Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 30:4
And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.
4. great pain ] anguish, a late word, cf. Eze 30:9.
her multitude ] Ch. Eze 29:19; cf. Eze 29:10; cf. Eze 29:15, ch. Eze 31:2. Her “foundations” is suggested by the idea of a building overthrown. Reference is hardly to the allies and mercenaries on whom Egypt relied in war, rather to the classes and institutions in which the strength of the state lay.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The sword: see Eze 29:8.
In Ethiopia; next neighbour and ally to Egypt; they shall tremble at so great danger, so near, and they uncertain whether it will come on them, but very certain to be ruined if it does come, and as certain that they have cause to suspect it will come on them.
When the slain shall fall in Egypt; when the Egyptians, under the eye of the Ethiopians, shall fall in battle, and at the taking of their towns.
They shall take away her multitude; in miserable captivity carry them to Babylon, by whole droves.
Her foundations, their government, laws, counsellors, strong holds, which are to a nation as foundations to a house, are destroyed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. painliterally, “pangswith trembling as of a woman in childbirth.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the sword shall come upon Egypt,…. The sword of the Chaldeans shall come upon the Egyptians, by which they should be cut off; it having a commission from the Lord for that purpose:
and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt; Ethiopia being a neighbouring nation to Egypt, shall be in a panic when it shall hear of the sword of the Chaldeans being in Egypt, and of the ravages made by it, of the multitudes slain with it; fearing it will be their turn next to fall into the same hands, and in the same manner; and the rather, not only as they were neighbours, but allies:
and they shall take away her multitude; that is, the Chaldeans shall carry captive vast numbers of the Egyptians; such as fell not by the sword should not escape the hand of the enemy, but be taken and carried into other lands. Egypt was a very populous country; according to Agrippa’s speech in Josephus f, there were in it 7,500,000 persons from Ethiopia to Alexandria, besides the inhabitants of the latter, as might be gathered from the tribute each person paid; hence they are compared to the trees of a forest that cannot be searched, and to grasshoppers innumerable, Jer 46:23, but now their numbers should be lesser:
and her foundations shall be broken down; either in a literal sense, the foundations of the cities, towers, and fortified places in Egypt, should be undermined and destroyed, and consequently the buildings on them must sink and fall; or in a figurative sense, her king, princes, magistrates, laws, and government, which are the support of a state, should be removed, and be of no more service.
f De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 16. sect. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. Multitude See Eze 29:19.
Her foundations shall be broken down The national power of Egypt was as strong as her temple walls, but both should feel the shock of invasion.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 30:4. Her multitude Her wealth. Houbigant: and so Eze 30:10.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 30:4 And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.
Ver. 4. Great pain. ] Heb., Pain upon pain, as the throes in childbirth.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Ethiopia. Hebrew Cush, allied with Egypt. Compare Eze 30:9; and Jer 46:9. Also resorted to for help by Israel.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the sword: Eze 29:8, Isa 19:2, Jer 50:35-37
pain: or, fear, Eze 30:9, Exo 15:14-16, Psa 48:6, Psa 48:7, Isa 19:16, Isa 19:17, Rev 18:9, Rev 18:10
and they: Eze 30:10, Eze 29:12, Eze 29:19
and her: Isa 16:7, Jer 50:15
Reciprocal: Isa 18:1 – which Jer 46:21 – her hired Eze 32:11 – The sword Zep 2:12 – Ethiopians
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 30:4. Two chapters are given to Egypt, this and the preceding one. Ethiopia is included because that country lies just south of Egypt and becfime an ally in times of trouble. That is why its people will be in pain or fear when they see the people of Egypt being slain by the invading Babylonians.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
An enemy would invade Egypt, slay many of her people, take away her wealth, and tear down her national foundations. [Note: See Josephus, 10:9:7.] Her neighbor Ethiopia (Cush, Nubia) would despair when this happened because Ethiopia had strong ties to Egypt. Egypt’s other allies would also fall: Put (on the African coast of the southern Red Sea), Lud (Lydia in Anatolia), Arabia, and Libya (farther west on the Mediterranean coast of Africa). "Arabia" (Heb. ha’arab) translates one pointing of the Hebrew text while "mixed people" (Heb. ha’ereb) renders another. Men from Put, Lud, Arabia, and other countries served Egypt as mercenary soldiers (cf. Eze 27:10; Jer 25:19-20 a, 24; Eze 46:9; Eze 46:21), and they may be the "mixed people" in view, if that is the correct reading. The Judeans who had fled to Egypt from the Babylonians would have suffered too, and they would have been part of this "mixed people."