Ezekiel 30

Chap. XXX. Ver. 1—26. Farther prophecies against Egypt. —This chapter describes with great elegance and force the ruin of Egypt and all her allies by Nebuchadnezzar and his forces; with an amplification of the distress of the principal cities of Egypt on that occasion.—The last six verses contain another short prophecy relative to the same event, and therefore annexed to the preceding, though predicted at an early period. ‘The cities mentioned in this chapter were afterwards known by different names; Noph is the same with Memphis; Pathros the same with Thebais; Zoan, the same with Tanis, and the metropolis in Moses’ time; No, (or Hamon-No,) was Thebes; Sin, the same with Pelusium; Aven (or On) was Heliopolis; Pi-beseth was Bubastis; and Tehaphanhes, Daphne Pelusiae, where the Prophet Jeremiah is said to have been put to death.’”—(Dr.

J. Smith.) L

Notes on the verses

Chap. XXX. Ver. 2. Wo worth—That is, “wo be!” or alas! Ver. 5. Chub—In Mareotis, an Egyptian province. Grotius.—Men (Heb, “Sons”) of the land—That is, of every land that is in league with Egypt. Ver. 6. From the tower.—“Migdol.” See note on ch. xxix. 10 Ver. 15. Upon Sin—See margin.—{Now Tineh, a town of Egypt, situated at the eastern extremity of the Delta, 20 stadia from the Mediterranean, near the lake of Menzaleh, and upon a branch of the Nile, to which it gave name. It was the key of Egypt on the side of Judea and Syria, and was therefore strongly fortified and garrisoned; but it is now quite in ruins.}—Bagster. Ver. 17. Pi-beseth.—{Situated on the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, near the top of the Delta.

Herod.}—Bagster. Ver. 18. Tehaphnehes—or Tehapanes. Ver. 21. Broken the arm of Pharaoh.—{This prophecy was delivered soon after the Egyptians under Pharaoh-hophra had come to relieve Jerusalem, and some months before that city was taken, being the eleventh year of Jeremiah’s captivity, and answering to April 26, A. M. 3416. When the king of Babylon took the king of Egypt, in the days of Pharaoh-necho, all his dominions in Asia, one of his arms was broken. God now declared that he should never recover these territories, or gain any ascendancy in that part of the world; nay, that his other arm, which was now strong, should soon be broken, and rendered utterly useless. This was fulfilled when Hophra was dethroned and driven into Upper Egypt by Amasis; and then Nebuchadnezzar, taking advantage of this civil discord, invaded and conquered that kingdom, and enslaved, dispersed, and carried captive the Egyptians.

See on (Jeremiah 14:30).}—B. Ver. 26. I will scatter.—See (Ezekiel 29:12). Cul. Chap. XXXI. Ver. 1. Eleventh year.—{On Sunday, June 19, A. M. 3416, according to Usher: and about a month before the capture of Jerusalem.}—B. Ver. 2. Whom—Rather, “Unto whom.” Ver. 3. Whose top (the king of Assyria) was among the thick boughs—This is, subordinate and pendant princes. Ver. 4. The waters made him great.—As a tree is enriched by the waters which nourish its roots, so was Assyria, so are kingdoms and states by commerce.—Running round about his epee [sic] EF? alludes to the method of watering gardens in the East, by small artificial channels.—When he shot forth—That is, branches. Ver. 5. His height was exalted, &c.—(The Assyrian king, to whom Pharaoh is compared, from his great power, extensive dominion, and the protection he afforded, resembled the spreading branches, thick shade, and high stature of a flourishing cedar on mount Lebanon.

The fruitful lands of Assyria; the immense revenues he drew from vast multitudes in his extensive territories; his lucrative commerce, by the river Tigris, with the countries on the Indian ocean; and all the various sources of his wealth and prosperity, resembled the rivers and streams which cause the trees planted by them to grow and flourish exceedingly; and hence the empire and its head were exalted above all the kingdoms of the earth.}—Bagster. Ver. 8. The garden of God—That is Paradise. (Isaiah 11)See Ver. 10. Thus saith, &c.—{The allegory and its interpretation are here combined; and the Assyrian monarch, though already destroyed, is poetically addressed.}—Bagster. Ver. 11. Mighty one.—{Nebuchadnezzar, the subverter of the Assyrian empire.

}—Bagster.—He shall surely deal with him.—Heb. “Dealing he shall deal.” Newcome renders this and the next verse in the past tense. So Ver. 14. Nether—That is, lower parts; among the dead. Ver. 15. Caused a mourning.—{The deep and all the mighty rivers which nursed up this fair tree are here described as mourning at his downfall: they stop their usual courses to bewail his fate; and Lebanon, with all its stately trees, (his confederates and allies,) sympathize with him in his misfortunes.}—B. Ver. 16. Down to hell.—Heb. Sheol: so ver. 17. The same word is rendered the grave in the verse preceding. See exposition of (Isaiah 14)and note on ver. 9; also on (Psalms 16:10). Ver. 17. His arm—That is, those who supported him.

But Newcome, following the LXX., &c. renders the word “seed,” i.e. offspring, which seems Ver. 18. To whom art thou like.—{Pharaoh is here called upon to look in this mirror, and see the termination of his glory and greatness.—This is Pharaoh.—That is, the judgment that befell the king of Assyria, is an exact representation of the destruction that remains for Pharaoh and all his people.}