In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
The date that opens Ezekiel 29 is not decoration. It marks the moment when God turned the prophet's voice away from Jerusalem and toward Egypt. It also raises a question: why is Egypt, the power Judah kept hoping in, now the nation under judgment?
A New Series
This dated word opens four chapters aimed at one nation. The sin named here is not the sin of the trading city judged just before.
William KellyThe next series is four chapters directed against Egypt, as the last three were against Tyre with its prince and king. The evil condemned is no longer commercial pride. It is self-confident nature, and this especially in political wisdom. We shall see how God brings to nothing a power marked in this way, a power that set itself up in proud independence of Him.
The Order of the Chapters
Ezekiel's messages carry dates, and the first half of the book runs in date order. From chapter 25 the order changes.
William KellyEzekiel 24 leads to Ezekiel 25-32. These chapters take up the nations around the land or inside it, which the Lord Jehovah deals with. But they no longer run in date order like the first half of the book... The arrangement is due to no disturbing cause, but to God's design above man's thought (or want of thought) and care.
The King Addressed
The Pharaoh of this prophecy has a name and a family line. Judah's king counted on his army, and that help did not last.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe king of Egypt addressed in this prophecy was Pharaoh-Hophra, known in Greek as Apries. He was the grandson of Pharaoh-Necho, who defeated King Josiah at Megiddo (2 Chron. 35:20-27). When Jerusalem was under siege, King Zedekiah of Judah expected help and relief from Pharaoh-Hophra. Hophra's army advanced through Phoenicia. It forced the Chaldeans to lift the siege of Jerusalem (Jer. 37:5-7). But the relief was only temporary, for the Egyptian army had to retire.
"Son of Man"
God does not call Ezekiel by name here. The title He uses runs through the whole book, and it says where God's throne now stands.
Edward DennettThe throne of the supreme and sovereign Lord God appears in Chaldea — in the place where the prophet then was — among the nations. It no longer appears at Jerusalem in connection with the land... So the voice of God speaks to Ezekiel as to a "son of man." That title suited the testimony of a God who spoke from outside His people. He was no longer among them. Instead He judged them from the throne of His sovereignty. It is Christ's own title, seen as rejected and outside of Israel. Yet He never stops thinking of the blessing of the people in grace.
Egypt's Self-Will
Egypt's offence was a settled attitude, not a single act. It wanted a position that God had already assigned to someone else.
J. N. DarbyEzekiel 29-32 contain the judgment of Egypt. Egypt sought, in the self-will of man, to take the place which God had in fact given to Nebuchadnezzar. All must submit... What characterized Egypt was the pride of nature, which would follow its own will, and owned no God (chap. 29:9). Such a principle shall no longer be the confidence of God's people (v. 16). Egypt should have her place, but should no longer rule. The judgment of Egypt should be the occasion of Israel's blessing.
The Broken Staff
A second charge stands beside that pride, and it touches God's own people as much as Egypt.
F. W. GrantThe causes of the judgment are mainly two. First, pride and self-sufficiency itself. Second, 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 all who trusted it. Going down to Egypt for help was the constant snare of the people of God. Yet God had brought them out of that land, and in their own deliverance they had seen His judgment on it. Yet they could turn back to it again and again. Sadly, it is an inconsistency which not one of us who knows himself can be a stranger to.
Summary
- Word. The chapter opens on a named day. God chose the moment to speak; this is not the prophet's own reflection.
- Order. From here the prophecies stop running in date order. One writer reads that arrangement as God's design, not a flaw in the book.
- Title. "Son of man" marks a God now speaking from outside His people and judging them. Christ took the same title as the rejected One who still thought of their blessing.
- Target. The man addressed is Pharaoh-Hophra. His army lifted the siege of Jerusalem for a short time, then withdrew.
- Reason. God judges Egypt for self-will that owned no God, and for being a reed that snapped in Israel's hand. It is a warning about a snare that still catches people God has already delivered.