Bible Commentaries

Ezekiel 30:1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

Ver. 1. The word of the Lord.] See Ezekiel 18:1.

Ezekiel 30:2 Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD Howl ye, Woe worth the day!

Ver. 2. Woe worth the day.] Ah! de die ista. This shall be the voice much more of reprobates at that last "day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." [Romans 2:5] Enoch foretold this dreadful day before Noah predicted the deluge. That day is longer before it comes, but shall be more terrible when it is come.

Ezekiel 30:3 For the day [is] near, even the day of the LORD [is] near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen.

Ver. 3. A cloudy day.] Heb., A day of a cloud, which was rarely seen in Egypt.

Ezekiel 30:4 And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.

Ver. 4. Great pain.] Heb., Pain upon pain, as the throes in childbirth.

Ezekiel 30:5 Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.

Ver. 5. Chub.] Certain Africans, who shall be worse put to it than were those succeeding Africans, who had a prophecy (but not of like credit with this of Ezekiel), that when the Romans sent an army into their country, Mundus cum tota sua prole periret, which made them think the world should then be at an end. But afterwards the Romans sent an army thither under the conduct of one Mundus, who in battle was slain, together with his sons, by the Africans, and discovered the illusion of the devil. The Septuagint render Chub Spaniards, which I like the better, saith Lavater, ^(a) because Strabo saith Nebuchadnezzar came with his victorious army as far as Spain.

Ezekiel 30:6 Thus saith the LORD They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.

Ver. 6. They that uphold Egypt shall fall,] i.e., Their confederates; or, as some, their tutelar gods. Herodotus writeth that Cambyses wasted with the sword Egypt and Ethiopia, killed their god Apis, and defaced all their idols. This he did, doubtless, rather in scorn of all religion than hatred of idolatry.

And the pride of her power shall come down.] Tumbling down as a great and weighty bullet from a very high and steep mountain.

From the tower of Syene.] See Ezekiel 29:10.

Ezekiel 30:7 And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries [that are] desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities [that are] wasted.

Ver. 7. And they shall be desolate.] See Ezekiel 29:10.

Ezekiel 30:8 And they shall know that I [am] the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and [when] all her helpers shall be destroyed.

Ver. 8. And they shall know that I am the Lord.] Men will not take knowledge of this till they have paid for their learning, Vexatio dat intellectum. Smart makes wit. ^(a)

When I have set a fire in Egypt.] War is fitly compared to fire; it feeds upon the people. See Isaiah 9:19. {See Trapp on "Isaiah 9:19"}

Ezekiel 30:9 In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it cometh.

Ver. 9. In that day shall messengers go forth from me,] i.e., The Chaldeans, by an instinct from me to subdue Ethiopia also.

In ships.] For Nile was navigable:

“ Lene fluit Nile. ” - Claudian.

To make the careless Ethiopians.] Heb., Confident Cush. Security ushereth in calamity.

As in the day of Egypt.] That cloudy day, [Ezekiel 30:3] when clouds of blood were dissolved upon them. Or that dismal day of old, when they perished in the Red Sea. [Exodus 15:10]

Ezekiel 30:10 Thus saith the Lord GOD I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.

Ver. 10. I will also make the multitude.] Or, The great noise and hurry. They shall have no more cause to complain that they are too many of them, so that they cannot one live by another.

Ezekiel 30:11 He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain.

Ver. 11. The terrible of the nations.] Tyranni gentium. Homo homini lupus.

Ezekiel 30:12 And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I the LORD have spoken [it].

Ver. 12. And I will make the rivers dry.] The Chaldees shall drink them up; {as 2 Kings 19:24} or I will dry them up, for a punishment of your vain trust in them, and boasting of them. [Ezekiel 29:3; Ezekiel 29:9]

And sell the land.] Pass it away utterly from you. "The earth is the Lord’s"; he is the true proprietary.

Ezekiel 30:13 Thus saith the Lord GOD I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause [their] images to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.

Ver. 13. I will also destroy their idols.] He did so by Cambyses. See on Ezekiel 30:6. He doth so still by the Turks. When they invade Popish countries, they break down their mawmets.

Out of Noph.] Called also Moph, [Hosea 9:6] afterwards Memphis (the metropolis of idolatry; Nazianzen calleth it ανοια, the mad city, because ειδωλομανης, madly set upon idols, Apis especially), afterwards Babylon, and now Alcair; famous for its incredible greatness, fair situation, pillars and pyramids. It was the seat royal of the sultans, till taken by the Turks from Camson Gaurus and the Mamelukes about the year 1515.

And there shall be no more a prince.] For forty years at least.

Ezekiel 30:14 And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No.

Ver. 14. And I will set fire.] See on Ezekiel 30:8.

In Zoan.] Or Tanis, the inhabitants whereof are said to be those giants called Titans.

And will execute judgments in No.] Populous No, [Nahum 3:8] called afterwards Alexandria, now Scanderoon.

Ezekiel 30:15 And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the strength of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No.

Ver. 15. And I will pour my fury upon Sin.] ^(a) Called afterwards Pelusium, and now Damiata.

The strength of Egypt.] The key of the kingdom.

Ezekiel 30:16 And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph [shall have] distresses daily.

Ver. 16. I will set fire in Egypt.] See Ezekiel 30:8.

Ezekiel 30:17 The young men of Aven and of Pibeseth shall fall by the sword: and these [cities] shall go into captivity.

Ver. 17. Aven.] Called also Heliopolis, and Thebe.

Phibeseth.] Or Bubastis, called by Ptolemy, Heroum civitas.

Ezekiel 30:18 At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt: and the pomp of her strength shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity.

Ver. 18. At Tehaphnehes.] Or, Daphne, the gate of Egypt, at which the Chaldees entered.

A cloud shall cover her.] See Ezekiel 30:3.

Ezekiel 30:19 Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I [am] the LORD.

Ver. 19. And they shall know.] See on Ezekiel 30:8.

Ezekiel 30:20 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first [month], in the seventh [day] of the month, [that] the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Ver. 20. In the eleventh year.] The year wherein Jerusalem was destroyed, notwithstanding Pharaoh’s fair promises and proffers to relieve her.

Ezekiel 30:21 Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword.

Ver. 21. I have broken the arm.] Ita ut nulla arte vel ope; so that by no means or medicines it can be made whole again. Losses received in war can hardly be repaired.

Ezekiel 30:22 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD Behold, I [am] against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand.

Ver. 22. And will break his arms.] I will utterly disable him, and drive the field of him. He shall neither be able to defend himseff or offend his enemy. See Psalms 37:17.

Ezekiel 30:23 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.

Ver. 23. And I will scatter the Egyptians.] Send them captive into other countries, as by a whirlwind or hurricane. This metaphor we have often met with. He was afterwards hanged.

Ezekiel 30:24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh’s arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded [man].

Ver. 24. And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon.] ^(a) God, as he sends the sword, [Ezekiel 14:17] musters the men, [Isaiah 13:4] orders the ammunition, [Jeremiah 50:25] renders the weapons vain or prosperous, [Isaiah 54:17] so he strengtheneth and weakeneth the arm of either party.

Ezekiel 30:25 But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I [am] the LORD, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt.

Ver. 25. But I will strengthen.] See Ezekiel 30:25.

And they shall know.] See on Ezekiel 30:8.

Ezekiel 30:26 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I [am] the LORD.

Ver. 26. See Ezekiel 30:23. They would hardly believe it, and therefore are so often assured of it.