Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 29:14
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.
14. land of Pathros ] i.e. Upper Egypt or the Thebaid, ch. Eze 30:14, Isa 11:11; Jer 44:15. The name is said to mean “south land.”
their habitation ] their origin, or birth, cf. Eze 16:3. For the phrase “bring again the captivity” i.e. probably turn the fortunes, cf. Eze 16:53.
a base kingdom ] i.e. a low or humble state, ch. Eze 17:6; Eze 17:14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Pathros – The Thebaid or Upper Egypt, the original seat of the kingdom.
The land of their habitation – Rather, as margin, i. e., the home of the restored exiles.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Eze 29:14
I Will bring again the Captivity of Egypt.
Gods dealings with heathen nations
1. The goodness and mercy of God extend to heathens. He hath a care of them in their captivity, and after they have suffered His appointed time He will show kindness to them.
2. The afflictions of nations and persons may be long, yet not without end; they may suffer seven and seven years, yea, twenty, thirty, forty years together, which is a long time, and then see an end of their sufferings.
3. God sometimes deals more favourably with heathens than with His own people. At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians, but it was the end of seventy years before He gathered the Jews out of Babylon: His own people were thirty years, or near upon, longer under the Babylonish yoke than the Egyptians. There was just cause for this; Gods people had sinned worse than the heathens, and so provoked Him above them.
4. Nothing is too hard for God, or can hinder the fulfilling of His will. The Egyptians were scattered among the nations, here a family and there a family, and that forty years together; so mingled with the people of other countries that they had well nigh forgotten Egypt, and had so drunk in the manners and customs of the places where they lived that they were neutralised thereunto; they were so rooted among the nations that it seemed impossible to pluck them up, and plant them in their own countries; yet notwithstanding these things, saith God, I will gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered. The Jews had lain longer n Babylon, and were like dry bones in the grave, without hope (Eze 37:11); but God made good His word; He brought them out with a strong hand, breaking in pieces gates of brass, and cutting in sunder bars of iron.
5. It is the same hand, the same God, that drives men out of their countries and comforts, into deep and long afflictions abroad, and brings them back out of the same, to enjoy their countries and comforts. (W. Greenhill, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. Into the land of Pathros] Supposed to mean the Delta, a country included between the branches of the Nile, called delta, from its being in the form of the Greek letter of that name. It may mean the Pathrusim, in Upper Egypt, near to the Thebaid. This is most likely.
Shall be there a base kingdom.] That is, it shall continue to be tributary. It is upwards of two thousand years since this prophecy was delivered, and it has been uninterruptedly fulfilling to the present hour.
1. Egypt became tributary to the Babylonians, under Amasis.
2. After the ruin of the Babyionish empire, it became subject to the Persians.
3. After the Persians, it came into the hands of the Macedonians.
4. After the Macedonians it fell into the hands of the Romans.
5. After the division of the Roman empire it was subdued by the Saracens.
6. About A.D. 1250, it came into the hands of the Mameluke slaves.
7. Selim, the ninth emperor of the Turks, conquered the Mamelukes, A.D. 1517, and annexed Egypt to the Ottoman empire, of which it still continues to be a province, governed by a pacha and twenty-four beys, who are always advanced from servitude to the administration of public affairs. So true is it that Egypt, once so glorious, is the basest of kingdoms. See Newton on the prophecies.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The captivity; which Nebuchadnezzar led away into Babylon.
The land of Pathros; one province or country of Egypt; it was a southern part of Egypt. in which was the famous city Thebae or Thebais, known for its hundred gates.
The land of their habitation; the ancient habitation of the fathers of the most of those that did return, forty years having eaten up almost all that had lived there before.
A base kingdom; a low, tributary, dependent kingdom, subject to the Persian kingdom as Areasis was to Cyrus; and though it did at length grow great, yet was it always dependent on Greeks or Romans.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. Pathrosthe Thebaid, orUpper Egypt, which had been especially harassed by Nebuchadnezzar(Nah 3:8; Nah 3:10).The oldest part of Egypt as to civilization and art. The Thebaid wasanciently called “Egypt” [ARISTOTLE].Therefore it is called the “land of the Egyptians’ birth“(Margin, for “habitation”).
base kingdomUnderAmasis it was made dependent on Babylon; humbled still more underCambyses; and though somewhat raised under the Ptolemies, never hasit regained its ancient pre-eminence.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt,…. For what is done by men, under the direction and influence of divine Providence, is said to be done by the Lord, as this was, though by the means of Cyrus:
and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros; which was a part of the land of Egypt; perhaps so called from Pathrusim, the son of Mizraim, from whom Egypt had its name, Ge 10:14. Bochart takes it to be Thebais, a principal country in Egypt:
into the land of their habitation; or nativity, where they were born, and where they before dwelt:
and they shall be there a base kingdom; as it is at this day more especially, to which it has been gradually reduced, having passed into various hands, and come under the power and dominion of different states: whatever might be the case and circumstances of it under Cyrus, Cambyses his son entered into it, made sad devastation in it, and an entire conquest of it; and though it revolted under Darius Hystaspes, it was subdued again, and brought into a worse state than before by Xerxes: it revolted again in the reign of Darius Nothus, and was at last by Ochus totally subdued; and from that time the Egyptians never had a king of their own nation to reign over them. Along with the Persian empire it came into the hands of Alexander without any opposition; and, after his death, fell to the share of Ptolemy, one of his captains; and, though some of the first kings of that name were of considerable note and power, yet Egypt made a poor figure under the reigns of several of them. When the Roman empire obtained, it became a province of that, and continued so for six or seven hundred years; and then it fell into the hands of the Saracens, when it sunk into ignorance and superstition, the Mahometan religion being established in it, with whom it continued until about the year of Christ 1250; when the Mamalucks, or Turkish and Carcassian slaves, rose up against their sovereigns, the sultans of Egypt, and usurped the government, in whose hands it was until the year 1517; when Selim the ninth, emperor of the Turks, conquered the Mamalucks, and put an end to their government, and annexed it to the Ottoman empire; of which it is a province to this day x, being governed by a Turkish basha, with twenty four begs or princes under him, who are raised, from being servants, to the administration of public affairs; and so it is become a base kingdom indeed, if to be called one y.
x Written about 1730. Editor. y See all this at large, with the proofs of it, in Dr. Newton’s Dissertations on Prophecies, from p. 382. to 394.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(14) The land of Pathros.Comp. Isa. 11:11. Pathros is Upper Egypt, the Thebaid. In the following clause this is described as the land of their birth (Marg.). According to ancient testimony and the opinion of many moderns, this was the original seat of Egyptian power. It may, however, be put only as the part for the wholePathros for Egypt.
Shall be there a base kingdom.Egypt should be restored, but not to its former power. Historically this has been eminently true. For a little while Egypt struggled against its oppressors, but its power was already broken, and from the time of its conquest by Cambyses it has never been for any length of time independent. There are few stronger contrasts in any inhabited country than between the ancient glory, dignity, power, and wealth of Egypt, and its later insignificance.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. I will bring again the captivity That is, after the necessary and complete period of chastisement symbolically represented by forty years has passed, the captives shall be brought back again to their own land. It is a curious thing that a cylinder of Cyrus, now in the British Museum, declares that he permitted his captives of “all lands” to return from Babylon to their own homes.
Pathros The Pharaohs from earliest times wore a double crown, as rulers of “two lands.” Pathros (Assyrian, Paturissu), the “land of the south” (Isa 11:11), was Upper Egypt.
Habitation R.V., “birth.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 29:14. Pathros Delta, or Thebais.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 29:14 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.
Ver. 14. Into the land of Pathros. ] A part of the lower Egypt; a corner of the country, say some, but big enough to hold the remnant that returned.
And they shall be there a base kingdom.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
bring again, &c = turn the fortunes, &c. See note on Deu 30:3,
the captivity of Egypt or, the Egyptian captives. Note the discrimination shown in these prophecies. Some were never to be restored; others were to be resuscitated.
Pathros = Upper, or Southern Egypt.
habitation = nativity.
base = low.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pathros: Eze 30:14, Gen 10:14, 1Ch 1:12, Pathrusim, Isa 11:11, Jer 44:1
habitation: or, birth
base: Heb. low
Reciprocal: Jer 49:39 – I will Eze 16:53 – bring Eze 17:14 – the kingdom Eze 30:13 – there shall Dan 4:15 – leave Dan 11:42 – and Zec 10:11 – the sceptre
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 29:14. While Egypt was to return to national life it was not to come back to the height that it originally enjoyed but was to be a base or low kingdom. Verse 12 states that the Egyptians were to be dispersed among various countries, which occasions the prediction of the present verse about being brought back to Pathros, which was a part of Egypt.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 29:14-15. And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt This captivity of the Egyptians, though not taken notice of by Herodotus, is mentioned by Berosus, in one of the fragments of his history, quoted by Josephus, Antiq., 50. 10. chap. 11, and published with notes by Scaliger, at the end of his books, De Emendatione Temporum, whose remark upon the place is very observable, namely, The calamities that befell the Egyptians are passed over by Herodotus, because the Egyptian priests would not inform him of any thing that tended to the disgrace of their nation. And I will cause them to return into the land of Pathros That part of Egypt which is called Thebais, as Bochart proves by several arguments. And they shall be there a base kingdom, the basest of kingdoms By base kingdom is meant, that it should be tributary and subject to strangers, for the much greatest part of the time. This is the purport and meaning of the prophecy; and the truth will appear by a short deduction of the history of Egypt from that time to this. It was first of all tributary to the Babylonians under Amasis; upon the ruin of the Babylonish empire, it was subject to the Persians; upon the failure of the Persian empire, it came into the hands of the Macedonians; after the Macedonians, it fell under the dominion of the Romans; after the division of the Roman empire, it was subdued by the Saracens, in the reign of Omar, their third emperor; about the year of Christ 1250, it was in the possession of the Mamelukes, a word which signifies a slave bought with money, but is appropriated to those Turkish or Circassian slaves, whom the sultans of Egypt bought young, and taught military exercises. These slaves usurped the royal authority, and by that means Egypt became their prey. But, A.D. 1517, Selim, the ninth emperor of the Turks, conquered the Mamelukes, and annexed Egypt to the Ottoman empire, of which it continues to be a province to this day. By this deduction it appears, that the truth of Ezekiels prediction is fully attested by the whole series of the history of Egypt, from that time to the present. And who could pretend to say, upon human conjecture, that so great a kingdom, so rich and fertile a country, should ever afterward become tributary and subject to strangers? It is now a great deal above two thousand years since this prophecy was first delivered; and what likelihood or appearance was there, that the Egyptians should, for so many ages, bow under a foreign yoke, and never, in all that time, be able to recover their liberties, and have a prince of their own to reign over them? But as is the prophecy, so is the event. Bishop Newton.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
29:14 And I will bring again the captives 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 {g} base kingdom.
(g) Meaning, that they would not have full dominion but be under the Persians, Greeks and Romans, and the reason is that the Israelites would no more put their trust in them, but learn to depend on God.