Ezekiel 32:17

It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(17) The fifteenth day of the month.—The month itself is not mentioned, but since the previous prophecy was in the twelfth, or last month of the year, this must be in the same. There was thus an interval of just fourteen days between them. This dirge, which occupies the rest of the chapter, is to be compared with Isaiah 14, on which it is evidently founded.

Benson Commentary

Ezekiel 32:17-18. It came to pass, in the fifteenth day of the month — Namely, of the month before mentioned, which was a few days after the time of the preceding revelation. The word of the Lord came unto me — Giving me further directions how to improve the fall of Egypt. Song of Solomon of man, wail for the multitude of Egypt — Prepare the funeral ceremonies at the burial of Egypt, and compose an elegy suitable to the sad occasion. Bishop Lowth observes, that “this prophetic ode is a master-piece in that species of writing which is appropriated to the exciting terror.” And cast them down, even her, &c. — Houbigant renders this 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 hypotyposis, 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.” The reader will observe that this figure of speech is a representation of things painted in such strong and bright colours as may cause the imagination of the hearers to conceive of them rather as present to their view than described in words. Such is the representation which the prophet here gives of the calamities of the Egyptians. The expressions, Unto the nether parts of the earth, with them that go down into the pit, denote utter destruction, and are parallel to those elsewhere used, of being brought down to hell, to the grave, or into silence. The Egyptians affected to be buried in their pyramids, and their kings, princes, and nobles would be laid by themselves, but Ezekiel provides them their graves among common people, to lie just where they fell.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

32:17-32 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 destroy one another. Also of the other world; though the destruction of nations as such, seems chiefly intended, here is plain allusion to the everlasting ruin of impenitent sinners. How are men deceived by Satan! What are the objects they pursue through scenes of bloodshed, and their many sins? Surely man disquiets himself in vain, whether he pursues wealth, fame, power, or pleasure. The hour cometh, when all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of Christ, and shall come forth; those that have done good to the resurrection of life, and those that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The seventh prophecy against Egypt Ezekiel 32:17-32. A funeral dirge founded on Ezekiel 31:18. The figure is the same as in Isaiah 14, where see the notes. In this dirge Pharaoh is especially addressed. The other nations are represented by their kings, the nations' overthrow being depicted by the king's body laid low in the grave.

The month - i. e., the twelfth (see Ezekiel 32:1).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17. The second lamentation for Pharaoh. This funeral dirge in imagination accompanies him to the unseen world. Egypt personified in its political head is ideally represented as undergoing the change by death to which man is liable. Expressing that Egypt's supremacy is no more, a thing of the past, never to be again.

the month—the twelfth month (Eze 32:1); fourteen days after the former vision.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

In the twelfth year: see Ezekiel 32:1.

The fifteenth day; about the 19th of February new style, or the 1st of March old style.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

It came to pass also the twelfth year,.... Another prophecy of the like kind was delivered out the same year as before:

in the fifteenth day of the month; of the twelfth month, the month Adar, which is not here expressed, because mentioned before, Ezekiel 32:1, it was about a fortnight after the other prophecy. The Septuagint and Arabic versions read it,

"it came to pass in the twelfth year, the first month, the fifteenth day of the month;''

according to which this prophecy was before the other, which is not to be supposed.

Geneva Study Bible

It came to pass also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17. The month is not specified, but presumably the same month as that named in Ezekiel 32:1 is intended, the twelfth. The present passage would in that case date a fortnight later than Ezekiel 32:1-16. LXX. reads first month of twelfth year; if this reading were followed the year in Ezekiel 32:1 must be read eleventh (with Syr.).

17–32. 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 subsist in Sheòl. This idea of the continued existence, not of individuals only but of nationalities, suggests a conception of the meaning of history upon the earth which is not only weird but almost disturbing.

2. The prophet uses two words for the world of the dead, “the pit” and Sheòl. The former name seems suggested by the grave, which is regarded as the entrance to Sheòl, and indicates what kind of place Sheòl is. It is a vast burying-place, deep in the earth, and full of graves. The nationalities spoken of have, like Egypt, all fallen by the sword, and the scene on earth is transferred to the world below. The nation and its prince are represented as slain on the battle-field, and the graves that crowd the field, the prince or genius of the nation in the midst, and those of the multitude around, are let down so to speak into Sheòl beneath, where they abide. This scene of overthrow, the final experience of the nation on earth, expresses the meaning of the nation’s history and the verdict of God upon it, and it is consequently transferred to the world of the dead and made eternal. In this respect the idea of the prophet in regard to nations coincides with the general view of the Old Testament regarding individuals; the judgment of God regarding a man’s life becomes manifest at the close of it on earth, and the state of death but perpetuates the manner of the end of life.

3. For, of course, the prophet desires to express by his representation a moral truth. The nations which he mentions are those that have come into conflict with Israel, although their sin is regarded as more general than this. They are chiefly the contemporary peoples whom Nebuchadnezzar, under commission from Jehovah, was to destroy, though Asshur belongs to an earlier time. Although, therefore, the nations can hardly be supposed to fall under a common judgment, the day of the Lord, the effect is the same. Their fate is the judgment of Jehovah upon them, his verdict in regard to their life as nations. Their common sin is violence: they put their terror in the land of the living. And their fate is but the nemesis of their conduct: taking the sword they perish by it. The history of nations is the judgment of nations. But the nations like individuals continue to subsist, they bear their shame in Sheòl for ever.

4. The text of the passage is in considerable disorder. The LXX. offers a briefer and smoother text, though it is also marked by singular blunders (cf. Ezekiel 32:29-30). It can hardly be doubted that the Hebrew is to some extent overgrown with glosses. The meaning too is in some parts obscure. The passage has affinities with Isaiah 14, but the representations there are in some respects different, and care must be taken to allow each passage to speak for itself. It is doubtful if any ideas to be called specially Babylonian be found in either of the prophets. There are two points in the interpretation of some difficulty: 1. There are two names for the world of the dead, “the pit” and Sheòl; are they different in meaning? or, do they indicate, if not strictly a different locality in the underworld, a different condition? The usage of other passages appears decidedly against any distinction. The term “pit” is used of what we so call, e.g. of the pit into which Joseph was cast (Genesis 37:24), of the “dungeon” into which Jeremiah was thrown (Jeremiah 38:6 seq.), and the like (Jeremiah 41:7). The ideas of the people regarding the world of the dead were formed by looking into the grave and from the condition of the body in death. The world of the dead was created by the shuddering imagination out of these things. Apparently the name “pit” was given to the underworld because the grave was the mouth of it. The “pit” is used in parallelism with Sheòl, and in the same sense, e.g. Psalm 30:3; Psalm 88:3; Psalm 4:2. Another question closely connected is this. Certain persons called the mighty ones (Ezekiel 32:21; Ezekiel 32:27) are referred to and spoken of as being in Sheòl (A.V. hell), and the question is, are these persons, though in Sheòl, in a condition in some measure different from those like Pharaoh and his multitude, slain by the sword? Unfortunately in both verses the Heb. and Greek disagree. In Ezekiel 32:27 Heb. reads: they (Meshech and Tubal) shall not lie with the mighty ones, while LXX. omits the not, making their destiny the same.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - For yet fourteen days the mind of the prophet brooded over the fall of Egypt, and his thoughts at last found utterance in another lamentation, based upon that of Isaiah 14. Taken together, the two passages give a vivid picture of the thoughts of the Hebrews as to the unseen world, and we find in them the germs of the later belief of Judaism in Paradise and Gehenna. What I have called the Dante element in Ezekiel it seen here raised to its highest power. Ver 18. - Cast them down, etc. The prophet thinks of himself as not only the predictor, but the minister, of the Divine judgments. So it was given to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:10) "to root out and to pull down," and to Amos (Amos 9:1) to "smite" and to wound. He executes the sentence, not on Egypt only, but on the other daughters of the famous nations, sc. on the nations themselves, especially those that are named in the verses that follow. Ezekiel 32:17

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Funeral-Dirge for the Destruction of the Might of Egypt

This second lamentation or mourning ode, according to the heading in Ezekiel 32:17, belongs to the same year as the preceding, and to the 15th of the month, no doubt the 12th month; in which case it was composed only fourteen days after the first. The statement of the month is omitted here, as in Ezekiel 26:1; and the omission is, no doubt, to be attributed to a copyist in this instance also. In the ode, which Ewald aptly describes as a "dull, heavy lamentation," we have six regular strophes, preserving the uniform and monotonous character of the lamentations for the dead, in which the thought is worked out, that Egypt, like other great nations, is cast down to the nether world. The whole of it is simply an elegiac expansion of the closing thought of the previous chapter (Ezekiel 31).