And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first
month, in the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto
me, saying, Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his
army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made
bald and every shoulder was peeled: yet he had no wages, nor his
army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will give the land of
Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her
multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be
the wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt for his
labor wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me,
saith the Lord God. In that day will I cause the horn of the house
of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the
mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the Lord
(verses 17-21).
As already stated, this prophecy is dated seventeen years after the
general prediction of Egypt's judgment. That Nebuchadnezzar invaded
Egypt after he came against Tyrus is mentioned by Josephus the Jewish
historian and also by an Assyrian inscription which gives the record of
this campaign as having taken place in the thirty-seventh year of the
reign of Nebuchadnezzar.[23] Nothing is said of desolation and captivity
in this later prophecy concerning Egypt's conquest. Critics claim that
Ezekiel had made a mistake in his former prediction. We quote from the
New Century Bible: "Ezekiel evidently saw that his former prophecy was
mistaken, and he now expected the defeat, though not necessarily the
utter destruction, of Egypt. The difference in detail is noticeable
between these verses and the prophecy on Egypt seventeen years earlier."
But Ezekiel was not mistaken. There was no need of repeating the
predicted desolation of Egypt; Nebuchadnezzar executed the work of
judgment. He suffered, evidently, disappointment in the siege of Tyrus,
the immense wealth of that city he could not touch. And, as he did not
get wages from Tyrus, nor for his great army, the Lord, whose instrument
in judgment the King of Babylon was, gave him Egypt. Here Nebuchadnezzar
found great spoil and vast treasures, which, according to divine
appointment, were the wages for his army. When this took place, there
came an unrecorded revival in Israel and the prophet gave his message in
the midst of them.
[23] Nebuchadnezzar's name is given by Ezekiel as Nebuchadrezzar. Both
spellings were in vogue. Ezekiel spells the name with "r" and Jeremiah
uses both spellings throughout his book.