And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I [am] Jehovah, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
God is judging Egypt, and He gives the reason in one image: the nation Israel kept running to for help was never more than a reed. The verse ties two things together — what Egypt did to Israel, and what Egypt is about to learn about the LORD.
One writer traces the judgment to Egypt's refusal to take a place under God.
Egypt sought, in the self-will of man, to take the place which God had in fact given to Nebuchadnezzar. All must submit. The mighty empire of Assyria had already fallen. Pharaoh, whatever his pretensions and his ambition might be, was no better… What marked Egypt was the pride of nature, which would follow its own will, and owned no God. Such a principle shall no longer be the confidence of God's people.
The stated reason for the judgment is not what Egypt did to God directly, but what Egypt did to Israel who leaned on her.
The chosen people had gone to Egypt for help before now: what had been the outcome? Israel's alliance with a nation that openly trusted in itself, not in the Lord, was useless — except that it wounded Israel badly when Egypt broke.
The same picture appears earlier in Israel's history, and events proved it true.
The Assyrian officer used the prophet's warning about the disaster of trusting Egypt when he spoke to Hezekiah: "Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him" (2 Kings 18:21). And so it was. Egypt gave no help to Israel. It only wounded them badly, like a staff that breaks under the weight of the man leaning on it and pierces his hand. God's people sometimes turn to Egypt (a picture of the world) for help and form ungodly alliances. Whenever they do, it brings them hurt and shame.
Rabshakeh, the Assyrian who spoke those words, was right about Egypt and blind about God.
There is a great deal of truth in the world's talk. So far Rabshakeh was quite right. The king of Egypt was only a reed. The Assyrian could see how empty it was to trust Egypt. But he could not see the wisdom of trusting in Jehovah.
If the prop keeps inviting confidence, the pull back to Egypt never ends — so God removes the prop.
Egypt has been a breaking staff to Israel; a staff of reed, which offered much but never kept its promises, bringing only ruin to all who trusted it. Going down to Egypt for help was the constant snare of the people of God, though God had delivered them from that land… So God Himself must break, for Israel's sake, this staff that they leaned upon. He does show mercy in the end. Egypt is not left to final judgment, as Edom and Babylon are. But from now on it must be a "base," that is, a low kingdom. It will no longer invite the confidence it has invited until now. The lesson is as plain as it is basic. It is the lesson, "Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?"
Israel was foolish to lean on Egypt. God still took up their cause.
We come now to the second cause of the judgment. We see how God takes up the cause of His people, foolish and perverse as they may have been… This Pharaoh invited a confidence in himself that he could not justify. When Israel leaned on him, he gave way under them and tore all their shoulder and crippled all their loins. God must put him in the place where he belongs.
The verse ends in knowledge, not only ruin. God has two ways of making Himself known.
Pharaoh said he did not know the Lord, but Pharaoh had to know Him. If Pharaoh would disown Him in goodness, he must know Him in righteousness. God would now make His judgments plain: "the LORD has made Himself known; He has executed judgment." As His holy prophet says to Him, "When your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness." God would be known in grace; but if Egypt refuses that lesson, she must know Him in the raised hand of power.
Kelly applies the lesson to any trial we face.
Israel turned to the wisdom of the world in their troubles, both in the past and again in the future. Between those two points there is a serious lesson for us in the pressure of any trial that touches the testimony of God. The pull is enormous to meet a worldly trial in a worldly way… Be sure, if we do not feel the danger, it is because we are ourselves under the world's influence.
- Lean — Israel leaned on Egypt instead of on the LORD; the alliance brought no help, only wounds.
- Break — a reed staff promises support and then collapses. The broken end goes into the hand and pierces it.
- Broken by God — the prop kept drawing His people back, so God broke it Himself. He left Egypt a low kingdom that would invite such confidence no more.
- Known — Egypt learns who the LORD is through judgment, having refused to know Him in goodness.
- Trust — the lesson stands: stop leaning on man, whose breath is in his nostrils.
When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst give way and rend all their shoulder; and when they leaned upon thee, thou didst break, and didst make all their loins to tremble.
Egypt is charged here not with attacking Israel but with failing her: Israel leaned on Egypt, and Egypt snapped under the weight. So why does God judge a helper, and what should His people learn when their prop gives way?
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The judgment in this chapter rests on two grounds. This verse gives the second.
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First come the causes of the judgment. There are mainly two. The first is that pride and self-sufficiency we have already spoken of. The second is that Egypt has been a breaking staff to Israel. It was a staff of reed. It offered much but never kept its promises, and it brought only ruin to everyone who trusted it.
after Going down to Egypt for help was the constant snare of God's people. Yet God had rescued them from that land, and in that rescue they had seen His judgment fall on it. Still they turned back to it again and again.
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An Assyrian officer had already used this same picture when he spoke to King Hezekiah.
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His predictions of disaster for Israel by trusting in Egypt had been used by the Assyrian officer in addressing Hezekiah: "Behold, you are trusting now in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him" (2 Kings 18:21). And so it was. Egypt gave no help to Israel and only wounded them badly. It was like a staff that snaps under the weight of the man leaning on it and pierces his hand. Egypt stands for the world. Whenever God's people turn to it for help and form ungodly alliances, they do so to their own hurt and shame.
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Israel had tried this before. Looking back over that history, one writer asks what the arrangement ever produced.
The chosen people had gone to Egypt for help before now: what was the result? The alliance of Israel with a nation who openly trusted in themselves, not in the Lord, was useless — except to wound Israel badly when Egypt was broken.
God acts against Egypt even though Israel was wrong to lean there at all.
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We come now to the second cause of the judgment. Here we see God take up the cause of His people, foolish and perverse as they may have been.
after Had they not been warned enough that they must not trust in Egypt? Were they not fully accountable for doing this after all the care God had taken to deliver them from it? So take this Pharaoh. He invited their confidence in himself, a confidence he could not justify. When Israel leaned on him, he gave way under them. He tore all their shoulder and lamed all their loins. He must be put in the place where he belongs, and God Himself must break the staff that has broken to His people's hurt.
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Egypt is not wiped out. God lowers it instead.
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In the end He shows mercy. Egypt is not left to final judgment, as Edom or Babylon are. Yet from now on it must be a "base" kingdom — that is, a low one. It will no longer invite the confidence it has invited until now, and those around it will trust it no more. The lesson is as plain as it is basic.
after It is the lesson, "Stop regarding man in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?"
One writer turns the broken reed on the believer who leans on another person instead of on Christ.
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It is upon Christ we are to lean, not on an arm of flesh. If we lean upon our fellow believers, upon any human arm, no matter how strong it may seem, the time of testing will come. We must learn to stand leaning upon the Lord alone. We may counsel with one another, pray for one another, set an example to one another, but let us not depend on man. It will surely prove a broken reed that will pierce the hand.
Another writer names the thinking behind it.
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The tendency is immense to meet a worldly trial in a worldly way. We are apt to think that spiritual means cannot meet the world's attacks on us. So comes the danger of turning to earthly means to escape.
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- Lean — The charge here is not attack but failure. Egypt promised support, then gave way under the weight.
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- Break — A reed used as a staff does more than fail. It splinters and drives into the hand that gripped it, so the one who leaned is worse off than before.
- Wound — The very ally Israel trusted tore their shoulder and lamed their loins.
after Misplaced confidence leaves real damage, not just disappointment.
- Judge — God breaks the staff Himself, taking up His people's cause even though they were wrong to lean there. He then reduces Egypt so low that it can never invite that confidence again.
- Learn — The repeated pull to go back to Egypt is one every believer knows. The cure is to stop weighing up man and lean on the Lord alone.