TWO LAMENTATIONS FOR PHARAOH AND EGYPT This chapter consists of two prophecies, both dated more than a year and a half after the capture of Jerusalem, and separated from each other by a fortnight. In the first Pharaoh is likened, no longer to a young lion, but to a foul river monster, which will be... [ Continue Reading ]
THE TWELFTH YEAR.. THE TWELFTH MONTH] February-March, 584 b.c., almost a year and seven months after the fall of Jerusalem.... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU ART LIKE.. AND THOU _art_] RV 'thou wast likened.. yet art thou,' a contrast between a noble and a base comparison. WHALE] RV 'dragon': probably a crocodile or a hippopotamus is meant.... [ Continue Reading ]
PEOPLE] RV 'peoples.'... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH THY BLOOD.. SWIMMEST] probably 'the earth with the outflow of thy blood.'... [ Continue Reading ]
PUT.. OUT] RV 'extinguish.' Pharaoh is represented as a heavenly luminary, at the extinction of which the other heavenly bodies veil their light. Some suppose that there is a special reference to the constellation of the Dragon.... [ Continue Reading ]
DEEP] RV 'clear.' Clear and smooth rivers betoken an uninhabited land: see Ezekiel 32:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
The month is not mentioned, but it may be assumed to be the same as in Ezekiel 32:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
CAST THEM DOWN] i.e. in the burial song. _Even_ HER, etc.] rather, 'thou and the daughters,' etc., following up the thought of Ezekiel 32:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
UNCIRCUMCISED] dishonourably buried: see on Ezekiel 28:10. The term is practically equivalent to 'slain by the sword': so in Ezekiel 32:21; Ezekiel 32:24; Ezekiel 32:26; Ezekiel 32:29; Ezekiel 32:32.... [ Continue Reading ]
DRAW HER] RV 'draw her away,' to her burial-place in the under-world.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STRONG AMONG THE MIGHTY] the ancient heroes, referred to also in Ezekiel 32:27. HELL] Sheol, the place of the honoured dead: so in Ezekiel 32:27. THEY ARE GONE DOWN, etc.] the taunt uttered by the heroes against the Egyptians and their allies.... [ Continue Reading ]
ASSHUR] Assyria. HIS GRAVES _are_ ABOUT HIM] The central grave is that of the king, or of the embodied genius of the nation ('her grave,' Ezekiel 32:23, etc.).... [ Continue Reading ]
SIDES] RV 'uttermost parts,' a remoter region of the under-world than that assigned to the heroes.... [ Continue Reading ]
ELAM] a country E. of the Tigris, formerly a part of the Assyrian empire (Isaiah 22:6, where Elamite archers appear in Sennacherib's army). In Jeremiah 49:34; Elam is an independent state, and is threatened with conquest by Nebuchadrezzar.... [ Continue Reading ]
MESHECH, TUBAL] see on Ezekiel 27:18. These tribes may have taken part in the Scythian invasion: see Intro, and Ezekiel 38:2; Ezekiel 38:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MIGHTY OF.. THE UNCIRCUMCISED] A very slight change in the original gives the much better sense of the LXX, 'the mighty, the Nephilim of old time.' The violent nations would not be permitted to share the place of the heroes in the under-world. For the Nephilim see Genesis 6:4; Numbers 13:33 RV.... [ Continue Reading ]
EDOM] see on Numbers 25:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
PRINCES OF THE NORTH.. ZIDONIANS] the states of Syria and Phoenicia.... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE CAUSED MY TERROR] RV 'I have put his terror.' Pharaoh in his violence had been unconsciously carrying out God's purpose.... [ Continue Reading ]