Matthew Poole and continuators on Ezekiel 29:3

3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD ; Behold I am against thee , Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers , which hath said , my river is mine own , and I have made it for my self .

That God that drowned one of thy Predecessors with his Army, Horsemen, and Horses in the Red Sea, at whose Name thou shouldest tremble, who ever fulfilled his word, and is the same, 'tis he foretells thee by my mouth what is to be.

See chap. 28. ver. 22. let. f.

See ver. 2. let. d.

It may refer, either to the Grandeur of this King, as if he had been Pharaoh the great, or to the largeness of this Creature, to which he is by this Hieroglyphick compared.

Some would have it the Whale, but that lies not in Rivers, as in his own place, 'tis surely the Crocodile, of which Nilus hath many; and chap. [illegible: 1 letter]2.2. our Prophet doth, and so Isa. 51.9. compare the Egyptian King to that devouring Serpent, or Dragon.

Not only at rest, but waiting for a prey, which never scapes, if this devourer lay any considerable hold of it.

Nilus was the chief River of Egypt, but, either there were some less Rivers, that run into Nilus, or some divisions of it, where it made some Islands, or the seven mouths of it, where it falls into the Sea, which may give the Name of Rivers to it, or those Channels that were cut large, and deep, to convey water into the Country, in all which these Crocodiles bred, and rested, and waited for their prey.

Which hath thought, accounted, and boasted, by which it appears, the Prophet speaks of a Dragon in a figurative sense.

Kingdom, Power, Riches, and Forces signified here by a River: All the strength and glory of Egypt are mine, saith this proud King.

At my dispose, and will; 'tis probable, that this King of Egypt was an aspiring King, who aimed at absolute power, and thought he had secured it to himself, for the River, the Emblem of the Kingdom is mine, saith he.

This seems to give some credit to the conjecture, that this King had raised the Prerogative Royal, and done what others before him would, but could not, and therefore assumes it to himself, as his own work, forgetting God who gives Kingdoms, and whose they are.

Somewhat like the proud boast, I have built for the Glory of my Name. Dan. 4.30. and like to meet as sad an end.

Marginal references: Psal. 74.13, 14. Isa. 27.1. &c.