Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt ,.... Pharaoh was a name common to all the kings of Egypt; the name of this king was Pharaohhophra, Jeremiah 44:30 , and who, by Herodotus F24 Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 161. , is called Apries: and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt ; prophesy of his destruction, and of the destruction of the whole land that is under his dominion. read more
Speak, and say, thus saith the Lord God ,.... The one only, living, and true God, the almighty, eternal, and unchangeable Jehovah, which the gods of Egypt were not: behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt ; who, though so great a king, was not a match for God, yea, nothing in his hands; nor could he stand before him, or contend with him; or, I am above thee F25 עליך "super te", Montanus. ; though the king of Egypt was so high above others, and thought so highly of... read more
Set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt - This was Pharaoh-hophra or Pharaoh-apries, whom we have so frequently met with in the prophecies of Jeremiah, and much of whose history has been given in the notes. read more
The great dragon - התנים hattannim should here be translated crocodile, as that is a real animal, and numerous in the Nile; whereas the dragon is wholly fabulous. The original signifies any large animal. The midst of his rivers - This refers to the several branches of the Nile, by which this river empties itself into the Mediterranean. The ancients termed them septem ostia Nili , "the seven mouths of the Nile." The crocodile was the emblem of Egypt. read more
The doom of Egypt. I. AN INSPIRED PREACHER PROPHESIES CONCERNING A GREAT FOREIGN NATION . The Hebrew prophet did not confine his attention to the little strip of territory on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, which we call the Holy Land. He was God's messenger to the world. 1. The heathen are concerned with God ' s messages . God notices them and has intentions concerning them. Therefore: 2. It is the duty of the Church to make God ' s truth... read more
Egypt: a guilty vaunt. Notwithstanding that Judah was now looking to Egypt for deliverance, Ezekiel uttered his strong and unqualified condemnation of that idolatrous power. The Hebrew prophet was always entirely unaffected by considerations of worldly policy. What is here energetically rebuked is the sinful pride of that self-sufficient people. "My river is my own. I have made it for myself," said the Egyptian "crocodile." Whether that tone be taken by Pharaoh or by the country over which... read more
The world-power doomed. The work of the prophet is clear and definite, He does not declare his own speculations, nor the conclusions of his own judgment. He can specify the day and the hour in which God makes known to him his supreme will. Nor is the work so pleasant to the flesh as to induce men to adopt it of their own accord. The true prophet has to set himself against wickedness everywhere, of every sort and kind. He has to forego all human friendships, if he will publish God's Word. ... read more
The great dragon . The word is cognate with that used in Genesis 1:21 for the great "whales," monsters of the deep. The "dragon," probably the crocodile of the Nile (compare the description of "leviathan" in Job 41:1-34 .) had come to be the received prophetic symbol of Egypt ( Psalms 74:13 ; Isaiah 27:1 ; Isaiah 51:9 ). The rivers are the Nile-branches of the Delta. My river is mine own . The words probably imply that Hophra, like his grandfather Necho, in his plan of a canal... read more
Boastful self-confidence. The prophet, interdicted from prophesying concerning his own nation, directs his regard to one and another of the neighboring states, with all of which the Jews were in some way connected. With Egypt, Israel had from the earliest period of its history been related and associated. During the epoch of the Captivity, the attention of those Jews who were left in Jerusalem and in Judah was turned towards Egypt, from which source they thought they might obtain... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezekiel 29:1-7
Here is, I. The date of this prophecy against Egypt. It was in the tenth year of the captivity, and yet it is placed after the prophecy against Tyre, which was delivered in the eleventh year, because, in the accomplishment of the prophecies, the destruction of Tyre happened before the destruction of Egypt, and Nebuchadnezzar's gaining Egypt was the reward of his service against Tyre; and therefore the prophecy against Tyre is put first, that we may the better observe that. But particular... read more