Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Ezekiel 29:10

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Ezekiel 29:10. From the tower of Syene — ממגדל מונה mimmigdol seveneh, "from Migdol to Syene." Syene, now called Essuan, was the last city in Egypt, going towards Ethiopia. It was famous for a well into which the rays of the sun fell perpendicularly at midday.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Judgment on Egypt (29:1-16)

At the time Ezekiel delivered this prophecy against Egypt, Jerusalem was besieged by the Babylonian armies (29:1; see 2 Kings 25:1-2). The Judean king Zedekiah depended upon Egyptian aid in rebelling against Babylon, but Ezekiel knows that to depend on Egypt is to invite defeat. By his condemnation of Egypt in this message, he shows how unacceptable any Judean-Egyptian alliance is in God’s sight (2; cf. 17:15-18; Jeremiah 37:6-10).

In this very pictorial prophecy, Egypt is likened to the mythical monster who thought he owned the Nile. God says he will catch this monster, drag it out of the river and leave it to lie in the fields, where it will become food for foul birds and animals. Egypt will fall to foreign powers (3-5).

Ezekiel then gives another illustration. Judah at times had depended on Egypt for help, as a cripple depends on a walking stick. Egypt, however, proved to be not a walking stick but a reed, which broke and brought injury to the person who depended on it. For its treachery to Judah, Egypt will be punished (6-9a; cf. Isaiah 36:6). For its pride also it will be punished, and its land will be left desolate (9b-12). Although God will later restore Egypt, it will never regain its former power (13-16).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

"Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and will cut off from thee man and beast. And the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste; and they shall know that I am Jehovah. Because he hath said the river is mine, and I have made it; therefore, behold, I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from the tower of Seveneh, even unto the border of Ethiopia. No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years. And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of the countries that are desolate; and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be a desolation for forty years; and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries."

THE ALLEGORY APPLIED

"I will bring a sword upon thee" This was the sword of Nebuchadnezzar, identified in Ezekiel 29:17, below.

"A desolation for forty years" This is the big problem in this prophecy, because nearly all of the scholars seem very sure that there was never such a long period of desolation in the whole history of Egypt. However, there is too much that men do not know about the history of those times to allow very much dependence to be put in such opinions. Nebuchadnezzar did indeed capture Egypt, following the fall of Tyre; and if what that ruthless ruler did to Jerusalem is any gauge of what he probably did to Egypt, we may be very sure that Ezekiel's prophecy was no exaggeration. Our inability to prove just exactly what all that desolation was cannot in any manner detract from the most circumstantial and accurate fulfillment of that later promise in this same prophecy regarding the perpetual place of Egypt throughout following history, in which the perpetual mediocrity of the nation was foretold. Our argument is that this portion of the prophecy alone proves the divine inspiration of the whole prophecy, and the believer should have no problem with trusting God for the fulfillment of the rest of it, whether or not, modern commentators know all about it.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

From the tower of Syene - Or, as in the margin, “Migdol” (“tower”) was about two miles from Suez. “Syene” was the most southern town in Egypt, on the borders of Ethiopia, in the Thebaid, on the eastern bank of the Nile. The modern Assvan lies a little to the northeast of the ancient Syene.

We have no record of the circumstances of the Chaldsaean invasion of Egypt, but it is possible that it did not take place until after the fall of Tyre. We gather of what nature it must have been by comparing the description of the results of Assyrian conquest (Isaiah 37:25 ff). Minute fulfillment of every detail of prophecy is not to be insisted upon, but only the general fact that Egypt would for a time, described as 40 years, be in a state of collapse. No great stress is to be laid on the exact number of years. The number of years passed in the wilderness became to the Hebrews a significant period of chastisement.

Nebuchadnezzars occupation of Egypt was of no long duration, and his ravages, though severe, must have been partial. Peace with Babylon was favorable to the development of home-works, but since the peace was in truth subjugation, it was hollow and in fact ruinous. Further, it is to be remembered that God fulfils His decree by a gradual rather than an immediate process. The ravages of Nebuchadnezzar were the beginning of the end, and all the desolation which followed may be looked upon as a continuous fulfillment of God’s decree. The savage fury with which Cambyses swept over Egypt amply realized all that Ezekiel foretold. Many places recovered some wealth and prosperity, but from the time of Herodotus the kingdom never again became really independent. Egyptian rulers gave place to Persian, Persian to the successors of Alexander the Great, who gave place in turn to Rome. So thoroughly was the prophecy of Ezekiel fulfilled Ezekiel 29:14-15.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 29

Now as we get into chapter 29:

In the tenth year ( Ezekiel 29:1 ),

That would be the year 587 B.C.

And in the tenth month, the twelfth day of the month ( Ezekiel 29:1 ),

This prophecy came to Ezekiel concerning the Pharaoh who was the king of Egypt, who was Pharaoh Haaibre.

And it came against him, and against all of Egypt: [And He said,] Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is my own, and I have made it for myself ( Ezekiel 29:2-3 ).

Glorying in the great Nile and its tributaries.

But I will put hooks in your jaws, and I will cause the fish of the rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel ( Ezekiel 29:4-6 ).

Now, Israel leaned upon Egypt for help. It wasn't right that they do so; God wanted them to lean upon Him. In fact, the prophet Jeremiah said, "If you lean upon Egypt, it'll be like a broken reed and it'll pierce your hand." Now a reed is not a strong staff at all. A reed may look strong, but it's very fibrous and it has no strength at all. Though it looks like you could really lean upon it, you go to lean upon a reed and the thing will just bend and you can just pierce through your hand with the thing if you really are leaning hard upon a reed, you're trusting in something that just can't hold you up. It'll bend; it'll break and you'll fall.

Now, Egypt was likened unto a reed upon the people of God leaned. And Pharaoh Haaibre did come up with the Egyptian forces. And he caused Nebuchadnezzar to pull back from his sieging of Jerusalem for a while. But then the Pharaoh Haaibre returned to Egypt and Nebuchadnezzar continued his siege and destroyed Jerusalem. So because Pharaoh Haaibre was not really a help to Judah, God speaks against him. "You have been like a staff of reed to the house of Israel."

When they took hold of thee by thy hand, you did break, and you tore all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, you broke, and you made their loins to be at a stand. Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee. And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it ( Ezekiel 29:7-9 ).

Again, as Nebuchadnezzar said, "This great Babylon is mine, I have made it." And the watchers in heaven said, "Oh, we'll put you down for that one." And he went insane for a period of time. We'll get that in a few weeks when we get to Daniel. Fascinating story.

Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia. No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast for a period of forty years. And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will gather the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered: And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which brings their iniquity to remembrance. And it came to pass in the seventh and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me saying, Son of man ( Ezekiel 29:10-18 ),

Now, there are those Bible critics who say, "Well, this did not happen during the time of Pharaoh Haaibre, that Nebuchadnezzar did not conquer Egypt during the time of his reign." It is interesting that they have skipped this particular reference in verse Ezekiel 29:17 . He doesn't say that Nebuchadnezzar conquered the Pharaoh Haaibre and conquered Egypt during the time of his reign. But this came in the twenty-seventh year; the previous prophecy came in the tenth year. So the latter part of this chapter came seventeen years later, after the death of Pharaoh Haaibre.

Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it ( Ezekiel 29:18 ):

Now God is saying, "Look, Nebuchadnezzar was My servant. He destroyed Tyrus but he didn't get paid." By the time he conquered the city, there was no spoil. So neither he nor his army got their pay for the job that they did for Me in the destruction of Tyrus. Therefore they will go down and they will conquer Egypt and there they will get their wages as they take the great wealth of Egypt unto themselves. And so the spoil of Egypt was to be the pay that God gave to Nebuchadnezzar and his troops for the lack of pay in the destruction of Tyrus. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. An introductory prophecy of judgment on Egypt 29:1-16

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The Lord repeated that He would devastate Egypt for her pride and self-sufficiency. The whole land would suffer destruction, from Migdol, in the northeast delta, to Syene, in the south near modern Aswan, and to the very border of Ethiopia, at the extreme southern end of the land. [Note: See the maps at the end of these notes.] Ancient Ethiopia (Cush, Nubia) corresponds to modern southern Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, and northern Ethiopia.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Behold, therefore, I am against thee, and against thy rivers,.... Against the king of Egypt, and against his subjects, the many people he ruled over; as the Lord is against spiritual Egypt, and the head of it, and the antichristian states, signified by many waters, rivers, and fountains; see Revelation 11:8:

and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate; partly by a civil war, and partly by a foreign enemy; especially those parts of it which were the seat of war:

from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia; or the tower of Seveneh; according to Herodotus i, Syene was a city of Thebais, where he was told were two mountains, which gave rise to the Nile. Pliny k says it was six hundred twenty five miles from Alexandria; and it is by him, as well as Strabo l, placed under the tropic of Cancer; who both say, in the summer solstice, at noon, no shadow is cast there; to which the poet Lucan m refers, It is now called Essuaen; which city, as Mr. Norden n says, who lately travelled in those parts, is situated on the eastern shore of the Nile; and he relates that there remain still some marks of the place where the ancient city stood; as to the rest, it is so covered with earth, that there is nothing but rubbish, from which, in some places, one would judge that there were formerly magnificent buildings here. The utter destruction of which, with the rest of Egypt prophesied of, appears to have been fulfilled. This place is famous for being the place of the banishment of Juvenal the poet, where he died, being eighty years of age. The tower of Syene, Jerom says, remained to his days, and was subject to the Roman government, where are the cataracts of the Nile; and to which place, from our sea, he says, the Nile is navigable: but, according to Pliny. o, Syene itself was on the border of Ethiopia; and so say Pausanias p and Solinus q: and, according to Seneca r, it was the extreme part of Egypt. So Josephus s says the south border of Egypt is Syene, which separates it from Ethiopia; and that between Pelusium (the entrance of Egypt) and Syene are two hundred and fifty miles. It lay between Egypt and Ethiopia, so that it might seem doubtful to which it belonged. It seems better therefore to take "Migdol", rendered a "tower", for the proper name of a place, as the Septuagint do; and such a place there was in Egypt,

Jeremiah 44:1, a town on the Red sea, Exodus 14:2, so that the one was on the border of Egypt on one side, and the other on the other: and the words may be rendered t, "from Migdol to Syene, even to the border of Ethiopia"; from one end of it to the other: it denotes the utter desolation of the country, from one end to the other. Unless by Cush, rendered "Ethiopia", is meant Arabia, as it often is, and is thought by some to be intended here; which was on the northern border of Egypt, as Syene was, a city in Thebais, near to Ethiopia, on the southern border of it; so that this describes Egypt from south to north; but the former account seems best.

i Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 28. k Nat. Hist. l. 2. c. 73. l Geograph. l. 2. p. 65, 78. m "Umbras nusquan flectente", Syene. Pharsal. l. 2. v. 587. n Travels in Egypt and Nubis, vol. 1. p. 143. vol. 2. p. 97, 103. o Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 9. p Arcadica, sive l. 8. p. 518. q Polyhistor, c. 45. r Apud Servium in Virgil. Aeneid. l. 6. p. 1011. s De Bello Jud. l. 5. c. 10. sect. 5. t See Prideaux's Connexion, part 1. B. 2. p. 93. So the words are rendered by Hillerus, Onomast. Sacr. p. 672. who observes, that Syene is now called by the Arabs "Asuan", from the Ethiopic word "Wasou", which signifies to terminate or finish, this being the border of Ethiopia.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee.   9 And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.   10 Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.   11 No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.   12 And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.   13 Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered:   14 And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom.   15 It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.   16 And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

      This explains the foregoing prediction, which was figurative, and looks something further. Here is a prophecy,

      I. Of the ruin of Egypt. The threatening of this is very full and particular; and the sin for which this ruin shall be brought upon them is their pride, Ezekiel 29:9; Ezekiel 29:9. They said, The river is mine and I have made it; therefore their land shall spue them out. 1. God is against them, both against the king and against the people, against thee and against thy rivers. Waters signify people and multitudes,Revelation 17:15. 2. Multitudes of them shall be cut off by the sword of war, a sword which God will bring upon them to destroy both man and beast, the sword of civil war. 3. The country shall be depopulated. The land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste (Ezekiel 29:9; Ezekiel 29:9), the country not cultivated, the cities not inhabited. The wealth of both was their pride, and that God will take away. It shall be utterly waste (wastes of waste, so the margin reads it), and desolate (Ezekiel 29:10; Ezekiel 29:10); neither men nor beasts shall pass through it, nor shall it be inhabited (Ezekiel 29:11; Ezekiel 29:11); it shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are so,Ezekiel 29:12; Ezekiel 29:12. This was the effect not so much of those wars spoken of before, which were made by them, but of the war which the king of Babylon made upon them. It shall be desolate from one end of the land to the other, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia. The sin of pride is enough to ruin a whole nation. 4. The people shall be dispersed and scattered among the nations (Ezekiel 29:12; Ezekiel 29:12), so that those who thought the balance of power was in their hand should now become a contemptible people. Such a fall does a haughty spirit go before.

      II. Of the restoration of Egypt after awhile, Ezekiel 29:13; Ezekiel 29:13. Egypt shall lie desolate forty years (Ezekiel 29:12; Ezekiel 29:12) and then I will bring again the captivity of Egypt,Ezekiel 29:14; Ezekiel 29:14. Some date the forty years from Nebuchadnezzar's destroying Egypt, others from the desolation of Egypt some time before; however, they end about the first year of Cyrus, when the seventy years' captivity of Judah ended, or soon after. Then this prediction was accomplished, 1. That God will gather the Egyptians out of all the countries into which they were dispersed, and make them to return to the land of their habitation, and give them a settlement there again, Ezekiel 29:14; Ezekiel 29:14. Note, Though God will find out a way to humble the proud, yet he will not contend for ever, no, not with them in this world. 2. That yet they shall not make a figure again as they have done. Egypt shall be a kingdom again, but it shall be the basest of the kingdoms (Ezekiel 29:15; Ezekiel 29:15); it shall have but little wealth and power, and shall not extend its conquests as formerly; it shall be the tail of the nations, and not the head. It is a mercy that it shall become a kingdom again, but, to humble it, it shall be a despicable kingdom; it shall be a long time before it recover any thing like its ancient lustre. For two reasons it shall be thus mortified:-- (1.) That it may not domineer over its neighbours, that it may not exalt itself above the nations, nor rule over the nations, as it has done, but that it may know what it is to be low and despised. Note, Those who abuse their power will justly be stripped of it; and God, as King of nations, will find out a way to maintain the injured rights and liberties, not only of his own, but of other nations. (2.) That it may not deceive the people of God (Ezekiel 29:16; Ezekiel 29:16): It shall no more be the confidence of the house of Israel; they shall no more be in temptation to trust in it as they have done, which is a sin that brings their iniquity to remembrance, that is, provokes God to punish them not for that only, but for all their other sins. Or it puts them in mind of their idolatries to return to them, when they look to the idolaters, to repose a confidence in them. Note, The creatures we confide in are often therefore ruined, because there is no other way effectually to cure us of our confidence in them. Rather than Israel shall be ensnared again, the whole land of Egypt shall be laid waste. He that once gave Egypt for their ransom (Isaiah 43:3) will now give Egypt for their cure; and it shall be destroyed rather than Israel shall not in this particular be reformed. God, not only in justice, but in wisdom and goodness to us, breaks those creature-stays which we lean too much upon, and makes them to be no more, that they may be no more our confidence.