“Thus says the Lord GOD: “I will destroy the idols and put an end to the images in Memphis; there shall no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt; so I will put fear in the land of Egypt.
Egypt's judgment strikes the two things she trusted most: her gods and her throne. Ezekiel names Noph — the city we call Memphis — and says its images and its ruler will both be gone.
God's quarrel is with the gods
The verse opens with idols, not armies. One writer ties this back to the night the firstborn of Egypt died.
William KellyIt is with the gods of Egypt, as at the first so now at the last, that God's main controversy lies. This was before Him when the destroyer went through the land and struck down the firstborn on the night of the passover. It is before Him here too, when He adds that there will no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt.
Why these particular cities
The chapter names a string of Egyptian cities. One writer sorts them into two groups.
F. W. GrantThe places marked out here are of two kinds. Some set before us the idolatry of Egypt, which was so monstrous that God could never forget it. The others are the symbols of her power and might, and her capitals, upper and lower (No, or Thebes, and Noph, or Memphis). Zoan also, which God had struck long before in Moses' time, has its place among these. The strongholds are gone, and the land lies open to every attacker.
Memphis and its gods
Noph is the old name for Memphis. Another writer names the gods worshipped there, then turns the fulfilment on the reader's own day.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinAll of this has been literally fulfilled. Noph is Memphis, the seat of the worship of Ptah and Apis… What a remarkable fulfilment of what the Lord had announced through His prophet! Let us remember here, in our own solemn times, that the same all-knowing Lord knows the end from the beginning. He has spoken about this age, which is now closing in the falling away He predicted… And He who fulfilled the words spoken through Ezekiel will also fulfil every other prediction uttered by His holy prophets and apostles.
How the images ceased
One writer dates the prophecy and its fulfilment, and cites the ancient historian Herodotus for what happened at Memphis.
Morrish Bible DictionaryEzekiel spoke this about 570 B.C., and Cambyses conquered Egypt about 526 B.C. According to Herodotus, the opposition he met at Memphis enraged him. He did great damage in the city, whipped the priests, made sport of their gods, and burned them. Memphis never recovered from this attack, and for a long time its site was unknown.
No more a prince
Losing the idols is one blow. Losing the crown is another. One writer sets Egypt beside Assyria, and sees both as standing for every nation that holds God's people down.
Edward DennettThe pride of Assyria will be brought low, and the sceptre of Egypt will depart… And Ezekiel says, "There shall no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt." Assyria and Egypt are the enemies of God's people on the north and on the south. Both will fall under judgment when the Lord brings out His scattered people from under their power. And not only these two. These historical enemies of Israel are named as symbols of all the nations that will hold Israel captive.
Commentators differ here. Gaebelein treats the fulfilment as finished history. Dennett reads the same clause as reaching forward to the day God brings out His scattered people.
Why God did it
The verse ends with fear spreading through the land. One writer states the purpose God gives for the whole scene, using Jehovah where the ESV has "the LORD".
F. W. GrantThe picture speaks for itself, and hardly needs a word of explanation. The purpose is here, as everywhere — whether men will listen or whether they refuse — that they may know that He is Jehovah.
Summary
- Gods first. God's dispute with Egypt is with what she worships, and it is the same dispute He had with her on the night of the passover.
- Targets chosen. The cities named are either centres of idolatry or symbols of military power — God removes both props at once, and the land lies open.
- Crown next. After the images comes the ruler: the sceptre departs, and no prince is left to rule from Egypt.
- Words kept. God spoke this in about 570 B.C. A little over forty years later Cambyses burned the gods of Memphis, and the city never recovered.
- Lesson now. God's aim in all of it was that people would know He is the LORD. The God who kept His word to Egypt will keep every word He has spoken about our own age.