Ezekiel 29

Ezekiel 25–32 is a collection of prophecies of judgment against the nations surrounding Israel. This chapter is the first of the prophecies against Egypt (chapters 29–32). The preceding chapter, Ezekiel 28, closes with prophecies against the king of Tyre and against Sidon; in this chapter Pharaoh, king of Egypt, appears as the object of judgment.

Outline

• Verses 1–2 On the twelfth day of the tenth month of the tenth year, the LORD commands the "son of man" to prophesy against Pharaoh and all Egypt.
• Verses 3–5 Pharaoh is portrayed as a great crocodile who boasts that he made the river himself. The LORD declares that He will drag him out with hooks, cast him into the open field, and give him as food to the beasts of the field and the birds of the air.
• Verses 6–7 Egypt had been a "staff of reed" to Israel. When Israel took hold of it and leaned on it, it broke, tearing their shoulders and making their loins unsteady.
• Verses 8–12 The sword will come upon Egypt. From Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush, the land will be desolate for forty years, and the Egyptians will be scattered among the nations.
• Verses 13–16 At the end of forty years, the LORD will gather the scattered Egyptians and bring them back to Pathros. Egypt, however, will become the lowliest of kingdoms, will never again rule over the nations, and will no longer be an object of Israel's trust.
• Verses 17–20 This word comes on the first day of the first month of the twenty-seventh year. Nebuchadnezzar's army labored so hard against Tyre that every head was made bald and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet it received no wages. Therefore the LORD declares that He will give the land of Egypt to that army as its wages.
• Verse 21 In that day the LORD will cause a horn to sprout for the house of Israel and will open Ezekiel's mouth.

Key Verses

• Ezekiel 29:3 "My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself." Pharaoh's pride in regarding the Nile as his own is presented as the reason for judgment.
• Ezekiel 29:6 "They have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel." This image rebukes Judah for relying on a great power. 2 Kings 18 contains a similar expression likening Egypt to a bruised reed used as a staff.
• Ezekiel 29:21 "In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth." The prophecy of judgment closes with a promise of Israel's restoration.

People and Places

• Ezekiel: The prophet who received this prophecy.
• Pharaoh: The title of the king of Egypt. No name is given in the text, but on chronological grounds many identify him as Hophra (Apries).
• Nebuchadnezzar: King of Babylon. He appears as the one who, after attacking Tyre, will strike Egypt.
• Tyre: A Phoenician port city on the Mediterranean coast and the subject of the prophecies in chapters 26–28.
• Migdol and Syene: Places at the northern and southern extremities of Egypt. "From Migdol to Syene" denotes the whole of Egypt. Syene is identified with present-day Aswan.
• Cush: A land to the south of Egypt.
• Pathros: Southern Egypt (Upper Egypt), toward the upper reaches of the Nile.

Considerations for Reading

• Dates: The years in the Book of Ezekiel are generally understood to be counted from the year King Jehoiachin was taken into captivity. On this reckoning, the tenth year falls around 587 BC and the twenty-seventh year around 571 BC. The date in verse 17 is the latest given anywhere in the Book of Ezekiel.
• Forty years of desolation: Historical records do not clearly attest a forty-year period of desolation in Egypt, and interpretations therefore differ. Some take it as a literal period; others regard it as a symbolic number representing a generation or a period of discipline; still others see it as a future event not yet fulfilled.
• Relationship to the prophecy against Tyre: Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Tyre is reported to have lasted thirteen years. Some critical scholars regard verses 17–20 as a supplement added when the prophecy of Tyre's destruction in Ezekiel 26 was not fulfilled as expected. Conservative interpreters note that chapter 26 says "many nations" would come against Tyre. They therefore hold that Tyre's destruction took place in stages and was completed later by Alexander the Great's conquest (332 BC).
• The horn and the opened mouth: The "horn" in verse 21 symbolizes strength. Some traditions read it as a messianic prophecy and connect it with the "horn of salvation" in the song of Zacharias (Luke 1). The phrase "I will give thee the opening of the mouth" ties in with the account of Ezekiel's being rendered unable to speak and later having his mouth opened again (Ezekiel 3, Ezekiel 33).