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Proclamation Against Egypt:
This prophecy regarding Egypt came to Jeremiah before the fall of Jerusalem. At this time there were still some in Judah and Jerusalem who hoped that Egypt would rescue them from the powerful Babylonians. Ezekiel 29 begins a four-chapter series of prophecies against Egypt. This was necessary because even though Egypt held Israel in slavery for 400 years, Israel also had an impulse to look to Egypt in times of crisis that predated their years of slavery, going all the way back to Abraham’s earliest days in Canaan (Genesis 12:10-20). Isaiah warned God’s people, Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help (Isaiah 31:1). Even in Jeremiah’s and Ezekiel’s days, they still looked to Egypt for help instead of trusting God and His plan. Egypt had long been an enemy of the people of Israel, both as the place of their long slavery and as a constant temptation both spiritually and politically. Ezekiel was to set his face against Pharaoh king of Egypt because God said, “Behold, I am against you.” “Speak, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies in the midst of his rivers, Who has said, ‘My River is my own; I have made it for myself.’ But I will put hooks in your jaws, And cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales; I will bring you up out of the midst of your rivers, And all the fish in your rivers will stick to your scales” Ezekiel 19:3-4 (NKJV).
Egyptian prayers encouraged the pharaoh to be a crocodile to his enemies. Pharaoh was compared to a ferocious crocodile, guarding the waters of the land, the Nile and all the canals and attacking anybody who dared to challenge his claims. This was the proud boast of Egypt and her Pharaoh. They believed that the great Nile River both belonged to them and was created by them. They refused to recognize and honor the God of Israel as the creator and owner of all. “Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Surely I will bring a sword upon you and cut off from you man and beast. And the land of Egypt shall become desolate and waste; then they will know that I am the Lord, because he said, ‘The River is mine, and I have made it” Ezekiel 19:8-9 (NKJV).
Speaking like a great hunter of crocodiles, the Lord God announced that He would stop, capture, and displace Egypt. They would be terribly disrupted, as a crocodile pulled out of the Nile with a hook. For all his arrogant pretensions, the glorious lord of the Nile is no match for the Lord, who toys with him as a fisherman plays with his catch, then throws him away as carrion, unfit for human consumption. Pharaoh and Egypt would be disgraced, treated as something that others prey and feed upon. The great concern for burial and memorial among the pharaoh’s is evident from their still existing tombs. God promised their disgrace would be so great it would be as if they were not be buried at all. God’s judgment would come through the sword of warfare, and it would lay waste to both man and beast. This judgment would come because of Egypt’s pride, especially as it focused on the Nile (The River is mine). “It shall be the lowliest of kingdoms; it shall never again exalt itself above the nations, for I will diminish them so that they will not rule over the nations anymore. No longer shall it be the confidence of the house of Israel, but will remind them of their iniquity when they turned to follow them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord God”’” Ezekiel 29:15-16 (NKJV).
There was a real sense in which Nebuchadnezzar and the armies of Babylon worked for God as His instruments of judgment. It was completely within God’s rights to reward these workers according to His will and wisdom. “In that day I will cause the [f]horn of the house of Israel to spring forth, and I will open your mouth to speak in their midst. Then they shall know that I am the Lord” Ezekiel 29:21 (NKJV).
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