Ezekiel 29:19

Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. BEHOLD, I WILL GIVE ... EGYPT UNTO NEBUCHADNEZZAR ... AND HE SHALL TAKE HER MULTITUDE - not as Fairbairn, 'stone;' but, he shall take away a multitude of captives out of Egypt. The success of Nebuchadnezzar is implied in Tyre's receiving a king from Babylon, probably one of her captives there, Merbal (Josephus Apion 1: 21, on the authority of the Phoenician annals). AND TAKE HER SPOIL AND TAKE HER PREY literally 'spoil her spoil prey her prey;' ie as she spoiled other AND TAKE HER SPOIL, AND TAKE HER PREY - literally, 'spoil her spoil, prey her prey;' i:e., as she spoiled other nations, so shall she herself be a spoil to Babylon....

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....

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

THEREFORE THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD,.... Since this was the case, that the king of Babylon had been working for nothing, and had spent much blood and treasure, as well as time, to little purpose and advantage to himself; BEHOLD, I WILL GIVE THE LAND OF EGYPT TO NEBUCHADREZZAR KING OF BABYLON; which will make him a sufficient recompence for his loss of time, men, and money, before Tyre; and though the conquest of Egypt was made easy to him, by the internal divisions and wars which were among the Egyptians; yet these were suffered, and ordered by the providence of God, to bring about this his will, by way of righteous punishment of the Egyptians, for their treachery to his people, and other sins: AND HE SHALL TAKE HER MULTITUDE, of soldiers, and of inhabitants, and carry them captive: AND TAKE HER SPOIL, AND TAKE HER PREY; that which the Egyptians had spoiled other nations of and made a p...

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...

I WILL GIVE. See note on Ezekiel 29:18, above. it shall be the wages. See the Structure on p. 1147....

SON OF MAN, &C.— Menander the Greek historian, Philostratus, and Josephus, all assert, that Nebuchadrezzar besieged Tyre thirteen years, when Ithobal was king there. The siege continuing so long, the soldiers must needs endure many hardships. Their heads were made _bald_ by continually wearing helmets, and their skin was _worn off_ their shoulders with carrying earth in baskets to raise fortifications; whence we understand better the force of Ezekiel's expression, that _Nebuchadrezzar caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled._ It farther appears from the Phoenician annals, that the Tyrians received their kings afterwards from Babylon; which plainly evinces, that some of the blood royal must have been carried captives thither. The Phoenician annals too agree with Ezekiel's account of the year wherein the city was taken...

II. THE PRIZE OF EGYPT 29:7-21 TRANSLATION (17) And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (18) Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre; every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled; yet neither he nor his army received any wages from Tyre for the service which he performed against it; (19) therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am about to give to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon the land of Egypt; and he shall carry off her abundance, take her spoil and seize her prey; and she shall be the wages for his army. (20) I have given him the land of Egypt as his hire for which he served, because they did it for Me (oracle of the Lord GOD). (21) In that day I will cause a horn to shoot up unto the house of Israel, and I will...