Egypt’s Downfall
The dating of the prophecy contained in chapter 32 is exactly two
months after the news of Jerusalem’s downfall reached those who had already
been exiled. At this point, Egypts
downfall was a certainty in Ezekiel’s mind. God had dealt with Jerusalem. He would deal with Ammon. Then He would deal with Tyre and Sidon. Then Egypt would fall. There was going to be no stopping this
Babylonian regime now that it had gotten going.
Until God said stop, nothing would stop it.
Crocodile Hunt
Egypt is pictured as a monster of the waters. What better image for Egypt than a
crocodile. But what is neat here is how
the Lord says that He is going to deal with Egypt. A host of many people will throw the net of
the Lord over the Egyptians. It will start with the Babylonians – who were
themselves a host of many Mesopotamian tribes.
The Persians would follow suit. Then
the Greeks would dominate over Egypt. Then
the Romans. A host of many nations will
throw the net over the Lord over Egypt.
A host of many nations will bring them down and hold them down.
It’s like an old-fashioned crocodile hunt. How do you hunt a crocodile? Not alone, that’s for sure! You hunt a crocodile by getting a big group
of people together. Then you throw a net
over the crocodile to confine his thrashing.
Then you eventually pile on and pin the beast down until you can secure
him. Quite literally, this is what God
plans to do to Egypt. God will bring
them down low and humble them with nation after nation after nation.
Throwback to the Plagues
As we go through these verses, I could help how many times I felt
like the plagues were being referenced.
Rivers flowing like blood.
Blotting out the sun. Darkening
the stars. Destruction of the
animals. Darkening out the day. It feels like a minor recapping of the first
exodus.
While certainly not all the plagues are mentioned again, I think
God is indeed making a point here. The
Egyptians got a taste of God’s power once.
They did not humble themselves.
So they will taste the same cup of wrath once more. This time, Egypt will be brought low. God isn’t just going to pull His people away
from their influence; God is going to bring the nation of Egypt low.
These are words to heed.
God often gives us multiple opportunities to confess and repent. God often gives us chance after chance to
seek Him and follow Him. When we don’t
we can expect judgment. We can expect
Him to allow us to get what is truly coming to us. Sometimes it does take multiple attempts to
actually learn the lesson. But you can
be assured that the process of learning the lesson will be a humbling one.
Speaking of Being Made Humble
In the second half of the chapter, Ezekiel is given a great
message to give to Egypt. God asks if
Egypt believes itself to be grander than all of the other nations. God asks if they are surpassing the splendor
of the other nations.
Then God brings out the boom.
God consigns Egypt to Sheol. God
tells Egypt to go lie down among the other nations. The truth is, Egypt is no different. It is no more grand. It is deserving of no special treatment. It is to go and take its place among the dead
just like all the other nations.
Yes, Egypt may have lasted longer.
It may have cradled civilization longer.
It may have had a large block on the timeline of the world than most
other countries. But that doesn’t make
it any more special. It doesn’t make it
any more grand. It is a nation full of
human beings just like all the other nations.
What is important is not how long they thrived or how much they
accomplished. What is important is
whether or not they humbled themselves before God.
For the record, like all nations they didn’t.
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