Ezekiel 32

REVIEW QUESTIONS

Why does Ezekiel devote such a large section of his book to the overthrow of Egypt?

Chronologically, what is the relationship of the Egyptian oracles to the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.

What metaphors are used in this section to describe Pharaoh?

What evidence is there here of the self-deification of Pharaoh?

In what way had Egypt been a staff of reed to the house of Israel?

How long would Egypt be politically desolate?

What evidence is there that Nebuchadnezzar actually invaded Egypt? that he took Egyptians captive?

HOW did Ezekiel describe Egypt after its restoration?

Why did God decree that Nebuchadnezzar should conquer Egypt?

What would become of the gods of Egypt in the day of national judgment? How was this fulfilled?

How did Ezekiel use Assyria as a warning lesson to Egypt?

How does Ezekiel picture the mighty nations in Sheol? How far can this be pressed for valid doctrine regarding the afterlife?

What did Ezekiel mean by dying the death of the uncircumcised?

Special Study NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S INVASION OF EGYPT

The Old Testament prophets devote more verses to Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion of Egypt than to that king’s conquest of Jerusalem.[451] However, whereas Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Jerusalem is recorded in various documents dating to the sixth century, his invasion of Egypt has been ignored by the ancient historians. Consequently, most Biblical critics before 1900, and a few since that date, have pointed to the prophecy of Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion of Egypt as an example of error in prophetic anticipation. In the first edition of the illustrious Cambridge, Ancient History, H. R. Hall categorically asserted:

[451] Op cit. p. 108.

We have no warrant to suppose that the Babylonian king ever carried out great warlike operations against Amasis [Pharaoh of Egypt], far less that he conquered or even entered Egypt either personally or by proxy.[452]

[452] Cambridge Ancient History, III, 1925, p. 299.

The first Biblical prophecy of the fall of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar is found in Jeremiah 46. Here Nebuchadnezzar is mentioned by name (Jeremiah 46:13) as is also the Pharaoh he would defeat, Pharaoh Neco (609-593 B.C.). Four Egyptian cities are mentioned here Migdol, Noph (Memphis) and Tahpanhes in northern Egypt, and No (Thebes) in southern Egypt.

Some twenty years after the destruction of Jerusalem Jeremiah again alludes to the invasion of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 43:12-13). This oracle emphasizes the destruction of the gods of Egypt. Two Egyptian cities are specifically mentioned Tahpanhes and Beth-shemesh (also called On or Heliopolis).

In his third prophecy against Egypt, dated somewhere between 587 and 585 B.C. Ezekiel names Nebuchadnezzar as the agent of God’s judgment on the land of the Nile. The destruction of the idols of Egypt is specifically mentioned (Ezekiel 30:1-19). In another Egypt oracle dated to 571 B.C. Ezekiel again names Nebuchadnezzar as the invader of Egypt.

The evidence that Nebuchadnezzar did in fact invade Egypt is threefold. First, Josephus[453] relates that in the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem (582 B.C.) Nebuchadnezzar fell upon Egypt, slew their king and set up another in his place, Some of the Jewish refugees in Egypt were taken captive back to Babylon. The second piece of evidence is in the form of a small fragment of a Babylonian chronicle first published by Pinches. It shows that Nebuchadnezzar launched an attack against Egypt in his thirty-seventh year, 567 B.C. This text can be found in Ancient Near Eastern Texts edited by James Pritchard, p. 308, The third piece of evidence was pointed out by Driver. A statue in the Louvre represents Nes-Hor, governor of Southern Egypt under Pharaoh Hophra (589-664 B.C.). The inscription thereon seems to state that an army of Asiatics and northern peoples which apparently had invaded Egypt intended to advance up the Nile valley into Ethiopia. However, this invasion of southern Egypt was averted by the favor of the gods. So states Nes-hor.[454]

[453] Antiquities of the Jews. X. 9.7.

[454] Cited in Smith EBP p. 122

Ezekiel 32:1-16

VI. DIRGE OVER PHARAOH 32:1-16

TRANSLATION

(1) And it Came to Pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (2) Son of man, lift up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, You likened yourself to a young lion of the nations, but you are like a crocodile in the seas, and you burst forth in your rivers, and you troubled the waters with your feet and you polluted their rivers. (3) Thus says the Lord GOD: I will spread out over you My net with a company of many peoples; and they shall bring you up in My net. (4) And I will leave you in the land, upon the field I will cast you forth, and I will cause all the birds of the heaven to remain upon you, and I will fill the beasts of all the earth with you. (5) And I will put your flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with your height. (6) And I will water the land where you swim with your blood even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of you. (7) When you are extinguished I will cover the heavens, and I will make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. (8) All the light bearing bodies in the heavens I will make dark over you, and set darkness over your land (oracle of the Lord GOD. (9) And I will provoke the heart of many people, when I bring your destruction among the nations, unto countries which you have not known. (10) And I will make many people astonished concerning you, and their kings shall be horrified on account of you when I shall unsheath My sword before them; and they shall tremble al every moment, each man for his life, in the day of your fall. (11) For thus says the Lord GOD: the sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. (12) By the swords of the mighty I will cause your multitude to fall: the most ruthless of the nations are all of them: and they shall spoil the pride of Egypt. and all her multitude shall be destroyed. (13) And I will destroy all her cattle from beside many waters; and the foot of man shall not trouble them any more, nor shall the hoofs of cattle trouble them. (14) Then I will make their waters to settle, and their rivers I will cause to go as oil (oracle of the Lord GOD). (15) When I make the land of Egypt a desolation and waste, a land devoid of fullness, when I smite all the inhabitants in it, then shall they know that I am the LORD. (16) With this lamentation shall they lament over it; the daughters of the nations shall lament over her; on account of Egypt and all her multitude they shall lament her (oracle of the Lord GOD).

COMMENTS

The last oracle against Egypt is dated about a year and a half after the fall of Jerusalem. The date, according to the modern calendar would be March 4, 585 B.C.12 (Ezekiel 32:1). The prophet is told to take up a lamentation a prophetic doom-song over Pharaoh.

Pharaoh fancied himself to be like a lion roaming among the nations striking fear into all who saw him. In reality Pharaoh was more like a crocodile (see on Ezekiel 29:3) whose movement was restricted to the waters. Occasionally Egypt’s army would burst forth from his waters, i.e., venture forth beyond the national frontiers. Moving into yet other rivers the Egyptian crocodile would thrash about, churning up the waters and befouling them (Ezekiel 32:2).

God had decreed the end of the disruptive crocodile. He would spread out His net to capture and immobilize the vicious beast. A company of many people Babylon and her allies would assist in drawing up that divine net (Ezekiel 32:3). The crocodile would be cast upon dry land out of his natural habitat. Thus his doom would be sealed. The birds of prey and beasts of the field would take their fill of him (Ezekiel 32:4). The mountains and valleys would be filled with the long carcass of the crocodile

12. Some confusion exists in the ancient versions on the date Of this oracle. Some ancient scribes, determined to keep the oracles in Ezekiel in chronological order, amended the Hebrew text to read eleventh year and twelfth month. Others retained the reading twelfth year but altered the month to read tenth month. The reading of the standard Hebrew text is not to be surrendered. (Ezekiel 32:5). The blood of the beast would saturate the land and fill the rivlets (Ezekiel 32:6).

A second figure depicts the demise of Egypt. The once bright star (Egypt) would be extinguished. This day of divine judgment is depicted as a day of darkness. The sun, moon and stars would refuse to give their light (Ezekiel 32:7-8). Such passages are not to be interpreted literally, but rather are the traditional way of depicting the fall of a great nation.[449]

[449] See Isaiah 13:10; Joe 2:10: Amos 8:9

Many other nations including some unknown to Egypt would be terrified by the news of the destruction of that empire (Ezekiel 32:9). Other kings would tremble before the sword of God the agent of God’s judgment upon the world (Ezekiel 32:10).

The agent of God’s judgment on the sixth century world was Babylon (Ezekiel 32:11). The Babylonians are called the mighty, the ruthless of the nations (cf. Ezekiel 28:7). The pride of Egypt, all the multitude of her population, would be spoiled by the northern invaders (Ezekiel 32:12). Even the cattle that fed along the banks of the Nile and its canals would be destroyed. Neither man nor beast would befoul the waters of the land anymore, for the land would be temporarily desolate (Ezekiel 32:13). The undisturbed waters would flow as smoothly as a river of oil (Ezekiel 32:14). The desolation with which God would smite Egypt would cause men to recognize His sovereignty (Ezekiel 32:15). This section closes as it began, with emphasis being placed on the nature of the oracle. It is a lament which the daughter of the nations the professional mourners would take up over Egypt (Ezekiel 32:16).

Ezekiel 32:17-32

VII. THE DESCENT INTO SHEOL 32:17-32

TRANSLATION

(17) And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (18) Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her and the daughters of the mighty nations unto the lower parts of the earth, with those who go down to the pit. (19) Who do you surpass in beauty? Go down and be laid with the uncircumcised, (20) They shall fall in the midst of those who fall with the sword; to the sword she is given; draw her down and all her multitude. (21) The strong ones among the mighty shall speak to him from the midst of Sheol with his helpers: they have gone down, they lie still even the uncircumcised, those slain by the sword! (22) Assyria is there and all her company; round about them are their graves; all of them slain, fallen by the sword; (23) whose graves are in the uttermost parts of the pit, and her company is round about her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword who caused terror in the land of the living. (24) There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword who have gone down uncircumcised unto the lower parts of the earth, who caused terror in the land of the living; yet they have borne their shame with those who go down to the pit. (25) They have put for her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude; her graves are round about them; all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, because their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet they have borne their shame, with those who go down to the pit; they are put in the midst of the slain. (26) There is Meshech, Tubal and all her multitude; her graves are round about them; all of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword; because they caused their terror in the land of the living. (27) The ones who are inferior to the uncircumcised shall not lie down with the mighty ones who went down to Sheol with all their war weapons, with their swords laid under their heads, and their iniquities upon their bones; because the terror of the mighty ones was in the land of the living. (28) But you, in the midst of the uncircumcised shall be broken, and shall lie with those slain by the sword. (29) There was Edom, her kings and all her princes who in their might are put with those slain by the sword; they with the uncircumcised shall lie with those who go down to the pit. (30) There are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians who went down with the slain, ashamed for the terror which was caused by their might, and they lie down uncircumcised with those slain by the sword, and they bear their shame with those that go down to the pit. (31) Pharaoh shall see them and shall be comforted concerning all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, (oracle of the LORD). (32) For I have put My terror in the land of the living; and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude (oracle of the Lord GOD).

COMMENTS

Lofthouse calls the sixteen verses of the final Egyptian oracle the death song of the world in which Israel had grown up. The language here is highly poetical and one must be careful not to press it too far in formulating the Biblical doctrine of the afterlife. In this chapter Sheol is envisioned as consisting of compartments where nations lie together in graves gathered about their king. Warriors who had experienced proper burial are thought of as occupying a higher status than those who did not.

The month is missing in the Hebrew text of Eze 32:17. The Greek version supplies the first month However, it is more likely that this oracle should be dated to the same month as the preceding one, the twelfth month. It would then have been composed two weeks after the oracle contained in Ezekiel 32:1-16. According to our calendar the date would be March 18, 585 B.C.

Ezekiel is told to wail over Egypt. A prophetic lament had the power to actually set in motion the wheels of judgment. In this sense Ezekiel is to cast down the multitude of Egypt into the lower parts of the earth. This is Sheol, the abode of the dead in which the once powerful nations on earth are thought of as continuing their collective identity. The daughters of the mighty nations are the countries which share the fate of Egypt in going down to Sheol. The pit is still another designation for Sheol (Ezekiel 32:18).

Egypt is in no way superior to the other powers of that day. She would go down in defeat. She would lie with the uncircumcised, those who have experienced the most dishonorable death (Ezekiel 32:19). Egyptian soldiers would fall by the sword and their corpses would be abandoned on the field of battle. Nations already in Sheol are exhorted to drag the slain Egyptian forces on down into their midst (draw her down and all her multitude; Ezekiel 32:20). The irony here is obvious. No nation in history put more emphasis on life after death the elaborate pyramids and subterranean burial vaults; the art of embalming; the amassing of enormous wealth and every conceivable provision for abundant life in the world to come. But none of this would prevent the mighty Pharaohs from being brought down in shame to the pit.

The leaders of nations already in Sheol are represented as greeting Pharaoh and his allies with mocking words upon their arrival in the pit. The mighty Egyptians have died an ignominious death the death of the uncircumcised by the sword (Ezekiel 32:21). Egypt has joined Assyria and her allies in Sheol. The Egyptian graves lie scattered about those of the Assyrians (Ezekiel 32:22) in the uttermost part of the pit. This expression may point to degrees of ignominy in the afterlife. The great nations which terrorized the earth have been permanently and totally removed from the world of the living. The graves of satellite nations surround that of Egypt itself in those inaccessible regions (Ezekiel 32:23).

Other once powerful nations lie quietly in Sheol far removed from the land of the living where once they spread terror. Elam rests in shame there (Ezekiel 32:24-25). Meshech and Tubal were once powerful kingdoms located south and south-east of the Black Sea. Other warlike powers descended into Sheol with their military equipment. But Meshech and Tubal met with an even more humiliating end. They rest among those who had been stripped of their arms. Ezekiel does not specify the particular crimes that justified this more severe humiliation of Tubal and Meshech (Ezekiel 32:26-27).

Apparently Pharaoh would experience still a worse fate. He would lie among those slain by the sword, but not, apparently, with the mighty ones mentioned in the preceding verses (Ezekiel 32:28). He would lie among the leaders of Edom, the princes of the north (Babylonian satellite kings) and the Zidonians (Phoenicians). These all lie uncircumcised, i.e., they have experienced the ignominious death of those slain in battle and left unburied (Ezekiel 32:29-30). Pharaoh would take some measure of comfort in the fact that others have shared Egypt’s fate (Ezekiel 32:31).

All the mighty powers that terrorize the land of the living will ultimately be brought to nought. Ultimately God’s power prevails on earth. The fall of Pharaoh and his host would be another indication of this grand truth (Ezekiel 32:32),

A fitting conclusion to this section dealing with Egypt is found on the final page of Breasted’s monumental History of Ancient Egypt:

The fall of Egypt and the close of her characteristic history, were already an irrevocable fact before the relentless Cambyses knocked at the doors of Pelusium. The Saitic state was a creation of rulers who looked into the future, who belonged to it, and had little or no connection with the past. They were as essentially non Egyptian as the Ptolemies who followed the Persians. The Persian conquest in 525 B.C., which deprived Psamtik III, the son Amasis of his throne and kingdom, was but a change of rulers, a purely external fact. And if a feeble burst of national feeling enabled this or that Egyptian to thrust off the Persian yoke for a brief period, the movement may be likened to the convulsive contractions which sometimes lend momentary motion to limbs from which conscious life has long departed. With the fall of Psamtik III, Egypt belonged to a new world, toward the development of which she had contributed much, but in which she could no longer play an active part. Her great work was done, and unable, like Nineveh and Babylon, to disappear from the scene, she lived on her artificial life for a time under the Persians and the Ptolemies, ever sinking, till she became merely the granary of Rome, to be visited as a land of ancient marvels by wealthy Greeks and Remans, who have left their names scratched here and there upon her hoary monuments, just as the modern tourists, admiring the same marvels, still continue to do.[450]

[450] Cited by Wilbur Smith, EBP, p. 118.