Barnes' Notes And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, In the twelfth month - About one year and seven months after the destruction of Jerusalem. In the meantime had occurred the murder of Gedaliah and the flight into Egypt of the Jews left behind by the Chaldaeans Jeremiah 41-43. Jeremiah, who had accompanied them, foretold their ruin Jeremiah 44 in a prophecy probably contemporaneous with the present - the sixth against Egypt, delivered in the form of a dirge Ezekiel 44:2-16.
Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers. Thou art like ... - Rather, Thou wouldest be like to (others, "wast likened unto") a young lion.
And thou art - In contrast to what thou wouldest be. A whale - Rather, crocodile (marginal reference note). Pharaoh should have been like the king of beasts, but he is a mere sea-monster. There is strong irony here, because the Egyptian king was proud of the comparison between himself and the mighty crocodile. Seas - The word is often used of the waters of a great river, like the Nile. Thou camest forth with thy rivers - Rather, thou didst burst forth in "thy rivers" as the crocodile does from the water into which he has plunged. Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net.
Then will I leave thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee.
And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height. The prophet passes from the image of the crocodile to that of dead bodies of the slain heaped up on the land. Some render "height," "foulness."
I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.
All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known. When I shall bring thy destruction - i. e., the news of thy destruction. The phenomena here mentioned are the accompaniments of "the day of the Lord" Joel 2:10; Luke 21:25 or the day of judgment. The fall of Pharaoh represents the fall of the world-power before the sovereignty of God.
Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall.
For thus saith the Lord GOD; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee.
By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them: and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed.
I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from beside the great waters; neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them.
Then will I make their waters deep, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord GOD. A promise of a return of God's favor. This concerns not the restoration of Egypt's original power, but the establishment of the Divine Ruler in the place of a pagan God-opposing power.
When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country shall be destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall smite all them that dwell therein, then shall they know that I am the LORD.
This is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her: the daughters of the nations shall lament her: they shall lament for her, even for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saith the Lord GOD. Daughters of the nations - Pagan kingdoms.
It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, The seventh prophecy against Egypt Ezekiel 32:17-32. A funeral dirge founded on Ezekiel 31:18. The figure is the same as in Isaiah 14, where see the notes. In this dirge Pharaoh is especially addressed. The other nations are represented by their kings, the nations' overthrow being depicted by the king's body laid low in the grave.
The month - i. e., the twelfth (see Ezekiel 32:1). Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit.
Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised. whom dost thou pass in beauty? - Thou art not more beautiful than other nations: thou shalt not escape their fate.
They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword: draw her and all her multitudes. She is delivered to the sword - Rather, the sword is put forth. Draw her down as one dragged to execution.
The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword. The uncircumcised - throughout this dirge is equivalent to pagan viewed as impure (Ezekiel 31:18 note).
Asshur is there and all her company: his graves are about him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword: In Jeremiah 25 there is an enumeration of nations destined to be subject to the fury of the Chaldaeans. Here we find those of them who had already fallen not named by Jeremiah. Asshur is the king of Assyria, representing as usual the whole nation. The king is surrounded by the graves of his people.
Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is round about her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living.
There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit. See the marginal referenc. Elam answers to the country known to the Greeks and Romans as Elymais, near Persia and Media. The Elamites were a fierce and warlike people. In the records of Assurbanipal his final triumph over Elam seems to have been one of his proudest boasts. Elam no doubt in the decline of Assyrian power again asserted its independence and was again crushed by the Chaldaean conqueror.
They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of them that be slain.
There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living.
And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. And they shall not lie - Better, "Shall they not lie?" or, "Are they not laid?" The custom of burying warriors with their swords, shields, or helmets, raider their heads is well known, and common to most warlike nations.
But their iniquities ... - They, rested in all the glories of a warrior's sepulture, but their sins followed them to the grave. Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword.
There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit.
There be the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit. The princes of the north - i. e., north of Palestine - The Tyrians and the Syrians.
With their terror they are ashamed of their might - i. e., "When their might and power were terrible to all, they were shorn of their power and delivered over to shame and confusion." There are here six nations, Asshur, Elam, Meshech, Tubal, Edom, Zidon, which added to Egypt make up seven (see the Ezekiel 25:1 note). The section which contains the prophecies against the pagan, closing with this description of the kings who had gone down to the grave, accords with the general purport of the whole section, namely,: the declaration that all the powers of the world shall be annihilated to make way for the kingdom of God. Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD. Comforted - By the knowledge that his ruin is no more than that of every world-power.
For I have caused my terror in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD. My terror - Better "his terror," the terror caused by him. The land of the living - The land of God's people. It was Yahweh who caused Pharaoh to be terrible to His people, and now, when the time is come, Pharaoh is fallen, and he is laid etc. Notes on the Bible by Albert Barnes [1834]. Text Courtesy of Internet Sacred Texts Archive. Bible Apps.com |
