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11 April 2017, by
James David Burney
There are many people who believe
this passage was fulfilled in 568 BCE when Nebuchadnezzar
invaded Egypt and plundered it. There is even a passage in
Josephus' Antiquities (Book 10, Chapter 11,
Section 1). Yet the details of the Ezekiel 29 prophecy are
curious when compared to history.
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Ezekiel 29:1-16
New
International Version (NIV)
A Prophecy Against
Egypt
Judgment on Pharaoh
1 In the tenth year,
in the tenth month on the twelfth day, the word of the
Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, set your face against
Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and
against all Egypt. 3 Speak to him and say: ‘This is
what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘I am against you,
Pharaoh king of Egypt, you great monster lying among
your streams. You say, “The Nile belongs to me; I made
it for myself.” 4 But I will put hooks in your jaws
and make the fish of your streams stick to your
scales. I will pull you out from among your streams,
with all the fish sticking to your scales. 5 I will
leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your
streams. You will fall on the open field and not be
gathered or picked up. I will give you as food to the
beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky. 6 Then
all who live in Egypt will know that I am the Lord.
“‘You have been a staff of reed for the people of
Israel. 7 When they grasped you with their hands, you
splintered and you tore open their shoulders; when
they leaned on you, you broke and their backs were
wrenched. 8 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign
Lord says: I will bring a sword against you and kill
both man and beast. 9 Egypt will become a desolate
wasteland. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
“‘Because you said, “The Nile is mine; I made it,” 10
therefore I am against you and against your streams,
and I will make the land of Egypt a ruin and a
desolate waste from Migdol to Aswan, as far as the
border of Cush. 11 The foot of neither man nor beast
will pass through it; no one will live there for forty
years. 12 I will make the land of Egypt desolate among
devastated lands, and her cities will lie desolate
forty years among ruined cities. And I will disperse
the Egyptians among the nations and scatter them
through the countries. 13 “‘Yet this is what the
Sovereign Lord says: At the end of forty years I will
gather the Egyptians from the nations where they were
scattered. 14 I will bring them back from captivity
and return them to Upper Egypt, the land of their
ancestry. There they will be a lowly kingdom. 15 It
will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will never again
exalt itself above the other nations. I will make it
so weak that it will never again rule over the
nations. 16 Egypt will no longer be a source of
confidence for the people of Israel but will be a
reminder of their sin in turning to her for help. Then
they will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.’” |
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There are many others who think
this is either a "false prophecy" or an, as yet, unfulfilled
prophecy. A further curiosity is that Ezekiel 29 actually
includes TWO SEPARATE
prophesies.
Because of the second prophesy in
verses 17 through 21, people have incorrectly interpreted verses
1 through 16 as having been fulfilled in some contorted form,
since many specific details of the first 16 verses have never
actually occurred.
Bible Chapters & Verses
Remember,
the demarcations of chapters and verses are an
addition to make referencing easier. Chapters were
added by Stephen Langton in the year 1227 AD and
verses were added in the year 1551 AD. The first bible
to use the chapter and verse designations was the
Latin Vulgate in 1555 AD. |
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Ease of Acceptance of
Demarcations
We have become so accustomed to chapters and verses that we have
accepted their demarcations as indicative of God's intent to
group items in His mind. But this acceptance is fraught with
risk in properly comprehending the Word of the Lord.
Sometimes, a thought is actually
completed in the "next chapter" (as can be seen in Romans 8:1
which is actually answering the question of Romans 7:24 and the
dichotomy of Romans 7:25). Additionally, sometimes the chapter
has multiple items within it.
The Two Prophecies of Ezekiel
29
Ezekiel 29 actually has two prophecies, and because both
reference Egypt, it is believed they are in total a single
prophecy, and that belief is frequently due to the chaptering of
the book. However, this notion is an error. Note that in verse
1, Ezekiel indicates a word from God coming to him, but note
that in verse 17 Ezekiel informs us that another word came to
him 16 years and 2 months after
the word given in verses 1 - 16. The following chapters further
give even more prophecies about Egypt and these words also came
at various times.
Ezekiel's Compilation
Ezekiel wrote his book assembling his prophecies as best he
understood them, some of which were actually fulfilled by the
Babylonian campaigns, but some of which may not have been. In
assembling his volume, his groupings of prophecies are by the
author's decision, guided of course by the Holy Spirit. But the
nature of prophecy is to provide a glimpse into the future, and
upon fulfillment, its clarity is understood.
How to Understand Ezekiel 29
First, recognize that there are TWO
SEPARATE prophecies in this chapter and these
came over 16 years apart, and are actually
UNRELATED to each other!
Hence, the first prophecy is of interest to our present time
period, while the second one is clearly related to the time of
Babylonian invasion in the year 568 BCE.
The Unfulfilled Prophecy of
Ezekiel 29:1-16
At right is the NIV translation of the passage in question.
Let's look at the specifics of this prophecy.
- The reason for the prophecy
is given in verse 6, namely that Egypt has been a weak reed of
support for Israel.
- The strike against Egypt will
occur such that the entire Nile river will become
uninhabitable for 40 years and this will begin in the
territory of Syene (today known as Aswan) as far as the border
of Cush.
- Pharaoh arrogantly claims to
have "made the Nile river" himself.
- The Egyptians will be
scattered among many nations until the devastation that lasts
40 years has abated.
- Upon the regathering, Egypt
will be permanently a nation without significance and Israel
will never again have any confidence in them, rather will
recognize that ever trusting Egypt was a massive error.
- The people, animals, and fish
of Egypt will fall and not be buried, rather will rot in the
desert and be food for carrion-eating birds.
Has there ever been a time in
history when these things occurred in Egypt? No.
So what is the correct
interpretation?
Until the late 20th Century, there was no way this passage could
have been correctly interpreted. But in the last half of the
20th Century, a number of events have occurred that suddenly
make Ezekiel 29:1-16 entirely understandable.
Contemporaneous Circumstances
-
Re-establishment of Israel in 1948
- Construction
of the Aswan Dam in 1970
- Peace Accord
and recognition of Israel's right to exist, signed between
Egypt and Israel in 1979
- The funneling
of terrorists and weapons through tunnels into Israel in the
1980s, 1990s, and 2000s
- Sponsoring
the UN Resolution against Israel in December 2016
- Radical
Islamists control Sudan (near Aswan Dam) -- the area of the
descendents of Cush (Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia)
- Radical
Islamists threaten to blow up dams in Syria (click
here for Wall Street Journal Article)
Details of
the Prophecy
- Weak reed of
support is clearly understood subsequent to the peace accord
and recognition of Israel in 1979.
- Naming Syene
(Aswan) 2,500 years before the construction of the Aswan
Dam.
- The
government of Egypt, proud of its ability to control the
flooding of the annual Nile river swelling and flow.
- The inability
to inhabit any area in the vicinity of the Nile river for 40
years, thus scattering the Egyptians among the nations.
- An ultimate
regathering of the Egyptians into a meaningless nation,
never again powerful, and never again a support for Israel.
Proper
Interpretation
- Because
Egypt's accord with Israel in 1979 was completely
unreliable, God will strike Egypt.
- The strike
will occur at the Aswan Dam.
- The strike
will be a "weapon of mass destruction"
(nuclear/biological/chemical).
- The rapid
draining of the lake behind the Aswan Dam will flood the
entirety of Egypt with deadly pollution, killing people and
animals and the fish of the Nile river, all the way to the
Mediterranean Sea.
- The survivors
among the 80 million people presently living in Egypt will
flee into Libya and Saudi Arabia, scattering among the
nations.
- The toxic
environment for the entire length of the Nile river from
Sudan to the Mediterranean (as far as the border of Cush)
will make Egypt uninhabitable for 40 years and the dead
along the Nile will be so many that they cannot be buried
for the toxic pollution will make it impossible for anyone
to enter the land without risk of life.
- When Egypt's
toxicity has diminished, the global community will assist
those scattered Egyptians to return to rebuild, but Egypt
will forever-after be a weak nation in the world.
This is the word of the Lord, and
it is a proper interpretation of the first prophecy of Ezekiel
29.
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