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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Ezekiel 32:17 - 32:32
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Dirge over tile Destruction of tile Egyptian Power
v. 17. It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, most likely of the twelfth month and therefore only fourteen days after the previous message of lamentation, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
v. 18. Son of man, wail, in a gloomy, sorrowful grave-song, for the multitude of Egypt, the inhabitants of the country with all their pomp, pride, and tumult, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, the various glorious heathen peoples of former times, whose evil fate had already overtaken them, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit, those who were even then in the realm of the dead.
v. 19. Whom dost thou, namely, Egypt with its king, pass in beauty? Where was a heathen people lovelier or more excellent than Egypt? Yet the command here goes forth, Go down and be thou laid with the uncircumcised, to share the fate of other heathen nations; for Egypt, after all, could not demand a preference for itself and expect exemption when other great and glorious nations had been overthrown.
v. 20. They, namely, Pharaoh and his tumultuous and boastful multitude, shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword, pierced through in the same slaughter; she is delivered to the sword, as one upon whom sentence has been passed; draw her and all her multitudes, dragging them down to the realm of the underworld.
v. 21. The strong among the mighty, the allies and associates of Pharaoh that have preceded him into the realm of the dead, shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him, for so certain is his overthrow; they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword, so that he joins them with the other dead.
v. 22. Asshur is there and all her company, haying been overthrown some time before; his graves are about him, all holding their dead, all of them slain, fallen by the sword,
v. 23. whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, according to the custom in the Orient of hollowing out the rock and laying the dead in niches thus hewn out, and her company is round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living.
v. 24. There is Elam, whose territory lay in what is now Persia, adjoining that of Assyria, and all her multitude round about her grave, sharing the fate of Assyria in every particular, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised, perishing in their godlessness, into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living, also known for the ruthlessness of their conduct over against others; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit, that is, they properly bear this disgrace of being overcome by death.
v. 25. They have set her, the land of Elam, a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude, so that there is no question of her being entirely in the power of death and destruction; her graves are round about him, those destined to hold the slain of Earn; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; though their terror was caused in the land of the living, rather, "because terror was spread before them," yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit, properly being loaded down with this disgrace; he is put in the midst of them that be slain.
v. 26. There is Meshech, most likely the Scythians north of the Black Sea, Tubal, a northern power, apparently between the Black and the Caspian Sea, and all her multitude, the people with all their wealth and tumult; her graves are round about him, as in the case of the other heathen powers; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; though they caused their terror in the land of the living, they also spread fear before them wherever they went. Yet there is a difference between these nations and those mentioned before.
v. 27. And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, not even be accorded the honor which the other godless nations enjoyed, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war, the burial with weapons being one of the ways in which soldiers fallen in battle were distinguished, and they have laid their swords under their heads, the survivors honoring their heroes in this manner; but their iniquity shall be upon their bones, namely, by their being obliged to bear the consequences of their guilt, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living, so that even those who excelled by virtue of their fierceness were not excluded from the Lord's punishment, for all human accomplishments and excellencies cannot redeem from His wrath.
v. 28. Yea, thou, namely, Meshech-Tubal, shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, sharing the fate of the godless in every way, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword.
v. 29. There is Edom, or Idumea, the country south of the Dead Sea, extending to the Elanitic Gulf, her kings and all her princes, which with their might, in spite of all their courage and fearlessness, are laid by them that were slain by the sword, also included in the Lord's punishment upon all the godless nations; they shall lie with the uncircumcised and with them that go down to the pit.
v. 30. There be the princes of the North, all of them, very likely all those of ancient Syria and its tributary states, and all the Zidonians, the people of Phoenicia, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might, that is, in spite of their fierce courage which inspired such abject terror in the hearts of their enemies, they have been brought to shame, covered with disgrace; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit.
v. 31. Pharaoh, when entering into the realm of the dead, shall see them and shall be comforted over all his multitude, deriving at least some measure of satisfaction over the fact that others, even before him, have had the same fate which now strikes him, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord God.
v. 32. For I have caused My terror in the land of the living, that is, God permitted him to spread terror on earth, he was, in some instances, the scourge of the Lord; and he, having become guilty as set forth throughout these ers, shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord God. It is a somewhat fanciful picture which is drawn in this dirge, in having nations represented in this manner after they have entered into the kingdom of death, but the form is most effective in bringing out the just punishments of the Lord upon all godless people.