Asshur is there and all her company: his graves are about him: all of them slain, fallen by the sword:
Asshur, that is Assyria, lies brought down to the grave with all its company about it slain by the sword, joined in death with Pharaoh and his host under judgment alongside Egypt. That grave is Sheol, identical with Hades, the common region of all the dead in the nether parts of the earth beneath, in contrast to the land of the living. Sheol itself embraces every grave and holds only dead men, with no living beings in it. The strong speaking out of Sheol to Pharaoh, and his being comforted at the sight of the slain multitudes, is figurative personification and not literal consciousness, activity, or feeling by the dead. The dead are represented as alive and speaking to make the message forceful to the living and to make future retribution vivid, just as the rich man speaks in Hades.
Fallen Nations and Graves
Asshur is Assyria, named among the nations brought down to the grave with all her company lying about him, all of them slain and fallen by the sword. The naming belongs to the prophecy against Egypt and its rulers, in which Pharaoh and his host are brought under judgment to death by the sword alongside Egypt, and Assyria's fate forms part of the picture of fallen kingdoms alongside Egypt. Those prophecies about Egypt describe the nation's history and future, fulfilled in its subjugation by successive foreign powers and its long-lasting decline.
The graves about Asshur are individual burial places, the Hebrew kever meaning a grave or burial place, distinct from sheol itself which is the shared state of death for all the dead. The slain lie in sheol in the nether parts of the earth, with their graves around them, buried together in pits where friend and foe are cast together indiscriminately. Pharaoh and his army, slaughtered in battle with the king of Babylon, go down there with the slain multitudes in the same manner, going down with their weapons of war with their swords laid under their heads.
Sheol's Place and Nature
Asshur and all its company lie slain by the sword in Sheol, with graves round about, among the defeated nations gathered in the nether parts of the earth. That Sheol is identical with Hades, the pit beneath the earth in its interior depths, set against the land of the living. The whole passage of Ezekiel 32:18-32 describes this nethermost realm as the region of the dead and of graves, in the earth and embracing every grave.
Sheol is the grave and the common region of the dead, full of graves and of the dead, where the slaughtered warriors lie after falling by the sword. It holds only dead men, with no living beings in it, as Hades the land of the dead in the depths beneath. As the land of the dead it stands in contrast to the land of the living, with Asshur and its slain company lying in the nether parts with their graves about them.
Because Hades is in the earth beneath, always beneath and sometimes in the nether parts, embracing every grave as the common region of the dead, it is not in the third heaven in sight of the New Jerusalem. For that reason Lazarus in heaven and Dives in Hades could not converse together from those places. That location in the lower parts of the earth explains that Christ descended first into Hades when he died, and afterward ascended far above all heavens into Paradise as the same being, not upward in one part and downward in another. Sheol as the interior or nether parts of the earth will be made the center of intense heat by the final conflagration.
Figurative Speech and Lesson
The surrounding lament pictures the slain nations lying together in the underworld with their weapons and with swords laid under their heads, and the strong among the mighty speaking to Pharaoh out of the midst of Sheol as he comes down to lie among them. Pharaoh entering among the slain multitudes of his enemies is comforted at the sight of multitudes slain like himself, while others in the same scene are put to shame. Asshur and all her company slain by the sword with graves about them belong to this same pictured company, buried indiscriminately with friend and foe cast together into pits.
That seeing and speaking, with its conversation and its comfort and shame, is figurative personification and not literal consciousness, activity, conversation, comfort, or feeling by the dead in Sheol. The dead there do not literally converse or comfort one another, and the scene does not establish that the dead are conscious. It is a striking figure and an example of metaphorical teaching that sets forth its scene without asserting that every detail is literal.
The dead are portrayed as alive and speaking about what happened to them, represented as alive to express the facts of their cases. Yet Sheol itself is a place of darkness, silence, and death where the dead in the grave have no knowledge or activity. Their imagined speech is used to make the message forceful to the living and to make the reality of future retribution vivid. It is exactly like the rich man speaking in Hades, proving that life and speech can be attributed to the unconscious dead in Sheol to set forth truth and illustrate a lesson for the living.
Asshur, that is Assyria, lies brought down to the grave with all its company about it slain by the sword, joined in death with Pharaoh and his host under judgment alongside Egypt. That grave is Sheol, identical with Hades, the common region of all the dead in the nether parts of the earth beneath, in contrast to the land of the living. Sheol itself embraces every grave and holds only dead men, with no living beings in it. The strong speaking out of Sheol to Pharaoh, and his being comforted at the sight of the slain multitudes, is figurative personification and not literal consciousness, activity, or feeling by the dead. The dead are represented as alive and speaking to make the message forceful to the living and to make future retribution vivid, just as the rich man speaks in Hades.
Fallen Nations and Graves
Asshur is Assyria, named among the nations brought down to the grave with all her company lying about him, all of them slain and fallen by the sword. The naming belongs to the prophecy against Egypt and its rulers, in which Pharaoh and his host are brought under judgment to death by the sword alongside Egypt, and Assyria's fate forms part of the picture of fallen kingdoms alongside Egypt. Those prophecies about Egypt describe the nation's history and future, fulfilled in its subjugation by successive foreign powers and its long-lasting decline.
The graves about Asshur are individual burial places, the Hebrew kever meaning a grave or burial place, distinct from sheol itself which is the shared state of death for all the dead. The slain lie in sheol in the nether parts of the earth, with their graves around them, buried together in pits where friend and foe are cast together indiscriminately. Pharaoh and his army, slaughtered in battle with the king of Babylon, go down there with the slain multitudes in the same manner, going down with their weapons of war with their swords laid under their heads.
Sheol's Place and Nature
Asshur and all its company lie slain by the sword in Sheol, with graves round about, among the defeated nations gathered in the nether parts of the earth. That Sheol is identical with Hades, the pit beneath the earth in its interior depths, set against the land of the living. The whole passage of Ezekiel 32:18-32 describes this nethermost realm as the region of the dead and of graves, in the earth and embracing every grave.
Sheol is the grave and the common region of the dead, full of graves and of the dead, where the slaughtered warriors lie after falling by the sword. It holds only dead men, with no living beings in it, as Hades the land of the dead in the depths beneath. As the land of the dead it stands in contrast to the land of the living, with Asshur and its slain company lying in the nether parts with their graves about them.
Because Hades is in the earth beneath, always beneath and sometimes in the nether parts, embracing every grave as the common region of the dead, it is not in the third heaven in sight of the New Jerusalem. For that reason Lazarus in heaven and Dives in Hades could not converse together from those places. That location in the lower parts of the earth explains that Christ descended first into Hades when he died, and afterward ascended far above all heavens into Paradise as the same being, not upward in one part and downward in another. Sheol as the interior or nether parts of the earth will be made the center of intense heat by the final conflagration.
Figurative Speech and Lesson
The surrounding lament pictures the slain nations lying together in the underworld with their weapons and with swords laid under their heads, and the strong among the mighty speaking to Pharaoh out of the midst of Sheol as he comes down to lie among them. Pharaoh entering among the slain multitudes of his enemies is comforted at the sight of multitudes slain like himself, while others in the same scene are put to shame. Asshur and all her company slain by the sword with graves about them belong to this same pictured company, buried indiscriminately with friend and foe cast together into pits.
That seeing and speaking, with its conversation and its comfort and shame, is figurative personification and not literal consciousness, activity, conversation, comfort, or feeling by the dead in Sheol. The dead there do not literally converse or comfort one another, and the scene does not establish that the dead are conscious. It is a striking figure and an example of metaphorical teaching that sets forth its scene without asserting that every detail is literal.
The dead are portrayed as alive and speaking about what happened to them, represented as alive to express the facts of their cases. Yet Sheol itself is a place of darkness, silence, and death where the dead in the grave have no knowledge or activity. Their imagined speech is used to make the message forceful to the living and to make the reality of future retribution vivid. It is exactly like the rich man speaking in Hades, proving that life and speech can be attributed to the unconscious dead in Sheol to set forth truth and illustrate a lesson for the living.