Do nations today get puffed up, instead of humbly acknowledging God? How did God humble Egypt? Let’s look at Egypt’s fall in Ezekiel 29.
Against whom was Ezekiel to prophecy in the Autumn of that year?
In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt.” (Ezek 29:1-2 NKJV)
How does God describe Pharaoh? How effective was all his bragging? Is human leadership often monstrous, satanic?
Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: “I am your enemy, O Pharaoh, king of Egypt—you great monster [dragon or crocodile], lurking in the streams of the Nile. For you have said, ‘The Nile River is mine; I made it for myself.’ I will put hooks in your jaws and drag you out on the land with fish sticking to your scales. I will leave you and all your fish stranded in the wilderness to die. You will lie unburied on the open ground, for I have given you as food to the wild animals and birds.
All the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord, for to Israel you were just a staff made of reeds. When Israel leaned on you, you splintered and broke and stabbed her in the armpit. When she put her weight on you, you collapsed, and her legs gave way. (Ezek 29:3-7 NLT)
What preposterous claims did Pharaoh make? Do politicians still make preposterous claims? Did the Babylonian army decimate Egypt for a time (564-525 BC)? Should we trust the time line claimed by Greek historian Herodotus or Berosus a Babylonian historian whose record concurs more with scripture?
“‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I will bring a sword on you, and will cut off man and animal from you. The land of Egypt will be a desolation and a waste. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.” Because he has said, ‘The river is mine, and I have made it,’ therefore, behold, I am against you and against your rivers. I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from the tower of Seveneh even to the border of Ethiopia.
No foot of man will pass through it, nor will any animal foot pass through it. It won’t be inhabited for forty years. I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the middle of the countries that are desolate. Her cities among the cities that are laid waste will be a desolation forty years. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.” (Ezek 29:8-12 WEB)
Has Egypt returned as a more modest nation, never again a super power?
The Lord God proclaims: At the end of forty years, I will gather the Egyptians from among the nations where they are scattered. I will improve their circumstances and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin. Egypt will be a lowly kingdom there.
Out of all the kingdoms, it will be the lowliest. It will never again exalt itself over the nations, and I will make it small to keep it from ruling the nations. The house of Israel will never again bring guilt on itself by faithlessly turning to Egypt for help, for they will know that I am the Lord God. (Ezek 29:13-16 CEB)
After Tyre evacuated most of their wealth by sea, leaving little for King Nebuchadnezzar to plunder, did he invade Egypt (around 568-567 BC) for “wages,” causing the decline of Egypt, which successively fell under Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome?
Twenty-seven years after King Jehoiachin and the rest of us had been led away as prisoners to Babylonia, the Lord spoke to me on the first day of the first month. He said: King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia has attacked the city of Tyre. He forced his soldiers to carry so many heavy loads that their heads were rubbed bald, and their shoulders were red and sore.
Nebuchadnezzar and his army still could not capture the city. So now I will hand over the nation of Egypt to him. He will take Egypt's valuable treasures and give them to his own troops. Egypt will be his reward, because he and his army have been following my orders. I, the Lord God, have spoken. Ezekiel, when Egypt is defeated, I will make the people of Israel strong, and I will give you the power to speak to them. Then they will know that I, the Lord, have done these things. (Ezek 29:17-21 CEV)
Does the book of Revelation use similar imagery of the devil?
And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. (Revelation 12:3-4a ESV)
Do nations today get puffed up, instead of humbly acknowledging God? How did God humble Egypt? You decide!
