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The Conquest and Spoil of Egypt
v. 17. And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, after the accession of Zedekiah, and seventeen years after the message contained in the first part of this chapter was delivered, this section thus being the last prophecy of Ezekiel, in point of time, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
v. 18. Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus, namely, in laying siege to this city, the task, according to secular accounts, taking him thirteen years; every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled, on account of the difficult labor connected with transporting material to fill up the arm of the sea between the mainland and the island on which Tyre was located; yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, very likely because the rich spoil which he had hoped to make had meanwhile been removed on the Tyrian ships and stored in safe places in her colonies, for the service that he had served against it, he had not found enough to reimburse him for the campaign.
v. 19. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, so that he would bring the country into subjection to Chaldea; and he shall take her multitude, a great number of captives, and take her spoil, her wealth and stores making a welcome booty, and take her prey, so that the country would be stripped of its riches in every form; and it shall be the wages for his army, a well-merited reward or recompense, since his army, unknown to the heathen ruler himself, had been the instrument of God in carrying out his will.
v. 20. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor wherewith he served against it, namely, against Tyre, because they, the Chaldean king and his army, wrought for Me, saith the Lord God.
v. 21. In that day, namely, at the time which was generally included in this section, will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, the horn being the symbol of power and authority, and the expression pointing forward to a revival of Judah's might, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them, so that Ezekiel and every true prophet of the Lord would have willing hearers among the chastened congregation; and they shall know that I am the Lord. The words do not promse that the ancient glory of Israel as a political state would be revived, but they contain an earnest of the spiritual growth of the true Israel and of its eventual full glory under the Messiah, the Son of David.