15 It shall be the base of the kingdoms; neither shall it any more lift itself up above the nations: and I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.
Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause the images to cease from Memphis; and there shall be no more a prince from the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt.
He will pass through the sea of affliction, And will strike the waves in the sea, And all the depths of the Nile will dry up; And the pride of Assyria will be brought down, And the scepter of Egypt will depart.
that the kingdom might be base, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand.
Son of man, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude: Whom are you like in your greatness?
Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and tell him, You were likened to a young lion of the nations: yet are you as a monster in the seas; and you did break forth with your rivers, and troubled the waters with your feet, and fouled their rivers.
Are you better than No-Amon,{or, Thebes} who was situated among the rivers, who had the waters around her; whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was of the sea? Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength. Put and Libya were her helpers.
He shall stretch forth his hand also on the countries; and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ezekiel 29
Commentary on Ezekiel 29 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 29
Three chapters we had concerning Tyre and its king; next follow four chapters concerning Egypt and its king. This is the first of them. Egypt had formerly been a house of bondage to God's people; of late they had had but too friendly a correspondence with it, and had depended too much upon it; and therefore, whether the prediction reached Egypt or no, it would be of use to Israel, to take them off from their confidence in their alliance with it. The prophecies against Egypt, which are all laid together in these four chapters, were of five several dates; the first in the 10th year of the captivity (v. 1), the second in the 27th (v. 17), the third in the 11th year and the first month (ch. 30:20), the fourth in the 11th year and the third month (ch. 31:1), the fifth in the 12th year (ch. 32:1), and another in the same year (v. 17). In this chapter we have,
Eze 29:1-7
Here is,
Eze 29:8-16
This explains the foregoing prediction, which was figurative, and looks something further. Here is a prophecy,
Eze 29:17-21
The date of this prophecy is observable; it was in the twenty-seventh year of Ezekiel's captivity, sixteen years after the prophecy in the former part of the chapter, and almost as long after those which follow in the next chapters; but it comes in here for the explication of all that was said against Egypt. After the destruction of Jerusalem Nebuchadnezzar spent two or three campaigns in the conquest of the Ammonites and Moabites and making himself master of their countries. Then he spent thirteen years in the siege of Tyre. During all that time the Egyptians were embroiled in war with the Cyrenians and one with another, by which they were very much weakened and impoverished; and just at the end of the siege of Tyre God delivers this prophecy to Ezekiel, to signify to him that that utter destruction of Egypt which he had foretold fifteen or sixteen years before, which had been but in part accomplished hitherto, should now be completed by Nebuchadnezzar. The prophecy which begins here, it should seem, is continued to the twentieth verse of the next chapter. And Dr. Lightfoot observes that it is the last prophecy we have of this prophet, and should have been last in the book, but is laid here, that all the prophecies against Egypt might come together. The particular destruction of Pharaoh-Hophrah, foretold in the former part of this chapter, was likewise foretold Jer. 44:30. This general devastation of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar was foretold Jer. 43:10. Observe,