Semikkah7

12/26/2025 – Week 9 of 13 – Ezekiel study (Nov 1st thru Jan. 24th) – Chapters 29 – 32 / Post 1 of 2// Nov 1st thru Jan 24th / For introduction – See 10/14/2025 post 

---

Four sources for my quoted commentary excerpts, so far in our Ezekiel study, I have added (*D) this week for one commentary in chapter 28:

(*A) – Apologetics Study Bible

(*B) – My personal standby for this study: “Be Reverent – Bowing Before Our Awesome God – OT Commentary Ezekiel” Warren W. Wiersbe / ISBN 978-1-4347-0050-6

(*C) – The Daily Study Guide Series (DSB) – “Ezekiel” by Peter C. Craigie / ISBM 0-664-21807-5

(*D) – The Evidence Study Bible NKJV – Commentary by Ray Comfort

Chapter 29

(*B):

THE MONSTER SLAIN (29: 16)

The first message was given on January 7, 587 BC, about seven months before Jerusalem was destroyed. The prophet set his face against Pharaoh Hoper, who ruled Egypt from 589 to 570 B.C. (See Jeremiah 44:30). The picture here is of killing a sea monster.” (Note – Under (*A) – “message” is noted as “prophecy”)

(*C):

“29: 1-16 … The oracle against Egypts illustrates two flaws in character that are as commonly the characteristics of individual humans as of nations.

(i). The first flaw is delusion, an offshoot of pride and arrogance. So self-centered had Egypt become in its power, that it persuaded itself that both the nation and the river on which it was based were its own creations. This delusion of grandeur, of as a form of national omnipotence, was dangerous in the extreme; it could only be shattered by the truly omnipotent God, whose words the prophet declares… It is incumbent on all those who achieve a degree of preeminence in the world to recognise that ultimately such preeminence is the preeminence of God.

(ii) The second flaw is selfishness. From time to time Egypt offered friendship to its neighbor, but it was only a tool with which to engineer its own benefit. False friendship, offered for selfish reasons and hastily withdrawn at the least sign of cost, undermined the entire fabric of human and national relationships and invited judgment…”

(*A):

“29: 1, 6-9 This prophecy against Egypt is the first of seven judgment messages against the land that follow in chronological order, except for 29: 17-21. Ezekiel gave more attention to Egypt than to any other nation, probably because of its hostility against Israel from the time of the Exodus. This prophecy is dated early in 587 B.C. (reckoning from a new year that began in the spring of the previous year), seven months before the fall of Jerusalem. It is usually understood to apply to Pharaoh Hoper. The prophet portrayed Egypt as a splintered reed that would prove worthless; anyone relying on Egypt’s help would be crippled (cp. “tearing all of their shoulders,” v.7).”

“29: 17-21 This second prophecy, earlier than the others, is dated in the spring of 571 B.C. When Nebuchadnezzar’s 13 year siege of Tyre ended unsuccessfully, his armies wee left with no spoils with which to pay his soldiers. Ezekiel prophesied that the Lord had allowed him to plunder Egypt as a consolation. The passage concludes with a brief Messianic prophecy that the ‘horn’ of the house of Israel will ‘sprout’ (Hebrew tsemach), the same word used in Jeremiah’s prophecy of the righteous Branch” Jeremiah 23: 5-6), the “beautiful and glorious” branch Isaiah foretold (Isaiah 4: 2-6), and “My servant, the Branch” of Zechariah (Zechariah 3: 8-10).”

Chapter 30

(*A):

“30: 13-19. These eight Egyptian centers of religious, political, and military might were marked for judgment as centers of idolatry — gelullim, literally “dung pellets,” Ezekiel’s favorite word for idols (see 6:4). The fall of these centers marked the end of Egypt as a world power, as predicted in 29:14.”

“30: 20-21. The fourth prophecy is dated in the spring of 587 B.C. Pharaoh Hoper was portrayed as helpless before the complete devastation by Nebuchadnezzar.”

(*C):

“30: 20 – 26. … The oracle against Egypt stands as a perpetual reminder of the omnipotence of God, over and against the temporary potency of mankind. And what was true of ancient Egypt is equally true of modern nations and empires. The most enduring of mankind’s creations are marked indelibly with the sign of temporality. And for us all who are the citizens of modern nations and civilizations, the temporary nature of Egypt’s greatness comes as a column reminder. The durability of a nation or civilisation does not depend simply on the singular achievements of its various members; it is subject to the sovereignty of God. And the qualities that permit survival are not greatness and strength. Rather, they are the fruits of humility and morality that emerge from the recognition of the ultimate sovereignty of God in all human affairs…

(ii). This fourth oracle illustrates the deep-seated theological blindness of the chosen people prior to the collapse of Jerusalem. The oracle is addressed to Egypt, yet its impact was felt by those Israelites who looked to Egypt for strength. They hoped that the Babylonian king’s arm would be broken and that of the Pharaoh strengthened. The prophet declares that the reverse would be the case. But lying behind false hope and the prophetic declaration was the ancient fundamental of Hebrew theology, that ultimately it was only the arm of God that was strong….”

Chapter 31

(*A):

“31: 1-9 The fifth prophecy is dated in early summer, 587 B.C. Depicting rulers as trees was a common literary device in the ancient Near East (see Judges 9: 7-21; Isaiah 14: 1-8; Ezekiel 17: 1-24; Deuteronomy 4: 1-37). This king of Assyria was compared to a cedar of Lebanon, the tallest known trees of the ancient world.”

(*C):

“31: 1-16. Yet the essence of being human is to be mortal, and that is as true of human beings as it is of human nations. Job perceived clearly enough that , when a tree was cut down, it was possible for fresh sprouts to grown around the stump, but when a man died, there was no more life (Job 14: 7-17). The deep-seated desire for perpetuity, represented here by the tree, can only find fulfillment in the One who, in the words of St. Paul, “hung upon a tree”, thereby removing the curse of mortality and offering the promise of life (Galatians 3: 13-14).

Chapter 32

(*A):

“32: 1-16 This sixth prophecy is dated in late winter, 585 B.C. (just before the spring new year). It is another funeral dirge in qinah meter. lamenting the distress the fall of Egypt would bring to those nations that look to it for leadership and protection. Egypt’s demise was an act of of divine intervention by which all would recognize Yahweh as the one true God.”

“32: 17-32 The seventh prophecy is dated shortly after the previous one, after the spring new year. it is the final lament, not composed in qinah meter but — like the second prophecy in 30: 2-4 — a wailing song in the OT.”

“32: 22-32 When Egypt was thrown in the pit (Hebrew bor, a synonym for sheol), Assyria and Elam, former victims of Babylon’s might, already were there along with older nations, Meshect and Tubal — all known for terror and ruthlessness. Edom and the Sidonians also were there, as previously predicted in 25: 12-14 and 28: 20-26.”

(*C):

“32: 1-16. … It is only when the mythological background of this oracle of judgment has been identified that one begins to grasp its deeper theological message. it concerns not merely judgment, but the gradual emergence of the divine order from a world still gripped in primeval chaos. The ancient creation stories were not concerned with the origin of matter; rather, they were concerned with the origin of order and the subjugation of chaos. And the judgment against Egypt, portrayed here as the conquest of chaos, depicts a further stage in the emergence of world order from world chaos.

Seen in this light, and from this larger perspective, all the prophet’s oracles of judgment take on a more positive purpose. They reflect not simply acts of divine punishment for particular evils, but are episodes in a cosmic history in which gradually the powers of evil and chaos are being conquered. All judgment is in some sense a part of the battle with chaos, and hence all judgment has ultimately a positive purpose, the creation of a world in which the forces of evil are held back and the powerful structures of the divine order are established. And thus what may seem to be a morbid preoccupation with judgment in the words of a prophet is in reality not morbid at all. All judgment is a part of the subjugation of the chaotic forces of evil. Beyond judgment, there lies a better world, in which it is God’s good order that rules supreme.”

“32: 17-32. … Regardless of the precise date, this prophecy is appropriately placed at the end of the series of oracles addressed to Egypt; for it concerns the final resting place of Egypt in Sheol, or the Pit.

The prophet is instructed to “wail’ over the Egyptian multitudes and declare their departure of the netherworld. The picture of Sheol that follows is poetic in character; it captures the essence of the Hebrew notion of existence beyond the grave, but cannot be taken as a literal description of the underworld.

Sheol is a place of shadowy existence, a ghostly world that is the grave of all mankind. Yet even the netherworld had its own fine shades of distinction: there were those who died honestly and retained some honor, and those who died ignominiously and without honor. Greeted at the entrance to Sheol by the honorable chiefs of antiquity, the Egyptians would be sent to a father corner of the dark world, there to lie among those without honor, “the uncircumcised, slain by the sword” (verse 21)

And thus finally, lying among the deceased, the judged Egyptians would find their rightful place in death. They are given, as it were, a tour of the Pit, to see their companions in the grave. Conquerors and purveyors of terror are there, great and small alike. The great nations of the living are numbered among the dead: Assyria, Elam, Meshech and Tubal. The smaller states are also there: Edom and Sidon. And to this moribund company, the Pharaoh and his people would be despatched in an act of divine judgment.

Ezekiel’s final oracle against Egypt contains not only Hebrew theology, but also new insights for his time that were not be given fuller amplification until subsequent centuries.

(i). The basic theology was that death, both of human beings and of nations, was followed by the grave, Sheol. This theology was not unique to the Hebrews but was shared, in a variety of forms, among the various religions of the ancient Near East. It was not a developed form of religious thought, nor was it particularly cheerful, yet it was characterized by hard-nosed realism. And it is not so different form the popular “theology” of the great mass of people in the modern world: aspiring to no hope beyond this world, they acknowledge at least that the grave is the end. But Ezekiel goes a little further and draws out the logical conclusion of the observation. If death is the end, then the grave makes mockery of some of the fierce strivings of human beings and nations. The grave is the great leveler — those who strove for pre-eminence in life lie horizontally together in death. A recognition of this basic truth should shape the conduct of living; if one cannot live beyond the grace, the meaning of human living as such must be explored for its true and lasting meaning.

(ii). But Ezekiel goes a step further, and anticipates later developments in Jewish theology, to find even later fulfillment in Christian theology. Existence in Sheol was not the same for all, as commonly supposed in ancient Hebrew theology. Though the prophet knows no distinction between “heaven” and “hell”, he does have a notion of levels of distinction within Sheol. There are places of honor and places of dishonor. The places of dishonor are inhabited by those “who spread terror in the land of the living” and as a consequence had a position of shame in Sheol (verse 24). And Egypt, the prophet indicates, would lie with those whose living culminated in a death of shame.

Thus the prophet’s oracles against Egypt conclude with a sombre note. The judgment declared of the living always leaves open the possibility of perceiving evil and turning from it. The judgment declared of the dead allows no such possibility, but rings with the dreadful finality of the terminal epitaph.”