Ezekiel 32

of what the Lord was doing, and this was the most painful and costly of all his “action sermons.” In order to preach one sermon, Ezekiel had to lose his wife. But Ezekiel commanded the Jewish exiles to mourn over the loss of the temple just as he had mourned over the loss of his wife, without loud wailing, copious weeping, or any change in their dress or eating habits. The death of the prophet’s dear wife was an act of God, and so was the destruction of the temple. The woman who had died was innocent of any gross sin, but the temple had become a den of thieves. God gave Ezekiel only one day’s notice that he would become a widower, but He had been speaking to sinful Judah for many years and they had not listened. The destruction of the temple and the city should not be a surprise to anybody.

But how did the people know that the prophet was telling the truth? They didn’t have instant news service as we have today, so perhaps the whole thing was only Ezekiel’s way of dealing with his wife’s death. But God said that a messenger would arrive in Babylon with the news of the fall of the city and the destruction of the temple, and this occurred five months later, on January 8,585 BC (33:21–22).

The next day, God opened the prophet’s mouth and removed the discipline He had imposed at the beginning of his ministry (3:25–27). From this point on, the prophet was free to speak as he felt led, and at the same time, the focus of his ministry shifted. He had exposed the nation’s sins and announced her judgment. Now he would announce God’s plans for the Gentile nations, including victorious Babylon; and then he would minister hope to the Jewish exiles and share with them visions of the kingdom yet to come.

Ezekiel has been a faithful servant of God, even to the point of sacrificing his beloved wife so he could declare the word of God. What an example of dedication!

Egypt is the seventh nation in Ezekiel’s “judgment cycle” and receives more attention than any of the other nations the prophet addressed. Centuries before, Egypt had made the Jewish people suffer greatly as slaves, and even after the division of the Jewish kingdom, the Egyptians were a thorn in the flesh to the Jews and a most undependable ally. But the Jews were like their father Abraham (Gen. 12:10–20) and their ancestors (Ex. 14:10–12; 16:1–3; Num. 11:4–9, 18; 14:1–5) in that, whenever a crisis loomed, they were prone to look to Egypt for help. The longer the Jews were away from Egypt, the more they idealized their experiences there and forgot about the slavery and the toil. Of course, King Solomon had married an Egyptian princess and did a considerable amount of business with Egypt, but after he died, those bonds began to unravel. “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,” warned Isaiah during an international crisis (Isa. 31: nkjv; see 30:1–2), and he would give the same warning to God’s people today. Believers who look to the world for help, instead of trusting in the Lord, commit the same sin that the Jews often committed.

These four chapters are composed of seven messages (or oracles) that God gave to Ezekiel to deliver to the Egyptians and to the Jewish exiles. The phrase “the word of the Lord came,” or a similar statement, marks off each message. Six of these seven messages are dated (the third one is not—30:1–19), so we are able to fit them into the chronology of the book. Each of the messages presents a picture—or metaphor—of the impending judgment of Egypt.

The date of this oracle is March 5, 585 BC two months after the exiles in Babylon received the news that Jerusalem had fallen (33:21–22). The “monster” theme was used in 29:1–16, but Ezekiel uses it again to bring out some additional spiritual truths.

The monster captured (vv. 1–10). This is an “official lamentation” for the king of Egypt who thought he was a great lion but in God’s sight was only a crocodile. Pharaoh thrashed about in the water and made a big scene, but all he did was muddy the waters and create problems by disobeying the Lord.

In chapter 29, God caught the Egyptian “crocodile” with a hook, but now Egypt is so weak, it can be easily caught with a net. (See 12:13; 17:20; 19:8.) God would take the crocodile to the land and leave him there to die, and the vultures would devour the carcass, reminding us of 29:3–5. But he adds two more images: the land drenched in blood and the heavens shrouded in darkness (vv. 6–8). These are reminders of the first and ninth plagues before Israel’s exodus from Egypt, the turning of the water into blood and the darkness for three days (Ex. 7:20–24; 10:21–29). According to Revelation 8:8–9, a similar judgment will fall during the great tribulation.

The description of the signs in the heavens makes us think of the future day of the Lord described in Joel 3, Amos 5:18–20, and Matthew 24. It has well been said that past events cast their shadows before, and so it will be with the fall of Egypt. It was a dress rehearsal for the judgments of the last days. Once again, Ezekiel explained that just as the fall of Assyria caused a shock wave to go through the nations (30:16; see 27:35; 28:19), so the fall of Egypt will frighten the nations (32:9–10). But will they learn from this experience and turn to the Lord? No, they will go right on sinning and rebelling against His truth.

The monster punished (vv. 11–15). Here the prophet repeated the prophecy that the sword of Babylon would leave Egypt desolate and that all of Egypt’s pride and pomp would vanish. Even the animal life in the land would be destroyed as it was during the plagues of Egypt in Moses’ time. With no people and animals available to work the land and draw the water, the streams and canals wouldn’t be muddied and the water would “run like oil” with nothing to impede its flow. This is in contrast to Pharaoh’s behavior described in verse 2. Ordinarily, the flowing of oil is a picture of peace and prosperity from God’s blessings, but in this case, it speaks of peace because of God’s judgment. No humans or animals are there to stir up the mud and defile the water. But the picture also reminds us that Egypt’s defeat would help to bring peace to the “pool” of nations.

This is the seventh oracle and since no other date is recorded, we assume it was given two weeks after the previous message—March 17, 585 BC. It follows the style of 31:15–18 and describes the people of Egypt descending into sheol, the world of the dead. Ezekiel was instructed to wail because of the multitudes of people who would be slain by the swords of the Babylonians.

The picture is grim and almost macabre as the other nations welcome Pharaoh and his hosts and taunt them as they arrive in the underworld. We might paraphrase their words, “So you thought you were so beautiful and strong? Look at you now! You prided yourselves in being a circumcised people, but now you are lying down in death with the uncircumcised. Like us, you thought you were invincible, but now you have joined us in death and decay. You are no longer on a throne— you are in a grave! Your bed is a sepulchre.”

Ezekiel named some of the nations, great and small, that welcomed Pharaoh and his people to sheol: Asshur (v. 22), which is Assyria; Elam (v. 24), an area in Iran; Meshach and Tubal (v. 26), probably located in Asia Minor; and Edom and the Sidonians, neighbors of Israel (vv. 29–30). Like the king of Assyria before him (31:16), Pharaoh would see all these princes and common people and be comforted that he wasn’t the only one defeated and slain.

Death is the great leveler; and as John Donne reminded us, when the funeral bell tolls, “it tolls for thee.” There are no “kings and commoners” in the land of the dead, and we can’t enter that land in peace and safety without faith in Jesus Christ. “‘O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:55–57 nkjv).