Ezekiel 30

Ezekiel 29–32 is a collection of oracles against Egypt, and chapter 30 is the second chapter in this collection. The message of Ezekiel 29, in which God declares that He will judge Pharaoh and give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar, continues in this chapter.

Structure

• Verses 1–5 Together with a command to wail, the prophet declares that the day of the LORD is near. Along with Egypt, its allied peoples, including Cush, Put, Lud, and Chub, will fall by the sword.
• Verses 6–9 All of Egypt, from Migdol to Syene, will be made desolate. Messengers will go forth in ships to make Cush afraid.
• Verses 10–12 God declares that He will strike Egypt by the army of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and will dry up its rivers.
• Verses 13–19 Naming in turn Noph, Pathros, Zoan, No, Sin, Aven, Pi-beseth, and Tehaphnehes, the passage announces the destruction of Egypt's idols and cities.
• Verses 20–26 This word came in the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day. God declares that, having already broken one of Pharaoh's arms, He will break the sound arm as well; He will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and scatter the Egyptians among the nations.

Key Verses

• Ezekiel 30:3, "For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near": This passage applies to Egypt the theme of "the day of the LORD" found throughout the Prophetic Books.
• Ezekiel 30:21, "I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt": The "arm" signifies military strength and is the central image of the second half of the prophecy.
• Ezekiel 30:26, "and they shall know that I am the LORD": This phrase recurs throughout the Book of Ezekiel and appears in this chapter in verses 8, 19, 25, and 26.

Persons and Places

• Ezekiel: The prophet who delivers the oracle, addressed as "son of man."
• Nebuchadnezzar: King of Babylon, who appears as the instrument of judgment.
• Pharaoh: The title of the king of Egypt. The text does not give his name.
• Egypt and Babylon: The nation under judgment and the nation that carries out the judgment.
• Cush, Put, Lud, and Chub: Peoples allied with Egypt. Cush lay to the south of Egypt (Nubia), and Put is commonly identified with the region of Libya; the location of Chub is uncertain.
• Migdol and Syene: The northern and southern extremities of Egypt (Syene is modern Aswan); named together, they denote the entire land of Egypt.
• Noph (Memphis), No (Thebes), Zoan (Tanis), Sin (Pelusium), Aven (Heliopolis), Pi-beseth (Bubastis), and Tehaphnehes: Major cities of Egypt. Pathros refers to Upper Egypt, the southern part of the country.

Points for Reflection

• In this chapter, "son of man" is the title by which God addresses the prophet Ezekiel. It should be distinguished from the title Jesus uses of Himself in the Gospels.
• Many commentators understand "the arm already broken" as a reference to the occasion when the Egyptian army came out during the siege of Jerusalem and then withdrew (Jeremiah 37:5), and they identify this Pharaoh with Hophra of Jeremiah 44:30. The text itself, however, does not state this directly.
• Fragments of Babylonian records are reported to mention Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of Egypt. Opinions differ, however, as to whether the conquest was as thorough as the text describes. Some interpreters read this prophecy as historically fulfilled, others regard it as the poetic language characteristic of prophecy, and still others read it in connection with the eschatological day of the LORD.
• The New Testament does not quote this chapter directly. The theme of "the day of the LORD," however, carries over into the New Testament as "the day of the Lord" (1 Thessalonians 5:2).