In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
This dated word opens the last of God's messages against Egypt. What follows is not a shout of triumph over a rival power, but a lament.
The last word in a long series
The chapter before this one held up Assyria's fall as the pattern of Egypt's ruin. One writer explains why God did not stop there.
William KellyIt was not enough to have set out the fall of the Assyrian as a pattern of Egypt's ruin. The Spirit of God adds one last message, and it comes in two parts. The first part, in the first half of this chapter, sets out the coming catastrophe of Pharaoh under two pictures: a lion and a crocodile (or a river dragon, not "a whale"). Once the terror of nations, he is now caught, killed and put on display before all, and this under the king of Babylon. The second part develops what the previous chapter sketched more briefly: the once mighty monarch with his multitude, now weak and pitiful in the lower parts of the earth.
The date carries meaning
The date is not filler. One writer reads the repeated twelve as a mark of God's governmental ways — and then hears what breaks into that moment.
Numerical Bible NotesWe now come to the twelfth year and the twelfth month, a period which speaks of the full display of God's governmental ways. But this was a time in which there should be only blessing. Instead there comes a voice of lamentation. It reminds us of the tears once wept on earth by One who was God Himself made known in flesh. He wept over those who had despised His gracious invitations, and would not be gathered under the wings that would so safely have covered them.
God's interest in His creatures
No one mourns over something he does not care about. The same writer says why we find it so hard to believe that God cares.
Numerical Bible NotesThe creatures God has made must always be objects of interest to Him. We little realise how great that interest is. We confuse the clouds and darkness that surround Him with the One who is distinct from the cloud and from the darkness, in whom there is no darkness at all... Still, a man may cancel all this as far as he himself is concerned. With his back turned to God, he sees Him only as reflected in the depths of his own heart, in imaginations darkened by a guilty conscience.
Egypt, a picture of self-sufficiency
Egypt is not picked at random. One writer traces its pride back to something true of every soul that turns from God.
Numerical Bible NotesThe soul away from God, having lost faith in Him, must have faith in itself, or there would be despair at once. So man's competence steps in to make up for God's supposed incompetence. He takes freely what God has graciously given him, and uses it to build himself up in pride and self-sufficiency. We see this unmistakably in Egypt, and the lesson of it is as clear as it is basic.
How the chapter unfolds
From this date the chapter unfolds in three parts.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinVerses 1-10 hold the lamentation over Pharaoh. Then comes the final announcement of the sword of the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, in verses 11-16. This is the last of these great predictions of national judgments, and its most interesting part is the funeral dirge and the unveiling of the unseen world (verses 17-32).
Summary
- Dated. The word comes in the twelfth year, twelfth month, first day — the mark of God's governmental ways in full display.
- Lamented. That moment brings no cheer but a lament. It echoes the tears wept on earth over people who would not be gathered.
- Loved. God never stops caring about the creatures He made. It is the guilty conscience that paints Him dark.
- Exposed. Egypt is the standing picture of self-sufficiency — man using God's own gifts to build up his pride.
- Unveiled. The lament runs from Pharaoh, to Babylon's sword, to the unseen world where the once mighty lie weak.