Ezekiel 29

In this and the three following chapters, is foretold the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, which came to pass in the thirty-sixth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, which was the twenty-seventh of Jchoiachin’s captivity. (See ver. 17.) This was the same judgment upon Egypt, which was foretold by Jeremiah, xlvi. 13, &c. From the toiver ofSyene unto the border of Ethiopia.’] If we follow this translation, we must understand the word Cushy rendered here Ethiopia, of Arabia, as it is often taken: (see the note. on Jer. xiii. 23.) for Syene was the border of Egypt towards Ethiopia: (see Pliny’s Nat. Hist. lib. v. cap. 9.) which lay westward of Egypt, as Arabia did eastward. But the words may be translated thus, From Migdol to Syene, even to the borders of Ethiopia. (Compare xxx. 5. 9.) Migdol was a town near the Bed Sea, mentioned Exod. xiv. 2. Jer. xliv. 1. xlvi. 14. so it lay at the entrance of Egypt from Palestine; whereas Syene was at the other end of the country upon the borders of Ethiopia." The parallel text, xxx. 6. confirms this interpretation, where our translation reads, From the tower of Syene, they shall fall in it by the sivord; but the sense would be much more perfect if we translate it, From Migdol to Syene, &c. Ver. II. No foot of man shall pass through it — neither shall it be inhabitedforty years.] The intestine. wars between Apries and Amasis, and the conquest of the whole country by Nebuchadnezzar, will make Egypt a desolation the greatest part of forty years, nor shall it recover its former settlement till those arc ended. (See xxx. 10. xxxii. 13. compare xxxv. 7.)

Ezekiel 29:2

J&ET thy face [see vi. 2. against Pharaoh king of Egypt.] Pharaoh being a common name to all the kings,of Egypt, this prince was called Pharaoh-Hophra, by way of distinction, by Jeremiah, (xlvi. 30.) and Apries by Herodotus. •Ver. 3. The great dragon that lies in the midst of his rivers.] The word tannim signifies any great fish, such as a whale, as it is translated xxxii. 2. where it is applied to the. same subject as here. (See the note on Isa. xxvii. 1.) Bochart, in his Hierozoicon, lib. v. cap. 1G. 18. not improbably understands it here of a crocodile (see the following note), a fish in a manner peculiar to the river Nile, to which he likens the king of Egypt, because he valued himself so much upon his dominion over that river. The same learned author observes, that the word Pharaoh signifies a crocodile in the Arabic tongue. The kings of Egypt are elsewhere compared to whales, or some such great fishes, sporting themselves in the waters, and exercising a sort of dominion over the lesser fry. (See Psal. Ixxiv. 13, 14. Isa. li. 9.) IVJdch hath said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.] The prophet having described this prince as bearing rule over the w-aters, in pursuance of the same metaphor, speaks of hjs kingdom as if it were a great river, and he priding himself in having established his government so firmly over it, that it was not in the power of God himself to dispossess him of it, as Herodotus tells us (lib. ii. cap. 1G9.) he profanely boasted, affecting to be a god, as the prince of Tyre did, (xxviii. 2.)

Ezekiel 29:4

But I will put hooks in thy claws. In pursuance of the same metaphor, God tells him that he will put a stop to all his vain-glorious designs and boastings: having the same absolute power over him as a fisherman hath over a fish, when he has fastened his hook in his jaws. (Compare 2 Kings xix. 28.) / will cause the fish of thy river to stick to thy scales, and I will bring thee out of the midst of thy rivers, &c.] Thou shalt send a great number of thy subjects upon an expedition into Lybia against the Cyrenians, where his army having ill success, the Egyptians, entertaining an opinion that the army was sent upon this expedition on purpose to be destroyed, thereupon mutinied against him, and set up Amasis to be their king. I will briug thee out of the midst of thy rivers.] By this is metaphorically expressed his undertaking a foreign expedition: the expression alludes to the nature of a crocodile, who is not confined to the water, but useth to come upon the land, where he is frequently taken.

Ezekiel 29:5

And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers. Thy army shall be discomfited, and fall in the deserts of Lybia and Cyrene:: Apries himself did not perish there; but the king and people being like the head and body, whatever calamity befals either part, is common to both. So the king of Assyria is said to be involved in that destruction which consumed his army, Isa. xxx. 33. Apries himself was afterward strangled in his palace at Sais, by Amasis, that overcame him.- They shall not be brought together, nor gathered.] Their bones or carcasses shall not be brought together in order for burial. (See Jer. viii. 2. xxv. 33.) I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field, &c] See xxxix. 17. Ver. G. Because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.’] The expression alludes to the canes or reeds that grow on the bank of the river Nile; on which if a man leaned, they brake, and the splinters ran into his hand. (Compare 2 Kings xviii. 21.) The prophets often upbraid the Jews with their vain confidence in Egypt, which would certainly disappoint them. (Seo Isa. xx. 5, G. xxx. 3. 5, &c.“xxxi, 3. Jer. ii. 3G.)

Ezekiel 29:7

When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break and rend all their shoulder. Or, their arm. The king, who was Zedekiah’s confederate, came with a great army to raise the siege of Jerusalem; but durst not engage a battle with the Chaldeans, but in a little time retired again into his own country, treacherously leaving Zedekiah, whom they had engaged to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar; whereby they became the occasion of his own and his people’s ruin. (See xvii. 15. Jer. xxxvii. 5. 7.) And madest all their loins to be at a stand.] Or, to shake, as men do when they are tottering and ready to fall. The Hebrew verb hanamadhta signifies properly to stand, but it is probably here taken in the same sense with the verb hamanadhta: words of a near sound being often taken one for the other. (See the note on xxvii. 15.)

Ezekiel 29:8

Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast from thee. See xiv. 17. This is to be understood of Nebuchadnezzar’s conquest of Egypt, who, taking advantage of Amasis’s revolt against Apries, overran that country, and made a pTey of the whole kingdom. (See ver. 19, apd xxxii. 13.)

Ezekiel 29:9

Because he hath said, TJie river is mine, &c. Hophra himself shztf 1 be slain, and his country destroyed, for his impiety and insolence. (See ver. 3.)

Ezekiel 29:10

Behold, I am against thee and thy rivers. Singe thou hast opposed me I wall set myself against thee, and bring down the strength and glory, of thy kingdom, wherein thou magnifiest thyself so much, (See the note on ver. 3.). „',

Ezekiel 29:12

And I will make the land of Egypt desolate. Many of the Jews which fled into Egypt upon the murder of Gedaliah, were involved in the common destruction of the country and its inhabitants. (See Jer. xliv. 27, 28.) Among the countries which are desolate.] Egypt shall have its share of calamities with its neighbours, who shall be a prey to Nebuchadnezzar, according to the prophecies of Jeremiah, chap. xxv. xliv. xlvi. &c. and of Ezekiel, chap. xxv. &c. I tvill scatter the Egyptians among the nations.] Some of them shall flee for refuge into foreign countries, and some shall be carried away captive by the Babylonians. (Compare Jer. xlvi. 19.) This captivity of the Egyptians, though not taken notice of by -Herodotus, is mentioned by Bcrosus in one of the fragments of his history, quoted by Josephus, Antiq. lib. x. cap. 11. and published with notes by Scaligcr, at the end of his books de Emendatione Temporum, whose remark upon the place is very observable; viz. " The calamities that befel the Egyptians, are passed over by Herodotus, because the Egyptian priests would not inform him of any thing that tended to the disgrace of their nation.”

Ezekiel 29:14

And I tvill cause them to return into the land of Pathros. That part of Egypt which is called Thebais, as Bochart proves by several arguments. (Sec his Phalcg. lib. iv. cap. 27.) Aiid they shall be there a base kingdom.] i. e. A tributary kingdom. (See xvii. 14.)

Ezekiel 29:15

It shall be the basest of kingdoins, &c. Notwithstanding Amasis’s shaking off the Persian yoke, Egypt was not able to keep up its former grandeur, but was entirely conquered by Cambyses, Cyrus’s son, who made it a province to the Persian empire; and upon its revolting from under that government, it was finally subdued by Ochus the Persian emperor, and has been governed by strangers ever since. " For on the failure of the Persian empire, it became subject to the Macedonians, after them to the Romans, after the Romans to the Saracens, then to the Mamelukes, and is now a province of the Turkish \ol, ly. empire:" as Dr. Prideaux observes, in his Connex. of Script. Hist. par. i. p. 79.

Ezekiel 29:16

And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, &c. At the same time that the Jews put confidence in Egypt, they distrusted the promises and assistance of God, and forsook him, to comply with the idolatries of their allies; thereby to recommend themselves to their protection. (See ver. 7. Isa. lvii. 8, 9. Jer. ii. IS. 36. Hos. xii. 1.)

Ezekiel 29:17

In the seven-and-tiventieth year, in the first month. The following prophecy is related here, not with respect to the order of time (for there is near seventeen years’ distance between the date of the foregoing prophecy and this), but because both prophecies relate to the same subject, viz. flie conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, which fell out this year: the city Tyre having been taken by him the year before, after thirteen years’ siege. Concerning which event, Dr. Prideaux hath observed, that the chronology of the Phoenician Annals (the extracts of which may be seen in Josephus, lib. i. contr. Appion.) exactly agrees with the time the prophet Ezekiel assigns for the taking of Tyre. (See his Connex. of Script. Hist. par. i. p. 92/93.) Ver. IS. Nebuchadnezzar caused his army to serve a great »’ service against Tyrus, &c] The siege lasted thirteen years, as hath been already observed; till the heads of their soldiers became bald with continual wearing their helmets, and the skin was worn off their shoulders with carrying earth to raise mounts and fortifications against it. (See xxvi. 8.) Yet had he noiuages, nor’his army, for Tyrus.] Before the town came to be closely besieged, the inhabitants had rek moved their effects into an island about half a mile distant from the shore, and there built another city, called New Tyre, which was afterward besieged and taken by Alexander the Great: (see the Argument to chap, xxvi.) so that* there was nobody left there when Nebuchadnezzar’s army took the city.

Ezekiel 29:19

He shall take her multitude, and take her spoil. He and his army shall have the advantage of the captives’ and spoil of Egypt, which they shall utterly pillage and lay waste. (See ver. 10. 12. and xxx. 12.)

Ezekiel 29:20

Because they ivrought for me, saith -the Lord. The destruction of cities and countries is a work of Gods 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 ivrought for him, as it is here expressed; i. e. executed his judgments upon Tyre, and the other cities and countries which God delivered into his hand.

Ezekiel 29:21

In that day. This phrase frequently denotes in the prophets not. the same time which was last mentioned, but an extraordinary season, remarkable for some signal events of Providence. (Sec the note on Isa. iy, 2.) In this sense it is to be understood here. I will cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth.] The word hom signifies strength, from whence it comes to denote prosperity, or a flourishing condition: (see 1 Sam. ii. 1. Job xvi. 15.) from whence it is applied to express kingly power and majesty. (Sec Psal. lxxxix. 24. xcii. 10. exxxii. 17.) So here it signifies, that after the destruc-