1And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, that the Word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, 2Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and say to him: You are like a young lion among the nations, and you are like a monster in the seas, bursting forth in your rivers, stirring up the waters with your feet, and fouling their rivers. 3Thus says the Lord Jehovah: I will therefore spread My net over you with a company of many people, and they will draw you up in My net. 4Then I will leave you on the land; I will cast you out upon the open fields, and cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you. And I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with you. 5I will lay your flesh on the mountains, and fill the valleys with your corpses. 6I will also water the land with the flow of your blood, even to the mountains; and the ravines will be full of you. 7When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens, and make its stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. 8All the bright lights of the heavens I will make dark over you, and bring darkness upon your land, declares the Lord Jehovah. 9I will also trouble the hearts of many peoples, when I bring your ruin among the nations, into the lands which you have not known. 10Yes, I will make many peoples astonished at you, and their kings shall be horribly afraid at you when I brandish My sword before them; and they shall tremble every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of your fall. 11For thus says the Lord Jehovah: The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon you. 12By the swords of the mighty, all of them the most terrifying of the nations, I will cause your multitude to fall. They shall plunder the majesty of Egypt, and all its multitude shall be destroyed. 13I will also destroy all its animals from beside its great waters; the foot of man shall muddy them no more, nor shall the hooves of animals stir them up. 14Then I will make their waters settle, and make their rivers run like oil, says the Lord Jehovah. 15When I make the land of Egypt desolate, and the land is destitute of all that once filled it, when I strike all who dwell in it, then they shall know that I am Jehovah. 16This is the lamentation with which they shall lament her; the daughters of the nations shall lament her; they shall lament for her, for Egypt, and for all her multitude, says the Lord Jehovah. 17It came to pass also in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, that the Word of Jehovah came unto me, saying: 18Son of man, wail over the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down to the lowest parts of the earth, her and the daughters of the majestic nations, with those who go down to the Pit: 19Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down, be laid with the uncircumcised. 20They shall fall in the midst of those slain by the sword; she is delivered to the sword, drawing her and all her multitudes. 21The mighty among the strong shall speak to him out of the midst of Sheol with those who help him: they have gone down, they lie with the uncircumcised, slain by the sword. 22Assyria is there, and all her company, with their graves all around her, all of them slain, fallen by the sword. 23Her graves are set in the recesses of the Pit, and her company is all around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who caused terror in the land of the living. 24There is Elam and all her multitude, all around her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who have gone down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living. Now they bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit. 25They have set her bed in the midst of the slain, with all her multitude, with her graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword; though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet they bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit; it was put in the midst of the slain. 26There is Meshech, Tubal, and all their multitudes, with all their graves around it, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living. 27They do not lie with the mighty of the uncircumcised who are fallen, who have gone down to Sheol with their weapons of war; they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities will be on their bones, though the terror of the mighty was in the land of the living. 28Yes, you shall be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and lie with those slain by the sword. 29There is Edom, her kings and all her rulers, who with their might are laid beside those slain by the sword; they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with those who go down to the Pit. 30There are the rulers of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down with the slain, in shame at the terror which they caused by their might; they lie uncircumcised with those slain by the sword, and bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit. 31Pharaoh will see them and be comforted over all his multitude, Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, declares the Lord Jehovah. 32For I have caused 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, Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord Jehovah.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 TWO ELEGIES OVER PHARAOH, ONE DELIVERED ON THE FIRST DAY (
Ezek 32:1), THE OTHER ON THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE SAME MONTH, THE TWELFTH OF THE TWELFTH YEAR. (Eze. 32:1-32)
The twelfth year from the carrying away of Jehoiachin; Jerusalem was by this time overthrown, and Amasis was beginning his revolt against Pharaoh-hophra.
2 Pharaoh--"Phra" in Burmah, signifies the king, high priest, and idol.
whale--rather, any monster of the waters; here, the crocodile of the Nile. Pharaoh is as a lion on dry land, a crocodile in the waters; that is, an object of terror everywhere.
camest forth with thy rivers--"breakest forth" [FAIRBAIRN]. The antithesis of "seas" and "rivers" favors GROTIUS rendering, "Thou camest forth from the sea into the rivers"; that is, from thy own empire into other states. However, English Version is favored by the "thy": thou camest forth with thy rivers (that is, with thy forces) and with thy feet didst fall irrecoverably; so Israel, once desolate, troubles the waters (that is, neighboring states).
3 with a company of many people--namely, the Chaldeans (
Ezek 29:3-
Ezek 29:4;
Hos 7:12).
my net--for they are My instrument.
4 leave thee upon the land--as a fish drawn out of the water loses all its strength, so Pharaoh (in
Ezek 32:3, compared to a water monster) shall be (
Ezek 29:5).
5 thy height--thy hugeness [FAIRBAIRN]. The great heap of corpses of thy forces, on which thou pridest thyself. "Height" may refer to mental elevation, as well as bodily [VATABLUS].
6 land wherein thou swimmest--Egypt: the land watered by the Nile, the the source of its fertility, wherein thou swimmest (carrying on the image of the crocodile, that is, wherein thou dost exercise thy wanton power at will). Irony. The land shall still afford seas to swim in, but they shall be seas of blood. Alluding to the plague (
Exod 7:19;
Rev 8:8). HAVERNICK translates, "I will water the land with what flows from thee, even thy blood, reaching to the mountains": "with thy blood overflowing even to the mountains." Perhaps this is better.
7 put thee out--extinguish thy light (
Job 18:5). Pharaoh is represented as a bright star, at the extinguishing of whose light in the political sky the whole heavenly host is shrouded in sympathetic darkness. Here, too, as in
Ezek 32:6, there is an allusion to the supernatural darkness sent formerly (
Exod 10:21-
Exod 10:23). The heavenly bodies are often made images of earthly dynasties (
Isa 13:10;
Matt 24:29).
9 thy destruction--that is tidings of thy destruction (literally, "thy breakage") carried by captive and dispersed Egyptians "among the nations" [GROTIUS]; or, thy broken people, resembling one great fracture, the ruins of what they had been [FAIRBAIRN].
10 brandish my sword before them--literally, "in their faces," or sight.
13 (See on
Ezek 29:11). The picture is ideally true, not to be interpreted by the letter. The political ascendency of Egypt was to cease with the Chaldean conquest [FAIRBAIRN]. Henceforth Pharaoh must figuratively no longer trouble the waters by man or beast, that is, no longer was he to flood other peoples with his overwhelming forces.
14 make their waters deep--rather, "make . . . to subside"; literally, "sink" [FAIRBAIRN].
like oil--emblem of quietness. No longer shall they descend violently on other countries as the overflowing Nile, but shall be still and sluggish in political action.
16 As in
Ezek 19:14. This is a prophetical lamentation; yet so it shall come to pass [GROTIUS].
17 The second lamentation for Pharaoh. This funeral dirge in imagination accompanies him to the unseen world. Egypt personified in its political head is ideally represented as undergoing the change by death to which man is liable. Expressing that Egypt's supremacy is no more, a thing of the past, never to be again.
the month--the twelfth month (
Ezek 32:1); fourteen days after the former vision.
18 cast them down--that is predict that they shall be cast down (so
Jer 1:10). The prophet's word was God's, and carried with it its own fulfilment.
daughters of . . . nations--that is the nations with their peoples. Egypt is to share the fate of other ancient nations once famous, now consigned to oblivion: Elam (
Ezek 32:24), Meshech, &c. (
Ezek 32:26), Edom (
Ezek 32:29), Zidon (
Ezek 32:30).
19 Whom dost thou pass in beauty?--Beautiful as thou art, thou art not more so than other nations, which nevertheless have perished.
go down, &c.--to the nether world, where all "beauty" is speedily marred.
20 she is delivered to the sword--namely, by God.
draw her--as if addressing her executioners: drag her forth to death.
21 (
Ezek 31:16). Ezekiel has before his eyes
Isa 14:9, &c.
shall speak to him--with "him" join "with them that help him"; shall speak to him and his helpers with a taunting welcome, as now one of themselves.
22 her . . . his--The abrupt change of gender is, because Ezekiel has in view at one time the kingdom (feminine), at another the monarch. "Asshur," or Assyria, is placed first in punishment, as being first in guilt.
23 in the sides of the pit--Sepulchres in the East were caves hollowed out of the rock, and the bodies were laid in niches formed at the sides. MAURER needlessly departs from the ordinary meaning, and translates, "extremities" (compare
Isa 14:13,
Isa 14:15).
which caused terror--They, who alive were a terror to others, are now, in the nether world, themselves a terrible object to behold.
24 Elam--placed next, as having been an auxiliary to Assyria. Its territory lay in Persia. In Abraham's time an independent kingdom (
Gen 14:1). Famous for its bowmen (
Isa 22:6).
borne their shame--the just retribution of their lawless pride. Destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar (
Jer 49:34-
Jer 49:38).
25 a bed--a sepulchral niche.
all . . . slain by . . . sword, &c.-- (
Ezek 32:21,
Ezek 32:23-
Ezek 32:24). The very monotony of the phraseology gives to the dirge an awe-inspiring effect.
26 Meshech, Tubal--northern nations: the Moschi and Tibareni, between the Black and Caspian Seas. HERODOTUS [3.94], mentions them as a subjugated people, tributaries to Darius Hystaspes (see
Ezek 27:13).
27 they shall not lie with the mighty--that is, they shall not have separate tombs such as mighty conquerors have: but shall all be heaped together in one pit, as is the case with the vanquished [GROTIUS]. HAVERNICK reads it interrogatively, "Shall they not lie with the mighty that are fallen?" But English Version is supported by the parallel (
Isa 14:18-
Isa 14:19), to which Ezekiel refers, and which represents them as not lying as mighty kings lie in a grave, but cast out of one, as a carcass trodden under foot.
with . . . weapons of war--alluding to the custom of burying warriors with their arms (1 Maccabees 13:29). Though honored by the laying of "their swords under their heads," yet the punishment of "their iniquities shall be upon their bones." Their swords shall thus attest their shame, not their glory (
Matt 26:52), being the instruments of their violence, the penalty of which they are paying.
28 Yea, thou--Thou, too, Egypt, like them, shalt lie as one vanquished.
29 princes--Edom was not only governed by kings, but by subordinate "princes" ox "dukes" (
Gen 36:40).
with their might--notwithstanding their might, they shall be brought down (
Isa 34:5,
Isa 34:10-
Isa 34:17;
Jer 49:7,
Jer 49:13-
Jer 49:18).
lie with the uncircumcised--Though Edom was circumcised, being descended from Isaac, he shall lie with the uncircumcised; much more shall Egypt, who had no hereditary right to circumcision.
30 princes of the north--Syria, which is still called by the Arabs the north; or the Tyrians, north of Palestine, conquered by Nebuchadnezzar (Eze. 26:1-28:26), [GROTIUS].
Zidonians--who shared the fate of Tyre (
Ezek 28:21).
with their terror they are ashamed of their might--that is, notwithstanding the terror which they inspired in their contemporaries. "Might" is connected by MAURER thus, "Notwithstanding the terror which resulted from their might."
31 comforted--with the melancholy satisfaction of not being alone, but of having other kingdoms companions in his downfall. This shall be his only comfort--a very poor one!
32 my terror--the Margin or Keri. The Hebrew text or Chetib is "his terror," which gives good sense (
Ezek 32:25,
Ezek 32:30). "My terror" implies that God puts His terror on Pharaoh's multitude, as they put "their terror" on others, for example, under Pharaoh-necho on Judea. As "the land of the living" was the scene of "their terror," so it shall be God's; especially in Judea, He will display His glory to the terror of Israel's foes (
Ezek 26:20). In Israel's case the judgment is temporary, ending in their future restoration under Messiah. In the case of the world kingdoms which flourished for a time, they fall to rise no more.
Heretofore his functions had been chiefly threatening; from this point, after the evil had got to its worst in the overthrow of Jerusalem, the consolatory element preponderates.