Ezekiel 32

Ezekiel 32:2

2. — a man of their coasts.] From among them. W. Lowth. Out of their borders: the proper place to station watchmen. Abp. Newcome.

Ezekiel 32:3

3. — when he seeth the sword] When he spieth the enemy. W. Lowth.

Ezekiel 32:5

5. And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, &c.] Implying that the vast bulk of thine armies, when they are slain, shall fill both mountains and valleys. See chap. xxxi. 12. W. Lowth.

— with thy height.] With thy projection, or thy carcase. Capellus.

5. — But he that taketh warning] Shall save his soul from the danger that threatens it: in like manner he that takes warning by the Prophet’s admonition, shall preserve himself from the judgment threatened against sinners. W. Lowth.

Ezekiel 32:7

7, 8. — I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; &c.] Compare this sublime passage with chap. xxxi. 15.

say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a || whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.

7—9. — I have set thee a watchman &c.] See chap. iii. 17—19. Before CHRIST 587. land when I bring a sword upon her. that hearing heareth. a Chap. 5. 17, &c.

Ezekiel 32:9

9. — when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations,] The nations shall be affrighted and amassed when I shall bring unto them both the rumour and the expectation of thy destruction. Bp. Hall.

Ezekiel 32:13

13. — from beside the great waters;] The cattle that used to feed upon the fertile meadows beside the hill shall be destroyed or driven away. Abp. Newcome.

— trouble them] The country shall be so deserted, that the waters of the river shall not be fouled by man or beast. Abp. Newcome.

— any more,] During the forty years of desolation, chap. xxix. 11.

Ezekiel 32:14

14. Then will I make their waters deep, and cause their rivers to run like oil, &c.] The Prophet in the second verse compared the disturbances the Egyptians gave their neighbours to the troubling and fouling of waters; in allusion to which metaphor he saith here, that when Egypt is made desolate, and the number of men and beasts diminished by their wars and confusions, then their neighbours will enjoy such quietness as a river does, that smoothly glides along, and never hath its streams fouled or disturbed. W. Lowth.

A lamentation for the fearful fall of Egypt. Before CHRIST about 587.

Ezekiel 32:16

16. — the daughters of the nations] That is, the people of the neighbouring countries: so the “daughter of Zion” and “of Babylon” signifies the inhabitants of those cities. The expression alludes to the mourning women, whose profession it was to lament at funerals. W. Lowth.

Ezekiel 32:17

17. — in the fifteenth day of the month.] Probably of the twelfth month: see ver. 1. Calmet, W. Lowth.

Ezekiel 32:18

18. Son of man, wail for the multitude &c.] This prophetick ode is a master-piece in that species of writing, which is appropriated to the exciting of terror. Bp. Lowth.

— and cast them down, &c.] The Prophets are said to do what they foretel: see chap. xliii. 3; Jer. i. 10. Abp. Secker.

— into the pit.] An imitation may be observed here of that sublime chapter, the 14th of Isaiah. But our Prophet has so conducted it in his own manner, that fertility of genius, copiousness of diction, and variety of expression, are not less to be admired in the one than in the other. Dathius. Bp. Lowth remarks, that Ezekiel has here described the same scene, with all the same circumstances, as Isaiah: affording in it a singular example of the sublime and terrible, for which the former Prophet is so peculiarly distinguished. Abp. Newcome.

Ezekiel 32:19

19. — go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised.] Strong and goodly as thou art, go down into the dust, and be laid together with thy godless and lewd companions of the profane heathen. Bp. Hall. See chap. xxviii. 10, and the notes there.

Ezekiel 32:20

20. — draw her] Drag her carcase to the sepulchre. The words are addressed to the Babylonians. Abp. Newcome, W. Lowth.

Ezekiel 32:21

21. The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him:] “Hell” signifies here the state of the dead, where the deceased tyrants with their subjects are represented as coming to meet the king of Egypt with his auxiliaries (see chap. xxx. 8,) upon their arrival at the same place. Compare chap. xxvi. 16, 17; Isa. xiv. 9, &c. W. Lowth, Bp. Hall.

— they are gone down, &c.] These warriours, famous in their time for their exploits, have undergone the same fate with other men of blood, and are gone down to the grave by violent deaths. W. Lowth.

22. Asshur is there and all her company: The Assyrians, both king and people, whose destruction is represented in the foregoing chapter. W. Lowth.

Ezekiel 32:23

23. Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, &c.] See chap. xxvi. 20; Isa. xiv. 15. The graves of his companies and complices are set in the sides of the burial-place round about the grave of Asshur, which lies in the midst of his attendants: all of them slain, &c. Bp. Hall.

— in the sides of the pit.] Upon the hill of offence near Jerusalem, the sepulchres exhibit a series of subterranean chambers, hewn with marvellous art, each containing one or many repositories for the dead, like cisterns carved in the rock upon the sides of those chambers. Dr. E. D. Clarke.

Ezekiel 32:24

24. There is Elam] Conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, Jer. xlix. 34. W. Lowth.

Ezekiel 32:25

25. — a bed] The cell which receives the sarcophagus is called “the bed.” Bp. Lowth.

Ezekiel 32:26

26. — Meshech, Tubal.] See chap. xxvii. 13, and note. The Scythians may be comprehended, who anciently governed Asia. This is no other than the well-known

Ezekiel 32:27

27. And they shall not lie with the mighty &c.] They shall not lie among those heathen heroes who died a natural death, and are laid in their graves with pomp and magnificence; see Isa. xiv. 18, 19. W. Lowth, Abp. Newcome. — and they have laid their swords under their heads.] It has been the custom of all ages to adorn the sepulchres of heroes with their swords and other trophies of war. W. Lowth. “In Mingrelia they all sleep with their swords under their heads, and their other arms by their sides; and they bury them in the same manner, their arms being placed in the same position.” This is the account of Sir John Chardin; and the extract becomes more interesting and important, when it is considered, that according to Bochart and other learned men, Meshech and Tubal mean Mingrelia and the country thereabout. Harmer.

Ezekiel 32:29

29. — Edom, her kings, and all her princes.] Of whose destruction Ezekiel prophesied, chap. xxv. 12. W. Lowth.

Ezekiel 32:30

30. — the princes of the north.] By “the princes of the north” may be understood the Tyrians and their # CHAP. XXXIII.

Ezekiel 32:31

31. — and shall be comforted] As it affords some relief to calamitous persons to see others in the same condition with themselves, chap. xxxi. 16. W. Lowth. Chap. XXXIII. ver. 1. Again the word of the Lord &c.] It is plain that Ezekiel uttered what is contained in this chapter to ver. 20, before Jerusalem was taken by the Babylonians: but how long before is uncertain. Abp. Newcome.