Ezekiel 29:1 - Meaning and Application

This prophecy against Egypt was given in the tenth year of the captivity. It is placed after the prophecy against Tyre, which came in the eleventh year, because Tyre was destroyed first. Nebuchadnezzar’s success against Tyre was the reward for his service there, and after that came Egypt’s downfall. So the prophecy against Tyre is set first, to help us notice that order.

We should also note the timing of the first prophecy against Egypt. It came just when the king of Egypt was marching to help Jerusalem and lift the siege (Jeremiah 37:5), but he failed the hopes the Jews had placed in him. It is wise to see ahead of time how all human help will fail, especially when we are most tempted to trust it. Then we can learn to stop relying on man.

This prophecy is directed against Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and against all Egypt (Ezekiel 29:2). The prophecy against Tyre began with the people and then moved to the prince, but this one begins with the prince. That is fitting, because the first results of it were seen in the people’s unrest and rebellion against their ruler.

Pharaoh Hophra, the ruling Pharaoh, is pictured as a great dragon, or crocodile, lying in the middle of his rivers and playing in them (Ezekiel 29:3). The Nile River was known for crocodiles. In God’s sight, the king of Egypt was like a huge, harmful beast, full of danger and harm. So God says, “I am against you.” That can also mean, “I am above you.”

No matter how high earthly rulers rise, there is One higher than they is, namely God (Ecclesiastes 5:8). He can restrain them. If they are cruel and oppressive, he will also hold them to account. Pharaoh’s pride and ease come into view here. He rests in his rivers and enjoys his wealth and pleasures, and he says, “The Nile is mine; I made it for myself.”

He claims to be an absolute ruler, with subjects as his servants. He acts as if he is independent, with no partner above him and no rival beside him. He also acts as if he owes nothing to anyone. But worldly people often boast in what they possess and forget that everything we have is only held in trust from God. We are not our own. Our tongues are not our own (Psalm 12:4). Even our rivers are not our own, because their source is in God.

Pharaoh’s claim is even more foolish when he says, “I made it for myself.” In that, he takes to himself two things that belong to God alone, being the maker of all things and the one for whom all things exist. Only the great Creator can say of the world, and everything in it, “I made it for myself.” Pharaoh says this because he does not think about the Maker of the river or honor the One who formed it long ago (Isaiah 22:11). Whatever we have, we receive from God and should use for him. We cannot say, “We made it,” much less, “We made it for ourselves.” So why should we boast? Self is the great idol the world worships, while it refuses God and his rule.

God’s answer to this proud man is to humble him. Since he is like a great dragon in the waters, God will deal with him in a matching way (Ezekiel 29:4, 5). He will pull him out of his rivers. God has a hook and a cord for this leviathan, and he can control him even when no human power can (Job 41:1). God says, “I will bring you up out of the middle of your rivers,” meaning he will cast him out of his palace, his kingdom, and everything in which he took such comfort and confidence.

Herodotus says this Pharaoh had ruled in great prosperity for twenty-five years and had become so proud that he said God himself would not cast him out of his kingdom. But he would soon learn how mistaken he was, and what he trusted in would not protect him. God can drive men out of the very place where they feel safest.

All his fish will be drawn out with him. These are his servants, soldiers, and all who depended on him, though he thought they were the ones depending on him. They will cling to his scales and stand by him, resolved to live and die with their king. But the king and his army, the dragon and all the fish attached to him, will die together, like fish thrown on dry ground, and become food for beasts and birds (Ezekiel 29:5). This seems to have happened soon after, when Pharaoh went out to fight the Cyrenians in support of Aricius, king of Libya, who had been driven out by them. Pharaoh was defeated, his army fled, and his kingdom was so offended that the people rose in rebellion against him. So he was left abandoned in the wilderness, he and all the fish of the river with him. This is what pride, boasting, and careless security finally bring. People justly lose what they claim for themselves against God, when they forget they hold it only under him.

The reason God argues with Egypt is because they have wronged his people. They encouraged Israel to expect help from them in a time of trouble, but they failed them (Ezekiel 29:6, 7). They were like a staff of reed to the house of Israel. They offered support, but when weight was placed on them, they were either too weak to help or too false to care. They broke under Israel and caused great disappointment and pain, as if they had torn the shoulder and made the loins shake with fear.

It is likely that the king of Egypt had encouraged Zedekiah, king of Judah, to break his agreement with the king of Babylon, promising support if trouble came. But when Egypt failed to act with real strength, that left Judah in deep fear and confusion. God had already said long before that the Egyptians were broken reeds (Isaiah 30:6, 7). Rabshakeh had also said so (Isaiah 36:6). Now Israel found it to be true. Israel was foolish to trust them, and they suffered for it. God was right to let them be disappointed there. But Israel’s foolish trust does not excuse Egypt’s falsehood and betrayal, and it will not protect Egypt from the judgments of the God who avenges such wrongs.

It is a great sin to deceive people who trust us. It greatly provokes God, and it is also unjust, ungrateful, dishonorable, and unkind.