In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
This verse is nothing but a date, and it opens the last message we know Ezekiel received. It sits inside a block of prophecies against Egypt given years earlier, which raises two questions: why here, and what did that day mean?
A prophecy placed by subject, not by sequence
The prophecies around it belong to an earlier date. This one jumps forward, and one writer marks the break plainly:
J. N. DarbyThis prophecy concerning Egypt has particular importance. It is composed of three distinct prophecies. Notice that Ezekiel 29:17-21 is a prophecy of a very different date, introduced here because of its relation to what comes before it in the same chapter.
The latest word in the book
The great vision that closes the book was not Ezekiel's last word from God. This dated message came two years after it:
Numerical Bible NotesIn order of time this is not the last prophecy of Ezekiel. The one given in Ezek. 29:17 comes two years later. But this great vision is the only one that could fittingly close the book. At the start God showed the prophet His glory. A little later he saw that glory leave the defiled temple, which would soon lie in ruins. Now he sees it return to that greater and more wonderful dwelling-place on earth, spread out before him so that he may describe it to the house of Israel.
Ezekiel's messages ran through twenty-two years, while his exile lasted twenty-seven — the number in this verse (Walter Scott).
Why this day mattered
God did not pick this day at random. Something had just happened that proved words Ezekiel had spoken years before:
Numerical Bible NotesWe now have Nebuchadnezzar named outright as the instrument of this judgment, and at a notable moment. Unlike the other prophecies it stands with, this one carries a date: the twenty-seventh year, the first month, the first day of the month. At that time Tyre had just fallen, after a thirteen-year siege by Nebuchadnezzar. This fully proved the prophecy Ezekiel had made about it long before. It made God known as the One whose judgment it was — and so as the One who held the conqueror himself in His hand.
Settling an account
Tyre fell, but most of its wealth never reached Nebuchadnezzar. The word that follows this date balances the books:
William KellyIt naturally follows the prophecy against Tyre. It shows the LORD balancing two things: the huge cost Nebuchadnezzar paid for that hard-won city, whose wealth mostly escaped his grasp, and the conquest of Egypt — rich plunder for the conqueror and for his greedy army, disappointed until now. No wonder the land of Egypt was to lie waste a long time, though not for ever.
Wages for the instrument God used
Nebuchadnezzar never knew whose work he was doing. That did not stop God from paying him wages:
An Outline of Sound WordsWe have seen with the Assyrian that God punishes a nation He has used as His instrument, because of its pride. He also gives wages to a nation that has served His purpose without knowing it. God used Nebuchadnezzar and his army to punish Tyre, yet "neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had performed against her" (Ezek. 29:18). So God gave "the land of Egypt" to Nebuchadnezzar, so that he and his army could take the spoil to "be the wages for his army" (verse 19). How little we know of the ways of God in the conflicts of the world. Behind the scenes God works His sovereign will to carry out His purposes.
Where the dated word ends
The paragraph that opens with this date ends with a promise to Israel. No record of its fulfilment survives:
William Kelly"On that day I will cause a horn to spring up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them, and they will know that I am the LORD" (v. 21). We have no account that it happened so. But we need none. So the LORD spoke, and so we are sure it was. Israel revived. Ezekiel delivered His message among them, and they then knew who He is — the One who wanted them to know what was coming before it came.
Summary
- Dated. The verse is a time-stamp. It gives the twenty-seventh year of the exile, and it sits here by subject, not by date order.
- Proved. The date marks the fall of Tyre after a thirteen-year siege. It proved Ezekiel's earlier word and showed whose hand the conqueror was in.
- Paid. Tyre's wealth escaped Nebuchadnezzar's grasp, so God gave him Egypt as the wages his army had earned but never received.
- Hidden. Nebuchadnezzar never knew he was serving God — behind the wars of nations God works His own purpose.
- Promised. The same dated word ends with a horn springing up for Israel and the prophet's lips opened. Scripture records the promise, and no history book is needed to confirm it.