The prophet places this prediction out of chronological order, that he may point out what had not been stated in the foregoing prophecy, namely, that the agent who should strike the first blow on Egypt should be the Chaldaean king, Nebuchadnezzar.<\/P>
Eze 29:18<\/B><\/span><\/P> Yet had he no wages – <\/B>It is not improbable that the Tyrians before they surrendered their island-citadel managed to remove much of their treasure; but others exlplain the verse; that the siege and capture of Tyre is to be regarded as the work appointed, and the possession of Egypt as the reward or wages for the work.<\/P> Eze 29:21<\/B><\/span><\/P> Egypt being the antagonist of the people of God, her overthrow inaugurated the triumph of good over evil.<\/P> The horn … – <\/B>Or, an horn to bud forth to the house of Israel.<\/P> I will give thee the opening of the mouth – <\/B>When these things should begin to come to pass the prophets mouth should be opened to declare their meaning, and to make known the end to which all was tending.<\/P> <\/p>\n Eze 29:17-20<\/span><\/p>\n Because they wrought for Me.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n Service done for God rewarded<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>Do we examine this dispensation in reference to the authority of God? It is unquestionably His prerogative: He has a right to do what He will with His own.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Do we consider it in connection with the Divine power? Nothing is too hard for the Lord; no difficulties lie in His way.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Do we survey the relation it has to the righteousness of God? He is the moral governor of the universe, who renders to every man according to their works. Individuals can be rewarded or punished in another world; but communities are judged only in this.<\/p>\n 4. <\/strong>Do we think of it in application to our own times? Unless we fix upon this principle we shall be in danger of debasing ourselves by joining in worldly parties and political rage; of feeling too much confidence in one class of men and too much fear of another; of prescribing the course of events, and suffering disappointment and mortification when our favourite measures are subverted.<\/p>\n Service for God always rewarded<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. <\/strong>This passage affords us a striking view of and insight into some of the mysterious acts of Gods Providence. We behold how He can maintain His throne in the midst of the commotions of the universe; that no earthquake, throe, or agony in the terrestrial world can shake the foundations of its pillars or remove it from its steadfastness; and as the Governor of the world, we are struck with the harmony of all His actions, and the power whereby He extracts the good from every ill! If the sins of nations or individuals were always immediately followed with the punishment they merit, this world would not be a state of probation; obedience would not be voluntary, but forced; we should walk, not by faith, but by sight; we should not honour God by our confidence in His perfections and in the dispensations of His Providence. To destroy is easy, and discovers little perfection; it is the perfection of a tyrant. But the wisdom of God appears in making even the wrath of man to praise, and engaging that the remainder of that wrath He will restrain. This, then, is the plan upon which He acts in the government of the world, and hence He is called a wise Governor.<\/p>\n 2. <\/strong>Behold an instance of the goodness and severity of God! Long did He spare that rebellious nation, the Jews; often did He warn them, sending His prophets to call them to a sense of their duty towards Him. But they steeled their hearts against conviction, and would none of His advice. At last He complains of them, they were like bullocks unaccustomed to the yoke; He fed them at His own stall; He gave them His easy yoke of duties, which ought to have been delightful, coming from so kind a hand; but, alas! they would not draw it in by gentle treatment; He goaded them by corrections; they kicked against the pricks, and ran back upon His chastisements; they were like a backsliding heifer! But behold the severity of God! The cup of their iniquity was full; Manasseh had greatly contributed to it; he had expressed a great quantity of the roots of bitterness into their portion, and his successors after him, with the exception of Josiah, added to it; till Zedekiah completed the measure and drew down on them wrath to the very uttermost.<\/p>\n 3. <\/strong>Service of any kind done for God never goes unrewarded. None can be losers by anything they do for Him: in one way or other He will surely recompense them. He is independent of the creature; the cause can never be dependent on its effect; He could act both in the natural and moral world without human agency; and doubtless He would have done so had it been as agreeable to His wisdom as it was easy to His power. But where would be the reward of the faithful steward? In the moral world the power which He manifested on the day of Pentecost might be again exerted. But what room, then, for the work of faith, the labour of love, and the patience of hope? (J. Summerfield, M. A.<\/em>)<\/p>\n .<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Verse 17<\/span>. The seven and twentieth year<\/B><\/I>] That is, of the captivity of Jeconiah, fifteen<\/I> years after the taking of Jerusalem<\/I>; about April<\/I> 20, 3432. The preceding<\/I> prophecy was delivered one year before the taking of Jerusalem; this<\/I>, sixteen years after; and it is supposed to be the last which this prophet wrote.<\/P> <\/p>\n The seven and twentieth year of Jeconiahs captivity, <\/B>the year after the conquest of Tyre, and the thirty-fifth of Nebuchadnezzar. <\/P> The first month; <\/B>part of our March and April. <\/P> <\/p>\n 17.<\/B> The departure from thechronological order occurs here only, among the prophecies as toforeign nations, in order to secure greater unity of subject.<\/P><\/p>\n And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year<\/strong>,…. Of Jeconiah’s captivity; or of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abendana, from Seder Olam Rabba z, observe; though it was in the thirty fifth year of his reign that Tyre was taken by him; and after that Egypt was given him:<\/p>\n in the first month, in the first day of the month<\/strong>: the month Nisan, which answers to part of March, and part of April. According to Bishop Usher a, it was on the twentieth of April, on the third day of the week (Tuesday), in 3432 A.M.or before Christ 572. Mr. Whiston b makes it to be a year sooner. This prophecy is not put in its proper place, as to order of time, since it was sixteen or seventeen years after the preceding, and the last of Ezekiel’s prophecies; but is here placed, because it relates to the same subject as the former, the destruction of Egypt.<\/p>\n The word of the Lord came unto me, saying<\/strong>; as follows:<\/p>\n z C. 26. p. 77. a Annales Vet. Test. A. M. 3432. b Chronological Tables, cent. 10.<\/p>\n Conquest and Plundering of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar<\/p>\n Eze 29:17<\/span>. In the seven and twentieth year, in the first (moon), on the first of the moon, the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, <\/em> Eze 29:18<\/span>. Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, has made his army perform hard work at Tyre: every head is bald, and every shoulder grazed, and no wages have been given to him and to his army from Tyre for the work which he performed against it. <\/em> Eze 29:19<\/span>. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I give Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the land of Egypt, that he may carry away its possessions, and plunder its plunder, and make booty of its booty, and this may be the wages of his army. <\/em> Eze 29:20<\/span>. As the pay for which he worked, I give him the land of Egypt, because they did it for me, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. <\/em> Eze 29:21<\/span>. In that day will I cause a horn to sprout to the house of Israel, and I will open the mouth for thee in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am Jehovah.<\/em> – This brief prophecy concerning Egypt was uttered about seventeen years after the preceding word of God, and was the latest of all the predictions of Ezekiel that are supplied with dates. But notwithstanding its brevity, it is not to be taken in connection with the utterance which follows in Ezekiel 30:1-19 so as to form one prophecy, as Hitzig supposes. This is at variance not only with the formula in Eze 30:1<\/span>, which is the usual introduction to a new word of God, but also with Eze 29:21<\/span> of the present chapter, which is obviously intended to bring the previous word of God to a close. This termination, which is analogous to the closing words of the prophecies against Tyre and Sidon in Eze 28:25-26<\/span>, also shows that the present word of God contains the last of Ezekiel’s prophecies against the Egyptian world-power, and that the only reason why the prophet did not place it at the end when collecting his prophecies – that is to say, after Ezekiel 32 – was, that the promise in v. 30, that the Lord would cause a horn to bud to the house of Israel, contained the correlate to the declaration that Egypt was henceforth to be but a lowly kingdom. Moreover, this threat of judgment, which is as brief as it is definite, was well fitted to prepare the way and to serve as an introduction for the more elaborate threats which follow. The contents of the prophecy, namely, the assurance that God would give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar as spoil in return for the hard labour which he and his army had performed at Tyre, point to the time immediately following the termination of the thirteen years’ siege of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar. If we compare with this the date given in Eze 29:17<\/span>, the siege was brought to a close in the twenty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, i.e., b.c. 572, and must therefore have commenced in the year b.c. 586, or about two years after the destruction of Jerusalem, and with this the extract given by Josephus ( c. Ap.<\/em> i. 21) from the Tyrian annals agrees.<\/p>\n (Note: For the purpose of furnishing the proof that the temple at Jerusalem lay in ruins for fifty years, from the time of its destruction till the commencement of its rebuilding, Josephus gives in the passage referred to above the years of the several reigns of the kings and judges of Tyre from Ithobal to Hirom<\/em>, in whose reign Cyrus<\/em> took the kingdom; from which it is apparent that fifty years elapsed from the commencement of the siege of Tyre to the fourteenth year of Hirom<\/em>, in which Cyrus began to reign. At the same time, the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar is given by mistake instead of the seventeenth or nineteenth as the date of the beginning of the siege. (Compare on this point Movers, Phnizier<\/em>, II 1, pp. 437ff.; M. v. Niebuhr, Gesch. Assurs u. Bab.<\/em> pp. 106ff.; and M. Duncker, Gesch. des Altert.<\/em> I p. 841.))<\/p>\n , to cause a work to be executed, or service to be rendered. This labour was so severe, that every head was bald and every shoulder grazed. These words have been correctly interpreted by the commentators, even by Ewald, as referring to the heavy burdens that had to be carried in order to fill up the strait which separated Insular Tyre from the mainland. They confirm what we have said above, in the remarks on Eze 26:10<\/span> and elsewhere, concerning the capture of Tyre.<\/p>\n But neither he nor his army had received any recompense for their severe toil. This does not imply that Nebuchadnezzar had been unable to accomplish the work which he had undertaken, i.e., to execute his design and conquer the city, but simply that he had not received the recompense which he expected after this severe labour; in other words, had not found the booty he hoped for when the city was taken (see the introductory remarks on Ezekiel 26-28). To compensate him for this, the Lord will give him the land of Egypt with its possessions as booty, , that he may carry off the abundance of its possessions, its wealth; not that he may lead away the multitude of its people (De Wette, Kliefoth, etc.), for “ is not the appropriate expression for this” (Hitzig). , abundance of possessions, as in Isa 60:5<\/span>; Psa 37:16<\/span>, etc. , the doing of a thing; then that which is gained by working, the recompense for labour, as in Lev 19:13<\/span> and other passages. is taken by Hitzig as referring to the Egyptians, and rendered, “in consequence of that which they have done to me.” But although may be taken in this sense (vid., Isa 65:18<\/span>), the arguments employed by Hitzig in opposition to the ordinary rendering – ”for they (Nebuchadnezzar and his army) have done it for me,” i.e., have performed their hard work at Tyre for me and by my commission – have no force whatever. This use of is thoroughly established by Gen 30:30<\/span>; and the objection which he raises, namely, that “the assertion that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre in the service of Jehovah could only have been properly made by Ezekiel in the event of the city having been really conquered,” is out of place, for this simple reason, that the assumption that the city was not taken is a mere conjecture; and even if the conjecture could be sustained, the siege itself might still be a work undertaken in the service of Jehovah. And the principal argument, namely, “that we should necessarily expect (instead of ), inasmuch as with every Hebrew reader would inevitably take as referring to ,” is altogether wide of the mark; for does not signify the Egyptians in this passage, but the land of Egypt alone is spoken of both in the verse before us and throughout the oracle, and for this is quite unsuitable, whereas the context suggests in the most natural way the allusion to Nebuchadnezzar and his army. But what is absolutely decisive is the circumstance that the thought itself, “in consequence of what the Egyptians have done to me,” i.e., what evil they have done, is foreign to, if not at variance with, all the prophecies of Ezekiel concerning Egypt. For the guilt of Egypt and its Pharaoh mentioned by Ezekiel is not any crime against Jehovah, but simply Pharaoh’s deification of himself, and the treacherous nature of the help which Egypt afforded to Israel. = is not the appropriate expression for this, in support of which assertion we might point to in Eze 23:38<\/span>. – Eze 29:21<\/span>. On that day, namely, when the judgment upon Egypt is executed by Nebuchadnezzar, the Lord will cause a horn to sprout or grow to the house (people) of Israel. The horn is a symbol of might and strength, by which the attacks of foreigners are warded off. By the overthrow of Judah the horn of Israel was cut off (Lam 2:3<\/span>; compare also Jer 48:25<\/span>). In the promise coincides, so far as the words are concerned, with Psa 132:17<\/span>; but it also points back to the prophetic words of the godly Hannah in 1Sa 2:1<\/span>, “My horn is exalted in Jehovah, my mouth hath opened itself wide over my enemies,” and is Messianic in the broader sense of the word. The horn which the Lord will cause to sprout to the people of Israel is neither Zerubbabel nor the Messiah, but the Messianic salvation. The reason for connecting this promise of salvation for Israel with the overthrow of the power of Egypt, as Hvernick has observed, is that “Egypt presented itself to the prophet as the power in which the idea of heathenism was embodied and circumscribed.” In the might of Egypt the world-power is shattered, and the overthrow of the world-power is the dawn of the unfolding of the might of the kingdom of God. Then also will the Lord give to His prophet an opening of the mouth in the midst of Israel. These words are unquestionably connected with the promise of God in Eze 24:26-27<\/span>, that after the fall of Jerusalem the mouth of Ezekiel should be opened, and also with the fulfilment of that promise in Eze 33:22<\/span>; but they have a much more comprehensive meaning, namely, that with the dawn of salvation in Israel, i.e., in the church of the Lord, the word of prophecy would sound forth in the richest measure, inasmuch as, according to Joel (Eze 2:1-10<\/span>), a universal outpouring of the Spirit of God would then take place. In this light Theodoret is correct in his remark, that “through Ezekiel He signified the whole band of prophets.” But Kliefoth has quite mistaken the meaning of the words when he discovers in them the thought that “God would then give the prophet a new word of God concerning both Egypt and Israel, and that this is contained in the oracle in Ezekiel 30:1-19.” Such a view as this is proved at once to be false, apart from other grounds, by the expression (in the midst of them), which cannot be taken as applying to Egypt and Israel, but can only refer to , the house of Israel.<\/p>\n A Promise to Nebuchadnezzar.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 589.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> 17 And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month,<\/I> in the first day<\/I> of the month, the word of the LORD<\/B> came unto me, saying, 18 Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was<\/I> made bald, and every shoulder was<\/I> peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it: 19 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD<\/B>; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt for<\/I> his labour wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord GOD<\/B>. 21 In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am<\/I> the LORD<\/B>.<\/P> The date of this prophecy is observable; it was in the twenty-seventh year of Ezekiel’s captivity, sixteen years after the prophecy in the former part of the chapter, and almost as long after those which follow in the next chapters; but it comes in here for the explication of all that was said against Egypt. After the destruction of Jerusalem Nebuchadnezzar spent two or three campaigns in the conquest of the Ammonites and Moabites and making himself master of their countries. Then he spent thirteen years in the siege of Tyre. During all that time the Egyptians were embroiled in war with the Cyrenians and one with another, by which they were very much weakened and impoverished; and just at the end of the siege of Tyre God delivers this prophecy to Ezekiel, to signify to him that that utter destruction of Egypt which he had foretold fifteen or sixteen years before, which had been but in part accomplished hitherto, should now be completed by Nebuchadnezzar. The prophecy which begins here, it should seem, is continued to the twentieth verse<\/span> of the next chapter. And Dr. Lightfoot observes that it is the last prophecy we have of this prophet, and should have been last in the book, but is laid here, that all the prophecies against Egypt might come together. The particular destruction of Pharaoh-Hophrah, foretold in the former part of this chapter, was likewise foretold Jer. xliv. 30<\/span>. This general devastation of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar was foretold Jer. xliii. 10<\/span>. Observe,<\/P> I. What success God would give to Nebuchadnezzar and his forces against Egypt. God gave him that land,<\/I> that he might take the spoil<\/I> and prey<\/I> of it, Eze 29:19<\/span>; Eze 29:20<\/span>. It was a cheap and easy prey. He subdued it with very little difficulty; the blood and treasure expended upon the conquest of it were inconsiderable. But it was a rich prey, and he carried off a great deal from it that was of value. Their having been divided among themselves, no doubt, gave a common enemy great advantage against them, who, when they had been so long preying upon one another, soon made a prey of them all. En! quo discordia cives perduxit miseros–What wretchedness does civil discord bring!<\/I> Jeremiah foretold that Nebuchadnezzar should array himself with the land of Egypt as a shepherd puts on his coat,<\/I> which intimates what a rich and cheap prey it should be.<\/P> II. Upon what considerations God would give Nebuchadnezzar this success against Egypt; it was to be a recompence to him for the hard service with which he had caused his army to serve against Tyre, Eze 29:18<\/span>; Eze 29:20<\/span>. 1. The taking of Tyre was a tedious piece of work; it cost Nebuchadnezzar abundance of blood and treasure. It held out thirteen years; all that time the Chaldean army was hard at it, to make themselves masters of it. A large current of the sea, between Tyre and the continent, was filled up with earth, and many other difficulties which were thought insuperable they had to struggle with; but so great a prince, having begun such an undertaking, thought himself bound in honour to push it on, whatever it cost him. How many thousand lives have been sacrificed to such points of honour as this as! In prosecuting this siege every head was made bald, and every shoulder peeled,<\/I> with carrying burdens and labouring in the water when they had a strong tide and a strong town to contend with. Egypt, a large kingdom, being divided within itself, is easily conquered; Tyre, a single city, being unanimous, is with difficulty subdued. Those that have much to do in the world find some affairs go on a great deal more readily and easily than others. But, 2. In this service God own that they wrought for him,<\/I> v.<\/span> 20<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. He set them at work, for the humbling of a proud city and its king, though they meant not so, neither did their heart think so,<\/I> who were employed in it. Note, Even great men and bad men are tools that God makes use of, and are working for him<\/I> even when they are pursuing their own covetous and ambitious designs; so wonderfully does God overrule all to his own glory. Yet, 3. For this service he had no wages<\/I> nor his army.<\/I> He was at a vast expense to take Tyre; and when he had it, though it was a very rich city, and he promised himself good plunder for his army from it, he was disappointed; the Tyrians sent away by ship their best effects, and threw the rest into the sea, so that they had nothing but bare walls. Thus are the children of this world ordinarily frustrated in their highest expectations from it. Therefore, 4. He shall have the spoil of Egypt to recompense him for his service against Tyre. Note, God will be behind-hand with none for any service they do for him, but, one way or other, will recompense them for it; none shall kindle a fire on his altar for nought. The service done for him by worldly men, with worldly designs, shall be recompensed with a mere worldly reward, which his faithful servants, that have a sincere regard to his will and glory, would not be put off with. This accounts for the prosperity of wicked men in this world; God is in it paying them for some service or other, in which he has made use of them. Verily they have their reward.<\/I> Let none envy it them. The conquest of Egypt is spoken of as Nebuchadnezzar’s full reward,<\/I> for that completed his dominion over the then known world in a manner; that was the last of the kingdoms he subdued; when he was master of that he became the head of gold.<\/I><\/P> III. The mercy God had in store for the house of Israel soon after. When the tide is at the highest it will turn, and so it will when it is at the lowest. Nebuchadnezzar was in the zenith of his glory when he had conquered Egypt, but within a year after he ran mad (Dan. iv.<\/span>), was so seven years, and within a year or two after he had recovered his senses he resigned his life. When he was at the highest Israel was at the lowest; then were they in the depth of their captivity, their bones dead and dry; but in that day the horn of the house of Israel shall bud forth,<\/I> v.<\/span> 21<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. The day of their deliverance shall begin to dawn, and they shall have some little reviving in their bondage, in the honour that shall be done, 1. To their princes; they are the horns of the house of Israel,<\/I> the seat of their glory and power. These began to bud forth when Daniel and his fellows were highly preferred in Babylon; Daniel sat in the gate of the city; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were set over the affairs of the province<\/I> (Dan. ii. 49<\/span>); these were all of the king’s seed, and of the princes,<\/I> Dan. i. 3<\/I><\/span>. And it was within a year after the conquest of Egypt that they were thus preferred; and, soon after, three of them were made famous by the honour God put upon them in bringing them alive out of the burning fiery furnace. This might very well be called the budding forth of the horn of the house of Israel.<\/I> And, some years after, this promise had a further accomplishment in the enlargement and elevation of Jehoiachin king of Judah, Jer 52:31<\/span>; Jer 52:32<\/span>. They were both tokens of God’s favour to Israel, and happy omens. 2. To their prophets. And I will give thee the opening of the mouth.<\/I> Though none of Ezekiel’s prophecies, after this, are recorded, yet we have reason to think he went on prophesying, and with more liberty and boldness, when Daniel and his fellows were in power, and would be ready to protect him not only from the Babylonians, but from the wicked ones of his own people. Note, It bodes well to a people when God enlarges the liberties of his ministers and they are countenanced and encouraged in their work.<\/P><\/p>\n (17) In the seven and twentieth year.<\/strong>This is the latest date among all Ezekiels prophecies, and is more than sixteen years after the prophecy of the former part of the chapter. This date corresponds with the thirty-fifth year of Nebuchadnezzars reign (see 2Ki. 25:2<\/span>; 2Ki. 25:8<\/span>), and, from Eze. 29:18<\/span>, was evidently uttered after the close of the siege of Tyre. As that siege lasted thirteen years, it must have been begun at least as early as Nebuchadnezzars twenty-second year, or within three years after the destruction of Jerusalem. Josephus, however, states (Antt.<\/em> x. 9, 7) that in the twenty-third year of his reign Nebuchadnezzar made a successful expedition against Closyria, after which he brought the Ammonites and Moabites into subjection, and then conquered Egypt. The two former campaigns are consistent enough with the still progressing siege of Tyre; but hardly the latter. We must, therefore, suppose a considerable interval between these conquests, of which Josephus takes no notice.<\/p>\n The present utterance may have been either simultaneous with or only just before the conquest of Egypt. Its most probable time is during the early part of the campaign against Egypt.<\/p>\n This passage is placed with the other prophecies against Egypt in order to bring them all together, and is assigned to this particular place, after the analogy of Eze. 26:7<\/span>, in order to bring the mention of the agent by whom the conquest is to be effected immediately after the general prophecy of judgment.<\/p>\n 17-20<\/strong>. <\/strong> This is the latest of Ezekiel’s prophecies (572-570 B.C.), and must have been inserted here in order to be in close connection with the original prophecy concerning Nebuchadnezzar’s siege of Tyre and invasion of Egypt. The revelation from Jehovah comes on New Year’s Day, when the Babylonians were celebrating the glory of Bel. (See New Year’s Hymns, Hibbert Lectures, <\/em> Sayce, p. 81.) If this is an acknowledgment, without a word of protest or explanation, that the prophecy had failed in fulfillment, as many critics claim, then indeed we might say with truth of Ezekiel, “a greater than Jonas is here.” (See Jonah 4<\/span>.) The fact of both passages being published “proves that in Ezekiel’s thought there was no inconsistency between the prophecy and the result” (Gautier). But it is now proved by a little fragment of Nebuchadnezzar’s annals, the only one so far discovered, that in the thirty-seventh year of his reign, which is the date required, he did invade Egypt and carry off rich booty, and by an Egyptian monument it is also proved that very near this same time, 568 B.C., certain Asiatics did fight against Egypt and plundered the country, even to Syene and Elephantine. (See note Eze 29:11<\/span> and our Introduction, “V. Alleged Historical Mistakes.”) That he did not get the “wages” he expected from the capture of Tyre may be due either to the fact that the royal treasures were shipped away before the capture of the city (Jerome), or that for some reason he did not pillage the city, if indeed the city did not capitulate in order to be spared the very destruction which had been prophesied. (See Eze 29:10-11<\/span>; Ezekiel 26<\/span>; Eze 28:17-19<\/span>.) It must indeed be remembered that the prophet saw in a vision not only the immediate but the remote future, and that even in the predictions of that prophet who was greater than Moses or Ezekiel these are sometimes fused into one picture. The prophets dealt with principles, and saw the real and necessary outcome of small sins and seemingly slight defects as their contemporaries could not and as we do not. Ezekiel saw that this was the beginning of the end with both Tyre and Egypt; thereafter they were servants of Babylon. (See Matthew 24<\/span>.) Even Toy acknowledges that “the prophetic picture of its future is substantially correct.” <\/p>\n Every shoulder was peeled <\/strong> Rubbed bare. Ancient authors state that Nebuchadnezzar attempted to reach the island city by filling up the strait between it and the mainland. Alexander the Great did the same thing in his siege of Tyre. Even to this day it is almost impossible to get orientals to use wheelbarrows, and if they are forced to use them they will carry them on their heads. The “peeled shoulders” and “heads made bald” must be a graphic detail alluding to the navvy work of carrying loads of stones and earth for the above enterprise (Skinner), or else to the rasping of the soldiers’ armor during the long siege. Arabic poets refer to the baldness of soldiers caused by their headpieces (Davidson). <\/p>\n For his labor wherewith he served against it <\/strong> R.V., “as his recompense for which he served.” <\/p>\n They wrought for me <\/strong> Compare Jer 25:9<\/span>. All unknowingly these Babylonian soldiers had been doing Jehovah’s will.<\/p>\n ‘And so it was in the twenty seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, caused his army to do a great service against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled. Yet he had no wages, nor did his army, from Tyre, because of the service that he had served against it.” ’<\/p>\n In this oracle attention is turned on Tyre, but only so as to stress what is to happen to Egypt. By now the thirteen year siege of Tyre was over, and although Nebuchadnezzar had technically won, the island city had never been taken by storm and what remained in it was insufficient to compensate for the costs of the long siege, although tribute would be exacted. We may reasonably assume that the Tyrians had ensured that all their treasures had long before been removed by ship, possibly with Egypt’s connivance.<\/p>\n ‘Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare.’ The continual wearing of helmets, and the continual demands of the heavy siege had had their effect. The soldiers felt totally ill-used and exhausted.<\/p>\n ‘Yet he had no wages, nor did his army, from Tyre, because of the service that he had served against it.’ Nebuchadnezzar’s activity at Tyre was to be seen as service to Yahweh. He had unknowingly been carrying out Yahweh’s judgment on Tyre. But he had received no proper reward for it. Neither had his army, who depended on spoils to supplement their poor wages. By such spoils many became prosperous.<\/p>\n The Second Oracle Against Egypt ( Eze 29:17-21<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> ).<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n This is a late oracle introduced here, because it also refers to Tyre, so that it would not be too far from the Tyre oracles, and because it gives information about who would cause desolation to Egypt as described in the first oracle. It is dated on new year’s day 571\/0 BC some time after the raising of the siege of Tyre, some sixteen years after the previous oracle.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/strong> The Conquest and Spoil of Egypt<\/p>\n v. 17. And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year,<\/strong> after the accession of Zedekiah, and seventeen years after the message contained in the first part of this chapter was delivered, this section thus being the last prophecy of Ezekiel, in point of time, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,<\/strong> <\/p>\n v. 18. Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus,<\/strong> namely, in laying siege to this city, the task, according to secular accounts, taking him thirteen years; every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled,<\/strong> on account of the difficult labor connected with transporting material to fill up the arm of the sea between the mainland and the island on which Tyre was located; yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus,<\/strong> very likely because the rich spoil which he had hoped to make had meanwhile been removed on the Tyrian ships and stored in safe places in her colonies, for the service that he had served against it,<\/strong> he had not found enough to reimburse him for the campaign. <\/p>\n v. 19. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,<\/strong> so that he would bring the country into subjection to Chaldea; and he shall take her multitude,<\/strong> a great number of captives, and take her spoil,<\/strong> her wealth and stores making a welcome booty, and take her prey,<\/strong> so that the country would be stripped of its riches in every form; and it shall be the wages for his army,<\/strong> a well-merited reward or recompense, since his army, unknown to the heathen ruler himself, had been the instrument of God in carrying out his will. <\/p>\n v. 20. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor wherewith he served against it,<\/strong> namely, against Tyre, because they,<\/strong> the Chaldean king and his army, wrought for Me, saith the Lord God. <\/p>\n v. 21. In that day,<\/strong> namely, at the time which was generally included in this section, will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth,<\/strong> the horn being the symbol of power and authority, and the expression pointing forward to a revival of Judah’s might, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them,<\/strong> so that Ezekiel and every true prophet of the Lord would have willing hearers among the chastened congregation; and they shall know that I am the Lord. <\/strong> The words do not promse that the ancient glory of Israel as a political state would be revived, but they contain an earnest of the spiritual growth of the true Israel and of its eventual full glory under the Messiah, the Son of David. <\/p>\n There was a long interval, even of seventeen years, between the first part of this chapter and the prophecy here delivered, and it should seem to have been the last of Ezekiel’s prophecies. But there is certainly a great reason for its being placed here, because it is a confirmation of what was said before, so that the prediction and fulfillment of it might be read together. Reader! how beautiful and blessed the chapter ends. Is it not a gracious promise concerning the Lord Jesus Christ? Who but Christ can be said to be the horn of his people? And what is the opening of the mouth, spiritually considered, but the Lord Jesus bringing redemption to his Church? Precious Jesus! well may thy people so often join in holy Zacharias’s hymn, and say with him, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. Luk 1:68-69<\/span> .<\/p>\n Eze 29:17 And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first [month], in the first [day] of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,<\/p>\n Ver. 17. In the seven and twentieth year.<\/strong> ] Of Jeconiah’s captivity, as Ezekiel ordinarily counteth, or of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, say the Jewish doctors; a<\/em> whereas Tyre was overthrown, some part of Egypt wasted, Jeremiah and Baruch taken into his protection. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The word of the Lord came.<\/strong> ] This was Ezekiel’s last sermon, his swan song, showing wherefore and whereby Egypt should be so laid waste.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n a<\/em> Sedar Olam.<\/p>\n NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Eze 29:17-20<\/p>\n 17Now in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first of the month, the word of the LORD came to me saying, 18Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre; every head was made bald and every shoulder was rubbed bare. But he and his army had no wages from Tyre for the labor that he had performed against it. 19Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And he will carry off her wealth and capture her spoil and seize her plunder; and it will be wages for his army. 20I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor which he performed, because they acted for Me, declares the Lord GOD.<\/p>\n Eze 29:17-20 YHWH allowed Nebuchadnezzar II to capture Egypt (cf. Eze 30:10; Jer 43:10-11; Jer 46:13; Jer 46:26) and take its spoils as payment for his army, since they received nothing for their hard work (cf. Eze 29:18) at Tyre (i.e., thirteen-year siege, cf. Josephus, Antiq. 10.228). It is possible that Pharaoh Hophra allied with Tyre and took away Tyre’s treasures before Tyre surrendered to the army of Nebuchadnezzar’s (cf. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, vol. 6, pp. 892-3).<\/p>\n Eze 29:18 This verse states that Nebuchadnezzar did not take the island fortress, but did capture and destroy the mainland city (cf. Eze 26:7-12). The problem is that Eze 26:14 implies that he did. Many commentators note that the PLURAL is used in Eze 26:7-17, but the SINGULAR in Eze 26:13-14, which<\/p>\n 1. implies that YHWH Himself will do it (note Eze 29:3-6)<\/p>\n 2. refers to Alexander the Great’s destruction of the island fortress in 323 B.C.<\/p>\n every head was made bald This was not a mourning rite, but a metaphor for heavy work (i.e., Nebuchadnezzar’s siege and destruction of mainland Tyre). It is parallel to every shoulder was rubbed bare.<\/p>\n Eze 20:20 As YHWH used Assyria to judge Israel (cf. Isa 10:5), so now He uses Babylon to judge, not only Judah, but all the nations in the area. The metaphorical language used here sees it as a wage paid.<\/p>\n the seven and twentieth year. See the table, p. 1105. <\/p>\n Eze 29:17-20<\/p>\n Eze 29:17-20<\/p>\n “And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was worn; yet had he no wages, nor his army, from Tyre, for the service that he had served against it. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and he shall carry off her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt as his recompense for which he served, because they wrought for me, saith the Lord Jehovah.”<\/p>\n EGYPT GIVEN TO NEBUCHADNEZZAR AS “WAGES”<\/p>\n The date in Eze 29:17, according to Bruce, is April 26,571 B.C. This was about a year after the end of the 13-year siege of Tyre. This, of course, is the last of Ezekiel’s prophecies chronologically; but it is included here because of the subject matter. “The date given here is two years later than the vision of chapter 40.<\/p>\n Despite the fall of Tyre and its subsequent domination under a high commissioner from Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar received no significant spoil from its capture. Many have suggested that perhaps Tyre had had sufficient time to ship all of their treasures elsewhere. Egypt may well have been a cooperating partner with Tyre in such a project, giving credence to Bruce’s suggestion that such actions on Egypt’s part would have been a sufficient “casus belli” to result in Nebuchadnezzar’s immediate declaration of war against Egypt.<\/p>\n Nebuchadnezzar appears here as “the servant of God” in his siege of Tyre, and his eventual spoil of Egypt is seen as a God-given reward for him as compensation for the failure of Tyre to yield any loot to her conquerors. “In all of Nebuchadnezzar’s campaigns, he was unconsciously carrying out the purposes of the Divine will (See Jer 25:9).<\/p>\n McFadyen commented that “The appearance in this chapter of prophecies which men have labeled as `untilled’ may fairly be regarded as proof that in the mind of Ezekiel they had been or indeed would be essentially fulfilled.<\/p>\n There is no admission here that Nebuchadnezzar’s mission against Tyre failed. Jamieson tells us that Jerome, quoting Assyrian historians, expressly states that Nebuchadnezzar succeeded. Afterward from the long siege, “The power of Tyre was broken, and she never regained her former greatness.<\/p>\n first month <\/p>\n i.e. April. <\/p>\n am 3432, bc 572, Eze 29:1, Eze 1:2 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Eze 8:1 – in the sixth year Eze 20:1 – in the seventh Eze 24:1 – the ninth year Eze 30:20 – General Eze 32:1 – in the twelfth Eze 40:1 – In the five<\/p>\n Eze 29:17. There is a .long jump in the chronology of the writing of Ezekiel just for a more specific date of certain explanations to the prophet. God had told him that Egypt was to be visited with invasion and desolation, but that prediction was in the future as regards its fulfillment. Now the Lord sees fit to explain some things at this date which was after the prophet lias been in Babylon 27 years.<\/p>\n Eze 29:17-18. And it came to pass, &c. The new prophecy, which begins here, is connected with the foregoing, on account of its relating to the same subject, and not on account of its being the next revelation in time which Ezekiel had; for there is nearly seventeen years distance between the date of the foregoing prophecy and this; during which Egypt was torn to pieces by sedition and civil wars, which seems to be signified by the foregoing prophecy; and, the time then approaching that Nebuchadnezzar was to invade and conquer Egypt, God thought proper to declare it to the prophet more openly and expressly than he had done before. Nebuchadnezzar caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus The siege lasted thirteen years, till the heads of the soldiers became bald with continual wearing their helmets, and the skin was worn off their shoulders with carrying earth to raise mounts and fortifications against it: see note on Eze 26:8. Yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus Before the town came to be closely besieged, the inhabitants had removed their effects into an island, about half a mile distant from the shore, to which they afterward removed themselves, and where they built a new city; so that there was no inhabitant nor booty left there when Nebuchadnezzars army took the city. Thus St. Jerome, When the Tyrians saw that the works for carrying on the siege were perfected, and the foundations of the walls were shaken, by the battering of the rams, whatsoever precious things in gold, silver, clothes, and various kinds of furniture, the nobility had, they put them on board their ships, and carried them to the islands; so that, the city being taken, Nebuchadnezzar found nothing worthy of his labour.<\/p>\n Eze 29:17-20. Egypt and Tyre.This little oracle, the latest in the book (570 B.C.), is one of the most remarkable. It is a practical admission that Ezekiels elaborate prophecy of the ruin of Tyre (Ezekiel 26 ff.) had not been fulfilled; and it announces that the Babylonian soldiers, whose shoulders had been galled by the navvy work involved in the erection of a mole between the mainland and the island, and, in general, by the hardship of the siege, which is said by Josephus to have lasted thirteen years, would not go unrewarded. They had failed to win the spoil of Tyreeither because the siege was unsuccessful or because Tyre capitulated on very favourable termsbut in its stead, Ezekiel here promises them the conquest of Egypt, with the spoil which conquest assured. This promise further shows that Ezekiels forecast of the ruin of Egypt, uttered sixteen years before (Ezekiel 29 ff.), had not yet been fulfilled. But the passage also shows the splendid candour of the prophet, in allowing these unfulfilled oracles to stand in his book; and this may fairly be regarded as proof that, in the mind of Ezekiel, they either had been or would be essentially fulfilled. For essentially the prophecies mean that there can be no permanent place in the world for a godless commercialism or for a policy blended of conceit and shuffling insincerity.<\/p>\n Eze 29:21. Possibly these unfulfilled oracles had discredited Ezekiel and again compelled him to silence. But in this, possibly his last utterance, he looks forward with joyful confidence both to his own future and that of Israel. (Horn = strength, prosperity.)<\/p>\n 29:17 And it came to pass in the {i} seven and twentieth year, in the first [month], in the first [day] of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,<\/p>\n (i) Counting from the captivity of Jeconiah.<\/p>\n 2. The consummation of Egypt’s judgment 29:17-21<\/span><\/p>\n Ezekiel received another message from the Lord about Egypt’s judgment on April 26, 571 B.C. (on his New Year’s day). [Note: Parker and Dubberstein, p. 28.] <\/span> This was probably the second to the last recorded prophecy of Ezekiel, and the prophet would have been about 50 years old at this time (cf. Eze 1:1-2). The writer evidently inserted this oracle in the text here to group it with the other prophecies against Egypt. Its placement here informs the reader that the destruction of Egypt foretold in the first message would come through Nebuchadnezzar. This enables us to understand better the remaining oracles against Egypt.<\/p>\n TYRE<\/p>\n Eze 26:1-21, Eze 29:17-21<\/p>\n IN the time of Ezekiel Tyre was still at the height of her commercial prosperity. Although not the oldest of the Phoenician cities, she held a supremacy among them which dated from the thirteenth century B.C., and she had long been regarded as the typical embodiment of the genius of the remarkable race to which she belonged. The Phoenicians were renowned in antiquity for a combination of all the qualities on which commercial greatness depends. Their absorbing devotion to the material interests of civilisation, their amazing industry and perseverance, their resourcefulness in assimilating and improving the inventions of other peoples, the technical skill of their artists and craftsmen, but above all their adventurous and daring seamanship, conspired to give them a position in the old world such as has never been quite rivalled by any other nation of ancient or modern times. In the grey dawn of European history we find them acting as pioneers of art and culture along the shores of the Mediterranean, although even then they had been displaced from their earliest settlements in the Aegean and the coast of Asia Minor by the rising commerce of Greece. Matthew Arnold has drawn a brilliant imaginative picture of this collision between the two races, and the effect it had on the dauntless and enterprising spirit of Phoenicia:-<\/p>\n “As some grave Tyrian trader, from the sea, <\/p>\n Descried at sunrise an emerging prow <\/p>\n Lifting the cool-haird creepers stealthily, <\/p>\n The fringes of a southward-facing brow<\/p>\n Among the Aegaean isles; <\/p>\n And saw the merry Grecian coaster come, <\/p>\n Freighted with amber grapes, and Chian wine, <\/p>\n Green, bursting figs, and tunnies steepd in brine-<\/p>\n And knew the intruders on his ancient home, <\/p>\n The young light-hearted masters of the waves-<\/p>\n And snatehd his rudder and shook out more sail; <\/p>\n And day and night held on indignantly <\/p>\n Oer the blue Midland waters with the gale, <\/p>\n Betwixt the Syrtes and soft Sicily, <\/p>\n To where the Atlantic raves<\/p>\n Outside the western straits; and unbent sails <\/p>\n There, where down cloudy cliffs, through sheets of foam, <\/p>\n Shy traffickers, the dark Iberians come; <\/p>\n And on the beach undid his corded bales.”<\/p>\n It is that spirit of masterful and untiring ambition kept up for so many centuries that throws a halo of romance round the story of Tyre.<\/p>\n In the oldest Greek literature, however, Tyre is not mentioned, the place which she afterwards held being then occupied by Sidon. But after the decay of Sidon the rich harvest of her labours fell into the lap of Tyre, which thenceforth stands out as the foremost city of Phoenicia. She owed her pre-eminence partly to the wisdom and energy with which her affairs were administered, but partly also to the strength of her natural situation. The city was built both on the mainland and on a row of islets about half a mile from the shore. This latter portion contained the principal buildings (temples and palaces), the open place where business was transacted, and the two harbours. It was no doubt from it that the city derived its name (Rock); and it always was looked on as the central part of Tyre.<\/p>\n There was something in the appearance of the island city-the Venice of antiquity, rising from mid-ocean with her “tiara of proud towers”-which seemed to mark her out as destined to be mistress of the sea. It also made a siege of Tyre an arduous and a tedious undertaking, as many a conqueror found to his cost. Favoured then by these advantages, Tyre speedily gathered the traffic of Phoenicia into her own hands, and her wealth and luxury were the wonder of the nations. She was known as “the crowning city, whose merchants were princes, and her traffickers the honourable of the earth”. {Isa 23:8} She became the great commercial emporium of the world. Her colonies were planted all over the islands and coasts of the Mediterranean, and the one most frequently mentioned in the Bible, Tarshish, was in Spain, beyond Gibraltar. Her seamen had ventured beyond the Pillars of Hercules, and undertook distant Atlantic voyages to the Canary Islands on the south and the coasts of Britain on the north. The most barbarous and inhospitable regions were ransacked for the metals and other products needed to supply the requirements of civilisation, and everywhere she found a market for her own wares and manufactures. The carrying trade of the Mediterranean was almost entirely conducted in her ships, while her richly laden caravans traversed all the great routes that led into the heart of Asia and Africa.<\/p>\n It so happens that the twenty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel is one of the best sources of information we possess as to the varied and extensive commercial relations of Tyre in the sixth century B.C. It will therefore be better to glance shortly at its contents here rather than in its proper connection in the development of the prophets thought. It will easily be seen that the description is somewhat idealised; no details are given of the commodities which Tyre sold to the nations-only as an afterthought (Eze 27:33) is it intimated that by sending forth her wares she has enriched and satisfied many nations. So the goods she bought of them are not represented as given in exchange for anything else; Tyre is poetically conceived as an empress ruling the peoples by the potent spell of her influence, compelling them to drudge for her and bring to her feet the gains they have acquired by their heavy labour. Nor can the list of nations or their gifts be meant as exhaustive; it only includes such things as served to exhibit the immense variety of useful and costly articles which ministered to the wealth and luxury of Tyre. But making allowance for this, and for the numerous difficulties which the text presents, the passage has evidently been compiled with great care; it shows a minuteness of detail and fulness of knowledge which could not have been got from books, but displays a lively personal interest in the affairs of the world which is surprising in a man like Ezekiel.<\/p>\n The order followed in the enumeration of nations is not quite clear, but is on the whole geographical. Starting from Tarshish in the extreme west (Eze 27:12), the prophet mentions in succession Javan (Ionia), Tubal, and Meshech (two tribes to the southeast of the Black Sea), and Togarmah (usually identified with Armenia) (Eze 27:13-14). These represent the northern limit of the Phoenician markets. The reference in the next verse (Eze 27:15) is doubtful, on account of a difference between the Septuagint and the Hebrew text. If with the former we read “Rhodes” instead of “Dedan,” it embraces the nearer coasts and islands of the Mediterranean, and this is perhaps on the whole the more natural sense. In this case it is possible that up to this point the description has been confined to the sea trade of Phoenicia, if we may suppose that the products of Armenia reached Tyre by way of the Black Sea. At all events the overland traffic occupies a space in the list out of proportion to its actual importance, a fact which is easily explained from the prophets standpoint. First, in a line from south to north, we have the nearer neighbours of Phoenicia-Edom, Judah, Israel, and Damascus (Eze 27:16-18). Then the remoter tribes and districts of Arabia – Uzal (the chief city of Yemen), Dedan (on the eastern side of the Gulf of Akaba), Arabia and Kedar (nomads of the eastern desert), Havilaho Sheba, and Raamah (in the extreme south of the Arabian peninsula) (Eze 27:19-22). Finally the countries tapped by the eastern caravan route-Haran (the great trade centre in Mesopotamia), Canneh (Calneh, unknown), Eden (differently spelt from the garden of Eden, also unknown), Assyria, and Chilmad (unknown) (Eze 27:23). These were the “merchants” and “traders” of Tyre, who are represented as thronging her marketplace with the produce of their respective countries.<\/p>\n The imports, so far as we can follow the prophets enumeration, are in nearly all cases characteristic products of the regions to which they are assigned. Spain is known to have furnished all the metals here mentioned – silver, iron, lead, and tin. Greece and Asia Minor were centres of the slave traffic (one of the darkest blots on the commerce of Phoenicia), and also supplied hardware. Armenia was famous as a horse-breeding country, and thence Tyre procured her supply of horses and mules. The ebony and tusks of ivory must have come from Africa; and if the Septuagint is right in reading “Rhodes” in Eze 27:15. these articles can only have been collected there for shipment to Tyre. Through Edom come pearls and precious stones. Judah and Israel furnished Tyre with agricultural and natural produce, as they had done from the days of David and Solomon-wheat and oil, wax and honey, balm and spices. Damascus yields the famous “wine of Helbon”-said to be the only vintage that the Persian kings would drink-perhaps also other choice wines. A rich variety of miscellaneous articles, both natural and manufactured, is contributed by Arabia, -wrought iron (perhaps sword-blades) from Yemen; saddle-cloths from Dedan; sheep and goats from the Bedouin tribes; gold, precious stones, and aromatic spices from the caravans of Sheba. Lastly, the Mesopotamian countries provide the costly textile fabrics from the looms of Babylon so highly prized in antiquity-“costly garments, mantles of blue, purple, and broidered work,” “many-coloured carpets,” and “cords twisted and durable.” <\/p>\n This survey of the ramifications of Tyrian commerce will have served its purpose if it enables us to realise in some measure the conception which Ezekiel had formed of the power and prestige of the maritime city, whose destruction he so confidently announced. He knew, as did Isaiah before him, how deeply Tyre had struck her roots in the life of the old world, how indispensable her existence seemed to be to the whole fabric of civilisation as then constituted. Both prophets represent the nations as lamenting the downfall of the city which had so long ministered to their material welfare. The overthrow of Tyre would be felt as a worldwide calamity; it could hardly be contemplated except as part of a radical subversion of the established order of things. This is what Ezekiel has in view, and his attitude towards Tyre is governed by his expectation of a great shaking of the nations which is to usher in the perfect kingdom of God. In the new world to which he looks forward no place will be found for Tyre, not even the subordinate position of a handmaid to the people of God which Isaiahs vision of the future had assigned to her. Beneath all her opulence and refinement the prophets eye detected that which was opposed to the mind of Jehovah-the irreligious spirit which is the temptation of a mercantile community, manifesting itself in overweening pride and self-exaltation, and in sordid devotion to gain as the highest end of a nations existence. <\/p>\n The twenty-sixth chapter is in the main a literal prediction of the siege and destruction of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar. It is dated from the year in which Jerusalem was captured, and was certainly written after that event. The number of the month has accidentally dropped out of the text, so that we cannot tell whether at the time of writing the prophet had received actual intelligence of the fall of the city. At all events it is assumed that the fate of Jerusalem is already known in Tyre, and the manner in which the tidings were sure to have been received there is the immediate occasion of the prophecy. Like many other peoples, Tyre had rejoiced over the disaster which had befallen the Jewish state; but her exultation had a peculiar note of selfish calculation, which did not escape the notice of the prophet. Ever mindful of her own interest, she sees that a barrier to the free development of her commerce has been removed, and she congratulates herself on the fortunate turn which events have taken: “Aha! the door of the peoples is broken, it is turned towards me; she that was full hath been laid waste!” (Eze 26:2). Although the relations of the two countries had often been friendly and sometimes highly advantageous to Tyre, she had evidently felt herself hampered by the existence of an independent state on the mountain ridge of Palestine. The kingdom of Judah, especially in days when it was strong enough to hold Edom in subjection, commanded the caravan routes to the Red Sea, and doubtless prevented the Phoenician merchants from reaping the full profit of their ventures in that direction. It is probable that at all times a certain proportion of the revenue of the kings of Judah was derived from toll levied on the Tyrian merchandise that passed through their territory; and what they thus gained represented so much loss to Tyre. It was, to be sure, a small item in the mass of business transacted on the exchange of Tyre. But nothing is too trivial to enter into the calculations of a community given over to the pursuit of gain; and the satisfaction with which the fall of Jerusalem was regarded in Tyre showed how completely she was debased by her selfish commercial policy, how oblivious she was to the spiritual interests bound up with the future of Israel.<\/p>\n Having thus exposed the sinful cupidity and insensibility of Tyre, the prophet proceeds to describe in general terms the punishment that is to overtake her. Many nations shall be brought up against her, irresistible as the sea when it comes up with its waves; her walls and fortifications shall be raised; the very dust shall be scraped from her site, so that she is left “a naked rock” rising out of the sea, a place where fishermen spread their nets to dry, as in the days before the city was built.<\/p>\n Then follows (Eze 26:7-14) a specific announcement of the manner in which judgment shall he executed on Tyre. The recent political attitude of the city left no doubt as to the quarter from which immediate danger was to be apprehended. The Phoenician states had been the most powerful members of the confederacy that was formed about 596 to throw off the yoke of the Chaldaeans, and they were in open revolt at the time when Ezekiel wrote. They had apparently thrown in their lot with Egypt, and a conflict with Nebuchadnezzar was therefore to be expected. Tyre had every reason to avoid a war with a first-rate power, which could not fail to be disastrous to her commercial interests. But her inhabitants were not destitute of martial spirit; they trusted in the strength of their position and their command of the sea, and they were in the mood to risk everything rather than again renounce their independence and their freedom. But all this avails nothing against the purpose which Jehovah has purposed concerning Tyre. It is He who brings Nebuchadnezzar, the king of kings, from the north with his army and his siege-train, and Tyre shall fall before his assault, as Jerusalem has already fallen. First of all, the Phoenician cities on the mainland shall be ravaged and laid waste, and then operations commence against the mother-city herself. The description of the siege and capture of the island fortress is given with an, abundance of graphic details, although, strangely enough, without calling attention to the peculiar method of attack that was necessary for the reduction of Tyre. The great feature of the siege would be the construction of a huge mole between the shore and the island; once the wall was reached the attack would proceed precisely as in the ease of an inland town, in the manner depicted on Assyrian monuments. When the breach is made in the fortifications the whole army pours into the city, and for the first time in her history the walls of Tyre shake with the rumbling of chariots in her streets. The conquered city is then given up to slaughter and pillage, her songs and her music are stilled for ever, her stones and timber and dust are cast into the sea, and not a trace remains of the proud mistress of the waves.<\/p>\n In the third strophe (Eze 26:15-21) the prophet describes the dismay which will be caused when the crash of the destruction of Tyre resounds along the coasts of the sea. All the “princes of the sea” (perhaps the rulers of the Phoenician colonies in the Mediterranean) are represented as rising from their thrones, and putting off their stately raiment, and sitting in the dust bewailing the fate of the city. The dirge in which they lift up their voices (Eze 26:17-18) is given by the Septuagint in a form which preserves more nearly than the Hebrew the structure as well as the beauty which we should expect in the original:-<\/p>\n “How is perished from the sea-<\/p>\n The city renowned! <\/p>\n She that laid her terror-<\/p>\n On all its inhabitants! <\/p>\n [Now] are the isles affrighted-<\/p>\n In the day of thy falling!”<\/p>\n But this beautiful image is not strong enough: to express the prophets sense of the irretrievable ruin that hangs over Tyre. By a bold flight of imagination he turns from the mourners on earth to follow in thought the descent of the city into the under-world (Eze 26:19-21). The idea that Tyre might rise from her ruins after a temporary eclipse and recover her old place in the world was one that would readily suggest itself to any one who understood the real secret of her greatness. To the mind of Ezekiel the impossibility of her restoration lies in the fixed purpose of Jehovah, which includes, not only her destruction, but her perpetual desolation. “When I make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I bring up against thee the deep, and the great waters cover thee; then I will bring thee down with them that go down to the pit, with the people of old time, and I will make thee dwell in the lowest parts of the earth, like the immemorial waste places, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited nor establish thyself in the land of the living.” The whole passage is steeped in weird poetic imagery. The “deep” suggests something more than the blue waters of the Mediterranean; it is the name of the great primeval Ocean, out of which the habitable world was fashioned, and which is used as an emblem of the irresistible judgments of Psa 36:6, cf Gen 7:11. The “pit” is the realm of the dead, Sheol, conceived as situated under the earth, where the shades of the departed drag out a feeble existence from which there is no deliverance. The idea of Sheol is a frequent subject of poetical embellishment in the later books of the Old Testament; and of this we have an example here when the prophet represents the once populous and thriving city as now a denizen of that dreary place. But the essential meaning he wishes to convey is that Tyre is numbered among the things that were. She “shall be sought, and shall not be found any more for ever,” because she has entered the dismal abode of the dead, whence there is no return to the joys and activities of the upper world.<\/p>\n Such then is the anticipation which Ezekiel in the year 586 had formed of the fate of Tyre. No candid reader will suppose that the prophecy is anything but what it professes to be-a bona fide prediction of the total destruction of the city in the immediate future and by the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. When Ezekiel wrote, the siege of Tyre had not begun; and however clear it may have been to observant men that the next stage in the campaign would be the reduction of the Phoenician cities, the prophet is at least free from the suspicion of having prophesied after the event. The remarkable absence of characteristic and special details from the account of the siege is the best proof that he is dealing with the future from the true prophetic standpoint and clothing a divinely imparted conviction in images supplied by a definite historical situation. Nor is there any reason to doubt that in some form the prophecy was actually published among his fellow exiles at the date to which it is assigned. On this point critical opinion is fairly unanimous. But when we come to the question of the fulfilment of the prediction we find ourselves in the region of controversy, and, it must be admitted, of uncertainty. Some expositors, determined at all hazards to vindicate Ezekiels prophetic authority, maintain that Tyre was actually devastated by Nebuchadnezzar in the manner described by the prophet, and seek for confirmations of their view in the few historical notices we possess of this period of Nebuchadnezzars reign. Others, reading the history differently, arrive at the conclusion that Ezekiels calculations were entirely at fault, that Tyre was not captured by the Babylonians at all, and that his oracle against Tyre must be reckoned amongst the unfulfilled prophecies of the Old Testament. Others again seek to reconcile an impartial historical judgment with a high conception of the function of prophecy, and find in the undoubted course of events a real though not an exact verification of the words uttered by Ezekiel. It is indeed almost by accident that we have any independent corroboration of Ezekiels anticipation with regard to the immediate future of Tyre. Oriental discoveries have as yet brought to light no important historical monuments of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar; and outside the book of Ezekiel itself we have nothing to guide us except the statement of Josephus, based on Phoenician and Greek authorities, that Tyre underwent a thirteen years siege by the Babylonian conqueror. There is no reason whatever to call in question the reliability of this important information, although the accompanying statement that the siege began in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar is certainly erroneous. But unfortunately we are not told how the siege ended. Whether it was successful or unsuccessful, whether Tyre was reduced or capitulated, or was evacuated or beat off her assailants, is nowhere indicated. To argue from the silence of the historians is impossible; for if one man argues that a catastrophe that took place “before the eyes of all Asia” would not have passed unrecorded in historical books, another might urge with equal force that a repulse of Nebuchadnezzar was too uncommon an event to be ignored in the Phoenician annals. On the whole the most reasonable hypothesis is perhaps that after the thirteen years the city surrendered on not unfavourable terms; but this conclusion is based on other considerations than the data or the silence of Josephus.<\/p>\n The chief reason for believing that Nebuchadnezzar was not altogether successful in his attack on Tyre is found in a supplementary prophecy of Ezekiels, given in the end of the twenty-ninth chapter (Eze 26:17-21). It was evidently written after the siege of Tyre was concluded, and so far as it goes it confirms the accuracy of Josephus sources. It is dated from the year 570, sixteen years after the fall of Jerusalem; and it is, in fact, the latest oracle in the whole book. The siege of Tyre, therefore, which had not commenced in 586, when chapter 26 was written, was finished before 570; and between these terminal dates there is just room for the thirteen years of Josephus. The invasion of Phoenicia must have been the next great enterprise of the Babylonian army in Western Asia after the destruction of Judah, and it was only the extraordinary strength of Tyre that enabled it to protract the struggle so long. Now what light does Ezekiel throw on the issue of the siege? His words are: “Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, has made his army to serve a great service against Tyre; every head made bald and every shoulder peeled, yet he and his army got no wages out of Tyre for the service which he served against her.” The prophet then goes on to announce that the spoils of Egypt should be the recompense to the army for their unrequited labour against Tyre, inasmuch as it was work done for Jehovah. Here then, we have evidence first of all that the long siege of Tyre had taxed the resources of the besiegers to the utmost. The “peeled shoulders” and the “heads made bald” is a graphic detail which alludes not obscurely to the monotonous heavy work of carrying loads of stones and earth to fill up the narrow channel between the mainland and the island, so as to allow the engines to be brought up to the walls. Ezekiel was well aware of the arduous nature of the undertaking, the expenditure of human effort and life which was involved, in the struggle with natural obstacles; and his striking conception of these obscure and toiling soldiers as unconscious servants of the Almighty shows how steadfast was his faith in the word he proclaimed against Tyre. But the important point is that they obtained from Tyre no reward-at least no adequate reward-for their herculean labours. The expression used is no doubt capable of various interpretations. It might mean that the siege had to be abandoned, or that the city was able to make extremely easy terms of capitulation, or, as Jerome suggests, that the Tyrians had carried off their treasures by sea and escaped to one of their colonies. In any case it shows that the historical event was not in accordance with the details of the earlier prophecy. That the wealth of Tyre would fall to the conquerors is there assumed as a natural consequence of the capture of the city. But whether the city was actually captured or not, the victors were somehow disappointed in their expectation of plunder. The rich spoil of Tyre, which was the legitimate reward of their exhausting toil, had slipped from their eager grasp; to this extent at least the reality fell short of the prediction, and Nebuchadnezzar had to be. compensated for his losses at Tyre by the promise of an easy conquest of Egypt.<\/p>\n But if this had been all it is not probable that Ezekiel would have deemed it necessary to supplement his earlier prediction in the way we have seen after an interval of sixteen years. The mere circumstance that the sack of Tyre had failed to yield the booty that the besiegers counted on was not of a nature to attract attention amongst the prophets auditors, or to throw doubt on the genuineness of his inspiration. And we know that there was a much more serious difference between the prophecy and the event than this. It is, from what has just been said, extremely doubtful whether Nebuchadnezzar actually destroyed Tyre, but even if he did, she very quickly recovered much of her former prosperity and glory. That her commerce was seriously crippled during the struggle with Babylonia we may well believe, and it is possible that she never again was what she had been before this humiliation came upon her. But for all that the enterprise and prosperity of Tyre continued for many ages to excite the admiration of the most enlightened nations of antiquity. The destruction of the city, therefore, if it took place, had not the finality which Ezekiel had anticipated. Not till after the lapse of eighteen centuries could it be said with approximate truth that she was like “a bare rock in the midst of the sea.”<\/p>\n The most instructive fact for us, however, is that Ezekiel reissued his original prophecy, knowing that it had not been literally fulfilled. In the minds of his hearers the apparent falsification of his predictions had revived old prejudices against him, which interfered with the prosecution of his work. They reasoned that a prophecy so much out of joint with the reality was sufficient to discredit his claim to be an authoritative exponent of the mind of Jehovah; and so the prophet found himself embarrassed by a recurrence of the old unbelieving attitude which had hindered his public activity before the destruction of Jerusalem. He has not for the present “an open mouth” amongst them, and he feels that his words will not be fully received until they are verified by the restoration of Israel to its own land. But it is evident that he himself did not share the view of his audience, otherwise he would certainly have suppressed prophecy which lacked the mark of authenticity. On the contrary he published it for the perusal of a wider circle of readers, in the conviction that what he had spoken was a true word of God, and that its essential truth did not depend on its exact correspondence with the facts of history. In other words, he believed in it as a true reading of the principles revealed in Gods moral government of the world-a reading which had received a partial verification in the blow which had been dealt at the pride of Tyre, and which would receive a still more signal fulfilment in the final convulsions which were to introduce the day of Israels restoration and glory. Only we must remember that the prophets horizon was necessarily limited; and as he did not contemplate the slow development and extension of the kingdom of God through long ages, so he could not have taken into account the secular operation of historic causes which eventually brought about the ruin of Tyre.<\/p>\n And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first [month], in the first [day] of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, The prophet places this prediction out of chronological order, that he may point out what had not been stated in the foregoing prophecy, namely, … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 29:17”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21211\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>The disposal of states and nations is the work of Divine providence.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>Men may serve God really when they do not serve Him by design. Nebuchadrezzar is called the servant of God, as well as the Apostle Paul–but observe the difference between them; and, as God will derive glory from all His creatures, inquire which of these characters you are resembling. The former serves God, only from the influence of an overruling Providence–the latter, from the operation of Divine grace.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>None can be losers by anything they do for God. Even services done for Him by worldly men obtain a temporal reward. The Egyptian females (Exo 1:20-21<\/span>). Jehu was a vain, ostentatious, wicked prince, but the Lord said unto Jehu, etc. (2Ki 10:30<\/span>). So here, I have given Nebuchadrezzar the land of Egypt, etc. This is indeed a poor recompense. It may appear splendid and important in the eye of the vain and the sensual, but the righteous are fax from envying it. Egypt was all the remuneration of Nebuchadrezzar–and what could it do for him? What is it to him now? Ye servants of the most high God, who know Him and love Him; He has provided some better thing for you. He who noticed the hardships endured by the poor soldiers before Tyre, when every head was bald and every shoulder peeled, will not suffer you to labour in vain: He sees your difficulties; considers the burdens under which you bend; He hears your groans, and your sighs–when without are fightings, and within are fears. Is it a vain thing to serve the Lord? You will find your reward in the very nature of your work; you will find it in the glow of pleasure which attends virtuous exertion; you will find it in the approving testimony of your own conscience; you will find it in the esteem of the wise and good; you will find it in the blessing of them that were ready to perish; you will find it in the applause of your Lord and Saviour–Well done, etc. (W. Jay.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"