Category Archives: Biblical Reflections

Ezekiel 36 A Healed Land for a People Renewed Heart and Spirit

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Ezekiel 36:1-15

¹ And you, mortal, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say: O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD. ² Thus says the Lord GOD: Because the enemy said of you, “Aha!” and, “The ancient heights have become our possession,” ³ therefore prophesy, and say: Thus says the Lord GOD: Because they made you desolate indeed, and crushed you from all sides, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you became an object of gossip and slander among the people; ⁴ therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD: Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains and the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, the desolate wastes and the deserted towns, which have become a source of plunder and an object of derision to the rest of the nations all around; ⁵ therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I am speaking in my hot jealousy against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who, with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, took my land as their possession, because of its pasture, to plunder it. ⁶ Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, to the watercourses and valleys, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am speaking in my jealous wrath, because you have suffered the insults of the nations; ⁷ therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I swear that the nations that are all around you shall themselves suffer insults.

⁸ But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot out your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they shall soon come home. ⁹ See now, I am for you; I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown; ¹⁰ and I will multiply your population, the whole house of Israel, all of it; the towns shall be inhabited and the waste places rebuilt; ¹¹ and I will multiply human beings and animals upon you. They shall increase and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as in your former times, and will do more good to you than ever before. Then you shall know that I am the LORD. ¹² I will lead people upon you — my people Israel — and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance. No longer shall you bereave them of children.

¹³ Thus says the Lord GOD: Because they say to you, “You devour people, and you bereave your nation of children,” ¹⁴ therefore you shall no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, says the Lord GOD; ¹⁵ and no longer will I let you hear the insults of the nations, no longer shall you bear the disgrace of the peoples; and no longer shall you cause your nation to stumble, says the Lord GOD.

The judgment against Mount Seir (Edom) in the previous chapter is mirrored by the words of promise for the mountains of Israel in the first half of chapter thirty-six. Previously in chapter six, Ezekiel set his face towards the mountains of Israel and prophesied against them. Now God’s rising to deal with the violation of the land of Israel by the Edomites, in the aftermath of the exile of the people, opens the path for a renewed relationship between the people and the land. In the first half of Ezekiel the prophet challenged the reliance of the people on the Davidic king, Jerusalem and the temple, and the land as assurances of the LORD’s blessings. In chapter thirty-four Ezekiel could reimagine a world with a proper ‘prince’ acting on behalf of the LORD as the shepherd of the people. Now in this chapter the judgment on Edom and the renewal of the land reimagines a future where the land and the people can live in harmony. Yet, both the land and the people need divine intervention to become what they were intended to be.

Even though the people of Judah have been removed from the land, the land still belongs to the LORD. When Edom and the other nations view this land as their bounty to exploit the LORD is affronted and will not sit by. Psalm seventy-nine, also likely speaking to the time of exile, could cry out to raise God to action:

How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealous wrath burn like fire? Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call on your name. For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. Psalm 79: 5-7

Yet, initially the concern of this portion of Ezekiel is for the land itself and not for the people. The people of Edom are laying waste to the prior habitation of Judah, but in Ezekiel’s view that people of Judah have been rightly judged by their God and their time in exile is earned. Now God is judging on behalf of the mountains and hills, the watercourses and valleys, and the plundered pastures. The actions of Edom and any others who violated the land have turned the LORD’s anger away from Judah and towards these invaders.

The reputation of the land has suffered in this time where other nations have seized it, and the LORD’s work to repair the reputation of the land leads to a broader time of healing for the mountains and valleys. Although there is in verse twelve the announcement that God will lead the people of Israel back to the land, there is a necessary healing for the land first. This land corrupted by the previous disobedience of the people and bearing the scars of war and famine must become fruitful again. The land begins by bearing fruit and being ready to be farmed again, perhaps having a time of sabbath renewal-but something more direct is indicated in the imagery. The phrase, “See now, I am for you” in verse nine is typically a summon to a duel when utilized in Ezekiel, but here the intent is plainly turning towards the welfare of the land rather than the judgment of the land. God has previously been the shepherd of the flock, and now is the tiller of soil planting the land as a new garden. Formerly destroyed towns will be rebuilt and wastelands inhabited as the land is renewed in expectation of the return of its children.

There is something wrong in this personified land of Israel. Daniel Block can talk about the land,

as having stifled maternal feelings for the nation that inhabits it and having robbed the nation of children. Yahweh hereby promises that this will never happen again. (Block, 1998, p. 335)

There is a long tradition throughout the scriptures of understanding the land personified and reacting in response to the disobedience of humanity. From the earth being cursed by Adam’s disobedience (Genesis 3:17) to the earth cursing Cain for consuming Abel’s blood (Genesis 4:11) to the provisions in the law dealing with an unsolved murder (Deuteronomy 21: 1-9) there is a connection between the people’s disobedience, blood, and the reaction from the land. The land now devours children just like the ‘princes of Israel/lions’ did in chapter nineteen. The rupture between land and people will be repaired by God prior to the reintroduction of the children of Israel. In an interesting echo the land in the time of Ezekiel has once again the fear of the spies sent to scout the land in Numbers 13:32-33

So they brought to the Israelites an unfavorable report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land that we have gone through as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people we say in it are of great size. There we saw the Nephilim (the Anakites come for the Nephilim); and to ourselves seemed like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

In preparation for what is to come the curse upon the land has been removed, the giants are a distant memory, and what remains is a land flowing with milk and honey, of rich fruit and grain filled fields where people and animals can flourish and multiply. The defilement of the land must be healed and so also must the defilement of the people.

Ezekiel 36: 16-21

¹⁶ The word of the LORD came to me: ¹⁷ Mortal, when the house of Israel lived on their own soil, they defiled it with their ways and their deeds; their conduct in my sight was like the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual period. ¹⁸ So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for the idols with which they had defiled it. ¹⁹ I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries; in accordance with their conduct and their deeds I judged them. ²⁰ But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that it was said of them, “These are the people of the LORD, and yet they had to go out of his land.” ²¹ But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.

Ezekiel’s way of understanding the world is often strange to modern readers but it adheres to a priestly understanding of the things that defile. The defilement of the land is coming from the actions of the people. In the law defilement can come from murder (Numbers 35:33-34), sexual relations outside of those permitted (Leviticus 18: 6-25), failing to remove the corpse of hanged criminal (Deuteronomy 21: 22-23) or idolatry (Ezekiel 5:11)[1] (NIB VI: 1489) This is the only time Ezekiel refers to the land being defiled, but as mentioned above there is a tradition stretching back to Genesis of the land responding to the actions of humanity upon it. (See my discussion on the Connection between humanity and the earth) Blood is a consistent theme in these verses and Ezekiel’s metaphor of the uncleanness of a woman in her menstrual period links to Leviticus 15: 19-24. Blood in the law is a source of both life and contamination and there are many laws around contact with blood and purification after contact. The actions of the people were not only defiling themselves but also the land they had contact with and their God acted in response to the defilement of both the people and the land.

Ezekiel’s language may be uncomfortable for us but if we consider this strange prophet a part of our scriptures we have to figure out how to receive his messages which come from a world that understands defilement in a very different manner than we do. Ezekiel’s metaphors may have been powerful in his time because of their connection with his culture but also due to their uncomfortable nature. We do not know how the people of Israel actually practiced the laws of Leviticus, whether they truly kept women isolated from the camp for the seven days surrounding their menstrual cycle, but these ideas of cleanness and uncleanness helped to shape the practices and the imagination of the people.

Yet, the strangest thing for most Christian readers of Ezekiel is the image of God. Christians who may have more rigid ideas of holiness and boundaries may be comfortable with Ezekiel’s worldview and often their view of God adheres more closely to Ezekiel’s. God in this way of thinking is firm and a dispenser of justice. Yet, for a Lutheran Christian, like myself, whose witness is centered around the grace of God, the harsh God of Ezekiel is often disconcerting. Several important characteristics of God’s nature are absent in Ezekiel. Ezekiel’s God is never indicated to act in hesed (steadfast love), covenant faithfulness, and only once is the word mercy[2] used. (NIB VI: 1489) Instead Ezekiel focuses on the honor due to God’s name. The divine reputation is the primary motivation for God’s action on behalf of the land and the people in this section. The exile of the people and the violation of the land have had a negative impact of the name (reputation) of the LORD among the nations and for Ezekiel that damage must be addressed.

Ezekiel 36: 17-32

²² Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. ²³ I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, when through you I display my holiness before their eyes. ²⁴ I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. ²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. ²⁶ A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. ²⁸ Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ I will save you from all your uncleannesses, and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. ³⁰ I will make the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field abundant, so that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. ³¹ Then you shall remember your evil ways, and your dealings that were not good; and you shall loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominable deeds. ³² It is not for your sake that I will act, says the Lord GOD; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and dismayed for your ways, O house of Israel.

This image of the purification and renewal of the people of God is one of the well-known portions of the book of Ezekiel. Receiving a new heart (Hebrew leb) and a new spirit (Hebrew ruach) occurred previously in chapter eleven [3] and is similar to Jeremiah’s one heart and one way.[4] Yet at the same time we receive the heart-warming image of a new heart and new spirit replacing the stony heart of the purified people there is an uncompromising harshness to the image of God presented in this section. As Daniel Block is worthy of extended quotation for his directness on this point:

The modern reader may find Yahweh’s apparent heartlessness at this point disturbing, if not offensive. Yahweh looks like a stuffy egotistical monarch, upset that his subjects have not given him the honor he demands. His response hardly enhances his image. Absent is any compassion toward a bleeding nation, any mercy, any hint of forgiveness. Absent also is any reference to the covenant promises. Indeed, as Zimmerli has observed, a whole class of terms is missing from Ezekiel: hesed, “covenant loyalty,” rahamim, “compassion,” amuna, “faithfulness,” yesua, “salvation,”’ahaba, “love.” (Block, 1998, p. 352)

As mentioned previously, the motivation reinforced once again is that the LORD is acting for the sake of the name of the LORD and the reputation of that name. These actions are explicitly not for the people of Israel’s sake. Yet, regardless of the motives for God’s actions there are benefits for the people.

This reminds me of the ‘guilt piety’ in the Lutheran church that I grew up in. The language from the 1958 Service Book and Hymnal used by many Lutheran congregations declared in confession that, “we are by nature sinful and unclean.” And much of the preaching differentiated between our fundamental unworthiness and God’s undeserved grace towards us. Yet, this led to a practice of self-loathing similar to the desired end of these actions for Israel. Israel here is to loathe themselves and to be ashamed and dismayed at their ways. I understand the desire for repentance and the emphasis on personal accountability for the actions which defile the people and the land. Yet, the image of God presented throughout Ezekiel does not seem to have steadfast love, compassion, faithfulness, or love for the land or the people. Perhaps this is the language of a brokenhearted God and a brokenhearted prophet, and perhaps both will learn to love again in the future, but for now a purified people of a new heart and new spirit precede any renewal of God’s heart and spirit.

Human initiative will not be a prerequisite for the LORD’s actions on behalf of the land and the people. The people will be gathered and returned to the land to display the holiness of God and repair God’s reputation. Previously sprinkling with water has been used for the consecration of priests and Levites, for ritual cleanness on the day of atonement, and for cleansing a person defiled by a corpse.[5] Each of these images has resonance to this situation: the people are reformed to accept their role as a priestly kingdom and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6) in this time of atonement where their defilement from their past bloody actions is removed. Yet the verb for sprinkling is often used for the sprinkling with blood, particularly in Exodus 24:6-8 where the people are sprinkled with blood to seal the covenant with the people at Sinai. As Tova Ganzel notes, all of these actions also prepare the nation to not defile the future temple of chapters forty through forty-eight. (Ganzel, 2020, p. 305)

The familiar image of a new heart and new spirit to replace the stony heart are an act of the LORD to create a situation where the people can be faithful. In Hebrew leb and ruach are the locus of will and thought.[6] Through most of scripture, and even in Ezekiel, people are told to get a new heart (Ezekiel 18:31) but here the action is solely God’s. In Deuteronomy 30 the people are told to seek God with their heart, but then later God promises to circumcise their hearts. Now God’s reaction to human stubbornness and wickedness is a heart and spirit transplant. A renewed land awaits purified people bearing fleshy hearts and godly spirits. Yet, a heartbroken God acts for God’s own honor and for the sake of the land. God’s heart seems too broken here to love the people in return at this point.

Ezekiel 36: 33-38

³³ Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the towns to be inhabited, and the waste places shall be rebuilt. ³⁴ The land that was desolate shall be tilled, instead of being the desolation that it was in the sight of all who passed by. ³⁵ And they will say, “This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined towns are now inhabited and fortified.” ³⁶ Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places, and replanted that which was desolate; I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it.

³⁷ Thus says the Lord GOD: I will also let the house of Israel ask me to do this for them: to increase their population like a flock. ³⁸ Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed festivals, so shall the ruined towns be filled with flocks of people. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.

God’s intervention on behalf of the land has transformed the wasteland that eats its children into a cultivated garden as full of life as the garden of Eden. Vegetation and animals are fruitful once again. Towns and cities have both the walls that protect the city and the habitations within the city rebuilt. The trauma inflicted on the land by the impurity of the people’s actions and the scars of war are healed and the land is ready to receive its children as a caring and responsible mother. The nations will see the renewal of the land, the nation of Israel, and the people and give the proper honor to the LORD the God of Israel in this vision. The LORD’s words become the assurance that this future will occur.

Previously in Ezekiel the LORD has been unwilling to hear the petitions of Israel, but now Israel is invited to ask for God to make their population grow. In chapter thirty-four the LORD was the shepherd caring for the flock, which was the people of Israel, and now as a good shepherd practicing proper husbandry of the flock it leads to an increase in the population of the people under God’s care. They will become as numerous as the memory of animals gathered around the temple at the time of festivals when sacrifice was practiced. The renewed land and rebuilt cities will be filled with people and both land and people will again be fruitful. Previously the people and the nation had known the LORD through the actions of judgment, but now they will now the LORD through the prosperity of the land and the population.

[1] The idolatry in Ezekiel five explicitly defiles the temple, but defilement in Ezekiel’s understanding would not be limited to the temple but expand to the city, the people, and the land itself.

[2] Ezekiel 39:25.

[3] Ezekiel 11:19.

[4] Jeremiah 31:33-34.

[5] See Exodus 29:4, Numbers 8:7, Leviticus 16: 4,24,26, and Number 19: 1-22.

[6] In Hebrew the heart is not primarily for emotion. That often in Hebrew thought comes from the bowels or gut.

Ezekiel 35 Judgment on Edom and Hope for Judah

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Kingdoms around Israel 830 BCE. *Oldtidens_Israel_&_Judea.svg: FinnWikiNoderivative work: Richardprins (talk)derivative work: Richardprins (talk) – Kingdoms_of_Israel_and_Judah_map_830.svg, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10876701

Ezekiel 35

¹ The word of the LORD came to me: ² Mortal, set your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it, ³ and say to it, Thus says the Lord GOD:

I am against you, Mount Seir; I stretch out my hand against you to make you a desolation and a waste.

⁴ I lay your towns in ruins; you shall become a desolation, and you shall know that I am the LORD.

⁵ Because you cherished an ancient enmity, and gave over the people of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment; ⁶ therefore, as I live, says the Lord GOD, I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed shall pursue you. ⁷ I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation; and I will cut off from it all who come and go. ⁸ I will fill its mountains with the slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your watercourses those killed with the sword shall fall. ⁹ I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities shall never be inhabited. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.

¹⁰ Because you said, “These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will take possession of them,” — although the LORD was there — ¹¹ therefore, as I live, says the Lord GOD, I will deal with you according to the anger and envy that you showed because of your hatred against them; and I will make myself known among you, when I judge you. ¹² You shall know that I, the LORD, have heard all the abusive speech that you uttered against the mountains of Israel, saying, “They are laid desolate, they are given us to devour.” ¹³ And you magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and multiplied your words against me; I heard it. ¹⁴ Thus says the Lord GOD: As the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. ¹⁵ As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so I will deal with you; you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.

Mount Seir is a geographical linkage to the people of Edom. This reference to Mount Seir will parallel the references to the mountains of Israel in the following chapter. Chapter 35 and Chapter 36:1-15 function together to link the condemnation of Edom with the hope for the mountains of Israel. Edom received a short but harsh condemnation among the nations in Ezekiel 25: 12-14 and its frequent references in the prophets, Psalms, and Lamentations[1] illustrate a long-lasting struggle between the people of Israel/Judah and Edom. Verse five indicates that Mount Seir/Edom cherished an ancient enmity (literally an enmity of eternity in Hebrew) and this may go back to the origin narrative in scripture of Jacob and Esau (the biblical origins of Edom) where the twins struggled in Rebekah’s womb and throughout their lives.[2]

In the previous chapter Ezekiel pointed to a vision of a new shepherd or king (or more properly for Ezekiel prince) who is David. Now Ezekiel begins the process of a renewed relationship with the land, but before the people can have their relationship with the land renewed the intrusions of the Edomites must be dealt with by God. In the vacuum left by the depopulation of the land by Babylon (and earlier Assyria for the northern kingdom) the Edomites have viewed this as a time to stake their claim on this fertile land. The Hebrew root behind ‘desolation’ or ‘desolate’ occurs ten times in this short section and set the theme for this judgment of Mount Seir. The abusive speech and actions of the people of Edom have been heard by the LORD and will be dealt with by God’s actions. The removal of the people by Nebuchadrezzar (acting as God’s agent of judgment) does not remove the land from God’s protection. This is a message of hope for the people of Judah. Those who have rejoiced and profited from the desolation of the people of Israel and may be participating in hunting down the survivors still remaining in the land will now experience their own judgment and desolation. This turn by God against the nations who are plundering the land of Israel will lead in the following chapter to a renewal of the land for the people of Israel.

[1] Amos 1: 11-12, Isaiah 34: 5-17, Jeremiah 49: 7-22, Malachi 1: 2-5, Obadiah 11-14, Psalm 137:7, and Lamentations 4: 21-22.

[2] Genesis 25: 22-34 and the continuing narrative which runs through Genesis 33.

Ezekiel 34 Unfaithful and Faithful Shepherd

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Sheep in Turkmenistan By Bayram A – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=104988739

Ezekiel 34: 1-10 Against the Unfaithful Shepherds of Israel

¹ The word of the LORD came to me: ² Mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel: prophesy, and say to them — to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, you shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? ³ You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. ⁴ You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled them. ⁵ So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and scattered, they became food for all the wild animals. ⁶ My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them.

⁷ Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: ⁸ As I live, says the Lord GOD, because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild animals, since there was no shepherd; and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep; ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: ¹⁰ Thus says the Lord GOD, I am against the shepherds; and I will demand my sheep at their hand, and put a stop to their feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, so that they may not be food for them.

Scripture utilize the metaphor of shepherd to refer to the king or leaders among the people frequently, and this taps into a broader utilization of this metaphor in literature throughout the region.[1] This is not the first time that Ezekiel has criticized the leaders who led the people of Judah to disaster, but this is the first time the prophet taps into this well understood metaphor. These shepherds who are responsible for a flock that is entrusted to them have looked to their own welfare instead of the welfare of the flock they are to care for. Instead of feeding the flock in the metaphor they feed on the flock. They have not cared for the vulnerable, which was to be the responsibility of the leaders of Israel, instead they have profited from the produce of the sheep. They either drink the milk from or eat the fat of the sheep,[2] wear the wool from the sheep, and slaughter the fatlings of the flock. These leaders have fleeced their followers, and the very ones charged with protecting and feeding them have abused them. This metaphor is very similar to Jeremiah 23:1-6, and it is plausible that Ezekiel would be familiar with Jeremiah’s utilization of this imagery as well.

The founding story of the people of Israel is the Exodus, and their existence as slaves under Pharoah was to be the antitheses of their existence as the people of God. Yet now the leaders are ruling with force and harshness. The word translated harshness (parak) is the same work utilized in Exodus 1:13-14 for Pharoah’s oppression of the Israelites. Leviticus 25: 43, 46, and 53 explicitely warns against treating fellow Israelites in with harshness (parak). In addition to the metaphor of the shepherds not caring for and even eating the flock we now have an allusion to these princes in Judah acting like the Pharoah of ancient times towards the people.

Micaiah son of Imlah predicted the failure of King Ahab’s campaign against Aram stating, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, like sheep that have no shepherd; and the LORD said, ‘These have no master; let each one go home in peace.’” (1 Kings 22:17) Although the people of Judah have recently suffered a military defeat, these inattentive shepherds have already created a situation similar to the confusion after Ahab’s death. In the metaphor these sheep are without a shepherd and wander not only over the mountains of Israel but are scattered over all the face of the earth.

These unfaithful shepherds who have failed the sheep now have to account for the sheep they have failed to care for. The owner of the sheep is not the shepherds but is the LORD the God of Israel. God, as the owner of the flock, will now have to find a different arrangement to ensure the health of the flock, but the shepherds are under judgment. Since the shepherds would not search for or gather the flock, the remainder of the chapter turns to a hopeful note for the flock where good shepherds are given responsibility for the care of the flock.

Ezekiel 34: 11-22 God the Shepherd

¹¹ For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. ¹² As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. ¹³ I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. ¹⁴ I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord GOD. ¹⁶ I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.

¹⁷ As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats: ¹⁸ Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have fouled with your feet?

²⁰ Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, ²² I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures the image of God being the shepherd for the people is connected with God being the king for the people.[3] Although the time period of the judges, early in Israel’s story, was a time of conflict and the people desired a king to unify the people for military campaigns or security, there is always an element where Israel was to embody a different way of being than the surrounding nations. There is a strong voice in the Hebrew Scriptures that resists the appointment of a king over the people which critiques the failures of the kings to stay within the restrained vision of kingship that texts like Deuteronomy 17: 14-20 present. Yet, the kings of Judah and Israel have now lost their authority, and as we saw previously it because of their unfaithfulness in their care for the people. The prophets and poets of the people have imagined a reality where God is their king, and now continuing the shepherd metaphor now God does what the unfaithful shepherds did not.

The previous shepherds have allowed the flock to be scattered throughout the earth, and now God is the one to regather the flock and bring then back to the rich pastures of the land of Israel. This is one of the images of a hopeful future for the people beyond exile in Babylon. Even beyond the exiles of Judah in Babylon and Egypt, there is probably also a hope for the tribes of the Northern Kingdom that were scattered throughout the Assyrian empire being reunified into a healed nation of Israel. This is a hopeful vision for those who are weak, injured, lost and strayed but life in this renewed kingdom is a life of justice. The fat and the strong who have exploited the weak and injured will now be fed with justice. There is an imagined leveling of society in this image.

Even within the flock there are those who refuse to live in a way that is beneficial for the community. Using two complementary images: sheep who trample the pasture and foul the waters and fat sheep who pushed the weak animals away from the food and water, these exploiters are highlighted. God’s concern is for the larger flock, and if there are individual animals who prevent the weaker animals from having the pasture and water they need the LORD will see and deal with them.

Ezekiel 34: 23-31 David as Shepherd

²³ I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the LORD, have spoken.

²⁵ I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild animals from the land, so that they may live in the wild and sleep in the woods securely. ²⁶ I will make them and the region around my hill a blessing; and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. ²⁷ The trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase. They shall be secure on their soil; and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke, and save them from the hands of those who enslaved them. ²⁸ They shall no more be plunder for the nations, nor shall the animals of the land devour them; they shall live in safety, and no one shall make them afraid. ²⁹ I will provide for them a splendid vegetation so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the insults of the nations. ³⁰ They shall know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord GOD. ³¹ You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture and I am your God, says the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel, like Jeremiah, has been involved in dismantling a ‘Zion theology’ which placed its trust in the Davidic king, the city of Jerusalem, the temple, and the land as signs of God’s unending favor. Each of these things have been lost by the people, but now Ezekiel begins to rebuild and reimagine each of these former signs of God’s favor beginning with the line of David. In a reunified and gathered Israel there is a new shepherd appointed by God, David. Yet, this new Davidic figure is not given the title of king, but the title of prince. God remains king while David is the prince chosen to faithfully shepherd the people in this time of blessing and prosperity.

Ezekiel and the other prophets of both the exile and post exile refer to a Davidic figure as a symbol of a new time of prosperity under God. In Ezekiel the figure is David, but elsewhere the prophets will utilize imagery of a righteous branch raised up for David, raising up the fallen booth of David, or a child on the throne of David.[4] Even for all of Ezekiel’s critique of the princes of Israel, it would probably be unimaginable to return to a time where there was no earthly representative of God’s rule for the people.

God initiates for the people a covenant of peace where the wild animals are banished from the land. The banishment of the wild animals I believe is a continuation of the sheep/shepherd metaphor since sheep are often prey to many predators. God is creating a safe space of prosperity for the flock to pasture and be watered in, and the fields and trees will have the water in the proper time to ensure plenty of food. They will be rescued from their captivity and returned to a land of plenty. This people who has known the humiliation of military defeat, the destruction of their homeland, and the reality of exile among the nations will now be brought home to heal. The result of God’s action on their behalf is that they will know the LORD. They will recognize that their prosperity and security come from God and they, like sheep under a good shepherd in good pastures, will have all they need for their life.

[1] Daniel Block and many other commentators point to the connection with Sumerian and Babylonian literature. (Block, 1998, pp. 280-281)

[2] Translation depends in whether the Hebrew consonants hhlb. The Septuagint (Greek) and Vulgate (Latin) translations read this as hehalab (milk) while the MT (Hebrew text) has haheleb (fat). Arguments can be made for either translation.

[3] Jeremiah 23:3, Psalm 23, Micah 2:12.

[4] Jeremiah 23:5, Isaiah 11:1, Amos 9:11, Isaiah 9: 6-7.

Ezekiel 33 The Beginning of Ezekiel’s Role After Jerusalem’s Fall

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Poole, Paul Falconer; Sketch for ‘Vision of Ezekiel’; Tate; http://www.artuk.org/artworks/sketch-for-vision-of-ezekiel-201293

Chapter 33 of Ezekiel functions structurally as a hinge between the judgment of the previous thirty two chapters and the messages of hope that much of the remaining fourteen chapters involve. This chapter rearticulates numerous themes from throughout the early chapters but also helps to prepare us for the changed situation as the majority of the people find themselves in exile. Like the other biblical prophets, the movement to hope does not mean an abandonment of their message God’s desired repentance.

Ezekiel 33: 1-9 The Sentinel for the People

¹ The word of the LORD came to me: ² O Mortal, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one of their number as their sentinel; ³ and if the sentinel sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people; ⁴ then if any who hear the sound of the trumpet do not take warning, and the sword comes and takes them away, their blood shall be upon their own heads. ⁵ They heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; their blood shall be upon themselves. But if they had taken warning, they would have saved their lives. ⁶ But if the sentinel sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any of them, they are taken away in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at the sentinel’s hand.

⁷ So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. ⁸ If I say to the wicked, “O wicked ones, you shall surely die,” and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. ⁹ But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.

This rearticulation of Ezekiel’s role as a sentinel to the people of Israel echoes a similar passage in Ezekiel 3: 16-20. The word for sentinel in Hebrew (sopeh) comes from the shofar (trumpet/horn) which the watcher would blow. Ezekiel’s warning to the wicked and even the righteous may not be heeded, but he is under an obligation to sound the alarm announcing God’s judgment regardless. Both Hosea and Jeremiah[1] have performed this role of sounding a trumpet in the land or acting as a sentinel before and even if the people do not heed the trumpet call. Yet the prophet’s calling is to raise the alarm even if the people ignore the sound.

The wicked and the righteous are a common polarity used throughout wisdom literature, and Ezekiel who likely grew up schooled to be a priest was likely familiar with this way of engaging the world. Ezekiel uses the term wicked (rasa) more than any prophetic book, but the character of God is to desire repentance even among the wicked. The prophet is not to judge the worthiness of the recipients of God’s alarm but to raise the sound that they may hear. Even those who were once righteous but who commit iniquity are not exempt from God’s judgment. The ‘stumbling block’ (miksol) is “not an occasion for sin but a cause of downfall and ruin.” (NIB VI: 1135) As Katheryn Pfisterer Darr states about Ezekiel’s task,

His life depends solely on his performance of the task; it does not hang on the people’s response. Lives may be saved as a result of his warning. But Ezekiel is not told to hold that possibility before his audience. (NIB VI: 1135)

Like his older contemporary Jeremiah[2] he is charged with bearing an unpopular message to resistant people. Yet, as mentioned above the prophet is not in control. Ezekiel is called as a sentinel to the people, but his call does not come from the people. The words he is to speak are not his words, he is animated by a spirit not his own, and God’s hand will be upon him. Any unfaithfulness of Ezekiel will not save the wicked or righteous, but they will endanger the prophet.

Ezekiel 33: 10-20 The Justice of God’s Ways

¹⁰ Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: “Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?” ¹¹ Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel? ¹² And you, mortal, say to your people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not save them when they transgress; and as for the wickedness of the wicked, it shall not make them stumble when they turn from their wickedness; and the righteous shall not be able to live by their righteousness when they sin. ¹³ Though I say to the righteous that they shall surely live, yet if they trust in their righteousness and commit iniquity, none of their righteous deeds shall be remembered; but in the iniquity that they have committed they shall die. ¹⁴ Again, though I say to the wicked, “You shall surely die,” yet if they turn from their sin and do what is lawful and right — ¹⁵ if the wicked restore the pledge, give back what they have taken by robbery, and walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity — they shall surely live, they shall not die. ¹⁶ None of the sins that they have committed shall be remembered against them; they have done what is lawful and right, they shall surely live.

¹⁷ Yet your people say, “The way of the Lord is not just,” when it is their own way that is not just. ¹⁸ When the righteous turn from their righteousness, and commit iniquity, they shall die for it. ¹⁹ And when the wicked turn from their wickedness, and do what is lawful and right, they shall live by it. ²⁰ Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not just.” O house of Israel, I will judge all of you according to your ways!

This is the first time we have a confession of sin from the house of Israel in Ezekiel. The people have come a long way from when Ezekiel and other prophets were mocked for their words of doom that had not transpired. Now we hear, through Ezekiel, of a realization by the people that their actions have led to the deathlike state they inhabit. They are weighed down by their sin and it has caused them to waste away[3] and they openly ask how they can live under the weight of their actions. This plaintive cry fits within the Hebrew tradition of lament to attempt to mobilize the God of Israel to bring about their deliverance from the deathlike state of exile. The answer that God grants through the prophet has a hopeful element to it that is often missed.

God’s response begins with the ‘oath of denial’ (NIB VI: 1446) “As I live” which places the trustworthiness of these words in connection with God’s life. The God of Israel immediately declares that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked and argues in a manner similar to Ezekiel 18. This may indeed be good news for people who are finally willing to accept responsibility for their previous actions and who are willing to turn from their past wickedness and embrace the way of righteousness. There is an opportunity for those who previously ignored their sentinel and continued in the ways of wickedness to turn and have their sins no longer remembered against them.

Throughout the book of Ezekiel the prophet has argued for the ‘justness’ of God. The current generation look at God’s patience with previous generations who continued to live in the land while they sinned and may have viewed their generation as bearing the judgment of their ancestors. Yet, for Ezekiel, God is just. God has repeatedly sent sentinels for the people, God has desired their repentance, and even now the judgment of God is not eternal. For Ezekiel the ways of God are simple: if the people turn from wickedness and live in righteousness there is a future. If they turn from righteousness to wickedness there is death. It is the classic pattern of wisdom literature in the bible.

Post Reformation Protestant readers often read scripture through the lens of God’s mercy, but the Hebrew Scriptures are probably better understood through being at the mercy of God. Both individuals and the people as a whole are dependent upon God for their protection and provision. There are times where they will protest the perceived injustice of God’s ways, but this is to provoke God to action rather than as a lack of faith. Ezekiel perceives the people’s future as dependent upon God’s action, and God’s action is tied to the people’s righteousness or wickedness.

Ezekiel 33: 21-29 The Fall of the City and Those Who Remain

²¹ In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, someone who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has fallen.” ²² Now the hand of the LORD had been upon me the evening before the fugitive came; but he had opened my mouth by the time the fugitive came to me in the morning; so my mouth was opened, and I was no longer unable to speak.

²³ The word of the LORD came to me: ²⁴ Mortal, the inhabitants of these waste places in the land of Israel keep saying, “Abraham was only one man, yet he got possession of the land; but we are many; the land is surely given us to possess.” ²⁵ Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: You eat flesh with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood; shall you then possess the land? ²⁶ You depend on your swords, you commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife; shall you then possess the land? ²⁷ Say this to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword; and those who are in the open field I will give to the wild animals to be devoured; and those who are in strongholds and in caves shall die by pestilence. ²⁸ I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and its proud might shall come to an end; and the mountains of Israel shall be so desolate that no one will pass through. ²⁹ Then they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have made the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations that they have committed.

Ezekiel reports the community in exile receiving the news of Jerusalem’s fall. The dating system makes the best sense if it follows the dating system referred to in Ezekiel 24, which follows the dating of 2 Kings and Jeremiah, rather than Ezekiel’s normal dating system. This allows the word to reach the exiles just under five months after the fall of Jerusalem, which seems like a long time for us, but if this is a person traveling with the first wave of new exiles traveling with families and animals by foot, the slow passage from Judah to Babylon is understandable. Travel in the ancient world was a slow and arduous process, especially when we are talking about moving entire communities. This confirmation of the destruction of the city now opens the possibility of Ezkiel opening his mouth to intercede for the people. Previously the prophet was not to intercede for the people, God no longer wanted to listen, but now the prophet’s mouth is opened.

Yet not all the inhabitants of Judah are deported. There is a remnant of people in the country and the poorest in the land. Now this remnant believes that they can now inherit the land, just as Abraham’s descendants did. This reference back to Abraham may involve a return to the story of the people, but the prophet’s words indicate that the actions of these remaining in Judah have not changed. The evocation of Abraham’s name has not brought about a reformation of practices. They still eat meat with blood in it, like the Gentiles, shed blood, and lift up their eyes to idols. The practices of the people have not changed. They depend on their ability to force their will by the sword, they commit the abominations that Ezekiel has protested throughout his time as a prophet, and they do not respect the boundaries of relations between neighbors. They have continued to practice wickedness and although they may have avoided punishment previously, their actions have not gone unseen by God. They stand under the same judgment that their neighbors enroute to Babylon or deceased in Judah endured. The evocation of Abraham’s name do not make them the heirs to the land.

If the people remaining in the land began appropriating the land, resources, and wealth left behind by the exiles and the dead they did not endear themselves to the exiles in Babylon or those enroute. Like the villainous Thenardiers couple in Les Misérables looting the corpses of the dead to ensure their prosperity, these remaining Judeans who benefited from the looting of Judah would likely be viewed in a similar way to the nations which took advantage of Jerusalem’s precarious position during and after the siege of the city. Ezekiel is one of our windows into this time in the life of the people of Judah, and we see a shattered and conflicted community. Sometimes the vultures picking over the corpse of the nation are not from outside the community, but those who see an opportunity for profiting off their neighbors’ misfortune.

Ezekiel 33: 30-33 The Toleration of the Prophet

³⁰ As for you, mortal, your people who talk together about you by the walls, and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to a neighbor, “Come and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.” ³¹ They come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they will not obey them. For flattery is on their lips, but their heart is set on their gain. ³² To them you are like a singer of love songs, one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; they hear what you say, but they will not do it. ³³ When this comes — and come it will! — then they shall know that a prophet has been among them.

Even the people who now listen to Ezekiel’s words have not changed. The prophet may be the talk of the community, his words have not caused them to change. They like to listen to his words, they may have enjoyed his metaphors or sign actions, but they are entertained, not challenged to change. There will come a time when they understand this strange messenger is indeed a prophet among them, and many of Ezekiel’s words have come to pass. At this point, but for now the heart of the people has not changed. Their words may be kind or flattering. They may appreciate the prophet’s artistry, but they miss the point of the art.

[1] Hosea 9:8, Jeremiah 4: 5, 19, 21; 6: 1, 17; 51:27

[2] As Daniel Block notes (assuming that the thirtieth year at the beginning of Ezekiel reflects his age) Jeremiah would begin his ministry about the time Ezekiel was born. (Block, 1997, p. 148) It is likely that Ezekiel may have grown up knowing Jeremiah’s voice or message and both prophets share the challenging job of dismantling the theology that had grown up around Jerusalem, the temple, and the Davidic kings. Both were probably never popular but proved to be essential voices to make sense of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by Babylon.

[3] The Hebrew maqoq (NRSV waste away) is used elsewhere of gangrenous flesh. (Block, 1997, p. 246)

Ezekiel 32 Concluding the Oracles Against Egypt

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Nile Crocodile Eating a Wildabeast in the Masai Mara By Arturo de Frias Marques – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34596035

Ezekiel 32: 1-16 Egypt as the Dragon of the Seas

¹In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: ²Mortal, raise a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him:
You consider yourself a lion among the nations,
but you are like a dragon in the seas;
you thrash about in your streams,
trouble the water with your feet,
and foul your streams.
³Thus says the Lord GOD:
In an assembly of many peoples
I will throw my net over you;
and I will haul you up in my dragnet.
⁴I will throw you on the ground,
on the open field I will fling you,
and will cause all the birds of the air to settle on you,
and I will let the wild animals of the whole earth gorge themselves with you.
⁵I will strew your flesh on the mountains,
and fill the valleys with your carcass.
⁶I will drench the land with your flowing blood
up to the mountains,
and the watercourses will be filled with you.
⁷When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens,
and make their stars dark;
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
and the moon shall not give its light.
⁸All the shining lights of the heavens
I will darken above you,
and put darkness on your land,
says the Lord GOD.
⁹I will trouble the hearts of many peoples,
as I carry you captive among the nations,
into countries you have not known.
¹⁰I will make many peoples appalled at you;
their kings shall shudder because of you.
When I brandish my sword before them,
they shall tremble every moment
for their lives, each one of them,
on the day of your downfall.
¹¹For thus says the Lord GOD:
The sword of the king of Babylon shall come against you.
¹²I will cause your hordes to fall
by the swords of mighty ones,
all of them most terrible among the nations.
They shall bring to ruin the pride of Egypt,
and all its hordes shall perish.
¹³I will destroy all its livestock
from beside abundant waters;
and no human foot shall trouble them any more,
nor shall the hoofs of cattle trouble them.
¹⁴Then I will make their waters clear,
and cause their streams to run like oil, says the Lord GOD.
¹⁵When I make the land of Egypt desolate
and when the land is stripped of all that fills it,
when I strike down all who live in it,
then they shall know that I am the LORD.
¹⁶This is a lamentation; it shall be chanted.
The women of the nations shall chant it.
Over Egypt and all its hordes they shall chant it,
says the Lord GOD.

The sixth oracle against Egypt is labeled as a lamentation and is framed by the Hebrew word for lamentation once in the second verse and four times[1] in verse sixteen. Yet, the intervening poem does not share the normal pattern of lifting in praise the object of the lament followed by a fall in most biblical laments. Within the larger structure of Ezekiel, the previous chapter may fulfill this purpose, but this ‘dragon of the seas’ while a mighty beast is not a sympathetic character at the beginning of the lament. Yet, unlike the previous usage of a metaphor for Assyria, as a great tree felled, the imagery is directly related to Egypt’s Pharoah and its military might.

In contrast to the self-perception of Pharoah as a lion among the nations,[2] but the LORD indicates through Ezekiel that he is a ‘dragon of the seas.’ We are again exposed to the Hebrew word tannin, here dragon, which often refers to a mythical sea creature and in chapter 29 referred to Pharoah as a crocodile. Here there are crocodile-like elements, the creature has feet instead of fins or flippers, but instead of being a creature of the rivers it is a creature of the seas. Part of this contrasting set of metaphors may be related to Egypt’s perception of themselves as a land-based power with a strong army (a lion among the nations) but their real power may be in their naval and merchant fleets which would prove less valuable in a defense of the homeland. Yet, this ‘dragon of the seas’ now seems to be confined to thrashing about in its streams, troubling the water with its feet, and fouling the streams. The presence of this ‘dragon of the seas’ presents in the image an ecological crisis for the waters it inhabits.

This massive beast is summarily dealt with when a net is thrown over it and it is brought out of the waters and cast on the land. Previously the LORD had cast his net over Zedekiah,[3] now the Egyptian Pharoah who Zedekiah appealed to for aid against Babylon is also ensnared. The timing of this oracle, indicated by Ezekiel’s date as March 3, 585 BCE would be two months after the exiles learn of the destruction of Jerusalem, may indicate the reason for this oracle. Although the city is gone there may still be some lingering hope that the great sea dragon of Egypt would rouse itself fully and attack Babylon in retaliation for Jerusalem. For Ezekiel the army of Babylon under Nebuchadrezzar has been functioning on behalf of the God of Israel and now only Egypt opposes the reign of Babylon. Yet, in Ezekiel’s image the sea dragon is out of its element and serves only as food for the birds of the air and the wild animals who gorge on it. The dragon is now the food for vultures and jackals.

The metaphorical destruction of Egypt’s hordes and Pharoah has both grotesque elements and cosmic elements. Egypt is not a land of mountains and valleys, yet the carcass of the beast falls on both mountains and valleys and the blood of the beast fills the land. At the same time the defeat of this beast causes the sun, moon, and the stars to be blocked out.[4] Such a drastic change on the seas and the earth is reflected by the shrouding of the heavens. The impact of Egypt’s departure from the nations causes other kings to shudder when the LORD responsible for this upheaval brandishes his sword at them as well.

The sword of the LORD is quickly indicated to be the sword of the king of Babylon and the swords of his mighty ones. They are both the most terrible among the nations and yet they are still the chosen instrument of God. Both the humans and the animals of Egypt are destroyed, and the land is desolate. Although there is a positive ecological impact on the waters as humans and animals are removed. The once fouled and troubled waters now flow like oil.

The great sea monster, just like the crocodile-like figure in chapter 29, is removed from their element and the predator becomes prey. Isaiah will later utilize a similar praise for God’s strength over Egypt by saying:

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD! Awake, as in days of old, the generations of long ago! Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the dragon? Isaiah 53:9[5]

Ezekiel has condemned Jerusalem’s leadership for trusting in Egypt instead of the LORD. Ezekiel’s voice was probably not popular during this time when the nation of Judah collapsed, but Ezekiel’s continual emphasis on God’s strength being enacted through Babylon likely helped the people make sense of their shattered lives in the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem, the temple, and their political system. Ezekiel’s imagery may have also influenced the beast from the sea in Revelation13:1-10.[6]

Ezekiel 31: 17-32 Egypt Goes Down to the Pit

¹⁷In the twelfth year, in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
¹⁸Mortal, wail over the hordes of Egypt,
and send them down,
with Egypt and the daughters of majestic nations,
to the world below,
with those who go down to the Pit.
¹⁹“Whom do you surpass in beauty?
Go down! Be laid to rest with the uncircumcised!”
²⁰They shall fall among those who are killed by the sword. Egypt has been handed over to the sword; carry away both it and its hordes. ²¹The mighty chiefs shall speak of them, with their helpers, out of the midst of Sheol: “They have come down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, killed by the sword.”
²²Assyria is there, and all its company, their graves all around it, all of them killed, fallen by the sword. ²³Their graves are set in the uttermost parts of the Pit. Its company is all around its grave, all of them killed, fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living.
²⁴Elam is there, and all its hordes around its grave; all of them killed, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised into the world below, who spread terror in the land of the living. They bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit. ²⁵They have made Elam a bed among the slain with all its hordes, their graves all around it, all of them uncircumcised, killed by the sword; for terror of them was spread in the land of the living, and they bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit; they are placed among the slain.
²⁶Meshech and Tubal are there, and all their multitude, their graves all around them, all of them uncircumcised, killed by the sword; for they spread terror in the land of the living. ²⁷And they do not lie with the fallen warriors of long ago who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid under their heads, and whose shields are upon their bones; for the terror of the warriors was in the land of the living. ²⁸So you shall be broken and lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are killed by the sword.
²⁹Edom is there, its kings and all its princes, who for all their might are laid with those who are killed by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised, with those who go down to the Pit.
³⁰The princes of the north are there, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who have gone down in shame with the slain, for all the terror that they caused by their might; they lie uncircumcised with those who are killed by the sword, and bear their shame with those who go down to the Pit.
³¹When Pharaoh sees them, he will be consoled for all his hordes — Pharaoh and all his army, killed by the sword, says the Lord GOD. ³²For he spread terror in the land of the living; therefore he shall be laid to rest among the uncircumcised, with those who are slain by the sword — Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the Lord GOD.

This final oracle against both Egypt and the nations consigns Pharoah and his multitude to the Pit along with the nations who went before. There is no month in the Hebrew text for the date and the NRSV assumes that it should be the first month of the twelfth year, although I agree with both Block, and other scholars, who follow the cue of the previous oracle and have it in the first month roughly two weeks after the sixth oracle. (Block, 1998, p. 216) Egyptian royalty invested heavily in creating royal tombs to ensure that in their afterlife they would have both wealth and power, but here they join all the other nations in the Pit or Sheol. Both the Egyptians and Phoenicians mentioned here practiced circumcision, so their coming down to lie with the uncircumcised means a dishonorable death. Instead of the wealth and power they exercised, all that waits for them in Sheol is the presence of the other nations who went before.

This final oracle is highly repetitive using words like horde, go down, uncircumcised, and sword frequently in its descriptions. All these empires or nations had armies, all failed and suffered shame, all were overthrown by a greater empire with a larger army (sword). Assyria’s domain had once been great, and their rule was violent. Empires in the ancient world were violent and the accusation of spreading terror fits with Assyria’s self-description of their rule under Shalmaneser III:

I slew their warriors with the sword, descending upon them like (the god) Adad when he makes the rainstorm pour down. In the moat (of the town) I piled them up, I covered the wide plain with the corpses of their fighting me, I dyed the mountains with their blood like red wool. I took away from him many chariots (and) horses broken to the yoke. I erected pillars of skulls in front of his town, destroyed his (other) towns, tore down (their walls) and burnt (them) down. (ANET 277 quoted in NIB VI: 1442)

Now these once fierce Assyrians with their graves surrounding their leaders who once spread terror in the land of the living occupy the uttermost parts of the Pit. They were violent in life but now in death they are a part of the company of the dishonored who await Egypt. Elam, from modern day Iran, appear in the biblical writing rarely, although Jeremiah has an oracle against the Elamites,[7] and Isaiah portrays Elam as a nation skilled in archery and chariotry (or cavalry) which participated in Assyria’s attack of Judah.[8] Meshech-Tubal appeared in Ezekiel 27: 13 as nations who trafficked in the slave trade and bronze vessels and they will appear in Ezekiel 38:2 as allies of Gog. Unlike some mysterious other warriors who went down to an honorable burial (with their weapon and shield) they have arrived in Sheol bereft of the weapons they once terrified the nations with. Edom received its own oracle in Ezekiel 25: 12-14 and was one of Judah’s close neighbors, while the princes of the north and Sidonians likely refer to the Phoenicians who control Tyre and Sidon.[9]

Sheol or the Pit are not places of torment like the later conceptions of Hell but are places of darkness.[10] It is not the hoped afterlife of the Egyptian rulers, but the consolation that is offered to Egypt is that they are not alone in being consigned to the dustbin of history. They take up their place among these other nations who once terrified the people in the place of the dead, disarmed and dishonored. Katheryn Pfisterer Darr notes insightfully that for all Ezekiel’s threats to Israel, God never consigns them to the Sheol. (NIB VI: 1445)

[1] The Hebrew qina, qonem is behind both lamentation and chant in verse sixteen.

[2] The nations (goyim) and many peoples are repetitive and unifying structures for this oracle.

[3] Ezekiel 12:13, 17:20.

[4] The prophet Joel uses similar darkening of the heavenly lights for the coming day of the LORD in Joel 2:10.

[5] Rahab is a cypher for Egypt as seen in Isaiah 30:7 and Psalm 87:4.

[6] Revelation’s description of the beast from the sea is significantly different from Ezekiel’s description of this ‘sea dragon’ but Ezekiel is one of the dominant influences on the imagery of Revelation.

[7] Jeremiah 49: 35-39.

[8] Isaiah 22:6.

[9] Ezekiel 26–28.

[10] See my reflection on Gehenna, Tartaros, Sheol, Hades, and Hell.

Ezekiel 31 Egypt as a Mighty Tree Cut Down

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Cedar of Lebanon (Cedar of God), Lebanon By © Vyacheslav Argenberg / http://www.vascoplanet.com/, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92872076

Ezekiel 31

¹In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: ²Mortal, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes:
Whom are you like in your greatness?
³Consider Assyria, a cedar of Lebanon,
with fair branches and forest shade,
and of great height,
its top among the clouds.
⁴The waters nourished it,
the deep made it grow tall,
making its rivers flow
around the place it was planted,
sending forth its streams
to all the trees of the field.
⁵So it towered high
above all the trees of the field;
its boughs grew large
and its branches long,
from abundant water in its shoots.
⁶All the birds of the air
made their nests in its boughs;
under its branches all the animals of the field
gave birth to their young;
and in its shade
all great nations lived.
⁷It was beautiful in its greatness,
in the length of its branches;
for its roots went down
to abundant water.
⁸The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it,
nor the fir trees equal its boughs;
the plane trees were as nothing
compared with its branches;
no tree in the garden of God
was like it in beauty.
⁹I made it beautiful
with its mass of branches,
the envy of all the trees of Eden
that were in the garden of God.
¹⁰Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because it towered high and set its top among the clouds, and its heart was proud of its height, ¹¹I gave it into the hand of the prince of the nations; he has dealt with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out. ¹²Foreigners from the most terrible of the nations have cut it down and left it. On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs lie broken in all the watercourses of the land; and all the peoples of the earth went away from its shade and left it.
¹³On its fallen trunk settle
all the birds of the air,
and among its boughs lodge
all the wild animals.
¹⁴All this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to lofty height or set their tops among the clouds, and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height.
For all of them are handed over to death,
to the world below;
along with all mortals,
with those who go down to the Pit.
¹⁵Thus says the Lord GOD: On the day it went down to Sheol I closed the deep over it and covered it; I restrained its rivers, and its mighty waters were checked. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. ¹⁶I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the Pit; and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that were well watered, were consoled in the world below. ¹⁷They also went down to Sheol with it, to those killed by the sword, along with its allies, those who lived in its shade among the nations.
¹⁸Which among the trees of Eden was like you in glory and in greatness? Now you shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below; you shall lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are killed by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his horde, says the Lord GOD.

This fifth oracle against Egypt is like Ezekiel’s earlier oracle against the King of Tyre where the king is highlighted for their beauty and preeminent state among the garden of Eden.[1] Like that previous oracle the one who excels all others is brought low as they exceed their station as a creation of God. Although this oracle is directed against Pharoah and his hordes, it only mentions Pharoah or Egypt in the first and last verse, the rest of the oracle uses Assyria as an example for Egypt to heed. Assyria who was once the great empire in the north has collapsed and dragged all who allied themselves with her down to Sheol, and the same fate awaits proud Egypt in this oracle.

It is likely that Ezekiel is building upon Isaiah’s imagery in Isaiah 2:11-13 linking pride and great trees.

The haughty eyes of people shall be brought low, and the pride of everyone shall be humbled; and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and high; against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up; and against all the oaks of Bashan;

Just as Daniel will probably utilize Ezekiel’s imagery in his own image in Daniel 4: 10-17 and Jesus alludes to this imagery in his parable of the mustard seed.[2] Yet, Ezekiel’s usage is the longest sustained use of this metaphor.

This oracle is dated almost two months after the previous one, June 21, 587 BCE. The city of Jerusalem is still besieged by Babylon, and it is possible that Babylon has already repulsed the Egyptian attempts to lift the siege. Egypt has been one of the significant powers in the ancient world throughout Israel’s history, and Egypt has continually exerted influence in the region around Israel. Now Egypt in this parable is told to look at a metaphor of Assyria. Assyrian was the great empire in the north prior to the emergence of the Babylonian empire. There are some translators who view Assyria’s presence here as a mistake, but thematically it makes sense to use a metaphor about Assyrian to demonstrate to Egypt that it too can fall from its great heights. Even though verses three through nine repeatedly refer to the beauty of this metaphorical tree and portray its majesty in an admirable light, like the earlier references to the King of Tyre, this is a case of prophetic satire. Although the kings of Assyria normally have the date palm as their image, the use of the cedar of Lebanon would be a well-known image of both size and strength, and a tree frequently used in royal and holy construction.

There are mythical elements in the background of this image, but they should not distract from the basic point that Pharoah and Egypt, according to the oracle, will share the same fate as Assyria. Although the waters nourished it and the deep made it grow tall, it will still fall when the prince of nations (King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon) cuts it down. The waters and deep are the same Hebrew words used in Genesis 1:2 and this tree surpasses the trees of the garden of God (Eden) but ultimately, like the King of Tyre, its beauty, strength, and height cannot prevent its falling into the realm of the dead. The remnants of the tree fall on the mountains and valleys, just as the defeated ‘dragon’ in the next chapter will have its remains fall on the mountains, valleys, and waterways.[3] Now this great tree and all the lesser trees that inhabited the space under its branches find themselves in the Pit.

The very forces which once gave this great tree life now bury it in the depths. The rivers that flowed around it are now restrained and this once beautiful and living tree is now debris scattered upon the ground, or in other places brought down into the pit. The great tree and the empire it represents are now dead, and Egypt who is similarly a great tree is in danger from the same axe wielding prince of the nations. In the oracle Pharoah and all his armies cannot oppose God and God’s chosen instrument of vengeance King Nebuchadrezzar.

As mentioned before there are limited historical records from this period. We do know that Nebuchadrezzar does eventually turn his army to march on Egypt. Although the Babylonians have enjoyed multiple victories over Egypt, Egypt never becomes a part of the Babylonian empire. The great cedar tree which represents Egypt will stand at least for a time longer. Ezekiel interprets the actions of the king of Babylon and his forces as an extension of the will of the God of Israel. Even though Jerusalem is under siege, the LORD’s actions, in Ezekiel’s mind, are just. The LORD is not merely the God of Israel but is at work in the movement of empires to bring about the will of God.

[1] Ezekiel 28.

[2] Matthew 13: 31-32, Mark 4: 30-32, Luke 13: 18-19

[3] Ezekiel 32: 5-6.

Ezekiel 30: Oracles Against Egypt Continued

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A stele dating to the 23rd regnal year of Amasis, on display at the Louvre

Ezekiel 30: 1-19 The Third Oracle Against Egypt: The Day of The LORD

¹The word of the LORD came to me: ²Mortal, prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD:
Wail, “Alas for the day!”
³For a day is near,
the day of the LORD is near;
it will be a day of clouds,
a time of doom for the nations.
⁴A sword shall come upon Egypt,
and anguish shall be in Ethiopia,
when the slain fall in Egypt,
and its wealth is carried away,
and its foundations are torn down.
⁵Ethiopia, and Put, and Lud, and all Arabia, and Libya, and the people of the allied land shall fall with them by the sword.
⁶Thus says the LORD:
Those who support Egypt shall fall,
and its proud might shall come down;
from Migdol to Syene
they shall fall within it by the sword,
says the Lord GOD.
⁷They shall be desolated among other desolated countries,
and their cities shall lie among cities laid waste.
⁸Then they shall know that I am the LORD,
when I have set fire to Egypt,
and all who help it are broken.
⁹On that day, messengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify the unsuspecting Ethiopians; and anguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom; for it is coming!
¹⁰Thus says the Lord GOD:
I will put an end to the hordes of Egypt,
by the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon.
¹¹He and his people with him, the most terrible of the nations,
shall be brought in to destroy the land;
and they shall draw their swords against Egypt,
and fill the land with the slain.
¹²I will dry up the channels,
and will sell the land into the hand of evildoers;
I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it
by the hand of foreigners;
I the LORD have spoken.
¹³Thus says the Lord GOD:
I will destroy the idols
and put an end to the images in Memphis;
there shall no longer be a prince in the land of Egypt;
so I will put fear in the land of Egypt.
¹⁴I will make Pathros a desolation,
and will set fire to Zoan,
and will execute acts of judgment on Thebes.
¹⁵I will pour my wrath upon Pelusium,
the stronghold of Egypt,
and cut off the hordes of Thebes.
¹⁶I will set fire to Egypt;
Pelusium shall be in great agony;
Thebes shall be breached,
and Memphis face adversaries by day.
¹⁷The young men of On and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword;
and the cities themselves shall go into captivity.
¹⁸At Tehaphnehes the day shall be dark,
when I break there the dominion of Egypt,
and its proud might shall come to an end;
the city shall be covered by a cloud,
and its daughter-towns shall go into captivity.
¹⁹Thus I will execute acts of judgment on Egypt.
Then they shall know that I am the LORD.

This third oracle against Egypt is undated. It may come early (during the siege of Jerusalem) like the first oracle or late (after the failed siege of Tyre) like the second oracle. It is sandwiched between a late oracle and an early one and either situation can fit this declaration against the Egyptians. My best guess is that it follows the timeline of the immediately preceding oracle but ultimately it makes little difference to the interpretation of the prophet’s words of judgment.[1]

Ezekiel’s third oracle against Egypt taps into the thematic day of the LORD. As I mention in my longer discussion on the Evolution of the Day of the LORD, this has been used both as a phrase indicating both judgment for Judah and salvation. Here the terrifying direction of the day of the LORD is directed against Egypt, and by extension the nations. Much of the day of the LORD language is thematic and has resonances across the prophets regardless of the direction of the judgment it implies. Ezekiel echoes Zephaniah 1:15[2] storm imagery:

That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness.

Although the Hebrew Scriptures continually remind the reader that the LORD is the creator of the heavens and the earth, the LORD’s power is often depicted coming from the sky. But here the judgment from the sky is paired with the judgment by sword from approaching armies. The LORD is both the Lord of heaven and earth and the LORD of hosts[3]. The LORD is moving in judgment against Egypt and any who stand with them in this oracle.

One of the reasons that people have been fascinated with Egypt has been its wealth. The wealth of the nation unearthed from the tombs of the kings of Egypt draws both modern interest but also drew ancient interest as well. Egypt’s elite hoarded this wealth, and this was to be one of the distinctions between the ways of Egypt and the ways of the people of Israel. Now this wealth or horde, (Hebrew hamon) will be taken away by the sword. That which they stored in temples and tombs will now become the reward for the wielder of the sword which causes both death and destruction for this proud empire. This focus on the wealth of Egypt being carried away links this to the previous oracle when Egypt’s wealth is to be the payment to Nebuchadrezzar for the effort and resources he expended against Tyre.

Ethiopia, Libya (Put), Asia Minor (Lud), the Arabians (literally mixed hordes), and an unknown people (NRSV Libya)[4] and “the sons of the land of the covenant” (NRSV people of allied lands) all find themselves in danger of this approaching sword and storm. The Egyptians, like most ancient armies, had fighters from many lands which formed their army. Some may have been mercenaries; others were allied or vassal kingdoms. A similar dynamic is at work in Ezekiel’s metaphor of Tyre where the men of Paras, Lud, and Put were in their army and men of Arvad, Helech, and Gamad were archers on their walls.[5] The interesting addition to this list is the ‘sons of the land of the covenant’ who were likely Judean soldiers serving Egypt. There are several ancient sources who list Judean mercenaries serving in Egyptian campaigns, and there are Judean settlements in Egypt at the time of Ezekiel’s ministry.[6] Now these Judeans both serving and residing in Egypt are warned of the coming sword (assuming Ezekiel’s missive traveled to these communities).

The terror of this coming sword penetrates the length of the Nile into Ethiopia. Egypt had endured conflict before, but the communities on the eastern and northern edge of Egypt absorbed the threat. Ethiopians at the southern end of the Nile could benefit from the economic advantages of the river while being relatively safe from an invader coming from the Middle East. But now even these places at the edge of the Egyptian empire were no longer safe in the oracle. The ‘hordes’ or ‘wealth’ of Egypt will end under King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon. This force coming from the north is portrayed as the ‘most terrible of nations.’

The destruction of Egypt’s wealth and military are paralleled by the loss of both the cities and the ‘gods’ of Egypt. Just as the ‘signs and wonders’ that the LORD utilized to bring the people of Israel out of Egypt struck at both the reign of Pharoah and the Egyptian gods[7] now the ‘idols’[8] and ‘images’ are destroyed as well as the cities where the temples are located.

The actions of Nebuchadrezzar’ army are paired with the actions of the LORD against the land. Nebuchadrezzar may wield the sword, but the LORD is drying up the channels of the Nile. At Tehaphnehes the day becomes dark[9] as it is covered by a cloud, echoing the day of the LORD imagery at the beginning of the oracle. The LORD of the heavens and earth wields the natural powers of destruction while the LORD of hosts dispatches the Babylonians with the sword against the Egyptians.

Ezekiel 30: 20-26 The Fourth Oracle Against Egypt Disarming Pharoah

²⁰In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: ²¹Mortal, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; it has not been bound up for healing or wrapped with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword. ²²Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken; and I will make the sword fall from his hand. ²³I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them throughout the lands. 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 with the groans of one mortally wounded. ²⁵I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall stretch it out against the land of Egypt, ²⁶and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.

For this fourth oracle we once again have a date, and the date helps provide a context for this message. April 29, 587 BCE would be almost four months after the initial oracle and roughly four months before the destruction of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 37: 5-10 indicates that Pharoah did come to Jerusalem’s aid causing a temporary removal of the siege while Nebuchadrezzar turned his forces to deal with the Egyptian incursion, and that likely set the background for Ezekiel’s first oracle against Egypt. We know that the Egyptian forces did not remain and either retreated or suffered a defeat before the Babylonians. The time period of this oracle makes sense in a time after Egypt has been forced to retreat without providing liberation to Jerusalem.

The broken arm of Pharaoh is likely his weakened state after his initial defeat by Babylon. Egypt has suffered defeats to Babylon in the region before, but now this metaphorical wound which weakens Pharoah will not be bound or bandaged and allowed to heal properly. Now a weakened Pharoah with one remaining arm is left to oppose a Babylon with two strong arms, but even before the battle the LORD breaks Pharoah’s other arm as the arm of the king of Babylon is made strong and the LORD’s swords placed in his hand for judgment. Pharoah, once mighty, has now been disarmed and Egypt is vulnerable to this warrior who comes to deliver the LORD’s judgment.

[1] Many historical critical interpreters viewed this portion of Ezekiel as a later introduction by a different author of the “Ezekiel school” due to the lack of date and the language. Although it is worth acknowledging the insight of these scholars, Ezekiel often does not include a date and Ezekiel’s language varies widely throughout the book.

[2] Joel 2: 2 also utilizes this imagery, but Joel is most likely at 4^th Century BCE prophet and is echoing Ezekiel or Zephaniah.

[3] The host referred to here is a military host in this commonly used title.

[4] Put is modern day Libya. The Hebrew kub could be another North African nation, but we simply do not know.

[5] Ezekiel 27:10-11.

[6] Jeremiah 24:8, 44:1.

[7] See my comments on Exodus 7–11.

[8] Hebrew gillum, Ezekiel’s coarse image for foreign idols.

[9] Eclipsing the sun god ‘Ra.’

Ezekiel 29 Against Pharoah of Egypt

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Nile Crocodile Eating a Wildabeast in the Masai Mara By Arturo de Frias Marques – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34596035

Ezekiel 29:1-9a

¹In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: ²Mortal, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt; ³speak, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD:
I am against you,
Pharaoh king of Egypt,
the great dragon sprawling
in the midst of its channels,
saying, “My Nile is my own;
I made it for myself.”
⁴I will put hooks in your jaws,
and make the fish of your channels stick to your scales.
I will draw you up from your channels,
with all the fish of your channels
sticking to your scales.
⁵I will fling you into the wilderness,
you and all the fish of your channels;
you shall fall in the open field,
and not be gathered and buried.
To the animals of the earth and to the birds of the air
I have given you as food.
⁶Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know
that I am the LORD
because you were a staff of reed
to the house of Israel;
⁷when they grasped you with the hand, you broke,
and tore all their shoulders;
and when they leaned on you, you broke,
and made all their legs unsteady.
⁸Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD: I will bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you human being and animal; ⁹and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.

The oracles against Egypt are equal in length to all the previous oracles against the nation, and this seventh nation mentioned now receives seven oracles against it. Six of the seven are given specific dates with this first oracle being the earliest. This oracle is dated January 7, 587 BCE which is roughly one year into the eighteen-month siege of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 44:30 indicates that Pharoah Hophra is the king of Egypt at this point who is referred to throughout this oracle. Tova Ganzel (Ganzel, 2020, p. 272)connects this prophecy with the actions of Jeremiah 37:5-10:

Meanwhile, the army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they withdrew from Jerusalem. Then the word of the LORD came to the prophet Jeremiah: Thus says the LORD, God of Israel: This is what the two of you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me: Pharaoh’s army, which set out to help you, is going to return to its own land, to Egypt. And the Chaldeans shall return and fight against this city; they shall take it and burn it with fire. Thus says the LORD: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go away. Even if you defeated the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men in their tents, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.

Although Ezekiel, unlike Jeremiah, was already in exile in Babylon it is likely that he and his fellow exiles were following events around Jerusalem. Ezekiel and Jeremiah both viewed Nebuchadrezzar’s siege of Jerusalem as God’s punishment and viewed the actions of the Egyptians as interference. Now amid what others in Judah may have considered a hopeful moment, Ezekiel speaks against the Egyptians (who many in Jerusalem would have looked to for aid at this time).

Ezekiel uses metaphor again, this time Pharoah Hophra is a great crocodile (NRSV great dragon) lying in the Nile. The Hebrew word tannin which in this image is obviously a crocodile like creature is often used with mythological overtones throughout scripture (hence the NRSV’s translation of great dragon) as a great monster or force of chaos which must be overcome. It is sometimes linked with both Rahab and Leviathan, and Job’s similar image of Leviathan is worth considering:

“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook, or press down its tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in its nose, or pierce its jaw with a hook? Job 41: 1-2.

Now Pharoah is drawn out with a hook, and with it all the fish that are caught in its scales. It had considered itself immovable from its place in the channels of the Nile, but now it is removed from its place of dominance to the wilderness where it becomes prey for the animals and birds. As Katheryn Pfisterer Darr notes this would be the ultimate disgrace for an Egyptian Pharoah who expended enormous resources and wealth on constructing a royal tomb to ensure their passage to the afterlife. (NIB VI: 1405)

Egypt was one of the few nations which had the military resources to resist Babylon, but as I mentioned in Egypt’s Role in the Geopolitics of Israel/Judah During the Time of the Assyrian and Babylonian Empire they were often an unreliable ally. Both 2 Kings and Isaiah record Rabshakeh’s taunt about the unreliability of Egypt:

The Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah. Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: on what do you base this confidence of yours? Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? On whom do you rely, that you have rebelled against me? See, you are relying now on Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharoah king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 2 Kings 18:19-21, Isaiah 36:4-6

Once again resorting to metaphor, to use Egypt as a crutch is to have it splinter in one’s shoulder and to lean on it for support makes the legs unsteady when it fails. Egypt’s support only causes more damage in the prophet’s view.

Ezekiel 29: 9b-16

Because you said, “The Nile is mine, and I made it,” ¹⁰therefore, I am against you, and against your channels, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Ethiopia. ¹¹No human foot shall pass through it, and no animal foot shall pass through it; it shall be uninhabited forty years. ¹²I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among desolated countries; and her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities that are laid waste. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries.
¹³Further, thus says the Lord GOD: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered; ¹⁴and I will restore the fortunes of Egypt, and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin; and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. ¹⁵It shall be the most lowly of the kingdoms, and never again exalt itself above the nations; and I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations. ¹⁶The Egyptians shall never again be the reliance of the house of Israel; they will recall their iniquity, when they turned to them for aid. Then they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

This continues the first oracle against Egypt but instead it moves from a poetic rhythm to an explanatory tone. Now in response to the declaration of the Pharoah that, “the Nile is mine, and I made it,” the declaration is made that the entirety of Egypt from western border to the eastern border and to the border of Ethiopia to the south will be uninhabited. Egypt is sentenced to forty years of desolation in this oracle, devoid of both human and animals. The mighty empire of Egypt is to be a wasteland where nothing lives, but the sentence is for a generation and then the people and animals will return. But Egypt, in the oracle, will never be a power who extends its influence towards Israel. They will never appear to be a strength that Israel can turn to again in their troubles.

Egypt is never a wasteland depopulated of people or animals. Although there is some conflict between Babylon and Egypt that will be talked about more in the following section, Egypt never becomes a part of the Babylonian empire, and the population is never forced into exile. The oracle is unique among the seven nations in that it does have a future for Egypt (the other nations have no future in Ezekiel’s oracles) and it may be impossible for the prophet to imagine a world without Egypt occupying some role. Egypt existed long before Israel and had always been major power to the south. Yet, Egypt’s time of independence would come to an end with the advent of the Persian empire a generation later.

Ezekiel 29: 17-21

¹⁷In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: ¹⁸Mortal, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre; every head was made bald and every shoulder was rubbed bare; yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had expended against it. ¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: I will give the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon; and he shall carry off its wealth and despoil it and plunder it; and it shall be the wages for his army. ²⁰I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me, says the Lord GOD.
²¹On that day I will cause a horn to sprout up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.

This is the second oracle and the latest of the oracles that receive a date. Ezekiel’s date places this oracle on April 26, 571 BCE, sixteen years after the oracle at the beginning of the chapter and twenty-two years after Ezekiel’s commission by the LORD. This oracle also marks a sharp departure from the oracles against Tyre in chapters 26–28 since now Tyre remains unconquered and King Nebuchadrezzar’s men need payment for the thirteen years spent in siege of the city.

Ezekiel’s prophecies against Tyre are not fulfilled in the manner that Ezekiel declared. There may have been people among Ezekiel’s peers who wondered if that made him a false prophet. Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah would have been criticized for their pro-Babylonian messages (since both viewed Babylon as acting on the LORD’s behalf). Yet, Ezekiel’s words were preserved as a prophet and the LORD the God of Israel has changed God’s mind before and remains free to allow things to proceed according to God’s designs. Still this inclusion of Ezekiel 29:18 owns that the previous prophecies against Tyre did not occur as foreseen.

The prophesies of Ezekiel attempt to provide a theological framing to the events of the world and I think both the theological framing and the historical events can provide insight into how we approach these passages. Theologically the Babylonian empire is cast as a tool utilized by the LORD and since the Babylonians are doing God’s will they deserve to be rewarded. In the absence of a reward for cracking open the island fortress of Tyre the riches of Egypt are offered in exchange. Egypt remained both a rich nation with a powerful military and a large, fertile territory. Historically it is important to remember that military action in the ancient world was about economics. A thirteen-year long siege would have been costly both in material resources but also in reputation for the Babylonians. It is plausible that the king of Tyre reached an agreement to become a vassal state, but the baldness and rubbed bare shoulders likely refer to the hard work of the attempted siege.

Looking this far back into the historical record is difficult because there are very few sources. The Babylonians did invade Egypt unsuccessfully between 601 and 599 BCE but this points to a later invasion. There is a cuneiform text that refers to Nebuchadrezzar marching against Egypt in his thirty-seventh year (568 BCE) roughly three years after this oracle. (Block, 1998, p. 151) It is also known that Pharoah Hophra dies and Amasis takes his place.[1] It is plausible that Nebuchadrezzar sees this time of transition as an opportunity to attack a weakened Egypt. It is also likely that an incursion into Egypt taxed Babylon’s forces even further. Nebuchadrezzar would die in Babylon six years later and Egypt would remain unconquered. Although Babylon likely did extract some wealth and resources from this conflict any evaluation of the ‘successfulness’ of these actions[2] would require sources that we do not have. As I have stated before I am making educated guesses based on what we do know and what we understand about the world at this point in history.

Finally, there is the final line about a ‘horn’ sprouting up for the house of Israel and the prophet’s lips being opened among them. Horns in the bible are images of power. They can be utilized in both positive imagery[3] and negative imagery,[4] but in both uses it is a symbol of power. There will be a new power that will arise for the house of Israel. This may be a hope for a renewed line of David, as in Psalm 132, but that type of Davidic/kingly expectation is not explicit here. What is explicit is that the prophet will now have his lips opened by God to be a messenger of hope among the people and the people will know the LORD. God’s actions against the nations are a portion of Israel’s renewed knowledge of the LORD.

[1] Josephus indicates that Nebuchadrezzar slew Hophra while Herodotus indicates that his own general, Amasis, kills Pharoah Hophra.

[2] Success depends upon the criteria used. Nebuchadrezzar, and most ancient kings, would view success as continuing to bring wealth and resources to themselves and the empire. The bible’s evaluation of the kings of Israel is on a completely different basis. See my comments on 1 Kings 11.

[3] For example, Psalm 132:17, “There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David;”

[4] For example, the blasphemous horn of Daniel 8.

Military Actions as an Economic Decision in the Ancient World

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Battle between Cimmerian cavalry, their war dogs, and Greek hoplites, depicted on a Pontic plate

Military Actions as an Economic Decision in the Ancient World

War is expensive. It has always been costly to raise and equip an army, supply them during their movements and sieges. War also has a high price on the productivity of the land involved. Fields may be burned or lay dormant. Farmers are removed from the fields to serve in the army. Timber and earth are removed to build siege engines and siege works. Soldiers also require pay for their time and services. Unfortunately, war often exacts a high price from those who are innocent bystanders. Property is destroyed, families are shattered, women may become victims of rape, and in ancient times one of the primary places where slaves are taken is as a prize of conquest.

In the ancient world war was both expensive to persecute and a profitable enterprise. The primary basis of wealth in the ancient world was land, and when an empire could expand the land that it occupied it could increase the wealth it acquired from that land. One option that territories could take when an army approached was to become a vassal territory, paying tribute to the empire or king to give itself the guarantee of peace. If a territory resisted then the sack of a city would bring out both the wealth of the city in gold, silver, and other precious items (often stored in temples or noble dwelling places) but also the stored agricultural products. As mentioned above the slave trade was also a part of the economic system in the ancient world, and cities like Tyre were places where slaves were sold. Certain cities, like Jerusalem or Tyre and Sidon, would give access to frequently used land or maritime trade routes which were also sources of wealth.

Although pride and egos certainly played a part in conflict in the ancient world, so did economics. The Babylonians in their siege of Tyre, which is reported to have lasted thirteen years, would have expended an excessive amount of capital and yet failed to capture the city. It is plausible that the city agreed to become a vassal of Babylon, giving access to its ports as well as tribute but it is also plausible that this was ultimately a loss of resources for Babylon. It would be in Tyre’s interest to end the siege, even if the city was in no imminent danger of falling, to have access to both overland trading routes and renewed access to their ‘daughter cities’ which provided the food and water for the city. Tyre could import food and water, perhaps from Egypt, but this would be at a much higher cost.

For most of history war was looked on as an economic decision. An empire, like Assyria or Babylon, constantly searched for more resources and revenue but also had to balance that with maintaining control over their territory they already controlled. There were always forces both external and internal who looked for weakness and attempted to weaken the hold of these large empires on their vassals. The actions of Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Samaria, Tyre, or even Jerusalem in this time often have economic considerations.

Egypt’s Role in the Geopolitics of Israel/Judah During the Time of the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires

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The Roman Kiosk of Trajan (left) on Agilkia island in the Nile River, near Aswān, Egypt

Egypt’s Role in the Geopolitics of Israel/Judah During the Time of the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires

Egypt’s connection with the story of Israel goes back to its beginning and is complex. At times the Egyptians have been allies and trading partners and at other times they are antagonists. Egypt was one of the first regional powers to emerge in history, and they would remain independent until they are brought under the Persian Empire in the sixth century BCE (roughly forty years after the siege of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exile). Egypt had been a military and economic power for thousands of years at the emergence of the Assyrian and later Babylonian powers to the north and had exercised both political and commercial influence over the region throughout this time.

One of the ways Egypt continued to exercise influence was by encouraging the rulers throughout the region to resist both Assyrian and Babylonian rule. Egypt was often sought for support or protection once these ruling powers were provoked, aid that sometimes materialized and often did not. For example, 2 Kings records Samaria (Northern Israel) attempting to resist Assyria in 724 BCE:

King Shalmaneser of Assyria came up against him; Hoshea (king of Samaria) became his vassal. But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to King So of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria as he had done year by year; therefore the king of Assyria confined him and imprisoned him. Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and come to Samaria; for three years he besieged it. In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria captured Samaria; he carried the Israelites away into Assyria. 2 Kings 17: 3-6a

Here Egypt is either unable or unwilling to march into Samaria to defend them from the Assyrians. This results in the collapse of Northern Israel (Samaria). Later Assyria would march against the Philistine city of Ekron who also appeals to Egypt for aid. In 701 BCE Egypt does march to the aid of Ekron but its forces are defeated and captured. (NIB VI: 1402) Assyria then turns towards Judah and when Rabshakeh, the commander of the Assyrian forces comes before the walls of Jerusalem he taunts the people:

Rabshakeh’s siege does not capture Jerusalem when he abruptly turns away to another fight, biblical tradition indicates it is an internal conflict among Assyrian forces, and the threat is resolved.

Eventually Assyria and Egypt would change from opponents into allies at the emergence of the Babylonian empire. This becomes important for Judah’s history for several interconnected reasons. Judah under Josiah was undergoing a time of renewal according to the bible and there was even a hope for Judah to now once again rule over the lands of both Judah and what had formerly been Samaria. A part of this optimism was the alliance with Babylon. In 609 BCE when Pharoah Necho marches his army north to aid Assyria, King Josiah marches the army of Judah out to resist him. Judah’s army is conquered, King Josiah is killed, and Judah comes under Egyptian power with Pharoah Necho appointing Eliakim to rule in Jerusalem as a vassal. In 605 BCE Egyptian forces were defeated by Babylon at the Battle of Carchemish and pursued back to the Egyptian border. Even after Babylon asserted control over Judah and the surrounding region, Egypt continued to attempt to provoke Judah and other regional vassal states to resist Babylon.

When Babylon does react to Jerusalem withholding tribute by besieging the city, Egypt does march to their aid which causes Babylonian forces to briefly lift the siege of Jerusalem to deal with the Egyptian incursion. (Jeremiah 37:5-10) Yet the Egyptian forces quickly return to Egypt and Babylon resumes its siege. Egypt has once again proven to be an unreliable support for Jerusalem in its problems. This history of provocative behavior and unreliability likely informs Ezekiel’s words against Egypt.

Sign of the Rose

Searchings: Sacred and Secular

Category Archives: Biblical Reflections

Ezekiel 36 A Healed Land for a People Renewed Heart and Spirit

Ezekiel 36:1-15

Ezekiel 36: 16-21

Ezekiel 36: 17-32

Ezekiel 36: 33-38

Ezekiel 35 Judgment on Edom and Hope for Judah

Ezekiel 35

Ezekiel 34 Unfaithful and Faithful Shepherd

Ezekiel 34: 1-10 Against the Unfaithful Shepherds of Israel

Ezekiel 34: 11-22 God the Shepherd

Ezekiel 34: 23-31 David as Shepherd

Ezekiel 33 The Beginning of Ezekiel’s Role After Jerusalem’s Fall

Ezekiel 33: 1-9 The Sentinel for the People

Ezekiel 33: 10-20 The Justice of God’s Ways

Ezekiel 33: 21-29 The Fall of the City and Those Who Remain

Ezekiel 33: 30-33 The Toleration of the Prophet

Ezekiel 32 Concluding the Oracles Against Egypt

Ezekiel 32: 1-16 Egypt as the Dragon of the Seas

Ezekiel 31: 17-32 Egypt Goes Down to the Pit

Ezekiel 31 Egypt as a Mighty Tree Cut Down

Ezekiel 31

Ezekiel 30: Oracles Against Egypt Continued

Ezekiel 30: 1-19 The Third Oracle Against Egypt: The Day of The LORD

Ezekiel 30: 20-26 The Fourth Oracle Against Egypt Disarming Pharoah

Ezekiel 29 Against Pharoah of Egypt

Ezekiel 29:1-9a

Ezekiel 29: 9b-16

Ezekiel 29: 17-21

Military Actions as an Economic Decision in the Ancient World

Military Actions as an Economic Decision in the Ancient World

Egypt’s Role in the Geopolitics of Israel/Judah During the Time of the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires

Egypt’s Role in the Geopolitics of Israel/Judah During the Time of the Assyrian and Babylonian Empires