False Friends

Series on Ezekiel

II. The Foreign Nations

C. Fate of Pharaoh Text: 29:1-32:32

Title: False Friends

Introduction

Four lengthy humiliating chapters are devoted to the judgment God pronounces upon Egypt. This extensive reduction of Egypt’s pride to the dust is necessary because Egypt is the place of bondage. Of all the enemies near or far there is none that stands out more than Egypt in the mind of the Jewish people. In those days it had the same effect as a mention of the holocaust has today. Today the Jewish people annually remember the holocaust and there is one ancient holy day that they keep above all others that is of supreme importance to them, and that is the passover, and the story of their escape from Egypt. Babylon was a great enemy because Nebuchadnezzar carried Judah into captivity but Egypt is the ancient nemesis. It is referred to in Revelation 11:8 in the story of the two witnesses who are martyred for their faith, and we read, Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. In this study we look at God’s judgment on Egypt as prophesied by Ezekiel and i offer you an acrostic on the wrath of God. Five words of importance in this prophecy: W-word, R-reed, A-arm, T-tree, and H-hell; WRATH. These describe the judgment of God.

I Word

As we have previously observed each of Ezekiel’s oracles is preceded by the date and the announcement that the Word of the Lord had come to him, as in 29:1 and 2, In the tenth year, in the tenth month on the twelfth day, the word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.” Before we race past this oft repeated formula, let us think about it for a moment. The implication is that God speaks and it is done. The world is filled with conflict, with activity, with business, and with prophecies and prognostications, but what counts is the Word of the Lord. What does this mean to you in your daily life? What is more important, the circumstances or the Word of the Lord? God speaks and it is done.

II Reed

The rest of this chapter is devoted to the humiliation of Egypt which in an uncanny and incredible fashion Israel has trusted as a helper. Why would you trust someone who has been your worst enemy? It is like an abused wife who keeps going back to her abuser. It is a parable on the Christian life and its worst folly, turning to the world and the flesh for aid after we have been delivered from them. The end result of such folly is pictured for us as God speaks to Egypt in verses 6 and 7, You have been a staff of reed for the house of Israel. When they grasped you with their hands, you splintered and you tore open their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke and their backs were wrenched. Egypt is like a reed which when you lean upon it pierces your hand. So says Isaiah 36:6, Look now, you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff, which pierces a man’s hand and wounds him if he leans on it! Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who depend on him. In fact the destruction wrought by trusting in Egypt is much worse according to these verses. There is prophecy further on in the long lament of this chapter which is impressive. It says Egypt will never again be a great nation. This has certainly been fulfilled up to this time. compared to the epitome of its ancient glory, Egypt is nothing today.

III Arm

Chapter 30 is an extended lament for Egypt and is very specific with regard to the allies and to the cities of that ancient power. But it is in verses 21-23 that the Lord uses the object lesson of the arm. The Israelites trusted in what they thought was the strong arm of Egypt, but God says, Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. It has not been bound up for healing or put in a splint so as to become strong enough to hold a sword. Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt. I will break both his arms, the good arm as well as the broken one, and make the sword fall from his hand. I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them through the countries. The bitter irony of this image is seen in Exodus 6:6 where God originally promised to Moses that he would bring the people of Israel out of Egyptian captivity, with an “outstretched arm.” In the song of Moses in Exodus 15:16, the Israelites are reminded that when they go into Canaan, the Canaanites will be filled with terror and dread by the power of God’s arm. They are reminded of this again in Deuteronomy 4: 34 when they are about to enter the land, Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? In Ezekiel 20:33,34 it is that very outstretched arm of God which they despised which will ultimately restore them.

IV Tree

Chapter 31 begins with a reference to Assyria as an example of what God can do to a mighty nation in verses 3 and 9-14, Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest; it towered on high, its top above the thick foliage…I made it beautiful with abundant branches, the envy of all the trees of Eden in the garden of God. Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because it towered on high, lifting its top above the thick foliage, and because it was proud of its height, I handed it over to the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with according to its wickedness. I cast it aside, and the most ruthless of foreign nations cut it down and left it. Its boughs fell on the mountains and in all the valleys; its branches lay broken in all the ravines of the land. All the nations of the earth came out from under its shade and left it. All the birds of the air settled on the fallen tree, and all the beasts of the field were among its branches. Therefore no other trees by the waters are ever to tower proudly on high, lifting their tops above the thick foliage. No other trees so well-watered are ever to reach such a height; they are all destined for death, for the earth below, among mortal men, with those who go down to the pit. The cedars of Lebanon were the straightest tallest most majestic of trees. They represented all that was proud and haughty. God builds up its beauty and strength and apparent protection first in order to show how easy it is for him to topple it. That which men prize most highly is nothing in the sight of the creator; it is a twig, a toothpick. Verse 18 reminds us that this will happen to Egypt as well. In Ezekiel 17 God said that He would break off a twig from the cedar that represented mighty Babylon and plant it on the mountains of Israel and it would prosper. Thus God brings down the high and mighty and exalts the low.

V Hell

In the last chapter, 32, there is another lament for the king of Egypt. it is terrible in its description of humiliation and pain, but it is the end of the chapter to which i wish to direct your attention. The uncircumcised are there together, Assyria, Elam, Meshech, Tubal, Tyre and Sidon, Edom, and Egypt, and it is a description of hell. And we read in verses 31 and 32, Pharaoh-he and all his army-will see them and he will be consoled for all his hordes that were killed by the sword, declares the Sovereign LORD. Although I had him spread terror in the land of the living, Pharaoh and all his hordes will be laid among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword, declares the Sovereign LORD. Console or comfort is a strange word to use when speaking of eternal punishment. Perhaps this is the ultimate expression of “Misery loves company.” Commentators explain, “Pharaoh will see in the nether world all the greater and smaller heathen nations with their rulers; and when he sees them all given up to the judgment of death, he will comfort himself over the fate which has fallen upon himself and his army, as he will perceive that he could not expect any better lot than that of the other rulers of the world.” “He shall console himself, on finding that all other proud boasters are in the same circumstances with himself. Here is a reference to a consciousness after death.” In the Old Testament circumcision proved outwardly that you were a true Israelite, and to be uncircumcised meant you were a heathen.

Conclusion

Is the wrath of God coming upon this generation? Surely we deserve it, yet we go blithely on thinking we can lean on the reed, trust the arm of the flesh, find shelter in the tree. The only shelter is in Jesus Christ. He is the Word, he is one who will not bruise the broken reed, and humbled Himself so that He might be exalted. He is the arm of the Lord mighty to save, He is the tree planted by the living waters that bears his fruit in his season, and He is the one of whom it is said he was dead and is now alive for evermore because death and hell could not hold him. Trust in him not in the world the flesh and the devil.