Ezekiel 29, A Crocodile Pulled From the Nile

After describing prophecies against kingdoms around Judah, Ezekiel now receives a message from YHWH regarding the old nemesis, Egypt. This prophecy will stretch across four chapters (29-32) and include seven distinct passages.

Ezekiel 29:1-7, Set your face against Egypt

In the tenth year, in the tenth month on the twelfth day, the word of the LORD came to me: "Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. Speak to him and say: `This is what the Sovereign LORD says:  

"`I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, 

you great monster lying among your streams. 

You say, "The Nile is mine; I made it for myself."

But I will put hooks in your jaws 

and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales. 

I will pull you out from among your streams, 

with all the fish sticking to your scales.

I will leave you in the desert,

 you and all the fish of your streams. 

You will fall on the open field and not be gathered or picked up. 

I will give you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air.   

Then all who live in Egypt will know that I am the LORD. "`You have been a staff of reed for the house of Israel. When they grasped you with their hands, you splintered and you tore open their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke and their backs were wrenched.

Pharaoh is described as the great "monster", tannin (translated "dragon" in the King James Version.) This is the Hebrew word for the "sea creatures" created in Day Five of Genesis 1:21 and often represented the chaos of the sea in the ANE culture. Although this creature could indeed be the chaos creature of old, its description here easily fits that of the crocodile. The kingdom of Egypt identified with Nile crocodiles and indeed had a crocodile god, Sobek. Crocodiles lay silently along the streams of the Nile but could be hunted with fish hooks. That imagery, pulled into the field by fish hooks, describes the downfall of Pharaoh.

The portrayal of Egypt as a splintered reed was an old one. A century before, according to Isaiah 36:6, Egypt was described, by the king of Assyria, as a mere reed which splintered when put under pressure.

Ezekiel 29:8-12, Egypt desolate

 "`Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: 

I will bring a sword against you and kill your men and their animals. Egypt will become a desolate wasteland. Then they will know  that I am the LORD. 

 

"`Because you said, "The Nile is mine; I made it,"  therefore I am against you and against your streams, and I will make the land of Egypt a ruin and a desolate waste from Migdol to Aswan, as far as the border of Cush. No foot of man or animal will pass through it; no one will live there for forty years. I will make the land of Egypt desolate among devastated lands, and her cities will lie desolate forty years among ruined cities. And I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them through the countries.   

Egypt will be destroyed and desolate for forty years, with her people, like the Israelites, scattered among the nations. Alexander says that Egypt eventually fell to Babylon about 586 BC; Josephus briefly mentions this in the Antiquities, Book X, chapter 9, paragraph 7.

Ezekiel 29:13-16, Don't look to Egypt

"`Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: 

At the end of  forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the nations where they were scattered. I will bring them back from captivity and return them to Upper Egypt, the land of their ancestry. There they will be a lowly kingdom. It will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again exalt itself above the other nations. I will make it so weak that it will never again rule over the nations. Egypt will no longer be a source of confidence for the people of Israel but will be a reminder of their sin in turning to her for help. Then they will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.'"   

The people of Israel often looked in the direction of Egypt for help. Egypt will eventually be so weak that this will no longer be a temptation.

This ends the first of seven Ezekiel statements against Egypt, given in the tenth year of Ezekiel's exile.

Ezekiel 29:17-18, Campaign against Tyre

In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month on the first day, the word of the LORD came to me:

"Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon drove his army in a hard campaign against Tyre; every head was rubbed bare and every shoulder made raw. Yet he and his army got no reward from the campaign he led against Tyre.   

The previous statement occurred in the tenth year of the reign of Hezekiah, the tenth year of Ezekiel's exile. This statement jumps far ahead, to the twenty-seventh year.  During this time Nebuchadnezzar had attacked Tyre. His siege of Tyre took thirteen years says Josephus (Antiquities, Book X, chapter 11, paragraph 1.)

Ezekiel 29:19-21, Egypt as a gift

Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: 

I am going to give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he wil  carry off its wealth. He will loot and plunder the land as pay for his army. I have given him Egypt as a reward for his efforts because he and his army did it for me, declares the Sovereign LORD. 

"On that day I will make a horn grow for the house of  Israel, and I will open your mouth among them. Then they will know that I am the LORD."  

Nebuchadnezzar, says God (through Ezekiel), will be rewarded for acting as a weapon of God and will be given Egypt as a conquest.

This ends the second of seven Ezekiel statements against Egypt. The statements that follow in the next three chapters probably predate this one.