brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.

19 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

20 ¶ Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

21 Son of man, set thy face against Zidon, and prophesy against it, 22 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Zidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee: and they shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.

23 For I will send into her pesti

21. Zidon] Prophecy against Zidon (Joel iii. 4). Zidon was more ancient than Tyre and was the original metropolis of Phoenicia; it is mentioned in Gen. x. 19, where the name of Tyre does not occur, but in the times of Phoenician greatness it ever played a subordinate part. Only once (Judg. x. 12) do we find the Zidonians in conflict with Israel. The evil which they did was the seducing them to idolatry, as in the case of Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians. This is implied in v. 24, referring no doubt to Num. xxxiii. 55 and Josh. xxiii. 13. The capture of Tyre by Nebuchadnezzar increased the importance of Zidon, which was a wealthy and flourishing town when Artaxerxes Ochus destroyed it. It has rallied from time to time, but has never attained to any great consequence (see Smith's 'Dict.' art. Zidon), but its ruin has not been so complete as that of Tyre. The terms of this prophecy against Zidon differ widely from those in which Tyre is denounced. "The modern Saida must be considered not so much a direct successor of the ancient Zidon as a small group of fortified houses which especially since the time of the Crusades has collected round the port of the old town. It is made up of ancient débris which are scarcely to be recognized, with the

lence, and blood into her streets; and the wounded shall be judged in the midst of her by the sword upon her on every side; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

24¶ And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

25 Thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob.

confi

26 And they shall dwell safely 10r, with therein, and shall build houses, and dence. plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and 1Or, il they shall know that I am the LORD their God.

exception of the never-ending shafts of columns built into the walls, the gigantic blocks in the old port, and the cuttings in the rocks. Saida like Sour has preserved above ground no other vestige of its Phœnician history. Until the discovery of the great Necropolis situated around Mughâret Abloun, in 1855, it might have been said that the ancient Zidon, the mother in Canaan, had totally disappeared." Mission de Phénicie,' p. 361, 362.

25, 26. The contrast of the future of Israel with that of the surrounding nations. As we have seen that the prophecies against the heathen reached, not merely to the particular nations, but to the world-power which they represented, as the same predictions are directed against Tyre by Ezekiel, against Babylon by Isaiah, and against the Apocalyptic Babylon by St John; so this prophecy reaches far beyond a mere temporal restoration. It points to times of more permanent security, when from all nations and kingdoms the Church of Christ, the Israel of God, shall be gathered in, when the power of the world shall be for ever broken, and the kingdom of Christ shall be established for ever.

This transition from the enemies to the people of God is made to close the portion of

CHAP. XXIX. Prophecies against Egypt, Isai. xviii., xix., xxxi.; Jer. xlvi.; Joel iii. 19. This and the three following chapters uttered (with the exception of ch. xxix. 17 to end) in regular succession predict the downfall of Pharaoh Hophra and the desolation of Egypt. The form is much the same as in the denunciation of Tyre: (1) a prophecy against Egypt and her allies, xxix., xxx.; (2) an image of Egypt's greatness and her fall, xxxi.; and (3) a dirge over Egypt, xxxii. This prophecy (116) was delivered some months before the preceding prophecies against Tyre (see xxvi. 1), the prophecies against the nations being given, not in their chronological, but in their geographical order, according to their nearness to Jerusalem. 1-16. First prophecy against Egypt.

1. the tenth year] Jerusalem had been besieged, but not taken. It was about the time that Jeremiah delivered his prophecy against Egypt, when the approach of Pharach Hophra's army caused the Chaldæans for the time to raise the siege (Jer. xxxvii. 5). This was the solitary instance of Egypt meddling with the affairs of Palestine or Syria after the battle of Carchemish (comp. K. xxiv. 7), and it met with a speedy punishment. But for a time there seemed a prospect of help from one like Pharaoh Hophra, who was evidently disposed to revive the military glory and conquests of Egypt, and regain the footing in Syria which his ancestor Necho had obtained by the battle of Megiddo.

2-16. A general prediction of ruin upon Egypt and her kings.

3. The king is addressed as the embodiment of the state.

dragon] Heb. tannim or tannin. The word is variously translated in our A.V., whale, serpent, dragon, see note on Gen. i. 21. It is a plural form (like the Latin cete), but applied to an individual here and Job vii. 12; Isai. li. 9; Ezek. xxxii. 2. See note on Job xli. No doubt by dragon is meant the crocodile, the great

monster of the Nile. The crocodile is not now found in Lower Egypt or the Delta of which it was formerly an inhabitant. It was regarded very differently in different parts of Egypt. By some it was worshipped and embalmed after death, and cities were named after it Crocodilopolis. This was especially the case in the Arsinoite nome. Others viewed it with the utmost abhorrence. There is a well-known story in Juvenal of a furious battle between the neighbouring cities of Tentyra and Ombos, whose sacred crocodile the Tentyrites had seized and eaten (Juv. ‘Sat.,' xv. 33). Wilkinson tells us that " 'Egypt produces two varieties of this animal, distinguished by the number and position of the scales on the neck. One has the front row composed of six scales, behind which is a cluster of four large central scales in two lines, with two smaller ones on each side of the uppermost of these lines; the other has in the front row four only, and the disposition of the other eight is thus: four central scales in two lines, with one smaller one on each side of the upper line, and two behind the second and lower line. The first row of the body consists of six scales, the former variety having only four. The other sides of the body are nearly alike in both. They do not exceed eighteen or nineteen feet, though travellers have mentioned some of stupendous size." Wilkinson's 'Manners and Customs of Egypt,' III. p. 79. The crocodile has immense strength, and is quite invulnerable to the ordinary weapons of attack, and were he to seize a man with his jaws escape would be hopeless. They are not usually disposed to attack men, but we find in Livingstone's 'Last Journal,' Vol. I. p. 293, "We found Mohamad Bogharib digging and fencing up a well to prevent his slaves being taken away by the crocodiles, as three had been eaten already." An animal so terrible, so venerated, and so abhorred, was an apt image of the proud Egyptian monarch-the more so, perhaps, because he was in truth less formidable than he appeared, and often became an easy prey to such as assailed him with skill and courage.

lieth in the midst of his rivers] Sais, the royal city, during the twenty-sixth dynasty was in the Delta, in the very midst of the various branches and streams of the Nile.

river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.

4 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.

5 And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall +Heb. face upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.

of the field.

My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself] This quite agrees with Herodotus' account of the pride of Hophra (Apries), whose common boast it was that "not even a god could dispossess him of power" (Herod. II. 169). The river was at all times the source of fertility and wealth to Egypt, but especially so to the Saite kings, who not only had their royal residence on the river, but constantly encouraged intercourse with foreigners, by whose commerce the kingdom was greatly enriched. Psammetichus began this policy, and at the close of the dynasty Amasis especially maintained it.

4. I will put books in thy jaws] Comp. Job xli. 2. In this way the mighty crocodile is rendered an easy prey. Herodotus describes the mode of baiting a hook, and when the crocodile has swallowed the bait, dragging it upon shore (Herod. II. 70).

fish of thy rivers] The allies of Egypt shall

be involved in her ruin.

6. staff of reed] Comp. Isai. xxxvi. 6. The reed was specially appropriate to Egypt as the natural product of its river.

7. The tense of the Hebrew verbs expresses that this was not a single occurrence, but a continuous result. So Egypt had continually proved to Israel, to Jehoiakim and to Zedekiah.

10. from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia] from Migdol to Syene, even unto the borders of Ethiopia. Tower, Heb. Migdol, the name of a town in Egypt, about two miles from Suez. See on

7 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.

8¶ Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee, and cut off man and beast out of thee.

9 And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.

10 Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly Heb. waste and desolate, from the tower waste. of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.

wastes of

+ Heb.

Exod. xiv. 2. Syene (Heb. Seveneh, "towards Seven," the eb being the Hebrew affix for towards), the most southern town in Egypt, on the borders of Ethiopia, in the Thebaid, on the eastern bank of the Nile, on a peninsula formed by this river (Plin. 'N. H.' v. 10), mentioned by Strabo, Pliny, and other ancient authors, who tell us that the sun here on the longest day was immediately over the head, and that their bodies cast no shadow, i.e. it was within the tropics. The modern Assvan, well known in the middle ages, lies a little to the north-east of the ancient Syene (Winer, 'R.W.B.' v. Syene). The name itself is OldEgyptian. The LXX. render the Hebrew words, "from Magdolum (Migdol) and Syene even unto the borders of Ethiopia." Our translators and Luther follow the Vulgate, but the known position of Syene makes this rendering untenable. The marginal rendering, Seveneb, seems to have been intended to suggest that the Hebrew word does not correspond with the Greek Syene, and may have denoted some place in the north of Egypt, and thus mark the northern limits of the country, as Ethiopia marks the southern. But we have no record of any such place, and the rendering of the LXX. (whose translation was made in Egypt) seems conclusive against any attempt to separate the Hebrew Seveneh from the well-known

Syene.-Ethiopia, Heb. Cush. See on Gen. ii. 13. In xxx. 6 the phrase is repeated without the addition, unto the border, so that according to our A. V. we have, from the tower of Syene, without any other limit unto which the ruin was to extend. In both cases it is not improbable that the final b in the Hebrew word

Seventh

Seveneb may be the affix commonly used to denote towards or to.

10-12. We have no record of the circumstances of the Chaldæan invasion of Egypt (see Note A at end of Chapter). We gather of what nature it must have been by comparing the description of the results of Sennacherib's conquest (Isai. xxxvii. 25 foll.), and of the ravages of an invading army in Joel. Compare also 2 K. xxi. 13 and Jer. xlvi. 19, where the removal of the inhabitants is especially mentioned. We are not to insist upon minute fulfilment of every detail of prophecy. Desolation and ruin are described by depicting their usual accompaniments. The prophecy insists upon the general fact that Egypt will for a time, described as forty years, be in a state of collapse.

forty years] No great stress is to be laid on the exact number of years. The number of years passed by the Children of Israel in the wilderness became to the Hebrews a significant period of chastisement. See above iv. 6 and Note B at end of Chapter.

13. A similar respite was promised to Moab (Jer. xlviii. 47) and to Ammon (Jer. xlix. 6), and eminently to Tyre (Isai. xxiii. 15). This partial restoration of Egypt is also foretold, Jer. xlvi. 26.

14. Pathros] (see Gen. x. 14; Isai. xi. 11) is the Thebaid or Upper Egypt, the original seat of the kingdom (Herod. 11. 4).

the land of their habitation] Rather, as marg., the land of their birth. The word means properly "origin," and some have thought that Pathros or Upper Egypt is thus specially deVOL. VI.

15 It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.

16 And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

17¶ 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,

18 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

scribed as the birthplace of Egyptian greatness. It was the seat of empire under the Ethiopian dynasty, but it does not appear that it ever became so in later times, and it is therefore more probable that Pathros is here put as a part for the whole, and the land of their birth simply denotes the home of the restored exiles.

16. which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance] The false confidence of the Israelites brought to remembrance, i.e. discovered in the sight of God and man (for the phrase comp. xxi. 24) their iniquity, i.e. their treachery and perjury to the Chaldeans.

when they shall look after them] Their falsehood being made evident when they look after the Egyptians and seek their aid in rebellion. The ruin of Egypt shall put an end to all this.

17-20. Second prophecy against Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar. A special prediction of the ruin of Egypt by

In putting together the various prophecies which he had delivered against Egypt, the prophet places this out of chronological order, that he may point out that which had not been stated in the foregoing prophecy, viz., that the agent which should strike the first blow on Egypt should be the Chaldæan king, Nebuchadnezzar. Compare a similar order in xxvi.: (1) a general prophecy against, (2) a special prophecy that Nebuchadnezzar should effect the ruin.

18. yet had he no wages] Some have concluded that Nebuchadnezzar failed to take Tyre after a siege of thirteen years (see Note

I