Ezekiel 32:23

Whose graves are set in the sides of the pit, and her company is round about her grave: all of them slain, fallen by the sword, which caused terror in the land of the living. WHOSE GRAVES ARE SET IN THE SIDES OF THE PIT. Sepulchres in the east were caves hollowed out of the rock, and the bodies were laid in niches formed at the sides. Maurer needlessly departs from the ordinary meaning, and translates, 'extremities' (cf. ; ). ALL OF THEM SLAIN, FALLEN BY THE SWORD, WHICH CAUSED TERROR IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING - all they who, alive, were a terror to others, are now, in the nether world, themselves a terrible object to behold....

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 32:23. _WHOSE GRAVES ARE SET IN THE SIDES OF THE PIT_] Alluding to the _niches_ in the sides of the subterranean caves or burying-places, where the bodies are laid. These are numerous in Egypt....

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

WHOSE GRAVES ARE SET IN THE SIDES OF THE PIT,.... Or vault, where lay the king of Assyria, and those who fell by the sword with him, who are represented as lying in graves all around him; the nearest to him those who were in the highest posts, and most valiant and courageous, and next the common soldiers, as follows: AND HER COMPANY IS ROUND ABOUT HER GRAVE not Pharaoh's company round about the grave of the Assyrian monarch; but the company of the king of Assyria, or his army, as the Targum, round about grave; or lying about in the ruins of his kingdom: ALL OF THEM SLAIN, FALLEN BY THE SWORD, WHICH CAUSED TERROR IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING; even they who now are in the state of the dead, and can no more disturb and distress any, while they were alive, or in the world, struck terror in all neighbouring states and kingdoms; threatening destruction to them, and obliging them to submit to th...

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

COMPANY. gathered host. IN THE LAND OF THE LIVING. Used here as the opposite of the land of the dead. See note on Ezekiel 26:20. The expression occurs six times in this chapter....

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...

VII. THE DESCENT INTO SHEOL 32:17-32 TRANSLATION (17) And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (18) Son of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt, and cast them down, even her and the daughters of the mighty nations unto the lower parts of the earth, with those who go down to the pit. (19) Who do you surpass in beauty? Go down and be laid with the uncircumcised, (20) They shall fall in the midst of those who fall with the sword; to the sword she is given; draw her down and all her multitude. (21) The strong ones among the mighty shall speak to him from the midst of Sheol with his helpers: they have gone down, they lie still even the uncircumcised, those slain by the sword! (22) Assyria is there and all her company; round about them are their graves; all of them slain, fallen by the sword; (23) whose graves are in...