Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 30:10

Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

10. The instrument whom Jehovah uses is here named for the first time, except in the later passage, ch. Eze 29:17-21.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The multitude; the numerous families and tribes. To cease; to dwindle and decrease.

By the hand; by the army, power, and conduct of Nebuchadrezzar.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

10. the multitudethe largepopulation.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Thus saith the Lord God, I will make the multitude of Egypt to cease,…. The vast numbers of people that inhabited Egypt; some of its cities were very populous, especially the city No, after mentioned; but now the numbers should be greatly lessened, and the whole land sadly depopulated: or the “noise” r, “tumult”, and hurry of it; which is very great where there are large numbers of people, and which ceases when they are cut off. The Syriac version renders it, the riches of Egypt. Now the instrument God would make use of to do all this is mentioned by name, as follows,

by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; the then greatest monarch in the world.

r “strepitum”, Vatablus, Cocceius.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The executors of the judgment. – Eze 30:10. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, And I will put an end to the tumult of Egypt through Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. Eze 30:11. He and his people with him, violent of the nations, will be brought to destroy the land; they will draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with slain. Eze 30:12. And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land into the hand of wicked men, and lay waste the land and its fulness by the hand of foreigners; I Jehovah have spoken it. – cannot be understood as signifying either the multitude of people only, or the abundance of possessions alone; for is not really applicable to either of these meanings. They are evidently both included in the , which signifies the tumult of the people in the possession and enjoyment of their property (cf. Eze 26:13). The expression is thus specifically explained in Eze 30:11 and Eze 30:12. Nebuchadnezzar will destroy the land with his men of war, slaying the people with its possessions. , as in Eze 28:7. , as in Eze 23:42. ‘ , cf. Eze 12:14, Eze 12:28; 7. … , as in Eze 11:6. , the arms and canals of the Nile, by which the land was watered, and on which the fertility and prosperity of Egypt depended. The drying up of the arms of the Nile must not be restricted, therefore, to the fact that God would clear away the hindrances to the entrance of the Chaldeans into the land, but embraces also the removal of the natural resources on which the country depended. , to sell a land or people into the hand of any one, i.e., to deliver it into his power (cf. Deu 32:30; Jdg 2:14, etc.). For the fact itself, see Isa 19:4-6. For ‘ , see Eze 19:7.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

10, 11. Compare Ezekiel 28, 29.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“Thus says the Lord Yahweh, I will also make the multitude (of either people or wealth) of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon. He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, will be brought in to destroy the land, and they will draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain.”

Through Nebuchadnezzar God will ‘make the multitude of Egypt to cease’. This may refer to population or to wealth, but in this section of Ezekiel ‘multitude’ tends to mean people. So either the population would be decimated or their wealth would be. In fact in such a war it would happen to both as cattle were slaughtered or run off, spoils were seized and people were put to the sword. For ‘the terrible of the nations’ compare Eze 28:7. Note that Nebuchadnezzar and his hordes ‘will be brought in’, that is by Yahweh. They are seen as under Yahweh’s command.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Sentence Carried Out

v. 10. Thus saith the Lord God, I will also make the multitude of Egypt, the large population of the country, with all the wealth possessed by them, to cease by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who would, in every way, put an end to the prosperity of the country.

v. 11. He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, for the Chaldean soldiers were known for the fierceness of their fighting, shall be brought to destroy the land, that being the expressed object of their campaign; and they shall draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain, those pierced through in the ruthless slaughter.

v. 12. And I will make the rivers dry, thereby taking away from the land some of its natural means of defense and the sources of its prosperity, Deu 32:30, and sell the land into the hand of the wicked, like a slave sold into the power of a strange master; and I will make the land waste, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers, so that everything would be beaten down and ruined; I, the Lord, have spoken it. The description is given from the standpoint of the Egyptians, for according to their conception the Chaldeans were not only strangers, but wicked as well.

v. 13. Thus saith the Lord God, I will also destroy the idols, Isa 19:1, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph, that is, Memphis, the ancient capital of Lower Egypt; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt, namely, with the glory of time ancient Pharaohs, who were, at the same time, clothed with divine honor; and I will put a fear in the land of Egypt, so that they would be continually under its burden, without a native prince to assist them. Cf Jer 46:25.

v. 14. And I will make Pathros, that is, Upper Egypt, desolate and will set fire in Zoan, the old Tanis, on a branch of the Nile in Lower Egypt, and will execute judgments in No, or No-Amon, that is, Thebes, the very ancient metropolis of Upper Egypt.

v. 15. And I will pour my fury upon Sin, that is, Pelusium, on one of the branches of the Nile in its delta, the strength of Egypt, for, being surrounded with swamps, it was hard to attack, and thus kept many an enemy back from the northeastern frontier; and I will cut off the multitude of No.

v. 16. And I will set fire in Egypt, bitter and destructive warfare: Sin shall have great pain, and No shall be rent asunder, overthrown as if by highway robbers, and Noph shall have distresses daily, literally, “and Noph besiegers by day,” overrunning the city with an utter disregard of any defense. Note the continual change from Upper to Lower Egypt, to emphasize the fact that every part of Egypt would be included in time punishment meted out by the Lord.

v. 17. The young men of Aven, of Heliopolis, the great city of idols in Lower Egypt, and of Pibeseth, of Boubastis, on a canal in the delta of the Nile, the center of cat-worship in Egypt, shall fall by the sword, although both of them were known on account of their valiant garrisons; and these cities shall go into captivity, that is, the inhabitants, those not belonging to the warrior caste.

v. 18. At Tehaphnehes, that is, Taphne, a border city near Pelusium, also the day shall be darkened, with the shadow of the approaching calamity, when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt, Cf Lev 20:13, so that Egypt would never again be a mistress of nations, keeping them in slavery. It was in the last-named city that the hand of Jews under the leadership of Johanan had dragged the unwilling Jeremiah, and so they were also included in the Lord’s punishment upon Egypt. And the pomp of her strength, of which Egypt had boasted throughout the centuries, shall cease in her; as for her, a cloud shall cover her, namely, that of this catastrophe, and her daughters, her cities with their inhabitants, shall go into captivity.

v. 19. Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt, according to the entire description of the paragraph; and they shall know that I am the Lord, this knowledge being forced upon their unwilling minds by the almighty evidences of God’s wrath.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Eze 30:10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.

Ver. 10. I will also make the multitude. ] Or, The great noise and hurry. They shall have no more cause to complain that they are too many of them, so that they cannot one live by another.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 30:10-12

10’Thus says the Lord GOD,

I will also make the hordes of Egypt cease

By the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

11He and his people with him,

The most ruthless of the nations,

Will be brought in to destroy the land;

And they will draw their swords against Egypt

And fill the land with the slain.

12Moreover, I will make the Nile canals dry

And sell the land into the hands of evil men.

And I will make the land desolate

And all that is in it,

By the hand of strangers; I the LORD have spoken.

Eze 30:11 The most ruthless of the nations This phrase describes the mercenary army of Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon (cf. Eze 28:7; Eze 31:12; Eze 32:12; Hab 1:6-8).

Eze 30:12 Notice the number of FIRST PERSON SINGULAR VERBS referring to YHWH’s sovereignty.

1. I will make, BDB 678, KB 733,Qal PERFECT

2. I will sell, BDB 569, KB 581, Qal PERFECT

3. I will make (lit. I will bring desolation), BDB 1030, KB 1563, Hiphil PERFECT

4. I, the Lord, have spoken, BDB 180, KB 210, Piel PERFECT

Number 2 is especially interesting because it uses a term normally reserved for YHWH’s actions toward unfaithful Israel (cf. Deu 32:30; Jdg 2:14; Jdg 3:8; Jdg 4:2; Jdg 4:9; Jdg 10:7; 1Sa 12:9). The usage here implies YHWH’s ownership of all lands and all peoples (cf. Deu 32:8).

Sell is a metaphor for giving a people group into the hand of another group. A nation loses its autonomy.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Nebuchadreszar. See notes on Eze 26:7, and Eze 29:18.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Eze 30:10-12

Eze 30:10-12

“Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease, by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall be brought in to destroy the land; and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land with the slain. And I will make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men; and I will make the land desolate, and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I, Jehovah, have spoken it.”

THE WEALTH OF EGYPT TO BE CARRIED AWAY

“And I will make the rivers dry …” (Eze 30:12). We have no historical record of such a drought falling upon the Nile; but that cannot mean that it never happened. The forty years of desolation that has been mentioned again and again with reference to God’s judgment upon Egypt would indeed have followed such a disaster as the drying up of the Nile. There is also the possibility that the language here may be allegorical or figurative.

However, there is one overwhelmingly good reason for believing that all of the disasters here prophesied came to pass exactly as God’s prophet said they would. Here is that reason: Egypt was steeped and settled into the most arrogant paganism. They worshipped dogs, cats, snakes, their king, the Nile river, etc. Why did they quit? Why did they renounce paganism? That they did so cannot be denied. Why? The only imaginable events that could have caused such a change are the very disasters mentioned in these prophecies. Why did they stop worshipping the Nile? It dried up for forty years!

Alexander has given us an excellent summary of what is promised here against Egypt:

“Egypt’s Day of the Lord is a day of doom (Eze 30:9), a day of clouds (Eze 30:3), a dark day in her history. The masses would fear as Egypt’s proud strength ceases before the sword of Nebuchadnezzar. Many would be slain (Eze 30:6; Eze 30:10-11; Eze 30:13; Eze 30:18). Not even a prince (leader) would be left in the country (Eze 30:13). Many idolatrous statues of the Egyptian gods would be destroyed or carried away in the Babylonian quest for victory and wealth. All of Egypt’s allies would fall to the sword: Ethiopia and Lydia in western Anatolia (modern Turkey), Arabia in the east, Lydia in the west (Eze 30:5-7), Put and Lud in the west; and even those `people of the covenant land,’ the Jews who fled to Egypt following the murder of Gedaliah would suffer the ravages of the Babylonian invasion. The judgment of God would be comprehensive; it would be awful; but the purpose of God would be accomplished.”

Egypt would learn that Jehovah is God! Did they really learn it? of course, they did! None of the silly old pagan gods has been worshipped in Egypt for millenniums of time.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

I will: Eze 29:4, Eze 29:5, Eze 29:19, Eze 32:11-16

by the: Eze 30:24, Eze 30:25

Reciprocal: Isa 28:2 – the Lord Jer 4:7 – destroyer Jer 25:9 – against Eze 26:7 – I will Eze 29:8 – I will Eze 29:11 – foot of man Eze 30:4 – and they Eze 31:2 – to his

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Eze 30:10. Multitude to cease is a prediction that Nebuchadnezzar will attack the spoils of the country as well as its citizens. It will be by the hand of the Babylonian king, but he will be acting as the agency of God.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Eze 30:10-12. I will make the multitude of Egypt to cease I will diminish the number of its inhabitants. I will make the rivers dry The fertility of Egypt depending on the rise and overflowing of the Nile, the meaning of the metaphor is, I will destroy the plenty, prosperity, and strength of Egypt. And sell the land into the hand of the wicked Namely, the haughty and cruel Babylonians. To sell, signifies here to deliver up, as men do goods which they sell. Compare Deu 32:30; Jdg 2:14; and Jdg 4:9.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

In a third message (Eze 30:10-13), the Lord said He would make the vast wealth of Egypt cease when He sent Nebuchadnezzar against her. Nebuchadnezzar would come with his allies and fight against the Egyptians and slay large numbers of them.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)