In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the
month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set
thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him,
and against all Egypt: Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God;
Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon
that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is
mine own, and I have made it for myself. But I will put hooks in thy
jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy
scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and
all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. And I will
leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy
rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be
brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the
beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven. And all the
inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they
have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. When they took
hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their
shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest
all their loins to be at a stand. Therefore thus saith the Lord God;
Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast
out of thee. And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and
they shall know that I am the Lord: because he hath said, The river
is mine, and I have made it. Behold, therefore I am against thee,
and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly
waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of
Ethiopia. No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast
shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the
countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that
are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the
Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the
countries (verses 1-12).
The King of Egypt addressed in this prophecy was Pharaoh-Hophra, called
in Greek, Apries. He was the grandson of Pharaoh-Necho who defeated King
Josiah at Meggido (2 Chronicles xxxv:20-27). King Zedekiah of Judah
expected help and relief from Pharaoh-Hophra, when Jerusalem was
besieged. The Egyptian army under Hophra advanced through Phoenicia and
forced the Chaldeans to raise the siege of Jerusalem (Jer. xxxvii:5-7).
But the relief was only temporary, for the Egyptian army had to retire.
The prophet Jeremiah announced also the doom of Hophra, associating it
with Zedekiah's doom: "Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will give
Pharaoh-Hophra, King of Egypt, into the hands of his enemies, and into
the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah, King of Judah,
into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, his enemy, and that
sought his life" (Jer. xliv:30).
Here he is called "the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his
rivers." He boasts, "My river is mine own and I have made it for
myself." The river Nile, with its different branches is meant. Pharaoh
is compared to a sea monster, which probably means the crocodile,
worshipped by the Egyptians; it was symbolical of power and pride.[20]
But the word "dragon" also reminds us of Satan who is called twelve
times in the Book of Revelation the dragon. As we learned from the
previous chapter, behind the King of Tyrus stood Satan as master of the
great city, and the same being, the dragon, controlled also
Pharaoh-Hophra and the land of Egypt. The dragon was worshipped by many
ancient nations and is still today the emblem of the Chinese Empire. And
the same ungodly self-exaltation which characterized Tyrus and its king,
which led to its overthrow and judgment, was shared by the King of
Egypt. Proud and blasphemous were his words that he had made the river
for himself; he defied God and refused to own his power. Therefore, his
judgment is announced which would not alone strike him but all the other
inhabitants of the land and all who looked to Egypt for help. "I will
leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy
rivers (the people of the land); thou shalt fall upon the open field;
thou shalt not be brought together nor gathered. I have given thee for
meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven." It is a
striking allegory. In verses 6 and 7 Israel's sin is mentioned when the
people of God turned to this wicked land for help, the land where their
forefathers had groaned and suffered such cruelty. Isaiah had solemnly
warned against such an alliance (Isaiah xxx:6-7; xxxi:3) and so had
Jeremiah (Jer. ii:36; xxxvii:7). Interesting it is to find that the same
illustration of disaster for Israel by trusting in Egypt had been used
by the Assyrian officer in addressing Hezekiah: "Now, behold, thou
trustest upon the staff of this bruised reed, upon Egypt, on which, if a
man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it; so is Pharaoh, King
of Egypt, unto all that trust on him" (2 Kings xviii:21). And so it was.
Egypt gave no help to Israel and only wounded them grievously as a staff
which breaks under the weight of him who leaneth upon it--breaks and
pierces the hand. Whenever God's people turn to Egypt (the type of the
world) for help and form ungodly alliances they do so to their own hurt
and shame.
[20] The crocodile was often used on Egyptian seal-rings as well as on
Roman coins, which pictured Egypt as a monster crocodile.
Then follows the explanation of the allegory and, once more, the reason
of the coming desolation of Egypt is stated, because the proud King had
said, "The river is mine, and I have made it." The entire land of Egypt
was to be wasted from one end to the other. It was to become desolate
and for the period of forty years it was not to be inhabited. "And I
will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that
are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall
be desolate forty years, and I will scatter the Egyptians among the
nations, and will disperse them through the countries" (verse 12).
But have these predictions been fulfilled? Did Egypt pass through a
period of forty years' desolation and did a restoration take place after
the forty years? Critics claim that these predictions were never
literally fulfilled and that Nebuchadnezzar did not invade Egypt during
the reign of Hophra. They point to the historical evidence that Amasis
followed Hophra as King of Egypt, and under his reign Egypt was in a
very flourishing condition. The historian, Herodotus, gives this
information and it is fully confirmed by Egyptian records on monuments.
But did the prophet Ezekiel predict that Egypt should be invaded by
Nebuchadnezzar during the reign of Pharaoh-Hophra? He predicts that
Nebuchadnezzar should conquer Egypt, but the critics have made a serious
blunder by overlooking the date of the prophecy in which
Nebuchadnezzar's invasion is announced. The chapter under our
consideration begins with a definite date. It was in the tenth year when
he received the message concerning Hophra; but it was seventeen years
later when Nebuchadnezzar's invasion was predicted, in the
twenty-seventh year (verse 17). Hophra's doom and the desolation of
Egypt was first announced, but the fulfillment came years later. Ezekiel
does not state that Hophra should be slain by Nebuchadnezzar, nor does
Jeremiah predict this (Jeremiah xliv:30). Hophra was dethroned by Amasis
and later slain.