Ezekiel 32 Commentary
Ezekiel used different images to describe the fall of Egypt. It is very unlikely that Ezekiel wrote these chapters for the Egyptians. The audience remains the same: the Israelites, be it the remnant at home or the covenant people in the diaspora. They must know that no world power lasts.
Egypt has played host to Israel on numerous occasions. It has been a safe haven for a long time. Not anymore. Her fate is no different from the fate of the named countries in the known world of the day. She will join the congregation of fellow evildoers in death: Assyria, Elam, Meshek, Tubal, and Edom among others.
Terror has an expiry date; the LORD determines it. Perpetrators of terror in the world of the living have their own day.
We can pause and ask this question: what difference does it make? Both the righteous and the wicked end up at the grave. Is the grave the right punishment for wickedness and the wicked? An important hint comes from Ezekiel’s silence on the fate of the godly. By chapter 37, the valley of dry bones, is Ezekiel also thinking about a possible resurrection? A poor version of what the New Testament so clearly explains?
And by the phrase, ‘the world of the living’, does Ezekiel want us to think about the world of the dead? A world that is definitely different from what we know but a world nevertheless? Yes, death laughs at both the righteous and the unrighteous. There should be something more.
Probably because the Book of Job has exhausted this subject – check commentaries on Job, specifically Job 21, https://wordpress.com/post/lovingscripture.com/4644, Ezekiel won’t labor too much on the subject.
And what about Job 19 and its timeless statement:
I know that my redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;
I myself will see him
with my own eyes—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!
The New Testament is even better!
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die.”
In the immediate context, Ezekiel highlights the fate of the powerful but wicked individuals and systems. What they build is meant to fall at some point. It cannot last. The LORD comes down strongly on wickedness. Babylon’s sword is used to punish Egypt but, as we read in Isaiah and Jeremiah, Babylon’s day does come. Her own punishment awaits. No one escapes. With the LORD is absolute power and perfect justice.
More resources visit http://www.lovingscripture.com
LOVING SCRIPTURE 