Ezekiel 29:17

And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, IN THE SEVEN AND TWENTIETH YEAR ... THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME UNTO ME. The departure from the chronological order occurs here only, among the prophecies as to foreign nations, in order to secure greater unity of subject....

17-21 The besiegers of Tyre obtained little plunder. But when God employs ambitious or covetous men, he will recompense them according to the desires of their hearts; for every man shall have his reward. God had mercy in store for the house of Israel soon after. The history of nations best explains ancient prophecies. All events fulfil the Scriptures. Thus, in the deepest scenes of adversity, the Lord sows the seed of our future prosperity. Happy are those who desire his favour, grace, and image; they will delight in his service, and not covet any earthly recompence; and the blessings they have chosen shall be sure to them for ever....

Verse Ezekiel 29:17. _THE SEVEN AND TWENTIETH YEAR_] That is, of the _captivity of Jeconiah, fifteen_ years after the taking of _Jerusalem_; about _April_ 20, 3432. The _preceding_ prophecy was delivered one year before the taking of Jerusalem; _this_, sixteen years after; and it is supposed to be the last which this prophet wrote....

The prophet places this prediction out of chronological order, that he may point out what had not been stated in the foregoing prophecy, namely, that the agent who should strike the first blow on Egypt should be the Chaldaean king, Nebuchadnezzar. Ezekiel 29:18 YET HAD HE NO WAGES - It is not improbable that the Tyrians before they surrendered their island-citadel managed to remove much of their treasure; but others exlplain the verse; that the siege and capture of Tyre is to be regarded as the “work” appointed, and the possession of Egypt as the “reward or wages” for the work. Ezekiel 29:21 Egypt being the antagonist of the people of God, her overthrow inaugurated the triumph of good ov

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 29:1 IN THE TENTH YEAR, etc. The precision with which the dates of the several portions of the prophecy against Egypt are given, here and in Ezekiel 29:17; Ezekiel 30:20; Ezekiel 31:1; Ezekiel 32:1, Ezekiel 32:7, shows that each was called forth by the political events of the time, and has to be studied in connection with them. It will be well, therefore, to begin with a Brief survey of the relat

AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THE SEVEN AND TWENTIETH YEAR,.... Of Jeconiah's captivity; or of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and Abendana, from Seder Olam Rabba z, observe; though it was in the thirty fifth year of his reign that Tyre was taken by him; and after that Egypt was given him: IN THE FIRST MONTH, IN THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH: the month Nisan, which answers to part of March, and part of April. According to Bishop Usher a, it was on the twentieth of April, on the third day of the week (Tuesday), in 3432 A.M.or before Christ 572. Mr. Whiston b makes it to be a year sooner. This prophecy is not put in its proper place, as to order of time, since it was sixteen or seventeen years after the preceding, and the last of Ezekiel's prophecies; but is here placed, because it relates to the same subject as the former, the destruction of Egypt. THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME UNTO M...

FIRST MONTH That is, April....

Ezekiel 29-30. First Egypt's desolation is announced (Ezekiel 29:1). The king of Egypt addressed in this prophecy was Pharaoh-Hophra, called in Greek, Apries. He was the grandson of Pharaoh-Necho, who defeated King Josiah at Meggido 2 Chronicles 35:20. King Zedekiah of Judah expected help and relief from Pharaoh-Hophra, when Jerusalem was besieged. The Egyptian army under Hophra advanced through Phoenicia and forced the Chaldeans to raise the siege of Jerusalem Jeremiah 37:5. But the relief was only temporary, for the Egyptian army had to retire. The prophet Jeremiah announced also the doom of Hophra, associating it with Zedekiah's doom: “Thus saith the LORD, Behold I will give Pharaoh-Hophra, King of Egypt,

EGYPT AND TYRE. This little oracle, the latest in the book (570 B.C.), is one of the most remarkable. It is a practical admission that Ezekiel's elaborate prophecy of the ruin of Tyre (Ezekiel 26 ff.) had not been fulfilled; and it announces that the Babylonian soldiers, whose shoulders had been galled by the navvy work involved in the erection of a mole between the mainland and the island, and, in general, by the hardship of the siege, which is said by Josephus to have lasted thirteen years, would not go unrewarded. They had failed to win the spoil of Tyre either because the siege was unsuccessful or because Tyre capitulated on very favourable terms but in its stead, Ezekiel here promises them the conquest of Egypt, with the spoil which conquest assured. This promise further shows that Ezekiel's forecast of the ruin of Egypt, uttered sixteen years before (Ezekiel 29 ff.), had not yet be...

THE SEVEN AND TWENTIETH YEAR. See the table, p. 1105....