Lessons From Ezekiel – Lesson 24
Before Jerusalem falls God has Ezekiel deal with one more country. A country that could be argued to have caused more hurt to God’s children than any other.
It is the country that in the Word of God is use to picture the world system of the wicked one. I am talking about Egypt. Where Pharaoh is a picture of Satan and Egypt is a picture of his world system.
Just to be clear not the Pharaoh who made Joseph the second in command and who gave Joseph’s family the best of the land. That was a different picture.
Joseph is a type of Christ, his Pharaoh is a type of the Father who gives the best to Joseph’s own. Years later after Joseph dies the Bible says their rose up a Pharaoh who knew not Joseph.
That is when the picture changes. From that point on Pharaoh is a type of Satan and Egypt a type of the world. Pharaoh and Egypt kept God’s children in slavery and hard bondage for 400 years.
And in Ezekiel’s day instead of turning back to God and asking Him for deliverance Jerusalem tried going to Egypt. That was a huge obvious mistake and of course did not end well.
When the slaves left Egypt with Moses the Bible says they took gold and jewels and other things and the Bible uses the term borrowed from the Egyptians. God deals with individuals and He deals with nations. And as far as those individuals were concerned they got their back wages. They went out getting paid.
But as far as nations are concerned the wealth was only borrowed because before the fall of Jerusalem Egypt ended up getting back that gold and wealth. So over the long multiple century view the wealth they took out of Egypt was only borrowed.
There are no mistakes in word choice in God’s Word.
It is just fitting that after Egypt takes the wealth back and right before the fall of Jerusalem that God has Ezekiel deal with the subject of Egypt. And God has a lot to say about it. 4 Chapters worth.
He starts with a Prophecy Against Egypt
Eze 29:2 Son of man, set thy face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt:
Eze 29:3 Speak, and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.
We know that the great dragon in another place in the Bible is a reference to Satan. And that fits here. Do you see the pride and lying here? The great dragon says my river is mine own, and I have made it for myself. Speaking of the great river the Nile.
If it was some creature that was still around from after the flood it would not think like this.
Eze 29:4 But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales.
Egypt today has just one river. The Nile. But according to God’s word way back before the fall of Jerusalem Egypt had rivers plural.
If you allow for that and then look at where Egypt had a lot of cities away from the Nile, then it makes sense. A lot of those cities that they built are now in a desert wasteland. Very difficult to support any sizable population there.
But if Egypt had rivers plural back then, then it makes sense. I believe the Bible. I believe that when they built all of that they there were some smaller rivers in the land.
Eze 29:5 And I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers: thou shalt fall upon the open fields; thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered: I have given thee for meat to the beasts of the field and to the fowls of the heaven.
If you suddenly take away the rivers, what happens to the fish. They are just out in the open. When the river is gone where the river was is just now part of the open field.
God says the fish will not be gathered. They will be eaten by beasts of the field and the birds.
Eze 29:6 And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel.
When God does this, as He is foretelling, then they will know that He is God.
God then goes on and tells how Egypt will be desolate and waste. If you have ever watched any documentaries on the tombs of Egypt or saw pictures of the pyramids or of the sphinx you know that God did exactly as He said.
The place where the Egyptians flourished is now a desolate wasteland.
Eze 29:9 And the land of Egypt shall be desolate and waste; and they shall know that I am the LORD: because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it.
Eze 29:10 Behold, therefore I am against thee, and against thy rivers, and I will make the land of Egypt utterly waste and desolate, from the tower of Syene even unto the border of Ethiopia.
Eze 29:11 No foot of man shall pass through it, nor foot of beast shall pass through it, neither shall it be inhabited forty years.
Eze 29:12 And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries.
Later we find out by what method God did this. At the time that Ezekiel is writing down what God told him, Egypt has a strong army. When Ezekiel sends this prophecy out many would just shake their heads. No way they might say.
But it happened just like God said. Egypt is overthrown and scattered. And basically not inhabited for 40 years.
Eze 29:13 Yet thus saith the Lord GOD; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered:
Eze 29:14 And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom.
Eze 29:15 It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.
Base as in low. Base as in without power. Egypt at one time was the most powerful nation in the world. And one of the richest. But God says it will never exalt itself any more above the nations.
God did this. God diminished them so that they have never ruled over other nations. It is still this way today. It will still be that way tomorrow.
So why bring Egyptians back to Egypt after the 40 years? One reason is given in verse 16.
Eze 29:16 And it shall be no more the confidence of the house of Israel, which bringeth their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the Lord GOD.
So Israel could look at Egypt in the years and centuries to come and remember their iniquity of going to Egypt for help instead of Going to God. They went to Egypt, a type of the world to help them. The Egypt that enslaved them and is the world system of the wicked one.
Instead of going to God they went to the world that does not care for them, actually hates them, and wants to do them harm.
God took Egypt’s power away to show that He is greater. That He is the proper one to go to for help. He did this to show forth the futility of one of God’s children going to Satan’s wicked world system for help instead of coming to God.
And Egypt is still a picture of this. God has made sure that the picture remains even to this day. Egypt has no status, no power, no ability. They are no place to go to for help.
I need to be clear here. This teaches specifically that the lost world system is no place to go to for help as a replacement for God. That is what Israel did and that was their iniquity.
We always need to go to God first and foremost and always. He is our rock. He is our Lord. He is the one that loves us. That is absolutely true. However, I have seen people take this a way that God never intended.
We need to keep in mind all of the word of God and all the principals it teaches. And one of them is that God can and does use the lost from time to time to be a blessing to His children.
Remember the king in Esther. He was a lost man, and once the plot was exposed, God did use him to be a blessing and a help to God’s Children.
When Moses marched out of Egypt, God used the lost Egyptians to give them what they needed and even more than they needed.
This is not teaching that Christians should not collect unemployment when appropriate. It is not teaching that if a lost person gives you a present or a tip of money that you should not take it.
God can and does bless His children with good jobs. And guess what the owners and bosses of those businesses mostly are lost men.
Accept the job from them as a blessing from God. But don’t go to them instead of going to God. Accept the help that God sends your way, but don’t put anyone else ahead of God. Always go to God for help.
The teaching is don’t go to the world for help as a replacement for God. Go to God for help, and if God uses a lost man to be the answer to your prayer then accept that help, but always remember and always be thankful to God who at times does use the lost to be a blessing to His children.