Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Ezekiel-Chapter 32

Ezek 32.1-32 contains several other prophecies about the destruction of Egypt and Pharaoh. Like Ezek 29, this chapter will also allude to Europe and the False Messiah and their destruction during the birth-pains. As we have seen in previous chapters, Ezekiel is told to take up a lamentation over Egypt. Israel’s prophets wept and mourned for non-Jewish nations also because Yehovah takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek 33.1).

v 1…And it came about in the twelfth year (of Yehoichin’s captivity and about eighteen months after the fall of Jerusalem), in the twelfth month (Adar), on the first of the month (a new moon), that the word of the Lord came to me saying,

v 2…”Son of man (mortal human being; Ezekiel represents the people), take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt (possibly Hophra) and say to him, ‘You compared yourself to a young lion (strong and fierce) of the nations, yet you are like the monster (Hebrew “tannim” or dragon and is the same as Leviathan in Isa 27.1 and Ezek 29.3, a type of the False Messiah) in the seas (nations-Rev 13.1); and you burst forth in your rivers (with his armies), and muddied the waters with your feet (churning through conquest) and fouled their rivers (by war and slavery).'”

v 3…Thus says the Lord God (Adonai Yehovah), “Now I will spread my net (Babylon) over you with a company of many peoples (Babylon had many nations allied with them), and they will lift you up in my net (Hebrew “in my destructive net” like a fisherman’s net captures a fish or a crocodile).

v 4…And I will leave you on the land; I will cast you on the open field (to die unburied). And I will cause all the birds of the heavens to dwell on you, and I will satisfy the beasts of the whole earth with you (the soldiers of his army will fall in battle, and they will be plundered by the Babylonians. This also alludes to the army of the False Messiah who will be defeated by Yeshua and left to be food for the birds and beasts, called the Feast of Leviathan-Rev 19.17).

v 5…And I will lay your flesh on the mountains (they ran there), and fill the valleys with your refuse (they fell in great numbers).

v 6…I will also make the land drink the discharge of your blood, as far as the mountains, and the ravines shall be full of you (a nationwide slaughter).

v 7…And when I extinguish you (put your lights out), I will cover the heavens; and darken the stars; I will cover the sun in a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light (the defeat of Egypt is a picture of the defeat of every world power in the birth-pains).

v 8…All the shining lights (any other luminary) in the heavens I will darken over you and will set darkness on your land,” declares the Lord God (an allusion to the thick darkness over Egypt during the plagues in Egypt, but also alludes to the darkness over the kingdom of the False Messiah during the birth-pains-Exo 10.21).

v 9…I will also trouble the hearts of many peoples (with fear and anxiety), when I bring your destruction among the nations, into lands which you have not known (if Egypt can fall, nobody is safe).

v 10…And I will make many peoples appalled at you (stunned), and their kings shall be horribly afraid of you (or concerning you) when I brandish my sword (Babylon) before them (when it falls on Egypt); and they shall tremble every moment (continually); every man for his own life on the day of your fall (fearing they are next).”

v 11…For thus says the Lord God, “The sword of the king of Babylon (Nebuchadnezzar) shall come upon you.

v 12…By the swords of the mighty ones (the Babylonian soldiers) I will cause your multitude to fall (the people of Egypt); all of them are tyrants (terrible) of the nations (several nations with Babylon), and they shall devastate the pride of Egypt (cut off Pharaoh and his nobility), and all its multitude shall be destroyed (the people of the land).

v 13…I will destroy all its cattle from beside many waters (the canals); and the foot of man shall not muddy them anymore (so few animals and people were left that the waters will be undisturbed).

v 14…Then I will make their waters settle (the churning has stopped), and I will cause their rivers to run like oil (smoothly, clear because the mud is not being churned up),” declares the Lord.

v 15…”When I make the land of Egypt a desolation (through war and captivity), and the land is destitute of that which filled it (of men, produce and animals), when I smite all those who live in it, then they shall know that I am the Lord (when this happens it will be proof that he has spoken).”

v 16…This is a lamentation and they (Egyptians) shall chant it. The daughters of the nations shall chant it (those in alliance with Egypt). Over Egypt and over all her multitude they shall chant it,” declares the Lord God (because of the destruction of the land and for the many peoples who were slain).

Ezek 32.17-32 is a second lamentation that tells us Egypt, like other great nations, has been consigned to Sheol and expands on the previous thoughts in Ezek 31. This will also allude to the fate of the kingdom of the False Messiah after they are defeated in the birth-pains.

v 17…And it came about in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth of the month (of Adar and fourteen days after 32.1-16), that the word of the Lord came to me saying,

v 18…”Son of man (mortal human being), wail for the multitude of Egypt and bring it down (predict their fate), her and the daughters of the powerful (“adirim” or powerful is written in Hebrew without the two yods to show how small a “mighty” nation really is compared to God’s predictions) nations, to the nether world (“tachti’ot” or the mass grave of the wicked-Sheol) with those who go down to the pit (realm of the dead);

v 19…’Whom do you surpass in beauty (nations greater than Egypt were brought down)? Go down and make your bed with the uncircumcised (other unfruitful and unreceptive nations).

v 20…They shall fall in the midst of those who were slain by the sword (go down to the grave/pit with the rest of them). She is given over to the sword (according to Yehovah’s judgment); they have drawn her and all her multitudes away (to be buried).

v 21…The strong among the mighty ones shall speak of him (Pharaoh and later the False Messiah) and his helpers from the midst of Sheol, ‘They have gone down, they lie still, the uncircumcised (unfruitful), slain by the sword.’

v 22…Assyria is there (waiting on Egypt; the first of six nations mentioned, three great and three of lesser stature; its monarchy has fallen some time before this and nobles speak of him; Assyria is a picture of Russia in eschatology and she will fall in the last days) and all her company; her graves are round about her (the soldiers are about the king), all of them slain, fallen by the sword (of their enemies),

v 23…whose graves are set in the remotest parts of the pit (in darkness, surrounded by those nearest to him), and her company is around her grave. All of them are fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living (Israel and the world).

v 24…Elam is there (waiting on Egypt, where Shushan of Persia was-Dan 8.2) and all her multitude around her grave (of the kings of Persia), all of them slain, fallen by the sword to the lower parts of the earth, who instilled terror in the land of the living (Israel and the world), and bore their disgrace with those who went down to the pit.

v 25…They have made a bed (grave is like a bed-Isa 57.2) for her (Persia) among the slain with all her multitude. Her graves are around it (the kings of Persia), they are all uncircumcised (unfruitful), slain by the sword (although their terror was instilled in the land of the living), and they bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit; they were put in the midst of the slain (having fallen).

v 26…Meshech, Tubal and all their multitude are there (the Scythians); their graves are around about him (the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal-Ezek 38.2). All of them were slain by the sword uncircumcised), though they instilled their terror in the land of the living (Israel and the world).

v 27…Nor do they lie beside the fallen heroes of the uncircumcised (those buried with honor as soldier/heroes), who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war (that were not taken from them), and whose swords were laid under their beds (they did not fall by it), but the punishment for their iniquities rested on their bones (their death did not atone for their sins even though they died bravely or as a hero), though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living (even powerful kings and warriors were in terror of them).

v 28…But in the midst of the uncircumcised (unfruitful, pagans) you (Scythians) will be broken (defeated) and lie with those slain by the sword (be buried with them in a common pit).

v 29…There also is Edom (Ezekiel now groups those near to Israel), its kings and all its princes, who for all their might are laid with those slain by the sword, they will lie with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit (they were physically circumcised as sons of Abraham, but they were spiritually unfruitful and this did not save them).

v 30…There also are the chiefs of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians (near Tyre), who in spite of the terror resulting from their might, in shame went down with the slain. So they lay down uncircumcised with those slain by the sword, and bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit.

v 31…These Pharaoh (and the False Messiah eventually) will see, and he will be comforted (because others are sharing the same pain he is, lots of company) for all his multitude slain by the sword, even Pharaoh and all his army,” declares the Lord God (Adonai Yehovah).

v 32…Though I (Yehovah) instilled a terror of him (Pharaoh, False Messiah) in the land of the living (Israel and the world), yet he will be made to lie down among the uncircumcised along with those slain by the sword, even Pharaoh (in life he caused terror, but now he is sent to Sheol) and his multitude,” declares the Lord God.

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

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