Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 29

In the tenth year, in the tenth month. — This was exactly a year and two days after the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (Ezekiel 24:1–2; 2 Kings 25:1), and about six months before its fall, or seven before its destruction (2 Kings 25:3–8).

It must have been, therefore, after the time when the siege was temporarily raised by the approach of the Egyptians under Pharaoh-Hophra (Jeremiah 37:5; Jeremiah 37:11), and when Jeremiah prophesied the failure of that attempt (Jeremiah 37:6–10). And it probably was just when the news of that relief reached Chaldea and gave fresh hope to the exiles of the deliverance of Jerusalem.

The great dragon. This word is usually translated dragon in the English version, but sometimes whale (Ezekiel 32:2), and (in a slightly modified form) serpent (Exodus 7:9–10; Exodus 7:12). It unquestionably means crocodile, the characteristic animal of Egypt—in some parts hated and destroyed, in others worshipped as a deity, but in all parts alike feared, and regarded as the most powerful and destructive creature of their country.

Lieth in the midst of his rivers. Egypt, a creation of the Nile and dependent entirely upon it for its productiveness, is personified by the crocodile, its characteristic animal, basking upon the sandbanks of its waters. The expression his rivers, used in reference to the branches of the Nile near its mouth, is peculiarly appropriate to the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, to which Pharaoh-Hophra belonged, whose capital was Sais, in the midst of the Delta.

My river is mine own. This is characteristic of the pride of Hophra, who, according to Herodotus, was accustomed to say that “not even a god could dispossess him of power.” The whole dynasty to which he belonged, beginning with Psammeticus, improved the river and encouraged commerce with foreign nations, thereby acquiring great wealth.

Hooks in thy jaws. — An allusion to the ancient way of taking and destroying the crocodile, otherwise invulnerable to their arms.

Fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales. — As the crocodile, the lord of the Nile, represents the royal power of Egypt, so the fish represent the people dependent upon him. Pharaoh is not to fall alone, but shall drag his people with him into a common ruin.

Open fields is synonymous with “wilderness” in the previous clause. The crocodile and the fish together, drawn from the river, are to be thrown upon the sands of the neighboring desert, to be devoured by the birds and beasts of prey: thus representing that Pharaoh and his people, uprooted from their power, are to be given over as spoil to various nations.

A staff of reed.— In Isaiah 36:6, the dependence of Judah upon Egypt is described as trust in the staff of this broken reed; but despite all warnings, they still trusted, especially at the time of this prophecy, and proved in their experience the truth of the Divine word. The figure is taken from the reeds, which grew abundantly on the banks of the Nile, and the statement is historically amplified in the following verse, where the reference is to be understood not as any single fact but as a continual, often repeated result.

There should be a period in the middle of Ezekiel 29:6; the first half forms the conclusion of the previous denunciation, and the second half is closely connected with Ezekiel 29:7-9. Ezekiel 29:7 is parenthetical.