Ezekiel Chapter 30

Wednesday, 02/11/26 at 10:03
Solitary Man
solitaryman.substack.com

20251207

Eze 30:1 The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying,

The judgment on Egypt continues. This is the 2nd of 4 chapters concerning that topic. This is also one of the few prophecies that is not given a specific date. The first Egyptian prophecy was on the 10th year, 10th month, 12th day of the month (Ez 29:1). There was an insert of the 27th year, 1st month, 1st day in Ez 29:17. Ex 30:20 will give us the next date as the 11th year, 1st month, 7th day of the month. It is safe to assume that this prophecy was given between the 10th and 11th year.

Eze 30:2 Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl (yaw-lal – wail, yell) ye, Woe worth (haw – to express grief, only time in OT) the day!

The word begins with an exhortation to lament and cry woe. So we know that this is not good news. Egypt is given special consideration here. It will be continually stated that the goy, or the Gentiles, will attack her, and that she will be scattered amongst the goy. Almost as if God is not treating Egypt like the goyim, but like Israel. This hearkens back to that strange verse in Isaiah that we have already covered:

Isa 19:24 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:
Isa 19:25 Whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.

We can only speculate about why God seems to speak of Egypt as more his own people than any other Gentile nation out there. It must have something to do with the fact that the Hebrews spent hundreds of years in that land. Another important point is if you do a search for Egypt, you will be surprised at how many times God or his spokesman refers to the deliverance out of Egypt. It is the miracle that God speaks about the most frequently. The third consideration is that this point in time seems to represent when Egypt is fully stripped of all military and political power and influence as far as world affairs go. It is like God sees this as an end of an era. However you wish to explain it, Egypt is quite significant in God’s eyes.

Maybe the lesson here is that any Gentile nation that houses God’s people will come under special scrutiny and attention by the Father. Whereas this applied to the Jews primarily, one could make the case that the grafted in Gentiles that compose the church may also fall under this category. And in truth, we all believe this, do we not? Do we not all think that the western Christian lands are especially blessed? But that works both ways. As Egypt sinned, God paid particular attention to them, pronouncing sentence. So it is with us. We love to grab the promises that God gave Israel when it comes to the blessings, but we need to be equally aware that if this is the case, then the curses apply to us as well.

And don’t try to wiggle out of it by quoting that one verse of scripture which says that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law. That does not mean that we are exempt from God’s judgment for our sins. All it means in that context is that salvation does not come by one’s works, but by accepting the free gift of grace. Paul was speaking of how to be saved. That is the only curse that was broken.

Gal 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Gal 3:11 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
Gal 3:12 And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
Gal 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

If we read all 4 verses above, it clearly states that the curse we are freed from was the one where all the law had to be kept, in order to achieve the certainty of being justified in the eyes of Yehovah.

We know the various types that Egypt represents. First and foremost, it is the flesh. It is the world that we escaped from, the land of sin, when we came to Christ. God also uses it as a pejorative term for Israel (Rev 11:8). While Egypt is a very weak power in the world today, that all stems from prophecies such as this one found in Ezekiel. We have already seen in the last chapter how God promised to make them permanently weak.

Eze 30:3 For the day is near (kaw-robe – at hand), even the day of the LORD is near (kaw-robe), a cloudy (aw-nawm – from a root meaning to cover, practice magic and sorcery) day; it shall be the time of the heathen (goy – gentile).

Normally, any time one sees the phrase ‘the day of the Lord’, it automatically refers to the end times. We have covered this day in several commentaries already, most notably the book of Joel. But as in most things, here is a verse that is an exception to the rule.

When one continues to read the rest of the chapter, very little is said that unequivocally points to the end times. The whole chapter is about Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon being used by Yahweh to judge Egypt. Not at the end times, but at the time that Ezekiel is speaking. Soon after Neb took care of Judah, he then went and throttled Egypt once and for all. Having already soundly thrashed them in 605 BC at Carchemesh, apparently they had a Pharaoh (Hophra) who had much in common with the typical youth of today. That is, he lived in his own version of reality. Today’s youth thinks they can choose their gender, or even their species. They think that cow farts are destroying the planet via climate change. The believe that Kamala Harris would have made a much better president than Donald Trump.

Well this Hophra guy thought that he was so powerful, that no god could ever yank him from his throne! Puffed up from some minor military triumphs, he conveniently forgot that he was supposed to be in subjection to Nebuchadnezzar. When Judah fell, the assassins and rebels fled to Egypt. Obviously Egypt had no problem harboring any enemy of Babylon.

Well you can guess what that would cause. As we learned in the previous chapter, Yehovah was looking for some way to compensate Nebby for taking care of Tyre’s destruction. So God orchestrated this rebellion in Judah, and caused those wicked fellows to flee to Egypt, which helped to seal Egypt’s fate. Now ole Neb had a double reason to go and clean out that ungrateful and rebellious nest of vipers.

So in that context, the day of the Lord can mean the day that judgment falls upon you. The planet is rapidly approaching the great and final day of the Lord. This one was merely a sneak preview of coming attractions, whipped up just for Egypt’s pleasure.

God calls it a day of darkness. Why so many believers eagerly look forward to this day is simply due to biblical ignorance. Remember how in the book of Joel, we found out that all those joyous songs that we sing are actually words that describe sheer terror? Evil will run rampant. God’s anger will be like the anger we have read about so far in Ezekiel towards Judah. Only now it will be directed at the entire planet. The day of the Lord is dark, gloomy, and it covers. That is, it envelops all. Magic and sorcery is involved, indicating the supernatural evil forces that are unleashed. Not only God’s anger, but satan’s rage will be on full display. This is the time of the final conflict between good and evil. Never has man witnessed such a thing, and never again shall they in the future.

God says that this shall be the time of the heathen, or Gentile. That means that this is when God turns his attention to the Gentile world. At the end of days, it is the Gentiles who are the focus of God’s wrath, though Israel is certainly being dealt with as well.

Perhaps Egypt will be one of the first nations to fall to the beast system which is the whore of Babylon, even as Egypt was to fall in Ezekiel’s time by the hand of Babylon. The antichrist will usher in the time of the heathen. For a short while the arch enemy of the Messiah shall take dominion over this planet. That will truly kick off the great and final day of the Lord.

Let us examine a few representative verses of this terrible day, and judge for ourselves what this time shall be like:

Isa 13:6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

Isa 13:9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

Joe 1:13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.

Joe 1:15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.

Joe 2:2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.

Oba 1:15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head.

Zep 1:7 Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the LORD is at hand: for the LORD hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.

Zep 1:14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.

If there are any spiritual allusions to the day of the Lord that is in our future, we will speak of them as we encounter them.

Eze 30:4 And the sword shall come upon Egypt, and great pain (khal-khaw-law – writhing as in childbirth, terror) shall be in Ethiopia (koosh – Cush), when the slain (khaw-lawl – pierced) shall fall (naphal) in Egypt, and they shall take away her multitude, and her foundations shall be broken down.

Ethiopia was Egypt’s neighbor and ally. They would be thrown into a great terror and panic when they saw Egypt being ravaged and its people being taken away to other lands. Once Egypt fell, what would stop the Babylonians from attacking their land? The best example today is if America fell to whomever, what would protect Canada? Only that in 2025, this is a poor example, as Canada has already been captured by various world interests such as China and the cabal.

The foundations being destroyed may be taken literally, as when cities are destroyed. And it may be taken metaphorically when society’s underpinnings are collapsed, such as a functional government, a sound military, the rule of law, and common culture. While the cities of the west are still standing, our foundations of western civilization are toppling at a record pace. What has become of the rule of law, rights and freedoms, security and economic soundness? How about the most important of all – our morality and ethics? Where has common sense gone, and the understanding of right and wrong, good and evil?

Eze 30:5 Ethiopia (koosh), and Libya (poot – Put, a son of Ham), and Lydia (lood – Lud), and all the mingled people (ay-reb – mixture, mongrel race, mixed multitude, Arabia), and Chub (koob – Chub, only time in OT), and the men of the land (eh-rets – earth) that is in league (ber-eeth – compact, the cutting of a covenant by passing between pieces of flesh), shall fall (naphal) with them by the sword.

The first three nations are all nations of Africa – Ethiopia, Put and Lud. Later Put became known as Libya. Lud also went by the name of Lydia. Gill’s exposition of the bible has the following to say. He was a Baptist pastor who lived from 1697 to 1771.

Cush and Phut were both sons of Ham, from whom Egypt is sometimes called the land of Ham; and Lud or Ludim was the son of Mizraim, the son of Ham, the common name of Egypt in Scripture, Gen 10:6. Cush is by us rendered Ethiopia; and is thought by some to be a part of Arabia, which lay near to Egypt. Phut and Lud are properly enough rendered Lybia and Lydia; and both these, with Ethiopia, are represented as the allies and confederates of Egypt, Jer 46:9. [end]

The mingled people would refer to the various soldiers of fortune that Egypt would have hired to augment their forces. Any time I see this phrase, I always am reminded that this may be a hint of something deeper. We know that God had several injunctions in the Torah against illicit mixtures. I see here a hint of the cross breeding of species and the mating of angels with human women in Genesis chapter 6 and the book of Enoch. We are seeing a revival of those abominations in our day. The covid injections were merely an introduction as to what is coming next.

Who these particular mingled people were at this time is up for speculation. Some think they are from other parts of Africa, some think from Arabia, and others think from the Greek islands, of all places.

The word koob, or Chub, is only mentioned here. Some think it was a province of Egypt. Others think it was some unknown African tribe. Maybe they came from Mauritania. Or perhaps they are Nubians.

No matter who Egypt hired to help them, they would suffer the same fate. Do not tie yourself to a losing horse! If a nation has a reputation for wickedness, chances are the judgments of the Lord are not far off. Allying yourself with someone such as that is not beneficial to your health.

This principle obviously applies at the personal level as well. It is not just the fact that the evil person will have a bad influence on you, but you are joining yourself to someone who potentially may be next in line to receive the wrath of the Lord! I don’t know about you, but you don’t want to be in the vicinity when that happens.

Num 16:26 And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.
Num 16:27 So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children.

When the earth swallowed these rebels alive down to hell, if you happened not to listen, but stayed close in order to get that video that you knew would go viral, you would have joined them in their judgment. So next time you think you should marry that unbeliever, remember what you are potentially exposing yourself to.

Eze 30:6 Thus saith the LORD; They also that uphold Egypt shall fall (naphal); and the pride (gaw-ohn – arrogancy, pomp, swelling) of her power (oze – strength, security, boldness) shall come down: from the tower (Migdol) of Syene (sev-ay-nay – seven) shall they fall (naphal) in it by the sword, saith the Lord GOD.

Whoever takes the side of Egypt will share in its fate. A believer who decides to turn back to the fleshpots of Egypt shall share Egypt’s fate. You will fall. Fall away into hell. You cannot live in Egypt and live in the promised land. Something has to give. Either face your giants in Canaan, or turn back (shoob) to Egypt and share in her judgments.

So who upholds Egypt? Everyone who gets their sustenance from her. Those who embrace this world, and ignore the next. Those that brag about what they have attained in this life will always be cast down.

The last portion of the verse should be translated as: ‘from Migdol to Syene’. That is, from north to south. All those caught in Egypt, in the world’s system of bondage to sin and pleasure, shall be cast down. Down to hell.

Eze 30:7 And they shall be desolate (shaw-mame – stun, stupefy, lay waste) in the midst of the countries (eh-rets) that are desolate (shaw-mame), and her cities shall be in the midst of the cities that are wasted (khaw-rab – parched, destroyed).

Ezekiel has already prophesied something very similar:

Eze 29:12 And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.

The meaning is that Babylon has laid waste many countries and cities all round Egypt. We have read about the destruction of Jerusalem, Tyre, Zidon, etc. Egypt would fare no better. Their demise would stun and stupefy their citizens. One could make the claim that God is speaking of the nations and the cities of those nations that are allied with Egypt. I think the verse is more likely speaking of Egypt itself, though both Egypt and her allies may be implied.

Here is a good place to hear what Matthew Henry has to say about all this. He was a Presbyterian minister and lived from 1662 to 1714.

The prophecy of the destruction of Egypt is very full. Those who take their lot with God’s enemies, shall be with them in punishment. The king of Babylon and his army shall be instruments of this destruction. God often makes one wicked man a scourge to another. No place in the land of Egypt shall escape the fury of the Chaldeans. The Lord is known by the judgments he executes. Yet these are only present effects of the Divine displeasure, not worthy of our fear, compared with the wrath to come, from which Jesus delivers his people. [end]

I don’t know about you, but reading all about God’s judgments in the book of Ezekiel thus far is certainly worthy of my fear! This book scares the ‘hell’ out of me. But of course, ole Matthew is correct. No temporal judgment that we face can remotely compare to that eternal judgment of the damned.

Eze 30:8 And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed (shaw-bar – burst, broken, crushed).

So we see that God still has Egypt and all her allies in mind. And what do we see yet again in this verse? The ultimate reason for God doing what he is doing. He wants to reveal himself to the people. In God’s mind, at least at this point in history, he seems to be very locked into revealing himself by one method only. And that is to judge the wicked nations. He does not decide to send revival, nor someone to perform healing and other positive miracles. No, it seems he is saving up all that positive stuff for when he sends his Son. For now, Yehovah believes the best way to make himself known is to instill such a fear of Him, that people will think long and hard before engaging in a life of wilful sin.

So here we come to a crossroad. Theologians agree that God was revealing himself primarily in judgments. But when he sent Jesus, it was as if he changed tactics. We are given the impression that God decided that this methodology is not working very well, as mankind continues to sin and sin, regardless of how much judgment he metes out. So he decided to go the love route. He sent his only begotten Son. And boy, what a change! So many millions came to know him. And so these scholars concluded that the judging is over, and its love, love, love from here on in!

Wrong! God did not send Jesus to correct an inferior and mistaken method of dealing with mankind. Those two things are apples and oranges. Sin will always be judged. Sending Jesus was simply the final step in God’s plan of redemption, conceived even before the foundation of the world. Judgment did not stop at the cross. But the cross gave us the opportunity to escape future judgment, if we chose to permanently embrace all that Christ provided for, and demanded of, us.

Eze 30:9 In that day shall messengers (mal-awk – angel) go forth from me in ships to make the careless (beh-takh – confident, secure, refuge) Ethiopians afraid, and great pain (khal-kaw-law) shall come upon them, as in the day of Egypt: for, lo, it cometh.

Ethiopia must have been known for their carefree existence:

Zep 2:12 Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword.

Zep 2:15 This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.

The fleeing Egyptians shall descend the Nile and flee to Ethiopia to escape the ravages of Babylon. They shall bring their fear with them, and that fear shall be contagious. The day of the Lord shall spare no one. They may have thought that they were far enough away from Babylon that they did not have to worry, but if God has called your number, where shall you run to escape?

This is a warning to all of us to not rely on anything in the days to come but the living God. You can prep all you want, but circumstances can change so suddenly, that they can render all that you do meaningless. You may be slated to suffer certain things. The best prep that you can undertake is not to prepare for the body, but to prepare for the soul. That is, train yourself to accept the fact that God may allow you to go through some very evil things, and you should learn to detach yourself from your possessions during this time of peace. We are witnessing all sorts of stories of people being stripped of their finances via government oppression. There are countless ways both God and the devil can strip you of all that you have. Is your heart ready for any eventuality?

Eze 30:10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also make the multitude of Egypt to cease (shaw-bath – put down, taken away) by the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon.

Depopulation is always on the agenda when a nation turns against the Lord. Throughout human history, children were always considered the greatest of blessings. Until now. Today, feminism was the tare that destroyed the plant of western civilization. Brainwashing the women of our nations by telling them that raising children was a burden and an impediment to true self fulfilment. Coupled that with the feminization of the men, and the gradual sterilization of all, and we now are not even producing enough children to replace ourselves, much less grow. A nation that shrinks in population is a nation ripe for conquest. In Egypt’s case, many people would be both carried off by Babylon, and also slain.

Today, the beast of Babylon has given us jabs to sterilize and depopulate. Because of the diversity of crises that we all face, the whole covid horror has almost been forgotten already. But we still have no idea exactly what they have done to us, nor do we know the long term effects. Some studies are suggesting that sperm counts and fertility rates continue to drop, while miscarriages rise. MRNA in the placentas of babies is being found in a disturbingly high percentage of pregnancies. All this to say that the judgments of the Lord, so thoroughly documented and endlessly repeated in places such as the book of Ezekiel, are alive and well today.

Eze 30:11 He and his people with him, the terrible (aw-reets – fearful, tyrannical) of the nations (goy), shall be brought to destroy the land (eh-rets): and they shall draw their swords against Egypt, and fill the land (eh-rets) with the slain (khaw-lawl).

In this verse, Babylon is said to have done quite a thorough job of depopulation by slaughter. While the secular and the biblical historians eye verses such as these with skepticism, claiming there is no historical account of this, the child of God has no such qualms. It should be quite clear to all of us that historical records are lost, incomplete, altered, and destroyed all the time. Also remember that we are 2500 years removed from this event. Look at how the left is trying to destroy our own histories. Wicked people stop at nothing to obfuscate the truth. Lies come as easy to the unjust as breathing. If the bible prophesied that Babylon would fill the land of Egypt with corpses, then that is what occurred.

We see that Yehovah has his uses for the particularly vile people of the planet. He uses them as instruments of judgment. Today, the Palestinians are the most vile creatures alive today. Yehovah needed them alive, in order that they would commit the type of atrocities that they committed on October 7, 2023, so as to give Israel the political will to fight Hamas and everyone in Gaza with the kind of determination that would not quit until the job gets done. Otherwise, a half measure of wickedness would have allowed the doves in government and the left to tamp down Israel’s response. Yehovah wants change in the Middle East in this season, and he will employ any group in any way as he sees fit.

Yehovah has sent the worst of the people to the west. The muslims are now in our lands, and are of sufficient number that they can launch continual violence. Our woke police forces are ill equipped to deal with them. Our leaders do not want them to deal with them. They only want the police to arrest the righteous for every public disagreement with official government policy. That is now the only action that is being defined as a crime worthy of prosecution.

Eze 30:12 And I will make the rivers dry, and sell the land (eh-rets) into the hand of the wicked (rah – bad, evil): and I will make the land waste (shaw-mame eh-rets), and all that is therein, by the hand of strangers (zoor – foreigner, profane): I the LORD have spoken it.

If you want to blame someone for climate change, blame God. He is the one who punishes with the weather. He can punish, or he can bless. The selling of the land most likely refers to God giving it to Nebuchadnezzar as wages for his army for his service in besieging Tyre. Maybe choice parcels were apportioned to certain officers as reward for service. It was common to do this. By emptying the nation of its people via slaughter and slavery and exile, much of the land would languish for a season. This would occur by this strange nation of Babylon despoiling it. In other words, when God judges, the opposite of prosperity is your lot.

Eze 30:13 Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also destroy (aw-bad – break, perish, make undone, make void) the idols (ghil-lool – log used as an idol), and I will cause their images (el-eel – good for nothing, vanities, thing of nought) to cease out of Noph; and there shall be no more a prince of the land of Egypt: and I will put a fear (yir-aw – dread) in the land of Egypt.

Noph is a contraction of Memphis, the capital of lower Egypt. One of the main reasons for judgment is to pronounce sentencing on a nation’s idols. They are called things of nought, of no value, vanities, all good for nothing whatsoever. No more prince means Egypt loses the right to rule itself. A spirit of fear will be given to the nation. This was what occurred during covid. People lost their minds during that madness. Remember how people were absolutely terrified during the height of it? There was nothing they wouldn’t do, if they thought it would protect them. Triple masks, with a face shield. Rat out your neighbor, even your parent or offspring, if they had company in their home. Scream like a banshee at anyone in public who wasn’t wearing a mask, even if just their nose was showing! People went jogging, and swimming, and worked out in a gym, all the while wearing a face diaper. Accumulating bacteria in those cesspools of saliva at a pace unparalleled in human history. But the TV kept telling them to slow the curve, its all safe and effective, stop the spread, we’re all in this together. And the TV never lies, don’t you know?

We need to break this fatal error in the church that thinks all that judgment which happened in the Old Testament over idolatry does not apply to us, because we do not have actual statues that we bow to. So we gloss over books such as Ezekiel, and think all this is never applicable to us.

Let the New Testament speak:

Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

All covetousness is idolatry. Coveting means you want something over and above your willingness to obey God. Everyone has desires. But coveting means that you are willing to do whatever it takes to get that object, if at all possible. While you may not murder and steal to get it, the thing you want occupies an inappropriate place in your heart. That is, the desire of it has exceeded lawful bounds. All things that we desire need to be restrained to such an extent that if Jesus were to tell us that the thing we want is not his will, then we immediately cast the desire aside permanently. If you cannot do this, you are coveting, and Paul calls that idolatry.

What were these old time idol worshippers doing? Why would they make statues, and bow down to them, and give them offerings? They coveted something. Maybe a child, a good harvest, some rain, or victory over an enemy. Maybe they desired sexual gratification. They believed that whatever being this statue supposedly represented, could be manipulated or bought over.

Now we may not be petitioning a fallen spirit to come to our aid, but desiring anything of this world more than God himself is a form of idolatry. Our modern culture may have lost a lot of the awareness of the spirit realm, so we don’t petition evil spirits directly like they used to, but our desires are the same. We just believe that we are on our own in achieving what we want. And we choose to put the commands of God at a lower priority in our life. We focus our efforts not on pleasing the Lord, but in pleasing self. So we have idolatry without the entity that the men of old appealed to. But whether we look to ourselves or to an evil spirit to slake our lust for some thing, we are not looking to God alone.

1Co 10:7 Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

Notice how entertainment and self fulfilment is all tied up with the sin of idolatry. It always revolves around instant self gratification. The devil promises us instant. That is more than enough to make most forget about God, since he often makes us wait.

Eze 30:14 And I will make Pathros desolate, and will set fire in Zoan, and will execute judgments (sheh-fet – sentence) in No (no – Thebes).

Pathros represented upper Egypt, the original and oldest seat of the kingdom. It was the fount of all Egyptian civilization and art. Zoan was Tanis, and was found in lower Egypt. No, also called No-Amon and Thebes was in upper Egypt, and was the place where the ruins of Luxor and Karmac are located. Thus these 3 represent both major provinces, and the major city of the entire nation. This speaks of the comprehensiveness of this destruction. Desolation, burning, and divine sentences. This nation is going down.

Eze 30:15 And I will pour my fury (khay-maw – hot anger, poisonous rage and wrath) upon Sin, the strength (maw-oze – fortified place, defence) of Egypt; and I will cut off (kaw-rath – cut a covenant, pass between the pieces, consume) the multitude of No.

Sin was also known by the name of Pelusium, according to most. It was a frontier city that protected the entrance to the desert of Sin. It was known for its defences, thus the label of the strength of Egypt. Whether we are talking about their finest military stronghold of Sin, or their finest city of No, it was all going to suffer Yahweh’s hot, poisonous wrath.

Eze 30:16 And I will set fire in Egypt: Sin shall have great pain (khool khool – twist, writhe, sore), and No shall be rent asunder (baw-kah – rent asunder, opened, ripped), and Noph shall have distresses (tsar – narrow, tight, tribulation, trouble) daily.

Remember Noph is Memphis, another capital city. No was Thebes. These great citadels of civilization were going to suffer great loss. We know of so many great buildings that have survived in Egypt. You wonder what was lost by the destructive forces of invading armies such as Babylon’s.

Eze 30:17 The young men of Aven (aw-van – pant in vain, come to nought, vanity, wickedness) and of Pibeseth shall fall (naphal) by the sword: and these cities shall go into captivity (sheb-ee – exiled, taken as prisoners).

It is believed that Aven was another name for On, the place of the priests.

Gen 41:45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.

It is fitting that Aven means vanity, or nothingness, since it represents one of the chief cities of Egypt’s pantheon of gods. Pibeseth was Bubastis, where a cat headed goddess was worshipped. This verse is specifically referencing the gods of Egypt. The people had taken such pride in the worship of these beings. Monuments such as the world had rarely seen decorated their cities. Yehovah had pronounced sentence on them way back in Exodus times:

Num_33:4 For the Egyptians buried all their firstborn, which the LORD had smitten among them: upon their gods also the LORD executed judgments.

Eze 30:18 At Tehaphnehes also the day shall be darkened (khaw-sak – restrained, preserved, held back), when I shall break there the yokes of Egypt: and the pomp (gaw-ohn – arrogancy, swelling) of her strength shall cease in her: as for her, a cloud shall cover her, and her daughters shall go into captivity (sheb-ee).

It is Matthew Poole’s turn to enlighten us, a Puritan scholar who lived from 1624 to 1679:

Tehaphnehes; a great and goodly city of Egypt. Tachapanes, Tachpanes, Tahapanes, Tahpanes, Chanes, and Hanes, Is 30:4, are names given it, and this from a queen of Egypt of that name in Solomon’s time, 1 Ki 11:19,20. It stood not far from Sin or Pelusium, and by the Greeks, a little softening the name, called Daphne Pelusiaca. It was a royal city, in it Pharaoh had a house; to it many Jews fled, when forbidden of the Lord by the prophet Jeremiah, Ezekiel 44. It was one of the first cities you come to out of the desert of Sin, and was one of the keys of Egypt. [end]

It is as if God would start specifying every major city in America, so that it would be clearly understood that no part of the nation escapes judgment. Neither New York, nor Washington, not Chicago, nor Los Angeles, none shall escape. This is something to keep in mind if you think that so called red states will escape the judgments of the Lord, just because you vote Republican. God judges nations. While individuals may be protected by the Lord, it is unlikely he will simply punish the blue states by themselves.

Egypt had placed many yokes of bondage on many peoples. Now their dominance was coming to an end. Her pride and arrogance will end, even as everyone’s pride has an ending. The time is a dark time, a cloudy time. Her women would be taken from them.

Times of judgment are symbolized by darkness and obscurity. One of the worst aspects of judgment is how ignorance and delusion swallows the minds of the people. Yahweh turns the people over to their wicked devices. They become blinded to the truth, and the world of the Lord disappears from off the land. Finding a true word of the Lord, and solid revelation, is difficult indeed.

Eze 30:19 Thus will I execute judgments (sheh-fet) in Egypt: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

This was quite a diatribe that Yehovah has unleashed on this nation. Sometimes it seems that God could have been a bit more succinct, but he wants us to feel his anger and his rage. After unloading on Judah for 24 chapters worth so far, I suppose 4 chapters for Egypt is hardly anything at all!

The idea here is the certainty of what God says. And isn’t that what sends people to hell in the end? It is not so much that people do not know that there is a God. They just don’t really believe what he says. Oh sure, there is that old book that is called the bible. It has all sorts of scary and crazy things that madmen of old wrote in it. But was that really the voice of God? Was that not their cultural expression of their time? Did not those words of prophecy simply express the longing for justice by good men? So the pagan convinces himself of these delusions, and so off he goes into hell, without ever seriously examining the foundations of his personal belief system. Judgments are meant to convince us that Yehovah is real. If you look at all the judgments of the Lord, and brush them off, then that is on you.

Eze 30:20 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

A new word is given. This one is addressed specifically to Pharaoh. We have dealt with the dating of this already, so all I will say is that this occurred about 3 months before the fall of Jerusalem.

Eze 30:21 Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller (bandage) to bind it (khaw-bach – wrap firmly, heal, compress), to make it strong to hold the sword.

The nation is judged by its leadership. This is what is so sad about a nation such as Canada today. We may have many wonderful believers, who serve God as best they know how. But our leadership for the last 11 years are some of the worst rulers on the planet today. In fact it is my personal opinion that Canada has not had a real leader that thought for himself since 1963. All others were left wingers, or what Americans call rhinos (conservative in name only).

Getting back to Pharaoh, he had sealed his fate by stating that not even a god could remove him from his throne. It is not a good idea to challenge Yahweh. The tense is such that it seems to refer to past defeats. Assyria, then Babylon at Carchemesh, had severely weakened the nation. God decrees that there shall be no healing of this wound. Nothing could even prop it up so that it could hold a sword to defend itself.

If God takes away his protection from off you, what can you possibly do to protect yourself? If we could only get a glimpse of how much we are being sheltered by God and his angels, we would strive to ensure that we did nothing that ever allowed that protection to wane.

Eze 30:22 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall (naphal) out of his hand.

Yahweh is promising that this guy will not rise again. Sometimes politicians like to make comebacks. Unlike Mr. Trump, there will be no second term for this evil man. God is against him, and that ends the matter right there.

Eze 30:23 And I will scatter (poots – dash in pieces) the Egyptians among the nations (goy), and will disperse (zaw-rar – toss about) them through the countries.

Now Yehovah speaks not of slaughter, but of exile. Whoever of note that was not killed, shall be sent out of the land. This judgment on Egypt has much similarity to the judgment on Judah, does it not?

Eze 30:24 And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand: but I will break Pharaoh’s arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly wounded (khaw-lawl) man.

Dan 4:17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

God decides to raise one up, and remove another. When we look at these despotic rulers, it makes one wonder why one despot is chosen by God and another thrown down. About the only rule I can see is that each one is given a certain period of time. Inevitably, each one’s sin moves the Most High to act to recompense their wickedness. One goes down, another takes their place, and the cycle begins once more. Solomon perceived these things, and it drove him nearly mad with jaded cynicism. Pharaoh’s kingship is in its death throes. He is groaning with the groans of one mortally wounded.

Eze 30:25 But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down (naphal); and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt.

How many ways can God say the same thing? Apparently, a lot! Of course, it is his prerogative to express himself any way that he sees fit. If he wants to hammer home the fact that Egypt is toast, and Babylon is my new best bud, then so be it.

Maybe we can see in these verses that all earth dwellers (Egypt) shall be placed under the dominion of the beast (Babylon). From east to west, north to south, from every city and stronghold, none shall escape. Many will die, many will be dispossessed. It is all up to the beast to do with them as he wishes.

Eze 30:26 And I will scatter (poots) the Egyptians among the nations (goy), and disperse (zaw-rar) them among the countries (eh-rets); and they shall know that I am the LORD.

This is the same as verse 23, with the addition of knowing that he is God.

It sure seems that this truth about God’s purpose for judgment in wanting everyone to know that he is the Lord is seen everywhere. We have heard it so often. But in fact, in this chapter it is spoken of 3 times. Still, it is a very repetitious theme in all of these prophetic utterances.

So what have we discovered about Egypt thus far? We began with a general judgment on this nation. A specific period of 40 years of desolation was pronounced upon it. We learned that the current Pharaoh had a big mouth, bragging that no god could unseat him. We then learned that Egypt and its resources will be given to Nebuchadnezzar as payment for the service he rendered to Yehovah in taking down Tyre, something that took him 13 years. We then moved into a judgment that singled out every major region, city and stronghold. We ended with a judgment against the ruler himself, where he was told his reign is permanently over.

A short note on the amount of repetition by Yehovah. Remember that God is speaking to a mainly uneducated people. Information is passed orally, not so much by the written word. Thus, important things are spoken of again and again, to reinforce and to ensure memorization. The average person did not have a bible to read anytime that they wanted. They needed to memorize. Today this is not the case, so we would expect Yahweh to speak differently. Think about the letters of Paul to the churches. Since they were meant to be read, they could be read again and again. So hopefully this provides a reasonable explanation as to why Yahweh is using repetition to such a prodigious degree.

It seems Yahweh has covered everything that needs to be said about this place. But we are only halfway done.

Solitary Man
https://solitaryman.substack.com/