Abd-ul-Latif, an Arab traveller, who visited it in the thirteenth century, says: "Its ruins still offer to the eyes of the spectator a collection of wonderful works which confound the intellect, and to describe which the most eloquent man would labor in vain. The longer we look upon the scene, the higher rises the admiration it inspires; and every new glance that we cast upon the ruins reveals a new charm. Scarcely have they awakened a distinct idea in the soul of the spectator, than a still more admirable idea suggests itself; and just as you believe you have gained complete knowledge of them, at that very moment the conviction forces itself on the mind, that what you think you know is still very far from the truth."
But even the magnificent ruins, the mute witnesses of a past glory, are gone. The very site of Noph (Memphis) is now a matter of dispute. Only a few immense carved stones remain in the desert sand. Temples, idols and images are forever gone. The prophet Ezekiel knew undoubtedly of the far-famed city, its influence and power in the religious life of Egypt. How could he announce such utter ruin for that city unless the Lord had revealed it to him and put His own words into his mouth? What a great evidence prophecy is that the Bible is the Word of God! "No," mentioned three times in verses 14-16, is Thebes, the ancient capital of Egypt, called by the Greeks "Diospolis," the City of Jupiter. "No" is also mentioned by Nahum (iii:8). Her ruins bear witness of a past, indescribable splendor. The great Temple of Carnac was there. An authority saith: "The ruins of the temple of Carnac is the largest and most splendid ruin of which, perhaps, either ancient or modern times can boast. All here is sublime, all majestic. With pain one tears oneself from Thebes. Her monuments fix the traveller's eyes and fill his mind with vast ideas. Beholding colossal figures and stately obelisks which seem to surpass human powers." What a city No, Thebes the capital, must have been! The Lord alone could foretell that it should be rent asunder. The ruins bear witness that God's message was faithfully delivered by Ezekiel. And so was fulfilled, "There shall be no more a prince out of the land of Egypt." No native prince has had complete rule over the land. The other places mentioned are Sin, which is Pelusium, now completely buried in the sand. Aven is Heliopolis, the center of the worship of Ba, the god of the sun. Pi-beseth is Bubastis, where the sacred cats were mummied, likewise a desolation now. Tehaphnehes or Daphnis also passed through the judgment. What a remarkable fulfillment of what the Lord announced through His servant Ezekiel! May we here be reminded in our solemn times that the same omniscient Lord, who knows the end from the beginning, has spoken concerning this age, now closing in its predicted apostasy. Nations today steeped in bloodshed; nations filled with covetousness and hatred; an apostate professing Christendom and the indifferent masses have written over against them the judgment-wrath of the coming King. And He who fulfilled the words spoken through Ezekiel will also fulfill every other prediction uttered by His Holy prophets and apostles.
III. The Work of Nebuchadnezzar.
And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and, lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and will break his arms, the strong, and that which was broken; and I will cause the sword to fall out of his hand. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. And I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and put my sword in his hand; but I will break Pharaoh's arms, and he shall groan before him with the groanings of a deadly-wounded man. But I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt. And I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries; and they shall know that I am the Lord (verses 20-26).
The arm of Pharaoh, King of Egypt was to be broken completely. No bandage would suffice to make it strong again to hold the sword. It was a break beyond remedy. Jeremiah had received a similar message. "Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt, in vain shalt thou use many medicines, for thou shalt not be cured" (Jere. xlvi:11). And Jeremiah also announced that Nebuchadnezzar should be used in carrying out the overthrow of Egypt. "The word that the Lord spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, should come and smite the land of Egypt. Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tehaphnehes, say ye, Stand fast and prepare thee, for the sword shall devour round about thee" (Jere. xlvi:13-17). Nebuchadnezzar wielded the sword of the Lord. "And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall put my sword into the hand of the King of Babylon, and he shall stretch it out upon the land of Egypt." The sovereign God had not only used the King of Babylon to execute His judgments upon Jerusalem, but He had also given other lands into his hands and made him the head of the times of the Gentiles, typified in his great dream-image by the head of gold. "And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him and his son and his son's son, until the very time of his land come, and then many nations and great Kings shall serve themselves of him" (Jere. xxvii:5-7). The times of the Gentiles are still in force, and when they end Egypt will pass through another judgment to receive afterward the blessings promised through the prophet Isaiah (Is. xix:18-25).
PHARAOH'S GREATNESS AND HIS OVERTHROW.
Chapter xxxi.
Two more chapters speak of the downfall and judgment of Egypt. First, the fall of Pharaoh is described in a parable and then follows the lamentations, a funeral dirge over Pharaoh. The message of the thirty-first chapter has three well defined parts. The King of Egypt, like the Assyrian of the past, is pictured as a great cedar in Lebanon. Then the fall of the tree is shown, and finally the shaking of the nations on account of his fall.
II. The Greatness and Glory of the King of Egypt.
And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, and to his multitude; Whom art thou like in thy greatness? Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs. The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field. Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth. All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations. Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters. The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees were not like his branches; nor any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him (verses 1-9).
The Lord commands the prophet to ask a question of Pharaoh and his multitude: "Whom art thou like in thy greatness?" Then the divine questioner answers and reveals the greatness and glory of Pharaoh. He uses the Assyrian in his past greatness to describe Pharaoh's greatness and glory. Some have applied the prophecy entirely to the Assyrian, as if Ezekiel spoke concerning this northern power altogether. But this is incorrect, for the Assyrian power was then no longer in existence, and the last verse of this chapter shows that Pharaoh is meant. "This Pharaoh and his multitude, saith the Lord God" (verse 18). The description of the Assyrian is given to show that Pharaoh, King of Egypt, is in greatness like the Assyrian who had been dealt with in judgment by Jehovah. The Assyrian, once so powerful and proud, is used as a solemn warning, that the King of Egypt would not be spared, but suffer the same fate. The Cedar in Lebanon is a picture of the greatness of the Assyrian and Pharaoh; its height and wide-spreading branches; its superior place among all the trees are used to symbolize both of them. The Cedar is a most majestic tree, often reaching a great height; the branches are thick and long, spreading out horizontally from the enormous trunk. The Cedar is also employed as a type of the righteous and of Israel. "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon" (Psalm xcii:12). "His branches shall spread ... and his smell like Lebanon" (Hos. xiv:6). But here the cedar means human grandeur and national greatness, full of arrogant pride and therefore doomed to be abased. Isaiah in his sublime prophecy on the coming day of the Lord uses thus the cedars of Lebanon: "For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low. And upon all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan" (Isa. ii:12-13).