And they do not lie with the mighty, the fallen from among the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid under their heads, and whose iniquities are upon their bones; for the terror of the mighty men was in the land of the living.
Ezekiel 32 closes a long series of prophecies against Egypt with a funeral song. The verse pictures ancient warriors buried with their swords, and says Egypt's dead do not lie with them. So what does the scene teach about the unseen world, and why are these nations named?
Where the chapter sits
The prophecies from chapter 29 onward deal with Egypt and its ambition.
J. N. DarbyIn the self-will of man, Egypt tried to take the place God had in fact given to Nebuchadnezzar. All must submit. The mighty empire of Assyria had already fallen. Whatever Pharaoh's claims and ambition might be, he was no better… They had already fallen like the uncircumcised — that is, like people God did not own, and so did not hold up. All must give way to this new power in the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.
That note explains the word "uncircumcised" in the verse: people God did not own, and so did not hold up when judgment came.
The mighty, stripped
The verse speaks of men whose terror once filled the land of the living. The funeral song shows what became of them.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinWe look here into sheol and see the nations gathered there, stripped of their glory, in the deepest humiliation and shame. Their bodies are in the pit, the grave, and their souls in sheol, the unseen regions. God's patience with them ran out, and the measure of their wickedness became full. Then judgments swept them off the earth, and they passed away and went down into sheol… Assyria was a cruel, pitiless, destructive power. Now the nation that once caused "terror in the land of the living" is helpless, with all her power gone in the unseen world.
Another writer catches the sting in the reversal: the terror they dealt out returns on them.
William KellyThe Lord's terror remains, and most of all for those who dealt out the most terror here with the sword. What could be more vivid? Whose irony is as sharp as the prophet's?
Swords under their heads
Some have read the buried weapons as a literal description of the unseen world. One writer answers that reading it this way would create absurdities elsewhere in the Bible.
Frederick W GrantOthers use the imagery of Ezekiel 32:27 to argue that people go down to sheol with their weapons of war, and their swords laid under their heads! But if Jacob speaks of bringing his grey hairs down in sorrow to sheol, then we must also believe that sheol is the home of grey hairs! So Korah and his followers go down alive into sheol, the earth swallowing them up alive — and this is conclusive proof that men's bodies go to hades! We only have to remember how vague a term like "the unseen" is, to see how little this passage gives the formal doctrine they would draw from it.
One ruin, shared by all
The buried sword marks a soldier's honour, yet the song sounds the same over every nation named. That repetition is itself the message.
Numerical Bible NotesTyre is not among these nations yet. But Assyria, Elam, Meshech and Tubal, Edom and the Sidonians are all caught in one hopeless ruin… the circumcised together with the uncircumcised. Egypt was outwardly a circumcised people, but for them it meant nothing. Now all are made equal in the one thing that wipes out every distinction: the shared powerlessness and shadow of death. This monotonous dirge, the same for all of them, is part of the lesson. It is meant to impress on us the shared emptiness and desolation into which so many energies, so many kinds of human character and activity, all sink as one ruin you cannot tell apart.
Meshech and Tubal held apart
Readers have noticed that this verse handles two of the names differently from the rest. One writer flags it plainly:
J. N. DarbyObserve that in Ezekiel 32:27 Meshech and Tubal are distinguished from the rest of the nations.
He suggests a reason drawn from later chapters of the same book.
J. N. DarbyWe have already seen that Meshech's fate is mentioned on its own, in view of what will happen to it in the last days, which is announced later on (Ezekiel 39:5).
The turn beyond the pit
The chapter ends in darkness, but the writers do not leave the reader there.
Numerical Bible NotesThank God, we are now coming out into brighter things! But God's lessons must be learned, and in their own order… Resurrection is all of God. Here it is plain that man has no ability at all. He is out of the picture, so God is free to show Himself as He wants to. Then the grave itself is no obstacle to Him. It becomes instead the means of a brighter display of His divine glory. So among the names here, Egypt herself is to have her resurrection and blessing in the coming day, and Assyria too.
Summary
- Pride — Egypt reached for a place God had given elsewhere. Assyria had already fallen, and Pharaoh ignored the warning.
- Stripped — powers that spread terror in the land of the living now lie helpless, their glory gone.
- Level — one dirge covers every nation named. Sword, honour and name all sink into the same ruin.
- Image — the buried swords are poetry, not a map of the unseen world. Read that way, sheol would house grey hairs too.
- Beyond — the pit is not God's last word. Resurrection is God's work alone, and He promises Egypt and Assyria blessing in a coming day.