IN THE ELEVENTH YEAR, in the first month on the seventh day, the word of the LORD came to me: 21“Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. It has not been bound up for healing or put in a splint so as to become strong enough to hold a sword. 22Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt. I will break both his arms, the good arm as well as the broken one, and make the sword fall from his hand. 23I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them through the countries. 24I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him like a mortally wounded man. 25I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall limp. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he brandishes it against Egypt. 26I will disperse the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them through the countries. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”
31:1In the eleventh year, in the third month on the first day, the word of the LORD came to me: 2“Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes:
“ ‘Who can be compared with you in majesty?
3Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon,
with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest;
it towered on high,
its top above the thick foliage.
4The waters nourished it,
deep springs made it grow tall;
their streams flowed
all around its base
and sent their channels
to all the trees of the field.
5So it towered higher
than all the trees of the field;
its boughs increased
and its branches grew long,
spreading because of abundant waters.
nested in its boughs,
all the beasts of the field
gave birth under its branches;
all the great nations
lived in its shade.
7It was majestic in beauty,
with its spreading boughs,
for its roots went down
to abundant waters.
8The cedars in the garden of God
could not rival it,
nor could the pine trees
equal its boughs,
nor could the pine trees
compare with its branches—
no tree in the garden of God
could match its beauty.
9I made it beautiful
with abundant branches,
the envy of all the trees of Eden
in the garden of God.
10“ ‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because it towered on high, lifting its top above the thick foliage, and because it was proud of its height, 11I handed it over to the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with according to its wickedness. I cast it aside, 12and the most ruthless of foreign nations cut it down and left it. Its boughs fell on the mountains and in all the valleys; its branches lay broken in all the ravines of the land. All the nations of the earth came out from under its shade and left it. 13All the birds of the air settled on the fallen tree, and all the beasts of the field were among its branches. 14Therefore no other trees by the waters are ever to tower proudly on high, lifting their tops above the thick foliage. No other trees so well-watered are ever to reach such a height; they are all destined for death, for the earth below, among mortal men, with those who go down to the pit.
15“ ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On the day it was brought down to the grave I covered the deep springs with mourning for it; I held back its streams, and its abundant waters were restrained. Because of it I clothed Lebanon with gloom, and all the trees of the field withered away. 16I made the nations tremble at the sound of its fall when I brought it down to the grave with those who go down to the pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, all the trees that were well-watered, were consoled in the earth below. 17Those who lived in its shade, its allies among the nations, had also gone down to the grave with it, joining those killed by the sword.
18“ ‘Which of the trees of Eden can be compared with you in splendor and majesty? Yet you, too, will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth below; you will lie among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword.
“ ‘This is Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the Sovereign LORD.’ ”
32:1In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month on the first day, the word of the LORD came to me: 2“Son of man, take up a lament concerning Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him:
“ ‘You are like a lion among the nations;
you are like a monster in the seas
thrashing about in your streams,
churning the water with your feet
and muddying the streams.
3“ ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says:
“ ‘With a great throng of people
I will cast my net over you,
and they will haul you up in my net.
4I will throw you on the land
and hurl you on the open field.
I will let all the birds of the air settle on you
and all the beasts of the earth gorge themselves on you.
5I will spread your flesh on the mountains
and fill the valleys with your remains.
6I will drench the land with your flowing blood
all the way to the mountains,
and the ravines will be filled with your flesh.
7When I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens
and darken their stars;
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
and the moon will not give its light.
8All the shining lights in the heavens
I will darken over you;
I will bring darkness over your land,
declares the Sovereign LORD.
9I will trouble the hearts of many peoples
when I bring about your destruction among the nations,
among lands you have not known.
10I will cause many peoples to be appalled at you,
and their kings will shudder with horror because of you
when I brandish my sword before them.
On the day of your downfall
each of them will tremble
every moment for his life.
11“ ‘For this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
“ ‘The sword of the king of Babylon
will come against you.
12I will cause your hordes to fall
by the swords of mighty men—
the most ruthless of all nations.
They will shatter the pride of Egypt,
and all her hordes will be overthrown.
13I will destroy all her cattle
from beside abundant waters
no longer to be stirred by the foot of man
or muddied by the hoofs of cattle.
14Then I will let her waters settle
and make her streams flow like oil,
declares the Sovereign LORD.
15When I make Egypt desolate
and strip the land of everything in it,
when I strike down all who live there,
then they will know that I am the LORD.’
16“This is the lament they will chant for her. The daughters of the nations will chant it; for Egypt and all her hordes they will chant it, declares the Sovereign LORD.”
17In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 18“Son of man, wail for the hordes of Egypt and consign to the earth below both her and the daughters of mighty nations, with those who go down to the pit. 19Say to them, ‘Are you more favored than others? Go down and be laid among the uncircumcised.’ 20They will fall among those killed by the sword. The sword is drawn; let her be dragged off with all her hordes. 21From within the grave the mighty leaders will say of Egypt and her allies, ‘They have come down and they lie with the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword.’
22“Assyria is there with her whole army; she is surrounded by the graves of all her slain, all who have fallen by the sword. 23Their graves are in the depths of the pit and her army lies around her grave. All who had spread terror in the land of the living are slain, fallen by the sword.
24“Elam is there, with all her hordes around her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword. All who had spread terror in the land of the living went down uncircumcised to the earth below. They bear their shame with those who go down to the pit. 25A bed is made for her among the slain, with all her hordes around her grave. All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword. Because their terror had spread in the land of the living, they bear their shame with those who go down to the pit; they are laid among the slain.
26“Meshech and Tubal are there, with all their hordes around their graves. All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword because they spread their terror in the land of the living. 27Do they not lie with the other uncircumcised warriors who have fallen, who went down to the grave with their weapons of war, whose swords were placed under their heads? The punishment for their sins rested on their bones, though the terror of these warriors had stalked through the land of the living.
28“You too, O Pharaoh, will be broken and will lie among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword.
29“Edom is there, her kings and all her princes; despite their power, they are laid with those killed by the sword. They lie with the uncircumcised, with those who go down to the pit.
30“All the princes of the north and all the Sidonians are there; they went down with the slain in disgrace despite the terror caused by their power. They lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword and bear their shame with those who go down to the pit.
31“Pharaoh—he and all his army—will see them and he will be consoled for all his hordes that were killed by the sword, declares the Sovereign LORD. 32Although I had him spread terror in the land of the living, Pharaoh and all his hordes will be laid among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword, declares the Sovereign LORD.”
Original Meaning
IN THE PREVIOUS unit we examined the first three of the seven oracles that Ezekiel utters against Egypt. This present unit looks at the last four oracles. This section brings to a close the prophet’s round of oracles against the nations.
The Fourth Oracle (30:20–26)
THE FOURTH OF the seven oracles against Egypt declares that God has already begun to act. The date formula in 30:20 places it shortly before the fall of Jerusalem; the oracle itself rules out the possibility of any relief coming from the Egyptian direction, since the Lord has “broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (30:21). The historical background of this oracle lies in an apparent attempt by Pharaoh Hophra to intervene in the crisis of his day (Jer. 37:5); however, though this led to a withdrawal of Nebuchadnezzar’s army in the short term, the hopes raised in the Judean capital were soon to be dashed. After dealing with the Egyptians, Nebuchadnezzar returned to finish what he had started in Jerusalem (Jer. 39:1).
The defeat of Egypt is described in terms of a breaking of Pharaoh’s arm (Ezek. 30:21). The “arm” in the Old Testament is the part of the body through which a person acts. It is therefore a symbol of strength: A strong arm enables effective action, while a broken arm renders a person helpless (cf. Job 22:9; Ps. 10:15).1 The fundamental contrast in this oracle is between the broken arms of Pharaoh and the arms of Nebuchadnezzar that have been strengthened by the Lord (Ezek. 30:25). This bout is clearly not an equal contest. Ezekiel even anticipates potential objections that though Pharaoh’s arm has been broken, it may be healed (30:21), or that though one arm has been broken Pharaoh still has another arm with which to fight (30:22). Even the faintest source of hope must be removed; the broken arm will not receive the medical treatment necessary for it to be healed. On the contrary, it will be broken again, along with the sound arm that remains (30:22).2 Egypt’s power will be comprehensively destroyed, a prediction ultimately fulfilled in the conquest of Egypt by Cambyses in 525 B.C.
In the background of this struggle between two world powers, however, there is another actor. The “arm” that acts most frequently in the Old Testament is the arm of the Lord, notably in the Exodus, when he brought his people out of Egypt “by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (Deut. 4:34). This formula is a constant refrain throughout the Old Testament; in this passage the arm of the Lord is not directly referred to, but the Lord’s action is everywhere evident. He is the one who will break Pharaoh’s arms and strengthen Nebuchadnezzar’s (Ezek. 30:22, 25). It is the Lord’s sword that Nebuchadnezzar will draw against Egypt (30:25). It is the Lord who will scatter the Egyptians among the nations (30:26). The clash of the superpowers is under his control.
The Fifth Oracle (31:1–18)
THE FIFTH ORACLE against Egypt compares Pharaoh to a massive tree that is felled because of its pride. Who is comparable to Pharaoh in greatness? He himself recognized no equal, and in what follows Ezekiel takes his claims of greatness seriously. He is like a cypress (31:3)3 or a mighty cedar in Lebanon; there follows a graphic picture of a tree of supernatural proportions. The myth of a tree that constitutes the heart of ordered existence, with its roots in the subterranean depths and its topmost branches in the sublime heights, providing shelter for the entire animal world, was part of the lore of the surrounding nations.4
Here Ezekiel puts this mythical picture to use as a description of Egypt’s greatness, like a mighty cedar in Lebanon, with its topmost branches in the clouds (Ezek. 31:3).5 Her roots were fed by the deep springs under the earth (tehôm, 31:4). As a result, she grew higher than all the other trees of the earth, providing shelter for all the birds of the air and the beasts of the field (31:5–6; cf. Dan. 4:10–12). In plain language, she became the greatest of nations, the overlord of all the nations. In fact, her greatness surpassed earthly proportions; not even the trees of the jewel of original creation, Eden itself, could match Egypt’s beauty. Here are echoes of the same exalted status attributed to the king of Tyre (Ezek. 28:13–14), and also of the same fundamental sin: pride (28:17; 31:10).
Pride once again precedes a fall from grace. In all the vivid word pictures used by Ezekiel in the oracles against the foreign nations, the nature of the glorious object described contains within it the seeds of its own destruction. Tyre was a majestic ship, but is now sunk (ch. 27). Her king was as glorious as the first man, a semidivine being in the Garden of Eden, but like Adam he was driven out (28:1–19). Pharaoh is a crocodile of mythical proportions, but will be hunted down like an ordinary reptile (29:1–16). Here now, Egypt is a great world tree, but it will be felled by the cosmic lumberjack.
It was the Lord who had raised Egypt to her elevated status (“I made it beautiful with abundant branches,” Ezek. 31:9), but she considered her attainments something of which to be proud (31:10). The Lord can just as easily cast her down, as the personal pronouns indicate: “I handed it over . . . I cast it aside” (31:11). The agency of execution is human (“the ruler of the nations,” 31:11), but the instructions come from on high. Broken and shattered, the tree no longer provides shade and protection for the birds and the beasts, as a king might for his people (Lam. 4:20); instead, its fallen branches are merely a convenient resting place for them (Ezek. 31:13). Just as her height was unparalleled in her time, so it will never again be surpassed; for all the dominant nations that come after her will share her mortality, treading along with her the way to destruction, bound for the underworld (Ezek. 31:14).6
The cosmic scale of the tree is matched by cosmic mourning at its fall and descent into Sheol, the home of the unworthy dead.7 The cosmic springs are shut up, while Lebanon, the home of the mighty cedar, is darkened (31:15). The heights and the depths, the sources of light and subterranean water, are thus both clothed in mourning, a state also affecting those in between.
The nations of the world trembled at the sound of the tree’s fall, whose echoes reverberated even into the underworld. Those of its predecessors who had envied it, described as “the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon” (31:16), were gratified in its sharing of their demise, while those who had allied themselves to it went down with it to Sheol (31:17). There they joined those killed by the sword, whose unpeaceful end was thought in some way to carry over to their state beyond death. Ezekiel brings out the point of the word picture explicitly in 31:18. Though Egypt’s splendor and majesty were unrivaled in all the powerful nations who went before (i.e., the “trees of Eden”), she too will share their fate in the underworld among those outside the peaceful community, among the uncircumcised and those slain by the sword.
The Sixth Oracle (32:1–16)
IN HIS SIXTH oracle against Egypt, Ezekiel returns to the image of Pharaoh as crocodile. This time the image is combined with that of a lion, with the emphasis more on the natural aspect of the imagery than the supernatural overtones of chapter 29. The lion and crocodile are two mighty beasts, who appear all-powerful (32:2). Indeed, both images were regularly appropriated by the pharaohs as positive self-descriptions.
Yet in spite of their strength, both may be hunted and killed. Though Pharaoh considers himself like a lion, the great Hunter has him in his sights.8 Once more through human agency (“with a great throng of people,” 32:3), the Lord will cast his net over Pharaoh, a method of hunting suitable to either crocodiles or lions (cf. 19:8). His corpse will be thrown to the ground to provide a home and food for the birds of the air and beasts of the field, much as was the fallen cosmic tree in 31:13. At this point, the scale of Pharaoh’s demise takes on semimythical proportions: His body is big enough to be spread on the mountains and fill the valleys, his blood enough to water the land and fill the ravines (32:5–6).
The images of cosmic darkness and universal mourning are invoked, both of which were present in the previous oracle (31:15–16). In an echo of the penultimate Exodus plague on Egypt, the plague of darkness (Ex. 10:21–22), the heavens will be darkened, and sun, moon, and stars will fail to give light (Ezek. 32:7). The peoples will be appalled, and their kings will shudder because of the scale of Egypt’s devastation, fearing for their own lives (32:9–10).
In this final onslaught against Egypt, the king of Babylon will shatter her pride (32:11–12). The night of the first Passover was a mere firstfruits in comparison to this full harvest of God’s judgment, for on that occasion only the firstborn of human beings and animals died (Ex. 12:29). Here, however, all people and animals are cut off from the land (Ezek. 32:13). The demise of the great animal-human of verse 2 is underlined by the ceasing of his thrashing around, muddying the streams (32:13). Now the waters of Egypt will flow as clear and smooth as oil, untroubled by any disturbance (32:14). Egypt will once again recognize the sovereign power of the Lord when he acts to strike down all who live there, this time with no exceptions (32:15). The lament is prepared; all that waits is the execution of the divine decree (32:16).
The Seventh Oracle (32:17–32)
THE FINAL ORACLE against Egypt, and the final oracle in the sequence of oracles against the nations, sums up everything that has gone before by means of a comprehensive tour of the underworld, which is to be Egypt’s new home. Six nations are named as already there: Assyria, Elam, Meshech-Tubal, Edom, the princes of the north, and Sidon. Egypt is the climactic and completing seventh nation of the underworld.
Once again, the oracle draws out and expands an idea present in an earlier pronouncement (31:17–18), which spoke of Egypt’s descent into the underworld and the company she would keep there. Here, however, the picture is presented in graphic detail. Egypt’s future home will be among the unquiet dead—with those outside the covenant (“the uncircumcised”)9 and those who fell by the sword (32:21). Though all these other nations were once mighty and had administered a reign of terror while they lived, now they bear the reproach for their iniquity. A place of punishment—“the pit” (32:24)—is prepared for all such, and Pharaoh certainly qualifies to join the club (32:28). For the time of the Lord’s appointing, he too spread terror in the land of the living (32:32), but soon he will become merely a part of the terror that is the land of the dead. The Sovereign Lord has spoken (32:32).
Bridging Contexts
THE FANTASY OF EGYPT. As with the preceding oracles against Egypt, so also these oracles only make sense against the background of what Egypt represented to Israel. Egypt frequently figured in Judean fantasies as a substitute for the Lord, providing chariots and horses to prop up Judean efforts to secure independence from the great world powers of the East. These fantasies must be shattered before the people can be restored; they need to see that only the Lord is able to deliver them from all dangers.
Ezekiel shatters the Judean illusions about Egypt by opening the people’s eyes to Egypt’s coming fate. Even though her present powers were indeed of mythical proportions—hence the use of mythical images of the great sea monster or world tree—her end will be the eminently unmythical fate of death. In fact, the situation is even worse than that, for her present power is much diminished. The Lord has already broken one of Pharaoh’s arms and before long will break the remaining arm, as well as rebreak the broken limb, thus leaving Egypt helpless and unable to offer help to others. In the conflict between the Lord and the world powers, the Lord is always victorious. Moreover, in that struggle the Lord employs human agents to do his bidding, and Nebuchadnezzar is nothing less than the servant of the Lord, equipped with the sword of the Lord to execute judgment on the Lord’s enemies (30:24). To stand against Nebuchadnezzar is to stand against the Lord and to incur certain death, as Egypt’s allies will find out.
Ezekiel’s description of the underworld draws on what would then have been a widely accepted three-layer view of the universe. The upper layer (heaven) was the home of the divine beings; the center layer was the “land of the living,” while underneath lay Sheol, the realm of death and the dead. The Old Testament descriptions of this place are relatively sparse compared to the fullness of New Testament revelation. It is more accurate to characterize it as a place of “underlife” than a place of “afterlife,” for there is nothing in that realm that deserves the epithet of “life.” It is a place of shadows, of the experiencing by the unrighteous of the unsuffered consequences of a lifetime.10 If Egypt and her pharaoh rightly belong there, so also do all who trust in her. The unexpressed implication is that it will not be so for those who trust in the Lord.
The deceit of contemporary Egypts. In our context, Egypt does not hold the same attractions as it did for Ezekiel’s hearers. For us, it is merely a geographical region, not a spiritual entity. However, the same basic temptations assail us, for we too have our earthly strongholds in which we place our trust, blindly worshiping and serving created things rather than the Creator (Rom. 1:25). The end of Egypt as a factor in our spirituality is not the end of the lie of self-sufficiency; rather, the lie has endless power to change into a new form and reshape for maximum appeal in each of our lives. For example, for some contemporary people the allure of Egypt is replaced by the allure of wealth. For those people, money seems to offer the same things that Egypt offered Judah: independence, freedom from outside controls and limits, the power to choose, and comfortable affluence. The core lie is the same; only the packaging has changed.
Yet the new idol is just as deceitful as the old—and for the same reasons. On the one hand, its power is not as great as we are tempted to believe. The mythical aura of invincibility that wealth carries in our society is just that: a myth. God can bankrupt the richest person, or in allowing them to possess wealth he can still deny them the blessings they thought it would give them: freedom, happiness, and independence. Many people who achieve great wealth nonetheless find their lives filled with a pervasive boredom. God continues to shatter the arms of the strongest idols of this world.
Yet even if the power of money were as great as its advertising copy claims, so that it really could buy happiness and satisfaction in life, death still remains as the great leveler and relativizer of all of this world’s goods. As the grim Spanish proverb puts it: “There are no pockets in the shroud.” On the day of death, the inability of wealth to deliver lasting blessings will become thoroughly evident, as deceased millionaires rub shoulders in the grave with paupers. There are no exclusive country club areas in either heaven or hell.
Wealth is, of course, not the only contemporary “Egypt substitute.” There are perhaps as many claimants to the title as there are people. On all sides, we are presented with products and ideologies, philosophies and relationships, each of which asserts that it alone offers true freedom. Some are more self-evidently illusory in the present than others: the alcoholic’s bottle and the crack addict’s needle are more obviously deceptive in what they offer than the respectable middle-class idols of career, reputation, family, and possessions.
Yet ultimately any refuge apart from God is a delusion, professing a power that it does not have, promising much and delivering little. The most profound work of God in our lives is the Spirit’s work of unmasking our own personal idolatries, the refuges in which we have come to trust rather than him. Often he does so by bringing us through repeated trials in a particular area of our lives that expose the true nature and impotence of our idols. Though the process may be painful, it is nonetheless an act of God’s grace when he exposes the destitution of our idols in this life, lest we share their fate in death.
Contemporary Significance
IN WHAT DO we trust? The declaration on U.S. bank notes is unequivocal: “In God we trust.” Unfortunately, it is a single-mindedness that few of us, even as Christians, live out in practice. The temptation to trust in the paper on which the slogan is written rather than in the God of whom the slogan speaks is real. Yet on what does our faith in that piece of paper rest? The paper can be burned up, lost, or stolen. Even if the paper is retained, its value can be devastated through runaway inflation to the point where the note itself is virtually worthless. Moreover, even if none of these things happen, U.S. dollars are not the local currency beyond the grave. How foolish we are, then, to place our trust in money! Yet how many of us still believe unflinchingly in its power to bless us, and that possessing more of it will make our life more meaningful and desirable! The number of people who participate weekly in the various state and local lotteries demonstrates the power of that myth in our society.
Or consider the power of the myth of career. How many people have devoted their lives to finding a fulfilling and rewarding job? In the process, they may sacrifice precious relationships and outside interests on the altar of success, which they have defined as career progress. How many find, if they finally reach the top of the ladder, that they wish they had climbed a different one? Even if they are content with the ladder they have climbed and they receive the benediction of their idol, do its blessings last? Sooner or later, through retirement or death, the ladder is put away. The job is turned over to someone else. Where will they be then?
But perhaps these are altogether too obvious idols to deceive us. Perhaps we have instead sacrificed everything on the altar of family. What could be more noble than laying down our lives for the sake of our loved ones? Yet if our trust is in our family to provide meaning and value in our lives, then we too are headed for disappointment sooner or later. In the short term, we should remember that we are investing our love in fallen sinners. Even faithful Christians see their spouses commit adultery or their children rebel and run away, in spite of their best efforts. The pain and sorrow of such traumas are real and intense. But in the life of someone for whom family has become the controlling myth, they are more than intense; they are devastating. Life loses all its meaning, for meaning was determined by the sense of family.
Yet, tragic though it is, such a painful loss may be God’s way of demonstrating the powerlessness of “family” to save. It is a broken reed, which wounds those who lean on it. Even those who do not experience that kind of disillusionment through broken family relationships must still face up to the reality of death. The ultimate dissolution of all earthly relationships is a fact that cannot be gainsaid. Relationships by blood or marriage may serve to gain us citizenship in earthly kingdoms, but they will avail us nothing when it comes to citizenship in the kingdom of heaven.
Escape from ultimate disappointment. In his book The Great Divorce, C. S. Lewis imagines a group of people on a day trip from hell to the borders of heaven. Hell is depicted as a gray, shadowy place, full of ordinary things like bus stops and fish-and-chip shops, but ultimately unreal. Heaven, on the other hand, is bright, sharp, and real. It is an uncomfortable place for the shadowy, unsubstantial people on the day trip. On their arrival, they are each faced with the choice of whether to stay in heaven and so gradually, painfully become “real,” or to return to the comfortable shadowland. In each case, the decision boils down to a choice between retaining an idol and gradually becoming nothing more than a pale reflection of the idol itself, or allowing the idol to be killed, thus being set free to a new dimension of life. Lewis’s allegory describes well the choice that we are faced within life: Follow the true God along the real path—often a painful decision but ultimately the way to life—or believe our idols when they tell us that we cannot live without them and settle for an empty promise now and ultimate disappointment.
I wonder how many of the painful experiences we encounter in life are God’s direct challenges to the “Egypts” in our lives? Though they are painful, yet these “frowning providences” (as the Puritans called them) are still evidence of God’s goodness and love for us. Thanks be to God that he often acts sooner rather than later to expose the powerlessness of that in which we have trusted to save ourselves. But how slow we often are to learn!