Cush, and Put, and Lud, and all Arabia, and Libya, and the people of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.
Verse 5 widens Ezekiel's word against Egypt into a roll-call of names — Cush, Put, Lud, Arabia, Libya — all falling by one sword. Why should nations far from the Nile, and even people tied to a land of covenant, fall with Egypt?
A day larger than Egypt
The blow falls on Egypt through Babylon, but commentators see a longer shadow in it. One writer links Egypt's fall to the day of Jehovah, and points out that the victims are not only African.
William KellyWhen Jehovah steps in to bring Egypt down, that act belongs in principle to the day of Jehovah, which closes this age and reaches over into the age to come. Not only would the African peoples fall, but also the sons of the land of the covenant. That seems to point to Jews who had gone to live there, away from the troubles at home.
Another writer sets that day in history. Egypt falls last, and its fall clears the ground for one empire to rule over all.
Numerical Bible NotesThe day of Jehovah is near, a day of sorrow and distress... The time has fully come for the judgment to be carried out by Nebuchadnezzar's hand. As we have already seen, that hand prepares the way for the Gentile empire to be set up over all. Egypt seems to have been the last of these nations to go through it. But with Egypt and in Egypt it comes on Ethiopia, Phut and Lud, and all the mingled people.
The names on the list
Older versions give some of these names differently — Cush as Ethiopia, Put as Phut. A dictionary traces Put to a man, a people and a region.
Morrish Bible DictionaryPhut was the third son of Ham. His name was also used for his descendants and for the district they lived in... The land of Phut is generally thought to be the same as Libya, to the north-west of Egypt.
Lud is harder, because two different families in Scripture carry that name.
William KellyThere was also a Lud descended from Shem (verse 22). He was the ancestor of the well-known Lydian people in the west of Asia Minor, and it is important to keep him separate from those descended from Mizraim, who spread out west of the Nile. They were archers, as we learn from Isaiah 66:19 and Jeremiah 46:9... But there should be no doubt that they were African.
Covenant people in the wrong place
The last group in the verse is the most sobering. Commentators read "the people of the land that is in league" — also given as "the children of the land of the covenant" — as Jews who had moved to Egypt. Jeremiah had already warned them what waited there:
William KellyI will take the remnant of Judah, who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to live there, and they will all be destroyed and fall in the land of Egypt... For I will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine and by plague. (Jeremiah 44:11-14, older translation) Alas! They had ears, but they did not hear.
The direction of travel mattered. One writer contrasts the two groups of exiles.
H. J. VineThese go down into Egypt against the word of the Lord, to be destroyed by sword and famine and plague. Those at Babylon are promised peace and prosperity and plenty for the time being... God once redeemed the people out of Egypt, but Babylon became the place of their captivity after they turned away from the Lord. So going back to Egypt was fatal, but from Babylon there was deliverance.
Why leaning on Egypt destroys
God's people had long run to Egypt for help.
Arno C. GaebeleinEgypt gave Israel no help and only wounded them badly. Egypt was like a staff that breaks under the weight of the man leaning on it, and the broken end pierces his hand. Whenever God's people turn to Egypt (a picture of the world) for help and form godless alliances, they do it to their own hurt and shame.
God's use of a violent instrument
The chapter names Nebuchadnezzar as the sword in God's hand. One writer weighs what that does and does not mean.
William KellyHere God names plainly the instrument of His vengeance. That does not mean He had the smallest sympathy with these ruthless nations and their drawn swords, nor with the wicked men He sold the country to, nor with the strangers who laid it waste. But the hour to judge Egypt's proud wickedness had come, and the worst of men was the fitting executioner for that dreadful task.
Summary
- Day — The sword on Egypt belongs to the day of Jehovah. In principle that day reaches past Babylon to the close of this age.
- Names — Put is taken to be Libya, west of Egypt. Lud here is the African family, not the Lydians of Asia Minor.
- Company — Allies share the fate of the power they back. Everyone attached to Egypt falls with Egypt.
- Covenant — Even people of the covenant are on the casualty list. They had settled in Egypt against God's word, and Jeremiah had already pronounced their doom there.
- Warning — Egypt is the staff that breaks and pierces the hand leaning on it. Turning to the world for safety brings hurt and shame, not rescue.