Ezekiel 32:18, commentary and pictures

Son of man is told to wail for the hordes of Egypt and the peoples of famed nations because they are to be brought down to the lowest depths with those slain in battle, foretelling the certain ruin of Pharaoh and his army and the end of Egypt's supremacy as a ruling power. Spoken when Egypt stood among the greatest kingdoms, it was fulfilled when Egypt was invaded and spoiled by Nebuchadnezzar and afterward kept low under strangers, becoming the basest of kingdoms that would never again rise to rule over nations. The nether parts of the earth to which they go down is the pit, which is sheol, the same as hades, the common grave and state of all the dead, righteous and wicked, beneath in the interior of the earth in contrast to the land of the living on its surface. The mighty speaking from there to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh seeing and being comforted by the sight of his slain foes, is figurative personification and not literal consciousness, speech, feeling or action by the dead, for there is no work nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave. Christ himself first descended into that hades in the lower parts of the earth at his death before ascending to Paradise above, showing Paradise with its tree of life is not in the nether world but is the abode of the living.

Egypt's Downfall Foretold

Ezekiel 32:18 stands within the prophecies against Egypt in chapters 29-32, which describe the revolutions and state of Egypt and point to Egypt's ruin. It is a wail for the multitude of Egypt and the daughters of the famous nations, mourned and brought down among the nations that descend to the pit. It foretells the certain fate of Pharaoh and his host and the ruin of Egypt.

It declares that Egypt would lose its supremacy and be brought low and abased. It would become the basest of kingdoms and a low kingdom, no longer ruling over other nations. It would never rise again among the nations.

Spoken more than twenty-four centuries ago, when Egypt was one of the most ancient and powerful kingdoms in the world, among the greatest kingdoms and once the greatest empire, the word was fulfilled in Egypt's conquest and lasting abasement. Egypt was invaded, conquered and spoiled and subdued by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and afterward subjected by Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Saracens, Mamelukes, and Turks. It fell into the hands of strangers and that forever, left with no more a prince of its own land but ruled by strangers, poor and oppressed. It renounced idolatry, with its idols cut off and its rivers drying up.

In its abasement Egypt is also presented as a symbol of black infidelity.

Sheol in Nether Earth

The wail is for Pharaoh and the multitude of Egypt slain in battle with the king of Babylon and cast down with the daughters of famous nations to the nether parts of the earth, to the pit. Friend and foe slaughtered on the battlefield were buried indiscriminately together in pits, going down with their weapons of war with their swords laid under their heads. Egypt's multitude and the daughters of renowned nations are thus placed among the dead lying there with the slain, cast down there with those who descend to the pit.

The nether parts are beneath in the interior depths of the earth and embrace every grave. They are sheol, the Hebrew name identical with the Greek hades, also called hell and the pit. Sheol there is the grave, the common region, place and state of all the dead, righteous or wicked, properly translated grave, the receptacle of silent sleepers gone down to dust, full of graves and of the dead. Egypt and the peoples of other famous nations with a company of nations gone down slain with the sword are brought down there with those who descend into the pit.

Sheol in the nethermost parts of the earth is contrasted with the surface, which is the land of the living. It is hades, the land of the dead containing only dead men, where no living beings are found. The dead cast into the nether parts, the grave or sheol, lie there with the slain in contrast to the land of the living, and sheol full of the dead in the nether parts is set against the land of the living.

Christ at his death descended first into that hades in the lower parts of the earth, the nether parts identified with hades the realm of the dead, before ascending far above all heavens into Paradise in the third heaven. He did not go both ways at once and did not enter Paradise when he expired, and he that descended into hades is the same that afterward ascended into Paradise. Paradise with its tree of life cannot be located in hades in the nether parts, for that would make it a place for the pious dead rather than the abode of the living where the dead could not use it. The interior hades will feel the fire of the final conflagration and, when the earth is melted with fire, will cease to be the abode of the dead.

Unconscious Dead Personified

The wail casts Egypt's multitude and the daughters of famous nations down to the nether parts of the earth among those going down to the pit, where Pharaoh and his soldiers slain in battle with the king of Babylon descend to sheol with the dead. There the strong among the mighty speak out of the midst of sheol to Pharaoh as he enters, Pharaoh lying among the slain sees the multitude of his slain enemies, and he is comforted at the sight while others are ashamed. That speaking, seeing, comforting and being ashamed is figurative personification and not literal consciousness, conversation, feeling, speech or action by the dead in the nether parts of the earth. Friend and foe slaughtered on the battlefield were buried indiscriminately together in pits, going down with their weapons of war with their swords laid under their heads, and sheol full of graves and of the dead is thus contrasted with the surface as the land of the living.

The speaking of the dead is a figure by which unconscious and inanimate things are represented as living, acting and speaking. It is like the dead kings rising from thrones to mock the king of Babylon, and like Rachel weeping for her children long after her death, like fir trees rejoicing, and like timbers and hire and blood speaking. There is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in hell, which is sheol, the grave, the receptacle of silent sleepers gone down to dust. The figure was never meant to teach that the dead in sheol are conscious and capable of conversing and acting, for that would contradict Scripture, but only to bring true thoughts of future retribution vividly before the mind.

The seeing and consciousness ascribed to this multitude in sheol, the grave, is personification of the dead in the grave, not real life in death. It corresponds exactly to hades where the rich man was buried and is pictured lifting up his eyes, seeing and calling for water, with the dead endowed with life and speech. This proves the account of the rich man and Lazarus is a parable and not literal proof of conscious existence after death. The wail for Egypt is one of the common Old Testament instances where the unconscious dead are personified to bring truth forcibly before the living, a biblical example showing such figurative teaching depicting the dead was already used in the Old Testament.