Bible Commentaries

Ezekiel 29:2. Set thy face against Pharaoh. Against the dragon, the alligator, for the Nile once had alligators. The figurative language here is very majestic, and calculated to impress the Egyptians with terror.

Ezekiel 29:10. I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate. “In all that time,” says Dr. Smith, “more than two thousand four hundred years, Egypt has produced nothing great or remarkable, either in learning, wisdom, or exploit; but has continued a base tributary kingdom, with out ever having a prince of its own, being always subject to slaves and foreigners. It became first subject to the Babylonians, then to the Persians, afterwards to the Macedonians, then to the Romans. From them it passed to the Saracens, from the Saracens to the Mamelouks, or slave usurpers, and from the Mamelouks to the Ottoman empire; of which it now forms a province, governed by a Turkish Bashaw, and twenty four Beys or chiefs, advanced from among the slaves to the administration of public affairs; (the Egyptians being possessed with a superstitious notion, that it is decreed by fate that slaves must always rule, and the natives be subject.) And who could foresee and foretel the events of such remote futurity, but that omniscient Spirit, who spoke by the prophets, and whose image and superscription all their writings bear?”

Ezekiel 29:11. No foot of man shall pass through it— for forty years. This happened when Nebuchadnezzar invaded the land, took all the strong places, put the citizens to the sword for making resistance, and carried into captivity a remnant fit for servitude. The slaughter was so severe, and the captivity so great, that the land was depopulated.

Ezekiel 29:13-14. At the end of forty years—I will bring again the captivity of Egypt. Xenophon, in his travels or march of Cyrus, Mentions a column of Egyptian soldiers, whom the Persians could not break. After the Babylonians were routed and slaughtered on the plains of Babylon, he sent a trumpeter to them with a flag of truce, to know what they wished to do. In a word, Cyrus gave those brave men emancipation and suitable rewards. They then returned to their own land with honour.

Ezekiel 29:15. Egypt shall be the basest of kingdoms. Cambyses, son of Cyrus, overran it, when like a fool he sent his army against Ethiopia and Libya, without guides and without provisions, to perish in the deserts. The Carthaginians burned and ruined many cities of Egypt. Alexander also conquered Egypt; and lastly, the Romans gained possession of it, and partially held it till it fell under the Mahommedan power. By consequence, it has remained with a limited commerce, without illustrious men, and almost without shipping.

Ezekiel 29:19. I will give Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar, whose army had besieged Tyre for thirteen years; and when about to be taken, the merchants fled with their riches to Carthage, and other places. The Lord therefore promised here to give them the riches of Egypt for their hire. These awful predictions are continued in the next chapter.