Ezekiel 29
DOYLY— the opening of the mouth] When thy prophecies are made good by the event, this shall add a new authority to what thou speakest. W. Lowth. Chap. XXX. ver. 2. — howl ye.] The Egyptians are addressed. W. Lowth. — Woe worth the day! [To worth," or “worth,” is a Saxon verb, signifying to be. It is now only retained in “woe worth,” that is, woe be, a denunciation, or exclamation of sorrow. Dr. Johnson. Unhappy be! or, Woe be to! Tyrwhitt.
Ezekiel 29:3
- — the day is near.] The day when the Lord will take vengeance of the heathen, who have oppressed his people. Bp. Hall.
Ezekiel 29:5
- — Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia.] The names in the Hebrew are “Cush, Phut, and Lud,” who are mentioned together as the Egyptian allies, Jer. xlv. 9. Cush probably signifies Ethiopia here, (see chap. xxix. 10,) as being joined with Phut and Lud, who were people of Africa. See the note on chap. xxvii. 10. W. Lowth. — all the mingled people.] See the note on Jer. xxv. 20. — and Chub.] In Marcotis, an Egyptian province, according to Ptolemy. They are called Cubu. W. Lowth, Grotius. — and the men of the land that is in league.] The Septuagint translates it, “the men of my league or covenant;” that is, the Jews who took refuge in Egypt after the murder of Gedaliah. Abp. Newcome, W. Lowth.
Ezekiel 29:6
- — They also that uphold Egypt] Either the princes,
Ezekiel 29:10
10.—from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.] From the south borders of Egypt unto the north, shall the land be desolate. Bp. Hall. Others prefer the translation, “from Migdol to Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.” Compare chap. xxx. 5. 9. Migdol, or Magdolus, was a town near the Red sea, as appears from Exod. xiv. 2; Numb. xxxiii. 7. It lay therefore towards the north, at the entrance of Egypt from Palestine. And Syene was to the south of Egypt, under the tropick of Cancer, and bordering upon African Ethiopia. Dean Prideaux, W. Lowth, Abp. Newcome.
Ezekiel 29:11
11.—neither shall it be inhabited forty years.] After the total defeat of Apries by the Cyrenians, in which so many Egyptians fell, that the whole nation was enraged against their king, a civil war with Amasts followed; after that a conquest and a desolation of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, and another conquest of it by Cyrus. We learn from this passage, during what period of years Egypt was laid waste, and in a manner deserted. Abp. Newcome, W. Lowth. Amasts reigned forty-four years according to Herodotus. The forty years of desolation must have ended in the time of Cyrus, who probably permitted the Egyptian captives to return. Calmet.
Ezekiel 29:12
12.—I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations.] Some of them shall flee for refuge into foreign countries, and some shall be carried captive by the Babylonians. Compare Jer. xlvi. 19. W. Lowth.
We cannot prove from heathen authors that this desolation of the country continued exactly forty years, though it is likely enough that this, as well as the other conquered countries, did not shake off the Babylonian yoke till the time of Cyrus: but we are assured by Berossus, that Nebuchadnezzar took several captives in Egypt, and carried them to Babylon; and from Megasthenes we learn, that he transplanted and settled others in Pontus. So true it is that they were “scattered among the nations, and dispersed through the countries;” and might, upon the dissolution of the Babylonian empire, return to their native country. Bp. Newton.
Ezekiel 29:14
14.—into the land of Pathros.] That part of Egypt which is called Thebais, as Bochart proves by several arguments. W. Lowth.
Ezekiel 29:15
- It shall be the basest of the kingdoms;] And, as it follows in the next chapter, “there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt,” ver. 13. It is now a great deal above two thousand years since this prophecy was first delivered: and what likelihood or appearance was there, that the Egyptians should for so many ages bow under a foreign yoke, and never in all that time be able to recover their liberties, and have a prince of their own to reign over them? Bp. Newton. In Egypt the human mind had made some of its earliest and most auspicious efforts. It was long the general opinion, that there the laws of society had been discovered, and the fountains of science opened. Unquestionably that ingenious people were very early distinguished by an ardent spirit of enterprise, and a peculiar happiness of invention. The stupendous monuments of art, which lie scattered over the banks of the Nile, attest the vastness of their designs, and the extent of their power. The earliest professors of literature, and the first founders of civil polity, in Europe, and in the more western provinces of Asia, travelled into Egypt, and there acquired a knowledge of the fundamental principles of science and government. Egypt was possessed likewise of natural advantages, which could seldom fail. Its situation was singularly calculated to defend it against the attacks of foreign invaders; whilst its uncommon fruitfulness promised to secure the country, which it enriched, from poverty, baseness, and subjection. Yet after a long course of grandeur, and in contradiction to its natural advantages, Ezekiel pronounced that “the kingdom should be the basest of kingdoms,” and that “there should be no more a prince of the land of Egypt.” Richards. As is the prophecy, so is the event. For not long afterwards Egypt was conquered by the Babylonians; and after the Babylonians, by the Persians; and after the Persians, it became subject to the Macedonians; and after the Macedonians, to the Romans; and after the Romans, to the Saracens; and then to the Mameluckes; and is now a province of the Ottoman empire. Bp. Newton.
Ezekiel 29:16
16.—which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance.] Causing God to punish the iniquity of his people. Abp. Newcome. God never forgets; but when He visits, punishes, and judges a nation for their sin, then their sin is said to come up into remembrance. Poole.
Israel shall be restored. The desolation of Egypt Before CHRIST about 589. 573. after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord God.
Ezekiel 29:17
- — in the seven and twentieth year.] See the note on ver. 1.
Ezekiel 29:18
- — to serve a great service] The siege lasted thirteen years. The heads of the soldiers were made bald by the helmet, by disease, and by labour; and their shoulders galled by carrying earth to raise mounts and fortifications against it. W. Lowth, Bp. Hall — yet had he no wages, nor his army.] This was literally true: for when the Tyrians saw that the works for carrying on the siege were perfected, and the foundations of the walls were shaken by the battering of the rains, whatsoever precious things in gold, silver, clothes, and various kinds of furniture, the nobility had, they put them on board their ships, and carried them to the islands; so that the city being taken, Nebuchadnezzar found nothing worthy of his labour. Bp. Newton.
Ezekiel 29:20
- — because they wrought for me.] The destruction of cities and countries is a work of God’s providence, for the effecting of which He makes use of kings and princes as his instruments. Upon this account He calls Nebuchadnezzar his servant, Jer. xxv. 9, because “he wrought for him,” as it is here expressed; that is, executed his judgments upon Tyre, and the other cities and countries which God delivered into his hand. W. Lowth.
Ezekiel 29:21
- — the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth.] The enlargement of Jehoiakim may be referred to. See