Ver. 1. The word of the Lord.] See Ezekiel 18:1.
Ver. 2. Woe worth the day.] Ah! de die ista. This shall be the voice much more of reprobates at that last “day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” (Romans 2:5) Enoch foretold this dreadful day before Noah predicted the deluge. That day is longer before it comes, but shall be more terrible when it is come.
Ver. 3. A cloudy day.] Heb., A day of a cloud, which was rarely seen in Egypt.
Ver. 4. Great pain.] Heb., Pain upon pain, as the throes in childbirth.
Ver. 5. Chub.] Certain Africans, who shall be worse put to it than were those succeeding Africans, who had a prophecy (but not of like credit with this of Ezekiel), that when the Romans sent an army into their country, Mundus cum tota sua prole periret, which made them think the world should then be at an end. But afterwards the Romans sent an army thither under the conduct of one Mundus, who in battle was slain, together with his sons, by the Africans, and discovered the illusion of the devil. The Septuagint render Chub Spaniards, which I like the better, saith Lavater, because Strabo saith Nebuchadnezzar came with his victorious army as far as Spain. Lib. xv.
Ver. 6. They that uphold Egypt shall fall,] i.e., Their confederates; or, as some, their tutelar gods. Herodotus writeth that Cambyses wasted with the sword Egypt and Ethiopia, killed their god Apis, and defaced all their idols. This he did, doubtless, rather in scorn of all religion than hatred of idolatry. And the pride of her power shall come down.] Tumbling down as a great and weighty bullet from a very high and steep mountain. From the tower of Syene.] See Ezekiel 29:10.
Ver. 7. And they shall be desolate.] See Ezekiel 29:10.
Ver. 8. And they shall know that I am the Lord.] Men will not take knowledge of this till they have paid for their learning, Vexatio dat intellectum. Smart makes wit. When I have set a fire in Egypt.] War is fitly compared to fire; it feeds upon the people. See Isaiah 9:19. [See Trapp on “Isa 9:19”] Non est perissologia: repetitur cum fructu. -Lavat.
Ver. 9. In that day shall messengers go forth from me,] i.e., The Chaldeans, by an instinct from me to subdue Ethiopia also. In ships.] For Nile was navigable: “ Lene fluit Nile. ’’— Claudian. To make the careless Ethiopians.] Heb., Confident Cush. Security ushereth in calamity. As in the day of Egypt.] That cloudy day, (Ezekiel 30:3) when clouds of blood were dissolved upon them. Or that dismal day of old, when they perished in the Red Sea. (Exodus 15:10)
Ver. 10. I will also make the multitude.] Or, The great noise and hurry. They shall have no more cause to complain that they are too many of them, so that they cannot one live by another.
Ver. 11. The terrible of the nations.] Tyranni gentium. Homo homini lupus.
Ver. 12. And I will make the rivers dry.] The Chaldees shall drink them up; [as 2 Kings 19:24] or I will dry them up, for a punishment of your vain trust in them, and boasting of them. (Ezekiel 29:3,9) And sell the land.] Pass it away utterly from you. “The earth is the Lord’s”; he is the true proprietary.
Ver. 13. I will also destroy their idols.] He did so by Cambyses. See on Ezekiel 30:6. He doth so still by the Turks. When they invade Popish countries, they break down their mawmets. Out of Noph.] Called also Moph, (Hosea 9:6) afterwards Memphis (the metropolis of idolatry; Nazianzen calleth it ανοια, the mad city, because ειδωλομανης, madly set upon idols, Apis especially), afterwards Babylon, and now Alcair; famous for its incredible greatness, fair situation, pillars and pyramids. It was the seat royal of the sultans, till taken by the Turks from Camson Gaurus and the Mamelukes about the year 1515. And there shall be no more a prince.] For forty years at least.
Ver. 14. And I will set fire.] See on Ezekiel 30:8. In Zoan.] Or Tanis, the inhabitants whereof are said to be those giants called Titans. And will execute judgments in No.] Populous No, (Nahum 3:8) called afterwards Alexandria, now Scanderoon.
Ver. 15. And I will pour my fury upon Sin.] Called afterwards Pelusium, and now Damiata. The strength of Egypt.] The key of the kingdom. Deserto Sinis nomen dedit.
Ver. 16. I will set fire in Egypt.] See Ezekiel 30:8.
Ver. 17. Aven.] Called also Heliopolis, and Thebe. Phibeseth.] Or Bubastis, called by Ptolemy, Heroum civitas.
Ver. 18. At Tehaphnehes.] Or, Daphne, the gate of Egypt, at which the Chaldees entered. A cloud shall cover her.] See Ezekiel 30:3.
Ver. 19. And they shall know.] See on Ezekiel 30:8.
Ver. 20. In the eleventh year.] The year wherein Jerusalem was destroyed, notwithstanding Pharaoh’s fair promises and proffers to relieve her.
Ver. 21. I have broken the arm.] Ita ut nulla arte vel ope; so that by no means or medicines it can be made whole again. Losses received in war can hardly be repaired.
Ver. 22. And will break his arms.] I will utterly disable him, and drive the field of him. He shall neither be able to defend himseff or offend his enemy. See Psalms 37:17.
Ver. 23. And I will scatter the Egyptians.] Send them captive into other countries, as by a whirlwind or hurricane. This metaphor we have often met with. He was afterwards hanged.
Ver. 24. And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon.] God, as he sends the sword, (Ezekiel 14:17) musters the men, (Isaiah 13:4) orders the ammunition, (Jeremiah 50:25) renders the weapons vain or prosperous, (Isaiah 54:17) so he strengtheneth and weakeneth the arm of either party. Herod.
Ver. 25. But I will strengthen.] See Ezekiel 30:25. And they shall know.] See on Ezekiel 30:8.
Ver. 26. See Ezekiel 30:23. They would hardly believe it, and therefore are so often assured of it.