Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
back to:
Ezekiel
Book: Ezekiel
Chapter: 32
Overview:
The fall of
Egypt.
(1-16) It is like that of other nations.
(17-32)
1-16 It becomes us to weep and tremble for those who will not
weep and tremble for themselves. Great oppressors are, in
God's
account,
No better than beasts of prey. Those who admire the
pomp of this world, will wonder at the ruin of that pomp; which
to those who know the vanity of all things here below, is
No
surprise. When others are ruined
By Sin, we have to fear,
knowing ourselves guilty. The instruments of the
Desolation are
formidable. And the instances of the
Desolation are frightful.
The waters of
Egypt shall run like
Oil, which signifies there
should be universal sadness and heaviness upon the whole nation.
God can soon empty those of this world's goods who have the
greatest
Fulness of them.
By enlarging the matters of our joy,
we increase the occasions of our sorrow. How weak and helpless,
as to
God, are the most powerful of mankind! The
Destruction of
Egypt was a
Type of the
Destruction of the enemies of
Christ.
17-32 Divers nations are mentioned as gone down to the
Grave
before
Egypt, who are ready to give her a scornful reception;
these nations had been lately ruined and wasted. But though
Judah and
Jerusalem were about this time ruined and laid waste,
yet they are not mentioned here. Though they suffered the same
affliction, and
By the same
Hand, yet the kind design for which
they were afflicted, and the
Mercy God reserved for them,
altered its nature. It was not to them a going down to the
Pit,
as it was to the
Heathen.
Pharaoh shall see, and be comforted;
but the comfort wicked ones have after
Death, is
Poor comfort,
not real, but only in fancy. The view this
Prophecy gives of
ruined states shows something of this present world, and the
empire of
Death in it. Come and see the calamitous state of
human
Life. As if men did not die
Fast enough, they are
ingenious at finding out ways to destroy one another. Also of
the other world; though the
Destruction of nations as such,
seems chiefly intended, here is
Plain allusion to the
Everlasting ruin of impenitent sinners. How are men deceived
By
Satan! What are the objects they pursue through scenes of
bloodshed, and their many sins? Surely
Man disquiets himself in
vain, whether he pursues wealth, fame, power, or pleasure. The
Hour cometh, when all that are in their graves shall hear the
voice of
Christ, and shall come forth; those that have done good
to the resurrection of
Life, and those that have done evil to
the resurrection of
Damnation.