Ezekiel 30 Study Notes

30:1-19 This is a lament for Egypt and its allies. Because of the Egyptians’ pride and idolatry, they would be brought down.

30:12 Egypt’s pharaohs claimed that they had made the Nile—the river on which the entire nation depended. If God dried up the Nile, the nation would be doomed.

30:13-19 The list of cities to be destroyed shows the breadth of the destruction; the drying up of the Nile (30:12) shows how deep the devastation would reach. Egypt would be completely incapacitated. This was a clear message to Judah not to trust Egypt for help against the Babylonians.

30:20, 21 This message came in 587 B.C. while Jerusalem was under attack from Babylon. Judah had rebelled against Babylon and made an alliance with Egypt in spite of God’s warnings (Jeremiah 2:36, 37). Pharaoh Hophra made a halfhearted attempt to help Jerusalem, but when Nebuchadnezzar’s army turned on him, he fled back to Egypt (Jeremiah 37:5-7). This defeat is what Ezekiel meant when he said that God had “broken the arm of Pharaoh.”

30:21-26 This prophecy was given to Ezekiel in 587 B.C. God destroyed Egypt’s military superiority and gave it to Babylon. God allows nations to rise to power to accomplish a particular purpose, often beyond our immediate understanding. When you read about armies and wars, don’t despair. Remember that God is sovereign and in charge of everything, even military might. Besides praying for your military and government leaders, pray that God’s greater purposes would be carried out and that his will would be done “in earth, as it is in heaven” (see Matthew 6:10).