The Glory of the Lord

Transcription

1 The Glory of the Lord The Study of Ezekiel Lesson 12 Prophecies against the Nations Egypt, Part 1 Ezekiel 29:1-30:26 EZE 38:23 Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord. Judgment on Egypt Except for Ezekiel 29:17-21, all prophecies against Egypt are dated between BC, shortly before and after the fall of Jerusalem in 586BC. Ezekiel 29:17-21 alone is dated at 571 or 570BC, after the 1 thirteen-year siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar. During the time frame of the prophecies of BC, Egypt was experiencing a temporary restoration of power after which Egypt experienced the ultimate decline as the Persians rose in world power. Egypt became a Persian province (satrapy). Egypt was in turn dominated by Greeks, Romans, and 2 Mamelukes. Mamelukes were members of a politically powerful Egyptian class occupying the sultanate from AD. After the patriarchal time of Joseph, Egypt was a constant enemy of Israel, except for a brief period during Solomon s reign. Egypt often urged Israel to rebel against Assyria and Babylon. In both Isaiah s and 4 Ezekiel s day there was a conflict for power between Egypt and the Assyrian and Babylonian kingdoms. The historical background of this chapter is as follows: 1. Pharaoh Necho defeated by Nebuchadnezzar in 605BC. 2. Pharaoh Necho succeeded by his son Psammetik II who died in 588BC 3. Psammetik s son, Pharaoh Hophra (Jer 44:30), besieged Tyre and Sidon, failed against Cyrene, and deposed by Amasis in 569BC. 4. Zedekiah, as did his predecessors Hezekiah (Isa 30) and Jehoiakim (Jer 46), sought Egyptian help against the Babylonians. 5. Ezekiel predicted Egypt would be a poor support in time of need (Eze 29:6). Isaiah (Isa 31:1) and 5 Jeremiah (Jer 2:36) before Ezekiel had both condemned Egypt. Judgment on Pharoah of Egypt EZE 29:1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt: 3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. 1 Charles Lee Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1969, pp. 167, 170, Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, p WEBSTER'S NEW COLLEGIATE DICTIONARY, Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam Co., Publishers, 1961, MamLuk or Mameluke, p Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, p Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, p

2 4 But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. 5 And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven. 6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. 7 When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand. 8 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee. 9 And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the Lord: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it. 10 Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia. 11 No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years. 12 And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. The date given in verse one is seven months before the fall of Jerusalem in 586BC. The tenth year 6 refers to the tenth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin. The Pharaoh addressed here was Hophra who reigned from 588 to 569BC. Hophra was the grandson of Pharaoh Necho who had conquered good King Josiah at 7 Megiddo. 2 Chron 35:20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Necho king of Egypt came up to fight against Carchemish by Euphrates: and Josiah went out against him. 21 But he sent ambassadors to him, saying, What have I to do with thee, thou king of Judah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house wherewith I have war: for God commanded me to make haste: forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with me, that he destroy thee not. 22 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and came to fight in the valley of Megiddo. 23 And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. 24 His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. Zedekiah looked for help from Pharaoh Hophra against Nebuchadnezzar. The Egyptians caused a 8 pause in the siege of Jerusalem, but eventually had to withdraw. Jer 37:5 Then Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem. 6 Then came the word of the Lord unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 7 Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to inquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh's army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land. Jer 44:30 Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will give Pharaoh-hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies, and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life. The Lord described Pharaoh Hophra as a great monster in the midst of his rivers. The monster was described as a dragon. Hophra was so arrogant that he refused to attribute to God the nourishing of the river 6 Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, p C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, COMMENTARY ON THE OLD TESTAMENT, 10 Volumes, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., , reprinted December 1996, Ezekiel, p Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, pp. 167, Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, p

3 Nile in the bounty of Egypt. Without the Nile, Egypt would be a desert. The Nile and its canals and tributaries made the Egyptians feel independent of God. Hophra considered himself so entrenched in his realm that no god could displace him. God declares that the monster (Hophra) and his fish (his people) will be hurled upon the wilderness resulting in their death. Despite the Egyptian s elaborate burial preparations, they will be 9 carrion for the birds. Therefore, the first reason for the Lord s indignation was Pharaoh s pride. The second reason is that they proved to be undependable when asked for aid by Israel, like a staff of 10 reed bending in the wind. They acted with deception. If God judged Egypt for being undependable, how much more will he judge undependable nations today? Place your trust not in man, but in the Lord. Jer 17:5 Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. 6 For he shall be like the heath [a species of juniper] in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. 7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. 8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? 10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. The judgment was to be against Pharaoh, the people of Egypt, and even the animals. After Hophra s failure at Cyrene, located on the Mediterranean west of Egypt, Hophra was deposed and strangled to death by Amasis and his followers in 569BC. Hophra claimed to be God. Because of this, God would devastate the entire nation of Egypt from Migdol, a town in the far north, to Syene, the southernmost town (see:appendix, Figures 1 and 2). "The tower of Syene," or "the tower of Seveneh." Seveneh is the town at the First Cataract in Upper Egypt, now known as Aswan. Complete decimation of the population and animal life was predicted, 11 including remaining uninhabited for forty years. Jer 46:13 The word that the Lord spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt. 14 Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol [Magdolum], and publish in Noph [Memphis] and in Tahpanhes [Daphne]: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee. History is uncertain regarding the fulfillment, however, forty years transpired between Nebuchadnezzar s conquest and occupation of Egypt and Cyrus victory over Babylon in 539BC and the Persian subjugation of Egypt in 525BC. The dynasty thus came to an end in 525BC, when the country was subjugated by Cambyses, the older son of Cyrus. Soon afterwards it was organized into a Persian satrapy. The Babylonian historian Berosus indicates that Nebuchadnezzar took great numbers of Egyptian captives to 12 Babylon. It is believed that many others fled to neighboring areas. For locations mentioned in Jeremiah 46:14 see APPENDIX, Figures 1 and 2. The Humiliation of Egypt EZE 29:13 Yet thus saith the Lord God; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered: 14 And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. 15 It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations. 16 And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord God. 9 Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, p Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, pp. 168, Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, pp. 167, 169. Geoffrey W. Bromiley, et al, THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPEDIA, Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1915, 1929, 1979, Syene; Seveneh. 12 Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, pp. 169, 170. EASTON'S BIBLE DICTIONARY, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc., Egypt. Bromiley, et al, THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPEDIA, Cambyses. 10 3

4 There is no historical evidence in Egyptian history for either the exile or the return from captivity of the Egyptians. This is not unusual, since unlike Israel, most kings of the near east usually did not record their failures. The prophecy is that the captives would return to Pathros, that is, Upper Egypt. Upper Egypt is 13 upper in the direction of the source of the Nile River, but Pathros may refer to the entire country. Egypt would not regain her former glory or power. She would remain a weak and subservient nation. They declined under the Persians, Ptolemies, and Rome. When Egypt had great power, Israel was ever 14 tempted to use Egypt against her enemies from the north. No more would Israel be so tempted. Today, Egypt has been gaining a little power. Egypt is being prepared for the future time of Tribulation as recorded by Daniel: Dan 11:36 And the king [Antichrist] shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. 37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. 38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. 39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain. 40 And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. 41 He shall enter also into the glorious land [Israel], and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. 42 He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 43 But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. 44 But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. 45 And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. Nebuchadnezzar s Conquest of Egypt EZE 29:17 And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 18 Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it: 19 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt for his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord God. 21 In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the Lord. This prophecy is dated about BC. It speaks of a completed thirteen-year siege of Tyre (586572) of which Nebuchadnezzar seems to have failed, since his army received no wages. During the long siege severe labor took its toll on Nebuchadnezzar s army so that it was said that every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled during the work of filling the gap in the strait between the mainland and the island. For their labor, God would give Nebuchadnezzar Egypt for a spoil. The conquest of Egypt must have occurred sometime after the completion of the siege of Tyre in 572BC. If the prophecy was given in , 15 the timeframe fits. 13 Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, p Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, p Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, pp. 170, 171. Keil and Delitzsch, COMMENTARY ON THE OLD TESTAMENT, 10 Volumes, Ezekiel, pp. 249,

5 In verse 21, Israel s condition will improve with the fall of Egypt, and Ezekiel s message will be better received. It may have a broader meaning pointing to the reestablishing of Israel s glory in the bringing of the 16 Horn of Salvation in Messiah s first appearing, and later in the Messianic Millennial Kingdom. Luke 1:68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, 69 And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; Psa 132:13 For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. 14 This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. 15 I will abundantly bless her provision: I will satisfy her poor with bread. 16 I will also clothe her priests with salvation: and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. 17 There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. 18 His enemies will I clothe with shame: but upon himself shall his crown flourish. Judgment on Egypt and the Nations EZE 30:1 The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord God; Howl ye, Woe worth the day 3 For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen. 4 And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down. 5 Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword. Wail, woe to the day. These verses refer to the day of the Lord, speaking of the coming calamity on Egypt, but also encompassing the time when God will deal with all nations in the Great Tribulation during the time of the end. It will be a day of clouds, calamity and distress. It will be a time of doom for the nations, the day of the gentiles. What was transpiring in Egypt was only a foretaste of what would eventually come in the Great Tribulation (the day of the Lord). The future day of the Lord will also bring the time of final restoration of 17 Israel alluded to in the previous verse of Ezekiel 29:21. Isa 13:6 Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. 7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: 8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. 9 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. Joel 2:1 Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; 2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. 11 And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? 2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Ethiopia will be terrified of what will be taking place in Egypt. Many will be killed and many will be carried away into captivity. Libya and Lydia (Ludia; Lud) refer to Put and Lud who were mercenaries in the Egyptian army (Jer 46:9). Lydia (Lud) was a province in the west of Asia Minor, which derived its name from the fourth son of Shem (Gen 10:22). It was bounded on the east by the greater Phrygia, and on the west by 16 Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, p Robert Jamison, A. R. Fausset, David Brown, A COMMENTARY: CRITICAL, EXPERIMENTAL, AND PRACTICAL ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS, Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, (3 Volumes), Reprinted April 1993, Ezekiel, Vol. 2, Pt. 2, pp. 316, Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, pp. 172,

6 Ionia and the Aegean Sea. The mingled people are considered the various mercenary foreigners that served 18 in the Egyptian army. Jer 25:19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people; 20 And all the mingled people. Chub (unknown) may be a reference to the Jews, since Jews may have fled to Egypt during the siege of Judah and Jerusalem. Also, the Hebrew text will allow the rendering of the verse as the children of 19 the land of the covenant. Notice that in Jeremiah the Jews desired to flee to Egypt. Jer 42:19 The Lord hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day. 20 For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the Lord your God, saying, Pray for us unto the Lord our God; and according unto all that the Lord our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it. 21 And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you. 22 Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn. Desolation of the Land of Egypt EZE 30:6 Thus saith the Lord; They also that uphold Egypt shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord God. 7 And they shall be desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted. 8 And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed. 9 In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it cometh. Egypt will find that those she depended upon will fail her. She will be brought down from the tower of Syene (Seveneh) to Migdol; that is the whole land. No part of the land will remain untouched with unrelieved devastation and waste on every side. Fire symbolizes war. All her helpers will fail her as they too are destroyed. The Ethiopians, allies of Egypt, depended on the might of Egypt to protect them. The messengers in ships is taken to indicate the fleeing Egyptians will come to Ethiopia seeking refuge, causing 20 much fear. God s Instrument of Punishment EZE 30:10 Thus saith the Lord God; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon. 11 He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. 12 And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I the Lord have spoken it. Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army, the terrible of the nations, would be God s instrument against Egypt. They shall fill the land with the slain. God will send drought to dry up the rivers. The rivers refer to the Nile and its tributaries. Except for the Nile, Egypt was a wasteland. Egypt depended upon the 21 annual inundation of the land by the Nile. The following prophecy of Isaiah may refer to this event. 18 Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, p EASTON'S BIBLE DICTIONARY, Lydia. Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, pp. 173, Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, p Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, pp. 174, 175. Jamison, Fausset, Brown, A COMMENTARY: CRITICAL, EXPERIMENTAL, AND PRACTICAL ON THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS, Isaiah, Vol. 2, Pt. 1, p

7 Isa 19:1 The burden of Egypt. Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it. 2 And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. 3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards. 4 And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts. 5 And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up. Visitation on Egypt s Idolatrous Cities EZE 30:13 Thus saith the Lord God; I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph [Memphis]; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt. 14 And I will make Pathros [Upper Egypt] desolate, and will set fire in Zoan [Tanis], and will execute judgments in No [Thebes]. 15 And I will pour my fury upon Sin [Pelusium], the strength of Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No [Thebes]. 16 And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin [Pelusium] shall have great pain, and No [Thebes] shall be rent asunder, and Noph [Memphis] shall have distresses daily. 17 The young men of Aven [Heliopolis] and of Pi-beseth [Bubastis] shall fall by the sword: and these cities shall go into captivity. 18 At Tehaphnehes [(Te-haph-ne-hes);Tahpanhes; Daphne] also the day shall be darkened, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt: and the pomp of her strength shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity. 19 Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the Lord. The various cities and locations are shown on the attached maps of Egypt found in APPENDIX, Figures 1 and 2. Each of the names given in the Bible text is further identified by the names in brackets 22 following the Bible name. God would deal mightily with the idols of Egypt. Idolatry was the great sin of Egypt from the earliest times. Fear would fill the land and there would be no more independent rulers to lead them. Egypt s great cities will all fall. Memphis would be under continuous harassment. The young men mentioned in verse 17 may have been training for the priesthood. Sun worship flourished in Aven, that is Heliopolis. Pi-beseth, or 23 Bubastis was where cats were mummified. The cat headed goddess was Ubastet. At Tehaphnehes (Te-haph-ne-hes), in Greek Daphne, a cloud of distress and calamity will descend 24 and her daughters will go into captivity. The historian Herodotus (c484bc-c425bc) describes a particular Egyptian God that has relevance for the satanic worship of many today around the world, particularly in this country. Egyptians worshiped the Goat of Mendes. This description points to Egypt being ripe for God s judgment. Look now at Herodotus description: I mentioned above that some of the Egyptians abstain from sacrificing goats, either male or female. The reason is the following: These Egyptians, who are the Mendesians, consider Pan to be one of the eight gods who existed before the twelve, Pan is represented in Egypt by the painters and the sculptors, just as he is in Greece, with the face and legs of a goat. they do not, however, believe this to be his shape, or consider in any respect unlike the other gods; but they represent him for a reason which I prefer not to relate. The Mendesians hold all goats in veneration, but the male more than the female, giving the goatherds of the males especial honour. One is venerated more highly than all the rest, and when he dies there is a great mourning throughout all the Mendesian canton [district]. In 22 Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, pp. 175, 176. EASTON'S BIBLE DICTIONARY, PC Study Bible formatted electronic database Copyright 2003, 2006 Biblesoft, Inc.. Bromiley, et al, THE INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPEDIA. 23 Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, p Feinberg, THE PROPHECY OF EZEKIEL, The Glory of the Lord, pp. 175,

8 Egyptian, the goat and Pan are both called Mendes. A marvel occurred in my time in this canton: a 25 goat coupled openly with a woman, in full view. This was done as a public exhibition. Baphomet, Goat of Mendes Satanic Altarpiece and Goat of Mendes Satanic Pentagram Pharaoh Broken by Nebuchadnezzar EZE 30:20 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 21 Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword. 22 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. 23 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. 24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded man. 25 But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt. 26 And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the Lord. The year of this prophecy is 587BC, three months after the prophecy of Ezekiel 29:1. The breaking of Pharaoh s arm may refer to the Egypt s unsuccessful attempt to aid Jerusalem in the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 37:5), or it might refer to Egypt s defeat by Nebuchadnezzar at Carchemish (2 Kings 24:7; Jer 46:2). Egypt will be rendered powerless to successfully defend itself. Egypt will be defeated and the Egyptians will be scattered. God will use Nebuchadnezzar as his agent of judgment and He will make Nebuchadnezzar s army invincible. Men must learn that God is the Lord or this scene will one day be repeated on this unsuspecting world and nation. 25 Herodotus, George Rawlinson (trans), THE HISTORIES, New York, NY: Everyman s Library, 1997, p Bracket word is mine. 8

9 APPENDIX 26 FIGURE 1 EGYPT26 PERRY-CASTAÑEDA LIBRARY HISTORICAL ATLAS by William R. Shepherd 9

10 FIGURE 2 EGYPT 10