_A LAMENTATION FOR THE FEARFUL FALL OF EGYPT. THE SWORD OF BABYLON SHALL DESTROY IT. IT SHALL BE BROUGHT DOWN TO HELL AMONG ALL THE UNCIRCUMCISED NATIONS._ _Before Christ 587._ TO the preceding funeral panegyric over Assyria, the fate of which was past, Ezekiel prophetically subjoins a similar pa... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE UP A LAMENTATION— As the style of the lamentations was always figurative and poetical, Ezekiel describes the king of Egypt as a great _dragon_ or _crocodile,_—for so the word תנים _tannim,_ should be rendered, and not _whale,—troubling the waters with his feet, and fouling the rivers;_ or distu... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH THY HEIGHT— Or, _With thy bulk._ Houbigant renders it, _With thy stench._... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL ALSO WATER WITH THY BLOOD, &C.— _I will water the land with thy blood; thy gore shall cover the mountains, and torrents shall abound from thee._ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL COVER THE HEAVEN, &C.— See Isaiah 24:23; Isaiah 30:26 where the same metaphors are used, to denote the downfal of states and governments.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL ALSO VEX, &C.— _I will also cause the hearts of many people to quake concerning thee, when I shall bring thy captives among the nations,_ &c. Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER SHALL THE FOOT OF MAN, &C.— "The men and beasts in Egypt being intirely destroyed, it shall be like the waters of a river, which are never disturbed, but run pure and clear." See Lowth.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WILL I MAKE, &C.— _Then will I make their waters to rest,_ or _subside, and cause their rivers to glide smoothly like oil,_ &c.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE FIFTEENTH DAY OF THE MONTH— _In the fifth month, the tenth day of the month._ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
SON OF MAN, WAIL, &C.— Bishop Lowth observes, that this prophetic ode is a master-piece in that species of writing which is appropriated to the exciting of terror. Houbigant reads the second clause, _And thrust them down, with the daughters of the nations; thrust them down to the lower parts of the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL FALL, &C.— Houbigant connects this with the preceding verse, thus, [_Be thou laid_] _among these who have fallen by the sword: the sword hath rushed in, and taken her away, and all her multitudes._... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH THEM THAT HELP HIM— _With them that have helped him, who are gone down, who lie in the midst, victims of the sword._ Houbigant. But this difficult verse may be otherwise rendered: _The strongest of the mighty men shall speak unto him out of the midst of the pit: they are gone down, they lie, to... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS ELAM, &C.— The reader will observe, that the ideas in this description are taken from the manner in which the bodies were deposited in the Eastern sepulchres, concerning which we have spoken before. See Isai. chap. 14:... [ Continue Reading ]
GONE DOWN TO HELL— _To Sheol,_ or _the place of the dead._... [ Continue Reading ]
PHARAOH SHALL SEE THEM— _Shall be seen among them, and shall be comforted for the loss of his army and kingdom;_ considering that so many and such great princes and nations have met with the same fate as himself. It appears from this, that Ezekiel supposed among the Egyptians a belief of the existen... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR I HAVE CAUSED MY TERROR— _For I will cast my terror upon the land of the living, that he may lie down in the midst,_ &c. Houbigant. REFLECTIONS.—1st, Though Egypt was an idolatrous nation, and Pharaoh a wicked prince, the prophet must take up a lamentation over them. For the ministers of God, w... [ Continue Reading ]