Ezekiel 32:18

Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her, and the daughters of the famous nations, unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit. WAIL FOR THE MULTITUDE OF EGYPT, AND CAST THEM DOWN - i:e., predict that they shalt be cast down: so , "I have set thee over the nations, to root out, and to pull down," etc. - i:e., to foretell that they shall be rooted out and pulled down, and to effect that they shall be so; because the prophet's word was God's, and carried with it its own fulfillment. THE DAUGHTERS OF THE FAMOUS NATIONS - i:e., the nations with their peoples. Egypt is to share the fate of other ancient nations once famous, now consigned to oblivion: Elam (), Meshech, etc. ...

17-32 Divers nations are mentioned as gone down to the grave before Egypt, who are ready to give her a scornful reception; these nations had been lately ruined and wasted. But though Judah and Jerusalem were about this time ruined and laid waste, yet they are not mentioned here. Though they suffered the same affliction, and by the same hand, yet the kind design for which they were afflicted, and the mercy God reserved for them, altered its nature. It was not to them a going down to the pit, as it was to the heathen. Pharaoh shall see, and be comforted; but the comfort wicked ones have after death, is poor comfort, not real, but only in fancy. The view this prophecy gives of ruined states shows something of this present world, and the empire of death in it. Come and see the calamitous state of human life. As if men did not die fast enough, they are ingenious at finding out ways to destro...

Verse Ezekiel 32:18. _CAST THEM DOWN_] Show them that they shall be cast down. Proclaim to them a _casting down_ prophecy....

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 32:1 IN THE TWELFTH YEAR, etc. March, B.C. 584, nineteen months attar the destruction of Jerusalem. The two sections of the chapter, Ezekiel 32:1 and Ezekiel 32:17, belong to the same year, and probably, though the date of the month is net given for the second, were written within a fortnight of each other. The thoughts of the prophet still dwell upon the downfall of Egypt, and he is stirred, as by a special inspiration, to write an elaborate "lamentation" over its departed greatness. It would seem, from the repetition of the word in Ezekiel 32:16, as if th

SON OF MAN, WAIL FOR THE MULTITUDE OF EGYPT,.... Sing a funeral song or dirge, or compose one, to be sung by the mourning women, on account of the vast numbers of the inhabitants of Egypt that shall be slain; for the prophet himself would not mourn, but rejoice, on this occasion; but this is said to show the certainty of the destruction, and the lamentation that would be made on that account: AND CAST THEM DOWN, EVEN HER AND THE DAUGHTERS OF THE FAMOUS NATIONS; Egypt, and all those countries, and the inhabitants of them, that were in alliance and friendship with her; that is, declare by prophecy that they shall be cast down and destroyed, or be brought down from the height of grandeur and prosperity in which they now were: UNTO THE NETHER PARTS OF THE EARTH, WITH THEM THAT GO DOWN TO THE PIT; not unto stately sepulchres built on high, such as were made for the kings of Egypt; but unto...

Ezekiel 31:1. Pharaoh's greatness is described in the first part of the chapter (Ezekiel 31:1). He is compared to the Assyrian, once so powerful and proud. The fall and desolation of the proud monarch under the picture of a tree follows in Ezekiel 31:10. The overthrow of Egypt and the resulting consternation among the nations is predicted in the last section of this chapter (Ezekiel 31:15). Ezekiel 32:1. The lamentation over Pharaoh is contained in Ezekiel 3

THE DESCENT OF EGYPT TO THE LOWER WORLD. This, the last oracle against Egypt, is unusually fascinating, whether we consider its sombre imagination, its literary power, or its religious importance. It describes the descent of Pharaoh and his multitude to the underworld, and the ironical welcome (_cf._ Isaiah 14:9 f_.)_ which they there receive from the heroes of the olden time. There appear to be two divisions in Sheol one for those heroes who have been honourably buried, the other for such as the uncircumcised and those who have enjoyed no funeral rites. In that world the national distinctions of this live on. Significantly enough, seven nations are mentioned, four great and three small Assyria, Elam (south of Assyria), Meshech and Tubal (_cf._ Ezekiel 27:13), Edom, the North (perhaps the Syri

CAST THEM DOWN. cause them to descend: i.e. by Heb, idiom declare (by the dirge) that they shall descend. See note on Ezekiel 14:8; Ezekiel 14:9; Ezekiel 20:28. NETHER. lower. THE PIT. Hebrew. _bor_. a grave dug in the earth. See note on 31. is, showing the meaning of Sheol in Ezekiel 32:21....

Dirge sung at the interment of Egypt and its multitude Several things are observable in this remarkable passage: 1. It is a funeral dirge primarily over the multitude or nation of Egypt; and so in the case of the other nations referred to, Asshur, Elam and the rest. These peoples are all gone down to Sheòl, uncircumcised, slain with the sword. There in the world of the dead each people has an abode to itself. Around one chief grave the graves of the general mass are gathered. The chief grave is probably that of the prince, though the prince is considered the genius, the embodiment of the spirit and being of the nation. The prophet regards the nations, even when no more existing on earth, as still having a subsistence in the world of the dead (cf. on Sodom, ch. 14). They are beings, who, having once lived, continue throughout all time. Though passed from the stage of history they still...

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 earth, to those who are gone down to the lake._ And he observes, that the prophet is commanded to thrust the Egyptians down to the shades below, that is, to exhibit by an hypotoposis familiar with the prophets, the ruin of the Egyptians, similar to the ruin of the people who have been destroyed and gone down to the regions of the dead. See the note on Ezekiel 32:2....