Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 30:21
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.
21. broken the arm ] While the Chaldeans were besieging Jerusalem the army of Pharaoh Hophra (Apries) advanced and compelled them to raise the siege, Jer 37:5; cf. Jer 34:21. The Egyptians were repulsed and the siege renewed. It is possible that breaking the arm of Pharaoh refers to this circumstance. At all events the distinction between the two arms, and the threat that both the sound and the fractured one shall be altogether broken, suggest that an actual past occurrence is referred to in the figure of Eze 30:21.
a roller to bind it ] i.e. a bandage. For the word cf. Eze 16:4, Job 38:9.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 21. I have broken the arm of Pharaoh] Perhaps this may refer to his defeat by Nebuchadnezzar, when he was coming with the Egyptian army to succour Jerusalem.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I have often told thee I would break, now I tell thee
I have broken, partly by the victory of the Chaldean over Pharaoh-necho, partly by the victory the Cyreneaus got over Pharaoh-hophra to raise the siege, from which attempt he fell with shame and loss, but more by civil wars.
Pharaoh; Hophra or Apries.
It shall not be bound up to be healed; and this wound is incurable,
it shall never be bound up to be healed, his arm shall never be strong and fit to encounter a potent enemy, as once it was.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. broken . . . arm of Pharaoh(Psa 37:17; Jer 48:25).Referring to the defeat which Pharaoh-hophra sustained from theChaldeans, when trying to raise the siege of Jerusalem (Jer 37:5;Jer 37:7); and previous to thedeprivation of Pharaoh-necho of all his conquests from the river ofEgypt to the Euphrates (2Ki 24:7;Jer 46:2); also to the Egyptiandisaster in Cyrene.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt,…. Not Pharaohnecho, king of Egypt, whose army was overthrown at Carchemish by the king of Babylon, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim; when the latter took from the former all that belonged to him between the river of Egypt and the river Euphrates; by which he was so weakened and dispirited, that he could not stir any more out of his own land,
Jer 46:2 and of him Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; but Pharaohhophra, or Apries, who was defeated by the Cyreneans, and saved himself by flight; [See comments on Eze 29:4]:
and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it; a metaphor taken from chirurgeons, who, having set broken bones, put on a bandage or rollers of linen, or such like stuff, to keep them tight; but nothing of this kind should be done; hereby suggesting that Egypt should receive such a blow or wound as would be incurable; see
Jer 46:11:
to make it strong to hold the sword; which it should not be able to do, or to make war any more, at least with success, or to defend itself.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(21) I have broken.This is in the perfect tense, and refers to the breaking of the power of Egypt by the former conquests of Assyria, and perhaps especially to the great battle of Carchemish (about twenty years before), in which Egypt received a blow from which she never recovered. The word roller would be better understood now if translated bandage.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. I have broken the arm of Pharaoh The loss by Hophra of his dependencies, because of the failure of his attempt to resist the Chaldeans (Jer 34:21; Jer 37:5) is compared to a fractured arm. (See Eze 31:17.) This loss of power will never be regained. He will not even have time to apply healing medicines and to put a splint (roller) upon it before Jehovah, in the person of Nebuchadnezzar, shall be upon him to break the other arm also (Eze 30:22).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 30:21. To put a roller to bind it It shall be bound with a roller, to heal it, and that it may be strengthened to hold the sword. Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 30:21 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.
Ver. 21. I have broken the arm. ] Ita ut nulla arte vel ope; so that by no means or medicines it can be made whole again. Losses received in war can hardly be repaired.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
a roller = a bandage.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Son of man: This prophecy was delivered soon after the Egyptians under Pharaoh-hophra had come to relieve Jerusalem, and some months before the city was taken, being the eleventh year of Jeremiah’s captivity, and answering to April 26, am 3416. When the king of Babylon took from the king of Egypt, in the days of Pharaoh-necho, all his dominions in Asia, one of his arms was broken. God now declared that he should never recover these territories, or gain any ascendancy in that part of the world; nay, that his other arm, which was now strong, should soon be broken, and rendered utterly useless. This was fulfilled when Hophra was dethroned and driven into Upper Egypt by Amasis; and then Nebuchadnezzar, taking advantage of this civil discord, invaded and conquered that kingdom, and enslaved, dispersed, and carried captive the Egyptians.
I have: Eze 30:24, Psa 10:15, Psa 37:17, Jer 48:25
it shall not: Isa 1:6, Jer 30:13, Jer 46:11, Jer 51:8, Jer 51:9, Nah 3:16, Rev 18:21
Reciprocal: 1Sa 2:31 – I will cut Psa 58:6 – Break their Psa 76:5 – and Psa 89:43 – turned Isa 45:1 – holden Eze 31:17 – that were Dan 11:6 – retain Nah 3:19 – no
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 30:21. Broken the arm means to destroy the force of the king of Egypt. Shall not be bound up is modified by the words to be healed following immediately. The idea is that nothing can prevent the calamity that is declared to be coming upon Pharaoh. Roller means bandage and the statement means the same as the preceding one explained above.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
30:21 Son of man, {f} I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a bandage to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword.
(f) For Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Pharaoh Nebo at Carchemish, Jer 46:26 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Yahweh announced that He had broken Pharaoh’s arm. Ironically, "the strong-armed king had suffered a broken arm." [Note: K. S. Freedy and D. B. Redford, "The Dates of Ezekiel in Relation to Biblical, Babylonian and Egyptian Sources," Journal of the American Oriental Society 90 (1970):482-83.] It had not been set in a splint and supported, so he could not wield a sword effectively. This may refer to Egypt’s defeat at Carchemish in 605 B.C. when Egypt lost its share of control over the ancient Near East (cf. 2Ki 24:7; Jer 46:2). Another possibility is that the defeat in view was Hophra’s unsuccessful attack against the Babylonians near Judea a few months earlier (cf. 2Ki 24:7; Jer 37:5; Jer 37:9; Jer 44:30).
"Possibly the days between the first and fourth prophecies were approximately the length of time the siege on Jerusalem was lifted as Babylon repositioned its army to meet the Egyptian attack." [Note: Dyer, "Ezekiel," p. 1289.]