God pronounces judgment against Egypt,
and God says in Ezekiel 29:1-9, In the tenth year, in the tenth
month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me,
saying,[2] Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and
prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:[3] Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king
of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of
his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for
myself.[4] But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the
fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of
the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy
scales.[5] And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and
all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt
not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts
of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.[6] And all the inhabitants
of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed
to the house of Israel.[7] When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou
didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their
loins to be at a stand.[8] Therefore thus saith
the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast
out of thee.[9] And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and
they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine,
and I have made it. Of course, the Nile River is what Egypt was all about.
Egypt got its existence and livelihood from the Nile. Who made the Nile River. We know that God made all things. Some of the things
that God has made He has given to you for your use. God made you, and He has
given you certain abilities and talents. One of the worse things that anyone
can think in regards to themselves and their own abilities and opportunities is
to forget that all those things come from God. It is the height of ingratitude
and pride to think that these gifts came from yourself
when they really came from God. That is the sin committed by Pharaoh. In verse
3 Pharaoh said, My river
is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
And in verse 9 God said, And the land of
Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because
he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it. The lesson here is that we had better be very careful
about taking credit for what God has done. What the Lord giveth, He can take
away. God took away from Egypt their greatness. Because of their sin, God made
them one of the lesser nations.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 29:10-16, Behold,
therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land
of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene
even unto the border of Ethiopia.[11] No foot of man shall pass through
it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited
forty years.[12] And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst
of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are
laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians
among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.[13] Yet
thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years
will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered:[14]
And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return
into the land of Pathros, into the land of their
habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom.[15] It shall be the
basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the
nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.[16]
And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall
look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
One thing that is interesting to notice about this judgment upon Egypt is that
God did not totally destroy them as He did most of the other nations around
Israel. At the end of verse 13 and the first part of verse 14 God said, At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians
from the people whither they were scattered:[14]
And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return
into the land of Pathros, into the land of their
habitation. It seems that God has always had
some favor for the Egyptians perhaps because of the times that the children of
Israel went there for survival. Even Mary and Joseph took Jesus to Egypt so
that Jesus would be safe from King Herod.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 29:17-21, 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,[18] Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a
great service against Tyrus: every head was made
bald, and every shoulder was 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; 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 his labour wherewith he served
against it, because they wrought for me, saith the
Lord GOD.[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 the LORD. God is saying in this
passage that He is going to reward the king of Babylon because the king of
Babylon was Gods servant by fulfilling Gods will in destroying the countries
such as Tyre and Israel that God wanted him to
destroy. Nebuchadnezzars reward was that he would also be given the land of
Egypt to conquer and to plunder. This is a good reminder that everything that
happens comes from God. God lifts up one and cats down another according to
Gods will and Gods purpose for all things.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 30:1-9, The word of
the LORD came again unto me, saying,[2] Son of man, prophesy and say,
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day[3]
For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall
be the time of the heathen.[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.[5]
Ethiopia, and Libya, and Lydia, and all the mingled people, and Chub, and the
men of the land that is in league, shall fall with them by the sword.[6]
Thus saith the LORD; They also that uphold Egypt
shall fall; and the pride of her power shall come down: from the tower of Syene shall they fall in it by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.[7] And they shall be desolate in
the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities shall be in the
midst of the cities that are wasted.[8] And they shall know that I am
the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be
destroyed.[9] In that day shall messengers go forth from me in ships to
make the careless Ethiopians afraid, and great pain shall come upon them, as in
the day of Egypt: for, lo, it cometh. The first part of
this passage gives a principle about the judgment of God that is true for all
of His judgments. God says to the Egyptians in verse 2, Howl ye, Woe worth the day. If you are in danger of the judgment of God, look forward
into the future, and you can be certain of at least one thing: a terrible time
is coming for you. God gives you your free will, but then always will come the
day of reckoning. That is why we need a Savior. We will all be in danger of
judgment unless we turn to Jesus to be our Savior. In verse 3 God says, For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a
cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen.
It says that the day of judgment is near. Some people
make the mistake of thinking that the day of judgment
is far off and that they have plenty of time. But today could be the day that
your life is required of you, and you could be at your judgment today.
Procrastination will lead to the judgment. Today is the day of salvation. Turn
to Jesus while you have time.
The end-times is called the Day of the
Lord also, because it will be the day when God brings His judgment to the whole
earth. It says in First Thessalonians 5:1-10, But of the times and the
seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you.[2] For
yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the
night.[3] For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden
destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they
shall not escape.[4] But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that
day should overtake you as a thief.[5] Ye are all the children of light,
and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.[6]
Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.[7]
For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that
be drunken are drunken in the night.[8] But let us, who are of the day,
be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the
hope of salvation.[9] For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to
obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,[10] Who died for us, that,
whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.[11]
Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye
do.
The Bible says in Ezekiel 30:10-19, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of Egypt
to cease by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of
Babylon.[11] He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, shall
be brought to destroy the land: and they shall draw their swords against Egypt,
and fill the land with the slain.[12] And I will make the rivers dry,
and sell the land into the hand of the wicked: and I will make the land waste,
and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers: I the LORD have spoken it.[13]
Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also destroy the
idols, and I will cause their images to cease out of Noph;
and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear
in the land of Egypt.[14] And I will make Pathros
desolate, and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute
judgments in No.[15] And I will pour my fury upon Sin, the strength of
Egypt; and I will cut off the multitude of No.[16] And I will set fire
in Egypt: Sin shall have great pain, and No shall be rent asunder, and Noph shall have distresses daily.[17] The young men
of Aven and of Pi-beseth
shall fall by the sword: and these cities shall go into captivity.[18]
At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened, when I
shall break there the yokes of Egypt: and the pomp of her strength shall cease
in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into
captivity.[19] Thus will I execute judgments in Egypt: and they shall
know that I am the LORD. As the Lord continues to describe how He will bring
Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to come and conquer Egypt, the Lord makes it clear
that this conquest has everything to do with what God decides. In verse 10 God
says, I will also make. In verse 12 God says, I
will make the rivers dry, and I will make the land waste, and I the LORD have spoken it. In verse 13 God said, I
will also destroy the idols, and I will cause their images to cease. And so it continues all the way through these verses. It
was not Nebuchadnezzar or the Babylonian army who conquered Egypt. Although,
that is what a historian would say. It was God. God is involved in the affairs
of man. God is sovereign. God decides. God lifts up one, and casts down
another. That is one of the reasons that it is good to be rightly related to
God through faith in Christ. You do not want His hand of judgment or
chastisement to fall upon you. Thank God that there is forgiveness through
faith in Jesus. Whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. The name
of the Lord is Jesus.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2017 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved