The Gospel According to Ezekiel, Chapters 32 (Part 1 of 2)
Context of the Prophecy Against Egypt
We've been studying a specific prophecy against Egypt. This is one among several prophecies Ezekiel has given against other nations. Ezekiel is not just about the judgment of Jerusalem or prophecies to the exiles. God has turned attention to the nations around Israel, focusing recent chapters on Egypt. Chapter 32 will conclude much of these prophecies of judgment. Afterward, God will recommission Ezekiel from prophet of judgment—though he has preached the gospel—to prophet of restoration for God's people, restoring Israel's fortunes.
As we begin chapter 32, God deals with pride. He shows his sovereignty in the conditional nature of prophecy: the ultimate end of pride is its quelling. The conditionality is in how pride ends, but God's sovereignty ensures pride and sin will end through his judgment. Sheol represents God's permanent judgment of sin—its ultimate end, experienced by the sinner or ceased in their life. God does not forgive sin arbitrarily, as in Islam. Because he is just, there must be punishment for breaking his law.
For us, there is a gospel focus: God brings an ultimate end to Egypt through judgment. We must embrace God's end of sin in our lives through Jesus Christ's judgment. No matter how you look at it, pride ends. God's end for pride is to quell rebellious, lawless activity. God is not content with temporary punishment or mere cessation of sin; it must bear penalty, as Egypt does here.
The Lament Over Pharaoh (Ezekiel 32:1-10)
In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Son of man, take up a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him, ‘You compared yourself to a young lion of the nations, yet you are like the monster in the seas; you burst forth in your rivers and muddied the waters with your feet and fouled their rivers.’ Thus says the Lord God, ‘Now I will spread My net over you with a company of many peoples, and they shall lift you up in My net.’”
I will leave you on the land; I will cast you on the open field. And I will cause all the birds of the heavens to dwell on you, and I will satisfy the beasts of the whole earth with you. I will lay your flesh on the mountains and fill the valleys with your refuse. I will also make the land drink the discharge of your blood as far as the mountains, and the ravines will be full of you. When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you, and will set darkness on your land,’ declares the Lord God.
I will also trouble the hearts of many peoples when I bring your destruction among the nations, into lands which you have not known. I will make many peoples appalled at you, and their kings will be horribly afraid of you when I brandish My sword before them; and they will tremble every moment, every man for his own life, on the day of your fall.
Pharaoh's pride is not contained; like a crocodile muddying the waters, sin spreads, affecting others. God brings justice by removing Pharaoh. God uses symbolic terms, as in recent chapters: Egypt is like a Nile crocodile. Pharaoh compared himself to a young lion among nations, expecting to conquer. Now God refutes this: you're a crocodile, caught with hooks, netted, dragged from the Nile to die as food for birds and beasts.
God shows three ways judgment pertains to pride—pride as anti-God attitude, discontent with God, exalting self:
- God opposes the proud: God is hostile, anti-you. He drags Pharaoh from the Nile, casts him in open fields—directly causing judgment.
- Absence of God's favor: God extinguishes light—darkens stars, sun, moon—setting darkness on the land. No favorable disposition for the proud; light is removed, bringing confusion and fear.
- Reaction in the world: Nations react with troubled hearts (anger, especially allies), shock and sorrow, kings' fearful confusion. They don't grasp spiritual ramifications—Nebuchadnezzar will conquer Egypt.
Gospel Reactions to Judgment
These reactions are from gospel-less people. The gospel removes anger (peace with God), worldly sorrow (replaced by lament like Ezekiel's, echoing Ezekiel 18: God takes no pleasure in the wicked's death), and confusion (God is just, holy; judgment is right). It removes lifelong fear: embrace repentance for forgiveness as God's child, not suppressing truth in sin (Romans 1), which fails when judgment comes.
Ezekiel, commissioned to burn against sin, now laments Egypt's sin—modeling right reaction.
Devastation by Babylon (Ezekiel 32:11-16)
For thus says the Lord God, “The sword of the king of Babylon will come upon you. By the swords of the mighty ones, I will cause your hordes to fall; all of them are tyrants of the nations, and they will devastate the pride of Egypt. And all its hordes will be destroyed.”
I will also destroy all its cattle from beside many waters; and the foot of man will not muddy them anymore, and the hoofs of beasts will not muddy them. Then I will make their waters settle and will cause their rivers to run like oil, declares the Lord God. When I make the land of Egypt a desolation and the land is destitute of that which filled it, when I smite all those who live in it, then they shall know that I am the Lord.
This is a lamentation and they shall chant it. The daughters of the nations shall chant it over Egypt and over all her hordes,” declares the Lord God.
Nebuchadnezzar devastates Egypt's pride. Pharaoh muddied waters; now God restores purity—no more muddying by man or beast, rivers like oil. Egypt becomes desolation. Historically, Egypt was attacked, later Christianized (Alexandria a NT center), but reverted. Ultimate focus: God decimates pride, removing its pollution.
Descent to Sheol (Ezekiel 32:17-)
In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth of the month, the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Son of man, wail for the hordes of Egypt and bring it down, her and the daughters of the famous nations, to the nether world, with those who go down to the pit; ‘Whom do you pass in beauty? Go down and make your bed with the uncircumcised.’ They shall fall in the midst of those who are slain by the sword. She is given over to the sword; they have drawn her and all her hordes away. The strong among the mighty ones shall speak of him and his helpers from the midst of Sheol, ‘They have gone down, they lie still, the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’
Assyria is there and all her company; her graves are round about her. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, whose graves are set in the remotest parts of the pit and her company is round about her grave. All of them are slain, fallen by the sword, who spread terror in the land of the living.
Egypt descends to netherworld, Sheol, pit—among uncircumcised (though Egypt practiced it), a negative judgment equating them with the unclean. This is ultimate spiritual end: pride ceases in perpetual judgment. Assyria (destroyed 612 BC) is already there; Egypt joins scattered nations.
Elon, Meshech-Tubal, and Other Nations in Sheol
In verse 24, Elam is there in all her hordes, her grave among the slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, who instilled their terror in the land of the living and bore their disgrace with those who went down to the pit. Elam was destroyed by Assyria in 645 BC.
Verse 25: They have made a bed for her among the slain with all her hordes; her graves are around it. They are all uncircumcised, slain by the sword, although their terror was instilled in the land of the living, and they bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit. They were put in the midst of the slain.
Meshech-Tubal and all their hordes are there; their graves surround them. All of them were slain by the sword, uncircumcised, though they instilled their terror in the land of the living. Meshech-Tubal is probably one nation. Some translations express it as Meshech and Tubal, but this is likely a singular unit. There could be several tribes amongst this barbarian nation, but it is ultimately one nation here, previously exterminated by the Scythians.
So far, nations that have already been judged are down there in Sheol, in the netherworld, bearing their disgrace and shame for the sin and terror they instilled in the land.
The Fallen Heroes and Coming Judgments
Verse 27: Nor do they lie beside the fallen heroes of the uncircumcised, who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, whose swords were laid under their heads, but the punishment for their iniquity rested on their bones, though the terror of these heroes was once in the land of the living. But in the midst of the uncircumcised you will be broken and lie with those slain by the sword.
There also is Edom, its kings and all its princes, who for all their might are laid with those slain by the sword. They will lie with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit. There also are the chiefs of the north, all of them, and all the Sidonians, who in spite of their terror resulting from their might in shame went down with the slain. So they lay down uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and bore their disgrace with those who go down to the pit.
There is a significant commonality among these nations: they spread terror as great conquering nations. These were mighty nations, yet because of pride and iniquity—even borne in their bones—they all went down disgracefully. That is the exact antithesis of pride: to be torn down from a position of pride to disgrace.
There are two ways to deal with pride, both involving a coming down. There is the willing coming down in humility, expressing yourself as you truly are, acknowledging God's position for you, and living a life that acknowledges God. Or there is disgrace, being forcefully brought down from pride. That is what all these nations experienced. The higher they exalted themselves in pride, the harder they fell in disgrace. Each is recompensed according to their deeds.
Edom and Sidon have yet to be destroyed, but they have a place reserved for them in Sheol, where Egypt will number itself among them. There is an expectation of judgment.
Christ's Application in Matthew 11
When reading about these nations, especially Tyre previously and now Sidon, one cannot help but think of Matthew 11:21-22:
Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.
With the picture painted here in Ezekiel of nations mentioned in Jesus' day, there is a specific need to recognize Christ's application of these prophecies. We who have New Testament knowledge and revelation have the very same miracles recorded for us today. If we are not responding accordingly to Matthew 11:21-22, our expectations should be the same. These judged nations will have a more bearable degree of punishment than individuals with more revelation, especially of these miracles.
If we are not believers today, there is no reason to increase the degree of judgment in Sheol by refusing to acknowledge these miracles or judgments. For us who have that revelation, there is great joy and comfort. You have been given revelation that allows you to escape, sufficient even with the prophets, but given to you in full expression and testimony, with total trustworthiness.
The lifestyle of a believer is to embrace God's promises of escaping judgment continually. These are wonderful truths for God's people, because we recognize what could have happened, yet by God's grace, we have escaped. One significant response is gratitude. Your God has given you everything needed to avoid Sheol because Christ experienced the equivalent on your behalf. That is the gospel—the beauty of escaping not only judgment but its terror now.
There is specific emphasis here on terror from prideful individuals like Pharaoh muddying the waters and polluting the region. These negative concepts coinciding with pride can be utterly avoided by embracing the gospel.
Pharaoh's Consolation in Sheol
Verses 31-32: Pharaoh will see them and be comforted for all his hordes slain by the sword—even Pharaoh and all his army, declares the Lord God. Though I instilled his terror in the land of the living, yet he will be made to lie down among the uncircumcised, along with those slain by the sword—even Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the Lord God.
This context is not an exhaustive description of Sheol, so we should not say this is exactly what eternity in hell is like. But it expresses what it is like to be there. Pharaoh, elevated and self-exalted, receives a punishment fitting his sin: disgrace, stripped of vitality, pride, and wealth, given into a land of the conquered. To be Pharaoh is to conquer nations and become the superpower, yet to live among the conquered is utterly insulting—a sin penalty that fits the crime.
Each person is judged according to their deeds with specific punishment related to what they cherished most. It is personal judgment and recompense, confirmed in the New Testament.
There is an interpretive issue in verse 31: it seems like consolation, as if Pharaoh sees like-minded company and is comforted. But the Hebrew word for "comfort" is in the Niphal form, reflexive, typically meaning regret, not comfort. In Sheol, he regrets his hordes, all slain by the sword—existing in utter regret. When it means comfort, it emphasizes self-comfort. Reflexive action means Pharaoh acts upon himself, trying to comfort himself from regret, but finding none. He is left without external comfort, only regret.
This is like living in a dirge, lamentation, funeral song—sadness and sorrow with no relief, unable to find comfort within a prideful self, stuck in an internal dwelling with no means of relief.
The Rich Man and Lazarus: New Testament Parallel
Luke 16:19-17:1 describes a rich man in Hades (Sheol), in torment, seeing Abraham and Lazarus comforted. He begs for mercy, but Abraham says, "Child, remember that in your life you received good things, and Lazarus bad things; now he is comforted here, and you are in agony." There is a great chasm fixed. He begs to warn his brothers, but Abraham says they have Moses and the prophets (including Ezekiel); if they do not listen, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.
The New Testament shows agony in Sheol. Suffering in this life is the kind to endure for comfort in the rest of life. Rather than seeking all good, comfort, and pleasures apart from God—which is pride—non-Christian pursuits of joy lead to unrelenting, relief-less misery.
The Gospel Relief from Pride's Ruin
Pay close attention to the prophets and heed their words. Pride is ruin and misery leading to the worst kind: relief-less ruin and misery. For those who believe the gospel, there is relief in this life and eternity future—the safest, greatest place, ushered to Lazarus' comfort, even if dogs lick your sores. Believing the gospel means you are in the right place.
