Ezekiel 30:1

30:1-19 The prophecy of the destruction of Egypt is very full. Those who take their lot with God's enemies, shall be with them in punishment. The king of Babylon and his army shall be instruments of this destruction. God often makes one wicked man a scourge to another. No place in the land of Egypt shall escape the fury of the Chaldeans. The Lord is known by the judgments he executes. Yet these are only present effects of the Divine displeasure, not worthy of our fear, compared with the wrath to come, from which Jesus delivers his people.

The word of the Lord came again unto me,.... Whether this prophecy was delivered about the time of that in the former part of the preceding chapter, namely, in the tenth year, tenth month, and twelfth day of it; or whether about the time that was which is recorded in the latter part of the chapter, in the seven and twentieth year of Jehoiachin's captivity, is not easy to say; I am inclined to think it was about the time of the latter, since the time of the fulfilment of it is said to be near, Ezekiel 30:3 , saying: as follows:

Verse 1. - The word of the Lord came again , etc. The section that follows, ending with Ver. 18, is exceptional as standing without a date. It may be either (1) a continuation of the prophecy in Ezekiel 29:17-21 , and so belong to the latest years of Ezekiel's work; or (2) that prophecy may be regarded as standing by itself - a parenthesis inserted at a later date, so that we go back to the earlier word of the Lord in Ezekiel 29:1-16 . Jerome, Havernick, Hitzig, Rosenmüller, Kliefoth, and others are in favor of the former view, chiefly on the ground that Ver. 3 speaks of the nearness of the coming judgment. That the day of the Lord should be "near" is, however, too vague and relative a term to be decisive. On the whole, the question must be left as one which we have no sufficient data for solving. The close parallelism with Ezekiel 29 . seems to me slightly in favor of the second view. Ezekiel 30:1

CHAPTER 30 Eze 30:1-26. Continuation of the Prophecies against Egypt. Two distinct messages: (1) At Eze 30:1-19, a repetition of Eze 29:1-16, with fuller details of lifelike distinctness. The date is probably not long after that mentioned in Eze 29:17, on the eve of Nebuchadnezzar's march against Egypt after subjugating Tyre. (2) A vision relating directly to Pharaoh and the overthrow of his kingdom; communicated at an earlier date, the seventh of the first month of the eleventh year. Not a year after the date in Eze 29:1, and three months before the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar.The desolation of Egypt and her helpers, Ezekiel 30:1-19. The arm of Babylon shall be strengthened to break the arm of Egypt, Ezekiel 30:20-26. No text from Poole on this verse.

Announcement of the judgment upon Egypt and its allies. - Ezekiel 30:1 . And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ezekiel 30:2 . Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Howl ye! Woe to the day! Ezekiel 30:3 . For the day is near, the day of Jehovah near, a day of cloud, the time of the heathen will it be. Ezekiel 30:4 . And the sword will come upon Egypt, and there will be pangs in Ethiopia, when the slain fall in Egypt, and they take her possessions, and her foundations are destroyed. Ezekiel 30:5 . Ethiopians and Libyans and Lydians, and all the rabble, and Chub, and the sons of the covenant land, will fall by the sword with them. - In the announcement of the judgment in Ezekiel 30:2 and Ezekiel 30:3 , Ezekiel rests upon Joel 1:13 , Joel 1:15 , and Joel 2:2 , where the designation already applied to the judgment upon the heathen world by Obadiah, viz., "the day of Jehovah" ( Obadiah 1:15 ), is followed by such a picture of the nearness and terrible nature of that day, that even Isaiah ( Isaiah 13:6 , Isaiah 13:9 ) and Zephaniah ( Zephaniah 1:7 , Zephaniah 1:14 ) appropriate the words of Joel. Ezekiel also does the same, with this exception, that he uses ההּ instead of אההּ, and adds to the force of the expression by the repetition of קרוב יום.

In Ezekiel 30:3 , the words from יום ענן to יהיה are not to be taken together as forming one sentence, "a day of cloud will the time of the nations be" (De Wette), because the idea of a "time of the nations" has not been mentioned before, so as to prepare the way for a description of its real nature here. יום ענן and עת גּוים contain two co-ordinate affirmations concerning the day of Jehovah. It will be a day of cloud, i.e., of great calamity (as in Joel 2:2 ), and a time of the heathen, i.e., when heathen (גּוים without the article) are judged, when their might is to be shattered (cf. Isaiah 13:22 ). This day is coming upon Egypt, which is to succumb to the sword. Ethiopia will be so terrified at this, that it will writhe convulsively with anguish (חלחלה, as in Nahum 2:11 and Isaiah 21:3 ). לקח המנהּ signifies the plundering and removal of the possessions of the land, like נשׂא המנהּ in Ezekiel 29:19 . The subject to לקחוּ is indefinite, "they," i.e., the enemy. The foundations of Egypt, which are to be destroyed, are not the foundations of its buildings, but may be understood in a figurative sense as relating to persons, after the analogy of Isaiah 19:10 ; but the notion that Cush, Phut, etc. ( Ezekiel 30:9 ), i.e., the mercenary troops obtained from those places, which are called the props of Egypt in Ezekiel 30:6 , are intended, as Hitzig assumes, is not only extremely improbable, but decidedly erroneous.

[Bible] 29:20. And for the service that he hath done me against it: I have given him the land of Egypt, because he hath laboured for me, saith the Lord God. 29:21. In that day a horn shall bud forth to the house of Israel, and I will give thee an open mouth in the midst of them: and they shall know that I am the Lord. Ezechiel Chapter 30 The desolation of Egypt and her helpers: all her cities shall be wasted. 30:1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 30:2. Son of man prophesy, and say: Thus saith the Lord God: Howl ye, Woe, woe to the day: 30:3. For the day is near, yea the day of the Lord is near: a cloudy day, it shall be the time of the nations. 30:4. And the sword shall come upon Egypt: and there shall be dread in Ethiopia, when the wounded shall fall in Egypt, and the multitude thereof shall be taken away, and the foundations thereof shall be destroyed. 30:5. Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the rest of the crowd, and Chub, and the children of the land of the covenant, shall fall with them by the sword. 30:6. Thus saith the Lord God: They also that uphold Egypt shall fall, and the pride of her empire shall be brought down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord the God of hosts. 30:7. And they shall be desolate in the midst of the lands that are desolate, and the cities thereof shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted. 30:8. And they shall know that I am the Lord: when I shall have set a fire in Egypt, and all the helpers thereof shall be destroyed. 30:9. In that day shall messengers go forth from my face in ships to destroy the confidence of Ethiopia, and there shall be dread among them in the day of Egypt: because it shall certainly come. 30:10. Thus saith the Lord God: I will make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon.