30:20 Ezekiel received this oracle against Egypt in 587 B.C., less than four months after the Lord gave him the first oracle (29:1-16).
30:21 Yahweh announced that He had broken Pharaoh's arm. It had not been set in a splint and supported, so he could not wield a sword effectively. This may refer to Egypt's defeat at Carchemish in 605 B.C. when Egypt lost its control over the ancient Near East (cf. 2 Kings 24:7; Jer. 46:2). Another possibility is that the defeat in view was Hophra's unsuccessful attack against the Babylonians near Judea a few months earlier (cf. Jer. 34:1; 21:23; 37:5, 9)
"Possibly the days between the first and fourth prophecies were approximately the length of time the siege on Jerusalem was lifted as Babylon repositioned its army to meet the Egyptian attack."415
30:22-23 The Lord was about to break Pharaoh's other arm and to break his previously broken arm again. Egypt would suffer another defeat at the hands of the Babylonians and would never again regain its former strength. Yahweh would scatter the Egyptians from their homeland, and they would go to live in other countries.
30:24-26 The Lord described the conflict between Babylon and Egypt as a conflict between two warriors. Nebuchadnezzar would break Hophra's arms as they battled. Egypt would groan like a wounded soldier. The people would know that Yahweh was God when He put His sword of power into Nebuchadnezzar's arms and strengthened him to defeat Hophra and when the Egyptians dispersed from their land (cf. v. 17-18, 23; 29:12).
"The flexed arm was a common Egyptian symbol for the Pharaoh's strength. Often statues or images of the Pharaoh have this arm flexed, wielding a sword in battle. A king with great biceps was especially a popular concept under the Saites Dynasty of Ezekiel's day. In addition Hophra took a second formal title that meant possessed of a muscular arm' or strong-armed' ([K. S.] Freedy and [D. B.] Redford, ["The Dates in Ezekiel in Relation to Biblical, Babylonian and Egyptian Sources,"Journal of the American Oriental Society903 (1970),] pp. 482-83)."416
This oracle does not specify Nebuchadnezzar as the king of Babylon who would defeat Pharaoh. Evidently his identity was a later revelation that came in the oracles of 571 B.C (29:17-21; 30:1-19). The point of this one is Yahweh's certain and complete destruction of Egypt's power.
