Chapter 29
2020-Spent a ton of time on 28. Mostly just going to read 29 and 30 and focus on them next near - God willing.
Now we turn to prophecy about Egypt. There is a time stamp, 10th year, 10th month, 12th day. Presumably we are still dating from when Ezekiel went into captivity. The prophecy begins in vs 3, and is in the poetry/verse format. The prophecy addresses Pharaoh directly. He is called "the great dragon". Again, the hyperbole, giving attributes of Satan to these kings who pretend to be more than mere men, who aspire to be gods themselves. The prophecy says he that claims to own the Nile will be food for beasts in the wilderness. I suppose the point is that he will die thirsty in the desert, far from his precious river. Format changes back to narrative at vs 6.
The sin for which God punishes Egypt is different than for the previous nations. Egypt's crime was in not succoring Israel when they needed succor, or perhaps in offering a refuge, but not following through and providing it. Prophecy is specific. Egypt to be desolate from Migdol to Syene as far as the border of Cush. "It shall be uninhabited forty years". MSB says it is uncertain when this was. The Nubian desert is southern Egypt where it runs up against Kush. Not much lives there, even today. Migdol is the eastern frontier of Egypt, mentioned in the Exodus, just outside the eastern Nile delta and north of the Red Sea. Syene is ...somewhere. Ran out of time on a Friday morning. Forty years is mentioned several times. Israel wandered 40 years. Perhaps this is the justice. Egypt will be scattered among the nations for forty years, then brought back home, where they will be a lowly and poor nation among a host of poor nations. They will never again be in a position to be "the reliance of the house of Israel".
2020-1st 6 verses - what is this about in light of the conclusions in vs 28? Is this another strategy Satan was pushing at the same time, or is this a completely different thing? It seems different because of this verse:
6 Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD. "Because you have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel, 7 when they grasped you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; and when they leaned on you, you broke and made all their loins to shake. [Eze 29:6-7 ESV]
Egypt is going down not because of what they did, but because of what they failed to do.
13 "For thus says the Lord GOD: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered, 14 and I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. [Eze 29:13-14 ESV]
Egypt does rise again, but only to a lowly station.
vs 17 starts another prophecy. Time stamped 27th year, first month, first day. Speaks of Nebuchadnezzar's failed siege of Tyre. Says for all the work and labor expended against Tyre, Babylon got nothing. Neb gets Egypt as a consolation prize, and he receives its wealth. God gave Nebuchadnezzar Egypt.
18 "Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off its wealth and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me, declares the Lord GOD. [Eze 29:18-20 ESV]
2024 - Extra-biblical history records that Neb laid siege to Tyre but couldn't take the island. They held out. Alexander is the one that finally brought down the island. It would be interesting to confirm that Neb moved on from failure at Tyre to conquest in Egypt. That ought to be a big enough deal to be verified. And did Egypt then stay under his control for another 40 years? Did he prohibit rebuilding for 40 years or some such thing?
And then, after what is said about Egypt being the spoils to Neb, it says this:
21 "On that day I will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them. Then they will know that I am the LORD." [Eze 29:21 ESV] Hard to know what this is about. Obviously a horn is about a ruler or about national power. But when is "that day"? Is it when Egypt falls to Babylon, or is this one strictly a far prophecy? MSB notes were not help.