32:1 This is the first of two messages that Ezekiel received from the Lord concerning Egypt in 585 B.C. Less than two months had passed since the exiles had learned of Jerusalem's fall, which had occurred several months earlier (33:21). The Egyptians had also doubtless heard of Jerusalem's destruction. This oracle assured both the Jewish exiles in Babylon and the Egyptians, including the Jewish exiles there, that God would bring down Egypt. Jerusalem's destruction was to be no source of comfort for the Egyptians.
32:2 Ezekiel was to utter a lamentation over Pharaoh. In the other oracles of judgment against foreign nations recorded in this book, lament typically follows announcement (cf. ch. 19; 26:17-8; 27; 28:12-19). The same is true with the oracles against Egypt. The writer's desire to preserve this pattern is probably another reason he recorded the oracles of judgment in 29:17-21 and 30:1-19 out of chronological order.
Hophra had compared himself to a young lion, but he was more like the mythical sea-monster.419Again, the monster in view seems to be a crocodile (cf. 29:3). He had burst forth from the Nile and its estuaries muddying and fouling their waters. This symbolizes Pharaoh's disturbing influence on the international scene as he complicated God's dealings with other nations, especially Judah and Babylon.
32:3 The Lord announced that He would cast His net over Pharaoh using a large group of people as His instruments.420They would take Pharaoh captive, and the Egyptians would go into captivity. Since the Egyptians regarded the Pharaoh, the crocodile, and the Nile as manifestations of their gods, this announcement meant that Yahweh would humble Egypt's gods as well as bring her defeat.
32:4-6 Yahweh would set Pharaoh down in an open field and leave him on dry land, out of his element. Birds and beasts would then devour him (cf. 29:5; Matt. 24:28; Rev. 19:17-18). These animals of prey would carry his flesh and blood to distant mountains (cf. Exod. 7:19; Rev. 8:8) and fill the valleys and ravines with pieces of his carcass. This is a picture of the dispersion of the Egyptians from their land.
32:7-8 At the time God did this, He would darken the skies over Egypt so the light of the sun, moon, and stars would not shine on the land (cf. Joel 2:10, 28; Rev. 8:12-13). This announcement recalls the plague of darkness that the Lord sent before the Exodus (Exod. 10:21-23). He would again humiliate the gods that the Egyptians credited with bringing light and providing life.
"The overthrow of Egypt was a prelude [or foreview], as it were, to the destruction of world rule in the last days."421
32:9-10 Many onlooking peoples would be upset when they observed the destruction and dispersion of the Egyptians (cf. 26:16; 27:35). The kings of other nations would tremble for their own safety when they saw what God would do to Egypt.
32:11-12 The Lord promised to send the military power of Babylon against Egypt. The swords of these rapacious invaders would destroy the multitude of Egyptians and devastate their land.
32:13-14 The enemy would also slay the Egyptians' cattle. The Egyptians regarded many forms of cattle as manifestations of their gods. Finally the waters of Egypt would be undisturbed (cf. v. 2); there would be no people or animals left in the land to muddy them. The waters would settle and would flow as smoothly as oil. Some interpreters have taken this as a reference to the messianic age, but it probably does not look that far into the future.
32:15-16 When the Lord brought this devastation on the land and the people, they would know that He is God. He would again humble the gods of Egypt and demonstrate His sovereignty as He had done in the Exodus. Furthermore people of other nations would chant this lamentation when God punished Egypt, as professional wailing women did at funerals (cf. Jer. 9:17-20).
This oracle looks back and recalls aspects of the Exodus, God's former judgment of Egypt, and reveals that God would judge her again similarly. It also looks forward and anticipates a still future day of the Lord when God will humble all proud enemies of His people (cf. Joel 2:30-31; 3:15; Amos 8:9).
