Bible Commentaries
Ezekiel 30

Verses 1-26

Chapter 30

In chapter 30:

The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day! ( Ezekiel 30:1-2 )

So he is going around howling, "Woe worth the day!"

For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen. And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia ( Ezekiel 30:3-4 ),

And he tells of the destruction that is going to come against these nations.

Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword. Thus saith the LORD; They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord. And it shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted. And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed. In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it cometh. Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon ( Ezekiel 30:5-10 ).

So the greatness which was once Egypt, one of the greatest nations in the ancient world. You study ancient history, and Egypt always stands out. And you go, of course, to Egypt and you see the tremendous monuments to the genius of the people of that ancient world. You see the ruins in Memphis and in Thebes. You see the pyramids, you see the sphinx, and all of these great monuments that were there in Egypt. And you can only stand in awe and imagine the glory that once was in Egypt. But Egypt is to fall. Not to rise into a world-dominating stature again, but to remain just a base nation from then on. And of course, such is the story. Egypt is no longer a major kind of a world empire or a major kingdom of the world, but it is just one of the many lesser nations of the world even today.

And God speaks of this judgment that is going to come. And He names the various cities. The Lord said, verse Ezekiel 30:13 ,

I will destroy the idols, I will cause their images to cease out of [Memphis] Noph [is Memphis] ( Ezekiel 30:13 );

And of course, you go to Memphis and you can see these huge idols that are still there.

And there shall be no more a prince in the land of Egypt ( Ezekiel 30:13 ):

That is a Pharaoh.

I will put a fear in the land of Egypt. And I will make Pathros desolate, and I will set on fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments in No [which is Thebes]. I will pour out my fury upon Sin, and the strength of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of Thebes. And I will set fire in Egypt: and Sin shall have great pain, and Thebes shall be torn asunder, and Memphis shall have distresses daily. And the young men of Aven and Pibeseth shall fall by the sword: and these cities shall go into captivity. At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt ( Ezekiel 30:13-18 ):

Now it was at Tehaphnehes that Jeremiah, you remember, took stones and he buried them and he said, "Over the top of these stones Nebuchadnezzar is going to build his throne." And of course, archaeologists in excavating at Tehaphnehes uncovered the porch of the palace and they removed the stones, the pavement, and underneath they found the very stones that Jeremiah buried as a witness against that city. And it was indeed there that Nebuchadnezzar came and set up his throne, Jeremiah says, "You're trusting in Egypt to deliver you, look, Nebuchadnezzar is gonna set up his throne right here. Egypt isn't going to deliver."

Now that did not happen during the period of Pharaoh Haaibre, but this portion of course happened later, seventeen years after the beginning of the siege of Tyre. Or actually, it was fifteen years after that, that God for payment to Nebuchadnezzar gave him Egypt.

Verse Ezekiel 30:20 :

It came to pass now in the eleventh year ( Ezekiel 30:20 )

That is, you're back into the first month April of 586 B.C., and it's important that you catch these datings of these prophecies so that you know at what time these particular prophecies were made. So this now was made in April 586, the year that Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar.

The word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt [Pharaoh Haaibre again at this time], and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man. But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the LORD ( Ezekiel 30:20-26 ).

And so God's judgments pronounced against Egypt. And the next couple of chapters he continues these judgments against Egypt, and then we get into these instructions for those of the Jewish captivity and of their coming back into the land. And we get into some very exciting prophecies as we move into next week and prophecies that we see being fulfilled today in the land of Israel.

May the Lord keep His hand upon your life and may He speak to you this week through His Word. May He open up your heart and your mind and your understanding to the things of the Spirit. May He cause you to realize that His righteous principles will always prevail, that when God speaks it can be accounted as done. And when God establishes a principle, it cannot be violated. And thus, may you live in that place where God can bless you as He desires to bless you. May you keep yourself in the love of God as you walk in fellowship with Him this week. In Jesus' name. "