29:1 This is another dated prophecy. It came to Ezekiel in the year before his first oracle against Tyre (26:1), namely, in 587 B.C.
29:2 The Lord directed His prophet to turn his attention to the south, to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to all of Egypt, and to announce a message of judgment. As often in such prophecies, the king is a metonym (figure of speech) for his nation.
29:3 Like the king of Tyre and his people, Pharaoh and Egypt had also been guilty of pride. He had become like a great river monster (Heb. tannim, probably a crocodile of which there were many in the Nile) because he had taken credit for the Nile River, the lifeblood of the nation.400Rather than giving God thanks for this resource, the king had proudly claimed responsibility for it.
"This was [Pharaoh] Hophra's ([Gr.] Apries') arrogant self-image. Herodotus implied that Pharaoh Apries was so strong in his position that he felt no god could dislodge him.401In his reign he sent an expedition against Cyprus, besieged and took Gaza (cf. Jer 47:1) and the city of Sidon, was victorious against Tyre by sea, and considered himself master over Palestine and Phoenicia. . . . This arrogance had also shown itself in an attempt to interrupt Babylonia's siege of Jerusalem--an attempt thwarted by God."402
29:4 The Lord promised to remove Pharaoh and his people from their land, as a fisherman pulls a crocodile out of the water with hooks. He would remove the river-dragon along with the lesser fish that would cling to it. These fish probably refer to the neighbor nations and allies of Egypt that relied on her. Normally people caught crocodiles by placing hooks in their jaws and then dragging them onto land where they killed them.403In the delta region of Egypt, the Egyptians worshipped the crocodile as a god, Sebek, which they believed protected their nation (cf. 32:2; Ps. 74:13; Isa. 27:1; 51:9). Thus God promised to destroy Pharaoh, Egypt, and the god supposedly responsible for their protection.
29:5 The Lord would carry the dragon into a wilderness along with its dependent fish where they could not return to water. There the beasts and birds would devour Egypt. Hophra (588-569 B.C.) would not receive a royal burial, which was extremely important to the Pharaohs and all the Egyptians. History records that Ahmose II (Gr. Amasis), another Egyptian leader, strangled Hophra and took his place.404
29:6-7 When God did this the Egyptians would know that Yahweh is the only true God. He would also do this because Egypt had been unfaithful to follow through on its promises to help the Israelites. They had proved to be as weak a support as one of the reeds that grew along the banks of the Nile (cf. Exod. 2:3). People used a staff as a cane or walking stick for support when they walked on rough terrain (cf. Zech. 8:4; Mark 6:8; Heb. 11:21). But when the Judahites had relied on the Egyptians this ally had broken and had even injured God's people (cf. 2 Kings 18:21; Isa. 36:6; Jer. 37:7). The Israelites, of course, should not have trusted in Egypt, but this did not excuse the Egyptian's for breaking their covenants with Israel.
29:8-9a As punishment, Yahweh would bring war into Egypt that would slay man and beast. Egypt would become desolate and waste, and people would learn that the Lord is God.
29:9b-10 The Lord repeated that He would devastate Egypt for her pride and self-sufficiency. The whole land would suffer destruction, from Migdol, in the northeast delta, to Syene, in the south near modern Aswan, and to the very border of Ethiopia, at the extreme southern end of the land.405Ancient Ethiopia (Cush, Nubia) corresponds to modern southern Egypt, Sudan, and northern Ethiopia.
29:11-12 Egypt would not be inhabited for 40 years, and other desolated lands would surround her. Her cities would lie waste, and her people would disperse among other nations and live in other countries. Egypt's fate was like a repetition of Israel's in the wilderness (cf. 4:6). Egypt did indeed fall to the Babylonians in 568 B.C.
29:13-14 At the end of 40 years, the Lord promised to gather the Egyptians back to their original land, the land of Pathros, Upper (southern) Egypt, from the countries where they had fled (cf. Isa. 11:11). There the Egyptians would become a lowly kingdom in contrast to the great kingdom that they had been in former centuries (cf. Dan. 11:36-45). Forty years after Egypt fell to the Babylonians, the Persians, who had by that time defeated the Babylonians, allowed the Egyptians to return to their homeland. This was the foreign policy of the Persians under which the Israelites were also able to return to their land.406
29:15-16 Egypt would be the lowest of the kingdoms and would never again be a superpower in the world. The Egyptians would not even rule over other nations. Egypt would then be no temptation for Israel to rely on. Her lowly state would remind the Israelites of their folly in trusting in Egypt earlier. Then all would know that the Lord is God.
