Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Ezekiel 30:10 - 30:19
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The Sentence Carried Out
v. 10. Thus saith the Lord God, I will also make the multitude of Egypt, the large population of the country, with all the wealth possessed by them, to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who would, in every way, put an end to the prosperity of the country.
v. 11. He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, for the Chaldean soldiers were known for the fierceness of their fighting, shall be brought to destroy the land, that being the expressed object of their campaign; and they shall draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain, those pierced through in the ruthless slaughter.
v. 12. And I will make the rivers dry, thereby taking away from the land some of its natural means of defense and the sources of its prosperity, Deu_32:30, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked, like a slave sold into the power of a strange master; and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers, so that everything would be beaten down and ruined; I, the Lord, have spoken it. The description is given from the standpoint of the Egyptians, for according to their conception the Chaldeans were not only strangers, but wicked as well.
v. 13. Thus saith the Lord God, I will also destroy the idols, Isa_19:1, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph, that is, Memphis, the ancient capital of Lower Egypt; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt, namely, with the glory of time ancient Pharaohs, who were, at the same time, clothed with divine honor; and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt, so that they would be continually under its burden, without a native prince to assist them. Cf Jer_46:25.
v. 14. And I will make Pathros, that is, Upper Egypt, desolate and will set fire in Zoan, the old Tanis, on a branch of the Nile in Lower Egypt, and will execute judgments in No, or No-Amon, that is, Thebes, the very ancient metropolis of Upper Egypt.
v. 15. And I will pour my fury upon Sin, that is, Pelusium, on one of the branches of the Nile in its delta, the strength of Egypt, for, being surrounded with swamps, it was hard to attack, and thus kept many an enemy back from the northeastern frontier; and I will cut off the multitude of No.
v. 16. And I will set fire in Egypt, bitter and destructive warfare: Sin shall have great pain, and No shall be rent asunder, overthrown as if by highway robbers, and Noph shall have distresses daily, literally, "and Noph—besiegers by day," overrunning the city with an utter disregard of any defense. Note the continual change from Upper to Lower Egypt, to emphasize the fact that every part of Egypt would be included in time punishment meted out by the Lord.
v. 17. The young men of Aven, of Heliopolis, the great city of idols in Lower Egypt, and of Pibeseth, of Boubastis, on a canal in the delta of the Nile, the center of cat-worship in Egypt, shall fall by the sword, although both of them were known on account of their valiant garrisons; and these cities shall go into captivity, that is, the inhabitants, those not belonging to the warrior caste.
v. 18. At Tehaphnehes, that is, Taphne, a border city near Pelusium, also the day shall be darkened, with the shadow of the approaching calamity, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt, Cf Lev_20:13, so that Egypt would never again be a mistress of nations, keeping them in slavery. It was in the last-named city that the hand of Jews under the leadership of Johanan had dragged the unwilling Jeremiah, and so they were also included in the Lord's punishment upon Egypt. And the pomp of her strength, of which Egypt had boasted throughout the centuries, shall cease in her; as for her, a cloud shall cover her, namely, that of this catastrophe, and her daughters, her cities with their inhabitants, shall go into captivity.
v. 19. Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt, according to the entire description of the paragraph; and they shall know that I am the Lord, this knowledge being forced upon their unwilling minds by the almighty evidences of God's wrath.