Egypt
This last prophecy against the nations deals with Egypt. It is actually a series of prophecies along
the lines of what we saw with Tyre. It
makes sense that Egypt is saved for last for multiple reasons. First, Egypt was the first nation to truly
oppress the Hebrew people. The enmity
between God and the Egyptians is old.
Second, Egypt is the stereotype in the Bible for the place that the Hebrew
people longed after other gods. Third,
Egypt is the nation time and time again to which the Hebrew people turned for
help against enemies from the north and east.
They were the beginning of the trouble and they were the consistent path
of turmoil throughout the life of the Hebrew people as an independent nation.
Who Is God
Like the people of Tyre, God has an issue with the Egyptians over
the identification of their leader as a god.
The Egyptians believed Pharaoh was a god. They believed that their Pharaohs were
responsible for all the benefits of Egypt.
They denied the Creator His place.
The denied the Creator His generosity.
I love the imagery used here to describe the Egyptians. Some translations say “the great dragon,” but
I really like the translation “great lizard.”
The crocodile was an Egyptian symbol of strength and ferocity. God acknowledged that this was a part of
their identity and based a punishment around it. This strong and ferocious beast would be dragged
out of the Nile and cast among the wilderness.
The monster called Egypt would be taken out of its element and humbled.
God said that the Egyptians would also be drawn into
captivity. We do know that Nebuchadnezzar
does dive into Egyptian land and push back the armies of Pharaoh. Pharaoh is tamed by the Babylonians and for a
time becomes a vassal of the Babylonian Empire.
A Staff That Breaks in the Hand
God then condemns Egypt for being a staff or reed that breaks in
the hand when grasped. Such a tool only
serves to splinter and harm the person who has grasped it.
Now, don’t get me too wrong.
I don’t think Egypt set about saying, “We’ll show those Hebrew
people. We’ll promise them help but we
really know we’re not capable of fulfilling our obligations.” Actually, what I think the Lord is getting at
is that they were proud and arrogant.
They didn’t know their limitations.
They promised things they couldn’t deliver – but thought that they
could. They promised help and protection
and never came through. God despises the
Egyptians because they were unable to grasp a true and real picture of who they
really were and what they could really accomplish. They were unable to be honest with
themselves.
I think there is a really neat lesson in this passage. God desires us to be real. God desires us to true about ourselves. And in doing so, we should realize that when
people come to us for help we need to point them to God rather than make
unhealthy promises we cannot keep. We
can be the tool in God’s hands, but we need to realize that only God can help
the people around us. We cannot promise
them anything. We can point them to the
God who can.
Grace
As we continue to look at this chapter, we discover that God will
drag them into captivity. But it won’t
be forever. God does not desire to
destroy Egypt for all ages. Egypt will
share the same fate as the Hebrew people.
After all, they wanted to be allies in war; they should be allies in
judgment, too!
But this is such an interesting point. As much as God resented Egypt for being a perpetual
stumbling block to His people, God does not destroy them. God will allow Egypt to continue to
exist. There is grace even for the
long-standing enemy of God’s people.
However, this grace is not an unlimited grace. Egypt will not rise again to the power of the
nations. Egypt will be able to collect
themselves and regroup when the Persians defeat the Babylonians. Egypt will be held in check and largely
dominated by Greece. Rome would likewise
dominate the scene as far as Egypt was concerned. The Egyptians would continue to exist, but
their humble position among the nations would be a reminder to the Hebrew people
regarding the judgment of God and His expectations of repentance and
righteousness.
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