Ezekiel 32:29, commentary and pictures

Edom with her kings and all her princes are shown fallen by the sword despite their former might, laid among the slain to lie with the uncircumcised and with those who go down to the pit. The pit is sheol, the same as hades, the common realm of the dead beneath the land of the living in the interior and nether parts of the earth. The speaking, seeing, being ashamed, and being comforted there are not literal consciousness or action of the dead, but figurative personification of the unconscious dead in the grave. It is the same device as the fallen kings rising to mock the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14 and the rich man shown conscious and speaking in hades, setting forth truth to the living by putting speech upon the dead, for hell here is the dark, silent place and state of the dead where there is no knowledge or activity.

Edom Fallen with Slain

There is Edom with her kings and all her princes, who despite their former might are laid among those cut down by the sword and lie with the uncircumcised and with them that go down to the pit. They are shown gathered in the pit in the realm of the dead, the grave or sheol, alongside other slain rulers and dead nations. That pit or hades is the realm of the dead and not a place inhabited by living beings, located in the lower and nether parts of the earth and contrasted with the land of the living. Their lying there with the slain belongs to the prophetic picture of the dead nations in sheol, and the dead speaking, taunting, or being comforted there is figurative rather than a literal account of the dead conversing or acting.

The scene is of Pharaoh and his army slaughtered in battle with the king of Babylon and buried indiscriminately with friend and foe cast together into pits in the nether parts of the earth, which is sheol. The slain go down with weapons of war and with swords laid under their heads, in sheol full of graves and the dead. The strong among the mighty speak to Pharaoh out of the midst of sheol as he enters therein, and Pharaoh lying among the slain is comforted at the sight of the multitude of his slain enemies also lying there.

The passage belongs to a lamentation over Pharaoh and his host and to prophecies against the two great nations Egypt and Tyre, with Egypt brought low and abased never to rise again among the nations. It is part of twenty-two years of pleading with Israel to turn to God through illustrations from the kingdoms on all sides of Israel showing how God deals with them. Edom with her kings and all her princes laid with those slain by the sword is thus an example of pride brought down, with warning that the pride of nations still remaining will be brought down.

Sheol in Nether Earth

The pit in the verse is sheol, which is identical with hades and is rendered hell. That sheol-hades lies in the earth beneath, in the interior and in the nether parts of the earth beneath the land of the living. It embraces the interior of the earth as the region of the dead and the place of every grave. Ezekiel locates it in the lower parts of the earth and in the nethermost parts of the earth, beneath the living world.

Sheol is the land and common realm of the dead, set in contrast with the land of the living. It holds only dead men, with no living beings in it. Edom with her kings and princes laid with those slain by the sword, lying with the uncircumcised that go down to the pit, shows hades to be that land of the dead.

Though sheol is translated grave thirty-one times, it is not the usual word for grave. Every passage speaking of the location of sheol places it beneath, always in the interior of the earth, sometimes in the nether parts of the earth.

Hades will be consumed when the earth is melted with fire and will cease to be the abode of the dead. The lower parts of the earth are hades, the place of the dead, distinct from Paradise in the third heaven. Christ descended first into that hades under the power of death and remained there from his death until his resurrection, and afterward ascended as the same being far above all heavens, and did not go both ways at once.

Figurative Speech About Death

The speaking and taunting in the pit, the seeing of Pharaoh, and his being ashamed and comforted at the sight of his slain enemies lying there, are not literal consciousness, conversation, or action of the dead in the earth but figurative personification of the unconscious dead in the grave. Edom's kings and princes laid with those slain by the sword and lying with the uncircumcised belong to that prophetic picture of dead nations in sheol, where their lying with the slain, with swords laid under their heads and weapons of war with them, is figurative rather than a literal account of the dead conversing or acting. The strong among the mighty speaking out of the midst of sheol to Pharaoh as he enters therein, and Pharaoh lying among the slain and comforted at seeing the multitude of his slain enemies also there, is a personifying figure to set forth a great truth, not literal action or consciousness in death.

This personification is the same literary device as the conquered kings rising from their thrones in sheol to mock the king of Babylon. It is the same as Rachel weeping for her children long after her death. It is the same as the dead in Isaiah 14 seeing, narrowly looking, and speaking.

The device puts speech and action upon the unconscious dead in order to impress truth forcibly upon the living. Ezekiel 32:17-32 is an Old Testament example of such metaphorical teaching, not a literal description of conscious existence after death. It corresponds exactly with hades where the rich man was buried and is represented as lifted up in his eyes, conscious, seeing, speaking, and calling for water. For that reason the rich man and Lazarus is a parable that teaches nothing about the real condition of the dead.

Hell here means the place and state of the dead. It is a place of darkness, silence, secrecy, and death. There is no knowledge or activity there.