“In the tenth year, in the tenth month, in the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,”
Eleventh. Hebrew, “twelfth.” Septuagint, “first of the twelfth month of the twelfth year.” There are other variations in the versions. St. Jerome reads the first in Hebrew, as Theodoret does, who says that it and the Syriac have the twelfth year: which is true, if we neglect the points. (Calmet) — The prophets do not observe the order of times. What is here delivered, was sooner fulfilled; or Tyre and Sodom lay nearer than Egypt. (Worthington) — The three next chapters regard that country.
“Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:”
Pharao, Ephree, Jeremias xliv 30. He came to assist Sedecias; but the Chaldeans raised the siege, went to meet him, an defeated his army. After they had subdued the neighbouring nations, Tyre, &c., they fell upon Egypt. (The year of the world 3433.) (Calmet)
“Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.”
Dragon. Hebrew tannin, (Haydock) whence thunnus may be derived, means any water monster, and seems here put for the crocodile, (Calmet) which Pharao signifies. (Grotius) — It was the symbol of Egypt, (Calmet) and adored by the people, Jeremias xv. 2. — Rivers; the different branches of the Nile, and the canals. — Myself. I owe my power to no other. (Calmet) — “Apries is said to think that no god could deprive him of the kingdom, so well he seemed to have established it.” (Herodotus ii. 169.) — So the ancient Pharao said; I know not the Lord, Exodus v. 2. He boasts of having conducted the waters of the Nile through the land, ver. 9. (Menochius) — This river was honoured as the greatest of the gods. (Heliod. 9.) —
“But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.”
Bridle. The Tentyrians jump upon the crocodile’s back, give it a club to bite at, which they seize with both hands, and bring it to the shore. (Pliny, [Natural History?] viii. 25.) — Others throw a hook baited with swine’s flesh, and holding the rope on the shore, make a little pig squeak, which draws the attention of the crocodile; and, as it comes for its prey, it swallows the hook, and its eyes being filled with dust is easily slain. (Herodotus ii. 70.) — Apries sent an army against Cyrene, which being defeated as it was thought by the king’s fault, many of the Egyptians revolted. He sent Amasis to reduce them, but they gave him the crown. (Herodotus ii. 161. and iv. 159.) — Nabuchodonsor taking advantage of these disturbances, and perhaps invited by Amasis, entered Egypt, drove Apries into Higher Egypt, slew many of the inhabitants, and Jews, &c., and left Amasis to govern the wretched remains of that kingdom. (Usher, the year of the world 3430.) The Scripture, however, seems to say that Pharao was slain; (Jeremias xliii., &c.; Calmet) which Ctesias assures us was done by Amasis, though Herodotus (ii. 169.) says he was killed by the people, and buried with his fathers. This latter circumstance is not very probable: but the historian followed the account of the priests, who would mention what was most honourable for the nation. He seems to have been left unburied, ver. 5. Scales. The people depended on the king and shared his fate. (Calmet)
“And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.”
Israel, tempting them to rebel. (St. Jerome) — He promised more than he was able or strove to perform, though he made a show of giving aid.
“When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.”
Loins. They fell upon thee, and thou didst wound (Calmet) or “dissolve” their loins. (Haydock)
“Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia. utterly: Heb. wastes of waste from: or, from Migdol to Syene Syene: Heb. Seveneh”
Tower; or rather (Calmet) Hebrew and Septuagint, “from Magdol to Syene.” (Haydock) — This was on the frontiers of Ethiopia, below the cataracts. (Pliny, [Natural History?] v. 9.)
“No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.”
Years, till the third of Cyrus, who gave liberty to all the captives at the beginning of his reign, ver. 13. (Calmet) — Amasis reigned forty-four years in Lower Egypt, (Herodotus iii. 10.) over the few whom Nabuchodonosor spared.
“And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom. habitation: or, birth base: Heb. low”
Low. The Jews were not more tempted to apply to them for aid. (Calmet) — Amasis strove to shake off the yoke: but Cambyses came and slew many. Psammenites killed himself; (Herodotus iii. 9.) or was taken to Susa, and the country laid waste. (Ctesias) — Egypt has almost ever since been subject to foreign princes, (Haydock) Persians, Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes, and Turks. The trade of Egypt, by caravans, was in a manner destroyed for forty years by Nabuchodonosor, whose victories Megesthenes and Berosus attest 300 years before Christ. (Watson)
“And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,”
Year: fifteen (Calmet) or seventeen years after the preceding prophecy, (ver. 1.; Worthington) but on the same subject.
“Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it:”
Peeled, with carrying machines of war and burdens for thirteen years. — No reward worth the labour. The new city surrendered upon terms, (Calmet) or the citizens shipped off their most valuable goods, and retired to Carthage, &c. God gives a temporal reward for moral virtues, (St. Jerome) even to infidels. (Worthington) — Thus he rewarded the ancient Romans, and the midwives. (St. Augustine, City of God v. 12.; and St. Thomas Aquinas, [Summa Theologiae] i. 2. q. 114. a. 10.) — They had no intention of pleasing God, (Calmet) or of directing their labours for his service. (Haydock)
“In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.”
Horn: Zorobabel; (St. Jerome) Jechonias, who was honoured by Evilmerodac; (Tirinus) or Daniel and Mardochai, with all the nation. — Month. Thou shalt speak boldly, and they will give credit to thee henceforward. (Calmet)