Ezekiel 30:1

ORACLES (3) Ezekiel 30:1-19 AND (4) Ezekiel 30:20-26 AGAINST EGYPT

We may outline this chapter thus:

A. Announcement of the Day of the Lord (Ezekiel 30:1-5)

B. Allies, Dependents also destroyed (Ezekiel 30:6-9)

C. Wealth of Egypt to be carried away (Ezekiel 30:10-12)

D. Princes and Cities to be destroyed (Ezekiel 30:13-19)

E. God breaks Pharaoh's arm (Ezekiel 30:20-26)

THE DAY OF THE LORD COMES TO EGYPT (Ezekiel 30:1-19)

Ezekiel 30:1-5

"The word of Jehovah came again unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith Jehovah: Wail ye, alas for the day! For the day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near; it shall be a day of clouds, a time of the nations. And a sword shall come upon Egypt, and anguish shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt; and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down. Ethiopia and Put and Lud, and all the mingled peoples, and Cub, and the children of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword."

The announcement here that the Day of Jehovah is near cannot be separated from its eschatological overtones relating to that final and Eternal Day of the Lord when his righteous judgments shall be executed upon the fallen and rebellious race of Adam, that day of Doom and Destruction mentioned in Genesis, upon which God said, "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die!" (Genesis 2:17)

Regarding that particular day, upon which God promised the death of Adam and Eve in the case of their eating of the forbidden tree, it was the seventh day of creation, a day, which, according to Hebrews 4th chapter, is still going on and has not ended yet. The meaning of that sentence upon the sinful progenitors of our fallen race is that Adam and Eve in the person of their total posterity shall be totally destroyed, the redeemed of all dispensations and all ages "in Christ Jesus" being the sole exceptions to that universal destruction that shall at last terminate God's Operation Adam on that Day of Jehovah.

We have already written many comments relating to the Day of Jehovah, especially in Joel, Amos, and Zephaniah, etc. These will be found in the appropriate volumes of our commentaries under the following references: Isaiah 13:6-9; Joel 1:15; 2:1,11; 3:14; Amos 5:18-20; Obadiah 1:1:15; Zephaniah 1:7,14; Zechariah 14:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Peter 3:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Hebrews 9:27; Matthew 25:31-46, and many other references.

Many other signal judgments of God executed upon wicked nations, just like the one here prophesied for Egypt, are token judgments pointing forward to that great and final Day when, as John Milton expressed it:

"God shall cast his throne in middle Air

And judge before Him all the nations there!"

As Feinberg wrote, "Thus we take God's judgment on Egypt here as identified in principle with that Day upon which he will call all nations to give an account."[1] As this same author declared, "We would not dare to interpret this chapter as if it were not related to the many other references in the Word of God to `The day of Jehovah.'"[2]

The prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem given by Christ himself in Matthew 24 is another example of an earthly judgment against a wicked city that promises also an ultimate fulfillment in the Final Judgment. We also believe that there are multiple examples of this in Amos 1-2.

One of the most impressive features of this chapter is the list of the principal cities of Egypt; but critics like Cooke have brought vigorous allegations against the list which he called "haphazard; three of the cities belong to Upper Egypt and five to Lower Egypt; but they are named without any sense of their geographical location, as though the writer knew them only by hearsay."[3] Like many another allegation of some radical critic, intent upon denying the passage to Ezekiel, this comment also is inaccurate, as indicated by the opinions of many able scholars. "All of the towns singled out for mention here, without exception, are of religious, political, or military importance."[4] "Every single center of cultural and political power in Egypt was mentioned."[5] "The listing here indicates an exact knowledge of the chief cities of Egypt for that period."[6] In this light, it is clear that Cooke's allegations should be rejected.

Some interpreters divide this oracle into four subdivisions, each of which begins with, "Thus saith the Lord," as in Ezekiel 30:2,6,10,13. However, we cannot see any necessity for such fragmentary divisions.

It should be remembered that the necessity for God's destruction of the pagan nations of that period derived from their false view that God's punishment of Israel that resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of her people constituted a victory for their pagan gods over Jehovah. Upon the occasion of God's deliverance of Israel from Egyptian captivity, that matter of which God was really God had been settled in the great victory for Jehovah; but the apostasy of the Chosen People and God's ensuing destruction of them had changed all that; and it was very necessary for God, all over again, to demonstrate his own superiority over the pantheon of paganism.

Each one of the cities mentioned later in the chapter was the seat of some pagan god.

The allies and dependencies of Egypt would do her no good when the judgment fell.

"Put, Lud, and Cub ..." (Ezekiel 30:5). "Put and Lud were two tribes living west of Egypt in Africa;"[7] however, "Cub is an unknown name."[8] These peoples were allies of Egypt and were considered part of her strength (see Nahum 3:9). What is stressed here is that allies and dependents alike will experience destruction along with Egypt.

"The children of the land that is in league ..." (Ezekiel 30:5). The marginal reading in our version has "children of the land of the covenant"; and if this is allowed, the reference is to the Jews who, following the murder of Gedaliah had returned to Egypt contrary to the stern warnings of Jeremiah. Beasley-Murray denied that this reading should be followed; but, in any case, whether stated here or not, those Jews who had returned to Egypt would (and did) suffer the same destruction as that of Egypt.