Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 29:15
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.
The basest; the most abject, debased, and most underling. It is likely the kings to whom Egypt was tributary kept them lowest, as knowing how dangerous that kingdom might be, as it recovered its ancient greatness; and the word seems to intimate this, for it is more than the kingdoms it shall be depressed.
Neither shall it exalt itself; its masters would so watch and check it. I will diminish them; beside the hard and cruel usages of the Persian kings, which might be unjust enough, Gods most just judgment should follow them to lessen their numbers, power, wealth, and honour.
They shall no more rule over the nations; though once they had subdued and ruled, yet should they not any more. In the times of the Ptolemies, though it was considerable, yet then it was not a kingdom that ruled the nations about her, though she made war upon them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And it shall be the basest of the kingdoms,…. That belonged to the Persian monarchy, or to the Macedonian empire, being more kept under than the rest, lest it should regain its former strength and glory; though it became more famous in the times of some of the Ptolemies, yet never recovered its former greatness; and is now exceeding base indeed, as appears from the preceding note:
neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations; so as to conquer them, and make them tributary to it, as it had done:
for I will demolish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations; for though they made war upon other nations in the time of the Lagidae, yet they did not subdue them, and annex them to their kingdom, being much weakened both as to men and money.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
15. The basest of the kingdoms Compare Eze 17:14. Egypt never recovered from the conquest of Nebuchadnezzar. She was easily conquered by the Persians, fell a prey to the Greeks, was tossed about by the Romans, and has never, even to this day, had an independent native ruler on the throne. Never again should Egypt be “the confidence of the house of Israel” (Eze 29:16; compare Isa 30:2-3; Isa 36:4; Isa 36:6 ; 2Ki 23:35; 2Ki 17:4).
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 29:15. It shall be the basest of the kingdoms By base kingdoms is meant, that it should be tributary and subject to strangers, for the much greater part of the time. This is the purport and meaning of the prophesy; 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 Mamelucs, 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 in the year of Christ 1517, Selim, the ninth emperor of the Turks, conquered the Mamelucs, and annexed Egypt to the Ottoman empire, of which it has continued to be a province to this day; except during the very short interval when it was lately in the hands of the French. It has been governed under the Turkish emperor by a Turkish basha, with 24 beys or princes under him, who were advanced from servitude to the administration of public affairs; a superstitious nation possessing the Egyptians, that it is decreed by fate that captives shall reign, and the natives be subject to them; a notion which, in all probability, was at first derived from some mistaken tradition of these prophesies, that Egypt should be a base kingdom; that there should be no more a prince of the land of Egypt; and that Ham, in his posterity, should be a servant of servants unto his brethren. By this deduction it appears, that the truth of Ezekiel’s prediction is fulfilled 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 afterwards become tributary and subject to strangers. It is now much more than 2000 years since this prophesy 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? See Bishop Newton.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 29:15 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.
Ver. 15. It shall be the basest of the kingdoms. ] And worthily, for their worshipping the basest creatures, see Rom 1:23-24 but especiailly for their faithlessness to God’s Israel.
For I will diminish them.
a Turkish History.
b Ibid., 260.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
basest = lowest.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the basest: Eze 17:6, Eze 17:14, Eze 30:13, Zec 10:11
rule: Eze 31:2, Eze 32:2, Dan 11:42, Dan 11:43, Nah 3:8, Nah 3:9
Reciprocal: Eze 5:11 – will I Eze 30:18 – I shall break Dan 4:15 – leave Oba 1:2 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 29:15. The debasement of Egypt wras to be comparative, not that it would cease to have any greatness at ail. This verse expresses it by the phrase not exalt itself above the nations; it was to be subject to the influence of other countries.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Egypt would be the lowest of the kingdoms and would never again be a superpower in the world. The Egyptians would not even rule over other nations. Egypt would then be no temptation for Israel to rely on. Her lowly state would remind the Israelites of their folly in trusting in Egypt earlier. Then all would know that the Lord is God.