Ezekiel 32:2

Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers. PHARAOH - Phra in Burmah signifies the king, high priest, and idol. THOU ART LIKE A YOUNG LION OF THE NATIONS, AND THOU ART AS A WHALE [ taniym (H8577)] - rather, any monster of the waters; here the crocodile of the Nile. Pharaoh is 'as a lion' on dry land, 'a crocodile in the waters' - i:e., an object of terror everywhere; formidable alike by land and sea. IN THE SEAS; AND THOU CAMEST FORTH WITH THY RIVERS - `breakest forth' (Fairbairn). The antithesis of 'seas' and 'rivers' favours Grotius' rendering, 'thou camest forth from the sea into...

1-16 It becomes us to weep and tremble for those who will not weep and tremble for themselves. Great oppressors are, in God's account, no better than beasts of prey. Those who admire the pomp of this world, will wonder at the ruin of that pomp; which to those who know the vanity of all things here below, is no surprise. When others are ruined by sin, we have to fear, knowing ourselves guilty. The instruments of the desolation are formidable. And the instances of the desolation are frightful. The waters of Egypt shall run like oil, which signifies there should be universal sadness and heaviness upon the whole nation. God can soon empty those of this world's goods who have the greatest fulness of them. By enlarging the matters of our joy, we increase the occasions of our sorrow. How weak and helpless, as to God, are the most powerful of mankind! The destruction of Egypt was a type of the d...

Verse Ezekiel 32:2. _THOU ART LIKE A YOUNG LION - AND THOU_ ART _AS A WHALE IN_ _THE SEAS_] Thou mayest be likened to _two_ of the fiercest animals in the creation; to a lion, the fiercest on the _land_; to a _crocodile_, תנים tannin, (see Ezekiel 29:3,) the fiercest in the _waters_. It may, however, point out the _hippopotamus_, as there seems to be a reference to his mode of _feeding_. He walks deliberately into the water over head, and pursues his way in the same manner; still keeping on his feet, and feeding on the plants, c., that grow at the bottom. Thus he _fouls the water_ with his feet....

THOU ART LIKE ... - Rather, Thou wouldest be like to (others, “wast likened unto”) a young lion. AND THOU ART - In contrast to what thou wouldest be. A WHALE - Rather, crocodile (marginal reference note). Pharaoh should have been like the king of beasts, but he is a mere sea-monster. There is strong irony here, because the Egyptian king was proud of the comparison between himself and the mighty crocodile. SEAS - The word is often used of the waters of a great river, like the Nile. THOU CAMEST FORTH WITH THY RIVERS - Rather, thou didst burst forth in “thy rivers” as the crocodile does from the water into which he has plunged....

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, TAKE UP A LAMENTATION FOR PHARAOH KING OF EGYPT,.... Pharaohhophra, or Apries; say a funeral dirge for him; this is ordered, not out of honour and respect to him, or in compassion for his misery and ruin, but to assure him of it: AND SAY UNTO HIM, THOU ART LIKE A YOUNG LION OF THE NATIONS; for strength and fierceness, for cruelty and tyranny, which he exercised, not in one nation only, but in many; a lively emblem of the beast of Rome, spiritually called Egypt and Sodom, compared to a leopard, bear, and lion, Revelation 11:8: AND THOU ART AS A WHALE IN THE SEAS; or rather "like a crocodile" u, which was common in the rivers of Egypt, but not the whale; which also has not scales, nor does it go upon land, nor is it taken in a net; all which is said of this creature here, and in...

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 DIRGE OVER PHARAOH. A dirge is now sung over Pharaoh, in which he is likened, as before (Ezekiel 29:3), to a crocodile brutal and turbulent; but Yahweh will catch him in His net, and hurl his huge dripping carcase over mountain and valley, to be devoured by beasts and birds. Pharaoh, the brilliant luminary (the figure changes here), shall be extinguished; and other nations, when they behold Egypt's fate, shall tremble at the thought that the like may happen to themselves. All this means in plain terms (Ezekiel 32:11) that Egypt will be devastated by the king of Babylon. (Ezekiel 32:2. The opening words of the dirge are obscure: either thou didst liken thyself to a young lion, etc., but art only a river monster; or a

SON OF MAN. See note on Ezekiel 2:1. THOU ART LIKE. Thou bast been likened to. AND THOU ART. yet art thou. The contrast is between what was noble and less noble. WHALE. crocodile SEAS. a collection of waters, like the branches of the Nile. Compare Isaiah 27:1. RIVERS. Heb, _nahar_. Not the same word as in Ezekiel 32:6....

_art like a young lion_ Perhaps: _wast likened to_, though the construction is exceedingly hard (cf. Ezekiel 31:18). So far as the form of words goes the meaning might rather be: O lion of the nations _thou art undone_(Isaiah 6:5; Hosea 10:15), the root being another. The prophet has a fondness, however, for using the Niph. (Cf. Ezekiel 14:4; Ezekiel 14:7; Ezekiel 19:5; Ezekiel 33:30;