Ezekielchapter 32

Speaks with:Ezekiel 32×16 Ezekiel 31×7 Ezekiel 29×5 Ezekiel 30×4 Ezekiel 27×3 Ezekiel 26×3

Summary

Chapter summary

The final Egyptian dirge and the strangest scene in the oracles. Pharaoh thought himself a lion among the nations but is a monster in the seas, fouling the waters with his feet; God spreads a net over him and casts him on the open field for the birds. Then cosmic mourning: the heavens covered, the stars darkened, the sun veiled with a cloud, the moon withholding her light. The chapter closes in the underworld, where Egypt is laid among the uncircumcised beside the fallen empires already there (Asshur, Elam, Meshech and Tubal, Edom, the princes of the north, the Sidonians), warriors gone down with their weapons of war, their swords laid under their heads.

Context

Prophecy · Ezekiel — Ezekiel overview

A. 1–10 A lament: the monster dragged up in God's net
B. 11–16 The sword of Babylon over the multitude of Egypt
C. 17–32 Down among the uncircumcised in the graves of the nations

The outline

A.A lament: the monster dragged up in God's netvv. 1 to 10
Read vv. 1 to 10 →
B.The sword of Babylon over the multitude of Egyptvv. 11 to 16
Read vv. 11 to 16 →
C.Down among the uncircumcised in the graves of the nationsvv. 17 to 32
Read vv. 17 to 32 →

The world behind this chapter

Ezekiel 32

When

The Babylonian exile, about a year after Jerusalem fell · The twelfth year, twelfth month, first day — c. 3 March 585 BC, with a second oracle on the fifteenth day

Where

Tel Abib, singing a funeral song over Pharaoh and describing the underworld where the nations lie

Who first heard it

Exiles who had just buried a nation and were thinking hard about the dead

The history

The chapter opens with a mixed picture that is deliberate: you consider yourself a lion among the nations, but you are like a monster in the seas, thrashing in your rivers and fouling the water with your feet. Egyptian royal art is full of lions; Ezekiel says the reality is a river beast churning mud.

Throwing a net over him is a specific image of royal conquest. Ancient Near Eastern art shows victorious kings holding enemies in a net, going back as far as Sumerian monuments, and the phrase would have registered as a picture of total capture.

The second oracle is a tour of the pit — the realm of the dead — and it is organized by nation. Assyria is there with all its company, its graves set around it. Elam is there, and Meshech and Tubal, and Edom, and the princes of the north, and the Sidonians. All of them once spread terror in the land of the living, and all of them now lie down together.

The detail that ranks the dead is burial. A warrior who died honourably was buried with his sword laid under his head and his shield over his bones; that is the good death in this world. To lie with the uncircumcised, unburied, with weapons and iniquities heaped on you, is the worst end imaginable. The taunt is aimed with unusual precision at Egypt, a civilization that spent more effort on tombs and burial than any other in history.

The mourning at the beginning is cosmic: the heavens covered, the stars darkened, the sun hidden by cloud and the moon giving no light. That language of a darkened sky belongs to the day of the LORD in the prophets, and Ezekiel borrows it for the funeral of an empire.

What it meant to them

The exiles had spent seven chapters hearing about the nations. This one puts them all in the same room at the end, and the room is underground.

For a community that had just watched the powers of the world do whatever they liked, the last word is levelling. Pharaoh will see them all and be comforted for all his multitude — the only comfort left to a fallen empire is that it has company. And the God announcing it is the one their own city was too proud to obey.

Sources cited

John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel

Every work MannaFest builds on →

The text of this chapter

This page carries no textual note on Ezekiel 32. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.

Study this chapter

Ezekiel 3210 verses
- Ezekiel 32:1In the twelfth year, on the first day of the twelfth month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Ezekiel 32:2“Son of man, take up a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: ‘You are like a lion among the nations; you are like a monster in the seas. You thrash about in your rivers, churning up the waters with your feet and muddying the streams.’
- Ezekiel 32:16This is the lament they will chant for her; the daughters of the nations will chant it. Over Egypt and all her multitudes they will chant it, declares the Lord GOD.”
- Ezekiel 32:17In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Ezekiel 32:21Mighty chiefs will speak from the midst of Sheol about Egypt and her allies: ‘They have come down and lie with the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword.’
- Ezekiel 32:23Her graves are set in the depths of the Pit, and her company is all around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword—those who once spread terror in the land of the living.
- Read Ezekiel 32: 4 more there →
Ezekiel 316 verses
- Ezekiel 31:1In the eleventh year, on the first day of the third month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Ezekiel 31:11I delivered it into the hand of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with it according to its wickedness. I have banished it.
- Ezekiel 31:12Foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, cut it down and left it. Its branches have fallen on the mountains and in every valley; its boughs lay broken in all the earth’s ravines. And all the peoples of the earth left its shade and abandoned it.
- Ezekiel 31:14This happened so that no other trees by the waters would become great in height and set their tops among the clouds, and no other well-watered trees would reach them in height. For they have all been consigned to death, to the depths of the earth, among the mortals who descend to the Pit.’
- Ezekiel 31:16I made the nations quake at the sound of its downfall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend to the Pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, all the well-watered trees, were consoled in the earth below.
- Ezekiel 31:18Who then is like you in glory and greatness among the trees of Eden? You also will be brought down to the depths of the earth to be with the trees of Eden. You will lie among the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD.’”
- Read Ezekiel 31 →
Ezekiel 295 verses
- Ezekiel 29:3Speak to him and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies among his rivers, who says, ‘The Nile is mine; I made it myself.’
- Ezekiel 29:5I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open field and will not be taken away or gathered for burial. I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air.
- Ezekiel 29:8Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will bring a sword against you and cut off from you man and beast.
- Ezekiel 29:11No foot of man or beast will pass through, and it will be uninhabited for forty years.
- Ezekiel 29:19Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will give the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will carry off its wealth, seize its spoil, and remove its plunder. This will be the wages for his army.
- Read Ezekiel 29 →
Ezekiel 304 verses
- Ezekiel 30:4A sword will come against Egypt, and there will be anguish in Cush when the slain fall in Egypt, its wealth is taken away, and its foundations are torn down.
- Ezekiel 30:12I will make the streams dry up and sell the land to the wicked. By the hands of foreigners I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it. I, the LORD, have spoken.
- Ezekiel 30:20In the eleventh year, on the seventh day of the first month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- Ezekiel 30:26I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”
- Read Ezekiel 30 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Ezekiel 273 verses
- Ezekiel 27:2“Now you, son of man, take up a lament for Tyre.
- Ezekiel 27:13Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your merchants. They exchanged slaves and bronze utensils for your merchandise.
- Ezekiel 27:35All the people of the coastlands are appalled over you. Their kings shudder with fear; their faces are contorted.
- Read Ezekiel 27 →
Ezekiel 263 verses
- Ezekiel 26:16All the princes of the sea will descend from their thrones, remove their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. Clothed with terror, they will sit on the ground, trembling every moment, appalled over you.
- Ezekiel 26:17Then they will lament for you, saying, “How you have perished, O city of renown inhabited by seafaring men—she who was powerful on the sea, along with her people, who imposed terror on all peoples!
- Ezekiel 26:20then I will bring you down with those who descend to the Pit, to the people of antiquity. I will make you dwell in the earth below like the ancient ruins, with those who descend to the Pit, so that you will no longer be inhabited or set in splendor in the land of the living.
- Read Ezekiel 26 →
Isaiah 342 verses
- Isaiah 34:3Their slain will be left unburied, and the stench of their corpses will rise; the mountains will flow with their blood.
- Isaiah 34:7And the wild oxen will fall with them, the young bulls with the strong ones. Their land will be drenched with blood, and their soil will be soaked with fat.
- Read Isaiah 34 →
Exodus 72 verses
- Exodus 7:5And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”
- Exodus 7:17This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD. Behold, with the staff in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will turn to blood.
- Read Exodus 7 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.

← Back: Ezekiel 31 Continue: Ezekiel 33 →

Summary

The outline

A.A lament: the monster dragged up in God's netvv. 1 to 10

B.The sword of Babylon over the multitude of Egyptvv. 11 to 16

C.Down among the uncircumcised in the graves of the nationsvv. 17 to 32

The world behind this chapter

The history

What it meant to them

The text of this chapter