Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 32:2
Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou [art] as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.
2. art like a young lion ] Perhaps: wast likened to, though the construction is exceedingly hard (cf. Eze 31:18). So far as the form of words goes the meaning might rather be: O lion of the nations thou art undone (Isa 6:5; Hos 10:15), the root being another. The prophet has a fondness, however, for using the Niph. (Cf. Eze 14:4; Eze 14:7, Eze 19:5, Eze 33:30, Eze 36:3.) The words can hardly mean: thou thoughtest thyself a young lion. Cf. Eze 38:13.
and thou art ] whereas thou wast as a dragon (monster) in the rivers, lit. seas; cf. Isa 19:5; Isa 27:1; Job 41:23. The construction seems to imply an antithesis between this clause and the previous one.
camest forth with ] didst break forth in thy rivers. The term “break forth” is used of coming forth out of the womb (Psa 22:9; cf. Job 38:8), and also of those in ambush breaking out of their hiding-place (Jdg 20:33). The term describes not the origin of the monster but his activity; cf. “didst foul.” Ew. conjectured for “in thy rivers,” with thy nostrils thou didst spout (cause spray) with thy nostrils; cf. Job 41:18-20. The object of the verb is wanting here, however, and the verb though used of Jordan (Job 40:23) is employed intransitively. Cf. however, Mic 4:10.
their rivers ] Or, streams those of the waters. The vitality of the monster and his violent activity are suggested by his troubling the waters and fouling the streams. Cf. the opposite idea, Eze 32:13-14.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Thou art like … – Rather, Thou wouldest be like to (others, wast likened unto) a young lion.
And thou art – In contrast to what thou wouldest be.
A whale – Rather, crocodile (marginal reference note). Pharaoh should have been like the king of beasts, but he is a mere sea-monster. There is strong irony here, because the Egyptian king was proud of the comparison between himself and the mighty crocodile.
Seas – The word is often used of the waters of a great river, like the Nile.
Thou camest forth with thy rivers – Rather, thou didst burst forth in thy rivers as the crocodile does from the water into which he has plunged.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. Thou art like a young lion – and thou art as a whale in the seas] Thou mayest be likened to two of the fiercest animals in the creation; to a lion, the fiercest on the land; to a crocodile, tannin, (see Eze 29:3,) the fiercest in the waters. It may, however, point out the hippopotamus, as there seems to be a reference to his mode of feeding. He walks deliberately into the water over head, and pursues his way in the same manner; still keeping on his feet, and feeding on the plants, &c., that grow at the bottom. Thus he fouls the water with his feet.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Take a lamentation: see Eze 19:1; 27:2.
Pharaoh; Hophra.
Like a young lion: of this hieroglyphic see Eze 19:3,6.
Of the nations; among, or to, the nations round about thee, spoiling all thou canst, a cruel devourer abroad.
A whale; a crocodile, a devouring dragon in thy rivers at home, for there the crocodiles lay and did mischief, though sometimes they went down the river to the sea.
In the seas; that comes forth to seek prey and devour, so a lion at land, a whale, or crocodile rather, at sea, ravenous every where.
Camest forth with thy rivers; raisedst mighty armies, and didst lead them out against thy neighbours, as in particular, Eze 29:3,4.
The waters; the people, kingdoms, and kings near thee.
With thy feet; with thy soldiers.
Fouledst their rivers; disturbed and muddied their pleasant clearness, and made them unfit to drink, i.e. did spoil all the pleasant and useful conveniences of thy neighbours.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. Pharaoh“Phra” inBurmah, signifies the king, high priest, and idol.
whalerather, anymonster of the waters; here, the crocodile of the Nile. Pharaoh is asa lion on dry land, a crocodile in the waters; that is, an object ofterror everywhere.
camest forth with thyrivers“breakest forth” [FAIRBAIRN].The antithesis of “seas” and “rivers” favorsGROTIUS rendering, “Thoucamest forth from the sea into the rivers”; that is, fromthy own empire into other states. However, English Version isfavored by the “thy”: thou camest forth with thyrivers (that is, with thy forces) and with thy feet didst fallirrecoverably; so Israel, once desolate, troubles the waters (thatis, neighboring states).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt,…. Pharaohhophra, or Apries; say a funeral dirge for him; this is ordered, not out of honour and respect to him, or in compassion for his misery and ruin, but to assure him of it:
and say unto him, thou art like a young lion of the nations; for strength and fierceness, for cruelty and tyranny, which he exercised, not in one nation only, but in many; a lively emblem of the beast of Rome, spiritually called Egypt and Sodom, compared to a leopard, bear, and lion, Re 11:8:
and thou art as a whale in the seas; or rather “like a crocodile” u, which was common in the rivers of Egypt, but not the whale; which also has not scales, nor does it go upon land, nor is it taken in a net; all which is said of this creature here, and in Eze 29:3 and to the crocodile there is an allusion in the name of Pharaoh, in the Arabic language, as Noldius from Camius observes w; see Eze 29:3:
and thou camest forth with thy rivers; or, “by thy rivers” x; as the crocodile in the river Nile, by the arms of it, or canals made out of it, sometimes went out from thence to other parts: or, “out of thy rivers” y upon the land, as the crocodile does; so the king of Egypt went forth with his armies out of his own land, into other countries, to disturb them, as follows: or rather, “camest forth in thy rivers” z; as the crocodile puts forth its head out of the water for respiration:
and thou troublest the waters with thy feet, and foulest their rivers; just as the feet of men or beasts, in shallow waters, raise up the mud or clay at the bottom, and so foul them; this best agrees with the crocodile, which has feet; Grotius thinks, for this reason, the sea horse is intended; the meaning is, that Pharaoh with his soldiers entered other nations, made war upon them, and disturbed their peace and tranquillity. The Targum is,
“thou hast been strong among the people, as a whale in the seas, thou hast fought with thine army; and thou hast moved the people with thine auxiliaries, and thou hast wasted their provinces.”
u “similis es crocodile”, Noldius, Ebr. Concord. Part. p. 375. w Ibid. No. 1306. x “per flumina tua”, Vatablus, Junius Tremellius, Polanus. y “Ex fluminibus tuis”, Starckius. z “In fluviis tuis”, V. L. Piscator “in fluminibus tuis”, Cocceius
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(2) As a whale.Rather, a crocodile. (See Note on Eze. 29:3, where the same word is used.) A striking contrast is brought out in this verse which is lost in our translation. Thou wast compared to a young lion of the nations, i.e., their leader and glory; but thou wast (really) like a crocodile in the seas, stirring up and fouling the rivers, the sources of their prosperity.
Thou carmest forth with.Better, thou didst break forth in thy rivers, referring to the crocodile basking upon the bank, and suddenly plunging into the stream and stirring up its mud.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. R.V., “Thou wast likened unto a young lion yet art thou as a dragon.” Pharaoh had thought himself to be the king of beasts, able to roam for prey in far-off countries; but he was in reality only a crocodile, confined to his own Nile stream. This was peculiarly cutting, since the Pharaoh loved to call himself “ruler of all lands,” and yet often in his inscriptions likened himself to a crocodile. (See also note Eze 29:3.)
Camest forth with thy rivers R.V., “breakest forth.” The Hebrew can almost mean didst spurt out [spray] with thy nostrils (Job 41:19-20). In either case the expression refers to the vain struggles of the monster, which can indeed foul his own stream, but which cannot harm those who are upon the shore.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 32:2. Take up a lamentation As the style of the lamentations was always figurative and poetical, Ezekiel describes the king of Egypt as a great dragon or crocodile,for so the word tannim, should be rendered, and not whale,troubling the waters with his feet, and fouling the rivers; or disturbing all the nations round about him: and in the name of the Lord he threatens to take him in his net, and cast him forth into the open field, as a prey to the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the whole earth; Eze 32:3-4. So that he should no more trouble the waters with his feet, but the rivers should run [smooth] as oil: Eze 32:14. And in the following part of the chapter, having sent Pharaoh and his multitude to the land of the Inferi; Eze 32:18 he represents the inhabitants of these lower regions, as addressing the king of Egypt in the same manner, as Isaiah in his 14th chapter describes them welcoming the king of Babylon. Eze 32:21. The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the midst of Sheol, &c. The Hebrew for what we render, The strong among the mighty, is eilei gibborim, The gods of the mighty; meaning, no doubt, their hero gods, whose souls, though the superstition of that people had placed them among the stars, the prophet, on the contrary, intimates to them were to be found in Sheol; thus ridiculing the worship of their men deities, of which Egypt was the great promoter, if not the inventor. But the most remarkable thing in his threatening of Pharaoh is, the prophet’s telling him more than once, that he should lie down with the uncircumcised; Eze 32:19-28. It is well known, that circumcision was in use and honour among the Egyptians; whatever reasons they might have for it, or what advantages soever they hoped from it. But the circumcision of this heathen prince, the prophet plainly tells him, should be of no avail to him after death. For an idolater and unbeliever, without doubt, though circumcised, must be in the same state there with other unbelievers. He should be laid with the uncircumcised, and find the same bad reception in the other world. But does not this of the prophet plainly speak a difference between the death and consequences of it to the uncircumcised, or unbelievers, and that of the circumcised believers, or God’s people, and consequently tend to confirm the truth of that notion, that God’s covenant with Abraham, of which circumcision was the seal, implied in it the promise of a future resurrection?And if so, it is unreasonable surely to suppose, with some learned writers, that the body of the people, who were all without exception by an express law commanded to be circumcised, (see Gen 17:14.) should be unacquainted with the very design and nature of that solemn rite by which they were admitted into covenant with God. See Peters on Job, p. 376.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 32:2 Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou [art] as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.
Ver. 2. Take up a lamentation, ] i.e., A lamentable prophecy, destructive to the Egyptians; and it is very likely that they heard of it but heeded it not; tanquam monstra marina Dei verba praetereuntes.
Thou art like a young lion.
And thou art as a whale.
Thou camest forth with thy rivers.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Son of man. See note on Eze 2:1.
Thou art like = Thou bast been likened to.
and thou art = yet art thou. The contrast is between what was noble and less noble.
whale = crocodile
seas = a collection of waters, like the branches of the Nile. Compare Isa 27:1.
rivers. Heb, nahar. Not the same word as in Eze 32:6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
take up: Eze 32:16, Eze 32:18, Eze 19:1, Eze 27:2, Eze 27:32, Eze 28:12, Jer 9:18
Thou art like: Eze 19:2-6, Eze 38:13, Gen 49:9, Num 24:9, Pro 28:15, Jer 4:7, Nah 2:11-13
and thou art as: Eze 29:3, Psa 74:13, Psa 74:14, Isa 27:1, Isa 51:9
whale: or, dragon
and troubledst: Eze 34:18
Reciprocal: Gen 1:21 – great Gen 12:15 – princes Deu 22:8 – thou bring Jer 46:8 – riseth Eze 26:17 – take Eze 29:15 – rule Eze 32:13 – neither Amo 5:1 – I take
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 32:2. Say unto him. [Pharaoh], See the comments at Eze 31:2 for explanation of such an expression. Take up a lamentation denotes that the fate of Pharaoh is to be lamented. A lion on land or a monster in the water would be something to be feared, and the king of Egypt is likened to them. A troublesome creature in the waters would cause them to be defiled, and likewise the king of Egypt had caused a defilement among the nations.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
32:2 Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him, Thou art like a young {b} lion of the nations, and thou [art] as a whale in the seas: and thou didst come forth with thy rivers, and didst {c} trouble the waters with thy feet, and didst foul their rivers.
(b) Thus the scriptures compare tyrants to cruel and huge beasts which devour all that are weaker than they and such as they may overcome.
(c) You prepared great armies.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Ezekiel was to utter a lamentation over Pharaoh. In the other oracles of judgment against foreign nations recorded in this book, lament typically follows announcement (cf. ch. 19; Eze 26:17-18; Ezekiel 27; Eze 28:12-19). The same is true with the oracles against Egypt. The writer’s desire to preserve this pattern is probably another reason he recorded the oracles of judgment in Eze 29:17-21 and Eze 30:1-19 out of chronological order.
Hophra had compared himself to a young lion, but he was more like the mythical sea-monster. The Egyptian sphinx has the body of a lion and the head of a Pharaoh. Again, the monster in view seems to be a crocodile (cf. Eze 29:3). He had burst forth from the Nile and its estuaries muddying and fouling their waters. This symbolizes Pharaoh’s disturbing influence on the international scene as he complicated God’s dealings with other nations, especially Judah and Babylon.