Chapter Twenty-Nine

Prophecy against Pharaoh

Chapters XXIX–XXXII contain seven discourses against Egypt, which was also Israel’s neighbor, though in a more remote sense, so to say ideally (cf. and , where the southern boundary of the future holy land is called the river of Egypt), but a neighbor nonetheless most significant, powerful, and most damaging and continuing to harm Israel, which is why the prophecy against it is much more extensive than against others and even than the prophecy against Tyre (the latter attracts the prophet’s prophetic attention not so much from its significance for the fate of Israel as from its contemporary magnificence and the manifestation of God’s glory which its fall displayed; thus, so to say, from the momentary importance of the event). Egypt harmed Israel from time immemorial (), and did not cease to harm in Ezekiel’s time (): the immediate cause of the fall of the Judean kingdom was the deceptive hope of help from Egypt (the alliance with it by Zedekiah); this hope did not completely disappear even after the destruction of Jerusalem (the flight of the remaining inhabitants of Judea to Egypt after the murder of Gedaliah: and others). The unreliability of Egypt as an ally, its infidelity to the covenant, which destroyed Judah, is the principal sin of Egypt, for which Ezekiel predicts its destruction. To this sin is added Egypt’s haughtiness, its claims to world dominion, designated by God for Chaldea and the loss of which to her will destroy Egypt. The prophecies fall on the critical time for Egypt when the Babylonian and Egyptian armies advanced against each other, for which Nebuchadnezzar temporarily lifted the siege of Jerusalem, and when the Egyptians, after a small defeat, withdrew and awaited a new attack by the Chaldeans after the conquest of Jerusalem: the dates of the prophecies span the time from the 7th month before the destruction of Jerusalem to 1 year and 2 months after it. The prophecy consists of a threat to Pharaoh (chap. XXIX), Egypt (XXX), a parable of Egypt and its destruction (XXXI), and a lamentation for it (XXXII; in the prophecy against Tyre, the parable — a comparison with a ship — is combined with the lamentation). There is also a prophecy against Egypt in Isaiah (; and ), Jeremiah () and Joel (). Ezek 47:19 Ezek 48:28 Ezek 16:26 Ezek 29:6-7 2 Sam 25:23 Isa 18 Isa 19 Isa 31 Jer 46 Joel 3:19

Ezekiel 29:1. “In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: December–January 587 B.C., apparently when the Egyptian army advanced to relieve Jerusalem from the Chaldeans besieging it, and the Chaldeans indeed temporarily lifted the siege (); this could inspire great hopes and served as the immediate occasion for the prophecy, parallel to the following and following. The Greek has it in the 12th year, not the 10th (the Slavonic — 10), probably from a desire to preserve the chronological order of the prophecies, see . But Ezekiel clearly arranges the prophecies here in geographical order, cf. verse 17 and . In Greek and Slavonic the day is the 1st, not the 12th. Jer 37:5 Jer 37:6 Ezek 26:1 Ezek 30:1

Ezekiel 29:2. “Son of man, turn your face toward Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. The Pharaoh at that time was Hophra Uahshafra, Apries of the classics, who is also had in view in ; the prophet does not name him because the prophecy is directed not personally against him but against his state, which is also made clear by the addition “and against all Egypt.; Ezek 17:7”

Ezekiel 29:3. “Speak and say: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, the great crocodile, which lies in the midst of its rivers, saying, ‘My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.’ The coloring of the description is borrowed from the country. “Crocodile” (Hebrew tannin, properly any sea creature — , Greek δρακων, the Vulgate draco, the Slavonic “serpent,” perhaps in view of ), an animal at once so terrible, repulsive, and revered by the Egyptians, distinctive of the country (now absent from the Delta; two species distinguished by the number and position of scales on the back. Trochon.), was the most fitting image for the proud Egyptian monarchy, less terrible than it seemed, and often becoming the prey of daring enterprisers (Currey according to Tr.). Augustus depicted Egypt after its subjugation on coins in the form of a crocodile. The Arabs mockingly call the crocodile a Pharaoh. — “Lying,” feeling completely safe. That same Hophra, at whose time and against whom this prophecy was written, according to Herodotus (II, 169) said that neither God nor man could take away his kingdom (deposed by Amasis). — “Rivers” — the plural refers to the system of Nile branches and canals. During the 27th dynasty the capital was Sais in the Delta. — “My Nile” — yeor, a word originally applied exclusively to the Nile, taken from the Egyptian (in the Rosetta inscriptions yor, in Coptic yaro) and only later acquired a general meaning of river or canal (; about the Tigris). — “I made it.” A monstrous arrogance, which had a seeming foundation in the fact that the system of canals, which gives the Nile all its significance for Egypt, owes its existence to the Pharaohs; cf. the Dutch saying: “God created the earth, but we created Holland.; Gen 1:21 Exod 7:9 Job 28:10 Dan 12:5-6”

Ezekiel 29:4. “But I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your rivers stick to your scales. I will pull you out of the midst of your rivers, with all the fish of your rivers sticking to your scales. According to Herodotus (II, 70) crocodiles are caught with a hook on which bait of pork is placed; now they are caught more with a gaff or spear; according to and following both methods are equally difficult. — The crocodile was depicted with small fish on its back: hence the further comparison: “the fish clinging to your scales” — the Egyptians, in particular the Pharaoh’s army, which advanced from the country (represented by the river) against the Chaldeans. Job 40:19

Ezekiel 29:5. “And I will cast you into the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers. You will fall upon the open field and will not be gathered or buried. I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and to the birds of the air. Fish on dry land dies; so powerless will the Egyptians be in battle outside their country on open ground. “Wilderness,” perhaps the Arabian, where the armies advancing against each other should meet: the Chaldean (from Jerusalem) and the Egyptian. — “Will not be gathered or buried.” Denial of burial.

Ezekiel 29:6. “And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because you have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. “And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord” — will be convinced that only God is mighty and gives might to whom He wishes. — “You have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel” — an unreliable ally. The comparison carries a local color: the Nile abounds in reeds. A similar comparison in ; . The classics were not of better opinion about Egypt; according to Curtius (4, 1, 29) the Egyptians are an empty people, more capable of innovation than of real action; but Hirtius (De bello Alexandr. XXIV, 1) Caesar considered them a deceitful people, well known in that respect, that they showed one thing and thought another. 2 Sam 18:21 Isa 36:6

Ezekiel 29:7. “When they grasped you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their loins shake. A staff is carried by an old man above all, perhaps an allusion to the weakness of Judah’s old age. The deceptive hope in Egypt hastened the fall of Jerusalem and perhaps worsened the condition of the captives. – “All their shoulder was dislocated,” Old Church Slavonic: “when every hand was raised against them” – it gave way with a crack. – “He wounded all their loins” – an intensification of the previous thought.

Ezekiel 29:8. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring a sword upon you, and I will cut off from you man and animal. The country comes forward in place of the king. See the explanation of Ezek 14:13-17.

Ezekiel 29:9. And the land of Egypt will become a desolation and a waste; and they will know that I am the Lord. Since he says, “My river is mine, and I made it, “And the land of Egypt will become a desolation and a waste.” Egypt today is a desert compared to ancient times. – “He says” – Pharaoh, who again comes forward in place of the country, as its representative. – “My river” – verse 9.

Ezekiel 29:10. Behold, I am against the rivers of you, and I will make the land of Egypt a waste of wastes from Migdol to Syene, to the very border of Ethiopia. “Migdol” Greek Μαγδωλος, a city on the northern border of Egypt with Palestine, already mentioned in Exod 14:2; Num 33:7 (cf. Jer 44:1; Ezek 30:6), according to another – Egyptian Mactol, Coptic Meshtol; according to Itin. Ant. at 12 miles from Pelusium, probably the present Tel es Samut – (judging from the meaning of the name: tower) to the east of Kantara at Lake Manzala (Ebers, Durch Gosen 522 and ff.). Vulgate a turre, treating it as a common noun, an apposition to Syene. Syene, Old Church Slavonic Siine, Greek Συηνη, in inscriptions Sun, Coptic Suan, now Aswan, at the First Nile Cataract, on the right bank; its ruins are somewhat to the southwest of Aswan; on the southern, Ethiopian border of Egypt, just as according to Strabo (118): μεχοι Συηνης και των Αιθιοπικων αρων. Therefore the further “to the very border of Ethiopia,” meaning the same as Syene, its immediate definition.

Ezekiel 29:11. No foot of man shall pass through it, and no foot of animals shall pass through it, and it will not be inhabited for forty years. “No foot of man shall pass through it.” Complete and terrible desolation. Since Egypt was not subjected to such desolation, here is either a hyperbole permissible by the laws of rhetoric, or else God’s judgment was later mitigated, just as in the case of Nineveh such a judgment announced by the prophet Jonah was completely cancelled (Scaliger, Canon isagog. p. 312, who thus explains many prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel). – “Forty years” – a symbolic number of the fullness of punishment and repentance. See the explanation of Ezek 4:6. Since Judah at the same time will bear a punishment of the same duration, the prophet Ezekiel may consider the end of one and the other simultaneous, and connect it with that world upheaval which will accompany the restoration of Israel; cf. Ezek 16:53; Jer 48:47; cf. Isa 23:15 and ff.

Ezekiel 29:12. And I will make the land of Egypt a waste among desolated lands, and its cities among ruined cities will be desolate for forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them throughout the lands. “Among desolated lands” – Edom, Moab, and other countries against which Ezekiel prophesied (Jerome the Blessed) and which will suffer desolation simultaneously with Egypt, as a result of which the picture of desolation will be even more terrible. – “I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations...” – whether through captivity or voluntary emigration from the devastated country due to the difficulty of living in it. It seems life was not sweet for Israel in a foreign land, if Egypt too is not promised any great punishment.

Ezekiel 29:14. And I will restore the captivity of Egypt, and bring them back to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin, and there they shall be a weak kingdom. “Pathros,” Old Church Slavonic “the land of Paphros,” Greek γη Φαθωρης or Παθουρης, in Egyptian “southern land,” i.e., Upper Egypt; according to cuneiform inscriptions Paturizi, in Pliny (5, 9) nom Phaturitis, in Ptolemy (4, 5, 69) κωμη Ταθυρις. Herodotus (II, 4, 15) and Diodorus (I, 50; III, 3) relate that the first Egyptian king Menes was from the city of Tinis in Thebes near Abydos, which served as the capital of the 1st and 2nd dynasty, when the rest of Egypt was still a swamp (only the 3rd dynasty founded Memphis). Hence the further: “to the land of their origin.” As if indicating that the future Egyptian kingdom will be limited to Upper Egypt, the birthplace of this kingdom, whereby it will be remote from the borders of the holy land and will not harm it as before. – “And there they shall be a weak kingdom.” Egypt will never again be a great world power. All the more deceptive was the hope of Judah in it (Hengstenberg).

Ezekiel 29:16. And they shall no longer be a support for the house of Israel, remembering their iniquity when they turn to him; and they shall know that I am the Lord God. “Remembering their iniquity.” The alliance with Egypt seemed to remind God of Israel’s former sins, fulfilled their measure and demanded punishment from God’s justice. Cf. Ezek 21:24. “God, through the reliance which Israel placed on Egypt, could measure all the impiety of the nation, which, hoping in Egypt, thereby injured the glory of His name. But to bring all to the acknowledgment that the one God is mighty, who deserves all hope and glory, – this according to Ezekiel is the goal toward which all history must tend. He is an enemy of politics, and in the hitherto peaceful toward pagans politics of Israel he sees the gangrene of the nation” (Bertholet). Ezek 29:17-21. This contains the 2nd speech against Egypt. It has the latest date in the book of Ezekiel, 2 years after his last great vision of the new temple (Ezek 40). The speech was occasioned by the unsuccessful or not entirely successful outcome of the siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar. As we saw (see the explanation of Ezek 26:10 and 14), the prophet Ezekiel did not predict that Tyre would be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, but only predicted the siege of it by him, which would end (unknown when and by whom) in the complete destruction of Tyre. Nevertheless, the prophecy could have been understood (as it is now understood by rationalist exegetes) in the sense of a prediction of Tyre’s complete defeat by Nebuchadnezzar. The present speech was perhaps occasioned by existing or merely possible rumors of the non-fulfillment of Ezekiel’s prophecy regarding Tyre. The prophet predicts to Nebuchadnezzar in exchange for the incomplete success of the siege of Tyre a completely successful campaign in Egypt. But rationalist criticism also in this case finds fault with Ezekiel, asserting that Nebuchadnezzar did not undertake a campaign against Egypt and that, consequently, this prophecy of Ezekiel’s, like the one against Tyre, did not come to pass. Concerning Nebuchadnezzar’s campaign in Egypt the following speak: 1) Berossus in Josephus (C. App. I, 19), that the Babylonians conquered Egypt just as Syria, Phoenicia, and Arabia; 2) Megasthenes in Strabo (XV, 1, 6), in Josephus (C. App. I, 20) and Abydenus in Eusebius (Praep. evang. IX, 41) speak of Nebuchadnezzar’s campaigns as far as Libya and Iberia and of his reaching even the Pillars of Hercules; 3) Josephus (in Antiqu. 10:9, 7) says that Nebuchadnezzar invaded Egypt, killed Pharaoh Ophru, appointed another in his place, and sent the Jews who had fled there to Babylon. 4) Syncellus (Chonogr. I, 453) says that the Chaldeans abandoned Egypt only out of fear of an earthquake. Doubt regarding Nebuchadnezzar’s campaign is induced by: 1) the silence of Herodotus (II, 161 and ff.) and Diodorus (I, 68); 2) that Josephus, where he speaks of Egypt’s subjugations, does not mention its subjugation by Nebuchadnezzar; 3) that Josephus in his account of Nebuchadnezzar’s campaign in Antiqu. gives no source, and this could have been the prophecies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and that his testimony of the killing of Ophru by Nebuchadnezzar contradicts the Greek historians, according to whom Ophru was killed by his successor Amasis. Without speaking of the weakness of these arguments (Herodotus, for instance, does not mention the battle of Carchemish; he drew from Egyptian sources, concerning which he himself says that Egyptian priests often falsified history), Nebuchadnezzar’s campaign in Egypt is now increasingly confirmed by Egyptian and Babylonian inscriptions. The hieroglyphic Nes-Horins inscription says that in the reign of Ophru an army of Amu (Syrians), Asiatics, and other northern peoples flooded Egypt and penetrated to the first cataracts, but was repulsed from there by the viceroy and the king himself. Babylonian chronicle fragments relate that Nebuchadnezzar in the 37th year undertook a campaign against the land of Mitsr (cf. Mitsvraim, the Hebrew name of Egypt) for war with its king, from whose name only the end azi could be read (Amasis? Schrader, Keilinschr Biblioth. III, 140 and ff. Bertholet).

Ezekiel 29:17. In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: March 571 BC. Fourteen years after the preceding speech.

Ezekiel 29:18. Son of man! Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made his army labor hard against Tyre; every head was rubbed bare, and every shoulder worn smooth; yet he and his army got no reward from Tyre for the labor he expended against it. “Hard labor.” The difficult siege works in general – digging ditches, building trenches and ramparts of stones and sand – at the siege of Tyre reached an incredible degree, as Nebuchadnezzar, probably like Alexander the Great, had to build a dam across the strait. – “Every head was rubbed bare, and every shoulder worn smooth” from bearing weight on them. Old Church Slavonic: “every shoulder was bared” – clothes were torn. – “No reward from Tyre.” It could not be plundered because either it was not taken, or surrendered on favorable terms, or, as Jerome the Blessed says, treasures were carried away on ships when the Tyrians saw the construction of a dam across the strait and considered the taking of the city inevitable.

Ezekiel 29:19. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, so that he may strip it of its wealth and seize plunder in it, and rob what has been plundered by it, and this shall be the reward for his army. “To Nebuchadnezzar” – of course not to him personally, but to his monarchy, of which he was the representative. The conquest of Egypt took place, perhaps, not under Nebuchadnezzar. – “Wealth,” Old Church Slavonic “multitude,” Hebrew hammon admits the idea of population as well; hence also further instead of “plunder” Old Church Slavonic “captivity”; a softening of the Hebrew text.

Ezekiel 29:20. As wages for his labor that he performed, I give him the land of Egypt, because they did it for Me, says the Lord God. “They did it for Me” unconsciously, – in punishment for Israel and to restore the glory of God’s name. In many codices: LXX, Peshitta, Coptic, and Arabic – it is absent.

Ezekiel 29:21. On that day I will make a horn sprout for the house of Israel, and I will open your mouth among them, and they shall know that I am the Lord. The last words that proceeded from the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel, and therefore naturally contain in themselves a prediction of the messianic times: the humiliation of Egypt, the symbol of all the pagan world, will be the day of the triumph of God’s kingdom on earth, – Israel. – “Horn” – strength (1 Sam 2:1; Jer 48:25; Lam 2:3). – “I will open your mouth.” The seeming non-fulfillment of the prophecy concerning Tyre again undermined the authority of the prophet, as the long non-fulfillment of the prophecy of Jerusalem’s destruction once did (Ezek 24:27; cf. Ezek 3:27). The conquest of Egypt, predicted now with such detail, will restore this authority, as the fall of Tyre did earlier. One may understand it generally: with the dawn of Israel’s salvation, i.e., in the Church the prophetic word will resound especially abundantly – as a result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. According to Theodoret the Blessed, the prophet Ezekiel here appears as the representative of all prophets.