Babylon's King Overpowers Pharaoh Beside a Burning Templeby emmanuel_higgins
30:8Ezekiel 30:8
And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I have set a fire in Egypt, and when all her helpers shall be destroyed.
The verse belongs to the prophecies against Egypt in Ezekiel 29, 30, 31, and 32 concerning Pharaoh and his host, standing with the prophecies against Ammon, Moab, and Tyre. These prophecies form part of a twenty-two-year appeal to Israel through Ezekiel to turn to God, using the kingdoms on every side of Israel to illustrate how God deals with them and brings down their pride. Egypt, one of the former oppressors of God's people, is held up in that appeal as the example brought low and abased, never to rise again among the nations.
The verse declares the Lord's own judgment: he himself sets a fire in Egypt and destroys all her supporters and helpers, stripped from her, so that she knows that he is the Lord. The judgment came by fire and sword throughout Egypt from the delta to Ethiopia, and Egypt's fall from wealth and glory to dishonor followed its devotion to idols.
The larger prophecy is that Egypt, at the time one of the greatest kingdoms and at one time the greatest empire on earth, would be devastated by foreign conquerors, lose its power and place among the nations, and become the basest of the kingdoms, brought low and abased never to rise again. That included having its rivers dried and its idols abolished. Those predictions were literally fulfilled, as demonstrated by Egypt's long history under successive foreign rulers, and their fulfillment remains evident today.
The setting of fire in Egypt and destroying all her helpers would be fulfilled by England taking complete control of Egypt, with Turkey eliminated entirely from the Egyptian problem and the fiction of Turkish sovereignty over Egypt passing away.
The verse belongs to the prophecies against Egypt in Ezekiel 29, 30, 31, and 32 concerning Pharaoh and his host, standing with the prophecies against Ammon, Moab, and Tyre. These prophecies form part of a twenty-two-year appeal to Israel through Ezekiel to turn to God, using the kingdoms on every side of Israel to illustrate how God deals with them and brings down their pride. Egypt, one of the former oppressors of God's people, is held up in that appeal as the example brought low and abased, never to rise again among the nations.
The verse declares the Lord's own judgment: he himself sets a fire in Egypt and destroys all her supporters and helpers, stripped from her, so that she knows that he is the Lord. The judgment came by fire and sword throughout Egypt from the delta to Ethiopia, and Egypt's fall from wealth and glory to dishonor followed its devotion to idols.
The larger prophecy is that Egypt, at the time one of the greatest kingdoms and at one time the greatest empire on earth, would be devastated by foreign conquerors, lose its power and place among the nations, and become the basest of the kingdoms, brought low and abased never to rise again. That included having its rivers dried and its idols abolished. Those predictions were literally fulfilled, as demonstrated by Egypt's long history under successive foreign rulers, and their fulfillment remains evident today.
The setting of fire in Egypt and destroying all her helpers would be fulfilled by England taking complete control of Egypt, with Turkey eliminated entirely from the Egyptian problem and the fiction of Turkish sovereignty over Egypt passing away.