Ezekiel 32:17 Komentář

Still we are upon the destruction of Pharaoh and Egypt, which is wonderfully enlarged upon, and with a great deal of emphasis. When we read so very much of Egypt's ruin, no less than six several prophecies at divers times delivered concerning it, we are ready to think, Surely there is some special reason for it. And, I. Perhaps it may look as far back as the book of Genesis, where we find (Gen 15:14) that God determined to judge Egypt for oppressing his people; and, though that was in part fulfilled in the plagues of Egypt and the drowning of Pharaoh, yet, in this destruction, here foretold, those old scores were reckoned for, and that was to have its full accomplishment. II. Perhaps it may look as far forward as the book of the Revelation, where we find that the great enemy of the gospel-church, that makes war with the Lamb, is spiritually called Egypt, Rev 11:8. And, if so, the destruction of Egypt and its Pharaoh was a type of the destruction of that proud enemy; and between this prophecy of the ruin of Egypt and the prophecy of the destruction of the antichristian generation there is some analogy. We have two distinct prophecies in this chapter relating to Egypt, both in the same month, one on the 1st day, the other that day fortnight, probably both on the sabbath day. They are both lamentations, not only to signify how lamentable the fall of Egypt should be, but to intimate how much the prophet himself should lament it, from a generous principle of love to mankind. The destruction of Egypt is here represented under two similitudes: - 1. The killing of a lion, or a whale, or some such devouring creature (v. 1-16). 2. The funeral of a great commander or captain-general (v. 17-32). The two prophecies of this chapter are much of the same length.

This prophecy concludes and completes the burden of Egypt, and leaves it and all its multitude in the pit of destruction. I. We are here invited to attend the funeral of that once flourishing kingdom, to lament its fall, and to take a view of those who attend it to the grave and accompany it in the grave. 1. This dead corpse of a kingdom is here brought to the grave. The prophet is ordered to cast them down to the pit (Eze 32:18), to foretel their destruction as one that had authority, as Jeremiah was set over the kingdoms, Jer 1:10. He must speak in God's name, and as from him who will cast them down. Yet he must foretel it as one that had an affectionate concern for them; he must wail for the multitude of Egypt, even when he casts them down. When Egypt is slain, let her have an honourable funeral, befitting her quality; let her be buried with the daughters of the famous nations, in their burying-places and with the same ceremony. It is but a poor allay to the reproach and terror of death to be buried with those that were famous; yet this is all that is allowed to Egypt. Shall Egypt think to exempt herself from the common fate of proud and imperious nations? No; she must take her lot with them (Eze 32:19): "Whom dost thou surpass in beauty? Art thou so much fairer than any other nation that thou shouldst expect therefore to be excused? No; others as fair as thou have sunk into the pit; go down therefore, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised. Thou art like them and art likely to lie among them. The multitude of Egypt shall all fall in the midst of those that are slain with the sword, now that there is a general slaughter made among the nations." Egypt with the rest must drink of the bloody cup, and therefore she is delivered to the sword, to the sword of war (but, in God's hand, the sword of justice), is delivered to be publicly executed. Draw her and all her multitude; draw them either as the dead bodies of great men are drawn in honour to the grave, in a hearse, or as malefactors are drawn in disgrace to the place of execution, on a sledge; draw them to the pit, and let them be made a spectacle to the world. 2. This corpse of a kingdom is bid welcome to the grave, and Pharaoh is made free of the congregation of the dead, and admitted into their regions, not without some pomp and ceremony. As the surprising fall of the king of Babylon is thus illustrated, Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming, and to introduce thee into those mansions of darkness (Isa 14:9, etc.), so here (Eze 32:21), They shall speak to him out of the midst of hell, as it were congratulating his arrival and calling him to join with them in acknowledging that which neither he nor they would be brought to own when they were in their pomp and pride, that it is in vain to think of contesting with God, and none ever hardened their hearts against him and prospered. They shall say to him, and to those that pretended to help him, Where are you now? What have you brought your attempts to at last? Divers nations are here mentioned as gone down to the grave before Egypt that are ready to give her a scornful reception and upbraid her with coming to them at last. These nations here spoken of were probably such as had been of late years ruined and wasted by the king of Babylon, and their princes cut off; let Egypt know that she has neighbour's fare. When she goes to the grave she does but migrare ad plures - migrate to the majority; there are innumerable before her. But it is observable that though Judah and Jerusalem were just about this time, or a little before, utterly ruined and laid waste, yet they are not mentioned here among the nations that welcome Egypt to the pit; for though they suffered the same things that these nations suffered, and by the same hand, yet the kind intentions of their affliction, and its happy issue at last, and the mercy God had yet in reserve for them, altered the property of it; it was not to them a going down to the pit, as it was to the heathen; they were not smitten as others were, nor slain according to the slaughter of other nations, Isa 27:7. But let us see who those are that have gone to the grave before Egypt, that lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword, with whom she must now take up her lodging. (1.) There lie the Assyrian empire, and all the princes and mighty men of that monarchy (Eze 32:22): Asshur is there and all her company, all the countries that were tributaries to and had dependence upon that crown. That mighty potentate who used to lie in state, with his guards and grandees about him, now lies in obscurity, with his graves about him and his soldiers in them, unable any longer to do him service or honour; they are all of them slain, fallen by the sword. The number of their months was cut off in the midst, and, being bloody and deceitful men, they were not suffered to live out half their days. Their braves were set in the sides of the pit, all in a row, like beds in a common chamber, Eze 32:23. All their company is such as were slain, fallen by the sword; a vast congregation there is of such, who had caused terror in the land of the living. But as the death of those to whom they were a terror put an end to their fears (in the grave the prisoners rest together and hear not the voice of the oppressor, Job 3:18), so the death of these mighty men puts an end to their terrors. Who is afraid of a dead lion? Note, Death will be a king of terrors to those who, instead of making themselves blessings, make themselves terrors, in their generation. (2.) There lies the kingdom of Persia, which perhaps within the memory of man at that time had been wasted and brought down: There is Elam and all her multitude, the king of Elam and his numerous armies, Eze 32:24, Eze 32:25. They also had caused their terror in the land of the living, had made a fearful noise and bluster among the nations in their day. But Elam has now a grave by herself, and the graves of the common people round about her, fallen by the sword; she has her bed in the midst of the slain that went down uncircumcised, unsanctified, unholy, and not in covenant with God. They have borne their shame with those that go down to the pit; they have fallen under the common disgrace and mortification of mankind, that they die and are buried; nay, they die under particular marks of ignominy, which God and man put upon them. Note, Those who cause their terror shall, sooner or later, bear their shame, and be made a terror to themselves. The king of Elam is put in the midst of those that are slain. All the honour he can now pretend to is to be buried in the chief sepulchre. (3.) There lies the Scythian power, which, about this time, was busy in the world. Meshech and Tubal, those barbarous northern nations, had lately made a descent upon the Medes, and caused their terror among them, lived among them upon free quarter for some years, making every thing their own that they could lay their hands on; but at length Cyaxares, king of the Medes, drew them by a wile into his power, but off abundance of them, and obliged them to quit his country, Eze 32:26. There lie Meshech and Tubal, and all their multitude; there is a burying place for them, with their chief commander in the midst of them, all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword. These Scythians, dying ingloriously as they lived, are not laid, as the other nations spoken of before, in the bed of honour (Eze 32:27): They shall not lie with the mighty, shall not be buried in state, as those are, even by consent of the enemy, that are slain in the field of battle, that go down to their graves with their weapons of war carried before the hearse, or trailed after it, that have particularly their swords laid under their heads, as if they could sleep the sweeter in the grave when they laid their heads on such a pillow. These Scythians are not buried with these marks of honour, but their iniquities shall be upon their sons; they shall, for their iniquity, be left unburied, though they were the terror even of the mighty in the land of the living. (4.) There lies the kingdom of Edom, which had flourished long, but about this time, at least before the destruction of Egypt, was made quite desolate, as was foretold, Eze 25:13. Among the sepulchres of the nations there is Edom, Eze 32:29. There lie, not dignified with monuments or inscriptions, but mingled with common dust, her kings and all her princes, her wise statesmen (which Edom was famous for), and her brave soldiers. These with their might are laid by those that were slain by the sword; their might could not prevent it, nay, their might helped to procure it, for that both encouraged them to engage in war and incensed their neighbours against them, who thought it necessary to curb their growing greatness. A great deal of pains they took to ruin themselves, as many do, who with their might, with all their might, are laid by those that were slain with the sword. The Edomites retained circumcision, being of the seed of Abraham. But that shall stand them in no stead; they shall lie with the uncircumcised. (5.) There lie the princes of the north, and all the Zidonians. These were as well acquainted with maritime affairs as the Egyptians were, who relied much upon that part of their strength, but they have gone down with the slain (Eze 32:30), down to the pit. Now they are ashamed of their might, ashamed to think how much they boasted of it and trusted to it; and, as the Edomites with their might, so these with their terror, are laid with those that are slain by the sword and are forced to take their lot with them. They bear their shame with those that go down to the pit, die in as much disgrace as those that are cut off by the hand of public justice. (6.) All this is applied to Pharaoh and the Egyptians, who have no reason to flatter themselves with hopes of tranquillity when they see how the wisest, and wealthiest, and strongest, of their neighbours have been laid waste (Eze 32:28): "Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised; when God is pulling down the unhumbled and unreformed nations thou must expect to come down with them." [1.] It will be some extenuation of the miseries of Egypt to observe that it has been the case of so many great and mighty nations before (Eze 32:31): Pharaoh shall see them and be comforted; it will be some ease to his mind that he is not the first king that has been slain in battle - his not the first army that has been routed, his not the first kingdom that has been made desolate. Mr. Greenhill observes here, "The comfort which wicked ones have after death is poor comfort, not real, but imaginary." They will find little satisfaction in having so many fellow-sufferers; the rich man in hell dreaded it. It is only in point of honour that Pharaoh can see and be comforted. [2.] But nothing will be an exemption from these miseries; for (Eze 32:32) I have caused my terror in the land of the living. Great men have caused their terror, have studied how to make every body fear them. Oderint dum metuant - Let them hate, so that they do but fear. But now the great God has caused his terror in the land of the living; and therefore he laughs at theirs, because he sees that his day is coming, Psa 37:13. In this day of terror Pharaoh and all his multitude shall be laid with those that are slain by the sword. II. The view which this prophecy gives us of ruined states may show us something, 1. Of this present world, and the empire of death in it. Come, and see the calamitous state of human life; see what a dying world this is. The strong die, the mighty die, Pharaoh and all his multitude. See what a killing world this is. They are all slain with the sword. As if men did not die fast enough of themselves, men are ingenious at finding out ways to destroy one another. It is not only a great pit, but a great cock-pit. 2. Of the other world. Though it is the destruction of nations as such that perhaps is principally intended here, yet here is a plain allusion to the final and everlasting ruin of impenitent sinners, of those that are uncircumcised in heart; they are slain by the sword of divine justice; their iniquity is upon them, and with it they bear their shame. Those, Christ's enemies, that would not have him to reign over them, shall be brought forth and slain before him, though they be as pompous, though they be as numerous, as Pharaoh and all his multitude.

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 32 This chapter contains two more prophecies concerning the destruction of Egypt. The date of the first is given, Eze 22:1, in which the king of Egypt is compared to a large fish taken in a net, and brought to land, and left on it, to be the prey of the fowls of the air and beasts of the field, Eze 32:2, and the ruin of that kingdom is further amplified by the casting of it on the mountains and valleys; by the land flowing with its blood; by the darkness of the heavens; by the vexation in the hearts of many people; and by the amazement of kings and nations, Eze 32:5, the means and instruments of all which will be the king of Babylon and his army, Eze 32:11, the devastation made by him, which would be such as would cause lamentation in other nations, is described, Eze 32:13, then follows the other prophecy, whose date is given, Eze 32:17, the prophet is bid to lament the fall of Egypt, which is represented under the funeral of a corpse, Eze 32:18, saluted by those gone down to the grave before, or were become desolate; which are mentioned, to assure Egypt of its destruction, Eze 32:21 as the Assyrian empire, and all its provinces, Eze 32:22, the Persians and Medes, with all their dominions, Eze 32:24, the posterity of Meshech and Tubal, or the Scythians, those warlike people, Eze 32:26, the Edomites, the princes of the north, and all the Zidonians, Eze 32:29 which would be a comfort, though a poor one to the king of Egypt and his subjects, to have such company with them, Eze 32:31.

It came to pass also the twelfth year,.... Another prophecy of the like kind was delivered out the same year as before: in the fifteenth day of the month; of the twelfth month, the month Adar, which is not here expressed, because mentioned before, Eze 32:1, it was about a fortnight after the other prophecy. The Septuagint and Arabic versions read it, "it came to pass in the twelfth year, the first month, the fifteenth day of the month;'' according to which this prophecy was before the other, which is not to be supposed.

(Verse 17 onwards) 'And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying: Son of man, mourn for the multitude of Egypt, and bring her down, even her and the daughters of the mighty nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit. Wherein art thou fairer than any woman? go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised. Among them that are slain with the sword, they shall fall: the sword is given: draw her and all her multitudes.' The most powerful of the strong ones from the middle of the underworld will speak to him, who descended with his helpers (or his own) and slept with the uncircumcised and those killed by the sword. There Assur and all his multitude, around his tomb, all the slain and those who fell by the sword, whose tombs were given in the furthest depths, and his multitude became a circle around his tomb, all the slain and fallen by the sword who once caused fear in the land of the living. There Aela and all his multitude around his tomb: all these were killed and fell by the sword, who came down uncircumcised to the nethermost parts of the earth: who caused their terror in the land of the living, and bore their shame with those who descend into the pit. In the midst of the slayers his bed was set in all his people: his tomb is round about him. All these uncircumcised, slain by the sword. For they had (Vulgate: they had given) their terror on the land of the living, and they carried their disgrace with those who descend into the pit; they were placed in the midst of the slain. There are Mosoch and Thubal, and all his multitude, around his grave. All these are uncircumcised, and fallen by the sword, who had given their terror on the land of the living. And they shall not sleep with the mighty, and with the fallen, and with the uncircumcised, who have descended to the underworld with their weapons, and have placed their swords under their heads; and their iniquities shall be upon their bones, because they have become terror among the land of the living. And so you will be crushed among the uncircumcised, and you will sleep with the slain by the sword. There Edom and its kings, and all its princes who have been given with their armies, are laid with the slain by the sword, and they sleep with the uncircumcised, and with those who descend into the pit. There are all the princes of the north, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down with the slain; they are ashamed and confounded because of their strength; they sleep uncircumcised with the slain by the sword, and bear their shame with those who descend into the pit. Pharaoh saw them and consoled himself over his entire multitude, which was killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his army, says the Lord God. For I have given (or I have caused) my terror in the land of the living, and he slept among the uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord God.» This passage differs greatly in the Septuagint edition, both in order and translation, and some additions from Theodotion are included in it. Where it was necessary, we also included the text itself, not sparing in length and serving the diligence of the eager reader. 70. And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth month: the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, lament over the multitude of Egypt, and bring down her daughters to the nations of the dead in the depths of the earth, to those who descend into the pit (Moreover, under the asterisks it is added: + Descend from the most beautiful water; + and sleep with the uncircumcised ** Again it follows in order): In the midst of the slain by the sword they shall fall with him, and all his strength shall sleep, and the giants shall say to you, descend, you who are better, descend, and sleep with the uncircumcised in the midst of the slain by the sword. There Asshur, and all his congregation. (And that which follows: * There all the wounded were given, * and his grave in the depths of the pit, * and his congregation is not found in Hebrew, but was added by the Seventy. Again it is said): Around his tomb all the wounded who had fallen by the sword. (And again from Theodotion's Edition it is added under asterisks: + Those who gave his tombs on the sides of the lake; + and his congregation was made around his tomb. + All these wounded and falling by the sword. After these things the Seventy placed): Those who gave their fear in the land of the living. There Aelam, and all his strength, are around his tomb, all wounded, and falling by the sword: and those who descend uncircumcised into the depths of the earth, who brought their terror upon the land of the living, and received their torment with those who descended into the pit among the wounded. There Mosoch and Thubal were given, and all their strength around his tomb, all his wounded, all uncircumcised and wounded by the sword, who brought their terror upon the land of the living, and did not sleep with the giants who fell from eternity: who descended to hell with the weapons they used in battle, and placed their swords under their heads, and their iniquities became part of their bones, for they terrified the giants in their lifetime. And you will be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and you will lie with those who are slain by the sword. There Edom and its kings, and all the princes of Assyria, who gave strength to it, lie with the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword; they lie with those who go down to the pit. There are all the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down with the slain; in shame they lie uncircumcised with those who are slain by the sword, and bear their disgrace with those who go down to the pit. Pharaoh will see them and will find comfort in all their strength: Pharaoh wounded by the sword, and all his strength, says the Lord God. Because I have put his fear upon the land of the living, and he will sleep in the midst of the uncircumcised, with those who are wounded by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord God. I am not unaware that such a discrepancy between two editions will be displeasing to the delicate reader. But what can I do about my slanderers, who, if I subtract anything from the translation of the Septuagint interpreters, accuse me of sacrilege and shout without fear of the Lord, especially since they disagree with the truth of faith and follow the errors of the Manichaeans, stirring up the souls of the unlearned by pointing out anything that may have changed in ancient customs, desiring to err willingly rather than learn anything true from a rival. And meanwhile, according to the story, the meaning is clear. For in that same twelfth year, and in the same, as we think, month, but not on the same day as above, but on the fifteenth day, not against Pharaoh, but against the strength or multitude of Egypt, a lamentation is taken up, which is taken away from its pride with all its daughters, or with the strong nations to the farthest land, that is, to the depths of hell, and it is said to the king of Egypt: How much better are you, that you deserve to escape death? For when Assur, and Elam, that is, the Persians, and Mosoch, who are called Cappadocians, and Thubal, whom some understand to be Iberians, others Italians: also the Edomites, and the rulers of the North, and the Sidonians with all their armies, who by their aid have struck horror into all nations, are dead, and have been slain by the sword, and have placed their swords under their heads, which expression must be understood emphatically, will you alone be able to endure the same? But rather, when you see such a great multitude of sleeping souls with you in the underworld, and your tomb surrounded by the memories of once mighty princes, you will find comfort, considering the lighter torments to be of less consequence in the company of many. For now, let it suffice to have expressed these things briefly according to the simple meaning. Now, let us, with the same brevity as the difficulty of explanation allows, delve into spiritual understanding and the highest wisdom. Above, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to the Prophet. But in the first of these [months], that is, on the Kalends, the beginning of the month is: on the fifteenth, when the whole orb of the moon is filled, and if it is the first month, it is the first day of unleavened bread; but if it is the seventh, it is the day of setting up the booths (which are the greatest of the solemnities among the Hebrews). Indeed, there is mourning over the strength of Egypt, so that it ceases to be strong in evil: and it receives weakness, and when it is weaker, then it becomes stronger. For the fortitude of Egypt, in Hebrew it has multitude. For wide and spacious is the road that leads to death, and many enter through it (Matthew VII, 13): as it is said to Israel on the contrary: But you are few among all nations (Deuteronomy XXVIII): for virtue is always rare, and the path that leads to life is narrow and confined, and few are those who enter through it. But what is mourned for Egypt, and her dead daughters, according to the Septuagint, or strong nations are led to the farthest land in the lake, or in the deepest pit, the souls dwelling in Egypt of this age are signified, who have lost him who says: I am the life (John XIV, 6): and dead from sins, they are dragged down to the underworld by the weight of their sins, as the sinner says: For my iniquities have gone over my head, and like a heavy burden they have pressed heavily upon me (Psalm XXXVII, 5). These are the things about which it is written in another place: They will go down into the depths of the earth, they will be handed over into the hands of the sword, they will become the prey of foxes (Ps. LXII, 10). For he who digs a pit will fall into it (Eccli. XXVII, 29; Ps. VII, 16). And so we also read: He opened a pit and dug it, and fell into the hole he made. And what follows: How beautiful you are, descend and sleep with the uncircumcised, is properly addressed to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, or as it is added in the Septuagint from Theodotion, to Egypt itself: Descend from the most beautiful water, and sleep with the uncircumcised. What specifically pertains to him, who is reborn in the baptism of Christ, and hearing with the Church: Who is this that ascends, leaning upon her brother (Song of Solomon, 8:5)? Afterwards, either through fornication or other filthy sins, he is cast out of the Church, and it is said to him: Come down from the most beautiful water, and sleep with the uncircumcised, that is, with the unclean, according to that sense which the Apostle establishes: We are the circumcision (Philippians 3:3), who serve in the spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Hi all in the midst of the wounded, or slain, shall fall with Pharaoh, by that sword which the Lord is coming to send upon the earth. For as the sword of Christ separates the good from the evil, saying: I came not to send peace upon earth, but the sword (Matth. X, 34): so the sword of heretics cuts off ((Al. slaughters)) all peoples, and leads the wounded down to hell. These are very powerful and rebellious giants, who raise their mouth high and the more they exalt themselves in pride, the more they are brought down to the depths of the pit and to the very last part of the inferno, all of whom have been killed by the sword. And so that Pharao or all the strength of Egypt might know, which was dragged down to the infernal, which allies he had in punishments, the following speech demonstrates: There Assyria, and all his multitude, or his assembly. For the prince of heretics is the devil, whose true assembly is a synagoga, of which it is said in the Apocalypse: But Synagogas of Satan (Apoc. II, 9). But I think the following verses, which are marked with an obelus, should be passed over, and it should be said what is contained in the Hebrew: In their circuit, their tombs, namely of those deceived by him. All who were wounded or killed by the sword, and therefore fell, their tombs are given in the depths of the lake. But that the lake is called Infernus is clearly shown by that Psalm in which the penitent speaks: I am likened to those who descend into the lake (Psalm 27:1). We should by no means understand it as the Latin word for lake, which in Greek is called λίμνη, as in the Lake of Tiberias, Lake Como, and Lake Benacus, and many others, but those which we do not usually call cisterns. The Scripture testifies that sinners and all heretics dig up the lakes, because they cool the waters and take away all heat, and as far as my memory serves me, no saint has dug up a lake, that is, a cistern. But all sinners, including King Uzziah who had leprosy and fell by his own pride, about whom it is written that he was a man lying in the works of the earth, and built many towers of pride in the corners, and dug up lakes (2 Chronicles 26). On the contrary, it is said: Drink water from your own vessels, and from your own fountains (Prov. V, 15). And again: Let your fountain be your own. Therefore the Lord speaks: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug up cisterns, which can hold no water (Jer. III, 13). It follows: And her multitude has become all around her grave. All these surround Assyria, and there is a great multitude of them, who are all wounded and slain, and falling by the sword. For none of them can withstand Moses, nor can they hear: You who stand in the house of the Lord (Psalm 134:2); but all were wounded and killed, and those who once struck fear into the hearts of the living, now fear those who were entrusted with the Churches, lest they make the people of the living into the people of the dead, and deceive even the innocent. Hence Paul also said: But I fear that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ (2 Corinthians 11:3). But here this fear is mitigated by the hope of the Lord, as Ecclesiasticus says: The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, from whom shall I tremble? (Psalm 26:1-2). After this it is said: There is Aelam (or Assyria) and all its multitude around his tomb, undoubtedly the Assyrians. Aelam is translated into our language as their ascent. For all those who, despising the humility of Christ, have embraced the pride of the devil and consider themselves to be something in the knowledge of a false name, are to be called Aelamites, who surround the king's tomb of the Assyrians and are killed and wounded with the sword. And although they may set their mouth on high, yet they descended unclean and uncircumcised to the uttermost parts of the earth, so that the higher they were exalted, the more forcibly they fell. These have set their terror not once, but a second time in the land of the living. For who among the Church is secure from the terror of these Alemites, and has not lost someone from his flock? And indeed the Church of Christ is aptly called the land of the living, so that the assemblies of heretics may be thought of as the land of the dead in contrast. And they carried, he says, the disgrace and torment with them into the lake, and into the depths of hell: their resting place is in the midst of the slain, namely those whom they have cut down with their sword, and they are surrounded by such peoples. These peoples are the peoples of the Assyrian king, and although they boast of being circumcised: nevertheless they were uncircumcised and were killed by the sword, and for the third time they have given terror and fear to the land of the living. Where they brought their torment and punishment in their midst, those whom they deceived with their frauds. There also, that is, near Assyria, are Mosoch and Thubal, and all his multitude around his tomb: all uncircumcised and slain, falling by the sword, who had put their fear in the land of the living. For Mosoch and Thubal, Symmachus and Theodotius interpreted their abode, so as to show the dwelling places of heretics, rather eternal pits, to be the punishments of the Assyrian king. Masochism is interpreted as madness: Thubal, conversion, not from evil to good, but from good to evil; or it can be understood as a universal madness that causes all heretics to go insane and intentionally turn towards worse things. (Romans 12). It is not surprising that they are insane and prone to evil, as they are allies of the Egyptian king who rejoices in numbers. All of these have been killed by the sword, those who had instilled fear, not once, not twice, but three times among the living, as we have mentioned before. It follows: And they do not sleep with the strong, or with the fallen giants, and not with the uncircumcised, who descended to the underworld with their weapons; and they placed their swords under their heads; and their wickedness was in their bones; for the terror of the strong was made in the land of the living. These, he says, who had been the leaders of the heretics, have reached such a pinnacle of evil and torment that they do not deserve to suffer similar punishments even with the strong and giants, who fell from the beginning. Who, in no way repenting of their own error, descended into the underworld with their weapons, rebelling against God and His Church; carrying weapons with them, of which it is written: The teeth of the sons of men are their weapons and arrows (Psalms 56:5); and they placed, it is said, their swords under their heads, resting in their minds to destroy; and embracing the darts of their judgments as the highest victory; to the extent that their iniquities were in their bones, that is, possessing the strongest inventions and doctrines of their own error. Because the strong became terrified in their lives, both in the land of the living. This is said in the fourth (section), that the strongest, those who had knowledge of the Scriptures, and those who were from the region of the living, would be terrified by their wickedness, as they descend to hell with their weapons, and they place their swords under their heads, and their iniquities reach even to their bones. After this, it is written: And so you will crush (them) in the midst of the uncircumcised ones (Rom. XVI, 20), which is said either to Pharaoh, or to the strength, or to the multitude of Egypt, and that she herself may be crushed, according to what is written: But may God quickly crush Satan under your feet. And you shall sleep, he says, with those killed by the sword, in eternal sleep. There, with the Assyrian and with the Egyptian multitude, there will be Idumea and its kings, all who served earthly works or delighted in bloodshed. For indeed Idumea sounds earthy and bloody. All the kings and all the rulers of whom the Apostle often speaks (Phil. III), who were devoted to earthly works and daily shed the blood of those whom they deceived with their deceit, slept with the uncircumcised and unclean, and with those who descended into the pit, of whom we have spoken above. In that very county they will be, and the princes of the North, from whom evil is kindled upon the earth. And by whom, either in Jeremiah (Jer. 1) or in this same prophet (Above XXII), that pot full of flesh and bones is kindled. And not only the princes of the North, but all the rulers of Assyria, for which in Hebrew it is more accurately stated, all the Sidonians, whom we translate as hunters, according to what is written: Our soul is like a bird escaped from the snare of the hunters (Ps. 123:7), for which in Hebrew it is stated, the Sidonians. Those from Sidon, or hunters, who will be led trembling to the underworld, once relying on their own strength, will sleep impure, and will carry their own confusion or torment, having the everlasting remorse of a guilty conscience, so that their fire may not be extinguished (Isaiah 66), and their worm may not die (Mark 9). When Pharaoh sees all of them, he will be comforted, either still possessing his former malice and seeing many partners in his punishment, or certainly he was comforted, seeing them also being confounded in their torments and terrors over his entire multitude that was killed by the sword, namely of Pharaoh, or of all his allies, especially the king of Assyria, and Meeshech and Tubal and the Edomites, and the princes of the north, and the Sidonians. For they had instilled their terror in the land of the living. And it is said in the fifth place, that we should beware and flee from all nations of this kind, which have deceived us in all senses and are known to be dreadful, and can only be avoided if we guard our hearts with all diligence. He slept, it is said, and Pharaoh himself along with his allies were slain by the sword. His allies, a multitude, went along a wide and spacious path to eternal punishments.

The prophet goes on to predict the fall of the king of Egypt, under the figure of an animal of prey, such as a lion or crocodile, caught, slain, and his carcass left a prey to the fowls and wild beasts, Eze 32:1-6. The figure is then changed; and the greatness of his fall (described by the darkening of the sun, moon, and stars) strikes terror into all the surrounding nations, Eze 32:7-10. The prophet adds, that the overthrow of the then reigning Egyptian dynasty was to be effected by the instrumentality of the king of Babylon, who should leave Egypt so desolate, that its waters, (alluding to the metaphor used in the second verse), should run as pure and smooth as oil, without the foot of man or the hoof of a beast to disturb them, Eze 32:11-16. A beautiful, nervous, and concise description of a land ruined and left utterly desolate. In the remaining part of the chapter the same event is pourtrayed by one of the boldest figures ever attempted in any composition, and which at the. same time is executed with astonishing perspicuity and force. God is introduced ordering a place in the lower regions for the king of Egypt and his host, Eze 32:17, Eze 32:18. The prophet delivers his message, pronounces their fate, and commands those who buried the slain to drag him and his multitudes to the subterraneous mansions, Eze 32:19, Eze 32:20. At the tumult and commotion which this mighty work occasions, the infernal shades are represented as roused from their couches to learn the cause. They see and congratulate the king of Egypt, on his arrival among them, Eze 32:21. Pharaoh being now introduced into this immense subterraneous cavern, (see the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah, where a similar imagery is employed), the prophet leads him all around the sides of the pit; shows him the gloomy mansions of former tyrants, tells their names as he goes along; beautifully contrasts their former pomp and destructive ambition, when they were a terror to the surrounding states, with their present most abject and helpless condition; declares that all these oppressors of mankind have not only been cut off out of the land of the living, but have gone down into the grave uncircumcised, that is, they have died in their sins, and therefore shall have no resurrection to eternal life; and concludes with showing Pharaoh the place destined for him in the midst of the uncircumcised, and of them that have been slain by the sword, Eze 32:22-32. This prophetic ode may be considered as a finished model in that species of writing which is appropriated to the exciting of terror. The imagery throughout is sublime and terrible; and no reader of sensibility and taste can accompany the prophet in this funeral procession, and visit the mansions of Hades, without being impressed with a degree of awe nearly approaching to horror.

In the twelfth year - Two of Kennicott's MSS., one of De Rossi's, and one of my own, (that mentioned Eze 32:1), have, in the Eleventh year; and so has the Syriac, as before. This prophecy concerns the people of Egypt.

TWO ELEGIES OVER PHARAOH, ONE DELIVERED ON THE FIRST DAY (Eze 32:1), THE OTHER ON THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE SAME MONTH, THE TWELFTH OF THE TWELFTH YEAR. (Eze. 32:1-32) The twelfth year from the carrying away of Jehoiachin; Jerusalem was by this time overthrown, and Amasis was beginning his revolt against Pharaoh-hophra.

The second lamentation for Pharaoh. This funeral dirge in imagination accompanies him to the unseen world. Egypt personified in its political head is ideally represented as undergoing the change by death to which man is liable. Expressing that Egypt's supremacy is no more, a thing of the past, never to be again. the month--the twelfth month (Eze 32:1); fourteen days after the former vision.

Funeral-Dirge for the Destruction of the Might of Egypt This second lamentation or mourning ode, according to the heading in Eze 32:17, belongs to the same year as the preceding, and to the 15th of the month, no doubt the 12th month; in which case it was composed only fourteen days after the first. The statement of the month is omitted here, as in Eze 26:1; and the omission is, no doubt, to be attributed to a copyist in this instance also. In the ode, which Ewald aptly describes as a "dull, heavy lamentation," we have six regular strophes, preserving the uniform and monotonous character of the lamentations for the dead, in which the thought is worked out, that Egypt, like other great nations, is cast down to the nether world. The whole of it is simply an elegiac expansion of the closing thought of the previous chapter (Ezekiel 31). Eze 32:18-21 Introduction and first strophe. - Eze 32:18. Son of man, lament over the tumult of Egypt, and hurl it down, her, like the daughters of glorious nations, into the nether world, to those who go into the pit! Eze 32:19. Whom dost thou surpass in loveliness? Go down and lay thyself with the uncircumcised. Eze 32:20. Among those slain with the sword will they fall; the sword is handed, draw her down and all her tumult. Eze 32:21. The strong ones of the heroes say of it out of the midst of hell with its helpers: they are gone down, they lie there, the uncircumcised, slain with the sword. - נהה, utter a lamentation, and והורדהוּ, thrust it (the tumult of Egypt) down, are co-ordinate. With the lamentation, or by means thereof, is Ezekiel to thrust down the tumult of Egypt into hell. The lamentation is God's word; and as such it has the power to accomplish what it utters. אותהּ is not intended as a repetition of the suffix ־הוּ, but resumes the principal idea contained in the object already named, viz., מצרים, Egypt, i.e., its population. אותהּ and the daughters of glorious nations are co-ordinate. בּנות, as in the expression, daughter of Tyre, daughter Babel, denotes the population of powerful heathen nations. The גּוים אדּרם can only be the nations enumerated in Eze 32:22, Eze 32:24., which, according to these verses, are already in Sheol, not about to be thrust down, but thrust down already. Consequently the copula ו before בּנות is to be taken in the sense of a comparison, as in Sa1 12:15 (cf. Ewald, 340b). All these glorious nations have also been hurled down by the word of God; and Egypt is to be associated with them. By thus placing Egypt on a level with all the fallen nations, the enumeration of which fills the middle strophes of the ode, the lamentation over Egypt is extended into a funeral-dirge on the fall of all the heathen powers of the world. For ארץ תּחתּיּות and יורדי , compare Ezekiel 276:20. The ode itself commences in Eze 32:19, by giving prominence to the glory of the falling kingdom. But this prominence consists in the brief inquiry ממּי נעמתּ, before whom art thou lovely? i.e., art thou more lovely than any one else? The words are addressed either to המון מצרים (Eze 32:18), or what is more probable, to Pharaoh with all his tumult (cf. Eze 32:32), i.e., to the world-power, Egypt, as embodied in the person of Pharaoh; and the meaning of the question is the following: - Thou, Egypt, art indeed lovely; but thou art not better or more lovely than other mighty heathen nations; therefore thou canst not expect any better fate than to go down into Sheol, and there lie with the uncircumcised. ערלים, as in Eze 31:18. This is carried out still further in Eze 32:20, and the ground thereof assigned. The subject to יפּלוּ is the Egyptians, or Pharaoh and his tumult. They fall in the midst of those pierced with the sword. The sword is already handed to the executor of the judgment, the king of Babel (Eze 31:11). Their destruction is so certain, that the words are addressed to the bearers of the sword: "Draw Egypt and all its tumult down into Sheol" (משׁכוּ is imperative for משׁכוּ in Exo 12:21), and, according to Eze 32:21, the heathen already in Sheol are speaking of his destruction. ידבּרוּ לו is rendered by many, "there speak to him, address him, greet him," with an allusion to Isa 14:9., where the king of Babel, when descending into Sheol, is greeted with malicious pleasure by the kings already there. But however obvious the fact may be that Ezekiel has this passage in mind, there is no address in the verse before us as in Isa 14:10, but simply a statement concerning the Egyptians, made in the third person. Moreover, את־עזריו could hardly be made to harmonize with ידבּרוּ לו, if לו signified ad eum. For it is not allowable to connect עת־עזריו (taken in the sense of along with their helpers) with אלי גבּורים as a noun in apposition, for the simple reason that the two are separated by מתּוך שׁאול. Consequently את־עזריו can only belong to ידבּרוּ: they talk (of him) with his helpers. עזריו, his (Pharaoh's) helpers are his allies, who have already gone down before him into hell (cf. Eze 30:8). The singular suffix, which has offended Hitzig, is quite in order as corresponding to לו. The words, "they have gone down, lie there," etc., point once more to the fact that the same fate has happened to the Egyptians as to all the rest of the rulers and nations of the world whom God has judged. For אלי גבּורים, strong ones of the heroes, compare the comm. on Eze 31:11. שׁאול, hell = the nether world, the gathering-place of the dead; not the place of punishment for the damned. חללי without the article is a predicate, and not in apposition to הערלים. On the application of this epithet to the Egyptians, Kliefoth has correctly observed that "the question whether the Egyptians received circumcision is one that has no bearing upon this passage; for in the sense in which Ezekiel understands circumcision, the Egyptians were uncircumcised, even if they were accustomed to circumcise their flesh." In the four following strophes (Eze 32:22-30) a series of heathen nations is enumerated, whom the Egyptian finds already in hell, and with whom he will share the same fate. There are six of these - namely, Asshur, Elam, Meshech-Tubal, Edom, the princes of the north, and Sidon. The six are divisible into two classes - three great and remote world-powers, and three smaller neighbouring nations. In this no regard is paid to the time of destruction. With the empire of Asshur, which had already fallen, there are associated Elam and Meshech-Tubal, two nations, which only rose to the rank of world-powers in the more immediate and more remote future; and among the neighbouring nations, the Sidonians and princes of the north, i.e., The Syrian kings, are grouped with Edom, although the Sidonians had long ago given up their supremacy to Tyre, and the Aramean kings, who had once so grievously oppressed the kingdom of Israel, had already been swallowed up in the Assyrian and Chaldean empire. It may, indeed, be said that "in any case, at the time when Ezekiel prophesied, princes enough had already descended into Sheol both of the Assyrians and Elamites, etc., to welcome the Egyptians as soon as they came" (Kliefoth); but with the same justice may it also be said that many of the rulers and countrymen of Egypt had also descended into Sheol already, at the time when Pharaoh, reigning in Ezekiel's day, was to share the same fate. It is evident, therefore, that "any such reflection upon chronological relations is out of place in connection with our text, the intention of which is merely to furnish an exemplification" (Kliefoth), and that Ezekiel looks upon Egypt more in the light of a world-power, discerning in its fall the overthrow of all the heathen power of the world, and predicting it under the prophetic picture, that Pharaoh and his tumult are expected and welcomed by the princes and nations that have already descended into Sheol, as coming to share their fate with them. Eze 32:22-23 Second strophe. - Eze 32:22. There is Asshur and all its multitude, round about it their graves, all of them slain, fallen by the sword Eze 32:23. Whose graves are made in the deepest pit, and its multitude is round about its grave; all slain, fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living. - The enumeration commences with Asshur, the world-power, which had already been overthrown by the Chaldeans. It is important to notice here, that אשּׁוּר, like עילם in Eze 32:24, and משׁך in Eze 32:26, is construed as a feminine, as המונהּ which follows in every case plainly shows. It is obvious, therefore, that the predominant idea is not that of the king or people, but that of the kingdom or world-power. It is true that in the suffixes attached to סביבותיו קברתיו in Eze 32:22, and סביבותיו in Eze 32:25 and Eze 32:26, the masculine alternates with the feminine, and Hitzig therefore proposes to erase these words; but the alternation may be very simply explained, on the ground that the ideas of the kingdom and its king are not kept strictly separate, but that the words oscillate from one idea to the other. It is affirmed of Asshur, that as a world-power it lies in Sheol, and the gravers of its countrymen are round about the graves of its ruler. They all lie there as those who have fallen by the sword, i.e., who have been swept away by a judgment of God. To this is added in Eze 32:23 the declaration that the graves of Asshur lie in the utmost sides, i.e., the utmost or deepest extremity of Sheol; whereas so long as this power together with its people was in the land of the living, i.e., so long as they ruled on earth, they spread terror all around them by their violent deeds. From the loftiest height of earthly might and greatness, they are hurled down to the lowest hell. The higher on earth, the deeper in the nether world. Hvernick has entirely misunderstood the words "round about Asshur are its graves" (Eze 32:22), and "its multitude is round about its grave" (the grave of this world-power), when he finds therein the thought that the graves and corpses are to be regarded as separated, so that the dead are waiting near their graves in deepest sorrow, looking for the honour of burial, but looking in vain. There is not a word of this in the text, but simply that the graves of the people lie round about the grave of their ruler. Eze 32:24-25 Third strophe. - Eze 32:24. There is Elam, and all its multitude round about its grave; all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised into the nether world, who spread terror before them in the land of the living, and bear their shame with those who went into the pit. Eze 32:25. In the midst of the slain have they made it a bed with all its multitude, round about it are their graves; all of them uncircumcised, pierced with the sword; because terror was spread before them in the land of the living, they bear their shame with those who have gone into the pit. In the midst of slain ones is he laid. - Asshur is followed by עילם, Elam, the warlike people of Elymais, i.e., Susiana, the modern Chusistan, whose archers served in the Assyrian army (Isa 22:6), and which is mentioned along with the Medes as one of the conquerors of Babylon (Isa 21:2), whereas Jeremiah prophesied its destruction at the commencement of Zedekiah's reign (Jer 49:34.). Ezekiel says just the same of Elam as he has already said of Asshur, and almost in the same words. The only difference is, that his description is more copious, and that he expresses more distinctly the thought of shameful destruction which is implied in the fact of lying in Sheol among the slain, and repeats it a second time, and that he also sets the bearing of shame into Sheol in contrast with the terror which Elam had spread around it during its life on earth. נשׂא , as in Eze 16:52. The ב in בּכל־המונהּ is either the "with of association," or the fact of being in the midst of a crowd. להּ refers to עילם; and נתנוּ has an indefinite subject, "they gave" = there was given. משׁכּב, the resting-place of the dead, as in Ch2 16:14. The last clause in Eze 32:25 is an emphatic repetition of the leading thought: he (Elam) is brought or laid in the midst of the slain. Eze 32:26-28 Fourth strophe. - Eze 32:26. There is Meshech-Tubal and all its multitude, its graves round about it; all of them uncircumcised, slain in with the sword, because they spread terror before them in the land of the living. Eze 32:27. They lie not with the fallen heroes of uncircumcised men, who went down into hell with their weapons of war, whose swords they laid under their heads; their iniquities have come upon their bones, because they were a terror of the heroes in the land of the living. Eze 32:28. Thou also wilt be dashed to pieces among uncircumcised men, and lie with those slain with the sword. - משׁך and תּבל, the Moschi and Tibareni of the Greeks (see the comm. on Eze 27:13), are joined together ἀσυνδετῶς here as one people or heathen power; and Ewald, Hitzig, and others suppose that the reference is to the Scythians, who invaded the land in the time of Josiah, and the majority of whom had miserably perished not very long before (Herod. i. 106). But apart from the fact that the prophets of the Old Testament make no allusion to any invasion of Palestine by the Scythians (see Minor Prophets, vol. ii. p. 124, Eng. transl.), this view is founded entirely upon the erroneous supposition that in this funeral-dirge Ezekiel mentions only such peoples as had sustained great defeats a longer or shorter time before. Meshech-Tubal comes into consideration here, as in Ezekiel 38, as a northern power, which is overcome in its conflict with the kingdom of God, and is prophetically exhibited by the prophet as having already fallen under the judgment of death. In Eze 32:26 Ezekiel makes the same announcement as he has already made concerning Asshur in Eze 32:22, Eze 32:23, and with regard to Elam in Eze 32:24, Eze 32:25. But the announcement in Eze 32:27 is obscure. Rosenmller, Ewald, Hvernick, and others, regard this verse as a question (ולא in the sense of הלא): "and should they not lie with (rest with) other fallen heroes of the uncircumcised, who...?" i.e., they do lie with them, and could not possibly expect a better fate. But although the interrogation is merely indicated by the tone where the language is excited, and therefore ולא might stand for הלא, as in Exo 8:22, there is not the slightest indication of such excitement in the description given here as could render this assumption a probable one. On the contrary, ולא at the commencement of the sentence suggests the supposition that an antithesis is intended to the preceding verse. And the probability of this conjecture is heightened by the allusion made to heroes, who have descended into the nether world with their weapons of war; inasmuch as, at all events, something is therein affirmed which does not apply to all the heroes who have gone down into hell. The custom of placing the weapons of fallen heroes along with them in the grave is attested by Diod. Sic. xviii. 26; Arrian, i. 5; Virgil, Ane. vi. 233 (cf. Dougtaei Analectt. ss. i. pp. 281, 282); and, according to the ideas prevailing in ancient times, it was a mark of great respect to the dead. But the last place in which we should expect to meet with any allusion to the payment of such honour to the dead would be in connection with Meshech and Tubal, those wild hordes of the north, who were only known to Israel by hearsay. We therefore follow the Vulgate, the Rabbins, and many of the earlier commentators, and regard the verse before us as containing a declaration that the slain of Meshech-Tubal would not receive the honour of resting in the nether world along with those fallen heroes whose weapons were buried with them in the grave, because they fell with honour. (Note: C. a Lapide has already given the true meaning: "He compares them, therefore, not with the righteous, but with the heathen, who, although uncircumcised, had met with a glorious death, i.e., they will be more wretched than these; for the latter went down to the shades with glory, but they with ignominy, as if conquered and slain.") כּלי מלחמה, instruments of war, weapons, as in Deu 1:41. The text leaves it uncertain who they were who had been buried with such honours. The Seventy have confounded מערלים with מעולם, and rendered ,נפלים τῶν πεπτωκότων ἀπ ̓αἰῶνος possibly thinking of the gibborim of Gen 6:4. Dathe and Hitzig propose to alter the text to this; and even Hvernick imagines that the prophet may possibly have had such passages as Gen 6:4 and Gen 10:9. floating before his mind. But there is not sufficient ground to warrant an alteration of the text; and if Ezekiel had had Gen 6:4 in his mind, he would no doubt have written הגבּורים. The clause ותּהי עונותם is regarded by the more recent commentators as a continuation of the preceding 'ויּתּנוּ וגו, which is a very natural conclusion, if we simply take notice of the construction. But if we consider the sense of the words, this combination can hardly be sustained. The words, "and so were their iniquities upon their bones" (or they came upon them), can well be understood as an explanation of the reason for their descending into Sheol with their weapons, and lying upon their swords. We must therefore regard ותּהי עונותם as a continuation of ישׁכּבוּ, so that their not resting with those who were buried with their weapons of war furnishes the proof that their guilt lay upon their bones. The words, therefore, have no other meaning than the phrase ישׂאוּ כלמּתם in Eze 32:24 and Eze 32:30. Sin comes upon the bones when the punishment consequent upon it falls upon the bones of the sinner. In the last clause we connect גבּורים with חתּית, terror of the heroes, i.e., terrible even to heroes on account of their savage and cruel nature. In Eze 32:28 we cannot take אתּה as referring to Meshech-Tubal, as many of the commentators propose. A direct address to that people would be at variance with the whole plan of the ode. Moreover, the declaration contained in the verse would contradict what precedes. As Meshech-Tubal is already lying in Sheol among the slain, according to Eze 32:26, the announcement cannot be made to it for the first time here, that it is to be dashed in pieces and laid with those who are slain with the sword. It is the Egyptian who is addressed, and he is told that this fate will also fall upon him. And through this announcement, occurring in the midst of the list of peoples that have already gone down to Sheol, the design of that list is once more called to mind. Eze 32:29-30 Fifth strophe. - Eze 32:29. There are Edom, its kings and all its princes, who in spite of their bravery are associated with those that are pierced with the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised and with those that have gone down into the pit. Eze 32:30. There are princes of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians who have gone down to the slain, been put to shame in spite of the dread of them because of their bravery; they lie there as uncircumcised, and bear their shame with those who have gone into the pit. - In this strophe Ezekiel groups together the rest of the heathen nations in the neighbourhood of Israel; and in doing so, he changes the שׁם of the preceding list for שׁמּה, thither. This might be taken prophetically: thither will they come, "to these they also belong" (Hvernick), only such nations being mentioned here as are still awaiting their destruction. But, in the first place, the perfects אשׁר נתנוּ, אשׁר ירדוּ, in Eze 32:29, Eze 32:30, do not favour this explanation, inasmuch as they are used as preterites in Eze 32:22, Eze 32:24, Eze 32:25, Eze 32:26, Eze 32:27; and, secondly, even in the previous strophes, not only are such peoples mentioned as have already perished, but some, like Elam and Meshech-Tubal, which did not rise into historical importance, or exert any influence upon the development of the kingdom of God till after Ezekiel's time, whereas the Edomites and Sidonians were already approaching destruction. We therefore regard שׁמּה as simply a variation of expression in the sense of "thither have they come," without discovering any allusion to the future. - In the case of Edom, kings and נשׂיאים, i.e., tribe-princes, are mentioned. The allusion is to the 'alluphim or phylarchs, literally chiliarchs, the heads of the leading families (Gen 36:15.), in whose hands the government of the people lay, inasmuch as the kings were elective, and were probably chosen by the phylarchs (see the comm. on Gen 36:31.). בּגבוּרתם, in, or with their bravery, i.e., in spite of it. There is something remarkable in the allusion to princes of the north (נסיכי, lit., persons enfeoffed, vassal-princes; see the comm. on Jos 13:21 and Mic 5:4) in connection with the Sidonians, and after Meshech-Tubal the representative of the northern nations. The association with the Sidonians renders the conjecture a very natural one, that allusion is made to the north of Palestine, and more especially to the Aram of Scripture, with its many separate states and princes (Hvernick); although Jer 25:26, "the kings of the north, both far and near," does not furnish a conclusive proof of this. So much, at any rate, is certain, that the princes of the north are not to be identified with the Sidonians. For, as Kliefoth has correctly observed, "there are six heathen nations mentioned, viz., Asshur, Elam, Meshech-Tubal, Edom, the princes of the north, and Sidon; and if we add Egypt to the list, we shall have seven, which would be thoroughly adapted, as it was eminently intended, to depict the fate of universal heathenism." A principle is also clearly discernible in the mode in which they are grouped. Asshur, Elam, and Meshech-Tubal represent the greater and more distant world-powers; Edom the princes of the north, and Sidon the neighbouring nations of Israel on both south and north. בּחתּיתם מגּבוּרתם, literally, in dread of them, (which proceeded) from their bravery, i.e., which their bravery inspired. 'ויּשׂאוּ וגו, as in Eze 32:24. Eze 32:31-32 Sixth and last strophe. - Eze 32:31. Pharaoh will see them, and comfort himself over all his multitude. Pharaoh and all his army are slain with the sword, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Eze 32:32. For I caused him to spread terror in the land of the living, therefore is he laid in the midst of uncircumcised, those slain with the sword. Pharaoh and all his multitude, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. - In these verses the application to Egypt follows. Pharaoh will see in the nether world all the greater and smaller heathen nations with their rulers; and when he sees them all given up to the judgment of death, he will comfort himself over the fate which has fallen upon himself and his army, as he will perceive that he could not expect any better lot than that of the other rulers of the world. נחם על, to comfort oneself, as in Eze 31:16 and Eze 14:22. Hitzig's assertion, that נחם never signifies to comfort oneself, is incorrect (see the comm. on Eze 14:22). נתתּי את־חתּיתו, I have given terror of him, i.e., I have made him an instrument of terror. The Keri חתּיתי arose from a misunderstanding. The Chetib is confirmed by Eze 32:24 and Eze 32:26. In Eze 32:32 the ode is brought to a close by returning even in expression to Eze 32:19 and Eze 32:20. If, now, we close with a review of the whole of the contents of the words of God directed against Egypt, in all of them is the destruction of the might of Pharaoh and Egypt as a world-power foretold. And this prophecy has been completely fulfilled. As Kliefoth has most truly observed, "one only needs to enter the pyramids of Egypt and its catacombs to see that the glory of the Pharaohs has gone down into Sheol. And it is equally certain that this destruction of the glory of ancient Egypt dates from the times of the Babylonio-Persian empire. Moreover, this destruction was so thorough, that even to the New Egypt of the Ptolemies the character of the Old Egypt was a perfect enigma, a thing forgotten and incomprehensible." But if Ezekiel repeatedly speaks of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon as executing this judgment upon Egypt, we must bear in mind that here, as in the case of Tyre (see the comm. on Ezekiel 28:1-19), Ezekiel regards Nebuchadnezzar as the instrument of the righteous punishment of God in general, and discerns in what he accomplishes the sum of all that in the course of ages has been gradually fulfilling itself in history. At the same time, it is equally certain that this view of the prophet would have no foundation in truth unless Nebuchadnezzar really did conquer Egypt and lay it waste, and the might and glory of this ancient empire were so shattered thereby, that it never could recover its former greatness, but even after the turning of its captivity, i.e., after its recovery from the deadly wounds which the imperial monarchy of Babylonia and afterwards of Persia inflicted upon it, still remained a lowly kingdom, which could "no more rule over the nations" (Eze 29:13-16). Volney, however, in his Recherch. nouv. sur l'hist. anc. (III pp. 151ff.), and Hitzig (Ezekiel p. 231), dispute the conquest and devastation of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, because the Greek historians, with Herodotus (ii. 161ff.) at their head, make no allusion whatever to an invasion of Egypt; and their statements are even opposed to such an occurrence. But the silence of Greek historians, especially of Herodotus, is a most "miserable" argument. The same historians do not say a word about the defeat of Necho by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish; and yet even Hitzig accepts this as an indisputable fact. Herodotus and his successors derived their accounts of Egypt from the communications of Egyptian priests, who suppressed everything that was humiliating to the pride of Egypt, and endeavoured to cover it up with their accounts of glorious deeds which the Pharaohs had performed. But Hitzig has by no means proved that the statements of the Greeks are at variance with the assumption of a Chaldean invasion of Egypt, whilst he has simply rejected but not refuted the attempts of Perizonius, Vitringa, Hvernick, and others, to reconcile the biblical narrative of the conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar with the accounts given by Herodotus, Diodorus Siculus, and other Greeks, concerning the mighty feats of Necho, and his being slain by Amasis. The remark that, in the description given by Herodotus, Amasis appears as an independent king by the side of Cambyses, only less powerful than the Persian monarch, proves nothing more, even assuming the correctness of the fact, than that Amasis had made Egypt once more independent of Babylonia on the sudden overthrow of the Chaldean monarchy. The conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, after the attitude which Pharaoh Necho assumed towards the Babylonian empire, and even attempted to maintain in the time of Zedekiah by sending an army to the relief of Jerusalem when besieged by the Chaldeans, is not only extremely probable in itself, but confirmed by testimony outside the Bible. Even if no great importance can be attached to the notice of Megasthenes, handed down by Strabo (xv. 1. 6) and Josephus (c. Ap. i. 20): "he says that he (Nebuchadnezzar) conquered the greater part of Libya and Iberia;" Josephus not only quotes from Berosus (l.c. i. 19) to the effect that "the Babylonian got possession of Egypt, Syria, Phoenicia, Arabia," but, on the ground of such statements, relates the complete fulfilment of the prophecies of Scripture, saying, in Antt. x. 9. 7, with reference to Nebuchadnezzar, "he fell upon Egypt to conquer it. And the reigning king he slew; and having appointed another in his place, made those Jews prisoners who had hitherto resided there, and led them into Babylon." And even if Josephus does not give his authority in this case, the assertion that he gathered this from the prophecies of Jeremiah is untrue; because, immediately before the words we have quoted, he says that what Jeremiah had prophesied (Jer 43:10 and Jer 44) had thus come to pass; making a distinction, therefore, between prophecy and history. And suspicion is not to be cast upon this testimony by such objections as that Josephus does not mention the name of the Egyptian king, or state precisely the time when Egypt was conquered, but merely affirms in general terms that it was after the war with the Ammonites and Moabites.