Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 29:2
Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:
Verse 2. Set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt] This was Pharaoh-hophra or Pharaoh-apries, whom we have so frequently met with in the prophecies of Jeremiah, and much of whose history has been given in the notes.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Set thy face: see Eze 20:46; 21:2.
Pharaoh; Hophra, as the Scripture styles him, Jer 44:30; the Greek authors call him Apries, and Vaphres: most like he was grandson to Necho, who slew Josiah in fight, 2Ch 35:23,24.
Prophesy against him; in prophetic style and authority declare what shall be done to him in his person.
All Egypt; the whole multitude of Egyptians; for it is the place for the people dwelling in it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. Pharaoha common name ofall the kings of Egypt, meaning “the sun”; or, as otherssay, a “crocodile,” which was worshipped in parts of Egypt(compare Eze 29:3). Hophra orApries was on the throne at this time. His reign began prosperously.He took Gaza (Jer 47:1) andZidon and made himself master of Phoelignicia and Palestine,recovering much that was lost to Egypt by the victory ofNebuchadnezzar at Carchemish (2Ki 24:7;Jer 46:2), in the fourth year ofJehoiakim [WILKINSON,Ancient Egypt, 1.169]. So proudly secure because of hissuccesses for twenty-five years did he feel, that he said not even agod could deprive him of his kingdom [HERODOTUS,2.169]. Hence the appropriateness of the description of him in Eze29:3. No mere human sagacity could have enabled Ezekiel toforesee Egypt’s downfall in the height of its prosperity. There arefour divisions of these prophecies; the first in the tenth year ofEzekiel’s captivity; the last in the twelfth. Between the first andsecond comes one of much later date, not having been given till thetwenty-seventh year (Eze 29:17;Eze 30:19), but placed there asappropriate to the subject matter. Pharaoh-hophra, or Apries, wasdethroned and strangled, and Amasis substituted as king, byNebuchadnezzar (compare Jer44:30). The Egyptian priests, from national vanity, made nomention to HERODOTUS ofthe Egyptian loss of territory in Syria through Nebuchadnezzar, ofwhich JOSEPHUS tells us,but attributed the change in the succession from Apries to Amasissolely to the Egyptian soldiery. The civil war between the two rivalsno doubt lasted several years, affording an opportunity toNebuchadnezzar of interfering and of elevating the usurper Amasis, oncondition of his becoming tributary to Babylon [WILKINSON].Compare Jer 43:10-12,and see on Jer 43:13, for anotherview of the grounds of interference of Nebuchadnezzar.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt,…. Pharaoh was a name common to all the kings of Egypt; the name of this king was Pharaohhophra, Jer 44:30, and who, by Herodotus x, is called Apries:
and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt; prophesy of his destruction, and of the destruction of the whole land that is under his dominion.
x Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 161.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Eze 29:2 Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:
Ver. 2. Set thy face against Pharaoh. ] This was Pharaohhophra, whom Herodotus a calleth Apries, and saith that he gave out that no god, how great soever, could deprive him of his kingdom. Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, also was wont to say that his kingdom was tied unto him with chains of adamant; but it proved otherwise. Noli gloriari. Do not brag!
And against all Egypt.
a In Euterp.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Son of man. See note on Eze 2:1.
Pharaoh. Namely, Pharaoh Hophra, called Apries by the Greeks. Compare Jer 44:30. He besieged and captured Gaza (Jer 47:1); attacked Zidon and encountered the prince of Tyre on the sea (Herodotus, ii. 161: compare 2Ki 24:7. Jer 46:2); and said, “no god could deprive him of his kingdom” (Herodotus, H. 169). Zedekiah relied on him. See Jer 37:5-8. Egypt was thus the cause of Jerusalem’s destruction. See Jer 44:30; and compare Jer 46:25, Jer 46:26.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
set: Eze 6:2, Eze 20:46, Eze 21:2, Eze 25:2, Eze 28:21, Eze 28:22
Pharaoh: This was Pharaoh-hophra, or Apries, who, Herodotus informs us, agreeably to the character given him by the prophet, “proudly and wickedly boasted of having established his kingdom so securely, that it was not in the power of any God to dispossess him of it.” Jer 44:30
against all: Eze 30:1 – Eze 32:32, Isa 18:1 – Isa 19:17, Isa 20:1-6, Jer 9:25, Jer 9:26, Jer 25:18, Jer 25:19, Jer 43:8-13, Jer 46:2-16, Joe 3:19, Zec 14:18, Zec 14:19
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 29:2. The next nation to be predicted against is Egypt and the writing is directed against Pharaoh. That does not mean any particular man for all the kings of Egypt, took that name during a certain period, in the same manner as that of the Caesars of Rome or the Edwards and Henrys of England.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Eze 29:2-3. Set thy face against Pharaoh Pharaoh being a common name to all the kings of Egypt, this prince was called Pharaoh-hophra: by way of distinction, by Jer 44:30, and Apries by Herodotus. The word , tannim, signifies any great fish, but seems to be here used to signify the crocodile, a fish in a manner peculiar to the river Nile, to which the king of Egypt is compared, on account of his dominions lying upon that river, which he boasted himself of, on account of the prodigious fertility which the overflowing of the Nile caused. It is spoken of here as rivers, on account of its many mouths, or channels. The word Pharaoh signifies a crocodile in the Arabic tongue. Among the ancients, Michaelis tells us, the crocodile was a symbol of Egypt, and appears so on the Roman coins. Milton seems to have had this sublime passage in view, when he said, Par. Lost, 12:190
Thus with ten wounds The river-dragon, tamed, at length submits.
My river is my own That is, the kingdom of Egypt, watered by the Nile, is mine. I have made it for myself It is my own indefeisible right and property, which I cannot be dispossessed of. This king was, indeed, exceeding prosperous, and reigned uninterrupted for twenty-five years; by which he was so elated, as we learn from Herodotus, that he was wont to boast, that not even any god could dispossess him of his kingdom.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Lord directed His prophet to turn his attention to the south, to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to all of Egypt, and to announce a message of judgment. As often in such prophecies, the king is a metonym (figure of speech) for his nation.