֵי מצר. Eze 30:7 is almost a literal repetition of Eze 29:12; and the subject to נָשַׁמּוּ is מִצְרַיִם regarded as a country, though the number and gender of the verb have both been regulated by the form of the noun. The fire which God will bring into Egypt (Eze 30:8) is the fire of war. Eze 30:9. The tidings of this judgment of God will be carried by messengers to Ethiopia, and there awaken the most terrible dread of a similar fate. In the first hemistich, the prophet has Isa 18:2 floating before his mind. The messengers, who carry the tidings thither, are not the warlike forces of Chaldea, who are sent thither by God; for they would not be content with performing the service of messengers alone. We have rather to think of Egyptians, who flee by ship to Ethiopia. The messengers go, מִלְפָנַי, from before Jehovah, who is regarded as being present in Egypt, while executing judgment there (cf. Isa 19:1). צִים, as in Num 24:24 = צִיִִּים (Dan 11:30), ships, trieres, according to the Rabbins, in Hieron. Symm. on Isa 33:21, and the Targum on Num. (cf. Ges. Thes. p. 1156). בֶּטַח is attached to כּוּשׁ, Cush secure or confident, equivalent to the confident Cush (Ewald, §287c). 'וְהָיְתָה חלח, repeated from Eze 30:4. בָּהֶם, among the Ethiopians. 'כְּיֹום מצר, as in the day of Egypt, i.e., not the present day of Egypt's punishment, for the Ethiopians have only just heard of this from the messengers; but the ancient, well-known day of judgment upon Egypt (Exo 15:12.). Ewald and Hitzig follow the lxx in taking כְּיֹום for בְּיֹום; but this is both incorrect and unsuitable, and reduces 'בְּיֹום מצר into a tame repetition of בַּיֹּום הַחוּא. The subject to הִנֵּה בָאָה is to be taken from the context, viz., that which is predicted in the preceding verses (Eze 30:6-8).