Ezekiel 32 commentary

It becomes us to weep and tremble for those who will not weep and tremble for themselves. Great oppressors are, in God's account, no better than beasts of prey. Those who admire the pomp of this world, will wonder at the ruin of that pomp; which to those who know the vanity of all things here below, is no surprise. When others are ruined by sin, we have to fear, knowing ourselves guilty. The instruments of the desolation are formidable. And the instances of the desolation are frightful. The waters of Egypt shall run like oil, which signifies there should be universal sadness and heaviness upon the whole nation. God can soon empty those of this world's goods who have the greatest fulness of them. By enlarging the matters of our joy, we increase the occasions of our sorrow. How weak and helpless, as to God, are the most powerful of mankind! The destruction of Egypt was a type of the destruction of the enemies of Christ.

Divers nations are mentioned as gone down to the grave before Egypt, who are ready to give her a scornful reception; these nations had been lately ruined and wasted. But though Judah and Jerusalem were about this time ruined and laid waste, yet they are not mentioned here. Though they suffered the same affliction, and by the same hand, yet the kind design for which they were afflicted, and the mercy God reserved for them, altered its nature. It was not to them a going down to the pit, as it was to the heathen. Pharaoh shall see, and be comforted; but the comfort wicked ones have after death, is poor comfort, not real, but only in fancy. The view this prophecy gives of ruined states shows something of this present world, and the empire of death in it. Come and see the calamitous state of human life. As if men did not die fast enough, they are ingenious at finding out ways to destroy one another. Also of the other world; though the destruction of nations as such, seems chiefly intended, here is plain allusion to the everlasting ruin of impenitent sinners. How are men deceived by Satan! What are the objects they pursue through scenes of bloodshed, and their many sins? Surely man disquiets himself in vain, whether he pursues wealth, fame, power, or pleasure. The hour cometh, when all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of Christ, and shall come forth; those that have done good to the resurrection of life, and those that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation.

CHAPTER 32

Eze 32:1-32. 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.

1. The twelfth year from the carrying away of Jehoiachin; Jerusalem was by this time overthrown, and Amasis was beginning his revolt against Pharaoh-hophra.

2. Pharaoh--"Phra" in Burmah, signifies the king, high priest, and idol.

whale--rather, any monster of the waters; here, the crocodile of the Nile. Pharaoh is as a lion on dry land, a crocodile in the waters; that is, an object of terror everywhere.

camest forth with thy rivers--"breakest forth" [Fairbairn]. The antithesis of "seas" and "rivers" favors Grotius rendering, "Thou camest forth from the sea into the rivers"; that is, from thy own empire into other states. However, English Version is favored by the "thy": thou camest forth with thy rivers (that is, with thy forces) and with thy feet didst fall irrecoverably; so Israel, once desolate, troubles the waters (that is, neighboring states).

3. with a company of many people--namely, the Chaldeans (Eze 29:3, 4; Ho 7:12).

my net--for they are My instrument.

4. leave thee upon the land--as a fish drawn out of the water loses all its strength, so Pharaoh (in Eze 32:3, compared to a water monster) shall be (Eze 29:5).

5. thy height--thy hugeness [Fairbairn]. The great heap of corpses of thy forces, on which thou pridest thyself. "Height" may refer to mental elevation, as well as bodily [Vatablus].

6. land wherein thou swimmest--Egypt: the land watered by the Nile, the the source of its fertility, wherein thou swimmest (carrying on the image of the crocodile, that is, wherein thou dost exercise thy wanton power at will). Irony. The land shall still afford seas to swim in, but they shall be seas of blood. Alluding to the plague (Ex 7:19; Re 8:8). Havernick translates, "I will water the land with what flows from thee, even thy blood, reaching to the mountains": "with thy blood overflowing even to the mountains." Perhaps this is better.

7. put thee out--extinguish thy light (Job 18:5). Pharaoh is represented as a bright star, at the extinguishing of whose light in the political sky the whole heavenly host is shrouded in sympathetic darkness. Here, too, as in Eze 32:6, there is an allusion to the supernatural darkness sent formerly (Ex 10:21-23). The heavenly bodies are often made images of earthly dynasties (Is 13:10; Mt 24:29).

9. thy destruction--that is, tidings of thy destruction (literally, "thy breakage") carried by captive and dispersed Egyptians "among the nations" [Grotius]; or, thy broken people, resembling one great fracture, the ruins of what they had been [Fairbairn].

10. brandish my sword before them--literally, "in their faces," or sight.

13. (See on Eze 29:11). The picture is ideally true, not to be interpreted by the letter. The political ascendency of Egypt was to cease with the Chaldean conquest [Fairbairn]. Henceforth Pharaoh must figuratively no longer trouble the waters by man or beast, that is, no longer was he to flood other peoples with his overwhelming forces.

14. make their waters deep--rather, "make ... to subside"; literally, "sink" [Fairbairn].

like oil--emblem of quietness. No longer shall they descend violently on other countries as the overflowing Nile, but shall be still and sluggish in political action.

16. As in Eze 19:14. This is a prophetical lamentation; yet so it shall come to pass [Grotius].

17. 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.

18. cast them down--that is, predict that they shall be cast down (so Jr 1:10). The prophet's word was God's, and carried with it its own fulfilment.

daughters of ... nations--that is, the nations with their peoples. Egypt is to share the fate of other ancient nations once famous, now consigned to oblivion: Elam (Eze 32:24), Meshech, &c. (Eze 32:26), Edom (Eze 32:29), Zidon (Eze 32:30).

19. Whom dost thou pass in beauty?--Beautiful as thou art, thou art not more so than other nations, which nevertheless have perished.

go down, &c.--to the nether world, where all "beauty" is speedily marred.

20. she is delivered to the sword--namely, by God.

draw her--as if addressing her executioners: drag her forth to death.

21. (Eze 31:16). Ezekiel has before his eyes Is 14:9, &c.

shall speak to him--with "him" join "with them that help him"; shall speak to him and his helpers with a taunting welcome, as now one of themselves.

22. her ... his--The abrupt change of gender is, because Ezekiel has in view at one time the kingdom (feminine), at another the monarch. "Asshur," or Assyria, is placed first in punishment, as being first in guilt.

23. in the sides of the pit--Sepulchres in the East were caves hollowed out of the rock, and the bodies were laid in niches formed at the sides. Maurer needlessly departs from the ordinary meaning, and translates, "extremities" (compare Is 14:13, 15).

which caused terror--They, who alive were a terror to others, are now, in the nether world, themselves a terrible object to behold.

24. Elam--placed next, as having been an auxiliary to Assyria. Its territory lay in Persia. In Abraham's time an independent kingdom (Ge 14:1). Famous for its bowmen (Is 22:6).

borne their shame--the just retribution of their lawless pride. Destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar (Jr 49:34-38).

25. a bed--a sepulchral niche.

all ... slain by ... sword, &c.--(Eze 32:21, 23, 24). The very monotony of the phraseology gives to the dirge an awe-inspiring effect.

26. Meshech, Tubal--northern nations: the Moschi and Tibareni, between the Black and Caspian Seas. Herodotus [3.94], mentions them as a subjugated people, tributaries to Darius Hystaspes (see Eze 27:13).

27. they shall not lie with the mighty--that is, they shall not have separate tombs such as mighty conquerors have: but shall all be heaped together in one pit, as is the case with the vanquished [Grotius]. Havernick reads it interrogatively, "Shall they not lie with the mighty that are fallen?" But English Version is supported by the parallel (Is 14:18, 19), to which Ezekiel refers, and which represents them as not lying as mighty kings lie in a grave, but cast out of one, as a carcass trodden under foot.

with ... weapons of war--alluding to the custom of burying warriors with their arms (1 Maccabees 13:29). Though honored by the laying of "their swords under their heads," yet the punishment of "their iniquities shall be upon their bones." Their swords shall thus attest their shame, not their glory (Mt 26:52), being the instruments of their violence, the penalty of which they are paying.

28. Yea, thou--Thou, too, Egypt, like them, shalt lie as one vanquished.

29. princes--Edom was not only governed by kings, but by subordinate "princes" or "dukes" (Ge 36:40).

with their might--notwithstanding their might, they shall be brought down (Is 34:5, 10-17; Jr 49:7, 13-18).

lie with the uncircumcised--Though Edom was circumcised, being descended from Isaac, he shall lie with the uncircumcised; much more shall Egypt, who had no hereditary right to circumcision.

30. princes of the north--Syria, which is still called by the Arabs the north; or the Tyrians, north of Palestine, conquered by Nebuchadnezzar (Eze 26:1-28:26), [Grotius].

Zidonians--who shared the fate of Tyre (Eze 28:21).

with their terror they are ashamed of their might--that is, notwithstanding the terror which they inspired in their contemporaries. "Might" is connected by Maurer thus, "Notwithstanding the terror which resulted from their might."

31. comforted--with the melancholy satisfaction of not being alone, but of having other kingdoms companions in his downfall. This shall be his only comfort--a very poor one!

32. my terror--the Margin or Keri. The Hebrew text or Chetib is "his terror," which gives good sense (Eze 32:25, 30). "My terror" implies that God puts His terror on Pharaoh's multitude, as they put "their terror" on others, for example, under Pharaoh-necho on Judea. As "the land of the living" was the scene of "their terror," so it shall be God's; especially in Judea, He will display His glory to the terror of Israel's foes (Eze 26:20). In Israel's case the judgment is temporary, ending in their future restoration under Messiah. In the case of the world kingdoms which flourished for a time, they fall to rise no more.

In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month - On Wednesday, March 22, the twelfth year of the captivity of Jeconiah, A.M. 3417.

Instead of the twelfth year, five of Kennicott's MSS., and eight of De Rossi's, read בעשתי עשרה in the eleventh year. This reading is supported by the Syriac; and is confirmed by an excellent MS. of my own, about four hundred years old.

Thou art like a young lion - and thou art as a whale in the seas - Thou mayest be likened to two of the fiercest animals in the creation; to a lion, the fiercest on the land; to a crocodile, תנים tannim, (see Eze 29:3), the fiercest in the waters. It may, however, point out the hippopotamus, as there seems to be a reference to his mode of feeding. He walks deliberately into the water over head, and pursues his way in the same manner; still keeping on his feet, and feeding on the plants, etc., that grow at the bottom. Thus he fouls the water with his feet.

And fill the valleys with thy height - Some translate, with the worms, which should proceed from the putrefaction of his flesh.

The land wherein thou swimmest - Egypt; so called, because intersected with canals, and overflowed annually by the Nile.

I will cover the heaven - Destroy the empire.

Make the stars thereof dark - Overwhelm all the dependent states.

I will cover the sun - The king himself.

And the moon shall not give her light - The queen may be meant, or some state less than the kingdom.

And set darkness upon thy land - As I did when a former king refused to let my people go to the wilderness to worship me. I will involve thee, and thy house, and thy people, and the whole land, in desolation and wo.

I will also vex the hearts - Even the remote nations, who had no connection with thee, shall be amazed at the judgments which have fallen upon thee.

Cause their rivers to run like oil - Bring the whole state into quietness, there being no longer a political hippopotamus to foul the waters - to disturb the peace of the country.

Shall be destitute of that whereof it was full - Of corn, and all other necessaries of life.

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.

Cast them down - Show them that they shall be cast down. Proclaim to them a casting down prophecy.

Whom dost thou pass in beauty? - How little does it signify, whether a mummy be well embalmed, wrapped round with rich stuff, and beautifully painted on the outside, or not. Go down into the tombs, examine the niches, and see whether one dead carcass be preferable to another.

Out of the midst of hell - שאול sheol, the catacombs, the place of burial. There is something here similar to Isa 14:9, where the descent of the king of Babylon to the state of the dead is described.

Asshur is there - The mightiest conquerors of the earth have gone down to the grave before thee; there they and their soldiers lie together, all slain by the sword.

Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit - Alluding to the niches in the sides of the subterranean caves or burying-places, where the bodies are laid. These are numerous in Egypt.

There is Elam - The Elamites, not far from the Assyrians; others think that Persia is meant. It was invaded by the joint forces of Cyaxares and Nebuchadnezzar.

There is Meshech, Tubal - See on Eze 27:13 (note).

Gone down to hell with their weapons of war - Are buried in their armor and with their weapons lying by their sides. It was a very ancient practice, in different nations, to bury a warrior's weapons in the same grave with himself.

There is Edom - All the glory and pomp of the Idumean kings, who also helped to oppress the Israelites, are gone down into the grave. Their kings, princes, and all their mighty men lie mingled with the uncircumcised, not distinguished from the common dead: "Where they an equal honor share,

Who buried or unburied are.

Where Agamemnon knows no more

Than Irus, he condemned before.

Where fair Achilles and Thersites lie,

Equally naked, poor, and dry."

There be the princes of the north - The kings of Media and Assyria, and all the Zidonians - the kings of Tyre, Sodom, and Damascus. See Calmet.

Pharaoh shall see them - Pharaoh also, who said he was a god, shall be found among the vulgar dead.

And shalt be comforted - Shall console himself, on finding that all other proud boasters are in the same circumstances with himself. Here is a reference to a consciousness after death.

I have caused my terror in the land of the living - I have spread dismay through Judea, the land of the living God, where the living oracles were delivered, and where the upright live by faith. When Pharaoh-necho came against Josiah, defeated, and slew him at Megiddo, fear and terror were spread through all the land of Judea; and the allusion here is probably to that circumstance. But even he is now laid with the uncircumcised, and is no more to be distinguished from the common dead.

Much of the phraseology of this chapter may be illustrated by comparing it with Isaiah 14 (note), where see the notes, which the intelligent reader will do well to consult.

Twelfth year - Of the captivity of Jeconiah.

Like a young lion - Spoiling all thou canst. Crocodile - The crocodiles lay in the rivers, though sometimes they went down the river to the sea. With thy rivers - Raisedst mighty armies, and didst lead them out against thy neighbours. The waters - The people, and kings near thee. Thy feet - With thy soldiers. Fouledst - Didst spoil all the conveniences of thy neighbours.

With a company - In the countries, where these creatures were hunted, they went in mighty companies.

Leave thee - This was literally fulfilled in the deserts of Lybia, where the slain of Hophra's army, were left to be devoured by fowls and beasts.

With thy height - With the carcasses of thy princes.

Even to the mountains - Blood shall be poured forth, as if it were to rise to the very mountains. Full of thee - O thy blood, and of thy carcasses cast into them.

Put thee out - As a torch is extinguished. Cover the sun - Probably some unusual darkness was seen in the heavens, and on the earth, about that time.

Thy destruction - The fame of it. Not known - Such as were strangers to Egypt, shall be troubled with apprehension of what mischief may come upon the world from so mighty a conqueror.

Shall tremble - Be greatly afraid, lest Nebuchadnezzar, who is God's sword, should smite them. Every man - Every one of the kings, whose kingdoms are near to Egypt.

All the beasts - The sheep, and oxen devoured, or driven away: the horses taken up to mount the horsemen, whose own horses were tired, or spoiled. Great waters - The pasture lying along the river side. Trouble them - There shall be so few men left in Egypt, that they shall not as formerly, disturb the waters by digging, swimming, or rowing on them. Nor the hoofs - So few horses or cows, that they shall not at watering - times, or in the heat of the day, foul the waters.

Like oil - A figurative expression, signifying, there shall be such an universal sadness and heaviness upon the whole nation, that the very rivers which used to flow briskly, shall grow deep, and slow, and heavy.

Of that - Men and women, cattle, wealth, and peace.

This is the lamentation - This mournful account, which the prophet has given of Egypt.

Wail - Prepare the funeral ceremonies at the burial of Egypt. The daughters - And celebrate the funerals of other cities and kingdoms that lie buried in their own ruins. The nether parts of the earth - A well known description of the state of the dead. The pit - The Egyptians affected to be buried in the Pyramids, and their kings, and great ones, would be laid by themselves; but Ezekiel provides them their grave among common people, being buried just where they fall.

Whom - Art thou better than others that thou shouldest not die, and be laid in the dust, as well as they. Go - Go down like others. With the uncircumcised - Among profane and loathed carcasses, such the uncircumcised were in the opinion of the circumcised, as were the Egyptians.

They - The Egyptians. She - The whole Egyptian kingdom. Draw - And throw them together into the pit.

Him - The king of Egypt. The grave - Where they lie without strength, as dead mortals, tho' while they lived, they bore themselves, as gods. That help - His helpers, dead before him, shall speak to him. Gone down - To the grave. They lie - Neglected, and forgotten.

Ashur - The famous, warlike, king of Assyria. Is there - In the state of the dead, in the land of darkness and oblivion. Her company - Princes, soldiers, subjects, and confederates. Are about him - They are about him, who were slain with him.

Whose graves - Here is supposed a spacious vault, in the midst whereof the king of Ashur lies, and round the vault, his familiar captains and commanders. Her company - The common subjects of the Assyrian empire, all buried undistinguished about her. Her grave - The ruins of an empire are its grave. In the land - While they were in the land of the living.

Elam - The Persians, and their famous kings, who lived in former days. Their shame - God, and man poured contempt upon them, and turned their glory into shame.

A bed - The Persians had their coffins, in which with balms and spices, the dead were kept, in the midst of places provided for them; in such is the king of Elam here placed with his slaughtered captains about him. All the honour he can now pretend to, is to be buried in the chief sepulchre.

Her multitude - With the Cappadocians and Albanians, the Scythians may be included, many of whom were next neighbors to them.

They - The leaders of these Scythians were not buried with a pomp like that of Ashur, or Elan, but surprised by Halyattes and Cyaxares, were cut off with all their multitude, and tumbled into pits with the rabble. With their weapons - A ceremony observed in pompous funerals of great captains, to have their weapons, and their armour carried before the hearse. Laid their swords - In their graves, as if they could sleep the sweeter there, when they laid their heads on such a pillow: These barbarous Scythians were not so buried. Their iniquity - The exemplary punishment of their iniquity shall be seen upon their bones unburied.

Thou - Chief of Mesech, and Tubal. Shalt be broken - Shalt be killed with the rest of thy wicked followers. Shalt lie - Without regard, hurled into the pit with common soldiers.

With the uncircumcised - The Edomites retained circumcision, being of the seed of Abraham. But that shall stand them in no stead: they shall lie with the uncircumcised.

Of the north - Tyrians, Assyrians, and Syrians, who lay northward from Judea, now swallowed up by the Babylonian. Of their might - When it appeared too weak to resist the enemy. Uncircumcised - Scorned, and cast out as profane and loathsome.

Comforted - Poor comfort! Yet all that he will find!

My terror - These tyrants were a terror to the world by their cruelty; and God hath made them a terror by his just punishments; and so, saith God, will I do with Pharaoh. 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! But here is likewise an allusion to the final and everlasting death of impenitent sinners. Those that are uncircumcised in heart, are slain by the sword of Divine Justice. Their iniquity is upon them, and they bear their shame for ever.

1 AND it came to pass in the twelfth year , in the twelfth month , in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Of the Captivity of Ieconiah.

Answering to part of our February, and part of March, and called S[illegible: 1 letter]bat.

And was the 15th of Febr. vet. stil. and the 5th new stile.

2 Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, thou are like a young lion of the nations , and thou art as a whale in the seas and thou camest forth with thy rivers and troubledst the waters with thy feet , and fouledst their rivers.

See chap. 19. ver. 1. let. a. b. c. and [illegible: 1 letter]hap. 27. ver. 2. let. a. b.

Hop[illegible: 1 letter]ra.

This Hieroglyphick see chap. 19. ver. 3. let. s. and ver 6. let. i.

Among, or to the Nations round about thee, spoiling all thou canst, a cruel devourer abroad.

A Crocodile, a devouring Dragon in thy Rivers at home, for there the Crocodiles lay, and did m[illegible: 1 letter]schief, though sometimes they went down the River to the Sea.

That comes forth to seek prey, and devour, so a Lion at Land, a Whale, or Crocodile rather, at S[illegible: 2 letters], ravenous every where.

Raisedst mighty A[illegible: 1 letter]mies, and didst lead them out ag[illegible: 1 letter]inst thy Neighbours, as in particular, cap. 29.3, 4.

The People, Kingdoms, and Kings near thee.

With thy Souldiers.

Disturbedst, and mudd[illegible: 1 letter]edst their pleasant clearness, and madest them unfit to drink, i. e, Didst spoil all the pleasant and useful conveniencies of thy Neighbours.

Marginal references: Or, Dragor.

3 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will therefore spread out my net over thee, with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net.

A large, long, and wide net, drawn out to full extent.

With which both Lions, and Crocodiles might be taken, and in which this Lion and Crocodile should certainly be taken; for God, whose hand never erreth, will spread the net.

In the Countreys, where these Creatures were hunted; for they went in mighty companies to the Game, as they accounted it.

Drag thee along to destroy thee, pull thee up out of the Pit, in which the Net was laid to take the Lion to kill him and draw this Crocodile up out of the water for the same end; In brief, War by land, and Sea by a confederacy of many people against Hopbra shall be Gods ner, wherein he shall be taken, kept a Prisoner, as he was, and at last strangled, see chap. 29. ver. 4. let. t.

Marginal references: chap. 12.13. and 17.20.

4 Then will I leave thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee.

Thy beaten Army shall be slain, see chap. 29.5. ver. it was literally fulfilled in the Deserts of Lybia, where the slain of Hophr[illegible: 1 letter] 's Army were left to be devoured by Fowles, and Beasts. Metaphorically 'tis gathering a mixture of people, Souldiers, like ravenous Birds and Beasts from all parts to spoil Egypt.

They should not be removed, till filled with the spoils of Egypt.

The Forreign, and mercenary Souldiers shall be enricht by the slaughter, and plunder of the Egyptians.

5 And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains , and fill the valleys with thy height .

Throw, or cast.

The Carcasses of thy slain men, and Souldiers.

Whither they retired for safety.

Not so fill them, as to equal them in height with Hills, but we say a man fills a place, who scatters much, or many things, though but on the surface, so here Va[illegible: 1 letter]leys filled.

With the Carcasses of thy Princes, as the Chald. Paraphrast I think hits right: And so the French (Et remplirai les valle[illegible: 1 letter]s de tes Glorieux qu'on aura abbatus.)

6 I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest , even to the mountains ; and the rivers shall be full of thee .

Most plentifully pour out thy blood, as water is poured out to water Land, when men float their grounds.

Either because of the plenty thereof, wherein they swim'd, as we speak, or else because this King was a Whale, or Crocodile, his dwelling must be the Waters, and in them he swimmeth.

An Hyperbole, blood shall be poured sorth, as if it were to rise to the very mountains, and cover them, or thy blood shall be shed through all thy plain Countrey, to the very Mountains, which I think are toward the South-west parts toward Aethiopia; so they should be slain from Migdol or Magdala to Syene, as chap. 29.10.

Of thy Blood, and of thy Carcasses cast into the Rivers by thine Enemies, or drown'd in attempting flight by water from the drawn sword.

Marginal references: Or, the land of thy swimming.

7 And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.

As a Torch is extinguisht, Isa. 43.17. so I will put out thy light, and turn thee into darkness.

Either by dark Vapours that arise from Blood, and putrifying Carcasses, which darken the Heavens, or 'tis a Description of great sorrows, fears, troubles, and perplexities; or else it may intimate particularly the total ruine of the whole Kingdom, in which the best, greatest, and noblest parts are, as Heaven, suppose the Government, the Sun, the King, the Moon, the Queen, the Stars, the Princes, and Nobles, Bright Lights, the most eminent of the Subjects for Wisdom, and Understanding, and then the Land, the Common People. All shall be covered with Clouds, and darkness of misery first, and sorrow next; or 'tis possible, that some unusual darknesses might be seen in the Heavens, and on the Earth about that time.

Marginal references: Or, extinguish.; Isa. 13.10. Joel 2.31. and 3.15. Mat. 24.29.

8 All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land; saith the Lord GOD.

These two foregoing verses contain the same thing four times with a little variation, repeated to affect the hearer, and to impress it the more deeply on their minds.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] the light in [illegible: 1 word].; Heb. [illegible: 1 word] dark.

9 I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countreys which thou hast not known .

It speaks a passion mixt, and made up with grief for what is done, fear of the consequence of it, Anger against him, that did it, and an astonishment at the report, and it seiseth the heart, and spirits of the hearers.

And great Nations.

Either the same of it, or the remainders that fled timely from thy destruction, or thy Captives, who after thou art destroyed, are carryed away, and the news of thy fall with them, or when the like ruin and destruction shall fall upon them.

Such as were strangers to Egypt, and which Egypt had no Commerce with, shall be troubled with apprehension what mischief may come upon the World from so mighty a Conqueror, and by the accession of so great a Kingdom, and Power, as that of Egypt.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] to [illegible: 1 word] gri[illegible: 1 letter]f.

10 Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life , in the day of thy fall.

And mighty people too.

Astonisht and puzzel'd not knowing what resolutions to take, what advices to follow, or what to do.

Who usually are, and in reason should be undaunted, and discovers no signs of fear, shall discover mighty disorders of fear and doubt, both for Egypt, and themselves.

Vid. chap. 27. ver. 35. let, e. f.

Or make my sword pass with such speed, as if it did fly along their borders, or hover near them, and so threaten them.

Be greatly afraid, lest Nebuchadnezzar, who here is Gods Sword, should smite them.

Every one of the Kings, whose Kingdoms are near to Egypt, and by whose Borders the Babylonish Army must pass in their marches.

They should be solicitous, not for the outmost parts of their Kingdoms, or for their Subjects, but for their own life.

When they shall hear of Hophra beaten, taken, imprisoned, his Kingdom taken from him, and he dead by a shameful death, and all his people slain, captivated, spoiled, or fled.

Marginal references: chap. [illegible: 2 letters] ▪

11 For thus saith the Lord GOD; the sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee .

See chap. 30.24, 25.

Both King, and Kingdom of Egypt.

12 By the swords of the mighty will I cause the multitude to fall , the terrible of the nations all of them: and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed .

The Souldiers of Nebuchadnezzar helpt also by Amasis, and the rebellious Egyptians, that joined with Amasis and Nebuchadnezzar against their own King.

The people of the Land, which were numerous before they were wasted by these Wars.

See chap. 31. ver. 12. let. d.

Break her Strength, rob her Treasures, sack her Cities, captivate her People, and make the Kingdom Tributary, and so stain all her Glory.

From high to low, the great, and the mean promiscuously shall perish.

Marginal references: chap. [illegible: 2 letters].[illegible: 1 letter]

13 I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from besides the great waters; neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble l them.

The Sheep, and Oxen devoured by hungry Chaldaean Souldiers, or else driven away: The Horses taken up to mount the Horsemen of the Chaldee Army, whose own Horses were tired, or spoiled.

The Pastures lying along the Rivers side, and along their Canals, should be emptied of all Cattel, with which once they were full.

There should be so few men left in Egypt, that they should not, as formerly, disturb the waters by digging, swimming, or rowing on them, or else, no more trouble the waters with the passing of mighty Armies over them to invade their Neighbours.

So few Horse or Cows, that they should not at watering times, or in heat of the day soul the waters by running into them, and stamping, or trampling in them: but the Waters shall continue pure, and undisturb'd.

Marginal references: chap. 2[illegible: 1 letter].[illegible: 1 letter]

14 Then will I make their waters deep , and cause their rivers to run like oyl , saith the Lord GOD.

The sense literally this, the Waters undisturbed shall be clear, the mud settled at the bottom, and the waters above it of good depth,

Smooth, and softly, as oyl, glides along, which will be when, neither Men, nor Cattel d[illegible: 1 letter]sturb the Rivers: but figuratively waters, and Rivers are People, and Nations, and those near to▪ and once disturbed, and put into confusion by Egypt, at whose fall all those troubles shall cease, the people shall settle in quiet State, and Affairs shall, like a quieted River, run smoothly, and in great peace.

15 When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the countrey shall be destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall smite all them that dwell therein, then shall they know that I am the LORD.

The former verse assures us of what it foretold▪ and the assurance is the Word, and Truth of God; this ver[illegible: 1 letter]e tells us, when this shall be.

This phrase is chap. 12.19. let. y.

Men; and Women, Cattle, Food, Wealth, and Peace.

By the Sword, the destroying Sword of the Chaldaeans.

Then shall they confess it to the Glory of God's Power, and Justice.

Marginal references: Heb. desolate [illegible: 1 word] the fulness [illegible: 2 letters]ereof.

16 This is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her: the daughters of the nations shall lament her: they shall lament for her, even for Egypt , and for all her multitude , saith the Lord GOD.

This heavy, mournful, and sad account, which the Prophet hath given of the State of Egypt.

The Funeral Speech of this Kingdom, for this, as Funeral Orations, tell us what was their Antient Glory, and what is now their miserable reproach and loss.

Her Friends, or the Egyptians themselves rather.

This may be expository of the former, and tell us who they are, that shall lament Egypt. The Provinces, and Cities of their Neighbouring Nations, or literally, the Daughters, the tender hearted Virgins, and Women abroad.

Ruin'd Egypt.

The common people, many of which suffered for what they could not prevent, a sort of people, that were fitter to be pitied, and spared, then to be rob'd, and slain, a sort of people, none but unrelenting hearts could be harsh to, or hasty with.

17 It came to pass also in the twelfth year , in the fifteenth day of the moneth, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

See ver. 1. let. a. b.

About the [illegible: 1 letter]9th of February New Stile, or the 1st. of March, Old Stile.

18 Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down , even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit .

Prepare the Funeral Ceremonies at the burial of Egypt, compose a suitable Song or Speech, utter it with a like suitableness to the sad occasion. Ier. 9.17, 18, 19. and Amos 5.16. use the word, and the places read will explain this.

Either declare, that they shall be cast down from their height, and glory, or because this was done already, rather lay them down as dead in the Grave, bring him to his Grave, as the word is used▪ with addition of Sheol. 1 King. 2.9. and much like are chap.. 26.20. let. b. d. and chap. 31.16. let. u.

And celebrate the Funerals of other Cities, and Kingdoms, that lie buried in their own ruines, and other mens oblivion.

A well known description of the state of the Dead, and the Grave.

Usually this is no more, than a common Description of mens going to the dust in their Burial, but here it includes more. The Egyptians affected to be buried, either in the Isle Chemnis, or in the Pyramids, their Kings, and great ones thus would be laid by themselves, but Ezekiel provides them their grave among common people, burys them, where they fall; for they shall not have what they account so much of in their Funeral.

19 Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down , and be thou laid with the uncircumcised .

The Prophet begins with this question Dialogue-wise, Art thou better than others, that thou shouldest not die, and be laid in dust, as well as all others; speak Hophra, if thou hast any priviledge to plead, what hast thou to say, why thou shouldest not go down to the Pit, as a despised mortal?

The Prophet hearing no plea of Priviledge▪ adjudgeth him to the Grave, or lays him down with somewhat a sarcasm, go down like others.

Take up thy Lodging, thy long, dark, and dismal recess where thy dust and bones shall never be known by any Royal Figure.

Among prophane and loathed Carcasses, such the uncircumcised were in the opinion of the circumcised, and Herodotus in Euterpe saith, the Egyptians were circumcised. However in Scriptures, a Burial with the uncircumcised is a note of dishonour, and contempt; thus for the King and Princes.

The whole, from this verse, is a most Elegant personating of the Dead, as if sensible, and acquainted, and discoursing with, and rejoycing at the fall of proud Tyrants, who took not warning by their [illegible: 1 letter]all. Such a Prosspopaeia you have Isa. 14. In this Chapter, the Actors, are the Prophet, the King of Egypt, and his people, and their Auxiliaries.

20 They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword : she is delivered to the sword : draw her and all her multitudes .

The Egyptians.

In Battle shall die.

Of either one another in civil War, or of their Neighbours, they invaded, or of Babylonians, that invaded them.

The whole Egyptian Kingdom is given up of God.

Of wasting Enemies, especially of the Chaldaean.

Make no Ceremony more than usually is made, when common Souldiers slain in the Field, where the Battle is fought, are drag'd by scores into mighty pits, and thrown into them promiscuously; or, as the enterlude will bear it, suppose any of them unwilling to stoop, draw them to it against their will.

Of Souldiers, and People, Subjects, Allies, and helpers of Egypt.

Now the Prophet determines concerning the people, which die as others, fall undistinguisht, and, as such undistinguisht, must be laid in the pit.

Marginal references: Or, the sword is said.

21 The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down , they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.

The powerful, the valiant, whose natural strength of Body was great, and their courage greater, those that were strongest.

For Feats, they did, by which it appeared they might, compared with others, pass for Giants, Mighty Warriours, Conquerors, and Rulers.

The King of Egypt.

Or, rather the Grave, where they lie without strength, as dead Mortals, tho' while they lived, they bore themselves, as if Gods, and immortal.

Either these great ones shall speak to Hophra's helpers, or else these his friends slain in his quarrel, and dead before him, shall speak to him.

To the Grave, See ver. 18. let. d.

Neglected, and forgotten, or remembred with contempt, see ver. 19. let. i.

The Prophet seems in this verse to introduce the next speakers in this Parlee, and bringing them in, gives their character.

22 Ashur is there and all her company : his graves are about him : all of them slain , fallen by the sword.

The famous, warlike, victorious Kings of Assyria.

In the state of the dead, in the Land of Darkness, and Oblivion.

Princes, Captains, Souldiers, Subjects, and Confederates.

Perhaps his the greater, yet a Grave, and they about him, who were slain with him.

Some in Wars, whilest the Kingdom began, grew, and flourisht, others, when the Kingdom was destroyed, these fell by the sword, a while their sword was longest, at last a longer sword, that of Arbaces the Mede, with his complices wounds Ashur to the heart, and he is brought to the Grave.

23 Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is found about her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terrour in the land of the living .

At least for Decorum here is supposed a spacious Vault, or Pit, in midst whereof the King of Ahur in a stately Tomb lies buried, and round about the Vault places to lay others dead with him, and in his cause, some of his more famous Captains, and Commanders.

The common Subjects, and Souldiers of the Assyrian Empire, all buried undistinguisht about her, see ver. 22. let. d.

The ruins of an Empire are its Grave, and so all the Subjects of this Empire lie buried with it.

Were a terrour to all they would be Enemies to; and proudly boasted of, and inhumanely used, their power now lie quiet, their dust little regarded, less feared, and least of all pitied.

While they were in the Land of the living, a periphrasis of life.

Marginal references: Or, dismaying.

24 There is Elam , and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain , fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terrour in the land of the living; yet have they born their shame with them that go down to the pit.

The Persians, and their great, famous Kings, who lived in former days.

Ver. 22. l[illegible: 1 letter]t. c. and [illegible: 2 letters]r. 23. l[illegible: 1 letter]t. g. h.

Vid. v[illegible: 1 letter]r. 22.

See [illegible: 1 letter]er 20. l[illegible: 1 letter]t. [illegible: 1 letter].

Vid. v[illegible: 1 letter]r. 20. l[illegible: 1 letter]t. z.

Vid. ver. 1[illegible: 1 letter]. l[illegible: 1 letter]t. d.

See v[illegible: 1 letter]r. 23. let. i.

God, and Man poured contemp[illegible: 1 letter] upon them▪ and punisht them for their pride, and turn[illegible: 1 letter]d t[illegible: 1 letter]eir Glory into shame▪ whose vices, and miscarriages are more remembr[illegible: 1 letter]d, then their Noble Facts, and Glorious Atc[illegible: 1 letter]ievement[illegible: 1 letter].

25 They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain u with all her multitude ; her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their terrour was caused in the land of the living, yet have they born their shame with them that go down to the pit; he is put in the midst of them that be slain.

[illegible: 1 letter]ome co[illegible: 1 letter]c[illegible: 1 letter]ive t[illegible: 1 letter]e Prophet may allude to the manner of bur[illegible: 1 letter]ing [illegible: 1 letter]ith the [illegible: 1 word], who had their Coffins, or Sepulchri[illegible: 1 letter] [illegible: 1 word], in which with balms and spices the dead were kept, and these Ch[illegible: 1 letter]sts placed in midst of places provided for them; in such is the K[illegible: 1 letter]ng of [illegible: 1 word] here placed with his slaughterd Captains a[illegible: 1 letter]out him, Vid. v[illegible: 1 letter]r. 23. let. h.

ver. 22. let. c.

[illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 2 letters]. l[illegible: 1 letter]t. d.

ver. 24. let. s.

See ver. 20. let. l.

26 There is Meshech , Tubal , and all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terrour in the land of the living.

See chap. 27. [illegible: 1 word]. 13. let. l.

Vid. c[illegible: 1 letter]ap. 27. ver. 13. let. k. to which interpre[illegible: 2 letters]tion I still adhere, adding that in the full extent of these Mos[illegible: 1 letter]hi, and [illegible: 1 word], these Cappado[illegible: 1 letter]ians, and Albanians, the [illegible: 1 word] may be in[illegible: 1 letter]luded, many of which were next Neighbours to them. [illegible: 1 word] i[illegible: 1 letter] of opinion that the [illegible: 1 word] are here meant, and so am I, but 'twill be said, they never had such a se[illegible: 1 letter]le[illegible: 1 letter] Kingdom worth noting. 'Tis true of that barbarous people no account, that ere they were Lords of the World yet they caused their terrour in the Land of the Living, were slain by the Sword under the Command and in the Expeditions of their Kings into Asi[illegible: 1 letter], who were accompanied with her multitudes. [illegible: 1 word] reports they wasted Asia 3[illegible: 1 letter]0 years before Ro[illegible: 2 letters] was thought of, and that's about 1082 years before Christ's b[illegible: 1 letter]rth. Again we find them in armes, (no doubt in numbers much like what they appeared in, when To[illegible: 2 letters]ris their Queen destroyed C[illegible: 1 letter]rus, or when they have moved against their Neighbours in later dayes) and with those armes wasted the Cimmerii, a people seated near them on the Euxine Sea, and M[illegible: 1 letter]otis pal[illegible: 1 letter]s, and about that time they did under their Chief[illegible: 1 letter]ains waste Asia, they forced Cyaxares from the siege of Ni[illegible: 1 letter]eve[illegible: 1 letter] such consi[illegible: 2 letters]rable strength they were then of, this was 634 before Christ's birth, about 117 after Rome was built; about this time, or in this expedition, they took Sardis the Royal seat of Crae[illegible: 1 letter]us, Mag[illegible: 1 letter]is [illegible: 1 word] sardibus [illegible: 1 word]. ad A[illegible: 1 letter]n. m. 3340. to which Ovid gave the Title of Great, only the Castle held out. These Scythians in those days were a terrour to the Nations. Nay Hel[illegible: 1 letter]ious tells me from Herodotus, that they had the Imperial Power, were Lords of Asia for 28 years, and it seems, that their power was such, Cyaxares was glad to decline plain dealing, and to overthrow them by a wile, as Calvisius tells us ad Ann. M. 3344, and the help of Halyattes, King of the Lydians. These things were fresh in memory when Ezekiel prophesied thus against Egypt, for they fell out about the Eighth or Ninth year of Pharaoh Necho, some Fourteen years before Pharaoh Hophra came to the Crown; now about the Sixth year of his Reign, came this word of the Lord to Ezekiel; so that the Prophet might well mention these, as instances of Gods power abating the pride, and destroying the Kingdome of the Mighty, and these are with reason brought in among the Persians, and Assyrians.

Marginal references: Mag[illegible: 1 letter]is [illegible: 1 word] sardibus [illegible: 1 word]. ad A[illegible: 1 letter]n. m. 3340.

27 And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war, and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquity shall be upon their bones , though they were the terrour of the mighty in the land of the living.

The leaders of these Scythians were not buried with a pomp like that of Ashur, or Elam, but surprised by the fraud of Halyattes and Cyaxares, were cut off with all their multitude, and tumbled into pits with the rabble.

A Ceremony observed in pompous Funerals of great Captains, to have their Weapons, and their Armour carryed before the Hearse.

Either, when carryed out to be buryed, or laid under their Head in their Graves; or perhaps under the Statues of them made, and laid on the tops of their Tombs; these Barbarous Scythians were not so buried.

The exemplary punishment of their iniquity.

Shall be seen upon their bones unburied, and cast out on the Earth by the just judgment of God.

Because they were cruel, pour ce que bloody, ravenous, and mischievously Tyrannical, while they lived.

Cyaxares, and the Persians, that durst not again attempt Nineve, till the Scythians were fallen.

Marginal references: Heb weapons of their war.; pour ce que

Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword .

Chief of Mesech, and Tubal, though not named.

Shall be killed with the rest of wicked followers.

Without regard, hurled into the pit with the common Souldiers, as thou fallest with them,

Whose Throats were cut after they were taken.

Of Halyattes and his Lidyans, in revenge 'tis like of the spoil done to Sardis, and by Cyaxares, in revenge of the affront they gave him, forcing him to quit the siege of Nineve, and by giving him Childs flesh to eat, pretending it was Venison taken by them in hunting.

29 There is Edom , her kings and all her princes , which with their might, are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit.

The Posterity of Esau, the name of the Country too, in which they dwelt.

Which had been many, and some great Warriours,

Or Dukes, as Gen. 36.20, 21.

Shew'd in the Assistance, they gave the Assyrians.

Are slain, and laid aside to be buried, as Commanders are usually after their Death regarded, and their Bodies kept for a Funeral.

Yet as the uncircumcised, so these must to the Pit, though no mention made of their being a terrour to the Nations.

Marginal references: Heb. [illegible: 1 word] or pa[illegible: 1 letter].

30 There be the princes of the north all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain ; with their terrour they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword , and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit.

Of all those Countreys, Tyrians, Zidonians, Assyrians, and Syrians, &c. which lay Northward from Iudea, now swallowed up by the Babylonian.

Conquer'd, and slain.

Their terrour is buried with them.

When it appeared a vain confidence, and too weak to resist the Enemy, and save themselves.

Scorned, and cast out, as profane, and loathsome.

Of their conquering Enemy.

They lie under a shameful fall, from a seeming Glory, to a Real Ignominy.

31 Pharaoh shall see them , and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.

Hophra shall go to them by a like destruction, and, as if he did see them all ruined, as he was, shou'd

Be comforted, or rejoyce, others before him met with the same fatal end, and, what ere comfort this might be, 'tis all he shall ever have, did he know all those things, and persons, that are here represented, and personated to us.

For I have caused my terrour in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord GOD.

It is God that speaketh, who had punisht former Tyrants, and by a retaliation, that the World might see his just Judgments: They were a terrour to the world by their cruelty, oppression, and continued violence, by their Covetousness, Ambition, and Pride; And God hath made them a terrour by his just severities in their punishments; And so, saith God, will I do with Pharaoh;

That is, Pharaoh Hophra.

Shall suffer, as they, since he sinned, as they, he made himself like them by choice of their vices, and I will make him like them by like miseries, and just recompences, and these shall be to his Subjects, as well as to himself. To Hophra, who was strangled, and likely cast out without Burial: To Amasis, who was taken out of his Tomb, and burnt to Ashes; so unlike the condition of the dead, which usually is rest to the body, was their condition after Death, who in life made it unlike, and imagined it was above the condition of Mortal men.

Lamentations over the Ruin of Pharaoh and His People

The chapter contains two lamentations composed at different times: the first, in vv. 1-16, relating to the fall of Pharaoh, which rests upon the prophecy contained in Ezekiel 29:1-16 and Eze 30:20-26; the second, in vv. 17-32, in which the prophecy concerning the casting down of this imperial power into hell (Eze 31:14-17) is worked out in elegiac form.

Lamentation over the King of Egypt

Pharaoh, a sea-monster, is drawn by the nations out of his waters with the net of God, and cast out upon the earth. His flesh is given to the birds and beasts of prey to devour, and the earth is saturated with his blood (Eze 32:2-6). At his destruction the lights of heaven lose their brightness, and all the nations will be amazed thereat (Eze 32:7-10). The king of Babel will come upon Egypt, will destroy both man and beast, and will make the land a desert (Eze 32:11-16). - The date given in Eze 32:1 - ”In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying” - agrees entirely with the relation in which the substance of the ode itself stands to the prophecies belonging to the tenth and eleventh years in Ezekiel 29:1-16 and Eze 30:20-26; whereas the different date found in the Septuagint cannot come into consideration for a moment.

Eze 32:2-6

The destruction of Pharoah. - Eze 32:2. Son of man, raise a lamentation over Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and say to him, Thou wast compared to a young lion among the nations, and yet wast like a dragon in the sea; thou didst break forth in thy streams, and didst trouble the waters with thy feet, and didst tread their streams. Eze 32:3. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Therefore will I spread out my net over thee in the midst of many nations, that they may draw thee up in my yarn; Eze 32:4. And will cast thee upon the land, hurl thee upon the surface of the field, and will cause all the birds of the heaven to settle upon thee, and the beasts of the whole earth to satisfy themselves with thee. Eze 32:5. Thy flesh will I put upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy funeral heap. Eze 32:6. I will saturate the earth with thine outflow of thy blood even to the mountains, and the low places shall become full of thee. - This lamentation begins, like others, with a picture of the glory of the fallen king. Hitzig objects to the ordinary explanation of the words כּפיר גּוים  נדמיתה, λέοντι ἐθνῶν ὡμοιώθης (lxx), leoni gentium assimilatus es (Vulg.), on the ground that the frequently recurring נדמה would only have this meaning in the present passage, and that נמשׁל, which would then be synonymous, is construed in three other ways, but not with the nominative. For these reasons he adopts the rendering, “lion of the nations, thou belongest to death.” But it would be contrary to the analogy of all the קינות to commence the lamentation with such a threat; and Hitzig’s objections to the ordinary rendering of the words will not bear examination. The circumstance that the Niphal נדמה is only met with here in the sense of ὁμοιοῦσθαι, proves nothing; for דּמה has this meaning in the Kal, Piel, and Hithpael, and the construction of the Niphal with the accusative (not nominative, as Hitzig says) may be derived without difficulty from the construction of the synonymous נמשׁל with כ. But what is decisive in favour of this rendering is the fact that the following clause is connected by means of the adversative ואתּה (but thou), which shows that the comparison of Pharaoh to a תּנּים forms an antithesis to the clause in which he is compared to a young lion. If נדמית 'כּפיר ג contained a declaration of destruction, not only would this antithesis be lost, but the words addressed to it as a lion of the nations would float in the air and be used without any intelligible meaning. The lion is a figurative representation of a powerful and victorious ruler; and כּפיר גּוים is really equivalent to אל גּוים in Eze 31:11.

Pharaoh was regarded as a mighty conqueror of the nations, “though he was rather to be compared to the crocodile, which stirs up the streams, the fresh waters, and life-giving springs of the nations most perniciously with mouth and feet, and renders turbid all that is pure” (Ewald). תּנּים, as in Eze 29:3. Ewald and Hitzig have taken offence at the words תּגח בּנהרתיך, “thou didst break forth in thy streams,” and alter בּנהרתיך retla d into בּנחרתיך, with thy nostrils (Job 41:12); but they have not considered that תּגח would be quite out of place with such an alteration, as גּיח in both the Kal and Hiphil (Jdg 20:33) has only the intransitive meaning to break out. The thought is simply this: the crocodile lies in the sea, then breaks occasionally forth in its streams, and makes the waters and their streams turbid with its feet. Therefore shall Pharaoh also end like such a monster (Eze 32:3-6). The guilt of Pharaoh did not consist in the fact that he had assumed the position of a ruler among the nations (Kliefoth); but in his polluting the water-streams, stirring up and disturbing the life-giving streams of the nations. God will take him in His net by a gathering of nations, and cause him to be drawn out of his element upon the dry land, where he shall become food to the birds and beasts of prey (cf. Eze 29:4-5; Eze 31:12-13). The words 'בּקהל עמּים ר are not to be understood as referring to the nations, as spectators of the event (Hävernick); but ב denotes the instrument, or medium employed, here the persons by whom God causes the net to be thrown, as is evident from the והעלוּך which follows. According to the parallelismus membrorum, the ἁπ. λεγ. רמוּת can only refer to the carcase of the beast, although the source from which this meaning of the word is derived has not yet been traced. There is no worth to be attached to the reading rimowt in some of the codices, as רמּה does not yield a suitable meaning either in the sense of reptile, or in that of putrefaction or decomposed bodies, which has been attributed to it from the Arabic. Under these circumstances we adhere to the derivation from רוּם, to be high, according to which רמוּת may signify a height or a heap, which the context defines as a funeral-pile. צפה, strictly speaking, a participle from צוּף, to flow, that which flows out, the outflow (Hitzig), is not to be taken in connection with ארץ, but is a second object to השׁקיתי; and the appended word מדּמך indicates the source whence the flowing takes place, and of what the outflow consists. אל ההרים, to the mountains, i.e., up to the top of the mountains. The thought in these verses is probably simply this, that the fall of Pharaoh would bring destruction upon the whole of the land of Egypt, and that many nations would derive advantage from his fall.

Eze 32:7-10

His overthrow fills the whole world with mourning and terror. - Eze 32:7. When I extinguish thee, I will cover the sky and darken its stars; I will cover the sun with cloud, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. Eze 32:8. All the shining lights in the sky do I darken because of thee, and I bring darkness over thy land, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. Eze 32:9. And I will trouble the heart of many nations when I bring out thine overthrow among the nations into lands which thou knowest not, Eze 32:10. And I will make many nations amazed at thee, and their kings shall shudder at thee when I brandish my sword before their face; and they shall tremble every moment, every one for his life on the day of his fall. - The thought of Eze 32:7 and Eze 32:8 is not exhausted by the paraphrase, “when thou art extinguished, all light will be extinguished, so far as Egypt is concerned,” accompanied with the remark, that the darkness consequent thereupon is a figurative representation of utterly hopeless circumstances (Schmieder). The thought on which the figure rests is that of the day of the Lord, the day of God’s judgment, on which the lights of heaven lose their brightness (cf. Eze 30:3 and Joe 2:10, etc.). This day bursts upon Egypt with the fall of Pharaoh, and on it the shining stars of heaven are darkened, so that the land of Pharaoh becomes dark. Egypt is a world-power represented by Pharaoh, which collapses with his fall. But the overthrow of this world-power is an omen and prelude of the overthrow of every ungodly world-power on the day of the last judgment, when the present heaven and the present earth will perish in the judgment-fire. Compare the remarks to be found in the commentary on Joe 3:4 upon the connection between the phenomena of the heavens and great catastrophes on earth. The contents of both verses may be fully explained from the biblical idea of the day of the Lord and the accompanying phenomena; and for the explanation of בּכבּותך, there is no necessity to assume, as Dereser and Hitzig have done, that the sea-dragon of Egypt is presented here under the constellation of a dragon; for there is no connection between the comparison of Egypt to a tannim or sea-dragon, in Eze 32:2 and Eze 29:3 (=רהב, Isa 51:9), and the constellation of the dragon (see the comm. on Isa 51:9 and Isa 30:7). In בּכבּותך Pharaoh is no doubt regarded as a star of the first magnitude in the sky; but in this conception Ezekiel rests upon Isa 14:12, where the king of Babylon is designated as a bright morning-star. That this passage was in the prophet’s mind, is evident at once from the fact that Eze 32:7 coincides almost verbatim with Isa 13:10. - The extinction and obscuration of the stars are not merely a figurative representation of the mourning occasioned by the fall of Pharaoh; still less can Eze 32:9 and Eze 32:10 be taken as an interpretation in literal phraseology of the figurative words in Eze 32:7 and Eze 32:8. For Eze 32:9 and Eze 32:10 do not relate to the mourning of the nations, but to anxiety and terror into which they are plunged by God through the fall of Pharaoh and his might. הכעיס , to afflict the heart, does not mean to make it sorrowful, but to fill it with anxiety, to deprive it of its peace and cheerfulness. “When I bring thy fall among the nations” is equivalent to “spread the report of thy fall.” Consequently there is no need for either the arbitrary alteration of שׁברך into שׂברך, which Ewald proposes, with the imaginary rendering announcement or report; nor for the marvellous assumption of Hävernick, that שׁברך describes the prisoners scattered among the heathen as the ruins of the ancient glory of Egypt, in support of which he adduces the rendering of the lxx αἰχμαλωσίαν σου, which is founded upon the change of שׁברך into שׁביך. For Eze 32:10 compare Eze 27:35. עופף, to cause to fly, to brandish. The sword is brandished before their face when it falls time after time upon their brother the king of Egypt, whereby they are thrown into alarm for their own lives. לרגעים, by moments = every moment (see the comm. on Isa 27:3).

Eze 32:11-16

The judgment upon Egypt will be executed by the king of Babylon. - Eze 32:11. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, The sword of the king of Babylon will come upon thee. Eze 32:12. By swords of heroes will I cause thy tumult to fall, violent ones of the nations are they all, and will lay waste the pride of Egypt, and all its tumult will be destroyed. Eze 32:13. And I will cut off all its cattle from the great waters, that no foot of man may disturb them any more, nor any hoof of cattle disturb them. Eze 32:14. Then will I cause their waters to settle and their streams to flow like oil, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah, Eze 32:15. When I make the land of Egypt a desert, and the land is made desolate of its fulness, because I smite all the inhabitants therein, and they shall know that I am Jehovah. Eze 32:16. A lamentatoin (mournful ode) is this, and they will sing it mournfully; the daughters of the nations will sing it mournfully, over Egypt and over all its tumult will they sing it mournfully, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. - In this concluding strophe the figurative announcement of the preceding one is summed up briefly in literal terms; and toward the close (Eze 32:14) there is a slight intimation of a better future. The destruction of the proud might of Egypt will be effected through the king of Babylon and his brave and violent hosts. עריצי גּוים, as in Eze 31:12 (see the comm. on Eze 28:7). המון in Eze 32:12 and Eze 32:13 must not be restricted to the multitude of people. It signifies tumult, and embraces everything in Egypt by which noise and confusion were made (as in Eze 31:2 and Eze 31:18); although the idea of a multitude of people undoubtedly predominates in the use of המון in Eze 32:12. גּאון , the pride of Egypt, is not that of which Egypt is proud, but whatever is proud or exalts itself in Egypt. The utter devastation of Egypt includes the destruction of the cattle, i.e., of the numerous herds which fed on the grassy banks of the Nile and were driven to the Nile to drink (cf. Gen 47:6; Gen 41:2.; Exo 9:3); and this is therefore specially mentioned in Eze 32:13, with an allusion to the consequence thereof, namely, that the waters of the Nile would not be disturbed any more either by the foot of man or hoof of beast (compare Eze 32:13 with Eze 29:11). The disturbing of the water is mentioned with evident reference to Eze 32:2, where Pharaoh is depicted as a sea-monster, which disturbs the streams of water. The disturbance of the water is therefore a figurative representation of the wild driving of the imperial power of Egypt, by which the life-giving streams of the nations were stirred up.

Eze 32:14. Then will God cause the waters of Egypt to sink. Hitzig and Kliefoth understand this as signifying the diminution of the abundance of water in the Nile, which had previously overflowed the land and rendered it fertile, but for which there was no further purpose now. According to this explanation, the words would contain a continued picture of the devastation of the land. But this is evidently a mistake, for the simple reason that it is irreconcilable with the אז, by which the thought is introduced. אז, tunc, is more precisely defined by 'בּתתּי וגו in Eze 32:15 as the time when the devastation has taken place; whereas Kliefoth takes the 15th verse, in opposition both to the words and the usage of the language, as the sequel to Eze 32:14, or in other words, regards בּתתּי as synonymous with ונתתּי. The verse contains a promise, as most of the commentators, led by the Chaldee and Jerome, have correctly assumed.The explanation of Jerome is the following: “Then will purest waters, which had been disturbed by the sway of the dragon, be restored not by another, but by the Lord Himself; so that their streams flow like oil, and are the nutriment of true light.” השׁקיע, to make the water sink, might no doubt signify in itself a diminution of the abundance of water. But if we consider the context, in which reference is made to the disturbance of the water through its being trodden with the feet (Eze 32:13), השׁקיע can only signify to settle, i.e., to become clear through the sinking to the bottom of the slime which had been stirred up (cf. Eze 34:18). The correctness of this explanation is confirmed by the parallel clause, to make their streams flow with oil. To understand this as signifying the slow and gentle flow of the diminished water, would introduce a figure of which there is no trace in Hebrew. Oil is used throughout the Scriptures as a figurative representation of the divine blessing, or the power of the divine Spirit. כּשׁמן, like oil, according to Hebrew phraseology, is equivalent to “like rivers of oil.” And oil-rivers are not rivers which flow quietly like oil, but rivers which contain oil instead of water (cf. Job 29:6), and are symbolical of the rich blessing of God (cf. Deu 32:13). The figure is a very appropriate one for Egypt, as the land is indebted to the Nile for all its fertility. Whereas its water had been stirred up and rendered turbid by Pharaoh; after the fall of Pharaoh the Lord will cause the waters of the stream, which pours its blessings upon the land, to purify themselves, and will make its streams flow with oil. The clarified water and flowing oil are figures of the life-giving power of the word and Spirit of God. But this blessing will not flow to Egypt till its natural power is destroyed. Ewald has therefore given the following as the precise meaning of Eze 32:14 : “The Messianic times will then for the first time dawn on Egypt, when the waters no more become devastating and turbid, that is to say, through the true knowledge to which the chastisement leads.” Eze 32:16 “rounds off the passage by turning back to Eze 32:2” (Hitzig). The daughters of the nations are mentioned as the singers, because mourning for the dead was for the most part the business of women (cf. Jer 9:16). The words do not contain a summons to the daughters of the nations to sing the lamentation, but the declaration that they will do it, in which the thought is implied that the predicted devastation of Egypt will certainly occur.

Eze 32:17

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 1Sa 12:15 (cf. Ewald, §340 b). 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. Hävernick 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 2Ch 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. Rosenmüller, Ewald, Hävernick, 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.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 Hävernick 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” (Hävernick), 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 (Hävernick); 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, Hävernick, 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.

The Fall of Egypt; Lamentation for Pharaoh. (b. c. 587.)

1 And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers. 3 Thus saith the Lord God ; I will therefore spread out my net over thee with a company of many people; and they shall bring thee up in my net. 4 Then will I leave thee upon the land, I will cast thee forth upon the open field, and will cause all the fowls of the heaven to remain upon thee, and I will fill the beasts of the whole earth with thee. 5 And I will lay thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the valleys with thy height. 6 I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, even to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee. 7 And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. 8 All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God . 9 I will also vex the hearts of many people, when I shall bring thy destruction among the nations, into the countries which thou hast not known. 10 Yea, I will make many people amazed at thee, and their kings shall be horribly afraid for thee, when I shall brandish my sword before them; and they shall tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of thy fall. 11 For thus saith the Lord God ; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee. 12 By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them: and they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof shall be destroyed. 13 I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from beside the great waters; neither shall the foot of man trouble them any more, nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them. 14 Then will I make their waters deep, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the Lord God . 15 When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the country shall be destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall smite all them that dwell therein, then shall they know that I am the Lord . 16 This is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her: the daughters of the nations shall lament her: they shall lament for her, even for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saith the Lord God .

Here, I. The prophet is ordered to take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, v. 2. It concerns ministers to be much of a serious spirit, and, in order thereunto, to be frequent in taking up lamentations for the fall and ruin of sinners, as those that have not desired, but dreaded, the woeful day. Note, Ministers that would affect others with the things of God must make it appear that they are themselves affected with the miseries which sinners bring upon themselves by their sins. It becomes us to weep and tremble for those that will not weep and tremble for themselves, to try if thereby we may set them a weeping, set them a trembling.

II. He is ordered to show cause for that lamentation.

1. Pharaoh has been a troubler of the nations, even of his own nation, which he should have procured the repose of: He is like a young lion of the nations (v. 2), loud and noisy, hectoring and threatening as a lion when he roars. Great potentates, if they by tyrannical and oppressive, are in God's account no better than beasts of prey. He is like a whale, or dragon, like a crocodile (so some) in the seas, very turbulent and vexatious, as the leviathan that makes the deep to boil like a pot, Job xli. 31. When Pharaoh engaged in an unnecessary war with the Cyrenians he came forth with his rivers, with his armies, troubled the waters, disturbed his own kingdom and the neighbouring nations, fouled the rivers, and made them muddy. Note, A great deal of disquiet is often given to the world by the restless ambition and implacable resentments of proud princes. Ahab is he that troubles Israel, and not Elijah.

2. He that has troubled others must expect to be himself troubled; for the Lord is righteous, Josh. vii. 25.

(1.) This is set forth here by a comparison. Is Pharaoh like a great whale, which, when it comes up the river, gives great disturbance, a leviathan which Job cannot draw out with a hook? (Job xli. 1), yet God has a net for him which is large enough to enclose him and strong enough to secure him (v. 3): I will spread my net over thee, even the army of the Chaldeans, a company of many people; they shall force him out of his fastnesses, dislodge him out of his possessions, throw him like a great fish upon dry ground, upon the open field (v. 4), where being out of his element, he must die of course, and be a prey to the birds and beasts, as was foretold, ch. xxix. 5. What can the strongest fish do to help itself when it is out of the water and lies gasping? The flesh of this great whale shall be laid upon the mountains (v. 5) and the valleys shall be filled with his height. Such numbers of Pharaoh's soldiers shall be slain that the dead bodies shall be scattered upon the hills and there shall be heaps of them piled up in the valleys. Blood shall be shed in such abundance as to swell the rivers in the valleys. Or, Such shall be the bulk, such the height, of this leviathan, that, when he is laid upon the ground, he shall fill a valley. Such vast quantities of blood shall issue from this leviathan as shall water the land of Egypt, the land wherein now he swims, now he sports himself, v. 6. It shall reach to the mountains, and the waters of Egypt shall again be turned into blood by this means: The rivers shall be full of thee. The judgments executed upon Pharaoh of old are expressed by the breaking of the heads of leviathan in the waters, Ps. lxxiv. 13, 14. But now they go further; this old serpent not only has now his head bruised, but is all crushed to pieces.

(2.) It is set forth by a prophecy of the deep impression which the destruction of Egypt should make upon the neighbouring nations; it would put them all into a consternation, as the fall of the Assyrian monarchy did, ch. xxxi. 15, 16. When Pharaoh, who had been like a blazing burning torch, is put out and extinguished it shall make all about him look black, v. 7. The heavens shall be hung with black, the stars darkened, the sun eclipsed, and the moon be deprived of her borrowed light. It is from the upper world that this lower receives its light; and therefore (v. 8), when the bright lights of heaven are made dark above, darkness by consequence is set upon the land, upon the earth; so it shall be on the land of Egypt. Here the plague of darkness, which was upon Egypt of old for three days, seems to be alluded to, as, before, the turning of the waters into blood. For, when former judgments are forgotten, it is just that they should be repeated. When their privy-counsellors, and statesmen, and those that have the direction of the public affairs, are deprived of wisdom and made fools, and the things that belong to their peace are hidden from their eyes, then their lights are darkened and the land is in a mist. This is foretold, Isa. xix. 13. The princes of Zoan have become fools. Now upon the spreading of the report of the fall of Egypt, and the bringing of the news to remote countries, countries which they had not known (v. 9), people shall be much affected, and shall feel themselves sensibly touched by it. [1.] It shall fill them with vexation to see such an ancient, wealthy, potent kingdom thus humbled and brought down, and the pride of worldly glory, which they have such a value for, stained. The hearts of many people will be vexed to see the word of the God of Israel fulfilled in the destruction of Egypt, and that all the gods of Egypt were not able to relieve it. Note, The destruction of some wicked people is a vexation to others. [2.] It shall fill them with admiration (v. 10): They shall be amazed at thee, shall wonder to see such great riches and power come to nothing, Rev. xviii. 17. Note, Those that admire with complacency the pomp of this world will admire with consternation the ruin of that pomp, which to those that know the vanity of all things here below is no surprise at all. [3.] It shall fill them with fear: even their kings (that think it their prerogative to be secure) shall be horribly afraid for thee, concluding their own house to be in danger when their neighbour's is on fire. When I shall brandish my sword before them they shall tremble every man for his own life. Note, When the sword of God's justice is drawn against some, to cut them off, it is thereby brandished before others, to give them warning. And those that will not be admonished by it, and made to reform, shall yet be frightened by it, and made to tremble. They shall tremble at every moment, because of thy fall. When others are ruined by sin we have reason to quake for fear, as knowing ourselves guilty and obnoxious. Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?

(3.) It is set forth by a plain and express prediction of the desolation itself that should come upon Egypt. [1.] The instruments of the desolation appear here very formidable. It is the sword of the king of Babylon, that warlike, that victorious prince, that shall come upon thee (v. 11), the swords of the mighty, even the terrible of the nations, all of them (v. 12), an army that there is no standing before. Note, Those that delight in war, and are upon all occasions entering into contention, may expect, some time or other, to be engaged with those that will prove too hard for them. Pharaoh had been forward to quarrel with his neighbour and to come forth with his rivers, with his armies, v. 2. But God will now give him enough of it. [2.] The instances of the desolation appear here very frightful, much the same with what we had before, ch. xxix. 10-12; xxx. 7. First, The multitude of Egypt shall be destroyed, not decimated, some picked out to be made examples, but all cut off. Note, The numbers of sinners, though they be a multitude, will neither secure them against God's power nor entitle them to his pity. Secondly, The pomp of Egypt shall be spoiled, the pomp of their court, what they have been proud of. Note, in renouncing the pomps of this world we did ourselves a great kindness, for they are things that are soon spoiled and that cheat their admirers. Thirdly, The cattle of Egypt, that used to feed by the rivers, shall be destroyed (v. 13), either cut off by the sword or carried off for a prey. Egypt was famous for horses, which would be an acceptable booty to the Chaldeans. The rivers shall be no more frequented as they have been by man and beast, that came thither to drink. Fourthly, The waters of Egypt, that used to flow briskly, shall now grow deep, and slow, and heavy, and shall run like oil (v. 14), a figurative expression signifying that there should be such universal sadness and heaviness upon the whole nation that even the rivers should go softly and silently like mourners, and quite forget their rapid motion. Fifthly, The whole country of Egypt shall be stripped of its wealth; it shall be destitute of what whereof it was full (v. 15), corn, and cattle, and all the pleasant fruits of the earth; when those are smitten that dwell therein the ground is untilled, and that which is gathered becomes an easy prey to the invader. Note, God can soon empty those of this world's goods that have the greatest fulness of those things and are full of them, that enjoy most and have their hearts set upon those enjoyments. The Egyptians were full of their pleasant and plentiful country, and its rich productions. Every one that talked with them might perceive how much it filled them. But God can soon make their country destitute of that whereof it is full; it is therefore our wisdom to be full of treasures in heaven. When the country is made destitute, 1. It shall be an instruction to them: Then shall they know that I am the Lord. A sensible conviction of the vanity of the world, and the fading perishing nature of all things in it, will contribute much to our right knowledge of God as our portion and happiness. 2. It shall be a lamentation to all about them: The daughters of the nations shall lament her (v. 16), either because, being in alliance with her, they share in her grievances and suffer with her, or, being admirers of her, they at least share in her grief and sympathize with her. They shall lament for Egypt and all her multitude; it shall excite their pity to see so great a devastation made. By enlarging the matters of our joy we increase the occasions of our sorrow.

The Fall of Egypt; Egypt's Destruction Completed. (b. c. 587.)

17 It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 18 Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit. 19 Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised. 20 They shall fall in the midst of them that are slain by the sword: she is delivered to the sword: draw her and all her multitudes. 21 The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of hell with them that help him: they are gone down, they lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword. 22 Asshur is there and all her company: his graves are about him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword: 23 Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is round about her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living. 24 There is Elam and all her multitude round about her grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which are gone down uncircumcised into the nether parts of the earth, which caused their terror in the land of the living; yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit. 25 They have set her a bed in the midst of the slain with all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword: though their terror was caused in the land of the living, yet have they borne their shame with them that go down to the pit: he is put in the midst of them that be slain. 26 There is Meshech, Tubal, and all her multitude: her graves are round about him: all of them uncircumcised, slain by the sword, though they caused their terror in the land of the living. 27 And they shall not lie with the mighty that are fallen of the uncircumcised, which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war: and they have laid their swords under their heads, but their iniquities shall be upon their bones, though they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. 28 Yea, thou shalt be broken in the midst of the uncircumcised, and shalt lie with them that are slain with the sword. 29 There is Edom, her kings, and all her princes, which with their might are laid by them that were slain by the sword: they shall lie with the uncircumcised, and with them that go down to the pit. 30 There be the princes of the north, all of them, and all the Zidonians, which are gone down with the slain; with their terror they are ashamed of their might; and they lie uncircumcised with them that be slain by the sword, and bear their shame with them that go down to the pit. 31 Pharaoh shall see them, and shall be comforted over all his multitude, even Pharaoh and all his army slain by the sword, saith the Lord God . 32 For I have caused my terror in the land of the living: and he shall be laid in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain with the sword, even Pharaoh and all his multitude, saith the Lord God .

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 (v. 18), to foretel their destruction as one that had authority, as Jeremiah was set over the kingdoms, Jer. i. 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 (v. 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. xiv. 9, &c.), so here (v. 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. xxvii. 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 (v. 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, v. 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 iii. 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, v. 24, 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, v. 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 (v. 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, ch. xxv. 13. Among the sepulchres of the nations there is Edom, v. 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 (v. 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 (v. 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 (v. 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 (v. 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, Ps. xxxvii. 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.

CHAP. XXXII.

Ver. 1. IN the twelfth month] About a year and half after the City was taken.

Ver. 2. Take up a lamentation] i. e. A lamentable Prophecy, deſtructive to the Egyptians: and it is very likely that they heard of it, but heeded it not; tanquam monſtra marina Dei verba praetereuntes.

Thou art like a young lion] For pride, fierceneſſe and cruelty.

And thou art as a whale] Or Crocodile: thou domineereſt over ſea and land, far and wide: thou playeſt Rex.

Thou cameſt forth with thy rivers] With the armes of thy Nilus into the Midland-ſea: inſanis bellis inquietans omnia, breeding a great buſtle in the Countries near adjoyning.

Ver. 3. I will therefore ſpread out my net] Thou ſhalt be taken in an evil net, when thou little thinkeſt of it. Evil ſhall hunt the violent man to overthrow him, Pſal. 140.11. Look how Leo caſſibus irretitus ait, Si praeſciviſſem: and as the whale encloſed by fiſhers is lugg'd to land, done to death, cleft in peices with axes, his fleſh being made a prey for birds and beaſts, his blood far and near drenching the earth: ſo ſhall it fare with Pharaoh and his forces.

Ver. 4. Then will I leave thee upon the land] As whales are ſometimes left by an ebbe whilſt they purſue leſſer fiſhes:In June 1658. there was one ſo taken near Greenwich lately: a peice of whoſe fleſh was ſhewed unto me.

Oecol.Ver. 5. With thy height] Celſitudine tua: with thy glory which thou holdeſt dearer then thy fleſh or life.

Ver. 6. I will alſo water with thy blood] Inſtead of thy river Nilus.

The land wherein thou ſwimmeſt] Egypt, where thou ſporteſt, as the whale doth in the mighty waters.

Natabunt colles & valles cruore tuo. Even to the mountains] A moſt elegant Hyperbole: the like whereto, ſee 2 King. 21.16.

Ver. 7. And when I ſhall put thee out] Or extinguiſh thee: who art for thy power and glory as one of the worlds great Luminaries.

I will cover the heaven, &c.] So great a fume, or rather ſo vile a ſnuffe ſhall exhale, that the heavens ſhall ſeem to be muffled, &c. It ſhall be once again deep darkneſſe over all the land of Egypt. Hypallage Poetica. Another Hyperbole.

Ver. 8. All the bright lights of heaven] See ver. 7. All this ſhall befal the world really and without an Hyperbole, at the laſt day, Mat. 24.29.

Impiaque aeternam patientur ſaecula noctem.

Ver. 9. I will alſo vex] Or grieve: See Eccleſ. 7.3. where the ſame word ſignifieth anger and ſorrow. Nebuchadnezzars growing greatneſſe ſhall be a cut and a corroſive to them.

Ver. 10. When I ſhall brandiſh my ſword] As fetching my blow at them too; and ayming where to hit them.

Every man for his own life] Which he knows he hath forfeited, and hath now great cauſe to fear: ſith his neighbours houſe is on fire.Jam proximus ardet Ucalegon.

Ver. 11. The ſword of the King of Babylon] Here is that delivered plainly which was before parabolically.

Ver. 12. By the ſwords of the mighty] Or, of the Heroes, or Giants.

The terrible of the nations] Graſſatores, as Munſter hath it; inexpugnabiles, as the Vulgar: ſuch as with whom there is no dealing.

Ver. 13. All the beaſts thereof] Egypt a moſt moiſt and fat Country, was full of cattle.

Ver. 14. Then will I make their waters deep] There ſhall not be men lef to derive them by ditches and channels into their grounds and paſtures, for the making of them fruitful.

And cauſe their rivers to run like oyle] i. e. Smoothly, and ſilently.

Lene ſluit Nilus, ſed cunctis amnibus extatClaudian. Ʋtilior, nullas confeſſus murmure vires.

Ver. 15. When I ſhall make the land — deſolate] See here the ſad effects of ſin, and beware.

Then ſhall they know that I am the Lord] Pleràque ſupra habuimus: ideò ſum brevior, ſaith Lavater on ver. 12.

Ver. 16. This is the lamentation] And this is the epilogue of this former Prophecy: the latter followeth; being of the ſelf-ſame argument, viz. a funeral dirge and exequy over Egypt.

Ver. 17. In the fifteenth day of the moneth] i. e. Of the twelfth moneth, ver. 1. and about a fortnight after the former Prophecy. God loves to foreſignify and to do it often.

Ver. 18. Wail for the multitude] Propheſy their deſtruction: but doe it not without grief and regret.

Caſt them down] Do thou foretel it, and I will not fail to fullfil it: (See Jer. 1.10. with the Note.) Let them know that hell gapeth for them: and here I give thee the keyes thereof. So God doth to every faithful Miniſter, Matth. 16. not to Peter only, nor to his pretended ſucceſſor the Pope; whom therefore Luther bravely ſlighted in theſe words of his, Contemptus est à me Romanus & favor & furor: I care neither for the Popes favour, nor frowns.

Ver. 19. Whom doſt thou paſſe in beauty] What art thou better then other thy comperes and complices in ſin? Thou muſt alſo dance, Down to hell, Down to hell, with the reſt

Be thou laid with the uncircumciſed] Strangers to the Covenant (whereof Circumciſion was a ſeal) ſinners the Chaldee here calleth them, ſuch as the devil ſweeps:Serm. of Repent. p. 70. they are his birds, ſaith Mr. Bradford Martyr, whom when he hath well fed, he will broach them and eat them, chaw them and champ them world without end, in eternal woe and miſery. [non-Latin text not transcribed], Cadaver.

Ver. 20. They ſhall fall] Carkeiſes have their names both in Greek and Latine from falling.

Fit ſubitò funus, qui modò vivus erat.

We wonder now and then at the ſuddain death of a man. In war many thouſands exhale their breath without ſo much as Lord have mercy on us. Death heweth its way through a wood of men, in a minute of time, &c.

Ver. 21. The ſtrong among the mighty] Who might have ſeen many fair ſummers, had they not been cut off by Pharaoh's ſword.

Shall ſpeak to him out of the midſt of hell] What they ſay to him, ſee Iſa. 14.10. where we have the like Proſopopaeja Poetica.

Ver. 22. Aſhur is there] To wit, in the belly of Hell, among the uncircumciſed, as Lazarus and other Saints are in the boſom of Abraham the place of bliſſe. Slain they were with the ſword: but that was but a beginning of their ſorrows, a trap-door to eternal torment. Virgil, by a like figure, brings in Aeneas going down to hell, and there ſeeing Agamemnon, Dido, the Titans, Cyclopes, and other Tyrants.

Ver. 23. Whoſe graves are ſet in the ſides of the pit] In the bottom of the burning Lake; which from the high top of a Kingdom is a foul fall. Their being there buried may import, that they ſhall never come out.

Which cauſed terror] As breathing nothing but blood and ſlaughter, raiſing a tempeſt wherever they came, ſo that they became terrores terrae, as dreadful as devils.

Ver. 24. There is Elam] The Perſians, who in the reign of Cyaxares, had been ſubdued by the Scythians, and ſlain in great number, Jer. 49.34, &c.

Jun. Into the nether parts of the earth] Into hell, as that rich glutton, Luke 16.23. where our Saviour ſeemeth to allude to this place.

Yet have they born their ſhame] Carried the matter of it to hell with them, where is perpetual ſhame and confuſion: beſide the vexing ſnuff they have left behind them upon earth.

Ver. 25. They have ſet her a bed] i. e. The devils have ſet the Perſian multitude a bed, but an uneaſy one, ſuch as they ſet for that rich wretch, Luke 12.19, 20. who thought to take his eaſe, but was not ſuffered.

With all her multitude] The grave is the Congregation-houſe of all living, Job 30.23. Hell is of many dead, that dye in their ſins.

He is put in the middeſt] In the hotteſt fire of hell.

Ver. 26. There is Meſh[illegible: 1 letter]c and Tubal] i. e. Say ſome, the Cappadocians and Spaniards. Others, the Scythians and Sarmatians.

And all her multitude] See ver. 25.

Ver. 27. Which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war] They dyed not gloriouſly as Conquerours: nor were buried triumphantly with their arms under their heads (as valiant warriours were wont to be;) ſed ingloria vita receſſit, but they dyed like dogs, and were baſely buried, and yet that was not the worſt of it neither.

But their iniquities ſhall be upon their bones] They ſhall rue for their cruelty and bloodſhed. Theſe ſhall be as a murthering-weapon in their bones, Pſal. 42.10. throughout all eternity.

Ver. 28. Yea thou ſhalt be broken] Thou O Pharaoh, ſhalt have a deeper degree of torment in hell. Potentes potentèr torquebuntur.

Ver. 29. They ſhall lye with the uncircumciſed] Though they were circumciſed, as now the Turks are, yet that ſhall not profit them. Faciunt & veſpae favos: & Simia quam ſimilis turpiſſima beſtia nobis!

Ver. 30. There be the Princes of the North] i. e. (ſaith Junius) the Syrians, Tyrians, and others.

And all the Zidonian[illegible: 1 letter]] All the Hunters, ſaith the Vulgar; taking the word appellatively.

Which are gone down] The ſame again; ad majus Pathos.

Ver. 31. Pharaoh ſhall ſee them] This is the Epilogue, or percloſe of this doleful ditty.

And ſhall be comforted] This was a miſerable comfort: the like whereto is that of ſome prophane perſons among us, who when threatened for their foul practiſes, uſe to reply, If we do go to hell, yet we ſhall have company.

Ver. 32. For I have cauſed my terror] By Pharaoh's exemplary puniſhment. This will make good men tremble at my Judgements, and bad men beware how they come under my wrath.