Ezekiel 32:13, commentary and pictures

Ezekiel 32:13 belongs to the prophecies of judgment against Egypt, foretelling its fall from power and its desolation and waste, and the certain fate and destruction of Pharaoh and his host. The verse itself declares that the waters of Egypt will no longer be troubled by the foot of man nor by the hoofs of beasts, because all the beasts beside the great waters will be destroyed. These prophecies against Egypt were literally fulfilled in Egypt's subjection to foreign rulers and its changed condition.

Egypt, once a great kingdom and empire and one of the mightiest nations, was to become the basest of kingdoms and the least, with its glory vanished and its pride humbled in the dust. The judgment came upon Egypt for her iniquity and her oppression of the people of God, as a former oppressor and a symbol of black infidelity. Its multitude would fall by the swords of the mighty, its pride would be brought to nothing, and the land would be made desolate and waste, destitute of its fullness, with its dwellers smitten so that they would know that He is Jehovah, and Egypt would be brought low and abased, never again to rise among the nations.

In this humbled state Egypt stands as a living example of the result of rebellion against God, both for nations and for every individual. The chapter places hades in the lowest parts of the earth in contrast to the land of the living, showing hades to be the realm of the dead rather than a place where living beings dwell. The verse also teaches that when a righteous person turns to sin his former righteousness is no longer remembered and he is treated as though he had never been righteous, so that since righteousness is by faith, turning back to sin annuls his justification and he falls from grace.