Глава 32

Ezek.32:1. And it came to pass in the second tenth year, in the second tenth month, on one day of the month: Ezek.32:2. The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, take up weeping against the king of Egypt, and say to him: You are like the lion of tongues, like the serpent in the sea, and you have struck your rivers with your horns, and you have troubled the waters of your feet, and you have trampled down your rivers. And he also accuses him of arrogance and arrogance and says that he competed with the pride of the serpent in the sea. And we have been taught that this is the devil, who from ancient times settled in the bitter and salty wisdom of the pagans. And Isaiah says that God “will bring the holy sword against the dragon that is in the sea” (Is. 27:1). Here God says that he tried to become like a lion, and the lion, as we learned, is the Lord who reigns over the nations; for it is said: “He lay down and fell asleep like a lion and like a monk: who will awaken Him” (Gen. 49:9)? Therefore, God says: having attempted to become like the lion of the nations, like the serpent in the sea, you have adopted an arrogant thought against the God of all, relying on the river and the watercourses drawn from it, as if you had no need for clouds, nor for rain, nor for providence and care from above, but you only need to move your feet, disturb the water and let it flow through the watercourses for irrigation. Therefore, says God, Ezek.32:3. I will lay My nets on you in the congregation of many people, Ezek.32:4. and I will consume you with my milk, Speaking about the river, in accordance with this and very decently, he mentioned nets and fish, and explained this, saying: “in the assembly of many people,” for with the army of enemies, as with a kind of net, and by My will, as with a fish, I will catch you in the likeness of a fish. and I will spread thee over the earth: and the fields shall be filled with thee, and I will plant all the birds of the air upon thee, and with thee I will satisfy all the beasts of the earth: Ezek.32:5–6. And I will give thy flesh upon the mountains, and fill the fields with thy blood, and the earth shall drink of thy pus upon the mountains: and I will fill the wilds with thee. When you are caught and killed by enemies, then you will remain unburied and fill the bellies of animals and birds, and streams of blood and rotten moisture (this is what the Prophet calls “pus”) will fill the fields and mountains. Ezek.32:7. And I will cover the sky when it fades away, and I will darken its stars, I will hide the sun in a cloud, and the moon will not show its light: Ezek.32:8. I will darken all the lights of heaven upon you and cast darkness upon your land, says the Lord Adonai. This will not be in the very nature of things, but in the disposition of those overwhelmed by grief, because to those beset by disasters, even the day seems darker than the night. Making this known, God said: “And I will put darkness on your land,” and not on the whole earth. If someone says that there was really darkness in Egypt during the war, and by this God showed that He Himself used the Babylonians to punish the Egyptians, then such a person will not sin against the pious sense. Ezek.32:9–10. And I will anger the hearts of many people, when I bring your captivity into the tongues, into the land that you did not know, and many nations will be sad because of you, and their kings will be horrified when I draw my sword on their face, anticipating their fall from the day of your fall. After your captivity, some, remembering your previous impudence, will turn out to be unmerciful towards you, while others will cry and mourn, concluding from what happened to you about disasters and those threatening them. Then God announces that the Babylonian army will come, and there will be some valiant fighters in it (for he called them (Ezek. 32:11) “giants”). And since the Babylonians are fiercer than all nations, then, says God, they will punish you, Egypt, for your pride (he called it (Ezek. 32:12) “reproach”, because the arrogant is always a reproach). He also says that the Babylonians will crush the power of the Egyptians, take them into captivity, plunder the herds, and for a long time the flow of the river will remain clear, because neither cattle nor people will disturb it, due to the desolation that occurred after the captivity. And the watercourses, having ceased to pour out here and there, as it is said, “like oil they flow” (Ezek. 32:14), that is, calmly and quietly, without encountering any obstacle. This will happen when desolation comes upon Egypt, and its inhabitants are taken into captivity. Ezek.32:15. And they will know that I am the Lord. By experiencing disasters they will learn how insignificant they themselves are, and they will know My sovereignty. Then he says: Ezek.32:16. And the daughters of the pagans (meaning cities and villages) will mourn over him, over Egypt and over all her power, they will mourn over him, says the Lord Adonai. Not only for the Egyptian people, but also for their king, the cities of other nations will cry, imagining in their thoughts the previous prosperity and seeing the sudden change. Ezek.32:17–18. And in the second and tenth year of the first month, on the fifth and tenth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, weep for the strength of Egypt, and bow down to him. that is, by the word of prophecy, bending him from the position he had assumed, bringing him down and removing him from the royal throne, and the heathen will bring down his dead daughters into the depths of the earth, to those who go down into the abyss. “Daughters” he again calls cities and villages, which, as he says, will be put to death, for he called death an abyss, borrowing this name from the grave. Ezek.32:19. Come down gracefully from the waters, and sleep with the uncircumcised, that is, you, who previously enjoyed the river waters and borrowed beauty from the fruits generated by them, but did not circumcise the wickedness of your heart, suffered beating along with those like you. Then, repeating the same thing again, God added: Ezek.32:21. And they say to you: in the depths of the abyss, who are you better than? Come down, lie with the uncircumcised, among the ulcers with the sword. Blessed Isaiah says the same about the king of Babylon: “And the princes have said to you since the ages: “Thou art captive, as we are: and thou art imputed to us.” Your glory has gone down to hell, and much of your joy: rottenness will be spread under you, and the worm will cover you” (Isaiah 14:10-11). And here it is said: those who have become famous in their strength and have died long ago say to you (they are called “giants”): be like us dead men; for “who better are you” that you are trying to become immortal? Therefore, “go down”, accept the end of your life, endure the same beating as those who dared to do things similar to yours. Then he numbers those who have become famous according to their strength. Ezek.32:22. There Assur and all his hosts, all the plagues there were given: and their grave was in the depths of the abyss, and his host was around his grave, that is, who was more notorious than the king of Assyria? However, he also accepted the end of his life, and his entire army participated in his death. all the wounds of the fallen sword, Ezek.32:23. like Dasha their coffins are in the depths of the ditch, This is the name given to the appearance of their tombs because they are oblong and resemble hips. and there was a crowd of him around his tomb, where these plagues fell with the sword. For like their king, they too were beaten and killed at his tomb. And this, says God, was suffered by the men who saw “their fear on earth” of life. However, all of them - both those who frightened and those who were frightened - will accept, as it is said, their shame with those who are being brought down into the abyss, because, having lost their former glory, they will end their lives in shame, being killed like those whom they themselves killed. Then he lists the monuments popularly. Ezek.32:24. There is Elam and all his strength around his tomb: and all his multitude, and all the plagues and those who fell with the sword, and those who went down uncircumcised into the depths of the earth. For it was customary during wars to arrange monuments among the people; the tribesmen, having gathered their own, buried them in one grave. Therefore, here too God makes it clear that the Elamite people, who were adjacent to the Assyrians, did this, and informs us that they died uncircumcised, without having at all delivered from wickedness. Then, again saying that those who were previously terrible for everyone “accepted their torment” (Ezek. 32:25), and died like others, he added that each of all the uncircumcised, wounded with the sword, had a tomb around him. He says that other nations suffered the same beating. Ezek.32:26. Tamo Dashasya Mosoh, and Fauvel. “Fovel” is the name given to the Ivers, and “Mosokhom” to the Cappadocians. But having said about them again what he said about the Elamites, he adds: Ezek.32:27. And he put his swords under his heads, For weapons become unnecessary when those who use them are killed. But he also tells the reason for their beating. and their iniquity was upon their bones, that is, they suffered punishment for wickedness. Then he explains the very type of wickedness. as if you had terrified the giants in your life, and the fear of the mighty was in the land of the living, that is, they acted with such cruelty and impudence that they brought fear to everyone, not only to insignificant people, but also to those who thought highly of their strength and power. Therefore, it is said, you will suffer murder like those who were killed by you. Other nations were also subjected to this. Ezek.32:29. There Edom and its kings, and all its princes, who gave their strength to the plague of the sword, that is, they used their fortress to commit murders. Having shown that they too were killed in the same way, God adds, Ezek.32:30. There you are, the princes of the North, all the governors of Assur, who were brought together with the ulcers with their fear. For “his spirit will depart and return to his land,” as the divine David says, “on that day all his thoughts will perish” (Ps. 145:4). God said the same thing here: “who brought together those who were ulcerated with their fear,” because by death the fear of dominance was dispelled. The vanquished, the Prophet says, “with their strength,” that is, they are deprived of strength. Ashamed of having died of uncircumcision. Nothing fills you with such shame as blaming an evil conscience. The Prophet again called uncircumcised those whose excesses of sin were not circumcised. Then, having said: “having accepted his torment,” that is, punishment, “with those who descend into the abyss,” the Prophet added: Ezek.32:31–32. King Pharaoh will see them, and he will be comforted by all their strength: Pharaoh has struck with the sword, and all his strength, says the Lord Adonai. For Pharaoh and all his multitude will fall asleep among the uncircumcised with the sword of the plague, says the Lord Adonai. Pharaoh, the Prophet says, looking at those who have risen and become very strong, will receive some consolation, and with him his subjects will be comforted, however, he will suffer punishment for wickedness, because, having instilled great fear in those under his control, he himself did not accept My law, but left his soul uncircumcised. And for this, together with those like him, he himself, and those who thought the same as him and lived like him, will be put to death. Therefore, having learned this from God’s words, having acquired information about what punishments those whose souls are not circumcised are subjected to, let us accept, I beg you, the circumcision made without hands of the All-Holy Spirit, about which blessed Paul says: “and the circumcision of the heart is by the Spirit, not by Scripture: whose praise is not from men, but from God” (Rom. 2:29). Circumcision of the heart, as we have been taught, is the abandonment of sin and the cutting off of evil movements of thought. Teaching this, the Vladyka said: “If your right eye causes you to stumble, let us turn away from you” (Matthew 5:20). Having said the same thing about the hand and foot, He added: “You have no one, so that one of you may perish from your blows, and not your whole body will be cast into Gehenna.” And here he called “udami” the effectiveness of the bodily members, which must be circumcised, cut off, and thereby purify the rational power and completely dedicate and sanctify the laws of God. For in this way we will become alien to communication with the enemy, and we will receive our Lord and Benefactor into our home. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.