Prophecy Against Egypt
The word of the Lord went to Ezekiel and told him to set his face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to prophesy against him and against all of Egypt. He was to tell them the words of the Lord:
“Behold, I am against you,
Pharaoh King of Egypt,
the great dragon that lies
in the midst of his streams,
that says, ‘My Nile is my own;
I made it for myself.’
I will put hooks in your jaws,
and make the fish of your streams
stick to your scales;
and I will draw you up out of the midst
of your streams,
with all the fish of your streams
that stick to your scales.
And I will cast you out into the wilderness,
you and all the fish of your streams;
you shall fall on the open field,
and not be brought together or gathered.
To the beasts of the earth and
to the birds of the heavens
I give you as food.
-Ezekiel 29:3-5
Egypt had been a staff of reed to the house of Israel, and because they had broke and tore them and made all their loins shake, the Lord would send the sword upon them and cut off from them man and beast. The land of Egypt would be a desolation and a waste.
No foot of man or beast would pass through the land, and it would be uninhabited for forty years, and the cities would be a desolation for forty years. The Egyptians would be scattered among the nations, and dispersed throughout the countries.
At the end of forty years, the Egyptians would be gathered from the people among they were scattered, and their fortunes would be brought back to the land of Pathros, and there they would be a lowly kingdom.
It would be the most lowly of kingdoms, and never again exalt itself above nations. It would be so small that they would never again rule over any other nation. It would never be the reliance of the house of Israel, recalling their iniquity, when they turn to them for aid.
The word of the Lord went to Ezekiel concerning Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and said that his army had labored hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that they had performed.
Therefore, the land of Egypt would be given to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he would carry off its wealth and despoil and plunder it. That would be the wages for his army. The Lord would give him the land of Egypt because they had worked for Him.
A Lament for Egypt
“Wail, ‘Alas for the day!’
For the day is near,
the day of the Lord is near;
it will be a day of clouds,
a time of doom for the nations.
A sword shall come upon Egypt,
and anguish shall be in Cush,
when the slain fall in Egypt,
and her wealth is carried away,
and her foundations are torn down.”
-Ezekiel 30:3-4
The Lord said that all those who supported Egypt would fall, and her proud might would come down. From Migdol to Syene would all fall to the sword. They would be desolated in the midst of desolated countries, and their cities would be laid to waste. When the Lord would set fire to Egypt and all her helpers were broken, then they would know Him.
On that day, messengers would go out from Him on ships to terrify unsuspecting people of Cush, and anguish would go upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom.
“I will put an end to the wealth of Egypt,
by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
He and his people with him,
the most ruthless of nations,
shall be brought in to destroy the land,
and they shall draw their swords against Egypt
and fill the land with the slain.
And I will dry up the Nile
and will sell the land into the hand of evildoers;
I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it,
by the hand of foreigners;
I am the Lord; I have spoken.”
-Ezekiel 30:10-12
The Lord would destroy the idols and there would no longer be a prince in the land of Egypt. There would be fear in the land when the lord executed His judgments.
Egypt Shall Fall to Babylon
The Lord had broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and it had not been bound up with a bandage to heal, so that it would become strong to wield the sword. The Lord was against Pharaoh and would break both his strong arm and the already broken one, so the sword would fall from his hands. He would groan before the king of Babylon like a man mortally wounded.
The Egyptians would be scattered among the nations and dispersed throughout the countries. The Lord would strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put His sword in his hand and stretch it out against the land of Egypt.
Pharaoh to Be Slain
The Lord told Ezekiel to speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt and his multitude and say:
“Whom are you like in your greatness?
Behold, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon,
with the beautiful branches and forest shade,
and of towering height,
its top among the clouds.
The waters nourished it;
the deep made it grow tall,
making its rivers flow
around the place of its planting,
sending forth its streams
to all the trees of the field.
So it towered high
above all the trees of the field;
its boughs grew large
and its branches long
from abundant water in its shoots.
All the birds of the heavens
made their nests in its boughs;
under its branches all the beasts of the field
gave birth to their young,
and under its shadow
lived all great nations.
It was beautiful in its greatness,
in the length of its branches;
for its roots went down
to abundant waters.
The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it,
nor the fir trees equal its boughs;
neither were the plane trees
like its branches;
no tree in the garden of God
was its equal in beauty.
I made it beautiful
in the mass of its branches,
and all the trees of Eden envied it,
that were in the garden of God.
-Ezekiel 31:3-9
Because it towered high and set its top among the clouds, and its heart was proud of its height, the Lord would give it into the hand of the mighty one of the nations. He would deal with it as its wickedness deserved, for the Lord had cast it out.
Foreigners, the most ruthless of nations, had cut it down and left it. Its branches had fallen, and its boughs were broken. All the people of the earth had gone away from its shadow and left it.
On its fallen trunk dwell the birds of the heavens, and on its branches are all the beasts of the field. All this was in order that no trees by the waters would grow to towering heights or set their tops among the clouds. For they were all given over to death, to the world below, among the children of man, with those who go down to the pit.
The Lord said that on the day the Cedar went down to Sheol He caused mourning. He clothed Lebanon in gloom, and made the nations quake at the sound of its fall.
To start at the beginning of the Book of Ezekiel click here:
Day 244, Ezekiel 27-28
To start at the very beginning of this Bible Journey click here:
Day 1, Genesis 1-3