Ezekiel 32:27, commentary and pictures

Ezekiel 32:27 belongs to a prophecy of judgment against Egypt that was fulfilled in the slaughter of Pharaoh and his army by the king of Babylon, who were buried indiscriminately with friend and foe together in pits with their weapons and swords laid under their heads. The hell to which they went down is the Hebrew sheol, identical with the Greek hades, meaning the grave, sepulchre and underworld shared by righteous and wicked as the place of every grave. It lies beneath in the lowest and nether parts of the earth in contrast with the land of the living on the surface, and it is silent and dark without knowledge or activity. The speaking, seeing, comfort and shame of the mighty there are figurative personification to make retribution vivid, like throned kings taunting the fallen king of Babylon and like trees talking and stones crying out, not literal consciousness or activity by the dead. By this God brings down the pride of Egypt as a former oppressor, showing that former terror and might do not spare the fallen from death and abasement never to rise again. Their iniquity resting upon their bones leaves a defilement in the grave that must be purged by fire reaching to the lowest depths before the redeemed dwell on earth, and since Christ descended dead to those nether parts before ascending far above all heavens, that underworld cannot be Paradise with its tree of life.

Context and Language

Ezekiel 32:27 belongs to a prophecy of judgment and ruin against Egypt, and that prophecy was literally fulfilled in the certain fate of Pharaoh and his army. It pictures Pharaoh and his host slaughtered in battle with the king of Babylon and going down to sheol in the nether parts of the earth, a place full of graves and the dead. They were buried indiscriminately with friend and foe cast together into pits, going down with their weapons of war and with their swords laid under their heads.

The word rendered hell in the verse is the Hebrew sheol, identical in meaning with the Greek hades and its inspired New Testament translation. Sheol occurs 63 times in the Old Testament, rendered hell 31 times, grave 30 times, and pit 3 times. Sheol or hades means grave, sepulchre, underworld, or state of the dead. It is the place of the dead shared by righteous and wicked, always in the interior of the earth and sometimes in the nether parts of the earth, embracing the interior of the earth as the region of the dead and the place of every grave.

Hades or sheol lies beneath in the lowest and nether parts of the earth, in contrast with the land of the living at the earth's surface. Ezekiel 32:18-32 distinguishes that lower region, identified with the pit or hades, as the abode of the dead beneath the earth. That contrast proves hades is the land of the dead and contains no living beings. The verse describes fallen warriors gone down to the grave with their weapons of war and lying with their swords laid under their heads, while their iniquities or guilt remain upon their bones, though they were once the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. It pictures those slain Egyptian soldiers lying in sheol among the dead in the nether parts of the earth.

Death Without Consciousness

The strong speaking to Pharaoh from the midst of the grave, Pharaoh seeing the slain multitudes lying among his enemies, his being comforted at the sight, and others being ashamed are figurative personification rather than literal conversation, sight, feeling, comfort or shame by conscious dead in the earth. The slain go down with weapons of war and swords laid under their heads into pits in the nether parts of the earth, buried indiscriminately with friend and foe, and the laying of swords, the speaking, and the being comforted and ashamed are not literal action, arrangement, or activity after death. Sheol in this picture is silent, dark, and without knowledge, in contrast with the land of the living, and not a place of conscious activity.

This personification is used to set forth great truths and to make future retribution vivid, portraying the facts of their cases as though they were alive rather than giving a literal account of their condition. It is like the throned kings rising to taunt the fallen king of Babylon and like Rachel weeping for her children long after her death. It is of the same kind as trees made to talk, stones to cry out, hills to skip, and forests to clap their hands, and exactly like the rich man speaking in hades. The imagery about the dead therefore serves as metaphorical teaching and illustration rather than literal description.

The verse therefore does not prove that the dead are conscious, intelligent and active, and it does not teach that disembodied spirits exist. Its language attributes life and speech to those who are dead and silent, representing the dead as speaking or seeing while they are in the grave. Its use of Sheol corresponds to being buried in Hades, where there is no knowledge or activity.

The whole person goes down to Sheol, which is presented as a material place where bodies and weapons lie, with iniquities remaining upon their bones though they had once been a terror in the land of the living. The unconscious inhabitants of Sheol and Hades are represented as if endowed with life and activity, but they do not literally keep and use weapons after death.

Judgment, Christ, and Cleansing

Ezekiel 32:27 belongs to the divine dealing with the kingdoms round about Israel to humble their pride, and it stands as a plea for God's own people to turn to Him. Egypt in the verse is the former oppressor of God's people and the emblem of dark unbelief, now brought low and abased so as never to rise again among the nations. The slain warriors lie in sheol beneath the earth with their weapons and with their swords placed under their heads, yet their former terror and might in the land of the living do not exempt them from death, and their iniquities remain upon their bones.

That abiding iniquity upon the bones of the wicked in their graves leaves a defilement upon the earth that must be removed before the redeemed can dwell upon it. The cleansing will come by fire that purges the earth and reaches even to the grave itself. Sheol, or hades, lies in the interior and nether parts of the earth, and it is to those lowest depths that the final fire penetrates.

Hades so located in the nether parts beneath is set in contrast with the land of the living above, proving it to be the land of the dead containing no living beings. It is the lower parts of the earth to which Christ descended in death before He afterward ascended far above all heavens into Paradise. For that reason hades below cannot be the place of Paradise with its tree of life. The fallen warriors pictured there with their weapons, their iniquities still upon their bones, mark hades as that realm below to which Christ descended before His ascent to heaven.