For thus saith the Lord God; The sword of the king of Babylon shall
come upon thee. By the swords of the mighty will I cause thy
multitude to fall, the terrible of the nations, all of them: and
they shall spoil the pomp of Egypt, and all the multitude thereof
shall be destroyed. I will destroy also all the beasts thereof from
beside the great waters, neither shall the foot of man trouble them
any more nor the hoofs of beasts trouble them. Then will I make
their waters deep, and cause their rivers to run like oil, saith the
Lord God. When I shall make the land of Egypt desolate, and the
country shall be destitute of that whereof it was full, when I shall
smite all them that dwell therein, then shall they know that I am
the Lord. This is the lamentation wherewith they shall lament her:
the daughters of the nations shall lament her: they shall lament for
her, even for Egypt, and for all her multitude, saith the Lord God
(verses 11-16).
The sword of the Lord to fall upon Egypt was the King of Babylon,
previously announced in chapters xxix and xxx. At the close of the times
of the Gentiles the predicted judgment will not come upon nations
through some other nation, but the Lord Himself will appear and fight
against the nations who are rebellious against God and against His
anointed (Ps. ii). The stone, which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream,
will fall and deal its destructive blow; and that stone is the Lord
Jesus Christ in His personal Coming. Then the pomp of Egypt, this
present age with all its boasted progress and glory, will pass away and
the kingdom from above will be set up. "Then shall they know that I am
the Lord." It is not a spiritual knowledge, or a knowledge unto
salvation, but a knowledge in the judgments which take place.
"It is important to remark one point in this series of prophecies, which
commences with the judgment of Jerusalem, the centre of the former
system of nations. They are executed with the object of making them all
know Jehovah: only in Israel's case there is besides this, the
understanding and the special verification of prophecy. See chapter
xxiv:24-27, Israel; chapter xxv:5, 7, 11, Ammon and Moab; verses 15-17,
especial vengeance on the Philistines; chapter xxvi, Tyre; chapter
xxviii:22, Zidon; chapter xxix:19, Egypt; as also chapters xxx:26,
xxxii:15. With respect to Edom (chap. xxv:14), it is only said that Edom
shall know the vengeance of Jehovah by means of Israel--a further proof
that in certain respects this prophecy extends to the last days. These
prophecies, then, furnish us in general with the manifestation of
Jehovah's power, so as to make Him known to all by the judgments which
He executed; already partially realized in the conquests of
Nebuchadnezzar, but to be fully accomplished by-and-by in favor of
Israel."[27]
[27] Even so the Lord will yet be known to the nations of the earth by
His judgments.