John Gill Commentary Ezekiel 30

The word of the Lord came again to me
Whether this prophecy was delivered about the time of that in the former part of the preceding chapter, namely, in the tenth year, tenth month, and twelfth day of it; or whether about the time that was which is recorded in the latter part of the chapter, in the seven and twentieth year of Jehoiachin's captivity, is not easy to say; I am inclined to think it was about the time of the latter, since the time of the fulfilment of it is said to be near, (Ezekiel 30:3): saying.

As follows:

Son of man, prophesy and say, thus says the Lord God
Prophesy against Egypt's king and inhabitants, and in the name of the Lord thus speak against them:

howl you ;
you Egyptians, and also you Ethiopians, and all others after named, which should share in the destruction of Egypt; this is said to give them notice of it, and prepare them for it:

woe worth the day !
or, "alas for the day!" ^F4 O the unhappy day! what a sad dismal day is this! O that we should ever live to see such wretched times!

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: (Mwyl hh) "bah diei", Munster, Vatablus; "heu diei", Cocceius, Starckius.

For the day is near
The day of Egypt's destruction, the time fixed for it: even the day of the Lord is near ; the day appointed by him, and in which he would make himself known by the judgments he executed.

Kimchi observes, that, the same year this prophecy was delivered, Egypt was given into the hands of the king of Babylon.

a cloudy day ; or; "a day of cloud" ^F5 ; which was seldom seen in Egypt in a literal sense, rarely having any rain, their country being watered by the Nile; but now, in a figurative sense, the clouds would gather thick and black, and threaten with a horrible tempest of divine wrath, and of ruin and destruction.

it shall be the time of the Heathen : both when the Heathen nation of the Chaldeans should distress and conquer others; and when Heathen nations, as the Egyptians, Ethiopians, and others, should be destroyed by them. The Targum is, "it shall be the time of the breaking or destruction of the people."

FOOTNOTES:

• F5: (Nne Mwy) "dies nubis", V. L. Pagniaus, Montanus, Cocceius, Starckius.

And the sword shall come upon Egypt
The sword of the Chaldeans shall come upon the Egyptians, by which they should be cut off; it having a commission from the Lord for that purpose: and great pain shall be in Ethiopia, when the slain shall fall in
Egypt ;
Ethiopia being a neighbouring nation to Egypt, shall be in a panic when it shall hear of the sword of the Chaldeans being in Egypt, and of the ravages made by it, of the multitudes slain with it; fearing it will be their turn next to fall into the same hands, and in the same manner; and the rather, not only as they were neighbours, but allies:

and they shall take away her multitude ;
that is, the Chaldeans shall carry captive vast numbers of the Egyptians; such as fell not by the sword should not escape the hand of the enemy, but be taken and carried into other lands. Egypt was a very populous country; according to Agrippa's speech in Josephus ^F6 , there were in it 7,500,000 persons from Ethiopia to Alexandria, besides the inhabitants of the latter, as might be gathered from the tribute each person paid; hence they are compared to the trees of a forest that cannot be searched, and to grasshoppers innumerable, (Jeremiah 46:23) , but now their numbers should be lesser:

and her foundations shall be broken down ;
either in a literal sense, the foundations of the cities, towers, and fortified places in Egypt, should be undermined and destroyed, and consequently the buildings on them must sink and fall; or in a figurative sense, her king, princes, magistrates, laws, and government, which are the support of a state, should be removed, and be of no more service.

FOOTNOTES:

• F6: De Bello Jud. l. 2. c. 16. sect. 4.

Ethiopia, Lybia, and Lydia
Or, "Cush, Phut, and Lud". Cush and Phut were both sons of Ham, from whom Egypt is sometimes called the land of Ham; and Lud or Ludim was the son of Mizraim, the son of Ham, the common name of Egypt in Scripture, (Genesis 10:6Genesis 10:13) . Cush is by us rendered Ethiopia; and is thought by some to be a part of Arabia, which lay near to Egypt. Phut and Lud are properly enough rendered Lybia and Lydia; and both these, with Ethiopia, are represented as the allies and confederates of Egypt, (Jeremiah 46:9) . And all the mingled people ;
the Syriac version renders it, "all Arabia": and so Symmachus, according to Jerom; though others think they are the Carians, Ionians, and other Greeks, which Pharaohapries got together to fight with Amasis ^F7 : and "Chub"; or "Cub"; the inhabitants of this piece are thought to be the Cobii of Ptolemy ^F8 , who dwelt in Mareotis, a country of Egypt; though some, by a change of a letter, would have them to be the Nubians, a people in Africa; and so the Arabic version here reads it. Of these Strabo ^F9 says, on the left of the stream of the Nile dwell the Nubians, a large nation in Lybia; and which he afterwards mentions along with the Troglodytes, Blemmyes, Megabarians, and Ethiopians, that dwell above Syene: and so Ptolemy ^F11 speaks of them along with the Megabarians, and as inhabiting to the west of the Avalites: and Pliny ^F12 calls them Nubian Ethiopians, whom he places near the Nile: and a late traveller ^F13 in those parts informs us that the confines of Egypt and Nubia are about eight miles above the first cataract (of the Nile); Nubia begins at the villages of Ellkalabsche, and of Teffa; the first is to the east of the Nile, and the second is to the west.

And the men of the land that is in league shall fall with them by the
sword ;
all the nations above mentioned, with whomsoever should be found that were confederates with Egypt, should share the same fate with them. The Septuagint render it, "and those of the children of my covenant"; as if the Jews were meant that were in Egypt, who are sometimes called "the children of the covenant", and of "the promise", (Acts 3:25) (Romans 9:8) , and so some interpret the place; but it takes in all the allies of Egypt, and does not design the Jews, at least not them only.

FOOTNOTES:

• F7: See Prideaux's Connexion, part 1. p. 93.
• F8: Geograph. l. 4. c. 5.
• F9: Geograph. l. 17. p. 541, 563.
• F11: Geograph. l. 5. c. 8.
• F12: Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 30.
• F13: Norden's Travels in Egypt and Nubia, vol. 2. p. 131, 132.