A Lament over Pharaoh and Egypt
The word of the Lord went to Ezekiel and told him to raise a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him:
“You consider yourself a lion of the nations,
but you are like a dragon in the seas;
you burst forth in your rivers,
trouble the waters with your feet,
and foul their rivers.
Thus says the Lord God:
I will throw my net over you
with a host of many peoples,
and they will haul you up in my dragnet.
And I will cast you on the ground;
on the open field I will fling you,
and will cause all the birds of the heavens to settle on you,
and I will gorge the beasts of the whole earth with you.
I will strew your flesh upon the mountains
and fill the valleys with your carcass.
I will drench the land even to the mountains
with your flowing blood,
and the ravines will be full of you.
When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens
and make their stars dark;
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
and the moon shall not give its light.
All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over you,
and put darkness on your land,
declares the Lord God.”
-Ezekiel 32:1-8
Ezekiel continued saying that destruction would fall upon the nations, and into the countries. Many people would be appalled at Egypt, and they would all tremble for their own lives on the day of her downfall. The sword of the king of Babylon would fall upon them, and her multitude would fall by the swords of the most ruthless of nations.
“They shall bring to ruin the pride of Egypt,
and all its multitude shall perish.
I will destroy all its beasts
from beside many waters;
and no foot of man shall trouble them anymore,
nor shall the hoofs of beasts trouble them.
Then I will make their waters clear,
and cause their rivers to run like oil,
declares the Lord God.
When I make the land of Egypt desolate,
and when the land is desolate of all that fills it,
when I strike down all who dwell in it,
then they will know that I am the Lord.”
-Ezekiel 32:12-15
This lamentation was to be chanted over all her multitude, and Ezekiel was to wail over the multitude of Egypt, and send them down to the world below, to those who had gone down to the pit.
Assyria, Elam, Meshech-Tubal, Edom, the princes of the north, and all the Sidonians who had been slain were all there. When Pharaoh would see them, he would be comforted for all his multitude who were slain by the sword.
Ezekiel is Israel’s Watchman
The Lord spoke to Ezekiel and told him that He would send the sword upon a land, and the people needed to choose a man from among them and make him their watchman.
The watchman would see the sword coming upon the land and blow a trumpet to warn the people. Anyone who would hear the sound of the trumpet that did not take warning and was taken away by the sword, would have their own blood upon themselves. If they heard the trumpet and took warning, then they would save their own lives.
But, if the watchman saw the sword coming and did not blow the trumpet to warn anyone, and the sword came and took any one of them, then that person’s blood would require the watchman’s hand.
So, the Lord made Ezekiel the watchman for the house of Israel. When he heard a word from the Lord, he was to give them warning from Him. If the Lord said to the wicked, “you shall surely die,” and if Ezekiel did not warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked person’s blood would be on Ezekiel’s hands.
But, if the Ezekiel were to warn the wicked to turn from his ways, and he still did not, that person would die in his iniquity, but Ezekiel would have delivered his soul.
Why Will You Die, Israel?
Ezekiel was to speak to the house of Israel for their transgressions and sins that were upon them. He was to say to them, “As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?”
Though they were told, the righteous will surely live, yet if he trusted in his righteousness and did injustice, none of his righteous deeds would be remembered, but in his injustice that he had done would die.
Again, it was told to the wicked, “You shall surely die,” yet if they turned from their sin and did what was right and just, and the wicked restored the pledge and walked in the statutes of life and did not do injustice, he would surely live. None of the sins that he committed would be remembered against him if he did what was just and right.
Yet, the people said that the way of the Lord was not just, when it was really their own way that wasn’t. Each person would be judged according to their ways.
“When the righteous turns from his righteousness
and does injustice,
he shall die for it.
And when the wicked turns from his wickedness
and does what is just and right,
he shall live by this.”
-Ezekiel 33:18-19
Jerusalem Struck Down
A fugitive went to Ezekiel and told him that Jerusalem had been struck down. The hand of the Lord had been upon Ezekiel the evening before the fugitive arrived, and had opened his mouth by the time the man had gotten there in the morning.
The word of the Lord went to Ezekiel and told him that the people were complaining that, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he got possession of the land; but we are many; the land is surely given us to possess.’
Therefore, Ezekiel was to remind them of all their abominations and sinful things they had done, and said how the land would be made a desolation and the people would fall to the sword. The proud might of Israel would come to an end, then they would know the Lord.
Ezekiel spoke to the people and said,
‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’
“And they come to you as people come,
and they sit before you as my people,
and they hear what you say
but they will not do it;
for with lustful talk in their mouths they act;
their heart is set on their gain.
And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument,
for they hear what you say,
but they will not do it.
When this comes–and come it will!–
then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
-Ezekiel 33:30