Aven - Or On, the famous Heliopolis, or city of the sun. Pibeseth - Bubastum or Bubaste, by a slight alteration of the letters. It is situated on the eastern branch of the Nile, towards Arabia. read more
Tehaphnehes - Called also Tahapanes, Jeremiah 2:16 . This is the Pelusian Daphne. Break there the yokes - The sceptres. Nebuchadnezzar broke the scepter of Egypt when he confirmed the kingdom to Amasis, who had rebelled against Apries. read more
The Lord's day in Egypt. The Lord's day is the day in which God comes nearest to men and manifests himself. Whether he will come as our Friend or as our Foe depends on our state of mind towards him. He has not abandoned the race of men. They are on trial, undergoing discipline. Now and again he comes near, either in his radiant robes of grace or in solemn aspect as an impartial Judge. Even when he approaches nations in the latter character, he gives premonitions of his coming, and this is... read more
Noph , or, as in Hosea 9:6 , Moph, is a form of the Egyptian M'noph, the reek Memphis (so in the LXX .), the capital of Lower Egypt, the chief center of the worship of Phthah, whom the Greeks identified with Hephaestos. Hence the special mention of the idols and images . read more
Destroying idols. Egypt was a land of innumerable idols. In the general desolation that was approaching, not only would these idols prove themselves useless protectors, they themselves would share the fate of their patrons. The idols are destroyed in the ruin of the idolaters. I. THERE IS NO DEFENSE IN IDOLS . This is a lesson for the heathen. But not only pagans who worship images of wood and stone need to learn it; men who despise the superstitions of heathendom have... read more
Idols destroyed. It is well known, from the records of ancient history, and from the explorations and studies of Egyptologists of our own century, that the land of the Pharaohs was the seat of idolatry of the most deeply rooted, widespread, and at the same time most debasing and contemptible kind. It was not possible that the prophet of the Lord, in rebuking Egypt, should confine himself to the region of polities; he could not but deal with the religion and the religious practices which... read more
(For Pathros , see note on Ezekiel 29:14 .) Zoan—joined with Noph in Isaiah 19:11 , mentioned in Numbers 13:22 as older than Hebron—is the Tanis of the Greeks, situated on the Tanitic branch of the Delta of the Nile. No ; or, as in Nahum 3:8 , No Amon (equivalent to "the abode of Ammen"), the sacred name of the Egyptian Thebes. The LXX . gives Diospolis; the Vulgate, by a curious anachronism, Alexandria. read more
Sin . The name signifies "mire," like the Greek Pelusium (so the Vulgate), from πήλος . The modern name Pheromi has the same meaning. The remains of an old fortress near the town are still known as Tineh, the "clay" of Daniel 2:41 . The fortress stood on the eastern branch of the Nile, surrounded by swamps, and its position made it, in modern phrase, the "key" of Egypt. Suidas and Strabo ( ut supra ) describe it as an obstacle to invaders from the East. Ezekiel, in describing... read more
The young men of Aven ; the "On" of Genesis 12:1-20 :45, the "house of the sun" of Jeremiah 43:13 , the Heliopolis of the LXX . and Vulgate. The form Aven ( Hebrews for "a vain thing!" as in Hosea 4:15 ; Hosea 10:5 ) was perhaps chosen as a word of scorn pointing to the idolatry of the city. Pibeseth ; LXX ; Bubastos . The city situated on the Suez Canal, begun by Necho and finished under Ptolemy II . (Herod; 2.59). It derived its name from the eat-headed goddess... read more
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Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 30:16
Noph - Cairo or Kahira; see Ezekiel 30:13 . read more