“On that day messengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify the unsuspecting people of Cush, and anguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt's doom; for, behold, it comes!
Egypt's fall does not stop at Egypt's border. News of it crosses the water to Cush, far to the south, where people thought the trouble would never reach them. Who sends those messengers? And what does "behold, it comes!" say to anyone living at ease today?
The Day That Is Near
The verse begins with "On that day." Commentators tie that day to something far larger than one nation's ruin:
William KellyThe first of the two prophetic strains of our chapter is a good example of what marks the word of prophecy. It binds present or approaching disasters together with the great day when God will step in with power and judge — not the dead first, but the living.
Messengers Sent From God
The messengers go out "from me" — God sends them. Their errand is to break the calm of a people who thought they were out of range:
William KellyEven a people further off, likely to think themselves secure, should be terrified — and not without reason: great pain should be on them. It was coming!
Why Cush Is Named With Egypt
Older translations call Cush by the name Ethiopia. It gets no day of its own — the trouble reaches it inside Egypt's judgment, and other peoples are swept in too:
F. W. GrantEgypt seems to have been the last of these nations to face this judgment. But with Egypt and in Egypt it comes upon Ethiopia, Phut and Lud, and all the mixed peoples.
"As in the Day of Egypt"
The verse dates this anguish by Egypt's own day of reckoning. The verses that follow name the man God uses to bring it:
William KellyHere the instrument of divine vengeance is named plainly. This does not mean God had the smallest sympathy with the terrible of the nations and their drawn swords, nor with the wicked into whose hand the country was sold, nor with the strangers who laid it waste. But the hour to judge its proud wickedness was at hand, and the worst was the fitting executioner to do the dreadful work.
Commentators also read the whole episode as a preview of something still ahead:
W. T. P. WolstonIn reading these prophecies it is important to notice one thing. Nebuchadnezzar acts as the servant of God. He carries out God's judgment on Jerusalem and on the nations round about, and so clears the land of Israel of them. All this has already happened in history. No doubt it also gives a picture of what will yet take place in Israel's future, when God again puts His hand to recover, restore and bless them in their land, then to be free for ever from every oppressor.
Distance Is No Shelter
Cush is called "unsuspecting" — at ease, far from the fighting. A later chapter of Ezekiel draws out the rule behind this verse:
William KellyNo distance and no isolation shall screen anyone from consuming judgment in that day. For the Lord is waking up to call the living to account, like a man roused out of sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine. Then at last the inhabitants of the world shall learn righteousness.
The Same Ease, The Same Shock
Careless Cush has a successor. Commentators find the same settled sense of safety in the world around us:
William KellyIn contrast stands the fatal self-deceiving security of the world. "While people are saying, 'There is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape" (1 Thessalonians 5:3)... Here it is inward quiet and outward freedom from danger, through confidence in the social and political condition of mankind. Yet uneasy twinges still betray the real unrest and underlying dread of those who do not know God and His Christ.
Summary
- Near. Prophecy ties present trouble to the great day when God steps in with power to judge the living.
- Sent. The messengers are God's, not Egypt's. He sends the alarm across the water to people who thought distance kept them safe.
- Shared. Cush has no separate day. Its anguish comes with Egypt's, and Phut, Lud and the mixed peoples share it.
- Suited. Nebuchadnezzar carries out the blow as God's servant, though God has no sympathy with the cruelty of the instrument He uses.
- Certain. "Behold, it comes" — and no distance screens anyone from that day. The modern version of careless Cush is the world saying, "There is peace and security."